Mermaids Don't Drown

Chapter 2

For the next few days everyone is rushing around. Whether it's getting boxes, packing, or working on buying and selling houses, everyone is working 24/7.

Autumn is working on selling the house, and Avery is trying to buy one. Autumns parents were realtors, and everyone trusts Avery's house decisions.

Avrie and Kayla work on putting things in boxes, and getting a moving truck, while Jenna's job is to sell unwanted things, or throw things away.

Autumn and Avery don't do much, except make piles labeled "keep" and "go" for things in their rooms. They're too busy with the houses.

Avrie and Kayla are tired at the end of everyday, and Jenna is happy cause she just goes to the dumpster a lot, and doesn't have to do much work.

Once the week is up, Autumn and Avery are rarely at home, since they're out collecting money and keys. (Autumn getting money for selling their house, Avery getting keys to their new house.)

The moving truck left early, since their stuff has to fly over seas to get to their new house. Avery finds directions to where the boat will leave, and sells the two cars they all share.

Kayla is wearing her dark black shirt, and black jeans. She likes showing how emo she is.

Jenna is wearing a teal shirt, with coral swirls. She has on loose blue jeans, that holds a few granola bars.

Autumn is wearing a sky blue shirt, with blue-green shorts. Can you tell she likes the color blue?

Avery is wearing a blue top, with gold letters spelling out, "But first, Coffee." And she's wearing dark blue jeans.

Avrie is wearing a green and blue shirt, with blue jeans. The jeans have a fire red outline around the pockets, and where it's sewn together.

They each bring one bag, and they Uber their way to the dock. They say one final goodbye to their house, as they walk to their ride.

Once they get to the dock, they find their captain. He looks like your stereotypical caption. Scar on his left cheek, captain hat, wearing only white and blue, with black boots. He smiles kindly at the girls as they walk closer.

"Are you guys the lucky winners of the raffle?" He asks. They each nod with excitement, handing them their identification. The man scans over it, checking his clipboard before yelling, "Follow me!" and handing them back their ID.

He leads them on a nice ship, that's double the size of their old house. "I'll show you to your room, then I'll give you guys the schedule. Then you guys can explore!" He tells the girls, walking them into a roofed section of the ship.

He opens the door, and lets the 5 girls in front of him. They walk a few feet, taking in the sites.

Given it was just a hallway, there wasn't much to take in.

The girls look down the hallway, seeing the wooden walls, with pictures splattered across them.

Some of the pictures have the whole crew, some are just certain people with their catches, like big fish or sharks.

"Follow me!" The captain said. "Oh I'm sorry. Where are my manners? I'm Captain Jace. Nice ta meetch'a!" He says, tipping his hat. The anti-social girls simply smile back, as he walks to the end of the long hallway. They pass many other doors, labeled things like "captains quarters" or "storage."

Once Captain Jace got to the last door, he opened it and gestured inside. Everyone piled in, and he walked inside as well.

"This is yer room." He tells the girls. "Since I wasn't expecting 5 people, y'all might have to bunk."

"It's fine. When we were young, we'd always-"

"Ya I don't care." Captain Jace cuts Avrie off. She looks over at Autumn, who just shakes her head. Avrie is not the person you cut off, or she'll cut you.

Avery and Autumn turn to each other, as do Kayla and Avrie. Jenna walks over to a bed, and plops down. She throws her bag to the side.

Autumn and Avery pick a bed, as do Avrie and Kayla. They have always slept with each other if they're at sleepovers. Jenna sleeps like a star fish.

"Here's the itinerary. It's things like when food is and whatnot. I'll leave ye to yer own devices. We leave at 1:00." He says, walking out and shutting the door.

"He's a delight." Avrie says, kicking off her shoes and unpacking. Everyone repeats her actions, and starts putting things in the drawers and making the place feel more like home.

"I'm gonna check out the place." Autumn says. "Anyone wanna come?"

"I will." Avery says, flinging herself off the bed.

"I'm tired. Packing, believe it or not, is tiring." Avrie says, mocking the fact Avery and Autumn didn't pack.

"So's putting a roof over your head." Avery says, before going out. Autumn follows, as the others stay in. "We had to get out before she came up with a comeback." Avery says, once the door shut. Autumn laughs as they walk back down the hall.

Jenna starts looking around the room. The ceiling is metal, while the carpets are a dirty white. The walls are a beat-up wood, that creak with the boat. The bedspread is that of a child's. It has cartoon boats on it, surrounded by a calm blue. The bed is sandy, but it'll be fine. There are a few windows, that shows North Carolina.

'I can't wait to get out of here.' Jenna thinks.

The endless nights of packing settles around the girls, as sleep consumes them.

Avery and Autumn are running around the dock, watching passing dolphins. A horn goes off, and the girls cover their ears. They see people forming around the boat, and they're waving. The boat makes a sudden jerk, and starts moving. The girls wave back at the people, as they go out to sea.

Autumn and Avery watch the waves crash against the side of the ship, and that talk about their new home.

"It's gonna be great. The place has a lot of windows for natural light, it's two stories, but, because of the awesome deal, it was only a three room place." Avery tells Autumn.

"Well then, we better get in first so we get first dibs on the master room." Autumn says.

"Ya." Avery says chuckling. "It's upstairs. That's all I know."

"Welp. I know where I'm going." Autumn says.

"It's gonna be awesome. We can get plants and animals. And it'll be great." Avery says, with a huge smile on her face. Avery has always loved big houses with lighting. Especially when we can have animals and plants.

"Thanks for taking care of that." Autumn says, leaning against the railing.

"Sure thing! Thanks for taking care of our house." Avery responds.

"That was nothing." Autumn says. "Well, I'm probably gonna go see what the others are up to. Maybe get some rest."

"Ya, I'll be there in a second." Avery says. Autumn walks off, and Avery takes out her phone. She looks out into the ocean. "I wonder what it'd be like to live out there. Seeing only this beauty everyday." She says, and turns to go to bed.