Diclaimor: I do not own Lord of the Flies, that is owned by Sir William Golding.
Without an Island...
SIMON'S POV
I came to a realization that might as well have been a national emergency. My mind was completely sure this was a world-stopping, time pausing event that was sure to change the alignment of the planets.
I lost my library book.
It wasn't so much as I would get in trouble with the library, this was not the first time I lost a book, but the fact I was boarding a plane for the United States in ten minutes and stuck with nothing to do. I sighed with disappointment and fiddled with my ticket, wondering what would have happened in that Harry Potter book.
My school was on a trip to Washington D.C. so we could study American history. It was part of the Freshman World History course I had chosen to take, which was fine with me, except I was stuck without any friends for the trip. My entire class was full of loud, obnoxious kids who would have nothing to do with a quiet guy like me.
Our class began the boarding process, darting around clad in blazers to find which friends they wanted to sit with and shuffling their way into the line forming in front of me. I grabbed my green suitcase by the handle and rolled it to the back of the line, right behind the worst guys in school.
They called themselves The Hunters, I'm not sure why and I don't particularly care, and they were the loudest, stupidest, most "manly" guys in school. Every school had these types of guys all they ever talked about were girls and sports, but that wouldn't matter so much if they were not complete idiots; I'm not lying, they bragged about getting straight D's on their report cards. They were the kind of guys who just loved to pick on me.
Their leader was the school football captain slash most-annoying-redhead named Jack Merridew. Everyday in gym class Jack would give me a hard time for being the most scrawny boy in class. He called me "shawty" (oh, how creative) saying it worked both ways for my stature and my girlie-ness. Did the gym teacher ever notice the harassment? Of course not! Jack was the star football player and my teacher was the coach. Not only that, but a couple of times Jack rounded up the football team and got them to toss me in the trash (again, what creativity) laughing the entire time. Every time I saw him, a fire began to burn in my stomach of complete disgust.
I tried to look invisible but Jack saw me anyway. A gleam in his eyes, which I dared to meet for a moment, told me there was going to be trouble. I was right.
"Hey shawty," said Jack mock-friendly. His friends turned and giggled with cave-man laughs. I began to pick dirt out from under my nails.
"Hi Jack," I whispered, barely audible. Part of me was screaming why aren't you standing up against this jerk? and the other part was screaming run! Jack snickered.
"What, your boyfriend couldn't make the trip?" Jack chuckled. His friends began to make faces and punch each other on the shoulders. I rolled my eyes despite my fear.
"I don't have a boyfriend," I whispered again, staring out the window at the plane. The feeling of dread was replaced by anxiousness to get the line going.
"What, not popular with the guys? Maybe if you grew your hair out and dressed like the true girl you are things might work out. Don't you agree?" Jack purred. I bit my lip and stared at the ground. My fear was battling with anger: Tell the guy off already! and Wait, no, you have an entire trip for this guy to torture you! I picked at a loose string on my blazer.
"Or-or maybe if you grew an inch or two!" Jack laughed with his friends. Why were they laughing? He wasn't even funny!
"What no comment?" Jack asked challengingly. Don't say anything this guy can hurt you… Just ignore him and- oh who cares.
"You want a comment Jack?" I said angrily "Than how about this: I have figured out what you need," His friends shoved Jack around like idiots with wild grins on their faces.
"And what's that?" Jack asked, an arrogant smirk on his face.
"You. Are. Pale," I said, saying my words slowly so his pea-brain could comprehend. Jack's face to went from high-and-mighty to confused.
"So?" he asked as his friends looked around at each other for an explanation. I took a deep breathe.
"My advice to you : come out of the closet. You will get more sun," I smiled triumphantly as Jack's friends broke out into laughter, for once not aimed at me but at Jack. Jack's face turned as red as his hair with a look of mortification. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again like a fish gaping for air. Suddenly, his eyes turned murderous.
"Shut up!" he growled at his friends. The took one look at his horrifying face and piped down quickly.
"You are so dead," Jack said. My floating feel of triumph took a nosedive in my stomach as Jack and his goons began to step towards me. "Excuse me!" yelled a flight attendant next to the plane entrance. She looked aggravated and I assumed she had been trying to get our attention for a while, as the line was gone and our group was still standing across the room. Jack gave me one last look before slouching off towards the plane.
JACK'S POV
I didn't know which was worse: the fact I was embarrassed in front of my friends or the fact that I was relieved Simon didn't have a boyfriend.
I entered the plane and snagged a seat in the back, telling the other Hunters not to sit with me. The guys listened, being the loyal dogs they were, without questioning why I needed three seats all to myself. Call me crazy, but I wished they would have asked, because than I could have told them I was claustrophobic, and they would not have thought I had saved a seat for Simon. Because, honestly, I was claustrophobic, but it just so happened that there were no seats left for Simon but the one by me. Fates a bitch.
He looked pale as he sat in the aisle seat, the farthest from my window seat. I felt an overwhelming anger boil in my stomach, as well as other feelings. No, no, no, I'm just angry. Think about Katie, or Miley, or some other pretty girl. Yeah, full lips, a small waist, and her green eyes…. Wait. I don't know any girls with green eyes. The only person I know with green eyes is- Damn!
"Please buckle your seatbelts," said the cold, intercom voice. I rolled my eyes and fiddled around with the buckle on the belt until it was secure around my midsection. The plane began to move forward, picking up speed every couple of yards and I felt as if my brain was being pushed into the back of my scull as the plane began to lift. I saw Simon break into a nervous-sweat next to me; for some reason, I wanted to take his hand and tell him that it was going to be fine, that planes were perfectly safe and-
I growled to myself angrily and turned to look out the window. It was going to be a long ride.
SIMON'S POV
"Ehmagod!" I squeaked out as the plane jumped with turbulence. What I meant to say was "Oh my God," but somehow it had turned into one word and I wanted to slap myself for sounding like a valley- girl.
"Ehmagosh!" I said unintentionally as the plane decided to do another bunny hop. I felt like I was riding a frog, not a plane, and I had been tossed around from the minute the plane left the ground. It was half an hour into the ride and I was surprised I hadn't upchucked my non-existent breakfast yet. The plane began to shiver, so of course unintended whimpering began to escape from my mouth. Stupid planes, stupid scary, bouncing, flying machines of death! I hated planes like I hated my fainting spells: things I had no control over but still had to live with. On top of that, I was cold, tired, and sitting next to my worst enemy!
The plane stopped its vibrating and a sigh of relief whooshed from me.
"Will you please shut up," Jack spat angrily. I turned to him, opened my mouth to say something, but shut it quickly, and decided to blink a couple of times instead. It was the first time he had said anything to me all plane ride, and I was pretty sure some smart- aleck comment would lead to me being thrown out the emergency exit. Not only that, but a blush was creeping up my neck for being so… pitiful. I guess it was just the control thing: I didn't like being unable to do something myself. In that case, I hated how I couldn't control the fact I was scared or at least understand why I was scared. Not like Jack Merridew would understand that, he seemed confident about everything he did.
I twiddled my thumbs mindlessly and stared at the back of the plane seat in front of me. If only I had the window seat, at least I would have some clouds to stare at instead.
It was than that the plane lit up brightly, a crack echoed off the ceiling, and the plane began to dive. My stomach twisted, turned, flipped, and a scream escaped my lips.
A blackness began to tinge the edges of the world and the screams of the fellow passengers got fainter and fainter. Somebody, somebody lunged at me, or fell on me, strong arms wrapped around me protectively. An irrational feeling of safety rushed over me, giving my body the chance to give into the spell. It turned pitch black.
Author's note: No, this is not a continuation of Underclassmen. This is just the result of my fruitless efforts to get back to the original island setting.