Eden

Chapter 1: Jade

Jade's POV

I dig my heels into the wooden floorboards of the pool deck, fearing the possibility of falling overboard. My sweaty palms wrap tightly around the railing as I force myself to peer over the edge of the cruise ship. Opaque blue waves stories below me rhythmically collide with the steel of the ship, rocking the gigantic boat back and forth to the point where it feels like the world is swimming in circles around me.

I feel a hand forcefully land on my shoulder. A shiver of anxiety mixed with adrenaline races down my spine causing me to jump.

"Jade, the club's open," I hear my brother's voice. He pauses. "You okay?"

"Ye...yeah," I say between nervous breaths, tearing myself away from the railing. I take a long shaky breath and try to gather my nerves. "I'm fine Kai, you just scared the shit out of me."

Man, heights are not my thing. I pull a long black strand of hair from my mouth that the breeze had blown into my face. What would've happened if I actually fell over the side of the railing? Would I just disappear and nobody would notice? Thoughts of my dad immediately begin to flood my mind.

I stop myself. I'm not going to go there, not right now.

"Do you want to come with me to the teen club?" Kai beams. His olive-toned skin has already tanned two shades darker.

I tug more strands of hair away from my face.

"So I can mingle with snobby rich girls as they gossip and try to grind on all the snobby rich guys? Yeah...hard pass," I manage to mutter as the wind blows more of my hair back into my face.

His smile slips. "Come on, Jade. It's a fucking miracle that we have a chance to go on a cruise for a whole month. It would be so much more fun with friends instead of writing your novel the entire time."

He already rambled on earlier about how it would be good for me to have a good time on vacation before going into senior year of high school. I can have a good time on my own with a few margaritas and my friend Eric on the phone.

"Jade!" my ears pick up a familiar yet irritating voice. "You need to change your shirt right now!"

We turn our heads to see Jenna and Chris marching towards us in their Hawaiian t-shirts with a look of repulsion painted on their faces. Their eyes linger on the Chinese symbols etched into my back. Dad and Kai spent hours working on it.

Splendid. The last thing I want right now—or ever—is to see the people I'm supposed to call family. On land, I have places to go to avoid them. On this ship, there's nowhere to run. 

Chris scans the area to make sure no one's around.

"This is unacceptable! Your tattoos are showing again." He forcefully grabs me by the arm, "What will people think of us? Letting a seventeen-year-old walking around with those showing? You need to change right now."

I look over at Kai to see him silently staring at the floor. My eyes shift down to my black Red Hot Chili Peppers cropped tank top and ripped denim shorts. Red Hot Chili Peppers was dad's favorite band. My jaw tightens as I try to swallow the anger rising in my throat.

"No," I mutter under my breath.

Jenna's brows snap together. "What'd you say?"

"I said no," I repeat myself louder, this time glaring into her furious blue eyes. "Nobody here knows us and nobody knows how old I am anyways."

Chris sneers at me. "That doesn't matter. It's obvious that you're still a kid, and when you're walking around with us you're a representation of us."