A few hours after Lilli and Emily leave, the nurse is checking up on both myself and Ally, who is still fast asleep.
"You've asked me about Ally, about the two boys in the next room," she says, taking my temperature. "but you haven't even asked about yourself. Wouldn't you like to know?"
She has a point. "Yes, please."
She smiles a little at that. Her face wrinkles, she might be middle-aged. I wonder how long she's worked as a nurse onboard cruise ships like this, how many patients she's met and made friends with and watched leave.
"You were shot, but it only grazed your chest." I raise an eyebrow and she grins a little more. "Well, it was a graze compared to what poor Ally got."
"How long do you think it'll take for me to get better? I'd rather not go home and have to tell my parents that I was shot on a cruise," I say honestly.
"A-Actually, all your parents will immediately be informed when we arrive home tomorrow." I just look at her. "There's no way we can leave them out of this," she tells me apologetically.
"Even if we weren't willingly involved?"
She gets up and heads over to Ally to redress her wound.
"An interview with all of you kids will tell us what happens next."
I frown at that. She's clearly still sceptical about us. But it's fair enough. There was a shoot-out onboard a cruise ship. She has every right to suspect us all.
Silence settles in the infirmary.
I think about what will come next. My parents will know. If the interviews don't go right, I may end up in court and my parents will have to witness that. I can't even think about the expressions that'll appear on their faces when they hear from the police tomorrow. And then there's Harry Evans.
Up until last night, I was a corpse-to-be for him. If it weren't for Ben revealing himself, Harry would've killed me; why else would he have had a gun with him? Which hurts even more, since it was officially our first… proper… date.
I'd pay anything to go back and experience the whole cruise again, without feeling the confusion I did, the anger, the suspiciousness, the weariness.
Somehow, I still wonder if I could go and visit Harry now, before we're taken to hospital tomorrow.
"Hey, um…" I realise I still don't know the nurse's name, and she never introduced herself. She turns her head to me.
"Yes?"
When I don't respond, she stands and comes over. She's close enough now, and I can read her name tag.
"Nurse Liu," I say aloud. I gulp down the lump in my throat. "Would it be possible for me to go visit someone?"
She stares at me for a second, then sits down beside me. I shuffle my legs so she can have more room.
"You'd like to see Harry, am I right?"
"How'd you –?"
"He talks to me about you all the time, and asked me as soon as I met him if he could come see you." She's trying not to smile. "He likes you?"
I flick my head away, but I think she catches my stupid grin.
"I shouldn't like him back."
"Did he…?"
"He didn't shoot anyone!" I yell. Ally grumbles something from across the stale room. I'm still defending him. Somehow. "He protected me." The words come out and I can't stop them. I mentally-facepalm.
"Ah," she says. "I see." She leaves my side again. "Well, you can't go see him now – you're all under some restrictions for where you're allowed to go and who's allowed to visit you. But I can assure you, if what you said is true, that both of you aren't seriously involved and haven't done anything wrong, you'll see each other soon enough."
I wouldn't be so sure.
This final night on the cruise was definitely not what I expected.
Lilli and Emily come back late and bring me way too many snacks from the buffet. Miss Liu only allows me to have the pizza slice, but I'm content that my friends came anyway.
Early in the morning, it's still dark when I wake to sounds of pain. I flick on my bedside lamp and climb out of bed. I try not to grunt as I make my way over to Ally's beside. She's groaning, and I wonder if she's okay. I turn on her light too, and it turns out she's crying. I pick up a tissue on the table and turn back to her. She's awake now.
"Ally," I say. "Are you okay? Do you need me to call the nurse?"
She looks at me, her eyes wide, and mutters two words. "I'm sorry."
I give her a look. "Oh, shut up." She sniffles and I dab at her nose with the tissue. She takes it out of my hand and does it herself. "You were just doing what you were supposed to, right?"
When she's done, she says: "So that means you'll forgive Harry too, right?"
"Why do you care?" I ask a little too harshly.
She rolls her eyes, and my respect for her rises. "Tasmin, he likes you. Like, a lot. A lot, a lot. I could tell every single time he spoke to me."
I swallow. My parched throat stings. "I heard."
"What do you mean?"
I take a breath. "The other day, when you and Harry met up in secret on Deck seven…" She keeps her eyes trained on me. "I was there too."
She smirks softly. "You'd make a good spy."
"Hm. I'd rather not be a spy."
Ally smiles sadly. "Good choice."
Suddenly I feel like talking. And… I wanna know more about Harry.
"Could you… tell me how you and Harry met?"
So Ally and I stay up talking.