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her, too. Mallory had told me she was an actress and Karen had told me her aunt was a countess and she was loaded with money.
I tried to remember the girl's name. Alexandra?
"Oh," I replied, embarrassed. "Nothing's the matter. Not really. I'm just a little bored. I'm baby-sitting for these boys and I've been following them around all morning." "Yech," said Alexandra. "Children. . . . Haven't I seen you before?" I was surprised she remembered. I mean, I just don't think I'm all that memorable. I nodded my head. "In the beauty salon the other day. You were waiting to get your hair done." "Oh, yeah/' said Alexandra. "Right. Honestly, that woman butchered my hair. You'd think that on a ship as luxulrious as this one, they'd have a decent hairdresser." "Gosh," I said, looking at her thick, wavy hair. "I think she did okay. Your hair looks great to me." "Well, thanks," Alexandra answered, patting her head uncertainly. "My brother said it looks like someone took a hacksaw to it." I laughed, but something about what Alexandra had just said didn't sound quite right. I couldn't think what was wrong about it, though.
Oh, well.
"Listen," I said, "my name's Mary Anne Spier." "I'm Alexandra Carmody. But call me Alex." "Okay, Alex," I said.
"So, what trip is this for you?" she asked.
"What trip?" I repeated blankly.
"Yeah. I've been on thirteen other cruises. This one's my fourteenth." (Maybe she'd gone with her aunt. Or when she was filming a movie.) "Wow. This is only my first." "Once we sailed all the way from New York to England." "Gosh. . . . Who's 'we'? Your brother and you?" "Oh, no. Just my, um, guardian." "Oh." Alex looked pained, so I changed the subject. "Guess who is on this boat," I said dramatically.
"Who?" "Spider." "From the Insects?" "Yup." Alex frowned. "No, he isn't. I happen to know him really well. He's a good friend of mine." I'd forgotten. She was an actress. Of course she'd know. How exciting to be in on the personal lives of famous people! Suddenly I wanted to find out all about Alex. I decided to do something really daring. I hoped it wasn't mean. "So," I said, "how come you're traveling ..." Before the words were out of my mouth, I realized what was wrong with what Alex had said before. In the beauty parlor she'd said she was traveling alone. I was sure of it. But today she had mentioned her brother. If he'd seen her haircut, then he was on the Ocean Princess, too. And that meant Alex wasn't alone after all.
I quickly changed my question. "How come you aren't traveling with your parents?" (I had to know if they'd been killed. I just had to. I was dying of morbid curiosity.) Alex hung her head. "My parents were — were killed. In a car accident. Six months ago. Now I'm an orphan." "Oh!" I cried. I was horrified. "I'm so sorry. Thaf s terrible." "I know." Alex's eyes filled with tears. "You can't imagine how it feels." "No," I replied. "Well, maybe I can. Just a little. See, my mom died when I was a baby. I never knew her. I guess I'm a half-orphan." The idea had just occurred to me. "I wish I had known her." Alex looked at me sympathetically.
She was about to say something more when Jordan ran to me breathlessly.
"Mary Anne, we've tried everything and we've looked everywhere," he complained. "We haven't found a thing." "I better go," Alex said quickly. "You look busy." I tried to say good-bye to her and listen to Jordan at the same time.
"And we have four levels to go and the boaf s going to dock in Port Canaveral," he continued, sounding whiny. "And then the cruise will be over." "But we can still search for treasure at Disney World!" exclaimed Nicky.
"Yeah!" cried the others, brightening.
Their smiles returned, but mine didn't. I felt very thoughtful. I couldn't stop thinking about Alex. I felt really sorry for her, but I also felt close to her. You don't know how it feels to lose a parent or to grow up without one unless it has actually happened to you.
I knew I had found a true friend.
I just couldn't figure