I walked next to Aliza and Tori as we searched the clearing out. Fruit trees were extremely abundant here, as were tropical nuts and berries. As we found each tree or bush, we looked for signs that animals had eaten off of them, and would be consequentially safe for us as well. Then, either Amy or Addie followed the stones (we did find a use for them after all!) back to the path and marked the way using the rocks or branches, while the rest of us gathered the food in our jackets (those things have so many uses). We found fifteen spots in one afternoon. As we tramped back, we could hear grunts of the boys as they struggled to make a good, sizeable shelter for fourteen people. We laughed and joked about that for a long time.

When we made our way back into camp, it was so hot and gross out that we gently placed our jackets of berries in the shade of the trees and raced the guys to the ocean. As everyone else passed me, I slowed down and waited for Paul. As he neared me, I turned and motioned for him to hurry his butt up. He ran to me, and we hugged tightly for a few seconds before he bent down and quickly kissed me. We held hands for the rest of the short walk to the beach. I admitted to him that I had been thinking about the fact that we lived under Amy and Bri's 'rule', and it was starting to get to me. I was annoyed that because they didn't like something that happened over eight months ago, I couldn't date the only dude who wanted to be with me. He whole-heartedly agreed with me.

As we emerged from the path into the blinding sunshine, he and I separated again. I quickly said, before any could see us together, "Let's meet here, after everyone has gone to sleep." He nodded and we let our hands drop. I surveyed my friends on the beach. Amy and Chase were walking along in the water, occasionally stooping down to gather seashells. Tori and Aliza had stripped off their sweatshirts and shorts and were now swimming in the ocean, talking and laughing. The rest of the girls had also taken of their sweatshirts, but were eyeing those two with wonder and awe, that they would do that in front of all the guys. Of course, they both have the perfect bodies. The girls were all sitting somewhat in the surf. I realized all the girls were nearly dressed the same, with either a short sleeve shirt or tank on, and shorts. Weird, I thought as I watched the boys dump water on them using a bucket they had found, it's almost as if someone had wanted us here, and dressed us for the occasion. Paul and I made our way to the river, and laid down on the rocks side by side. We talked well into the evening, and the rest of the group slowly gathered around us, talking about what we had accomplished.

I looked at them all, slightly proud. Dylan, Chase, Amy, Aliza and Bri had found a coconut that wasn't ripe just yet, and so was about the same size and softness as a volleyball, and were playing pass back with it. From a bunch of city suburbanites to people thriving off the land and comfortable with it, all in one day. As I smiled at the sky, I froze as I realized something, and sat up. I counted and recounting the heads of the group. I listed off the people in my head, checking them off a list.

Jackie wasn't there.

"Um, guys? Where the crap is Jackie?"

All the talking immediately stopped and everyone looked around, affirming this fact. As the seconds ticked by, no one dared make a sound, listening hard for Jackie to say, "No, guys. I'm right here!" No such thing happened, and Bri was clearly pissed off as she muttered, "Shit." Amy stood and shouted her lungs out for Jackie to answer her, and the guys made a double check on the beach while the girls traveled a little upstream, where we found a nice little steam pool that had been branched off from the main river, but no Jackie. My heart was pounding as I realized she could be anywhere, or injured, or dead, or… I shook my head as we raced back to the rocks. I should just stop thinking so much. I scare myself.

Caleb told us she was not on the beach, or in the water. Amy told them she wasn't upstream. So, our breathing labored and our hearts thudding, we all sprinted as fast as we could back to camp, searching the bushes for signs of a frizzy head or sneaker. We burst out in the clearing, and we couldn't see her at all. Psyche checked our food supply we had left in the shadows hurriedly. It was all gone.

"Bitch! That bitch stole our food and ran!" Psyche was pissed, and it was quickly spreading to the rest of the camp. Exclamations were thrown into the twilight, and some were pretty harsh. All of them, actually, were cruelly mean. But, I guess that's what you get when you steal all of our food and high-tailing it. How could she even manage that? To take all of our food? That was a ton of nuts and berries, and it took nine of us to get it all back here. I suddenly saw something underneath one of the jackets. Wait a minute… My stomach started churning andI jogged over to the jackets, now looking dirty and sad. I bent and examined them. What I found only confirmed my fears. After a minute of that, I quickly stood and shouted, "Get in the shelter! Now!"

Psyche and I grabbed the jackets and ran to the rocks, panting heavily. We are doing a ton of running today, I thought grimly. Caleb and Dylan had mercifully heard the urgency in my command and was shepherding the rest of the group into the cave-like structure the boys had somehow made in one afternoon. It was dark in there, so I took out my IPod and set the light setting to 'always on', and placed it in the center of the circle we formed. The harsh light threw everyone's face into a strange distortion of angles and shadows.

"What? What is it?" Tori asked, her voice only slightly shaking.

I took a deep breath and said, "It was Jackie. She did steal our food, and she also left us this lovely note." I brandished a piece of notebook paper that had been crumpled and folded for a long time. On it, written in a hasty handwriting in pen, were the words, "You should have listened to him like me. Now, you're only going to die along with the rest of them. I hope it's slow and painful."

As I lowered the note from reading it out loud, I heard a sniff and a soft moan, "Oh, my God." I looked around the group. Some eyes were closed, as if in pain. Other were open and had a harsh, hard look of disbelief. Psyche's eyes were narrowed dangerously. Aaron had leaned back and was shaking his head. "How? How could she fucking do that?" That started off one of the most foul-mouthed Twenty Questions I have ever heard.

"What the hell?"

"She's a traitor. Benedict Arnold! Shit."

"Who the crap is he and them?"

"Why, why why?"

"We are going to die here, all alone, no help. Oh, my God."

"Jessabell, what are we going to do?"

I held up my hands for silence, and amazingly, they all followed my command. "I don't know for sure. I wish I did, trust me, but I honestly think she means death by starvation. We can avoid that, I mean, we did find, like, a gazillion bushes and trees we can use. So, in other words, it's an empty threat. She does hate us, remember? She probably just wanted to scare us into not doing anything and so we would die from that." I leaned back as my words sank in. After a few seconds, sighs of relief echoed around the cave.

"So, tomorrow, we are gonna go get some more food, and water, and more explorations, and it's all gonna be good. Get it?"

"Got it!"

"Good." I smiled at Aliza, and said sweetly, "So, honey, how was South?"

"OH, my God, it was crazy and fun and awesome! There's this one girl, Sara-"

"Can't be better than East." Aaron picked at his fingernails, and when Aliza rebutted him, they both got into an argument about which school was better. It lasted for hours, and when we all grew immensely tired of it, we talked around them. I admired the boys' work, on how stable it was, and cozy, even with thirteen of us in there. Amy and I talked about the boys right in front of them, but since we used codenames, they just sat there and looked confused. By gently using conversation and humor, we steadily walked away from Jackie's betrayal, which stung, even though she wasn't a friend. By midnight, everyone was asleep, except Paul and me. We looked at each other and gently stepped over sleeping friends as the huddled together for warmth. I ducked out first, and again, I was struck by the stars and their vast numbers. As Paul stepped out, I heard him gasp and mutter something underneath his breath. I held out my hand and he took it. We walked together, looking up at the stars and talking.

"That was extremely smooth back there, how you handled that?"

I ducked my head, thanking God for the cover of night as I blushed deeply. "Thanks. I just don't want a bunch of freaked out high schoolers in my hands."

"Understandable, understandable. Do you think Amy and Bri have forgiven me yet?"

I leaned against him as we walked, sighing, "It's too early to tell. Give it a few days, but I believe we are getting there."

"Awesome!"

I grinned, and we kissed again. I could get used to this, and with my heart fluttering like mad, we made our way to the beach. I sat on his jacket while I gave him a back massage when he had said he was sore from lifting those rocks. We talked for the rest of the night. I even think I dozed for a while on his shoulders, but he shook me awake, and pointed to the sky. "Look at that!" he breathed.

I rubbed my eyes and looked. A huge plane of some sort was making its way across the sky. It looked like it was painted black and made out of a heavy metal. Lower parts of the plane were painted a deep purple. The bow of the plane was shaped like a mask, and was deep silver, like the moon. The wings were also purple, and were strangely shaped like bat's wings. There were three pairs of those wings, getting smaller as they descended in placement of the ship. The shape of it was odd, curved and bent in odd places. As it made its slow way across the stars, we heard its engine groan and hiss. It moved gracefully across the sky, and Paul and I watched, hands held and our eyes reflecting the stars and moons.

As it began to disappear over the horizon, we heard a crack and a boom. Another ship was tailing the first one. This second one was like twenty sizes smaller than the first one, but much faster. It was shaped like an F-15, and was covered in blue and silver paint. The cockpit cover was green, and a symbol was painted on the side right underneath the cockpit. It slowed down and followed the first one at a deliberate speed.

With a loud scream that surprised us both out of our minds, the first ship fired World War II's worth of bullets at the second one. Paul and I watched, mouths open in disbelief as a huge dogfight erupted in front of our eyes. The second one quickly pulled in and out, up and sideways, dodging the shots as they hurtled through the air. It was amazingly graceful and awe-inspiring, and yet at the same time, probably the most terrifying thing I have ever seen.

I shouted at Paul over the thunder of bullets and engines, "If that ship is hit, it's going down right near us! We need to get out of here!" He nodded and pulled me up by my arm, yanking me off the ground. We ran to the path and ducked for cover. My heart was pounding as I looked behind me and saw the second ship pull up and out of sight. As soon as it was gone, the bullets stopped, and the night was silent again. As the birds hesitantly started chirping again, Paul and I made our way back to the cabin, where no one had awakened. It seemed the rocks made our new home surprisingly sound-proof. Paul and I huddled together, unwilling to go to sleep. Eventually, the exhaustion took over and we fell asleep in each other's arms.