One More Time

CHANEL

Ana and I drove to the port and stayed over-night in a hotel near the site. I wanted to get there a day early, so I could get some pictures. I wasn’t a professional photographer by any means, but Ana did have a fun idea for my blog. I could take pictures and document the cruise with everyone from my high school years. I could make it an opinion piece on the psychological dichotomy people experience in high school when they feel like those are the best years of their lives. I was going to give my own testimony of high school, complete with Rhett’s and my disaster story, and then juxtapose it with pictures of how everyone was doing.

With their permission, of course.

I was going to title it “When You Think the Best Is Over.” The moral of this week-long saga would be living proof that high school doesn’t always harbor the best. I was going to make a point that it was easy to glamorize it when looking back on it, but that doesn’t mean it was the best. I wanted to show people that life could be enjoyed during all stages, even when getting together only to reminisce about the past.

I announced it on my blog to get a feel for its audience, and I had thousands of people flood my comments section saying they couldn’t wait.

But now, I was nervous. Friday had come around, and we were preparing to board, and my eyes couldn’t stop scanning the crowd. I saw a lot of people I remembered. Our class president and the captain of the cheerleading squad stood near the ship. I followed her line of sight and saw the quarterback of our football team already grinding up on someone. Ana’s arm was linked with mine as my camera hung around my neck, ready to snap pictures.

“ID and tickets, please.”

Ana and I pulled out everything we needed before we could board. We were handed a sheet of paper of the island excursions we could take once we docked at all the ports we were set to dock at. Ana was giggling and squealing, ready for a good time as we wheeled our shit behind us.

But my eyes were still scanning the crowd, looking for Rhett.

“Come on. Let’s get to our rooms,” Ana said.

Before we could get to our rooms, we were stopped by Connie, the class president.

“Oh, my gosh. I am so glad you guys are here.”

“Hey there, Connie,” Ana said. “How are you?”

“I am so good. I’m shocked at the turnout for this cruise! Are you guys? Anyway, Chanel. You are, like, royalty to our class right now. I follow your blog like crazy! I’m so excited you’re doing a piece on the cruise.”

“I announced that last night,” I said.

“Oh, I subscribe. I know when you post.”

“Creepy,” Ana said, under her breath.

“Anyway, I sent out a little blast to the RSVP list online. I told everyone about the fun little thing you’re doing, and most of them are up for it. A few haven’t responded, but you can take pictures whenever you want and check it against that list for permission. I thought that might make it a little easier,” Connie said.

“Thanks. I think,” I said.

“So, here are your itine

raries,” Connie said.

“We have schedules?” Ana asked.

“Oh, yes. It’s not a hard schedule, but we have certain meetups throughout the week for all of us to get together. Isn’t that fun? Tonight there’s a dinner for all of us to hang out and talk and catch up. I rented us out one of the entire ballrooms. You’re welcome,” Connie said.

“Uh-huh,” Ana said.

“We travel two days to get to the first port,” I said.

“We do. And it’s going to be so. Much. Fun. Anyway, make sure you’re there for all the get-togethers, Chanel. It’ll make for some wonderful pictures!”

“Yay,” I said, my sarcasm completely lost on Connie.

I watched Connie bound away as Ana dragged me down the hallway. We slid into the elevator with our stuff and went to find our room. I was nervous as fuck. I knew Rhett was going to be here any moment, if he wasn’t already on the ship. I was wondering when I would run into him. Would he be at the dinner tonight? Surely not all this get-together shit was mandatory, but maybe he would go?

“Okay, I think this is our floor,” Ana said.

We stepped off the elevator and started filtering through numbers. We were standing in front of room 626, so we took a right and started walking. We were moving toward the back of the ship where all the activities were and the balcony that overlooked the open expanse of the floor-level deck.