Chapter 10

As par usual, Sahari was lost in very angry thoughts. Her day hadn't been going well for her at all. First she walks in on one of the most disgusting scenes she ever saw in her life, and then she opens her big mouth and admits that she has a crush on someone she didn't even think twice about before. Of course she had to do it in front of one of the two biggest gossips on Piñata Island, to boot! ARGH!

After stomping out of the P-Factor building, she began taking the route back to the Dessert Desert on a path in the jungle, still lost in her fury-fueled thoughts.
Why the hell did she say she liked Sparcticus? She DIDN'T! He stood for everything she was against! She's from the desert, he's from the Piñarctic, she's a hot-head, he prides himself on how calm and cool he is, she loves to fight, he hates conflict, he's tall, she's…vertically challenged. If she was in love with a guy like THAT, it would be like she didn't even know herself anymore! Plus, it would never work out anyway.

Too bad for her, the fact that the words came flying out of her mouth before she had a chance to stop them would probably be all over the Island in no time. Sahari had a sinking feeling that her threat to Petula was futile. Petula would risk getting all four of her limbs hacked off in order to have a good story to spread around. It was almost as if she delighted in watching the chaos unfold. Sahari crossed her arms and kept her scowling eyes ahead. The path was a lot harder to walk through than she remembered it being…

Wait a minute… Sahari thought, looking down at the ground. Where'd the path go?

Sahari did a double take. Then a triple. There was absolutely no sign of a clear path, just trees, bushes, and small bug piñatas loafing around.

Wait…if Sahari couldn't find the path, than that means she was…

No! NO! She COULDN'T be lost! She just couldn't be! She wasn't absent-minded! She was a strong-willed and focused woman! If she was absent-minded, that would make her like that stupid hulking Piñarctican idiot Sp-

Sahari shook her shaggy head wildly. No. NO. Don't think about him! Do. Not. Think. About. Him. You'll just create more stupid problems for yourself! She stood on her toes and attempted to survey the area. Sadly, she had immense difficulty due to the fact that she's barely taller than a good-sized tumbleweed. She groaned and dropped back to her normal height.

"This BLOWS!" Sahari kicked the base of one of the plentiful trees. "I'm NEVER going to find my way out of this stupid jungle!"

Much to Sahari's surprise, her cry of distress that she thought no one could hear was heard.

"…is someone there?" a very bewildered voice came from the tangle of foliage.

"AGH!" Sahari screamed in spite of herself and dove behind a thick tree trunk. "Don't come anywhere near me, or I'll hit you with…" Sahari looked around desperately. "SOMETHING!" Her quick glance around the jungle gave her no means of defending herself. "Damn it, I forgot my shovel…" she muttered.

"What the-Sahari, is that you?" The Voice from the Trees was completely unfazed by Sahari's threat.

Sahari was taken aback. "Wh…what's it to ya?"

"Oh, nothing," The voice got closer.

The next thing Sahari knew, the very man she had been trying not to think about had leaned around the tree and made eye contact with her.

"It's just that I'm awfully glad to see someone else who's lost, even if it is you," he said with a half-smile.

Sahari jolted. ARGH, of ALL PLACES she could have run into him, she HAD to run into him in the jungle. At night. Alone.

"Didn't recognize your voice," Sahari feigned indifference, despite the fact that her heart was beating so hard that she was scared it would burst from her chest or worse yet, that Sparcticus would hear it pounding. "That's probably because you hardly ever speak."

"Please, Sahari, we're lost, do you think you could not antagonize me for once?" Sparcticus offered a hand to her.

Sahari ignored his offer of help and rose to her feet on her own. Damn, I forgot how tall he is, she thought, craning her neck to get a good look at his mask as she brushed off her poncho.

"I don't need your help, Mr. Cold Shoulders," Sahari planted her fists on her hips, or lack thereof. "I have a good sense of direction; I can get out of here on my own." She strode right by him, heading in whatever direction her gut was taking her. She expected him to protest, but surprisingly, he didn't. Sahari smirked in victory as she kept striding through the jungle…that is, until she heard a twig snap.

She whipped around to find that Sparcticus had been walking behind her.

"What the HELL? Why are you following me?!" Sahari snapped.

"…well, the Piñarctic and the Desert are right across from each other, so we'd be heading in the same direction," Sparcticus shrugged his broad shoulders. "You didn't say I couldn't follow you. You're the one with the good sense of direction, after all."

Sahari felt her face grow as hot as the desert and silently thanked whoever came up with the fact that Piñata Islanders are to wear masks in public. She turned away from Sparcticus without saying anything and continued prodding along.

She felt her heart stop when Sparcticus spoke up again after several minutes. "If your sense of direction is so good, how did you get lost?"

Sahari froze in place and looked over her shoulder at him. He had stopped too, an expectant look on his mask and one hand resting on his hip.

"Oh, I was just lost in my thoughts about how I accidentally said I was in love with you in front of Eddie and Petula even though I completely and utterly am not in love with you and lost the path," Sahari totally wasn't going to say.

God, why was her heart racing? What could ANYONE possibly see in this guy? He was so tall. And fit. And good-looking. And-

Oh, right.

"How did YOU get lost? You're so tall, you can probably see over the tops of the trees," Sahari spat, once again disguising her embarrassment as rage.

"I swear, you're as bitter as bad coffee," Sparcticus rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not going to lie; I'm not exactly good at focusing on whatever I'm doing. I got lost in whatever was going on in my head at the time and the next thing I knew, the path wasn't under my boots." Sparcticus shrugged. "We'll get out of here eventually."

Wow. He doesn't care that we're lost at all… Sahari was a bit awestruck. Wait a damn second; HE was lost in his thoughts? This guy who looks like he wouldn't let a Sour Limeo look at him wrong without giving it Hell in a hand basket was lost in his thoughts? Sahari let out a mental sigh. Wonder if he's in love with someone…well, I wouldn't let some random hot Eskimo chick take this guy away from me without a fight-WAIT, WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?

"Um…Sahari…" It took Sparcticus walking over to Sahari and waving his hand in front her face to snap Sahari out of her trance. "Are you okay?"

Sahari felt her rebellious heart flutter and had to swallow a huge gulp of air to disguise the fact that she gasped. Her world crashed down around her as she had an awful, terrible, epiphany.

She was in love with Sparcticus.