Someone once told me that life is full of surprises. It offers you the best at the worst of times and forces the worst onto you in the best of times. A perfect example is what life decided to shove onto my shoulders just when I was having the best time of my life. Jhon Hillburg!

I can't believe my eyes...it really is him. He smirks at me. The sea wind blows his long brown hair. "I thought that you were supposed to be waiting for ME!", he exclaims in my direction. He comes closer to me and I, like always, nervously take a step back.

"Amanda Brown? Thats you?? Dad talks a lot about you." I frown and my heart skips a beat. "Jhon?", I whisper in realisation and horror. He raises a brow. "Hmm wow...how did you guess that? Are you an astrologer or something?", he replies sarcastically.

My heart freezes. There goes my holiday... It is already ruined. I cannot believe this. He stands intimidatingly yet coolly against the long pole and brushes his fingers through his silky long hair.

"So what are we waiting for? Lets go.", I nervously take out the words from my mouth still shocked to the core that Mr murderer is actually Jhon Hillburg, our Dean, Mr Hillburg's son.

"And must I dream the way?", he questions. I clench my teeth. Chill Amy! He is deliberately trying to get on your nerves. "I actually waited back, I did a favour on you to help you and your dad...so that you don't lose your way when you arrive here, and you are just being typically you....RUDE.", I shout at him, "and you are the irresponsible one that is late.", I continue.

There are more than 800 nerves in our body. It is weird how some people get on every single one of them.

He remains calm and stares at me as I continue scolding him. He seems somewhat amused when I lose my temper. I stop and realise that I am wasting too much time arguing. "You know what...just follow me.", I irritatingly spit. "After you beautiful.", he whispers.

I follow the directions given to me by Mr Hillburg and soon, I come face to face with what looks like something out of this world. The irritation disappears from my face and a smile replaces my disappearing frown. The Sapphire mermaid stands tall and elegant.

"She is beautiful", Jhon says, just as hypnotised by the ship's beauty as I am. The 10 story high white and blue cruise looked beautiful. People were waiting in lines to enter. Others have already boarded the ship and wave at people outside from their windows, that they are not allowed to open.

Couples stay close to each other on the upper deck as they look ahead into the blue world. I admire the couples on the top deck and smile to myself. Finally I lower my gaze and catch Jhon staring at me. He quickly turns his gaze away from mine.

I look out for Mr Hillburg and the rest since I don't have my ticket or documents. Jhon tags behind me as I push through the crowd. He makes irritating comments that I pretend to ignore. Suddenly, someone jumps up behind me and tickles my sides.

"Aaaeee! ", I screech. I turn around to a hysterical Richard. "Amy you are hilarious." , he shouts between giggles. I punch him on his arm, "Richard don't do that!!", I scream and he attempts to escape my wrath.

I run after him and he hides behind Jhon. I pull a very surprised John at his T shirt and catch Richard behind. I pull his ear, "say that you are sorry!", I command. "Sorry aaaaah", he screeches exaggeratingly as I twist his ear softly.
I laugh at his pretended cowardice.

"Where is everyone? ", I ask him. He points to the front of the line. He turns around to face Jhon. "Hmm let me guess ... Jhon!" , Jhon smiles...."I didn't know that I was famous.", he grabs Richard's hand and they shoulder each other.

"Richard by the way.", Richard introduces himself. "Who doesn't know you?...quite the ladies man aren't you??", Jhon immediately clicks with Richard. They follow behind me talking about several things as I look for Mr Hillburg and finally spot him right at the front. I pick up my pace and urge Richard and Jhon to hurry up because we are next in line.

Finally we join the rest and we are greeted by a very smiley, friendly man of Chinese origin. He asks us for our passports, IDs, tickets and luggages. The worries taunt me again as Mr Chinese browses over my ID. My heart begins to race and my face begins to heat up. I can feel the burning adrenalin in my stomach and my skin miraculously becomes pale in a second.

Please god please, don't let him find anything wrong with my ID. I tap my feet on the ground nervously as I pray that he doesn't ask me any questions. I let out a sigh of relief when he moves to the next. After everything is checked he asks us to empty our pockets for security purposes.

"You are not allowed to take that in Ms Brown.", Mr Chinese speaks in my direction. I look at what he is referring to. "My pocket knife?", I ask him. "Yes..don't you know that sharp objects are not allowed on board?",I place my hands on my forehead feeling stupid. I feel the heat on my face and I know that I am blushing.

"Wow...were you planning on killing me?", Jhon whispers in my right ear. "You bet!!", I tell him and roll my eyes. I turn to Mr Chinese, "I'm so sorry...I don't know how it slipped my mind.", I tell him. He nods, "It's okay...you can hand it over to me.

"Umm...you know... it's not very sharp and...there are many restaurants and eateries on the cruise...are you trying to tell me that they don't use knives?", I challenge him. He smiles. "Your life is in safe hands...There is nothing to worry about Ms Brown....you won't be needing this", he confiscates my gold pocket knife and I nod understandingly.

When he is satisfied he leads us into the extravagant hotel of the cruise. We all stare with our mouths agape in awe. This cruise is alien to this planet because it doesn't belong here. It is too out of this world.
"Welcome to the Sapphire mermaid!", Mr Chinese introduces us to the cruise.

"There is a lavish dining area on the 3rd floor. There is a variety of different cuisines available couped up by famous professional chefs from all over the world.", we walk through many people in an long passage with pictures of the captain and staff on the walls as Mr Chinese explains the interior of the cruise with pride.

I later come to know that his name is actually Lee Hong and that he is in charge of the entire hotel staff. "If you are looking for entertainment...there is plenty.", his computer voice carries on in perfect English, "the top deck has an elegant swimming area with heated and non heated pools. ", he raises his brow at Malak, "I'm sure that you would like that fine lady.", Malak snorts and whispers something that only I can hear, "only if Mr Hillburg stops sticking to us ", and I chuckle, delighted to the core that she is not ignoring me.

"Not only the swimming pools....wait for it...", he builds the suspense..."We have a jazz group from America that will perform in the dining rooms every night at 9:00pm for those who have late dinner. And we also have plays and dance performers from different parts of the world to entertain you at our playhouse on the third floor", he smiles.

"There is much more to the cruise that you will get to discover on your stay....let's get you to the hotel rooms.", he calls out a young woman to show us our way to our room. Mrs Hillburg and Mr Hillburg follow Mr Chinese into their special room since they had booked on of the best.

Jhon, Richard, Malak and I follow the young woman up the stairs into a long corridor with a long red carpet and when we walked on it, it felt as if I was walking on THE RED CARPET.

People are busy looking for their rooms and some doors are open in which people are unpacking or talking about how different and exclusive this cruise is contrasting to the previous ones they had been on. I grin in excitement. I can already feel the holiday atmosphere.

The young woman stops at room number 21, "this is the room of the two young gentlemen.", she swipes her card on the door handle and opens the door. "Wait...do I have to share a room?", Jhon asks the woman.

"I think you are mistaken. I am not one of the winners....my dad actually booked an exclusive room for me. ", Jhon explains to the woman who remains straight faced. Huh! Spoilt brat! Im not surprised.

"No...Mr Hillburg has asked us to book this room for you.", she tells him matter-of-factly. He groans in anger but stops when he looks at Richard. Richard puts an arm around Jhon's neck.

"Well I guess that we are room buddies. Don't worry I will try not to snore at nigt", and Jhon chuckles. "Well it's not bad that I'm sharing a room with YOU...its just that I expected to get an awesome room."

The woman smiles and opens the door to the room. "What is actually awesome for you?", the woman asks Jhon as he stares stunned, straight into the room. It really was elegant with two beds on opposite sides.

Each headboard was designed as a wooden dolphin. There was a blue rug on the shiny black tiles in the middle of the room. The tall cupboards occupied the entire front wall and the dark blue curtains finished the design. It is perfect.

I keep thinking that if their room is like this...how would my room look? Jhon seems contented and Richard whispers something in his ears. In seconds they both race in and jump on their beds. "Kindly close the door, we are going to crash."