++ CHAPTER SEVEN
Screw it.
That was Arianna's first thought when she opened her eyes the following morning. Screw it. She needed to stop dancing around it and face her problems head-on. Today was the day she would confront Jack about where they stood relationship-wise. It had been around two weeks since their little liaison first started. Or maybe it was closer to three? She couldn't be sure; the days here folded so easily into each other that she was starting to lose track of how long they'd been here. It couldn't have been that long, she told herself. Then again, her dress was starting to fade and fray at the edges and everyone else's clothes were in a similar state. She didn't even want to know what her hair looked like at this point. Later, she would bathe and attempt to remove the tangles, although her scalp ached at the very thought of it.
But now was not the time to think about grooming. Arianna had to stick to her objective and settle things with Jack once and for all. The first place she thought to look for him was the by the signal fire. It was still early, so maybe he and the other hunters had just woken up and were rotating shifts. Her palms grew clammy from the nerves as she wove her way through the trees, growing closer and closer to the hilltop. How should she begin? Should she just get down to business or give him a little introduction or what?
Her thoughts were cut short as she saw Jack and a couple of his friends trudge down the hillside, spears in hand. She watched as he led them down, sheathing his hunting knife and carefully tucking it into the waistband of his shorts – only he wasn't wearing any shorts. Arianna's eyes widened as she realized Jack had traded his boxers for a flimsy loincloth that left little to the imagination. She flushed horribly as she tore her gaze away from his thinly veiled manhood and focused on his face – only it wasn't the same face she was used to seeing. She was startled to find that he had painted his cheeks black and red, probably with charcoal and… Goodness, was that blood? Arianna shuddered. Maybe now was not the best time to talk to him.
Before she could turn back, however, Roger spotted her presence. He grinned and gestured widely in her direction. "Look, Jack. I think someone here was a little too impatient to see you."
Arianna couldn't help but glare at the brown-haired boy before having to break eye contact once she realized that he was as sparsely clothed as Jack.
"Didn't get enough of me last time, did you?" Jack called to her, earning several snickers from the pack of boys behind him. Separating himself from them, he jogged down to where she stood, all the way at the foot of the hill. "Look," he began in a mock whisper. "I know how hard it is to keep your hands off of me, but now isn't really a good time. Meet me later and I'll–"
"No, Jack!" she said firmly, rolling her eyes. "I didn't come here to do that." She looked away and scratched her neck nervously before sighing in defeat. "Seriously, Jack. Can we just talk, you know, privately?"
"Alright, Arianna, we can talk. But only for a minute." He winked over his shoulder at the boys who were still making their way down the hill. They wolf whistled as he put an arm around her shoulder and led her into the forest for a brief chat. Once they were a far enough distance away, he leaned against the back of a palm tree, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and looked at her pointedly. "Okay, now what do you want to talk about?"
Arianna swallowed and tucked a wayward piece of hair behind her ear as she gathered her thoughts. "I've been thinking…"
"About what?"
"About us," she said and gestured at the distance between them. "About where we stand with each other. Because I don't want one of us to get the wrong idea."
"What do you mean 'wrong idea'?" he demanded, looking confused that she even mentioned something so seemingly obvious. "We're just two people messing around every now and then. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Well, yes," Arianna started, the blood rushing back into her cheeks. "I certainly thought that's what we were. But the other day, when you... you…" She trailed off, her eyes straying down to the area that his loincloth barely covered. She allowed herself to stare at it for a few moments before keeping her gaze determinedly locked on the ground.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked incredulously. "You look like you're about to piss yourself or something."
Clenching her fingers together, she forced herself not to explode at him for being such an insensitive asshole. "Look, Jack. I just want… I needed to…" But she couldn't take it anymore. Through her hands in the air, she released a cry of exasperation. "Seriously, Jack, where the hell are your pants?"
"What?" He sounded confused, but then he looked down to his loincloth and back to Arianna, letting out a laugh. "Oh, the saltwater was making them too stiff and scratchy. I find this much more comfortable, but clearly, you think otherwise." And he raised his eyebrows, obviously amused.
"Of course it makes me uncomfortable, Jack! You're practically…" she choked on the word, too embarrassed to say it.
"Practically what, Arianna? Practically naked?" Jack taunted, slowly creeping his way closer. Once he was just inches away from her face, Arianna wrinkled her nose in distaste and angled her body to face away. But she refused to back down, not wanting to show any sign of weakness. "So you still have a bit of prude in you after all," he murmured, running his thumb across her face. He leaned forward, and Arianna's eyes fluttered shut the moment she felt the heat of his mouth on hers. She hummed in contentment as he lowered his lips to graze her jaw line. She barely even noticed when he slipped a hand under the hemline of her skirt, sliding it up her waist until his fingers traced the underwire of her bra. But as she felt his hand inching closer and closer to the clasp in the back, Arianna regained her senses. Her eyes shot all the way open and she pushed him away in disgust.
"Stop that, Jack. I'm warning you," she threatened, wrapping her arms around herself protectively.
"Are you seriously going to forfeit this round over something like that?" Jack said, running his fingers through his blond hair impatiently. This one comment was enough to reignite the anger boiling within her.
"See? This is exactly what I wanted to talk about!" she told him furiously.
"What the hell do you mean?" he demanded. "We're just doing what we want to do. What's wrong with that?"
"Don't you see, Jack?" she asked. "This isn't what I want. All those things you say, about winning and losing and forfeiting – it was fun at first, but now it's like you don't take any of this seriously. And if you can't even do that, then I don't see how this is going to work out."
"Wait," he said, blinking several times before continuing. "Are you saying that you want to stop?"
"No, not at all! I'm just saying that we should take a minute to talk about what kind of relationship we–"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he interrupted, holding his hands out to stop her from speaking. "Who said anything about a relationship?"
"No one!" she exclaimed, feeling her panic level rising. "I was just thinking that if we want to continue what we're doing, we might as well establish some guidelines."
He scoffed. "Honestly, Arianna, do I seem like the type of guy how follows any sort of guidelines?"
She blushed. "Well, no, but–"
"Then why does it matter?" he nearly bellowed. Breathing heavily, he took her by the shoulders and looked her squarely in the eyes. "We have fun together, don't we?" he asked, as if trying to knock some sense into her.
"I guess we do," Arianna replied truthfully.
"Then why go on and ruin it?"
"But it wouldn't be ruining it!" she retorted with a twinge of irritation. "It would only be making it better."
"How would a set of fucking guidelines make anything better?"
"I don't know! It would make me feel better at least."
"Yeah, but it sure as hell wouldn't make me feel better."
"You don't know that!"
"Neither do you!"
"Well, in any case, you're wrong!" Arianna shot back heatedly. "Do you have any idea what you've been doing to me lately? All the guilt…" She swallowed hard and stepped away. How could she possibly say this to make him understand? "Look, I didn't want to do it like this, but if I can't get any kind of commitment from you, then whatever we have between us has to stop. I can't do it any other way."
And she waited for anger, annoyance – anything. But all Jack did was observe her with a curious expression. Then he chuckled, shaking his head in spite of himself. "That was a smart move you made, Arianna. Really well played."
Her head shot up and she looked at him in confusion. "What in the world are talking about?"
"The emotional, guilt-tripping girlfriend act just there. Didn't even know you had that card up your sleeve," he said, visibly impressed.
Arianna was shocked. "No, Jack, I wasn't pretending. I really–"
He cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry, I get it. You're trying to psyche me out so I'll back out of the game. That's really clever, actually."
"What game?" she demanded, but Jack was already gathering his spear and heading out of the clearing. She followed him and grabbed his arm, but he shook her off easily.
"The others are waiting, but when I come back from hunting, we can pick up where we left off. Okay?" he wagged his eyebrows suggestively before turning and running deeper into the jungle.
"Hold up, Jack, I wasn't playing. What were you talking about, what game? For God's sake, would you just wait for a second?" she called after his retreating back. But if he heard her, he showed no sign of it. Arianna could only watch as he disappeared into the trees, biting back a frustrated scream.
She didn't get it. What on earth did she do wrong? She had tried so very hard to be calm and rational about it but it seemed to her that Jack was incapable of having a mature conversation. Of course, she should have anticipated that. Although Jack was starting to look like a man, he was still a boy on the inside. A stupid, arrogant, jerk of a boy who did what he wanted when he wanted and didn't care about anyone other than himself. He had been that way before she got involved with him, and would probably stay that way for a very long time. People change, but not on their own. Perhaps a tiny part of Arianna was hoping she could change him, make him better somehow.
But that wasn't why she agreed to their little dalliance in the first place. She wanted to be reckless. She wanted to take a risk. She wanted to be bad in every sense of the word. Jack had helped her hop the train, but Arianna had not realized he was giving her a one-way ticket. She could feel herself slowing down, but Jack only wanted to go faster. And she was tired and afraid and all she wanted was to turn back and go home. It was then that she realized that freedom is something to be taken in smaller doses, and for the time being, she had had enough.
Just as this thought crossed her mind, Arianna heard shouting from a several yards down the beach. She recognized a few of the boys she saw to be Ralph, Simon, and Piggy. All their heads were tilted skyward, their arms waving frantically. Arianna was confused until she heard the dull whirring of a propeller. Her eyes widened as she jerked her head toward the horizon. Flying not too far from the coast was a lone helicopter. Dumbfounded, Arianna blinked a few times, not sure if it was real. But it was real. She wanted to let out a sob of relief. She could go home – back to normalcy, back to her father. She could leave the island and all her mistakes behind. This helicopter could save them. It could put everything back to how it used to be, but for some reason, it wasn't stopping.
No.
No!
Her body went numb as she watched the helicopter get farther and farther away. She opened her mouth to join the others in their screaming but no sound would come out. She could only watch the helicopter as it gradually decreased in size, becoming a mere spot on the horizon. Then it disappeared entirely.
Arianna wanted to throw a tantrum. She wanted to curl into a ball and never wake up. Whoever was piloting that helicopter had to have known there were people on this island. They had to have seen the smoke from the signal fire at the top of the mountain. Unless…
Her heart sunk. Jack and the others must have left their post before the others came to take their place. Heck, he probably took all the others with him that morning. That's just the sort of brainless thing he would do – all for the sake of hunting some stupid pig. He probably hadn't even realized he was jeopardizing their chances of getting rescued. Either that or he simply didn't care. She wanted to slap some sense into him. How could he be so dumb and selfish?
She refused to cry. Tears wouldn't get them any closer to being rescued. At that moment, she could only make herself feel better by punching something, preferably Jack's face. So she set off looking for him around the island. Ten minutes later, she heard his voice, his obnoxious laugh being impossible to miss. It was the part of the beach where they often held their assemblies when she spotted him, a tall, blond head that stuck out over all the others. He was at the center of his rowdy band of hunters – all painted, all dirty, all loud. As she suspected, the boys who often took over the fire duty after Jack were among them. Her eyes scanned the group, which appeared to be celebrating, and landed on the motionless black mass that rested at Jack's feet. She gagged. Was that a dead pig?
Before she could call out to him, Jack already spotted her and jogged toward her, a satisfied smirk already plastered across his face. "I told you I would catch a pig, but you wouldn't believe me," he said in that smug, superior tone of his. "But here it is, Arianna. We'll be eating good tonight, if you know what I mean." Oblivious to her irate expression, he wagged his eyebrows at her and attempted to pull her closer by the waist. With an exasperated huff, Arianna shoved him away and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Jesus, Jack! I always knew you were an idiot, but you've seriously outdone yourself this time," she cut at him.
It was a vicious and public attack on his intelligence and Jack could only respond in kind. "Alright, Princess," he began, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Why don't you tell the Big Bad Wolf where he went wrong now?"
His oh-so-witty comeback earned a few chuckles from those who were listening in on their dispute from a short distance away. Jack quickly glanced at them before turning back to Arianna with a self-satisfied expression as he cocked his head and stared back at her challengingly.
Arianna could only laugh. "Seriously, Jack? It's just like you to turn something like this into an ego trip. I wouldn't look so pleased myself if I'd just jeopardized everyone's chances of getting rescued."
She took a deep breath then and let her words sink in. For a split second there, she could have sworn she saw Jack's face go slack. He stiffened slightly before maintaining his cool. "Would you cut the crap and tell me what the fuck you're talking about?" he snapped at her, all the while looking as casual as he possibly could.
"There was a helicopter, Jack!" she nearly shouted, catching the attention of Jack's hunters. Despite her anger, she noticed how quickly they quieted as she continued her explanation. "It was here, not that long ago. But we had no smoke to signal them and they just flew right over us. They might never come again, Jack. Don't you see what you've done?" Her fury was quickly replaced by desperation as she looked at him, her eyes pleading for him to comprehend.
But Jack fell silent, refusing to meet her gaze. Arianna glanced over his shoulder at the boys behind him. Many of them stood stock still, their faces grave. The dead pig still lay at their feet, momentarily forgotten.
"What did Ralph have to say about this?" Jack asked quietly so that only she could hear him.
Farther down the beach, Arianna spotted a tall, dark-haired figure steadily approaching them. "Why don't you ask him yourself?" she said as Ralph's face came to view. He looked so serious as he marched toward the group. He must have been ready to explode, but he certainly did not show it.
"If you guys hadn't let the goddamn fire go out, they would have seen it," Ralph stated evenly as he reached the group. Arianna couldn't help but be impressed at his ability to contain himself.
"Hey man, we were hunting," Jack said in his defense. Beside him, Arianna rolled her eyes. The damage was done and none of Jack's bullshit excuses could fix it.
Ralph seemed to be thinking the same thing. His normally composed demeanor broke a little as he said, "Face it, Jack. You fucked up! We could have been rescued!"
All this was enough to push Jack over the edge. He immediately shot up and walked right up to Ralph's face. "Back off, man! I'm sick of this shit and so's my gang."
Ralph scoffed, "Your gang? What's that supposed to mean?"
"What it means, Colonel, is that if you knew what's good for you, you'd stop trying to run everything," Jack spat out and shoved the chief in the chest, causing Arianna to jump out of the way in shock. Flushing in rage, Ralph shoved him back. Just as she started to think they were getting into a full-fledged fistfight, Piggy threw himself between him, only to be pushed harshly to the ground by Jack. Several people laughed at the fat boy's plight and for once, Arianna truly felt sorry for him, but not sorry enough to rush to his defense. Instead, she looked anxiously between Ralph and Jack, wondering who would make the next move.
"I'm sick of this shit," Jack called out. "I'm gonna start a new camp for hunters and guys who want to have a little fun."
Arianna's eyes widened. Even before the island, she always knew about the tension between the two boys, but she certainly hadn't expected it to get to this level. But to cause a split between the group… That was going too far. Jack couldn't possibly be serious!
"Come on, Jack! This is crazy," Ralph said. "We've got to work together. What do you say?"
But Jack only glared at him venomously. "I say fuck you! That goes for you, too, Miss Piggy." To the rest of the boys, he gestured for them to take a hold of the stake to which the dead pig was attached. "Come on. Let's get out of this kindergarten," he stated, and before Arianna could even register what happened, he started leading them away.
As Jack passed her, he looked at her expectantly. "Well?" he said impatiently.
Arianna blinked, confused. "Well, what?"
He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Are you coming with me or are you staying?"
She swallowed, acutely aware of Ralph's stare boring into her back, and forced herself to meet Jack's stormy gaze. "What do you think?" she snapped, perhaps a little too harshly. They looked at each other for several seconds before Jack took measured steps toward her, closing the distance between them. Arianna's breath caught in her throat as she eyed him incredulously. "What are you–"
But she was cut off by Jack's lips pressing against hers. Her hands automatically jumped to his chest to push him back but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to. She could feel him lace his fingers through her hair as he kissed her roughly, sending tingles all the way down to her toes. Suddenly, she forgot all about what had just happened and where they were. Good God, why was he so addicting?
Just as she started to deepen the kiss, however, Jack jerked back abruptly, still cradling the back of her head in his hands. She stared up at him questioningly, to which he responded with a predatory grin. His voice dipped an octave as he whispered in her ear, "I'll let you go now, Arianna, but this isn't over."
He gave her a meaningful look before disentangling himself from her and turning to join the other hunters. For a few moments, Arianna watched him walk away, wishing for him to look back. It didn't take her long to sober up and realize how foolish she was being… and that she had just let Jack kiss her for the entire world to see!
Oh no.
Nonononono.
How could that have happened? How could she have possibly let that happen?
Closing her eyes, Arianna made herself count to ten before taking a deep breath and turning around to face them. "Ralph," she started shakily. "I can explain."
But Ralph only stared stonily back at her. "How long have you two been together?" he asked tonelessly.
"Not long. And we're not together…exactly," she said lamely. The boys who hadn't run off with Jack were still hanging around the meeting place, gawking at her in shock. But their open-mouthed faces were nothing compared to the chief's look of disapproval.
"I see," Ralph answered tersely.
"N-no!" she sputtered. "It's not like that." Her hands were practically shaking from sheer embarrassment. Granted, it wasn't like she and Jack went out of their way to hide what they were doing anymore. But Arianna hadn't really anticipated that he would announce it to the entire island in such a public and possessive way. She had also been way too wrapped up in Jack to wonder how Ralph would think about it when he found out.
"I'm assuming that whenever you disappeared for hours at a time, you were with him," he said, and how she wanted to disappear right there and then! She only nodded. It wasn't as if she could deny it, at any rate.
At that, Ralph rubbed his face with one hand, shook his head disapprovingly, and sighed. "You know, we've all been hard at work trying to keep everyone together, and to hear that you've been hooking up with Jack all this time… It's not cool, Arianna." Cheeks burning, she kept her eyes locked on her feet as he continued. "Look, I just thought you were above all that stuff. And I know I don't really know you that well, and I probably should have gotten to know you better, but I knew your dad and… I just don't think he would have expected you to be this irresponsible."
"I know, Ralph… I can't explain everything that's going on with me but I'm sorry for it. Really, I am," she said hollowly. As much as Arianna wanted to tell Ralph off for acting like such a mom, she knew that he was right. Plus, he was elected chief and, especially after the day's events, she owed him her respect.
"Apology accepted," he said and even offered her a tiny smile. Arianna burned a little inside. Was it even possible for someone to be so goddamn good?
A while later, Arianna busied herself by helping fill empty coconut shells from pool of freshwater and carry it back to camp to make up for her lack of contribution the past few weeks. She also needed something to keep her mind off all the acts of stupidity she'd committed on the island. However, nothing she did was helping. While she was completing this task, Ralph borrowed Piggy's glasses and went up with the twins to relight the fire. Piggy stayed behind; Arianna figured that he was so fat and lazy that he would rather be temporarily blind than climb up the hillside with the other boys. The moment the thought formed in her mind, she immediately took it back. As of that afternoon, Arianna had resolved to be a better, kinder, more productive person.
After her fourth trip from the pool to camp, Arianna took a quick break. Sitting herself down by the opening of one of the shelters, she stretched and pondered about all the ways she could improve herself. This was proving to be rather difficult, especially since Piggy had situated himself inside the shelter nearest to her and resorted to squinting at her from a far. She could feel his beady little eyes watching her every move and it was driving her insane.
Before, she would have whipped around and asked, "Do you mind?" in her haughtiest tone. But because she was trying to be a better person, Arianna calmly turned around and politely asked him if he needed anything.
"I thought you only intended to Jack's needs," Piggy replied loftily, to which Arianna was greatly offended.
"That was entirely uncalled for!" she exclaimed, struggling to maintain her cool.
"But it's the truth," Piggy shot back. "You know, there are a lot of names for girls like you, but I'm not gonna say them."
Swallowing hard, Arianna used all of her strength to fight the urge to slap him. "Look, Piggy. You have every right to be upset and I'm going to try smooth things over with everyone, but I can't do it if this is how you're going to act around me."
"You can start by talking sense into that boyfriend of yours," Piggy stated. "It's his fault that everything's gone wrong and you're the one who's encouraging him."
"What? How is any of this my fault?" she demanded, flabbergasted at his accusations.
"Jack's always been an idiot and a screw up and everyone's always liked Ralph for a leader over him. But now that bad things are starting to happen, like Captain Benson passing and all that with the helicopter, kids are starting to get scared. And Jack's just continuing to be a jerk and yet, he's got this girl hanging over him and making him look good. And even though Ralph's right, he's starting to lose control because kids are now looking to Jack to fix things. So you see, it's not really your fault. You're just part of the problem," Piggy explained as if it was all so simple.
Arianna blinked, still unsure how everything was connected to her. "What do you want me to do then? Through myself at Ralph and that'll make all the other boys come running back?" she said sarcastically.
"No," shrugged Piggy. "Just don't act like a floozy around Jack. That's all."
The way he said it was so passive and nonchalant, and yet it stung her like a slap to the face. She hadn't been all over Jack like he'd said, had she? Then she remembered all the times she'd snuck around with him and all the things she'd let him do. She started to feel sick to her stomach and all she wanted was to get out of there.
Without another word, Arianna got to her feet and walked briskly away from camp, not sure who she was angrier at: Piggy or herself.
"You're not going to him, are you?" Piggy called after her. "Because if you are, that's treason, and treason is the last thing Ralph needs."
But she kept on walking and if anyone noticed, they didn't even try to stop her.
A/N: My sincerest apologies for not updating in eleven months. This year has been so turbulent and bizarre...I can't even put it to words. So after eleven months of emotional outbursts and overwhelming self-growth, I have finally returned to finish this story. I have all you reviewers to thank for keeping me going. You've been wonderfully patient and supportive and I hope you haven't given up on me! If you're still there, please continue to read and review. Just know that I am determined to finish what I started.
