Chapter 9
Epiphany- [ih-pif-uh-nee] A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
The day slowly dragged on. But as the sun continued its journey across the sky, eventually it breached the horizon and displayed peachy orange hues that streaked across the imminent midnight blue that had stained its way into the sky above.
Felix knotted in the last branch and stood back to marvel at this masterpiece. Even though it had taken virtually all day, he had completed making a shelter for himself and his peers. Standing at barely six feet in height, the unattractive hut derived different reactions from the teens.
"Wow, its large enough to hold most of us." Angela looked down at her hands. "I can't believe we built it."
"It's sturdy too." Jacob leaned against the hut to prove his point.
"If we take some palm tree leaves and cover the roof, it'll be like a real shelter." Bella mused aloud.
"Oh that's a good idea." Angela complemented.
"It's hideous." Laruen grouched. "I want to go home."
"I agree. I mean, ew. Look at it." Jessica gestured to the hut with a look of utter distaste.
Jacob, Bella and Angela raised their voices to defend the hut, but Felix silenced them with a wave of his hand. Calmly he looked at Lauren and Jessica. "So you don't like the hut?"
Lauren shook her head adamantly and Jessica looked to Lauren first before agreeing with the girl. "Not at all." Lauren replied pretentiously.
A curt laugh from Felix and he gestured to the other hut that Quil was currently still stationed. "Well, then by all means, stay in that one."
The two girls turned around and looked at the second unfinished hut with horror. "But it's not even finished!" Jessica gasped.
Felix shrugged. "Complaints won't be tolerated. It's not like I'm going to build a hotel."
"If you do, can you make sure to have fresh towels in my room?" Lauren asked seriously.
"This isn't a vacation you nimrod!" Felix snapped, finally losing his patience. "We are shipwrecked on some island!"
Lauren rolled her eyes. "So? Does that mean I have to sleep in something that looks like cow pies?"
Angela leaned over and whispered in Bella's ear. "I didn't even know she knew what cow pies are."
Bella suppressed her giggles but obviously not well enough because Lauren turned on her. "What's so funny Ms. Dirty Clothes?"
"We're all dirty." Bella responded. "Although how you and Jessica manage to keep your hair done is beyond me."
Lauren took that as a compliment and ran her fingers through her straight corn-silk colored hair. "Oh, Jess was fortunate enough to have a comb in her pocket." She puffed up her hair conceitedly and Bella had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.
"Instead of doing your hair, maybe you could try helping us." Bella said it slowly, and without any negative inflictions. "I mean," she started quickly when Lauren was about to retort with something most likely snarky. "We need to help each other. After all, we don't have any idea how long we're going to be stuck here. If we want to survive until we are rescued, then I think working together is the only way. That means we each have to do equal amounts of work." Bella finished with a smile and felt she'd made a good argument.
Lauren was quiet for a moment and Bella felt she had gotten through to Lauren. After a few seconds, Lauren pointed to Bella's socked feet. "Those are really dirty. You should wash those or something."
Jacob gaped at the girl. "Did you not listen to anything she just said?"
Lauren twirled a lock of hair between two fingers. "Huh? She said something about equality and airplanes."
"What? No she didn't!" Jacob stared incredulously at the girl.
"Oh she didn't? Whoops. I must've tuned her out for a second. I was thinking about painting my nails blue when we get back home. What do you think?"
Jacob and Angela sighed, Felix rolled his eyes and Bella just watched as Jessica led Lauren away from the quartet so that they could talk or gossip in private.
"Of all the people to find, you had to find someone as useless as Lauren?" Felix narrowed his eyes at Bella.
"Don't blame her for Laurens idiocy." Jacob said, coming to Bella's defense.
"Whatever." Felix grunted. "So are you really going to do it?" he asked, looking at Bella.
"Do what?" she asked in confusion.
"Put palm tree leaves over the roof. I think it's actually a good idea."
Bella smiled at him and nodded. "Yes. I think we should."
"Hey look. Mike is already trying to get some leaves." Angela pointed out. The boy in question was standing a few yards away, trying to shimmy his way up a leaning palm tree.
"So that's where he's been the whole time." Bella, along with Jacob, Angela and Felix, watched the boy steadily make his way across the length of the tree.
"Oh, I think he's only up there to get a coconut. Let's tell him to get some leaves too." Angela suggested, already beginning to walk over to where the boy was reaching for a coconut.
"Hey Mike!" Jacob called, cupping his hands around his mouth so that his voice could project farther.
Startled, Mike lost his grip on the tree and began to slide off.
"Oh no!" Angela stared wide eyed at the boy.
Locking his arms and legs around the tree, he hung from it like a sloth with clenched eyes.
"Be careful Mike!" Bella warned him.
Peeking one eye open, Mike looked at everyone from his upside down state. "I. Can't. Move." He told them nervously. Mike's body was shaking from his predicament and the movement caused the tree to release a few leaves and a coconut.
"He's helping us without even realizing it." Bella laughed softly. "But one of us is going to have to go up there and help him."
"Don't look at me." Angela murmured, flexing her weak muscles.
Two pairs of girly eyes stared at the only boy in the group. Jacob.
"Fine. I'll get him." Jacob walked over to the base of the tree and climbed aboard. Carefully situating himself, he began to shimmy up the diagonal tree. "I'm coming Mike. Just hold on."
Mike shook even more from fright when he felt the tree moving because of Jacob's weight. "Are you sure this tree can even handle our combined weight?" Mike asked as the closer Jacob got towards him, the closer the ground seemed to appear.
Jacob grunted and the girls on the ground realized Mike had a point. As Jacob grew closer, the tree came slowly but steadily became in reach. Taking advantage of this, they jumped up and attacked the leaves hanging languidly down from the plant. The rustling noise surprised Mike and he accidentally released his arms and legs from the tree. Gravity kicked in and his body fell to the ground, collapsing on top of the two girls like a ton of bricks.
Muffled cries sounded from under Mike, and Jacob jumped off the tree immediately; landing on the balls of his feet like a cat. Hurrying over to his hurt friends, he pulled a dazed Mike off of the squashed girls. "You guys okay?" he asked concernedly.
Bella lifted her face up out of the sand and coughed to dispel any that had entered her mouth. "Yeah, fine." She coughed again and sand spewed from her lips.
"Me too." Angela whispered, sitting up and brushing the sand out of her hair.
"I just had to face plant." Bella grumbled, rubbing her tongue with her dirty fingers and cringing at the taste. "Ew."
Jacob laughed, and squatted beside her. "You'll be okay." He murmured, helping her by brushing the sand off of her cheeks.
Bella was startled to find a trail of heat emblaze her skin where Jacob touched. Confused by the feelings welling inside of her, she leaned back, causing Jacobs hand to be removed from her face. Puzzled, Jacob quirked a brow at her. Are you okay?"
"Yeah…" Bella shook her head free then turned to the leaves now littering the ground. The girls in such a short time had been able to free every long wispy leaf from the now bald palm tree. "Let's get these over to the hut."
The quartet picked up the leaves and returned to the hut. Jacob and Felix being the same height or slightly taller than the hut, took it upon themselves to place the leaves atop as a make-shift roof. Once the hut was officially roofed, everyone looked at the complete masterpiece happily. "I feel like we're so self-sufficient." Bella pondered aloud.
"We were ship-wrecked what, two days ago?" Angela sought out confirmation. She received some nods and continued speaking. "And already we have a home-like place to sleep for the nights. This hut should also block out some of the wind."
"Oh that's great." Mike said happily. "So what are the sleeping arrangements? Boys to one side, girls to another?"
Felix scowled at the boy. "What are we, nine?" He walked over to Bella and slung an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sleeping next to her."
"What?" Bella shirked his arm off and took a side step away. "There's no way I'm sleeping next you."
Felix smirked at the horrified girl. "Come on babe. You know you want this." He indicated his finely toned and chiseled body.
"No thanks." Bella replied calmly.
Jacob, unfazed by Felix's usual conceited behavior, answered Mike's questions. "It's not roomy enough for us to be trying to separate from each other. We'll just have to integrate. But with our shared body heat, we might be able to fair the cold of the night better."
A collective murmur of understand fled through the group and Mike spoke once more. "So what about the others?" He pointed in the direction of Lauren, Jessica and Quil.
"What about them?" Felix asked innocently.
"Well, aren't they going to be in here too?"
The four teens exchanged glances before remembering that Mike hadn't heard the previous conversation. "Mike," Angela began slowly. "They aren't sleeping in this hut with us."
"Why not?" he asked puzzled.
"They insulted my hut building skills." Felix replied. "They didn't like it, so they aren't sleeping in here. This is only for the privileged."
"He means," Bella interjected. "We worked really hard to build this. They barely did anything and then they insulted our finished work. So for right now, they aren't allowed to sleep here with us."
Mike didn't seem to like this. "Well that's not fair."
"You can join them over there if you don't like it." Felix growled. "As I recall, your work was minimum at best."
Mike almost paled as he looked at the two different huts. "Uh no. It's okay. I'm starting to see the equality." He murmured.
Felix smirked at the boy. "Yeah, thought so." Stalking past Mike, Felix entered the hut through the small opening he had left. Not knowing how to make a door, they had decided to just leave a wall unfinished. So instead of four fully built walls, where the third and fourth wall would meet to make a corner, there was just an opening. "I'm tired. Don't disturb me."
The three teens watched Felix disappear into the hut, and decided to abide by his wishes to not be disturbed. After all, he had been working all day and it's not like they were getting fed properly. If not for the berries, one would argue that they hadn't eaten at all.
Stomach growls filled the air and a communal sigh filled the air. "I hope we get rescued soon, if only so we can get something to eat." Angela spoke before a yawn over took her.
"Yeah, it's like we're doing an epic diet." Mike grunted, holding his stomach as if to keep the growls from escaping.
"Tomorrow, I think we should go looking for more food." Bella suggested.
"I agree. This time I'll be able to go with you because I won't be working on the hut." Jacob told her, a smile lighting up his face.
Bella returned the smile and Angela looked between the two, a soft giggle escaping through her lips.
"What's so funny?" Bella asked, glancing at her friend bemused.
Angela just shook her head softly. "It's nothing Bella." She yawned again and turned towards the hut. "Similar to Felix, I think I'm going to turn in for the night."
Bella and Jacob wished their friend good night and Mike stood there awkwardly in front of them. "Well…I guess I'll head to bed too." He muttered.
Bella looked up at the sky. It had darkened considerably and she gasped when she saw something that living in the city, you don't see very often. "Look at all the stars." She whispered in awe.
Jacob followed her gaze upward at the speckled night sky. Spotting a few familiar constellations, he let his gaze slowly drop back down to the girl beside her. Even though she looked as disheveled and dirty as a homeless person, he could still see the beauty of a girl whom he was falling for—
"Oh we should try fishing!" Bella snapped him out of his thoughts and turned a flashed him an ecstatic smile. "We're surrounded by the ocean. Why didn't we think of this before?"
Jacob almost didn't hear what she said; he'd been so caught up in his thoughts. But slowly he backtracked through the last part of their conversation and realized Bella had just suggested they try fishing as a source of sustenance. "Oh that's a great idea! We've been starving and yet surrounded by food." Jacob face-palmed for not thinking up this idea sooner.
"Come on, let's go to sleep. My stomach is killing me and we can't fish in the dark."
Jacob laughed and followed Bella inside the hut. Felix was sleeping near the far wall with Angela less than a foot away from him and Mike next to her. The three teens were all facing the same way in their slumber, on their sides, facing forwards. With their backs to Jacob and Bella, Jacob lied down beside Mike and Bella took the final spot next to Jacob. The pair faced each other and Bella still had her small smile. "Fish. I can't wait to eat something that might actually make me full." She whispered.
"Me too." Jacob saw a small shiver run down her body. "You cold?"
Bella nodded slowly. "I'm in front of the door so I guess I'm getting all the cool air." She smiled at him ruefully.
Jacob glanced over at the darkness of the door then looked over at Bella. "You want to sleep closer to me?" he asked almost silently.
Bella paused a moment. She'd done it the other night so it wasn't a problem with her. But that same feeling came back, and a warm flush engulfed her cheeks. "Is it really okay?" she asked, somewhat nervously.
Jacob reached out and lightly flitted his hand over her cheek. "Of course Bella." He replied.
Bella wormed her way closer to the boy and ended up snuggling into his chest. "Thanks Jacob." She spoke into his shirt. His warm body really did radiate heat like a space heater. Bella felt wherever she and Jacob's body touched, it would warm instantly and the cold of the night soon became all but forgotten.
A/N: Whoo! First chapter of the new year! I have a very important message for you twilight fans. In just three short months, a film will be released and if they did the book justice, the movie will be epic. They (critics) say that if you liked Twilight, you might like this even more (holy crap!). The book (and movie) is called Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins. If you read this book (I'd advise you do) make sure that you are in a comfortable area, you have all the time in the world, food and beverages are at the ready and no one is going to disturb you. Once you get about 4 maybe 5 or so chapters into this book, I can almost promise you, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN! (I couldn't anyway).
Anywho, thanks to everyone who alert/fav'd my story, and an extra thanks goes out to my lovely reviewers ^^ Much love is thrown your way, and a new chapter will be posted soon :3