Chapter 1

One day, a boy named Bobby Smith was on his way home from Manhattan Middle School. Bobby was excited because today was the last day of school. When he arrived at home, he didn’t see his mom anywhere. She’s probably at the store, he thought. She’ll be home soon. Next, Bobby went to his room and started flicking through channels on his TV.

“I could do this all summer,” he said to himself.

At five o’ clock, Bobby’s dad came home accompanied by Bobby’s mom.

“Sorry we’re home late,” she said, “but we were getting you something.”

“What did you get me?” Bobby asked. His parents gave him a box with a bow on it. Inside was a card that said Tahiti Vacation. “Thanks,” Bobby said. “You know I always wanted to go to Tahiti.”

“Well, now you can,” Bobby’s mom said. “We’ll be going on a luxury cruise ship named the S.S. Tahiti.”

“Awesome,” Bobby said. “When do we leave?”

“In a few days,” his mom replied. “Therefore you better start packing. We leave to go to San Francisco on Wednesday.”

Bobby raced to his room and started packing clothes, books, his IPod. “Tahiti, here I come,” he said.
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Richy Fallord woke up from his king size bed in New York. Today was a special day, his birthday. Also, today was the day his parents took him on a cruise to Tahiti, where they would spend the rest of summer. He was already packed, because the maid had packed for him. He grabbed a box of cigarettes from under his bed, got his lighter, went out onto the balcony, and started smoking. He had been smoking for a year; mostly peer pressure had made him start.

Richy heard his alarm go off in his room. He shut it off and went to take a shower. While showering, Richy thought of how he had few friends at Manhattan Middle School. He had thought he would be popular because he was rich. Apparently he was wrong. He dried off, succeeded in dressing, and went downstairs to eat breakfast.

As usual, his mother was starting to eat while his father was reading the newspaper and sipping his coffee.

“Here’s the birthday boy,” his father said. Isaac, the chef, brought out a plate of his favorite foods. On it was a stack of hot, fluffy pancakes; warm, crispy bacon; and a tall, cold glass of orange juice.

While he was eating, his father asked, “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes,” Richy replied, “whenever you’re ready.”

“We’ll leave once we’re done eating,” Richy’s father said.

After they finished eating breakfast, they piled into the limo. Their chauffer, Tyson, drove them to the airport. On the way, Richy stared out the window, looking at all of the shops and apartments, wishing he could be accepted by people at school. Everyone was jealous because he had money and they didn’t. Some people are just prejudice, he thought.

At the airport, they found their plane and parted ways with Tyson. On the plane, Richy read some books. A couple hours later, they landed in Miami. They obtained a cab to take them to the port. Richy looked out the window. He had never been to Miami before. The Fallords had always flown directly to Tahiti. This was an unexpected yet enjoyable surprise. They were looking at the ocean, the beach and the hotels and restaurant. After about ten minutes, they arrived at the port. They found their ship, the S.S. Tahiti, and got on board.

“Welcome aboard. The S.S. Tahiti,” a uniformed man said. “My name is John Blar, and I’m captain of this ship.”

“Thank you Captain Blar,” Mr. Fallord said. “Could you point us to room 1234?”

“Certainly,” Captain Blar said. “Go into that elevator, take it to the upper deck and it should be on your left.”

They went to their room, which was very fancy, and unpacked.

As they were unpacking, Richy thought out loud, “You know, it’s nice that we are up top. Thus if the ship sinks, we have plenty of time to get off the ship.”

“Don’t worry about the ship sinking,” Mr. Fallord said. “This ship is unsinkable.”

“That’s what they said about the Titanic,” Richy muttered.

After they finished unpacking, Captain Blar came and offered to personally give them a tour of the ship. They saw the control room; the lower, middle, and upper class rooms; the pool; arcade; dining room; kitchen; crew’s quarters; the casino; and the deck.

“Thanks for the tour,” Richy said. “When will we get to Tahiti?”

“About two weeks,” Captain Blar said. “We go to San Francisco to pick up more passengers. Then we go straight to Tahiti. Look at the time, I must get going. Dinner starts in half an hour.”

“Why don’t we go to dinner?” Mrs. Fallord suggested.

There was a large selection of food in the dining room. They saw large, juicy steaks; big bowls of fruit; warm, freshly-baked rolls; and a salad bar. For dessert, there was blueberry, strawberry, pumpkin, apple, and chocolate pies; bowls of ice cream; cakes; brownies; and much more.

After dinner Mrs. Fallord said, “We should get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”