Voyage of the Defiance

by S. E. Smith

  Makayla sat stunned, looking at the passionate, almost desperate, look on his face. He really meant what he was telling her. It wasn’t a whim or an ‘I want to be a professional football player when I grow up’ type of admission. His conviction was true and focused. He had his heart set on following his dream.

  “I believe you,” she replied in a quiet voice, staring into his dark brown eyes. "I also believe that you’ll make it.”

  Tyrell sat back in surprise, his eyes wide with shock. “You do?” He whispered, blinking at her.

  Makayla grinned and took another bite of her macaroni and cheese. “Yeah, why not? Someone has to do it, why not you?” She reasoned.

  “Yeah, why not me?” Tyrell repeated, picking up his fork and beginning to eat with gusto. “Thanks for dinner.”

  Makayla paused and stared at Tyrell with a feeling of confusion. She didn’t respond, just returned her focus to the food in front of her. Things weren’t turning out at all like she thought they would, including the guy sitting across from her.

  *.*.*

  An hour later, Makayla looked over her shoulder as Tyrell came up out of the companionway. The sailboat was almost at a perfect standstill. She didn’t mind. She was enjoying the peace and quiet of the night.

  “That has got to be the tiniest bathroom in the world,” Tyrell complained as he stepped gingerly up to the bow and sat down next to her. “If I wasn’t bumping my head, I was kissing my knees.”

  Makayla giggled at the mental image that his words brought up in her mind. She imagined someone as big and tall as Tyrell would have difficulty in the tiny head. It was a tight fit for her, too.

  “You have to plan how you are going in so you can get out without getting stuck,” she commented, lying back against the smooth surface. “It’s better than having to use a bucket.”

  Tyrell’s face twisted in disgust and a shudder ran down his tall, husky frame. Makayla chuckled again, wincing when she pulled her arm around to use it as a pillow. She was discovering bruises on top of bruises. She really hoped those three girls were as stiff and sore as she was, or worse.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, staring out over the water.

  Makayla turned her head to look at him with a frown. “For what? Stowing away?” She asked in surprise. “I thought we’d already gotten past that.”

  Tyrell swallowed and shook his head. He looked down, playing with the frayed hem at the bottom of his jeans. He had taken his shoes and socks off earlier after she complained they might scuff up the surface.

  “No, for not coming to help you yesterday,” he replied. “I… It was wrong,” he added lamely.

  Makayla turned her head to look back up at the sky. They were close enough to the coast to see a dim scattering of lights, but not enough to obstruct their view of the sky. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was glad when she had turned the Defiance back east toward shore as the sky grew darker.

  Makayla snorted. “Don’t feel guilty,” she said. “There were about one hundred and ninety-nine other people there either looking the other way or cheering Alicia and her friends on. Personally, I don’t give a damn. I kicked their asses anyway.”

  A chuckle escaped Tyrell and he nodded. “Yeah, I saw that, too,” he admitted.

  “I never did thank you for picking up my book,” she whispered, staring up at the stars. “You could have just ignored it, and it would have either ended up in lost and found or in the dumpster.”

  “I thought you might want it back,” he said with a smile in his voice. “After all, any girl that can read something that boring and enjoy it must want to keep it. I know I would.”

  “Yeah,” she murmured. “I do.”

  Tyrell swiveled around and laid down until his head was next to hers. They lay there, staring up at the stars in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Makayla gasped when a meteor shot across the sky.

  “What was that?” Tyrell asked in concern.

  Makayla turned her head toward him. “Haven’t you ever seen a falling star before?” She asked in amazement.

  He glanced at her before frowning up at the night sky again. “Probably. Do you know what that is?” He asked, lifting his right arm and pointing.

  Makayla rolled onto her stomach and pushed up off the deck. “Wait just a second,” she said, moving on swift feet toward the stern.

  She disappeared back down into the companionway before climbing back out and returning to where she had been lying. She had a flashlight, a book, and a small laser pointer in her hands. She carefully laid the book and flashlight down before stretching out again.

  “What are you doing?” He asked, rolling onto his side to watch her.

  Makayla grinned. “The same thing Henry did when I asked him the same question,” she laughed. “If you want to know the answer, then I’ll tell you,” she said in a gruff voice, trying to imitate her grandfather’s voice.

  “Do you see these three stars?” She asked, using the high powered laser light that her grandfather used to point out the stars.

  “Wow! That’s cool,” Tyrell exclaimed, glancing at the long, green beam. “It looks like it can touch the star!”

  Makayla giggled and nodded her head. “I thought the same thing the first time I saw it. That’s Orion’s Belt,” she explained, pointing out the three stars. This one over here is Polaris, also known as….”

  “The North Star,” Tyrell interjected, turning his head to follow the beam. “I read about it in one of the GN articles published December 5, 2012.”

  Makayla’s head jerked around in surprise. “Do you have all of the articles memorized?” She asked in astonishment.

  This time it was Tyrell that laughed. “No, I just remember it because I read it the other night when I was… cleaning up my shelf,” he said, pausing briefly in his explanation.

  “Show me more,” he asked in a quiet voice.

  Makayla could sense the slight change in him. Something had happened when he was cleaning up. Turning to gaze back up at the sky, she pointed out the stars that she knew before sitting up and turning on the red light to look at the star chart her grandfather used.

  They spent the next three hours talking about the stars, the planets, the Milky Way, and sailing. What was strange was finding out they had more in common than she expected. Makayla finally couldn’t stop yawning. This was one part that she hadn’t really thought about. She had set up the wind-powered autopilot, but she still didn’t trust it.

  “I’m so tired,” she admitted, yawning again. “I can barely keep my eyes open.”

  “I slept earlier. I can keep watch and wake you in a few hours,” Tyrell grudgingly volunteered.

  Makayla gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks. Wake me up if anything changes or in a few hours. I should be okay by then.”

  “How do I know if we are heading in the right direction?” He asked nervously, standing up when she did.

  “Just check the compass every once in a while to make sure we are still heading south. I’ve put the autopilot on like Henry showed me. We should be okay,” she said, climbing over the side and down into the cockpit. “There are drinks in the small refrigerator and snacks in the storage over the stove and under the seats.”

  “Thanks,” Tyrell muttered, shoving his hands in his front pockets.

  “Good night, Tyrell,” Makayla said in a soft voice. She paused as she started down the steps into the companionway. Turning back around, she stared at him with a solemn expression. “I’m glad you stowed away.”

  “I didn’t stow away,” he muttered, staring at her retreating figure. “I fell asleep and woke up in the middle of your ludicrous adventure. You are definitely the craziest white girl I’ve ever met… and one of the coolest.”

  Chapter 21

  Tyrell frowned and looked around. He swallowed over the fear threatening to choke him. While they had been talking and studying the stars, he hadn’t thought about just how dark and isolated they were. Now, he shivered and wrapped his arms around h
is waist, staring out at the dark seas.

  The wind had picked up a little a short while ago and Makayla had shown him how to work the winch for the jib and the sail. He listened as the large sail flapped as the wind caught, before dying down again.

  He quietly retrieved the red light that Makayla had laid on the table. Picking up the manual for the camera, he played with some of the settings that he had changed earlier before the sun faded over the horizon. Sitting down on the bench seat positioned in front of the helm, he turned the camera on and began looking through the pictures. He hadn’t realized he’d taken so many.

  He deleted the ones that weren’t that good and downloaded the ones that were, to his phone. His eyes lit up with delight when he realized he had a signal. His eyes flickered to the picture of Makayla that he had taken that afternoon. Glancing down the companionway, a mischievous grin curved his lips. She might not want to do the project for the creative writing class, but he did. He suddenly had the best idea of how to do it… with her unwitting help.

  *.*.*

  Makayla yawned as she came out of the companionway almost four hours later. She grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and climbed the stairs, blinking when she saw the faint glow on Tyrell’s face from the light of his cell phone. A long white cord was attached to the end of it while the other ran to the USB port tucked under the rubber weather stops that were installed on the side of the console.

  “Hey, thanks for letting me sleep,” she said, stretching. “Everything’s been okay?”

  Tyrell nodded and stood up. “Yeah. I thought it would be scarier than it was, but it hasn’t been so bad,” he admitted. “I saw three more falling stars. One of them was pretty bright and lasted a few seconds longer than the other two.”

  “That’s cool,” she said, sitting down beside him and twisting the top off of the water bottle. “If you want to go get some sleep, I’ll take over from here. We’ll have to work out a schedule. Henry says you don’t sleep much when you are on your own, but with the two of us, we should be able to set up a workable schedule where we can both get some rest.”

  Tyrell scowled at her. “What makes you think I’m going all the way to Tampa with you?” He asked in a teasing voice.

  Makayla leaned back and grinned at him before waving her hand to the side. “Feel free to abandon ship any time you want,” she commented. “I won’t try to stop you. In fact, if you need a shove, I know this crazy white girl who will be happy to do it.”

  Tyrell blanched and gave her a crooked smile. “You heard me,” he reflected.

  “Another interesting fact you should know,” she said, pointing her water bottle at him. “Sound carries over water.”

  Tyrell rose to his feet and yawned. Glancing at the face of his phone, he was shocked to find it was almost four thirty in the morning. Pulling the charging cord out of the USB, he wound it up and shoved it and his phone in the front pocket of his jeans.

  “I’m off to sleep, crazy girl,” he said with a grin.

  Makayla watched as he retraced her steps down into the companionway. Ten minutes later, the sound of his snoring let her know that he was asleep. Shaking her head, she checked all the lines and the wind vane. Satisfied everything was okay, she checked the path they had taken on the GPS. They had covered almost ninety miles so far. Biting her lip, she tried to calculate how long it should take them to get to Tampa. At their current speed of five nautical miles per hour…

  “A long time,” she whispered in frustration. “Still, it won’t be so bad. I’ll be home by the middle of next week and if I get Tyrell a bus ticket, he’ll only miss two and a half days of school since it is early dismissal on Wednesday, a teacher’s workday on Thursday, and the Fall break on Friday.”

  Makayla rubbed at her eyes, realizing that she was still tired. Yawning, she snapped the GPS back into its holder and pulled her cell phone out. She was surprised that she had a signal. Glancing toward the shore, she figured that they were probably off the coast of Jupiter or Palm City.

  She glanced down at the phone again, startled that she had several messages. Touching the phone icon, she grinned when she saw three were from Laura, one from Tisha, two from Debbie, and one from Audrey. Deciding to get Tisha’s messages out of the way first, she pressed the voice mail.

  “Hey, girl,” Tisha said. “I wanted you to hear it from me first. I quit the Smoothie shop, I did not get fired. I know Laura is our friend, but she’s a bitch to work with. I was only five minutes late. Any who, I did meet this really cute boy that came into the shop. We’ve got a date on Friday night so all isn’t lost. Laura and I have agreed that I’m more management material than a worker bee. Give me a call when you get a chance.”

  She listened to the other messages, shaking her head. Laura said that she fired Tisha for being fifty minutes late, flirting with the customers, and not doing her work. Her next call was asking when Makayla was going to be in town, and the third call was to let her know that she would take the couch and Makayla could have her bedroom. Makayla smiled. Laura had always been a sweetheart.

  Debbie called to complain about her parents, twice. Audrey just wanted someone to talk to. She couldn’t believe that her mom was actually considering taking her dad back. Audrey swore the school year couldn’t finish fast enough so she could move out.

  Clicking the button on the side of the phone, she turned the screen off. She leaned back, staring at the twinkling lights off to the starboard side. Deep down, she wasn’t sure she was making the right choice.

  She thought about Westwood. She admitted that it wouldn’t have been all that bad if not for Alicia and her friends making her life miserable. The teachers and staff had been nice. The classes were fairly interesting, and she was going to get to take the class she really wanted at the college starting at the beginning of the year.

  The biggest issue was she missed her mom and friends. Thinking about her mom made her stomach twist. How would she handle her coming back? She was trying to do what she could to give her mom time. That was why she made the arrangements to stay with Laura and her mom. There was no way she would mooch off of them either. She would get a job at the Smoothie store, maybe even a second job if she could, and support herself.

  “Why does growing up have to be so hard?” She whispered, closing her eyes and resting her forehead on her arm.

  *.*.*

  “Makayla… Makayla, wake up,” a strange voice said.

  Makayla jerked upright, looking wildly around her. Frantically brushing her long hair out of her face, she blinked rapidly in the bright light before groaning and covering her eyes. Bowing her head, she used her tangled hair to block out the early morning sun.

  “I fell asleep,” she grumbled, peering through her fingers at the compass. “Are we still heading south?”

  “Yeah,” Tyrell said.

  Makayla shoved her hair back and stood up, wobbling before she sat back down with a thump. Growling under her breath, she stood up again. This time, she grabbed the helm and held onto the cool metal for support.

  “What time is it?” She snapped, steadying herself.

  Tyrell touched his phone. “Just a little after eight,” he said, looking at her with a frown. “Are you okay? Your face looks worse today than it did yesterday.”

  Makayla bit back the rude comment that almost slipped out. Of course it looked worse! The bruises were beginning to heal. They would turn an ugly yellow-green before they faded. She’d seen enough bruises on her mom to know that.

  “I’m fine,” she sighed, looking around with slightly clearer eyes. “I need to figure out where we are. I think we are moving about five nautical miles per hour. At this rate, we should be just north of West Palm Beach, I think.”

  “How long will it take to get to Tampa?” Tyrell asked, looking toward the west. “Where is the land?”

  Makayla glanced to the starboard side and cursed under her breath. They must have floated further east than she expected. Grabbing the GPS off of its hold
er, she stared blankly at it, trying to make sense of what it was saying. Her brain felt like it was full of marshmallows at the moment.

  She ran her hand through her hair, grimacing when her fingers caught in the windblown tangles. Pulling her hand free, and a few extra bits of her hair, she tried to focus on where they were. She bit her lip, thinking as she stared up, forgetting that the sail was still down. It felt like the wind was beginning to pick up. Unfortunately, according to the wind vane, it was also coming from the south.

  “We are going to have to do some Beating to get back near shore,” she said, returning the GPS to its holder.

  “Beating? What’s that?” Tyrell asked, looking up at the sail with a frown. “Can’t you just turn the wheel?”

  Makayla shook her head. “No. Sailboats use the wind to power them. You need it to push you through the water. If you are sailing into it, you are getting a headwind, or no wind is there to power the vessel,” she explained, unlocking the winch before unfurling the jib and raising the mainsail. Once that was done, she unlocked the helm. “When you sail using the Beating method, you move in a zigzag so you can move into a headwind. Henry and I had to do that one day when we were coming back from Sebastian. It took forever to get back to the Fort Pierce Inlet.”

  “I’m glad you know what you’re doing,” he muttered, watching her in fascination as she moved.

  *.*.*

  Tyrell stood back for several minutes, watching as Makayla swung the helm around. His fingers twitched and he reached for the camera he had wrapped around his neck. Focusing on the early morning light and the way it was caressing her skin, he snapped several shots before moving to a different angle.