If you haven’t read January 8 yet, you can do so here.

If you stumbled onto this post by accident and haven’t read any of the other stories, head over to this post to find out more about this project.

“This ship is so boring. I’m glad I brought a lot of books with me. It’s just all parties and stuff. Last night they had a huge 90s thing,” Cleo complained.

“You should’ve gone,” Sally replied. Her best friend since kindergarten, but the pair were polar opposites in almost every way. 

“I hate parties. Too many people.”

“Okay, that’s fair. But you need to get involved in more stuff happening on the ship, go meet people.”

“I’ve met people.” Cleo fiddled with her laptop charger, dangling beside the armchair.

“Yeah? Name one person you’ve met?”

“I can name two,” Cleo told her proudly. “Adrienne and Poppy.”

“Well, good job. I still think you need to get more involved in things. What’s on today?”

Cleo sighed. There was no arguing with Sally. Where Sally was an energetic extrovert, Cleo lived the introvert life. It wasn’t that she didn’t like people, she just had a lot of trouble meeting new ones. She grabbed the weekly newsletter that listed their many stops for the trip.

“It’s a sea day.”

“Perfect. There will be plenty of things happening. You’re going to at least two of them. And I want you to find that Adrienne, or Poppy and have a meal with one of them.”

Cleo glared at her friend, she suspected it wouldn’t translate well, the internet onboard was barely fast enough to handle video. 

“Tell me some of the things in your newsletter.”

“There’s a movie showing in the theatre,” Cleo began.

“No, we want something a bit more interactive.”

“Nevermind, it started an hour ago.” Cleo looked over the newsletter for a few moments before finding another activity. “There’s a book club in half an hour. I suppose I could go to that.”

“What do you mean you suppose? That sounds perfect. You love reading. You can go hang out with the other nerds.”

Cleo sighed, Sally would never understand. “They always read some pompous nonsense at those things. I’m not into that kind of thing.”

“Cleo, just go to it. You might be surprised. If you hate it, don’t go to the next one.”

“Fine. I’ll go.”

“Good. Now, can you find another activity or do I need to pick that too?”

“No, no. I can find something.” 

“Good. And don’t forget about eating a meal with someone. It doesn’t have to be Adrienne or Poppy.”

“I remember.” Cleo looked back to the newsletter trying to assess how long it would take to get to, it was only one deck up, so not very long.

“I should go. Get ready.”

“Of course. One thing before you go.” The glint in Sally’s eyes told Cleo she wouldn’t like what came next. 

“Adrienne. Is she hot?” Cleo glared at Sally and disconnected the call without answering. As she got ready, she found herself smiling, yeah, Adrienne was hot.

You can read January 10 here.

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