One
Hugo Reyes sat in the sand near the twisted wreck of Oceanic 815, headphones on, staring out at the endless blue sea with a miserable scowl darkening his pudgy features. It was four hours since the stupid plane had split in half and dumped him and the other kids on this dumb island, and since then his day had somehow gotten steadily worse.
He was so absorbed in the gentle croonings of Willie Nelson that he failed to notice the brown-haired freckly girl approach until she stood in front of him, hands on hips, saying something which was drowned out by the music.
If I ignore her, she'll go away, thought Hugo, and deepened his scowl slightly, apparently trying to stare straight through the intruder. Apparently unperturbed by his refusal to acknowledge her the girl repeated herself louder, though he still couldn't hear her over his CD player.
Scowling as deeply as possible, Hugo turned the volume up, slumped deeper into the hot sand and screwed his eyes tight closed, like he did when his only real friend, Dave, stopped being funny and started getting on his nerves. It didn't usually work, even on Dave, but he had a feeble hope that she'd be gone when he eventually decided to risk a peek...
Suddenly the headphones were yanked from his ears, the song replaced by the sounds of the sea. Reluctantly he opened his eyes and glared at the thief, who was very much still there.
"Hey, what are you doing?" asked the girl again.
"Well, I was listening to music," muttered Hugo sulkily, "but then you stole my headphones."
"No," said the girl, "I mean what's up? Why the long face?"
"No reason," said Hugo, who didn't want to talk about it. "Can I have my headphones back, please?"
The girl held them high in the air. "Nuh-uh," she shook her head, "only if you tell me what's wrong first."
Seeing that she wasn't about to give up, Hugo sighed his defeat. "OK, fine, but you're just going to laugh at me like everyone else."
"Promise I won't," said the girl, her fingers crossed instinctively behind her back.
"Well," said Hugo, "the other kids were picking on me 'cos I'm... you know..."
"Big?" asked the girl innocently.
"Yeah," sighed Hugo, "big."
"Is that it?" asked the girl. She seemed almost disappointed.
Hurley shrugged. "Then one of them stole my Apollo bar."
"No way! Which one was it?" asked the girl.
"It doesn't matter," said Hugo. "Look, I don't want any trouble. Can I have my headphones back now?"
She lofted them high above her head. "Not unless you tell me who did it."
"OK, fine, it was that one," said Hugo, nodding towards a long-haired boy in a cowboy hat sitting further down the beach. Apart from Hugo, he was the only other survivor that had chosen to be alone; the rest were chatting in groups or venturing inland to explore the outskirts of the thick jungle that covered the island.
The headphones landed in Hugo's lap as the girl strode purposefully over to the long-haired boy. He looked up from his book and eyed her with mixed appraisal and suspicion. "Why, hello th-"
"Gimme the chocolate bar," demanded the girl, interrupting his southern drawl.
"Say what?" asked the boy, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"Gimme the chocolate bar," she repeated, unwavering.
"And just why the heck would I want to do that?" asked the boy with a dismissive smirk.
"'Cuz otherwise I'll punch you in your big stupid face."
He laughed, taken aback. "Settle down, Freckles."
She lunged and grabbed his cowboy hat, pulling it from his head. He scowled deeply. "Now you better just give me that back," he threatened.
"Or else what?" demanded the girl.
He got to his feet and started after her, but she was too fast for him. "Nobody takes my stuff!" he growled as she waved the hat just beyond his reach.
"Well now you know how it feels, so give the candy back!" She tossed the hat aside and began raining punches down on his arm.
"Owie!" he cried, backing away from the whirling dervish. "OK, fine, I wasn't hungry anyway." He pulled the Apollo bar, which was by now quite melted, from his jeans pocket and tossed it to her, before retrieving his hat while keeping a wary eye on her. Defeated, he sat down again, pulling the hat's brim low over his scowl.
The girl strode back over to Hugo, who had watched the scuffle in open-mouthed amazement. "That was totally awesome," he breathed.
"No sweat," said the girl, opening the chocolate bar and biting off a big chunk before tossing him the rest. Seeing his face as he eyed the remains of his snack, she said "What? I'm doing you a favour, big guy."
"Ha ha, very funny," he said.
"Just kidding," she laughed. "I'm Kate, by the way."
"Hugo," replied Hugo. "My friends calls me Hurley." Really it was only Dave that called him Hurley, but he didn't feel like admitting he only had one friend.
"Pleased to meet you, Hurley," grinned Kate, and held out her hand to shake his. "And if that loser gives you any more trouble, you just let me know."