Doubling back.

Okay. This was getting ridiculous. Michael knew that if he kept doing what he was doing, he would definitely end up lost somewhere in the ship, and then he wouldn't be able to get back to the room until he found someone that actually worked on the ship and knew how to show him where to go. He would only be digging himself deeper by going anywhere but backward.

Of course, what was back there was more shame. Admitting that he had chickened out, maybe. Maybe even derision by Jean and her friends. He didn't know whether it would hurt more to be teased by Jon, by Cassandra and Lily, or by his sister. Each of those options sounded pretty fucking terrible to him, but he didn't see any sort of alternative. He would just have to head back and hope that things went well back in the spa and lounge section.

Michael could feel that good-old sense of shame and self-disgust as he wandered back toward the spa. How did he keep getting himself into situations like these? It was just ridiculous. He was almost a grown man-- a senior in high school! He could drive a car! But he was always making a fool out of himself.

Thankfully, he didn't get lost on his way back to the spa. He changed back into the borrowed swim trousers, abandoning his clothes for the second time in the locker room. Then he walked back to the hallway with all of the hot tubs. His sister's friends had chosen the one on the far end of the hall, and he could hear them talking or something, even from the end of the hallway. It was weirdly loud. Were they fighting, or something? It didn't sound like that, but Michael didn't know what was going on.

He gulped. Was he really going to do this? Come back like a beaten dog? Well, what else was he supposed to do, walk aimlessly around for hours?