TITANIC
“You give a lonesome heart, someone to love.
You give a sad heart, a memory to smile about.
You give a hopeless heart, something to live for.
But what do you give a broken heart?”
Melody Manful
“Gideon, let’s bounce!” Jake said as he walked toward the door.
School was over, and the classroom was almost deserted hardly two minutes after the bell rang. Only my friends and I remained in the classroom, even the teacher was gone.
Danny, Tristan, and Jake were now friends with Gideon. It had been less than a day since he came to school, and already they acted like best friends. Sarah, on the other hand, would have befriended Gideon despite his intentions. She had texted me about him all day, and each message included the word hot.
“You’ll love this pizza place,” Danny told Gideon as he joined the group by the door.
Sarah, standing beside me, nodded in agreement.
“It’s a shame you and Tristan won’t be joining us,” she said to me, winking.
“Like I said, I’m busy all week, and I only have time now to work on the Titanic speech,” I replied, explaining yet again how busy my life was. The rest of the week was filled with dinner plans with my mother, reading sessions at the library, and training.
“What is it you’re so busy doing, Miss Cells?” Gideon asked smugly. He knew I hated it when he called me Miss Cells, but he continued doing it anyway. I gave up trying to correct him.
I sounded annoyed when I answered, “None of your business, Mr. Chase.”
“Gideon is just fine, Miss Cells.”
Gideon irritated me, and I didn’t know how the others could stand being around him. Maybe what bothered me most was the fact that it was only me he annoyed. Throughout the day, everything that came out of his mouth was antagonistic. He had joined my friends and me for lunch, and although I didn’t protest his joining us, I didn’t want him around me.
Sarah sensed the tension between Gideon and me.
“What is it with you two?” she asked.
Gideon answered first. “It seems Miss Cells is bitter that she can’t join us.” My friends laughed and agreed with him.
I felt my face turning red with anger.
“I think we’d better go before she explodes,” Gideon said—again to my friends’ agreement—and their laughter increased as they followed him outside.
Sarah hugged me, but I stiffened in her arms.
“See you guys later,” she told Tristan and me, laughing as she walked out.
“I hate that guy,” I whispered.
“I heard that!” Gideon shouted from the hall.
I walked over to the classroom door and slammed it shut. Tristan, who was laughing too, stopped instantly.
“Is he getting under your skin?”
“Getting under my skin?” I retorted. “That son of a—”
“Titanic,” Tristan interrupted, stopping me from saying what I wanted to. When my eyes met his, we started laughing. And that was all it took for my anger with Gideon to subside.
Since we had been assigned as partners on the Titanic speech, Tristan and I started working, and about an hour later, we had a full, seven-minute speech that sounded good.
“Okay, so you take the last sentences,” Tristan said as he pointed at my laptop screen where the speech had been typed.
I read my lines aloud, “The Titanic was like a kingdom that people didn’t know they were building. When the Titanic was built, it became a dream that people couldn’t believe was coming true. When the Titanic sank, the aftermath became a war that people didn’t know they were in. The death of the people aboard the Titanic became proof, the survivors of the tragedy became voices, and their voices became a weapon.”
Tristan started clapping when I finished.
“I’m imagining this is what will happen after we finish the speech,” he said. We laughed.
“Hopefully,” I said. “Mr. Bernard said the speech has to be a minimum of ten minutes, so we still have three more minutes before we can hope for an A.”
“We could focus more on the 1997 movie directed by James Cameron,” Tristan suggested. “What do you think?”
“That’s an idea. Maybe we should act out the last scene. You know…it’s the sacrifice that Jack made that became so popular.”
Tristan closed my laptop, and then he took my hand and led us to the front of the classroom. I started laughing when I realized we were actually going to act out the scene.
“Ladies first,” he said, and I giggled.
“Hmm…right, okay…Jack, I love you,” I whispered and laughed afterward. “This is just awkward. We aren’t actually going to act out the scene in front of the whole class, are we?”
Tristan stepped closer to me. “Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
His expression sobered me. “Hmm…” I mumbled.
Tristan took both my hands in his, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, “You must promise me that you will survive—no matter what happens.” Immediately my smile disappeared. My cheeks flushed as I realized how close together we were standing.
“I—”
Tristan cut me off and continued, “You must do me this honor.” He sounded so sad that it made me sad, too. His words reminded me of the reason why I cried whenever I watched Titanic. “Promise me, and never let go of that promise.” At this point, we were so close together that I could feel his body heat.
I whispered, “I promise.” I stared up at him and continued, “I’ll never let go. I’ll never let go.” Then both Tristan and I slowly leaned closer into each other. The closer we got, the louder my heart pounded. Soon, our faces were inches apart, and I could feel his breath against my lips. Our lips were inches away from touching when Tristan pulled away.
“That is definitely an A-plus,” Tristan said as he let go of my hands. “I’m a good actor. I didn’t even know that I could act.”
And just like that, I was pulled back to the real world. Act. The whole thing was an act to him. Now I could tell Sarah I knew for sure Tristan didn’t like me. He didn’t even look like he was affected by how close we were.
I faked a smile as I walked over to pack my things and said, “Yeah, I didn’t know I could act either. I don’t think we should do it.” I couldn’t stand being that close to him again and knowing that he was only acting.
“Why not?” he asked. “Unless Mr. Bernard says we can’t, I don’t see why not.”
“I’ll go check and see if he’s still here and ask,” I said, pulling my bag over my shoulders. “I guess that’s it. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I whispered, more to myself than to him. I didn’t wait another second before hurrying out the door. I couldn’t believe I had allowed Sarah to plant the idea that Tristan liked me into my head. Now that I knew he didn’t, it kind of hurt a little, even though I never really did believe her in the first place.
I walked slowly to the teacher’s lounge to ask Mr. Bernard if we could act out the scene. I was ready to beg him to change his mind if he said yes. On my way, I decided to call Sarah and set her straight—Tristan definitely didn’t like me.