Part 4. - Bless Us and Keep Us Safe


Chapter 11: The Love Birds.

A/N: I know I've been MIA lately, but Happy Holidays and all! Hope everyone enjoyed haha. Well, story is my laptop crashed and my files got erased. I didn't realize that I backed up everything in Google Drive but yeah... they're here nowhaha.

Please review! (Thanks to ObviouslyEntei for being so loyal and faithful :D)

Go check out LuvLife113's story Kid Nation. It will blow ya mind. :P

Anddd. Goiz I made a twitter :) Interact with meeeee! bellalalavv ;) Oh, and don't forget to vote on my poll!

Sophia – Day Eleven

Okay. So. Aly and Michael are at war.

AGAIN.

Gosh, seriously. They like each other. And they're not even dating and already acting like an old married couple.

Everything is just BLARGGOPF. *Boom brain explodes.*

I seriously need Morgan and Kennedy to help me out on this!

Morgan – Day Eleven

I remembered the conversation Sophia and I had yesterday walking to the Water Pump. We just did it for the sake of helping out Aly, Michael, and Hunter.

We were wondering what made us deserve to be here, and what our reasons were.

Sophia said that I was one of the nicest people around here, and I truly appreciated that.

Not just because of the need to have a Gold Star, but because it's something that I really wanted to achieve.

Allison – Day Eleven

We were having breakfast, and I'm still not talking to Michael. I totes feel sad about it, especially guilty, but seriously? He did not need to say that.

So we were split up. I decided to sit with some of the younger ones like Zach, Morgan, Eric, Colton, and a few others. But really I was just chewing my food and listening in on their conversation.

"Hey, why don't Jews celebrate Christmas?" Colton asked Eric. I looked beside me to Eric, and stared at Colton on his other side.

"Do you seriously want me to answer to that?"

I nudged him, whispering, "I know it's you religion, but please, be respectful."

He looked at me and tamed down a bit.

"Hey Colton, why don't you tell Eric what you thought the meaning of Hanukkah was?" Zach asked, smirking.

A/N: Sorry if I can't relate to this very well… I don't have any Jewish friends, being raised in Christian and Catholic surroundings. I totally respect everybody's religion, even Hinduism (which I believe highly opposes Catholicism) and I can honestly say that I have never bashed on anybody who has a different religion.

I gave him a look as well. He just raised his hands in innocence, sniggering.

"Go, hit me." Eric said.

"I will personally and seriously hit both of you if you don't stop." I said, setting down my utensils.

"There were a bunch of people living in a crappy little village and they only had enough oil to last them a day and they lasted eight days whoop-de-doo." Zach continued, and I sighed in defeat.

"Seriously?" Eric said, glaring at Colton.

"Guys, I know that religion is a touchy subject, but please-" I started, only to be cut off by an angry Zach.

"Do you really wanna know what Hanukkah is about?" Zach tested. "It's about-"

"Yeah you guys won this stupid war and decided to celebrate it yadda, yadda, I don't wanna hear it anymore so shut up." Colton waved, continuing his meal.

"Hey Colton," Zach said, making the boy look up from his dish. He gave him the finger.

I sat there with Morgan, and the other girls open-mouthed. I decided to stand up and get my notebook in which I had been writing earlier.

I walked around the table, smacking the three of their heads. "You guys should be ashamed of yourselves." I stated, and sat back down in my seat.

"Aren't you a Christian too?" Colton asked, rubbing his head.

"Christian Catholic, and I refuse to be subjected to discriminating other religions." I announced, and went to scrub dishes.

Surprisingly, Michael was there, already scrubbing.

"What are you doing here? You're in Animals." I said, picking up a sponge.

He looked at me. "What? Only now that we're alone together you'll talk to me?"

I hung my mouth open. But I guess I deserve that. "No. Michael, I'm sorry. I seriously didn't mean to be so-"

"Save it, Aly! I'm getting really tired of you always complaining and me having to endure all of it!" He exclaimed, scaring me a bit. What happened to the gentle Michael I know?

He started to walk towards me and he trapped me with my back against the wall with his arms.

"Aly…" he said. "I really hate it when you treat me like shit."

I hid my face to my side. I'm seriously scared right now.

Flashbacks blurred in my mind. The silhouette of my father ganging up on me, holding up what looked like a baseball bat…

I let out a tear and bit my lip to prevent my screaming. I taste… blood…

I felt Michael retract his arms from either side of my head, and stand back.

"Aly? Are you alright?" He asked, now looking slightly concerned.

I opened one eye to take a peek at him. He just stared at me, and reached out a hand.

"I didn't mean to scare you like that, Aly-"

"Get away from me!" I screamed, sliding down the wall to a crouch, and covered my head with my hands. I let my tears freely fall as I replayed the childhood flashbacks in my head.

"Aly! No, please don't cry! I didn't mean to! I just wanted you to see how fucking bad I feel about us always getting into petty arguments!"

"It's not about that!" I shrieked weakly, pulling my legs even closer.

"Oh, so you're mad about me being a Jew? Is that it? 'Coz religion's what everybody's fucking talking about now!" He seethed, standing straight up again. "Aly, I thought you're better than that." He said, and went to go back inside the Mess Hall.

"No! Michael! It's not about you either…" I said, but it was too late. He had already disappeared.


We all settled in our districts again, and Michael obliged to sit at the opposite end of me, settling in between Laurel and Eric.

Kennedy was at my right, and she asked, "Aren't you gonna sit with Michael?"

"Nope."

"Listen! All the Council members have a very important announcement to make!" Laurel stated, taking the stage. "We read the journal again today,"

"Okay. The journal said that if we wanted we could start up a religion service."

"What we were thinking is that we could just have one religion service for everyone and we could just choose selected people to come and speak."

Rumbles of disagreement erupted.

"Listen! Just listen! We know that this is a very touchy subject; some people's religions are very close to them and stuff… But is anyone completely absolutely positively against this?"

"I really believe that we should just keep them separate. Everybody has different beliefs and really if anybody's gonna change their beliefs-" Olivia started.

"If we did that you wouldn't necessarily have to change your beliefs." Mike reasoned, but Olivia still shook her head.

"Religion isn't something you can play with, and really, we can't have all religions in one room. It's gonna start arguments! I know that for a fact." Divad now said.

"What? We've been together in the same room before and we weren't religion-conscious." I said, standing up to get my point across.

"But aren't we arguing right now and then?" She retaliated.

"But it wasn't because of our religions!" I stated.

She huffed and rolled her eyes, knowing I won. Anjay was gesturing me to come up to the stage, and I complied.

"We just thought that it would be nice to learn about other people's religions!" Anjay said.

"Look at the world today!" Sophia interrupted. "Religion is the main thing that's splitting us up; it's starting wars. It's making people kill each other."

"I really don't get why you guys are so upset about this, sorry. Don't get me the wrong way, but, won't it be nice to learn something about something that isn't yours?" I asked, and it went silent for a while.

"There's a lot of things that are central between all religions and we can just focus on that instead of focusing on the differences." Alex said. I smiled as he retreated back to his seat. He looks like a penguin!

A/N: OMG! Guys watch this part again… When Michael smiled, it looked SO adorbs. :))

"That's why we're doing this! It's to keep everyone together." Laurel said.

"Really? Because if it's all just one service then it's gonna start arguments." Olivia riled up again. "And do you really want arguments all in one place?"

"Olivia!" Anjay strained.

"Do you? Tell me! Do you?"

"Oliv-"

"Do you?" She said, and finally pulled back her hand.

Anjay then went into lecture mode… which led to more chaos… which led to Mike demanding for "EVERYBODY SHUT UP!"

We all went silent and even I hung my mouth open.

"Guys…" I said, starting with a soft approach. "Aren't we all friends here? I mean, religions and beliefs aside, aren't we practically the same? I love my religion, too, but I'm willing to push through with this because I'm also interested in other religions. I absolutely know nothing about Judaism, or Hinduism, or those other religions which aren't Catholic, but hey, I'm willing! I'm not necessarily going to change my religion because those people want me to, or their religion seems better. I'm firm and strong in what I believe in, and I'm not letting that change." I stated. "Just think about it… it's not a life or death situation… it's just like one of those 'Getting to Know You' activities in school. I don't think the council wants to pressure you guys into participating, so please, just think about it." I concluded, and headed out, aware that if I stayed any longer I might've been consumed in loud bickering again.

Jesse – Day Eleven

Aly had just gave her innocent speech about the whole religious service and walked out the door. We stayed silent for a while. I could tell we felt ashamed and were thinking about it more carefully.

Then Mike had to open his big mouth.

"So, here's what's going to happen. We're going to kick it off all together as one body this afternoon and just hold whatever service you want, okay?"

"Goodbye! Go! Leave! Do whatever you want!" The council said, telling them to get the hell out.

This town seriously has some rethinking to do.

Allison – Day Eleven

I was sitting alone on the steps of Green Bunkhouse 1. Alex came up to me, paper and crayon in hand.

"Hi Aly."

"Hey Alex." I said, offering him the seat beside me. He sat.

"Do you want to participate in my survey?" He asked innocently, one-tooth smile and all.

"Sure. What's it about?" I asked, genuinely interested.

"What's you religion?"

Should've seen that coming. "Christian Catholic. So is Jesse." I replied, glancing over his list.

Craig the Camera dude came by, smiling. "Whatcha got there?"

Alex looked up and lay down on his side, inspecting his paper. He began reading out his data, and I smiled at his cuteness.

"Thanks, kid." Craig said. Alex just smiled up at him, and continued going about the survey.

"Hi, Craig." I greeted, and he took Alex's seat when the young boy left.

"Hey, Aly. Heard your little speech a while ago. Very touching." He said, placing a hand on his left chest where his heart should be.

"Haha." I said, smacking his shoulder with my notebook – the same one I used for hitting the boys earlier.

"Hey, no hitting awesome camera dudes."

"Right." I said, dragging out the 'i'.

"Your life must be really downhill now."

I looked at him. "How-"

"One and two, you're alone and not with Michael. Three, the whole town is thinking about your opinion which makes you seem different. Four, you're talking to me when you shouldn't. Five, you're not smiling-"

"Gee, thanks for pointing out why." I said sarcastically.

"Just trying to help. Wanna talk about it?"

"Nah. It'll just make me feel worse. I said, fiddling with my hands.

"From what I've observed, you're a strong girl, Aly. Of all people you'd know what to do." He said, standing back up. "Well, better see what your devious brother is up to again."

"What has he done so far?"

"Graffiti, pranks, usual teenager stuff."

"Alright, bye Craig. Tell him to be careful for me, k?" I requested, and he nodded, going off.

I saw Michael walk around the corner with Eric and Hunter from the corner of my eye. He looked at me, and seemed as though he were to walk over, but I hurriedly stood up and went to the second floor of the saloon.


I sat there a lone for quite a long time. I even skipped lunch. After crying and crying, I heard some footsteps ascend the stairs, and looked up to see who it was.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, sadness mixed with anger dripping in my voice.

He looked down sadly. "Forgive me."

"Go away." I demanded, hugging my knees closer and pushing myself even closer into the corner.

"Aren't you hungry? I didn't see you during lunch."

"You didn't even do anything during the town meeting!"

He handed me a plate of food, but I didn't budge.

"Aly, I'm sorry." He said, coming closer.

"No! I'm sick and tired of this town continuously fighting it's getting irritating! I'm going home next town meeting!" I shrieked.

"But you have me." He said, taking me into my arms. He held me like a toddler.

"No difference, Jesse." I said, sobbing even harder. "I'm leaving. I officially hate it here." I stated, hearing the Council ringing the bell to signal the start of the ceremony.

"I'm sorry." He said, and I buried myself closer to him. "Do you want to go?"

I thought about it. "Okay. Better make the best out of my last days here."

We helped each other get up. "You're not serious, are you?"

"Would I joke about this?"


We walked, arms linked towards the "Journal House".

The four leaders saw us coming. "Jesse… Aly." They greeted.

"Yeah." I said, looking down.

"Are you okay? You look like you've been crying, Aly." Mike pointed out.

"I have. I'm leaving next town meeting."

"WHAT?!" They chorused.

"Yeah." I said, sighing. "I'm tired of all the fighting."

"It'll get better! I promise!" Laurel said, coming over and hugging me.

"But how would you know? We've been fighting since day one until the sheep showdown." I reasoned.

"And I said I'm sorry…" She sniffled. Was she crying? "Oh, Aly! I'm really so, so sorry! I was jealous and everything! Please don't leave! Think about Michael and Jesse and Sophia-"

"They clearly don't want me here." I said, and sighed again. "Ugh. Let's just get this over with."

I sat on the steps. We waited for like, five minutes and nobody showed up. "I HATE THIS TOWN!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, and dashed to my bunk.

Sophia, Morgan, Michael, and Jimmy and Campbell were inside.

I stared at all of them, and they all stared at me.

"Aly… have you been crying?" Sophia asked.

"Like you'd worry. Aren't you a Jew?" I said, grabbed my guitar and made to leave. I'm not gonna play it or anything. I'm just not leaving my baby with these people.

"Weren't you saying that in the first place we shouldn't be criticizing each other?"

"Well, congratulations, you made me think otherwise." I said smugly, and tried to leave again when Jimmy stopped me.

"So because I'm a Jew you don't care about me anymore?" He asked innocently.

"You've done nothing wrong to me, Jim." I crouched down, hugging him. "I'm not gonna hate for no reason, you know?"

"What about me?" Campbell asked.

"Of course I care about you, too." I said, pulling him into our hug as well. "You guys are innocent. But if you will excuse me, the air is so thick in here."

"Aly!" Michael shouted, but I quickly walked out.

I know that I'm being a bit melodramatic here, but if I wanted to be treated like crap I could just get it at home, thank you very much.

I went to the chicken coop. It seemed like a very peaceful place to be. In the outskirts of town, and just surrounded by the non-prying eyes and ears of carefree animals.

I sat down, and just stared at the chickens in jealousy.

They're animals. They don't have to worry about our human dilemmas. If I were an animal, I'd like to be dragonfly. They're not necessarily my favorite animals, but they're just amazing. I'd want to fly as fast as they can. To fly away from my problems, as quick as those fierce little insects.

"I hate society." I finally stated, slumping.

"No need to be so harsh." I heard a voice say, and jumped. It was a person who I expected least to be here.

"Oh, uhm. Hi, Maggie… what brings you here?" I asked the girl with pink highlights.

"Same reason as you. To think." She said, sitting beside me.

"Ah." I said, looking down.

"So what are you thinking about?"

"Crazy, stupid things like being a dragonfly."

She gave a me a confused look, but nodded. "I see."

"And about how irritating this town is."

"You're thinking about leaving, aren't you?" she asked, after some silence.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"You screamed I HATE THIS TOWN right in the middle of the place."

I blushed. "Yeah…"

"It's ok. I mean, I understand."

"You do?"

"I mean, in a way. You're the center of attention and I'm an outsider. There's mutual understanding somewhere."

"Wow. I didn't know you could be such a-"

"Preacher?"

"I was gonna say good listener, you know." I said, laughing. This was actually pretty nice.

She smiled and we sat in comfortable silence.


"It's getting dark." She said, after a few hours. "Aren't you a cook?"

"Right. Time to face reality." I said, unfortunately standing up. "Thanks, Maggie." I smiled.

"No problem. I'll be there if you need me." She said, opening the door so we can both leave. We hugged, then departed.

I stalked off to the kitchen after putting my guitar back in the bunk, and found my team already there. They stared at me, but I didn't bother acknowledging them for other than 'business' purposes except for Jimmy, Campbell, Hunter, Kennedy, and Laurel.

We got our work done in silence, and Maggie called me over to her table for dinner. I gladly obliged.

Dinner with the Reds was pretty fun. They all had so many different personalities and the mix was perfect. They were so funny and hilarious, I swear, DK made me laugh like a hyena.

Jared kept looking over to the Greens, and they were looking back in shock. I told him not to mind him, but I was being a hypocrite since I constantly looked back from time-to-time, too.

At one point we all decided to start singing and slight dancing, and it was absolutely positively ONE HUNDRED PERCENT CRAZY.

We were raising our hands in the air singing 'Can't Touch This' by MC Hammer.

A/N: This was the song I was listening to while writing this haha.

"This is the beat you can't touch!" Guylan said, laughing.

"Uh, CAN'T TOUCH THIS!" Jasmine shouted.

"EVERYTIME YOU SEE ME-" I started only to be cut off by Anjay, Laurel, and Taylor.

"Sorry, guys, but please, tone it down a little." Laurel said gently.

"Okay, sorry." Mike said, still smiling.

I nodded along with everyone else.

The three left, and we burst into laughter. In a while, we finally calmed down.

"Ugh, you guys are so awesome." I said, still giggling.

"Why, thank you very much." Mike said, standing up to bow.

"I guess we can say that you're pretty cool too, Aly." Guylan said egotistically, munching.

"Oh, wow. Thanks." I said sarcastically.

"Whatever." Divad said, flipping her braid and bringing her dish to the kitchen. Yeah, she still doesn't like me.

"Well, I better get started on those dishes." I said, standing up. "Give me your plates."

"You don't have to, Aly. We can do it ourselves." DK said, standing.

"Nah. It's the least I can do." I smiled, going around and gathering the dishes.

"Thanks!" Jasmine said.

"At least let me help you, too." Maggie said, grabbing half of my stack. We smiled at each other and walked to the kitchen.

We started to clean the dishes together, and exchanged happy banter. Then some of the Greens came in.

"Why didn't you eat with us?" Jimmy asked faultlessly, standing beside me.

"I wanted to get around." I smiled, hugging him to my side.

"Okay then. Laurel, can Campbell and I go?"

The red-head smiled down at them and nodded them off.

Maggie and I finished most of the dishes in record time, still chatting, not minding any of the faces conspicuously staring at us. We never minded them, and left to chat somewhere else.

"Oh, did you see the looks on their faces?" Maggie asked, as we sat in front of her bunk.

"Yeah! OMG." I said, laughing.

We settled down, and just stared at the sky.

"You're a good friend, Maggie." I said, smiling.

"You too." She said, and we threw each other a one-arm hug.

She yawned. "You must be tired."

"Yeah, I think I'll hit the hay. Night, Aly. If they cause any trouble, DK and I will be there in a flash."

"Ha-ha. Thanks." I chuckled, and went back to my bunk.

I opened the door and peeked inside. Nobody was there yet. I changed from my flared jeans and white v-neck to my plaid purple pajama pants and oversized In-n-Out Burger shirt. I put on my school university hoodie.

I just sat on my bed, writing in my notebook. I was making a bucket list. It's a sort of therapy for me.

1. Survive until I leave

2. Make amends before I leave

3. As much as possible, don't leave

4. Make a difference in this town

Eventually, I kept writing until some of the entries weren't related to being in Bonanza anymore.

37. Confuse the servers in BK 'coz I "WANT TO HAVE IT MY WAY."

38. Ride my bike to school for a whole month

39. Become best friends with Jesse's next (good) girlfriend

40. $500 in sales in one day

41. Have a boyfriend

42. Have a boyfriend I can kiss anytime

I'm a teenager who's never been kissed and… well… I want those romances where couples just kiss spontaneously in any given situation… oh no, don't judge me!

43. Be the dominant one in a relationship

44. Have at least one kid

45. Have at most seven kids

46. Be a famous successful person

47. Go visit Asian countries

48. Meet Louis Tomlinson

49. Sing in front of a huge audience

50. Sleep in a mall

This went on until the others came in, even with the boys. I must've looked scary. I was laughing to myself, and didn't bother to turn on any of the lights and just stuck to two lamps either side of me.

They gasped in relief when they flicked the lights on and saw it was just me.

"Why hadn't you switched the light on?" Eric asked, sitting close, but far from me.

"Didn't feel like it." I stated indifferently.

"Hi Aly." Campbell said, coming over with Jimmy and sitting either side of me, moving the lamps.

"Hey, boys." I smiled, hugging them tightly.

"What's this?" He said, gesturing to my notebook.

"No, you can't peek." I grinned, placing my notebook under my pillow.

"Why not?" Jimmy asked.

"Because it's private." I smiled, pulling my hood over my head.

"Fine." He stumped. I pinched his cheeks lightly, and leaned back on the wall.

"I really want a service." Morgan stated. We stared at her. "I'll get the fire at the back lit, so if any of you want, go in like, fifteen minutes." She said and left the room to go off in her mission. Laurel followed shortly after.

We were all silent. No one spoke a word. I told the two younger ones to get changed because they were already yawning consecutively, but if they still wanted, to come back here.

As we waited for Jimmy and Campbell to come back, we were in complete, awkward silence.

I was just looking at my feet, noticing that my nail polish was beginning to crack.

"Aly, we're really sorry for having offended you." Michael spoke up, averting his gaze from the floor to me.

"Doesn't matter." I stood, smiling.

"So you forgive us…?" Kennedy asked, a hopeful glint in her eye. Jimmy and Campbell came in, now dressed in their pajamas.

"Yeah. I mean, after all, by the next town hall meeting I'm out of here." I shrugged, starting for the door.

"…What do you mean?" Hunter asked, stopping me.

"Means that I'm leaving in two days."

"WHAT?!" They all shouted in unison.

"WHY?" Michael asked, reaching out to me.

"I'm sick of this place. All we do is fight."

"No! You can't leave!" We're supposed to stick it out! We promised…" Jimmy said, hugging my side.

"I'm sorry, Jim, but it's a promise I'm afraid I'm going to have to break." I smiled sadly, and left the bunk to go to the service Morgan was setting up.

Hunter – Day Eleven

A/N: Hunter's such a cutie. I swear. Like I saw the KN reunion pics, Hunter is HAWT. But Michael 5ever.

"Means that I'm leaving in two days."

"WHAT?!" We all shouted in unison.

"WHY?" Michael asked, reaching his hands to Aly.

"I'm sick of this place. All we do is fight."

"No! You can't leave!" We're supposed to stick it out! We promised…" Jimmy said, hugging Aly.

"I'm sorry, Jim, but it's a promise I'm afraid I'm going to have to break." She smiled sadly, and left the bunk.

"It's all my fault!" Michael cried loudly after a while, his voice deep and harsh. "I'm so stupid! This whole time we've been fighting!"

He seriously looked like he was about to break something.

"Michael… dude, calm down." Eric said as he gripped the edge of the table. His knuckles were turning white.

He looked down and bit his lip, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I gotta make it up to her." He said, and went out of the room as well.

We stayed quiet for what seemed like an eternity, just staring at the door until Sophia broke the silence and spoke up.

"Those two are so complicated." She announced, frazzled.

"I agree." Eric said, nodding.

"That's why they should just get together already!" Jimmy huffed, crossing his arms with Campbell.

Us older kids smiled at the younger boys' cuteness.

"Then let's start 'Operation: Love Birds'." I said, placing my hand before me.

We grinned at each other, and they stacked their hands on top of mine. "Let's do this!" we chorused.


Aly – Day Eleven

We were currently situated around the small fire set up by Morgan. I just listened intently, and participated in the Catholic prayers.

There were no arguments whatsoever, which I was glad for.

Told you so! I wanted to shout at their stupid little faces.

Michael's voice came up. "Lord, please keep us together and let us live in peace. Please help us to stay safe and united; don't allow any one of us go just yet." He peered at me, and we locked eyes.

"Amen." Hunter said solemnly, closing the prayer.

We were still staring at each other, and I gave him a questioning look before looking away.

Everyone here started sharing their thoughts and feelings. Half – including some boys – started tearing up.

I looked away for a bit, questioning my motives. Do I really want to risk leaving these amazing people? Or should I just get away from their obnoxious personalities?

I thought and thought until lights out.

My decision is final.