8 Chapter six

To the left of me is the room where we will go through check-in. Afterwards, we will board the ship, and spend ten days at sea, visiting beautiful and scenic islands. But I'm not here for those reasons. I'm not here for the natural beauties of the world, or the Instagram-aesthetic shots, I'm here to meet someone.

Charlie throws an arm around my shoulders, pulling me towards the entrance. I glance up at him, grinning, and return to happily walking towards the entrance.

This is for you, Mum.

We're passing by several large windows, and I see bluebell gems glinting brightly.

What… was that? Or… Who was that?

I barely get a glance before I am taken by my two friends to the entrance.

When we reach the wide-open front doors, I'm trying to see in-between the heads of so many people.

Go in, my brain tells me.

So, without another thought, I shoulder my duffel bag and make my way forward.

"Woah, there." I'm dragged away from the doors. I glance up nervously at a big security guard, who is clearly eyeing me suspiciously. "Don't get too excited, kid."

Who's he calling 'kid'? He's clearly only a year or so older than me.

"Sorry," I say, as sincerely as I can. "It's my first cruise."

He nods, but he probably hears a hundred people per day say the same exact thing. I turn around and see my two friends waving me over. I start to back away.

"You'll just have to go through screening first," the big security guard tells me, crossing his buff arms over his chest.

I nod. "Sorry."

Getting into line with Charlie and Ben, I let my duffel bag fall to the crook of my elbow, waiting for the family ahead of us to move through the security screening.

"Dude, you good?" Ben asks, giving me a concerned look.

Sighing, slightly out of breath, I say, "Fine."

We dump our bags onto the conveyor belt, and one-by-one we step through the screening system. On the other side, we tote our duffels and find a table to get started on writing down our personal details.

Charlie nudges me as I restlessly look around.

"Whatcha looking around for?" he asks.

I turn back to the boring sheet of white on the table. "Nothing."

When I finish filling out my details, we step into the line, where I start to scan the room for her.

Bluebell eyes, I keep thinking.

I trade glances with Charlie, who I wish I was as tall as, before we're all, including those around us, turning our attention to somewhere at the front of a line, where a young woman just called out.

I'm trying to see over heads, but can't, so I turn to Charlie, who is up on his tip-toes, eyeing the crowd confusedly.

"What's going on, Charlie?" I ask.

He takes a moment to respond. "I don't know for sure, but there's a girl over there who's lost something."

Oh.

"Who are they?" It's probably not the girl I saw, but why not ask.

"I… I can't tell. They're all facing the opposite direction."

Dang it! Who is it?!

My prayers must've been answered, because suddenly, the girl that was panicking over there was in front of us, frantically searching the floor while saying, "Have you seen it?!"

Her curls are beautiful; dark blond falling over her dark shoulders. I'm suddenly jacked up on adrenaline, that I almost reach forward and lift up her chin to see her eyes. Her eyes that will match the bluebell ones I saw earlier, but I stand still, clenching my fists.

Instead, Ben steps forward and puts a hand on her shoulder, inviting her to stand up and talk to us straight. For some reason, he's smiling very wide.

"Have you lost something?" he calmly asks her panicked self.

She looks up, and disappointment hits me like a wrecking ball; beautiful eyes, but not the bluebell I saw before.

She nods very quickly, and starts to look around again.

I jump forward. "We can help you find it… whatever it is you're looking for," I offer.

Ben pushes me back, still with a smile on his face. I give him a look that says 'Huh?' but he doesn't react.

"Emily," Ben starts.

What? Who's Emily?

I'm about to tell Ben that you can't just guess people's names, but then the girl that is not Emily glances up.

She clears her throat. "Y-Yeah?"

Charlie and I are both taken aback, but it seems that Ben has known this entire time who this young woman is.

"This must be yours then," Ben says, and at first I'm confused, but then I see his extended palm with a green key ring atop it.

The girl called Emily swiftly grabs it, pulling it to her chest, and starts frantically apologising and thanking us.

I'm hit by a moment of nostalgia, and I'm taken back to year six.

This dome-roofed room was vast in its size and space. I was surrounded by a hundred kids, but I didn't feel cramped in that beautiful room that wasn't a room. Overhead, artificial stars shimmered down, casting a sense of magic in the air. We were all hyped to be there, but when the lights had dimmed and the light from the stars had stabbed down upon us, we were hypnotised, innocent children once more. It didn't matter that we were approaching our final few weeks in year six, primary school.

I hadn't noticed until I turned my head, but year six Tasmin was beside me, marvelling at the magnificent pinpricks of light, and I smiled at her. Under the many spotlights, she was an angel.

I didn't want to leave, and neither did anyone else, but the visit to the Science Centre was over, and it was about time to return to our cabins for another night's rest.

More artificial lights, but these ones painfully bright, came down, making us realise how tired we all really were. At that moment, I wanted out of this structure, I wanted to be in the night's cool breeze and under the real stars, with Tasmin by my side to stare at their natural beauty.

Across the room, a small souvenir shop was open, and there were quite a few of our school's students there, rummaging through the items, dropping some, almost breaking some; I cringed at the sight.

I spotted Ben there, and he was eyeing Tasmin's friend Emily.

I couldn't help but listen.

"This is so cute," Emily muttered to no one but herself, picking up a little green dinosaur keyring; we had had a talk about dinosaurs earlier that day, and Emily was by far the most interested in the entire grade, asking a billion questions, one after the other.

And then, Ben was beside her, asking softly, "Do you want it?"

Beside me now, six years later, Ben asks, "Do you want it back?"