After Ralph and Jack finished their conversation, Ralph captured the attention of all the boys and drew them to order in the shaded area.

"We'd better all have names," he started, clutching the conch in his hand. "So I'm Ralph."

"We got most names," Piggy added. "Got 'em just now."

The leader decided he didn't need to be told everything from someone like Piggy. With a contemptuous manner, he spat, "Kids' names. Why should I be Jack? I'm Merridew."

"You're not allowed to speak without the conch!" Ralph chided.

Meanwhile Piggy was still in his own world of innocence.

"Then," he went on. "that boy - I forget-"

"You're talking too much," Jack Merridew snapped. "Shut up Fatty!"

Simultaneously, Piggy's chubby face singed red and he was about to speak up when Ralph decided to butt in.

"He's not Fatty," Ralph protested with delight. "His real name's Piggy!"

With this, much laughter arose and filled the air with a feeling of triumph on Ralph's end. However, Violet was astounded. She knew boys were inferior to girls when it came to manners, but this was just ridiculous. Ridiculous and cruel. She shot daggers at Ralph and Jack. They were laughing together like they were old mates when just a minute ago, Jack had insisted arrogantly on being called by his last name, a request to which Violet would never appease. It just goes to show how boys will come together if it means gibing on another boy.

Jack suddenly noticed Violet and singled her out as the only person who didn't find this mockery droll. He needed to capture her attention somehow. He took hold of the conch abruptly, ignoring Ralph's remonstrance.

"We've got to decide about being rescued." He declared. Violet looked at him, unsatisfied.

Ralph seized the conch from Jack. "Everyone listen! We ought to elect someone to decide things."

"A chief! A chief!"

"I ought to be chief," Jack asserted. "I'm chapter chorister, head boy, and I can sing C sharp."

Violet had had enough of his supercilious demeanor. She did something she never knew she was brave enough to do.

"Would you please let him speak for more than five seconds?" She insisted. Her soft features were irritated and her voice went up an octave. She regretted the words the moment they left her mouth. Jack stepped up to her. He puffed his chest out and walked right up next to her, so contiguous their chests were almost touching. He was taller than Ralph and certainly taller than her by about five inches. Maybe six.

He leant over her and she wilted. "Listen," he started. She was breathing heavily and her chest grazed his. "I'm not going to stand around and take orders from you. Especially from a girl!"

The word came from his mouth like a bullet. He finished his flare with a smirk and backed away. Violet was left staring.

"Jack, shut up," Ralph muttered. "We have to vote for chief."

Jack gave Violet one more glare before turning to Ralph and the rest of the boys.

"All right, who wants Jack for chief?"

One by one, the choir raised their hands with docility. Violet noticed that they were rather circumspect about it. It really shows what kind of a group they are.

"Who wants me?"

Everyone aside from the choir, Violet and Piggy raised their hands at once. Piggy then withdrew his hand from his side with sagacious movement and voted for Ralph. Violet stared at her feet.

"I'm chief then." Ralph concluded. Jack's face singed and Ralph turned to him quickly.

"The choir belongs to you, of course. They can be...what do you want them to be?"

"Hunters." He replied without hesitation. Violet noticed that Simon's face instantly turned opaque and pallid.

After Jack, Ralph, and Simon's expedition to the mountain, the conch is sounded and a meeting is called. All the kids gather around on a triangle of thick longs along the jungle. Violet takes her place on the edge of a log, slightly further apart from the others. She doesn't dare approach the gender-barrier quite yet.

"Well then," Ralph said expectantly, unsure where to start. "We're on an island. An uninhabited one, at that. No houses, smoke, people, nothing."

Jack was impatient and impetuous.

"All the same you need an army - for hunting. Hunting pigs-"

"Yes. There are pigs on the island." Ralph interjected, bringing the attention back on his spotlight. "So you see, we need hunters to get us meat. And another thing."

Everyone looked up, Ralph was turning the shell over apprehensively in his hands.

"There aren't any grownups here. We have to establish rules-"

"Lots of rules!" Jack was on his feet. "And if anyone breaks 'em-"

"Whee-oh!"

"Wacco!"

"Bong!"

"Doink!"

All the littleuns mimed bashing heads and kicking stomachs.

"Wait- Ralph-" A husky voice started up. Everyone turned to Piggy, some (Jack) with disgust. Violet looked at him with profuse pity.

"You're hindering," Piggy declared as Ralph offered up the shell. "What we really need to focus on is who knows we're here?"

This question took everyone by surprise. A laconic reticence followed as the boys and Violet pondered this thought. Who does know where they are?

"They knew at the airport-"

"No." A voice that was higher than the rest rang out from the back of the assembly. All eyes rested on the girl with the blonde hair. "The answer to the proposed question is no. No one knows we're here or where we are." The boys were shocked that the one girl dare speak up, especially after the earlier episode with Jack.

"That's what I was going to say," Ralph interjected the lull, "when you all, all..." He gazed at their absorbed faces. "The plane was shot down in flames. Nobody knows where we are. We may be here a long time."

A little boy was then pushed forward by his mates. He obviously didn't wish to be reaped for his remark, but it was discernible he had to tell someone something.

"All right, come on then." Ralph coaxed.

The little boy reached out for the conch with apprehensive fingers. This brought a wave of laughter throughout the aggregation, and a wave of tears onto the boy. Piggy berated Ralph into giving him the conch, but by then, the littleun had lost his voice.

Violet's paternal instincts conveyed her to him more than anything else. She leant down and pitched her ear to him.

"He wants to know what you're going to do about the snake-thing." She concluded. She said this with such sobriety that Ralph laughed and the other boys chortled along. Even sweet old Simon snickered.

"Tell us about the snake-thing."

A pause. Then, "Now he says it's a beastie."

"Beastie? Where?"

"In the woods; he saw it." She was defiant.

"He was dreaming!"

"Well, we'll make sure when we hunt." Jack certified, looking pointedly at Violet. Violet pierced him with her orbs. He looked away.

The meeting carried on, and was dispersed to make an attempt at a fire. All the boys booked for the mountain-top like a pack of savages. Violet slowly trailed behind, not wanting to interfere, but not wanting to be left back. Ralph and Piggy caught up to her.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," Ralph began. Violet waited vigilantly. "Why didn't you vote? For chief, I mean."

She excogitated this for a bit before answering. "I don't know an easy way to put this, but I don't think there should be a chief."

Both boys were stunned. "Well, why not?"

She took a deep breath. "This sort of thing never ends well. You saw how Jack looked at you. And then you let him be in charge of the hunters? No offense, but you'd have to be crazy to make a decision like that. If you ever create a row, which you certainly will at some point or another, who's going to have all the power? Those choir boys know their loyalties reside with Jack. They wanted him as chief. And now that you're chief, there will be all sorts of predicaments."

Ralph was silent.

"She has a point-"

"Shut your fatass, Piggy." Piggy was silent.

They reached the top of the mountain. They were quarreling about how to start a fire. She rolled her eyes. The answer was right in front of them.

"Piggy," she whispered to the whimpering ham. "hand over the glasses."

"Wha-? No! I need my specs to see-"

"Just do it. I'll give them right back after I show these imbeciles how to start a fire." Piggy grudgingly relinquished the specs.

Violet made her way to the bulk of the boys.

" 'Scuse me." She pressed herself against Simon in order to get to the center where all the firewood was hoarded. His cheeks burned.

She poked through the clump until she affronted Jack. He stood tall and wouldn't let her by.

"Jack, move. Please." She added.

"Why? What have you got?"

"Our survival." She retorted hotly before prodding his shoulder and slipping past.

She felt the boys cluster around her as she straightened the glass on the specs in line with the sun. Some littleuns pressed against her as well as a choir boy or two, eager to learn her ways. Slowly, steadily, the glossy spot of concentrated light grew hotter and hotter, until it started to smoke. Abruptly, a fire was going.

The boys cheered. The littleuns danced around it and beat at their chests. Violet smiled and noticed Jack watching her with a new look. Respect.

Then, there was wind.

Followed by flames.

Everywhere.