A Sparrow Takes Flight

Chapter 1

"Katelyn Smyth."

"Here."

"Rebecca Dawson. Sorry I missed your name earlier."

"Here."

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Mrs. James!" The entire class answers as one, they are used to the greeting, as it's almost the end of the school year, they only have 2 months to go.

"We will be continuing our history. Today is time to begin a new chapter in history, the time that is still affecting us. For the rest of the year we will go in-depth into the history of pirates that have plagued our waters." A loud cheering breaks out, this was sure to be an interesting topic-one that they could spend a lot of time on.

"Who is the first pirate we will cover?" Katelyn asked, very curious.

"That is a good question Miss Katelyn. The first of the important pirates in our waters was named Captain Barbosa. Hector Barbosa. His history is tightly intertwined with the second pirate we will study, Captain Jack Sparrow."

"Thank you ma'am." Katelyn couldn't wait. Her mother never would tell her anything about pirates, it was a touchy subject for her.

"Captain Barbosa. One of the most feared pirates of all time. Originally employed as first mate on The Black Pearl. He was employed to Captain Jack Sparrow. Sparrow wanted to go after the treasure of Isla De La Muerta. Barbosa asked Jack to give up the location, as Jack was the only one who knew where it was. Jack gave it up, and Barbosa committed a mutiny against Jack, taking the ship and crew, leaving Jack behind on an island with only a pistol with one shot. Their stories part for the next 10 years..."

After class the tales of Barbosa and his crew were all anyone from the class could talk about! Everyone was fascinated, including Katelyn. "I wonder how much of that is true, I mean, doesn't cursed gold and men turned skeleton in moonlight seem a bit far-fetched?"

"Yeah, but it sure does sound cool!"

"Scary to me. I mean, what would that even look like? Freaky. That's what. If that's true I never wanna see."

"Still though..."

"Nope. Nope. Nooo not me." Katelyn had to admit it was a neat story, although, as she told her best friend, she never wanted to see, nor did she believe the story.

Time passed, and the last week of school came, nothing really changing. They were almost done learning the tales of Jack Sparrow, of whom was quite the interesting character. Although not a lot was known about the famed pirate, tales and legends were what fueled their lessons. The last day, things got interesting.

"No one knows, well, except perhaps fellow pirates, where Captain Jack is now, nor what he is doing. Just remember, piracy is a crime, punishable by death. We are teaching you about these bloodthirsty men only because they are a part of our history." Katelyn noted that Mrs. James stressed that it was 'not ok' to be a pirate. She wasn't surprised though, this was a British school after all.

Suddenly the class broke out into whispers, all casting excited glances at the window. Katelyn leaned on her desk, and looking out the window, saw what everyone pointed at. Over the tops of buildings, sails of ships at the harbor were visible. Everyone was staring at some black sails approaching.

"What has everyone so excited?" Mrs. James strode over to the window as she spoke.

"It's The Black Pearl!" Shouted Addison, Katelyn's best friend. Katelyn rolled her eyes, just because they saw black sails did not mean it was the Pearl.

Mrs. James sighed. "Just because you see black sails does not mean it is the Pearl." The bell rang, and everyone ran out of the room, eager for summer break and spending time at the beautiful Caribbean beaches.

"Coming Katelyn?" Addison asked, lingering by the door.

"Yeah." Katelyn ran over, and together they walked through the port to their houses.

They passed the harbor, and Addison got extremely excited. "It's The Pearl! The ship is black too!" Katelyn only responded by rolling her eyes.

The girls separated, headed to their separate houses. Katelyn strolled into hers, but stopped short. There was a man inside talking to her mom.