April 11 7:35 am

        “I don’t know why I agreed to do this.”

        Lisa watched as Hannah continued to pace their stateroom, as she had been for the last half hour.

        With hands in the pockets of her jeans, Hannah walked back and forth around the small space that was their stateroom on G deck. “This was the stupidest idea I’ve ever had! What was I thinking agreeing to having breakfast with him and his friends? We don’t belong there. Do you have any idea what people are probably going to be saying about us?”

        Lisa stepped in front of Hannah and stopped Hannah’s movements with her hand. “Stop it! What does it matter what people think? He obviously asked you because he likes you.”

        Hannah realized that she was nervous, and that scared her. Never in her life had she been nervous. Not even when she wasn’t sure if she would wake up the next morning. She never got nervous living on the street. For the last four years of her life, Hannah had been dealt bad hands in life, but she had faced them and had only become stronger. Now, since she’d met Lance it was like her walls were falling down. She could no longer hold on to her self control.

        “What is it about this guy that has you acting like this?” Lisa asked. Honestly, she couldn’t wait to meet the guy. She hadn’t heard much because Hannah refused to say anything about him except him name and why he was going to New York. But Lisa could tell that this Lance had a strong effect on Hannah.

        “Nothing.”

        “Oh, please,” Lisa said. “Don’t give me that. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

        “He’s just being so nice to me. And he’s so rich. I mean, he’s got everything. He’s got the looks and the money. He could be spending time with any girl on this ship. Why does he choose me to spend his days with? Though I’m pretty sure this is just another one of his “experiments.” In a few days, he’ll get tired of me and then he’ll be gone, and he’ll find a pretty young thing that has money and something to her name.”

        “Don’t put yourself down like this. You’re an amazing person with a lot to offer.”

        “But not to a guy like Lance. Let’s face it, I’m not the type of girl a guy like him dates. I have to end this before I get over my head.”

        “You can’t be serious,” Lisa said. She was surprised Hannah would just give up a friendship just because she thought her heart might get broken.

        “All my life I’ve waited for someone to come and save me from this life,” Hannah said. “And I think I could fall for him. I don’t want to take that chance.”

        “And what if he falls for you, too, and you’ve already walked away? What then? Are you just going to let a chance like that pass you by?”

        “I’ve been hurt way too much to let myself fall for anyone again,” Hannah said.

        Though Hannah had never talked about it before, Lisa could tell the first moment she had met her that there was something in Hannah’s past that kept her from trusting people…especially the opposite sex.

        Lisa opened up the door and the two girls headed to the lift to take them down to A deck.

        Hannah stepped inside the lift and looked down at the ground as the lift took them down. A lift was exactly like an elevator, but had bars on the outside of it. Hannah felt foolish. She was going down to have breakfast in first class in a pair of old blue jeans and a red sweater. What was she thinking?

        Lisa had left Johnny with the daycare, that was located on B deck. She was a little nervous about this, but not as nervous as she knew Hannah was. There was something deep inside, Lisa knew, that was keeping Hannah from opening up to Lance. She just couldn’t figure out what it was.

        Hannah stopped at the entrance of the lounge. “Okay, they’re not here, let’s go back.” She attempted to take a few steps back, but Lisa stalled her.

        “We’re not going anywhere. It’s still a few minutes before eight.”

        “Damn,” Hannah muttered under her breath. She just wished her knees would stop shaking. And damn it, she couldn’t even stand up straight. She felt like she was on the edge of a cliff.

        The clock in the lounge made a loud DING, announcing that it was now eight o’clock. And as if on cue, Lance came up walking in front of his four friends, all of them dressed casually in slacks and shirts, each guy wearing a different color shirt.

        Hannah suddenly felt out of place as she watched several people enter the dining room. They the women were wearing fancy dresses, most of them made of lace, but some just simple colors, but still looked elegant. They looked good enough to give Hannah a bad feeling about the whole breakfast idea.

        “What are we waiting for? Let’s go eat,” Joey said.

        The other three followed behind Joey, leaving Lisa, Lance, and Hannah alone outside the dining room.

        “Shall we?” Lance asked.

        Hannah hesitated. She knew she could just run and never face him again. But that would be childish, she realized. Best just get it over with.

        “Okay,” she said hesitantly.

        Fortunately, Lance didn’t know and ushered the two girls in front of him. The three of them joined the three other guys at a table near the back of the huge room. Hannah looked around at all the people in the room, trying not to have eye contact with any of the guys at the table. She had no clue to who they were.

        “Hannah, I want you to meet my friends,” Lance said.

        “I’m Joey.” Joey reached across the table and shook her hand. “I’m the cute one.”

        Chris chuckled, then took his turn shaking her hand while eating a slice of toast at the same time. “I’m Chris. I’m the funny one.”

        JC was next. He was sitting right next to her, so he just put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m JC. I gotta say you don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into having breakfast with these four loonies.”

        “Hey!” Justin looked offended. “We’re not loonies.” He turned his attention to Hannah and shook her hand gently. Ever so thoughtful, Hannah thought. “I’m Justin. I’m the adorable one, as you can see.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

        Hannah shrugged that off with a quiet laugh. “I’m Hannah, and this is Lisa. We share a room.”

        JC looked Lisa over, and gave her a secret wink. “We promise we don’t bite, regardless of what Lance has told you.”

        Lance rolled his eyes, then looked over at Lisa. “I’m Lance. It’s nice to meet you.”

        Lisa smiled. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Hannah’s told me lots about you.”

        Hannah’s face went blush red. “I did not.”

        Lance looked flattered. “All good I hope.”

        “You could say that,” Lisa said.

        Lance wanted to ask what she meant by that, but was interrupted when the waiter brought their breakfast to the table. On each plate was scrambled eggs, toast, and two slices of ham. Next came their drinks. Each person got a glass of orange juice and a cup of black coffee. The cream and sugar was already on the table.

        All five guys quickly dug in. Hannah noticed that Lance put a lot of sugar in his coffee.

        Still a little nervous, Hannah picked up her fork and picked at her eggs. When was the last time she had eaten anything this good? She realized why not take up this opportunity. This could be the only time she got a decent meal on this trip.

        Lisa, on the other hand, was quite enjoying herself. She could see JC watching her from the corner of her eye. She found it flattering that he was looking at her like that. She tried to concentrate on the last of her eggs when she caught him smiling at her. Everyone else was done eating, and she was just finishing up.

        Lisa put her fork down. “I should probably go check on Johnny.”

        She swore she saw a disappointed look on JC’s face. “Who’s Johnny?” he asked.

        “My son.”

        Then she swore she saw him smile again.

        “Wow, you have a son?” Joey said. “How old is he?”

        “Eight months,” Lisa told him. She got up from her chair and pushed it in. “Thank you for inviting me to breakfast.” She turned to Hannah. “I’ll see you later.”

        When Lisa turned around and walked out of the room, JC’s eyes were glued on her back. Okay, he admitted to himself, he was attracted to her. There was definitely something interesting about that girl, regardless of the fact that she had a son.

            *****

        “That went okay, didn’t it?”

        Lance and Hannah were walking out on the boat deck, after they had finished breakfast. The four guys had left to go check out the engine room. They said they’d meet up with them a little later.

        “I guess,” Hannah said. She was still a little nervous. She guessed it was because now she and Lance were alone.

        “You guess?”

        “Sorry.” Hannah stopped walking and leaned against the railing. “I’ll admit I was a little nervous. I don’t exactly belong in first class.”

        “My friends really like you.”

        “They don’t judge me.”

        “We’re not like that,” he said. “You should know that I certainly don’t.”

        “I know you don’t. That’s what boggles my mind.” Hannah looked out at the water.

        Lance walked over to her. “Why is it so hard to believe? Bad past experience or something?”

        She put her head down. “You wouldn’t understand.”

        “Try me,” he said.

        Hannah spun around quickly, glaring at him. “Just don’t okay? You don’t understand me, I don’t understand you. We’re from two different worlds. Don’t pretend like you care about me.”

        She wished she could take that back the moment the words left her mouth. But it was too late. The words had already been said.

        “I’m sorry if I thought we were friends. I thought that maybe you would understand that I care about you. I’m not sure why, but I do.”

        He wasn’t angry, she realized. He just wanted to be her friend.

        “You’re so different,” she said.

        “Different from who?” he asked. He wasn’t sure whether he should be offended by that or not.

        “Everyone I’ve ever met. When my parents died, I lost everything. I moved out onto the street and suddenly I was an outsider. Though I lived in the same town I grew up in, it was like no one recognized me anymore. All they care about is money and who has it and who doesn’t.”

        “Money isn’t everything,” he said.

        “Not everybody believes that.” Hannah looked back over at him, taking her gaze away from the water. “I grew up in a place that was high in society. If you didn’t have money, you didn’t belong.”

        “Then it’s a good thing you’re going to New York.”

        Hannah sighed. “I don’t even know why I’m going there. I just need to go somewhere else. I had to get away from there.”

        He put a hand on her shoulder. “You know, it’s okay once in a while to ask for help.”

        She moved away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t pretend like you know what I’m going through. You’re rich, and you’ll probably get even richer now with your new career. You’ll never know a day where you don’t have food on the table or a roof over your head. And would you stop trying to give me advice? I can live my own life.”

        “That’s what friends do.”

        “Then maybe we shouldn’t be friends!”

        “Why are you acting like this?” he asked.

        “We just met for crying out loud! And you act like you know me. Well you don’t! So just leave me alone!”

        Hannah fled the boat deck, exiting to the door that led to the lift, then went back down to her room.

        Lance wasn’t sure what he did wrong, but he for sure knew one thing. He was really started to fall for her. What had he gotten himself into?
       

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