Jorman thinks for a second and then says, “A pirate!” and starts marching around.
My mouth falls open. “Pirate” was not one of our walks. I think he just called Captain Thomas a pirate to his face! That’s almost as bad as calling him Captain Hook.
I’m sure Captain Thomas is going to roar at him. But instead, he says, “My son loved being a pirate when he was little.” Then, to my total shock, the captain puffs out his chest and announces, “This is how a pirate walks!” He starts swashbuckling around, pretending to fight off an enemy with an imaginary sword. The kids instantly start imitating him, and they’re having so much fun that even I’m inspired to get in a few sword jabs.
I can’t believe it. Who knew there was an actual human under the captain’s stiff uniform and terrifying glare?
Finally, when the kids are falling over themselves laughing, the captain hands the reins over to Nathan—who immediately starts doing a caveman walk—and then waves me over to the corner.
“Miss Parker,” the captain says, his face suddenly stern again. “Let me remind you that this is a towel-folding class.”
I gulp as I watch the kids still lumbering around after Nathan, laughing and giggling. They might be having fun, but the captain is right. “Y-yes, sir. I know, sir. I’ll make sure we do what we’re supposed to from now on.”
“One more misstep and …” He doesn’t need to finish. We both know what happens to employees who break the rules on this ship. The captain turns and gives the kids a little salute. “Carry on, everyone!”
The kids watch him retreat and then start shrieking with excitement.
“What are we doing now?” Sophia asks.
“Let’s walk like ship captains!” Nathan cries. And before I can stop them, all the kids are running around the room doing their best impressions of Captain Thomas. This time, I don’t join in.
I find Mom waiting for me outside the Fairy Fun Zone after class, and for a second I’m terrified that she’s here because the captain told her how bad I’ve been at my job. But she doesn’t look upset, only thoughtful.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“I’m just trying to figure out what to do about the teen nightclub,” she says.
“It’s too bad no one goes there. Their smoothies are awesome,” I say. “And Matthieu puts so much time into making them. Katy says you can practically taste the love!”
Mom nods slowly. “Maybe we can highlight the smoothies somehow.”
“What about something like the ‘Smoothie Lounge’?” I ask. “At least then people might go there for the drinks.”
“Maybe …” I can tell she’s not convinced. Suddenly, her face lights up. “I know! What about ‘Blended with Love’?”
I try not to groan. It’s so cheesy, but Mom is clearly excited about the idea. “Why not?” I say weakly. I can put little hearts up around the place and play romantic music or something. That might give it a little more atmosphere, at least.
“Great!” Mom says. “I’ll send along a new sign for you to put up this afternoon.” She starts scurrying away. “Oh, wait!” she calls, coming to a stop. “I almost forgot. Any chance you could do me a favor?”
Why does she even bother asking?
“Gemma is feeling under the weather and won’t be able to make an appearance by the pool after lunch today. Any chance you could do it? We really need a princess there. It’ll only be for a couple of hours.”
“Um, I’d have to rush over from helping at the photo kiosk,” I say. “And it won’t give me much time to get ready for dinner duty—”
“So you’ll be able to fit it in?” She looks so hopeful that all I can do is nod. “You’re the best, Ains!” she says. Then she gives my arm a squeeze and hurries away.
* * *
When I rush to the pool in my princess costume that afternoon, I’m relieved to see Katy there.
“Ainsley!” she says. “What are you doing here?”
“Gemma’s sick, so my mom asked me to take over.”
“Couldn’t one of the other princesses do it?” she asks, reaching out to straighten my wig. “You look like you could use a break.”
I shrug. “It’s fine. Only a couple of hours, right?”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here. You can finally meet some of the other sea creatures!”
Katy introduces me to a girl named Mai who’s playing a siren and another one named Elaine who’s playing a selkie, although I wouldn’t know their roles based on their costumes. They all just look a little seaweedy.
I get in place beside them, ready to start waving and posing for pictures with kids, as Katy chatters on and on. I realize that since Mai’s first language isn’t English—she’s from Thailand—and Elaine seems really shy, they both let Katy talk and talk. No wonder she loves spending so much time with them.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid her talking is going to get us into trouble, especially when she cries, “Oh, Ainsley! I forgot to tell you that Smith smiled at me at breakfast!”
A little girl with long pigtails glares up at me. “Aren’t you Sleeping Beauty?”
“I’m Briar Rose, Sleeping Beauty’s cousin!” I don’t have the energy to explain about the different versions of fairy tales.
“Then why did she call you Ainsley?” the girl asks.
“Um, it’s my nickname,” I say through my fake smile. “Do you want your picture taken with me?”
“No, thanks,” she says. “I’m going to go find a real princess.”
“Katy,” I say in a whisper, “you have to stay in character, remember?”
She rolls her eyes. “Gosh, Ainsley. You sound like Curt. He’s such a stickler for everything.”
“Maybe he’s a stickler because he doesn’t want to get fired,” I can’t help saying.
“No one’s getting fired,” Katy says. “They just like to make a big stink out of things around here. Besides, you bend the rules all the time. Isn’t that what got your camera taken away?”
“That’s different! I’m trying to help people. You’re just babbling because you can’t stop yourself, even when you’re supposed to be in character.”
Her mouth falls open. “Babbling? I’m not babbling! Am I babbling?” she asks the other girls. They give meek shrugs, clearly wanting to stay out of it. And, unlike us, they’re actually focusing on their jobs. “Anyway, you’re not helping your mom. You’re just making things worse.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on, Ainsley. Who’s the grown-up in that relationship? If you stopped helping your mom for once, maybe she’d figure things out on her own.”
“You don’t know anything about our relationship!” I cry. All the icky feelings that have been brewing inside me are suddenly fighting to get out. “Just because you spill your life story to me all the time doesn’t mean I have to do the same.”
“Well, don’t worry,” Katy says, “because that’s the last time I tell you anything!” Then she turns and starts slithering away as fast as her fish tail can take her.
“Katy, wait!” I yell, hurrying after her. “You can’t leave. You’re on duty!”
She stops, as if she’s realized I’m right, but when she turns back to me, the end of her tail wraps around her feet. She takes one step forward and—whoosh!—tumbles through the air and into the kiddie pool.
Kids scream with laughter as a mermaid belly flops on top of them. To them, it must seem like part of her act. Meanwhile, Katy thrashes in the water, trying to right herself, but her tail seems to be pulling her down.
“Stand up!” I yell, rushing to the side of the pool. “Katy, the water’s shallow! Just stand up!” But she can’t hear me because her head keeps sinking underwater.
“Someone help!” I scream as I try to dash into the pool to help her, but my enormous dress gets tangled around my legs, and I only wind up falling over. “Please help!”
No one’s listening to my pathetic pleas. The pool is so loud that people are still la
ughing and swimming as if nothing’s wrong, and I don’t see a lifeguard anywhere.
Just when I’m about to tear off my dress and jump in the water, someone barrels past me and plunges into the pool. Then all I see are flailing arms and legs and fins, until finally someone pulls a very wet but very much alive Katy out of the pool. When the person spreads her out by the side of the pool—without her fish tail—I realize it’s Ian!
“Are you okay?” he yells. “Can you breathe?”
Katy gazes up at him with hazy eyes. “I’m not sure. I think I might need CPR. Or maybe just a handsome prince?”
Ian laughs and sits back. “I think that means you’re fine.” Then he looks around at the crowd of parents and kids who’ve finally noticed that something is wrong and are standing around. One little boy is crying in terror and pointing at Katy’s tail-less legs.
“Pool’s open again, folks!” Ian calls. “Enjoy!”
There’s a long moment of silence. And then ten seconds later, the kids are laughing and playing again. I guess when you’re on vacation, you don’t care if you almost see a mermaid drown.
“Ainsley,” Katy says when I spread a towel over her, since she’s pretty much in her underwear. “Where’s my tail? They’ll kill me if I lose my tail!”
Oh no. She’s right. The Spies will report her for being out of costume! I run to the edge of the pool, trying to spot her tail in the crowded water. Finally, I see a group of little kids playing with it. They’re throwing it at one another and shrieking to avoid it as if it’s a sea monster.
When I manage to convince them to give it back to me, the tail is so heavy with water that I have to hoist it over my shoulder. No wonder Katy couldn’t get out of the pool. This thing was like a hundred-pound weight around her legs.
As I finally manage to stand up, I spot Curt standing on the opposite side of the pool. His eyes say it all. We’re in serious trouble.
When Ian, Katy, and I get to the captain’s office, we’re all still sopping wet. I wish we’d at least had time to get changed, but Curt escorted us straight here.
The captain studies us for a long moment. Then he says through his teeth, “That was quite the disruption you caused at the pool.”
“I’m so sorry, sir!” Katy jumps in. “I tripped and fell, and I would be dead right now if Ian hadn’t saved me!”
The captain purses his lips. “I was referring to the disruption that began before you went in the water. I heard reports of an argument.” His eyes laser in on me.
Oops. Of course he knows about us arguing. The whole ship probably heard us yelling at each other.
The captain lets out a long breath through his nose. “And on top of that, you interrupt people in the pool and bring children to tears! We can’t have that kind of behavior from our staff. It’s unacceptable.”
“To be fair, we only brought one kid to tears,” I can’t help saying softly.
The captain’s dark eyes get so round, they look like two cannons ready to fire.
“Can’t you give them a break?” Ian pipes up. “The rules are in place for a reason. I get it. But they’re not stealing from passengers like Douglas did. Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?”
Whoa. Why is he standing up for us?
I expect the captain to put Ian in his place, but instead he says, “Fine. I will let this incident slide. But this is your final warning. Now get back to work.” Then he waves us toward the door.
Katy shoots to her feet and dashes out of the room, clearly trying to make a run for it in case the captain changes his mind.
“Except for you, Miss Parker,” the captain adds. “I want to see you in private.”
Ian gives me a look I can’t quite read before he ducks through the door. Then I’m all alone with the captain, his hook gleaming at me in the light. If he starts sharpening it, I’m out of here.
“Miss Parker,” he says. “Why is it that I keep hearing your name? First your camera, now this. On top of that, I’m told you don’t report for your shifts on time, you’re not prepared for rehearsals, and we both know how little towel folding goes on in that class of yours.”
I stare down at the floor.
“So I think it’s best for everyone involved if we—”
I close my eyes. Here it is. The moment when I lose this job, and Mom and I have no choice but to go home. Part of me is actually kind of relieved. Maybe coming here was a huge mistake after all.
“—put you on probation,” he finishes.
My eyes snap open. “Probation? You … you’re not firing me?”
He sighs. “Perhaps Ian was right about giving you another chance. But this is your final warning. One more mishap and you’re finished. Understand?”
“Yes!” I squeak. “Thank you, sir.” I jump to my feet and hurry out of his office, resisting the urge to high-five the octopus on my way out.
When I get into the hallway, I find Ian waiting for me.
“Everything okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, fine.” I start to walk away, but then I pause and turn back to Ian. “Um, so I just wanted to say thank you, for saving Katy,” I mumble. “And for standing up for us and everything.”
“What was I going to do, watch her drown?”
That’s pretty much what I’d been doing. “If I hadn’t been wearing that stupid enormous dress—”
“I like that stupid enormous dress,” Ian says. “It looks nice on you.”
I roll my eyes. “If you like not being able to fit through doorways, maybe. Or narrow hallways.”
He laughs. “Yeah, nothing narrow to worry about on this ship.” He lifts his elbows and they almost graze the walls.
“Yeah, so anyway, thanks.” I turn to go, but he trots after me.
“Does that mean we can run lines again? Stefan gave us some new stuff, and I really need help going through it.”
“I don’t think so. I haven’t forgiven you yet.”
“Forgiven me for what?”
“Oh, please. You know what you did.”
He looks totally mystified. Wow, he really is a good actor. “Ainsley, what are you talking about? You’ve been acting so weird lately. I don’t get it.”
“Hello! Because of you, the captain took my camera away.”
“Wait, what? He took your camera? Why?”
“Because you ratted me out!” I cry. “You told him I was taking pictures of the passengers, and he freaked out and said I was breaking the rules and that he’d need to confiscate my camera until we got back to Florida.”
“Whoa, I swear I didn’t say anything to him or to anyone else about that.”
“But you’re the only one who saw me taking pictures of passengers!” Why I was stupid enough to do that in front of him in the first place is beyond me. I guess that’s what happens when I’m really intent on getting a good shot of something.
“Are you sure? The monitors are pretty much all over the ship. Maybe they saw you and you didn’t realize it.”
Could he be right? I’ve been so careful, but maybe not as careful as I thought. “You swear you didn’t tell on me?” I ask.
“On my turtle.”
I blink. “You have a turtle?”
“Yup, back home. His name is Cornelius Shellman III. He loves watermelon.”
That sounds too weird to make up. “Okay, fine. I believe you.”
“You really thought I’d do that to you?” he asks. “No wonder you’ve been giving me the serious cold shoulder. So, can we go run lines for a little while?”
“I can’t. I have to go put up another sign for my mom. And no, I don’t need your help.”
He holds up his hands in surrender. “Suit yourself. I don’t want you getting mad at me again.”
“I wasn’t mad at you,” I say, but of course that’s a total lie and we both know it.
“From now on, I think it’s safer for me to stay on your good side,” Ian says. “Truce?”
I’m tempted to argue that I don’t have a bad si
de, but instead, I hold out my hand and say, “Truce.”
After I hurriedly change out of my damp dress, I go to the teen lounge and put up yet another sign. I also hang up some more decorations, crossing my fingers that these will actually work. Then I grab another delicious smoothie, figuring I’ve earned a treat.
“Heads up,” I tell Matthieu. “You guys have a new name again.” I explain about trying to highlight the smoothie angle and cringe when I tell him the Blended with Love idea Mom came up with.
“She is right, you know,” he says. “I do make them with love.” Then he blows a kiss toward the blender, which makes me crack up.
I turn to see Katy standing in the doorway, giving me an uncertain smile. All the things we said to each other by the pool flood back into my head. I don’t know if I should be angry at her or beg her to forgive me. She seems not to know either, because she just stands there without moving.
Suddenly, Curt the Spy materializes next to me. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the photo kiosk in a few minutes?”
“Yup!” I say, resisting the urge to stomp on his foot. “Thanks for the reminder!”
He glances at Katy who’s inched a little closer to me. “I’m surprised you two still have jobs here after that scene by the pool today,” he says.
“We were just talking and said some stuff we didn’t really mean.” At least I did.
Katy gives me a sad smile and takes another step toward me, which I guess means she feels the same way. “Sorry if it caused any trouble,” she says.
Curt seems to be looking for something to criticize, but he stays quiet. Finally, he glances at me and says, “Make sure to get to the kiosk soon” before marching off.
I sigh in relief when he’s gone. “I swear he’s following me around the ship just so he can point out the stuff I’m doing wrong.”
Katy giggles. “Maybe he has a crush on you.”
“Ew!” I cry.
“What? He’s kind of cute, don’t you think?”
I snort. “Maybe if you’re into pure evil.”
She giggles again and then her face gets serious. “I’m sorry about all that stuff I said about you and your mom. I guess I was just worried about you, that’s all. You’ve been so stressed out and it doesn’t seem fair.”
Once Upon a Cruise Page 9