And the rewrite continues...this one is actually the main reason why I decided to revise all of them. Now that the cruise is actually over, I'm thinking that I may need to write about what *actually* happened. Or not. ^-^ (Like anybody really wants to read about me stalking Alex some more. *g*) *sniffles* There wasn't a bowling alley! Just some really expensive Internet access...
Disclaimer: Probably the only person I can claim ownership of is Megan. Go figure. Everybody else belongs to their respective selves. (Or should it be his/her? Probably; I didn't pay too much attention to that part of English, as it was almost the end of the year.)
"That's a really big boat," Megan commented, looking up at the cruise ship.
"Really? Thanks for telling me that; I never would've guessed otherwise."
"Aren't we cranky after a twenty-hour bus ride, Breanna," she remarked to the French horn player.
"No, I'm naturally this way."
"Oh, right, I forgot. So, what's this boat called?"
"The Tigigantic, or something like that."
"Tigigantic? Sounds fishy to me."
"Everything sounds fishy to you, Megan."
"That's usually 'cause it is."
"Yeah, like that trip to Oz you went on last fall?" Breanna said mockingly.
"Hey, it was real. Just ask any of the flutes."
"Sure, Dorothy. Let's just get on the boat now, okay?"
"Whatever. Is there a bowling alley? I saw people on a commercial on a ship like this, and there was a bowling alley."
"Can you bowl?"
"Well, no, but that's a completely moot point, now isn't it?"
This sort of inane banter continued till Breanna got to her cabin. "Good luck," she told Megan. "You'll need it, considering your tendency to get lost."
"Actually," Megan said smugly, "my cabin's right across the hall. So there." She barely refrained from sticking her tongue out. "Oh, by the way, did you hear about the mass cancellations? Apparently, over a hundred people didn't show, so we each get our own cabin."
"Cool."
"Definitely. I wonder who else is around here?"
"I think Lindsay said she was next door to me, and Jenny's just down the hall. Erica's somewhere around here, too, I heard."
"Starkey said he's across the hall," Megan added. "You're just more informed than any sane person should be, aren't you?"
"Maybe, but at least I'm still sane. As opposed to some people."
"Very funny. Can we go find the bowling alley now?"
"Do you just like wandering aimlessly or something?"
"As a matter of fact, I do."
"Oh, okay, just thought I'd check. What's up with the whole 'we' thing, anyway?"
"I thought you were the star member of the Bowling Poodles."
"Right. Like we have a bowling team."
"If we did, we'd have to use bumpers."
"No, those are only for bowlingly-challenged people like you."
"Bowlingly-challenged? That sounds like something I'd make up."
"Excuse me? Are you implying that bowlingly-challenged isn't a word?"
"No, I'm saying it directly: bowlingly-challenged is not a word."
"Bowlingly-challenged is a good word!"
"Well, if it was a word, it would be a nice one, but unfortunately, it's not!"
"What do you think, Jenny?" another person said.
Breanna and Megan turned around, surprised. They hadn't heard anybody walk up.
"I don't think so," Jenny said. "How about you, Lindsay?"
"It's definitely a word, if you ask me."
"Why are you arguing about being bowlingly-challenged, anyway?" Jenny asked.
"Megan wanted me to go with her to find a bowling alley," Breanna explained.
"Bowling? Sounds fun."
"I love bowling! It's awesome!" That, of course, was Lindsay.
Megan grinned triumphantly at Breanna. "Okay, let's go bowling!"
"But I wanted to go swimming," Breanna protested.
"Oh, come on. You know beating the pants off me'll be fun."
"Me'll? Is that a word?"
"It is in southern Illinois."
"Good point. So let's go bowling, oh bowlingly-challenged one."
"Bowling?" yet another person asked. "Can I come?"
"No, Starkey," Megan said without looking to see who it was.
"Aw, come on, Megan," Lindsay pleaded.
"All right," she relented. "But only 'cause Derek could possibly be more bowlingly-challenged than me."
"Nobody is more bowlingly-challenged than you, Megan."
"How would you know, Breanna?"
"Just a lucky guess."
Finally, the five Marching Poodles set out to find the bowling alley. Since nobody thought of looking at a map or asking somebody for directions, it took them about five hours to locate it. Although they all noticed that the halls were definitely moving, nobody had been on a cruise before, so they didn't think anything of it till a voice over the loudspeaker said, "Could I have your attention please? We are currently encountering a small storm and being blown slightly off-course. However, there is no need for concern. We apologize for any discomfort you may be experiencing. Thank you."
"Have I ever mentioned how much I love people with British accents?" Megan said after the announcement.
"I'll tell Alex that he needs to move to England," Lindsay said.
"Oh, thanks so much," she replied sarcastically.
"Well, it's not her fault everybody knows you're a stalker," Breanna pointed out.
"No, it's Jenny's."
"Sure, just blame everything on me."
"Bowling in a hurricane," Megan muttered as she rented her shoes. "This should be fun."
Actually, it had been rather fun, she decided back in her cabin while unpacking her laptop. The turbulence had made the balls roll all over the place and the pins fall down, so everybody had wound up with an absurdly high score. Then, the Weather Channel webpage popped up.
"This could possibly not be a good thing," Megan whispered, staring at the screen. It probably wasn't; according to TWC (although they're rarely right), they were in the middle of a full-blown hurricane.
"Breanna!" she yelled, running across the hall. At least, she started to run, until the hall rolled, and Megan was slammed against the wall. "Owwww..." she moaned. "Pain...much pain..."
"What's wrong, Megan?" Breanna asked, coming out of her cabin.
"Other than the fact that I was just introduced to Mr. Wall, that 'little storm' giving us turbulence is a really big hurricane, according to The Weather Channel."
"Hmm...I wonder if Mr. Mullins would make us play during a hurricane?"
"Have you forgotten that this is the band director who was making us practice during a thunderstorm, complete with hail, lightning, and tornadoes?"
"You're right. Of course he would."
"If this hurricane is a small storm, I shudder to think just how 'slightly' off-course we've been blown."
Actually, although nobody on board knew it yet, they had been blown straight into the Bermuda Triangle.
Two days later, the hurricane was over, and everybody was out enjoying the warm summer evening between practices. Megan, being Megan, was up on the bow of the ship, doing bad impressions of Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
"I'm the king of the world!" she yelled.
"Hi, Megan," Erica said, walking up to her. "Watching too much Titanic again?"
"No," she replied indignantly. "Of course not! But I think we need to get back to practice now."
"Practice, practice, practice!" Erica complained, sounding a bit like Jan from The Brady Bunch. "All we do is practice! My saxophone reeds are all green and moldy, and I haven't gotten to go swimming yet!"
"Erica," Megan said, "We've been in the middle of a hurricane for the last few days. I doubt that you would've wanted to swim."
"It's the principle of the whole thing. Plus, practicing so much can't be good."
"The only reason why we have so many rehearsals is because Mr. Mullins has this phobia when it comes to performances and he thinks we aren't ready."
"What do you think that big white thing out there is?" Erica asked.
"An iceberg," Megan replied matter-of-factly.
"An iceberg? Oh, okay. Do you think it's getting closer?"
"Probably. Hey, if it hits, we might get out of practice."
"Ooh, cool."
Sure enough, a few minutes later, the iceberg grazed the side of the ship with a crunching sound.
"May I have your attention please?" said the voice over the loudspeaker. "We have encountered a small rock, and there are a few small punctures in the hull. Although there is no cause for alarm, we would appreciate it if you would report to your assigned lifeboats. Thank you."
"Why would we get in the lifeboats?" a nearby person said. "After all, this ship is unsinkable."
Everybody else, though, was running towards the lifeboats, probably because they'd seen Titanic too many times.
Erica and Megan finally made it to a lifeboat, which (coincidentally enough) already contained Breanna, Derek, Lindsay, Jenny, and a few other Poodles.
"Oh, it's just such a cozy little lifeboat!" Erica exclaimed.
"It's not a lifeboat, it's a deathboat," Breanna commented.
Meanwhile, Derek was busy quietly shoving a certain tenor sax player over the side. "It's to prevent conflicts later," he explained when Megan noticed.
"Like I care?"
"A shark!" Erica shrieked.
"See? He's sharkbait. Now the shark won't eat us."
"And we don't have to vote him off the island."
"Hey, did you see that episode-"
"I didn't watch Survivor."
"But didn't you see-"
"Uh, no? Do we have to throw you over the side, too?"
"I will!" Erica volunteered.
"I called dibs first."
"But you didn't call dibs."
"Dibs. See?"
"Cheater."
"So?"
"Hey, we aren't kicking anybody off the boat," said Breanna, ever the class president.
"What about-"
"Okay, nobody else. We're going to be democratic."
"What if you're a Republican?" Derek asked, just to be annoying.
"Then I'll be forced to throw you out of the boat myself," Megan replied, being a Democrat.
"Why do the freshmen get to run everything?" Jenny asked Lindsay.
"I don't know, but I think we should be in charge, 'cause we're seniors."
"There's more of us," Megan explained, "so we have a majority. Four freshmen to two seniors."
"But we're more experienced, so our votes should count more."
"It doesn't matter anyway," Breanna said. "After all, we're going to be rescued soon."
"No, we aren't," Derek said, being annoying again.
"What if we aren't rescued?" Erica asked, starting to panic. "What if we just float around for a few weeks and die from thirst and starvation and sunburn?"
"Hey, we could be just like that soccer team whose plane crashed in the mountains. Remember? They ate-"
"Shut up, Derek," Megan said exasperatedly. "We really don't want to hear about that. Really."
"Calm down, everybody. We're all going to be fine. We'll be rescued, and we won't starve, and we definitely won't eat each other." She punctuated this last part with a pointed glare at Derek.
Eventually, everybody managed to fall asleep (although there was still quite a bit of heated arguing first).
***