Day 25

"Okay. Don't worry about me. Worry about her" Rainy said into phone to her mother in portuguese.

Today was the day the ship would make it close enough to the peruvian coast. By doing so, kids and adults were able to use the country's cell towers to call they're parents. The ship had it's own network provider, but it was expensive, and could only be free if you call or text another phone on the ship. 

Zuri listened to her roommate's conversation, even though she couldn't understand one word. She shook her head and focused back on her book. Rainy finally hung up her phone and fell down on her bed with a thud, face planting her pillow. 

Zuri looked out when she heard Rainy moan in discomfort. "So uh.. What was the conversation about? I don't speak portuguese.." Zuri asked. Rainy took a moment and raised her head up. She took in a big sigh.

"My grandmother's dying" she said calmly. Zuri bent her head back and widened her eyes. "I'm sorry" she sympathized.

Rainy shrugged her shoulders. "She is really old.." she tried to joke about it.

But the truth was, Rainy's best friend was her grandmother. She loved her so much and she was practically raised by her grandmother. But she didn't want to tell Zuri that the whole situation was eating away at her sanity. 

"Well.. We were all born to die, right?" Rainy giggled. She didn't know it, but everything Rainy said was depressing, in a depressing tone, which made Zuri concerned. "Yeah, I guess." Zuri looked down and pouted.

"How do I cheer her up? I thought I'd never have to cause she's always happy!" Zuri thought. 

The students enjoyed their last day calling their families and friends from home and went to school the next day

Day 26

"Whoa.. You okay? You look like you've been having a really bad day" Jongwoon gasped as he watched Zuri walk up to her seat.

"One of my roommate's relatives is dying and she's been really sad. I think it's starting to rub off on me" Zuri plopped down in her seat next to Jongwoon.

"Dang. Tell her that I hope the best for her family" Jongwoon smiled and looked down at his notebook. Zuri flashed a quick smile and looked down at his notes. "Did you do the homework last night?" Zuri asked.

Jongwoon was about to answer, but was stopped when a student ran into the classroom.

"FIGHT!!" the student cheered and ran back out into the hallway. Jongwoon jumped up. "Should we go watch?" he asked smiling at Zuri. Zuri just shrugged her shoulders and headed for the door, with Jongwoon at her heels.(not really heels)

When they made it out of the classroom, there was a huge crowd towering over two boys duking it out in the hallway. Zuri and Jongwoon finally made out the faces of the boys and gasped. 

"Is that... Minho??" Zuri asked. 

"Is that Sungmin??" Jongwoon asked. 

Jongwoon and Zuri looked at each other "You know him?" they both said in a synchronized fashion. 

Watching the fight started to make Zuri angry. "Alright, that's enough" she thought and creeped her way into the crowd.

When she made it to the actual fight, she could see that Key and Jonghyun were already trying to pull them apart, along with another teacher. Zuri shook her head and pushed Jonghyun, Key, and the teacher aside and grabbed Minho by the waist.

"That's enough fighting for today, Minho" she said right before throwing him the opposite direction. Everyone watched as Minho slid across the floor. Zuri looked back at the kid Minho was fighting and the first thing she felt was a punch right across her face. Key tensed up at the punch and clenched his fists. 

"Young lady! You are not supposed to get in the middle of a fight like that!" the teacher yelled at Zuri's back, who was giving a dirty look to the boy who just punched her.

She tore her gaze away from the boy and looked up at the teacher. "I did a better job than you, didn't I?!" she snarled. Zuri spun around at all the kids and felt herself fume.

"GO BACK TO CLASS!! SCRAAM!" Zuri roared. All the girls and boys watching jumped and ran for their classrooms. All that was left was the teacher, Jonghyun, Key, Zuri, Minho, and the boy he fought with.

The teacher took the boy's hand and pulled him away. "Come with me, Lee Sungmin..." he hissed and started walking with him towards the principal's office. He turned around and gestured to Minho.

"You too, Choi Minho" the teacher said calmly. Minho got up, rubbed his bloody nose, and followed the teacher.

"It's gunna be okay" Key said and patted Minho on the back, but Minho didn't look back and before they knew it, all who was left was Jonghyun, Key, and Zuri. 

"Wow. I didn't know you were so strong" Jonghyun said to Zuri. "I'm not strong. I'm just good at stopping fights" she shrugged and felt her left eye, which was red, soon to become a bruise.

Zuri had a bruised eye and blood dripping from the side of . Key ran towards her and took her hand. "Don't touch it" he whispered. Zuri obeyed and let Key put her hand down to her side again. Before they knew it, Jonghyun had made it back to his class, leaving Zuri and Key alone.

"Let me help you" Key insisted. Zuri shook her head and started to walk back to her class without saying a word. She had to admit, she was attracted to Key. But at the same time, she didn't want to have a crush. Lately, whenever she saw him, she could feel herself tense up, and she didn't know why. "Why do I feel like this?" she thought

She walked by Key but was captured when he grabbed her wrist.

"Please, let me help you" he pleaded. Zuri squeezed her eyes shut and turned around. When she opened her eyes, she saw him looking at her. He broke out into a smile.

Key wanted to help her, always. After what happened that day in the smoke storm, he felt like he owed her his life.

When Zuri saw his smile, she couldn't hold back a smile of her own. "Okay, fine" she finally gave in and Key rushed her to the nearest bathroom.

"Are you sure this is okay? It's the boys' bathroom" she cringed. Zuri had never broken such rules before.

"It'll be okay... Really" Key tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her inside. Zuri saw the usual things you see in a bathroom, except for one thing.

She had never seen a urinal up close.

She looked away from them and held her breath.

"Don't be so worried" Key giggled and pulled her towards him so he could see her bruised and bloody face. He started to rub a wet cold towel on her eye and wiped away the blood on her face. He let her spit in the sink a couple times when the bleeding stopped, then continued to gently hold the wet rag to her eye.

Zuri loved the way he took care of her so gently. Treating her like a real girl. She hadn't felt that way since her mom cared for her. To be cared for like she was made of glass. She loved being treated like a girl. 

"We're missing class, you know" Zuri whispered while Key blew on her eye. His breath smelled like cool mint.

"They'll understand" he smiled and focused on dabbing her eye. Zuri just looked into his dark brown cat eyes while he took care of her. She loved the way his eyes smiled when he smiled. 

Key looked into her eye carefully and rubbed it as gently as he could. He finally stopped to dry his hands.

He was about to look away when he realized that she was looking into his eyes. When he looked back, all he could see was the color of the ocean.

Her eye color was a mix of green and a bright striking blue. He could feel the ocean when he looked into her eyes. He had never noticed how beautiful her eyes were. It was his first time seeing natural eyes that weren't brown or hazel, but an actual color. 

He sighed. They stared into each other's eyes, not wanting to look anywhere else. Then, they started to snap out of it.

"Uhh.." Key stuttered. Zuri started to snap out of her trance and started to blink rapidly.

"Uhhmm." she let out an obnoxious noise. Key looked around the bathroom and unlocked the door. "I should get back to class then" she said looking down at the ground. She wouldn't dare look at him again. And Key did the same.

"Yeah. We need to go back" he agreed and they went their separate ways. Not taking another look back. 

Zuri walked back into class. Some kids looked down at her, shocked by her red, almost purple, puffy eye. She ran to her desk next to Jongwoon. "Did you go to the nurse? You better have" he pouted. Zuri rolled her eyes. "I'm fine"

Jongwoon nodded. "Sorry, I just.. When I get to know someone better, I start to worry. That's all" Jongwoon said embarrassed. Zuri giggled and pinched his cheek.

"It's okay to worry about your friends" she smiled and turned to the board to start writing down notes. Jongwoon looked at her one last time and turned to the teacher and listened.

---------

"Hey. How was your day?" Zuri asked walking into her cabin when she saw Rainy putting on some makeup.

"Hey. I--" she started, but halted when she saw Zuri's eye, which was now taken on a shade of purple.

"OH MY GOD!! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE!!??!?" she screeched and looked into her blueish green eye. Zuri pushed her back to regain her personal space.

"I stopped a fight" she calmly said and hopped onto her bed. "Who was fighting?" she asked, not supposedly calming down. "Minho. And some guy named Sungmin" she shrugged. "Sungmin? That's an ugly name! How dare he hurt our friend!" she crossed her arms. Zuri giggled.

"So.. Since we're away from the coast, how are you going to check up on your grandma?" Zuri asked the painful question.

"They're gunna text me via the ship's network. It's really expensive, but it's the only way.. They're gunna text me every Sunday" Rainy explained and put on her coat.

"Any way. I'm heading out" she said reaching for the door. "Who with?" Zuri asked. "Just.. Someone.. A friend" she stuttered and grabbed the doorknob.

"OOOOOOHHH nononononononono" Zuri chanted as she blocked Rainy's only way out of the room. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me who this friend is" Zuri smiled evily.

Rainy's eyes darted around the room. "It's uhh" she tried thinking up a good lie.

"Is it..... Taemin??" Zuri asked and held her breath. Rainy let out a long deep sigh.

"Yeeees. What's the big deal?" she moaned. Zuri hopped up into the air.

"YES YES YES YE--- the big deal, Rainy, is that he likes you a lot! A LOT!" Zuri explained happily. "Do you like him back?"

".... I know he likes me" Rainy simply said. Zuri gushed again "YOU DIDN'T DENY IT! YOU LIKE HIM!!!" Zuri yelled and fist pumped the air.

"I don't know how I feel yet, okay? Jeez. Calm down. You're making me feel so weird" Rainy protested. "Am I the only one who has a crush?".

"I don't know. Are you?" Zuri joked. "Well, besides Taemin... WAIT!" Rainy stopped. Zuri jumped.

"Jungsu! Jungsu has a huge crush!" she continued. Zuri's eyes widened. "Really? Good for him. Who does he have a crush on?" Zuri asked the dreadful question calmly. 

"On you" Rainy smiled.

Zuri's smile dropped. Rainy kept smiling.

"No seriously.. Who is it?" Zuri asked again feeling nauseous. "I said.. He has a crush on you. You as in you, Zuri" Rainy repeated.

Zuri started to feel an unknown sadness build up.. "But why me?" Zuri asked desperately.

Just then, Rainy phone buzzed in her hand.. "I really have to go. Later" Rainy smiled, waved, and shut the door.

"I know you're lying to me!" Zuri yelled right as the door shut.

Rainy left Zuri in the room alone to think. "No.. No she's just messing with me. Jungsu doesn't like me. That just doesn't sound.. REAL!" she said out loud.

Zuri thought of crushes. How insane, weird, stupid, and immature they were

Suddenly, Key popped into her head

"Do... I have a crush on... Key?" she asked inside her head.

"NO!" she screamed before kicking Rainy's bunk bed with her bare foot. A sudden shock of pain went through her leg and she fell to the ground.

"What is happening??" she asked holding onto her leg, laying on the ground.

Zuri got up and felt her eye. Remembering him touching it gently, feeling her soft milky skin. Remembering his eyes so close to her's. Remembering how deep his eyes went. She felt like she got lost in them.

Zuri's head started to spin... 

Day 27

Minho walked down the halls, people looking at his bruised face left and right. He tried his hardest to cover his face.

He finally got to where he needed to go and greeted to Key, Onew, Teamin, Jungsu, and Ryeowook.

"Hey guys.." Minho said flatly.

"Look at your face" Ryeowook said immediately. To which Jungsu hit him lightly upside the head.

"Don't say that!" he scolded Ryeowook.

"It's fine, hyung.. It was my stupid mistake" Minho frowned.

"You should've seen the fight though" Jonghyun said approaching the crowd of boys.

"Zuri stopped the fight all on her own. But she got punched in the face" he explained.

Jungsu lit up when he heard Zuri's name. "She did?? Is she okay now?" he asked alarmed. His behavior took Key by surprise.

"Does he like her??" he thought.

Key decided to spark a little jealousy in Jungsu and went on.

"Yeah. I brought her to the boy's bathroom and took care of her eye. She's got a pretty bad black eye" he said to Jungsu.

Key could see the jealousy lingering in his eyes. "Ha! He's totally jealous" Key thought. What Jungsu said next made the atmosphere change.

"Well, if it's a really bad black eye, then you didn't take good care of her. Not good enough" Jungsu hissed. 

Everyone fell silent.

Key looked into Jungsu's flaming eyes and looked down. Was it true though? Did he not take good enough care of her? Was he not good enough?

Key looked around and frowned. "I think I took good care of her" he said proudly and crossed his arms.

"Whatever. I would've done better" Jungsu muttered the last part.

Key's jaw dropped "YOU KNOW WHAT??" Key spat. Jungsu looked at him again.

"Where were you when she got hurt huh?" Key asked loudly.

Before Jungsu could respond, Key marched away and headed for his cabin. School was out anyway

Day 31, a Monday

"Hey there" Jungsu greeted Zuri while he approached the table she sat at.

She looked nervous, and was biting her nails. Her eye wasn't as swollen and purple.

"What's wrong? You look really really nervous" Jungsu asked her rubbing her back.

"I-I haven't seen R-Rainy yet today. At all. I-I mean t-the day is almost over and I h-haven't seen her a-and I'm worried" Zuri explained on the brink of tears.

Jungsu sprung into action and pulled her into an embrace. Zuri was thinking only about Rainy herself that she didn't remember Rainy telling her about Jungsu's crush.

"Shhh. It's okay. She's here somewhere" he shushed her in his arms. Zuri could feel one lone tear fall from her eye.

Jungsu brought her face up slowly and wiped the tear away gently. When she looked into his eyes, she smiled.

But then she remembered.

"I think I'm gunna go look for her again" she snapped and stood up. Jungsu smiled and stood up with her. "I'll come with" he insisted.

Zuri pushed Jungsu back down to the table. "Nope. You stay here. I'll be back" she said all in one breath and speed walked. When she looked back, she saw him looking at her sympathetically, waving goodbye.

Zuri waved to him and turned the corner to where he couldn't see her. 

"As much as I cherish and adore Jungsu as a friend. The way he takes care of me can never compare to the way Key takes care of me" she thought and searched for Rainy again. 

That night. A storm started to stir and the ship ended up under a big dangerous storm.

Zuri cried in bed, hoping and praying Rainy wasn't out in the storm. 

"Why can't I find her??" she cried and blew her nose into another tissue. 

Then, something triggered in Zuri's mind. She jumped out of bed and got dressed. "I can't do this anymore. I can't worry about myself. Rainy comes first" she thought.

Zuri got her shoes on and walked out into the storm. 

------

"RAINY!!!!" Zuri called out again. She searched and searched, but Rainy was still nowhere to be found. 

Zuri took a moment and knelt over the rails on the top story of the ship, looking into the ocean......

...

"Is she.. gone?" Zuri thought

Hot tears started to fall from her eyes again. 

For the first time in forever, Zuri cried hard for a friend. A best friend. Rainy and Zuri had become the best friends in a grand total of about two weeks, and Zuri already felt like Rainy was her responsibility. 

She couldn't sleep without knowing she was safe.

Zuri sat on the ship, getting rained on, hearing the thunder and lightening only a about 100 feet above her head. Her mind went blank. She wasn't only thinking about Rainy. She thought about everyone. 

Key

Rainy

Jungsu

Ryeowook

Taemin

Jongwoon

Onew

Jonghyun

Minho

Her sister, Jenny

Her father

Sunyoung

....Her mother

Suddenly.. She could hear it.

Music. 

A music box, playing over and over again such a sad song. 

Zuri found herself tearing up over the song she heard. 

Zuri knew it was a music box that belonged to Rainy so she stood up weakly and headed towards the source of the music

Then she saw Rainy

Holding her music box close to her heart. No expression could be deciphered from her face

"RAINY!!!" Zuri screamed over the loud thunder and lightening. 

Instead of trying to talk, she decided to run up to her instead. 

Zuri took her into an embrace and Rainy dropped her music box, which still played the sad music. "Where have you been?" Zuri asked. 

Rainy looked up at her and cried. 

"She's dead, Zuri. My grandma is dead"

Zuri felt tears stream down her face at the sound of the word 'dead'. She had wished to never hear it out of a friend's mouth ever again. 

"I'm so sorry" Zuri whispered into Rainy's ear while she hugged her tighter and tighter. 

The two girls cried in each other's arms when a lightening bolt hit the ship and knocked both Zuri and Rainy down to the ground. The volume of the thunder was almost deafening.

"I wanna see Taemin!" Rainy sobbed when she felt Zuri grab her in another embrace. Zuri shushed her. Another lightening bolt hit the ship's main antenna. 

Rainy could start hearing Zuri whisper something to herself. It wasn't only until she leaned in, that she learned that Zuri was praying. 

"Mommy, please. You saved my life. Please save Rainy's" Zuri mumbled. 

Rainy remembered Zuri talk about her mother and how she was in a plane wreck, but how did she save her life?

"What did she just say?" Rainy thought.

---

"We need to get back to our cabin. I'm starting to freeze" Zuri pleaded with Rainy to get up, but she refused. 

The cold rain started to numb their hands and feet. 

"Rainy.. Please. For the love of God" Zuri cried. Her tears would no longer be warm on her face, they were just as cold as the rain. 

"We need help. I think we're gunna freeze to death.." Rainy sobbed, finally standing up, but then falling back down when she could barely feel her legs.

The crew members finally spot them struggling to stand up and were rushed to the medic to be treated for hypothermia..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I94X_rmIBEU&list=LLbI_IcBFsDuxb7BIpI1sH3A   <--- Rainy's sad music box