On Top Of The World

“One! Two! Three!”

The camera flashed on the count of three, and instantly the moment was saved forever. It was the moment the five of us boarded the boat that had the potential to change everyone for the better or worse.

“I think I blinked,” Addison said, turning around to face me.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” I returned, hitting him to start walking forward.

We moved out of the way for the next group to be photographed. The guides were ushering us down stairs and through a door; they would take our hands so that we didn’t trip. It was going down the white, metal stairs that I silently thanked myself for remembering to wear flat shoes instead of heals.

At first the inside of the ship didn’t seem like much, but when we turned the corner, that’s when I knew I was smack in the middle of the fantasy I had been dreaming about. Each table had an elegant white tablecloth placed on it with silverware arranged around each plate. Windows surrounded the entire room so that wherever you looked you could see the water that was a little above my ankles.

“Over there! Grab those two tables!”

Meghan, Jackie, Desiree, and Addison pushed passed me and grabbed the two round tables right next to the DJ.

I sat down with my back to the window and soon our other friends poured into the lower deck and filed into the seats we saved for them.

“Sarah, over here!”

“Greg! Scott!”

“Gianna, Corey, we saved seats for you!”

Calls beckoning all of them were being shouted across the dance floor (which would remain vacant until dinner was over) and into the ears of some of our best friends. Soon we had thirteen friends sitting at two tables conversing amongst each other about how excited we all were. We were basically split into a boy table and a girl table; the only exception would be Addison, who sat at our table.

“Take a good look,” Desiree said as she took her jacket off. “‘Cuz this is the last time you’ll ever see me in a dress!”

“I don’t know why! You look gorgeous!” Jackie complimented. We all nodded our heads in agreement.

Slowly all our conversations split into little groups: Jackie and Desiree, Gianna and Corey, and Meghan, Sarah and myself. Before the boat left the dock I noted Addison staring fixedly out the window, his light blue eyes flickering every couple seconds. He was completely in his own mind.

“Addison?”

He looked up at me, only half of his attention present.

“What are you thinking about?”

The entire table grew silent as all the girls leaned in to hear his small voice over the roar of the engine below us.

Addison struggled at first, not exactly sure how to answer. Then he smiled at all of us and explained exactly what conclusion the wheels in his head were coming too.

“I just have that dream-like feeling. You know the one? When you know, you know that something big will happen?”

“Almost like you feel this shouldn’t be happening to you, because it is so surreal.”

“Kind of,” he went. “It’s just hard for me to explain, I guess.”

The DJ came over the speakers just as Gianna was about to say something. She slumped back in her chair and crossed her arms, playfully offended at being interrupted by the “rude” DJ.

“Hey, hey, hey! Welcome all you kids from Memorial Junior High to The Spirit of Philadelphia cruise line!” The crowd of over two hundred students cheered back at the DJ. “My name is Matt and I’ll be your DJ tonight. Feel free to make as many requests as you want!” He went on to explain the safety rules (Not allowed to go on the upper deck without a chaperone, no horseplay near the railings, stay out of the kitchen, and how to apply the life jacket.) Following his “obvious safety 101” speech he told us the procedure that would be taken to get our food; we would be called up one table at a time.

Our table was around the middle, so I knew it would take a while for us to get called up for food.

“Hey, Katie!”

My head snapped in the direction from which my voice was called. It was David, his shirt tucked in and necktie neatly in place, I’d never seen him looking so mature.

“Oh, hey, David! I almost didn’t recognize you, you look so… different.”

“I think everyone looks different tonight,” he laughed and looked around the table then continued on. “A bunch of us were going to the upper decks, wanna come?”

A rush of anticipation surged through my bloodstream. The upper decks sounded very promising for adventure and excitement. I stood up where I was sitting but immediately sat back down, the smile wiped from my face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Two things,” I held up the coordinating fingers. “One: We need a chaperone. Two: I’m hungry.” My eyes strayed to the food sitting beautifully placed at the buffet only a few feet in front of me. It all looked like it came straight out of a fine cuisine magazine.

David laughed at my obvious stomach pain and went around the table asking the same question, most of them had the same answer I did.

“Fine,” he surrendered. “But right after dinner?”

Everyone squealed their “yes’s” from the pure excitement about going up top. I guess everyone had the same thoughts I did about the potential the upper decks truly had.

Our table finally got called for food and beverage. Meghan, Addison and I were together in line. We surveyed the food and took whatever we found appetizing. My hunger was too overwhelming, so I took anything that looked good, probably not the smartest decision on my part.

We got back to the table to discover that most people were already halfway done with their food. I must’ve spent too much time getting a little bit of everything…

“This is unfair,” Gianna grumbled slamming her fork down. We all looked up, curious to see what had gotten her so frustrated. “Five minutes ago, I was starving. Now, I just can’t eat!” She shoved her plate away from her and cradled her head in her fists.

Everyone laughed at her aggravation, except for me. The more I looked down at my plate, seeing bits of half eaten food, the more I realized how my grumbling stomach wasn’t from hunger, it was from nerves.

“She’s right,” I said silencing the giggles around me. “I’m so excited about what might happen tonight, that I can’t eat.”

“What do you think will happen?” Meghan asked from my left side.

“I dunno…”

“It’s like I was saying before,” Addison stepped in. “That dream-like feeling? It seems like they’re all connected.”

Pensive silence moved around the table, everyone thinking about something different.

I knew what I wanted to happen, but I doubted that it would. Yet, this feeling was so strong that I could barely deny the fact that something would happen, even if it wasn’t what I wanted.

“Fear of the unknown…” Corey whispered to herself, but still loud enough for me (someone across the table) to hear what she said.

“What do you mean?” Jackie asked.

“The three fears that every human has? One of them is fear of the unknown.” She looked around the table, wanting some reaction from us, but getting nothing. “Maybe we built up this night in our minds so much that now that we’re here we realize the potential for things to go wrong? Maybe that’s what’s causing all of us to have this bizarre feeling?”

By now everyone’s plates were pushed back and no one at our table was eating anymore. The fact of the matter was that Corey was probably right. The potential for things to go wrong seemed much greater than the potential for things to go right. Then again this is coming from a slight pessimist… So I reassured myself that things would be fine and took another sip of water.

The sun had set completely by the time David had found a chaperone to accompany all of us up to the top decks.

“Ladies, and… Addison… Shall we depart to the upper decks now?” He said with a joyful bounce in his step as he held out his arm for anyone to escort.

“Yes, shall we depart?” Jacob Smiko jumped to David’s side and held out his arm, making himself a mirror image of whom he was standing next to.

“Who else is up there?” Meghan asked.

Both boys shrugged and waved their arms around as if to say, ‘Come on, we don’t have all night!’

“Let’s find out!” I squealed jumping to my feet and holding out my arm for Meghan. “Shall we?”

“Of course!” She giggled and took my arm.

In my mind I could see our idiot smiles as we walked passed our friends. I could also see their dumbstruck faces as they watched us walk ahead of them.

As we walked through the hallway and up the stairs from which we came I heard our friends calling after us to slow down, but we couldn’t help it. Our excitement was at such an intense level that even if we wanted to slow down we know we couldn’t have.

Just one more flight of stairs…

The nerves in my stomach seemed to rise as we climbed the stairs. I knew we were close.

Only nine more steps…

I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, my breathing pace quickened, and the hairs on my arm raised. This could’ve been from the dramatic change in tempurature, or the adrenaline pumping through my body with every beat of my heart.

The last two steps…

This was it. I could feel it. This was the dream-like state Addison was talking about. This was the fear of the unknown that Corey mentioned. This was the fairytale that I’ve been waiting for my entire life. I mean, how more fairytale could you get then what this was? All of my friends were in dresses or ties, we were miles away from our homes, and we were on a romantic cruise ship sailing on the Delaware River. This is as close fairytale as I’m ever gonna get.

Now just step onto the platform…

I braced myself for facing the wind and closed my eyes. The next thing I felt was the cold March wind against my face and my foot hitting the wet floor.