Don't know what the hell was with the other chapter, but it turned out way different than what I thought it was. Here's a redo with some subtle differences.
Let me start by putting one thing out there:
My name is Chelsea Merridew.
Yes, Merridew.
Yes, I am Jack's younger sister.
Yes, I was the only girl on that blasted island.
I don't care what you heard from Jack, or Roger, or Maurice, or any of those assholes. I don't care what things they distorted, how they made me appear, or the lies they cram into the story. This is what really happened, starting from when I woke up for the first time on that sand covered beach, and that's all that matters.
"Oh, god," I muttered. Sitting up, I felt my body crack in several different places. I glanced down at my left leg. Dried blood had dripped in a straight line from my knee down where my pants were torn. Awesome. Shakily, I stood up and stretched. The sun felt like what light must feel like after a hangover.
I scratched at my brain for what happened. There was a war, I knew that. Then plane evacuation, and Jack made me dress up like a boy for his own purposes, and then...crash. I just love when plane crashes slip my mind.
I had only started looking around the seemingly deserted area when I heard a voice call me. "Chelsea!"
My red headed brother emerged running from the forest behind me. When he got to me, he was huffing. Yeah, we weren't exactly an athletic family. "Thank god you're okay! Mum would kill me if something happened to you!"
"Nice to see you too," I muttered.
"Hey, don't get sarcastic on me." He embraced me in a long-armed brotherly hug. "You know I watch out for you."
"Yeah, yeah." Jack still donned that black cloak and choir cap, like the goody goody he was. "What are we supposed to do now?" I asked, taking off my own boy's school uniform cap and letting my dark brown hair flow.
"Don't do that!" Jack cried, grabbing the cap and trying to stuff my hair back in it.
Quickly I grabbed the hat out of his hands and asked, "What are you doing?"
"You can't be a girl here!"
"Wow, thanks."
"No- you know what I mean," he grumbled.
"Why not? There's probably not even anyone else here-"
"But there are!" Jack interrupted. "I saw people. My whole choir's here."
"Oh, great," I muttered. I had never met his choir or his friends, but it always seemed like whenever I saw Jack right after he hung out with them, he would be more of a jerk than usual.
"Just... just turn around," he ordered, fishing through his pocket.
"What are you going to do?" I asked, hesitant. Jack slipped out a knife. "Oh my god- no! No! What are you- no! Why are you even carrying a knife?" I shouted, jumping away from him. He held up his hands as if in surrender, but he didn't look so innocent holding up that knife.
"Jeez, stay calm! I'm just going to cut your hair-"
"Cut my hair!" I repeated. "All right, now this is ridiculous and you're just paranoid."
"I can't let anything happen to you, okay? This is just for your own safety."
"My safety?"
This went on for probably 2 or 3 minutes. I eventually gave in and let Jack cut my hair. I supposed it wasn't that big of a deal, anyway. Plus at least I wouldn't have to see what a terrible job he did with no mirrors around.
Jack told me he would have taken me to his choir, but he didn't want anyone to know he knew me (subtle, I know). Trust me, that was not offensive. He did, however, tell me that he would constantly watch over me. So he wasn't a brother, just a stalker.
I decided I'd use my real life nickname "Chase" as my island name. Jack wasn't too keen on it, but he'd never called me Chase. He was one of those official people who called others by their real names (You should have seen the first time he called my mom "Mrs. Merridew." Some real shit went down at breakfast that morning.).
Wandering, I heard a horn blast. I guess everyone heard it. That's always the big thing everyone on the island's stories have in common: the horn blast. The starting moment that got us all tangled into this island mess together.
And so I followed it.
Jack wasn't lying when he said there were people there, and he sure wasn't lying when he said I'd be the only girl.
I saw that there were a lot of high schoolers. I was 16 years old myself, one year younger than Jack, even though he treated me like I was 10 years younger.
I glanced around at the semi-circle of boys. Te youngest seemed like they could be in kindergarten while the oldest seemed like they could be seniors in high school. I wasn't sure what kind of plane would have such a wide range of ages, but apparently it was an evacuation one.
A chubby guy was looking around as everyone was gathering smack-dab in the middle. I couldn't help but feel a little pity for him. No matter who he smiled at, they didn't smile back. All they did was turn to each other and smirk. People really can be cruel. I almost went up there to introduce myself to that guy, but I didn't have enough time what with Jack's dramatic entrance in all (believe me, I grew up with this kid. This was not something new.).
Jack lead in his choir in like a mother duck leads her children, but don't tell him I said that. He only made quick eye contact with me, and he distanced himself. I had no problem. Seeing him stride in with that firey red hair and freckled face made me glad we didn't have those traits in common.
One of the people that struck me in his group was a black haired, dark brown eyed guy. He seemed like the kind of person who would keep a knife sharpener next to his bed. You know, that guy. I would have guessed he had dark makeup on, but he seemed like someone who naturally had that appearance.
I took a seat in the crowd as Jack began having a "discussion" with the blonde kid in the middle holding the conch. I had barely noticed him. He was your typical good looking guy: he had the sandy blonde hair and the sky blue eyes to match. Even under his school uniform you could see he had a pretty nice build, your stereotypical athlete. All the girls might have fawned over him 20 or 30 years ago, but in today's age he was probably considered "too mainstream."
I bet you've heard all the accounts, right? There was the election, there was my brother who tried to win, lost to the blonde guy who introduced himself as Ralph (by the way, Jack glared at me when I didn't vote for him. Really, I didn't vote at all), and then he stabbed a tree. I was only mildly shocked by this. Jack was notorious in our family for having anger fits. He did get kind of spoiled.
Somewhere along the way, a boy with jet black hair and lightning green eyes passed out, probably from the heat and that ridiculous cloak Jack made his choir keep on. He was a complete douche about it and told everyone to just leave him there. This, my friends, is why I like to pretend I have no brother.
After Ralph decided to go on an "exploration" with Jack and the kid who passed out (Simon was his name. Right, gotta take a mental note of that), I went up to them abe asked if I could tag along. At the same time, the chubby kid was asking the same question to blonde-Ralph.
"Mind if I join you guys with my brother?" I asked in my manliest voice. Yeah, that was going to need some work.
"Absolutely you are not coming!" Jack ordered. Blonde "chief" raises his eyebrows, as did light headed green eyes and chubby guy.
"This is your brother?" the blue eyed "leader" asked, obviously surprised. Jack and I didn't look very alike. For one thing, I got more genes from my mom, and for another I'm a god damned girl.
"Yeah," I answered, trying to sound boy-ish but not like a heavy smoker. "Chase."
"I'm Ralph," he formally introduced. "And this is...Simon, right?" The black haired boy nodded. "And this is Piggy." I saw Piggy's cheeks swell up pink and he took Ralph off to the side. I looked over at Jack.
"C'mon, let me go!" I pleaded. Simon was just sort of standing there mindlessly. Jack shook his head.
"It's too dangerous. I won't let you."
"Wow, the big bad brother says I can't go. Official."
"You're not coming. Go play with that fatty or something."
"Hey," I muttered. "You don't have to be such an ass to him." Jack rolled his eyes.
"Be careful," he told me before leaving with his group.
So I was stuck with all of these other guys for the time being.
I got the weird looks, a lot of eyes towards the area where straps were wrapped around my chest and I saw wandering glances towards my, ahem, rear. You get the point. Apparently these guys were trying to figure out whether they were homosexual or not, though I didn't see why. I wasn't really much to look at.
I noticed some of the guys ripping their pants into shorts to deal with the heat, and some were wearing their boxers out freely. Believe me, that didn't make me any more comfortable.
But Jack wasn't around now, right? I started ripping at my own pants. "What's wrong, haven't gone through puberty yet to get your own leg hair?" the dark haired, dark eyed choir boy taunted me as I revealed my clean shaven legs. The other guys around him smirked, but I think it backfire in his eyes when he stared for a few seconds. I shrugged it off. Boys will be boys, whether I pretend to be one or not.
I can't say I'm exactly the social type, so I didn't talk to many people. There were some younger kids there on whom I practiced my "boy voice" on. It still needed work. I managed to utter a few words to Piggy, and he turned out to be my friend for the evening. Apparently the meet had lasted pretty long because it was already darkening a few hours after the "exploration team" left. The most exciting part of my day was over, and I was off to find a secluded area of the forest to sleep in.
Everything was just beginning.