Politeness (noun): Being polite means showing good manners to others, and showing them respect.

--

Little did Wakeley know that she had been talking to two of the most popular girls on the ship.

Kathryn Whyte and Nicole Marshall were part of a girl named Blondie’s tight-knit clique of tenth and eleventh graders who did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted and never got in trouble. Sure, maybe some of them didn’t do too well in academics, but everything else was effortless.

First, there was Blondie (nobody could say that they knew her real name), the tall, hyper-confident, slightly slutty ringleader who claimed she had ‘experience’ and was known to never say no to a dare, even if it meant doing something exploitive. Her inner circle, secretly dubbed the Beaches, consisted of juniors Schuyler Paxton, Renee Dwyer, Meg McCoy, and Blondie’s tagalong eighth-grade sister, Cassidy.

Then there were the tenth-grade boys, all of whom were wrapped around Blondie’s little finger: Canada (his real name was supposedly Christopher Hastings), a laid-back, skater-boy playboy with sunny blonde hair and bright blue eyes; Michael, a hyper, horny, high-tempered player; and Max, a dorkily cute, seemingly shy boy with sandy brown hair and expressive brown eyes. Collectively, they were known as the ‘Chosen Ones’.

All of them were housed on Deck 8, the most coveted deck on the ship because of their suite-sized rooms, and all of them were assigned to table 200. Together, the ten of them, all other clique names aside, called themselves the Red Wine and Sudoku Society, causing mayhem and scandals about the school under the ruse of meeting up in the Moonlight Bay Lounge to play a few mentally stimulating games of sudoku.

So much for Wakeley trying to just fit in.

--

Wakeley had decided on something a little dressier for dinner (it was, after all, a cruise ship): a blue-and-white thin horizontal striped babydoll dress that she personally thought brought out the color of her eyes and a simple pair of white Tory Burch flats. After twisting her strawberry blonde locks into a messy side ponytail that showed off her purple streak and enduring a bucket-load of comments from Shannon (“What table are you sitting at? Where did you get that dress? Do you want me to walk with you to the dining room? How was the new student tour? Have you made any new friends, besides me, of course? What do you think of this shirt?”), Wakeley strolled out of their minute cabin and made her way towards the Edelweiss Dining Room.

The Dining Room had the elegance and taste of the country clubs she had frequented with her grandparents in her youth. The whole dining room took up two stories, housing a string quartet playing instrumental versions of various hymns and old Broadway songs while dozens of jacketed waiters scurried about the two levels, patiently serving some of the most privileged kids in the world. A smile lit up Wakeley’s freshly glossed lips.

And then promptly disappeared as soon as she reached table 200.

--

The notorious Blondie rarely took off her signature Juicy Couture sunglasses, but for this occasion, she had whipped them off and was now staring at the newcomer through narrowed eyes. Who was this blonde chick hovering around her table like some nervous loser-worshipper? And why was she so pretty? And why were Canada and Michael staring at her like that?

“Oh, hey Wakeley!” Kathryn called from her spot towards the end of the table. Blondie pursed her lips, and she could almost hear Meg and Renee start hyperventilating. Nobody liked to see Blondie get pissed. Schuyler gently brushed a strand of brown-blond hair off of Blondie’s recently tanned shoulders in an effort to get her to calm down and turned to glare at the newcomer as she slid into the roomy seat at the other end of the table, directly across from Blondie’s spot at the head. The girl fidgeted slightly under the pressure of everyone else’s indiscreet stares, but otherwise remained confident.

“Who the hell are you and why are you here?” Blondie hissed, instantly berating herself for revealing her insecurities. Nicole shot her a discerning glance, flicked a lock of curly, honey-blond hair over her neck, and spoke up for the new girl.

“This is Wakeley Porter. She’s new here. We met her on the new student tours today. She’s assigned to this table,” Nicole explained. Blondie continued to frown.

“And why were you guys on the new student tours again?” Schuyler yawned.

“Volunteer hours,” Kathryn said. “Didn’t you guys do those in tenth grade?”

“Nah, we ditched to go throw gum wrappers overboard and see if anyone would catch us,” Renee replied, sneaking a glance towards Blondie. A hint of a smile showed on their leader’s face. The Beaches visibly relaxed.

“So, Wakeley, why did you get sent here?” Canada asked, his bright blue eyes still locked on Wakeley’s.

“Sent here?” the girl finally piped up, her soprano voice containing a note of confusion.

“Kids typically get sent here because they got into major trouble at their old school,” Max explained.

“Or because they’ve been kicked out of every other private school in the country,” Canada added, grinning mischievously.

“I suppose you’re right,” Wakeley mused, bending the corners of her dinner menu. “My mother did send me here to, quote, ‘reform’, unquote.”

“What’d you get in trouble for?” Michael questioned, peering at her curiously.

“It doesn’t matter. I was just blamed for something I didn’t do,” Wakeley mumbled, her cheeks heating as she stared down at her plate, which was now being filled with a selection of bread by their table waiters.

The entire table collectively frowned. Secrets weren’t really meant to be kept on a ship; after all, once you caught a cold, it was everyone’s cold. It had been a long time before anybody had dared not to tell somebody, especially Blondie, a secret.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. What happened?” Meg inquired, buttering her roll and stuffing shreds of it in her mouth like somebody who wasn’t afraid to eat around guys.

“No, really, it was just the work of some loser out for revenge,” Wakeley snorted. A flicker of different emotions passed over the porcelain-skinned beauty’s face before it returned back to normal. This new chick obviously had a story, and Blondie couldn’t wait to hear it during Truth or Dare in the usual spot tonight.

Truth or Dare was a favourite of the Red Wine and Sudoku Society. Nobody could quite remember how it started, but the Society had been playing it nearly every night since they first stepped onto the ship as timid sixth graders. Even the most crotchety old teachers knew not to watch the Society’s spot at the back of the ship during nightly rounds for fear of invading their highly established territory.

If the intense rounds of Truth or Dare couldn’t get a secret out of Wakeley, then there was nothing that a little spiked soda, courtesy of the Mexican party girls on board, couldn't do.

“Sweet purple hair streak,” Canada sighed, continuing to stare at Wakeley wistfully. Blondie frowned again as she watched the colour in the new girl’s cheeks go up. Hopefully Wakeley was smart enough to pick truth and not dare.

--

Wakeley followed Kathryn and Nicole to the shiny gold-coloured elevators in the Atrium after dinner, feeling a little jittery that she had skipped the next new student orientation. But Kathryn and Nicole had promised to give her a real tour of the school, and Wakeley simply couldn’t pass that up.

She also couldn’t believe that, after vowing to just be normal, she had found the most popular clique all on her own. Perhaps sucking up had nothing on just being herself and letting others come to her. But that was an epiphany to be pondered at a later moment.

The elevators opened up on the almost-highest level, the part with a running track and stairs that led down to the wave pool and hot tubs. However, Kathryn and Nicole led Wakeley down the track and around the FantaSEAS teen lounge (for students to relax in while studying) to a slightly raised area close to the back of the ship that had railing, a ton of lawn chairs, and housed the sunroof of the Windjammer Café. Blondie and the Beaches, along with Max, Canada, and Michael, were waiting for them.

“Ah, Wakeley,” Blondie murmured, slipping down from her perch on the railing to greet her guests. “Welcome to Truth or Dare.”