Ch. 2 Found Out
"They what?" Lex said, wide-eyed.
"Yeah! They love each other!" Taylor giggled "we just saw them holding each other, kissing and telling each other they love them!"
"So cutesy it was sickening," Eric laughed.
Jackson, Melissa, and Lex pushed Eric and Taylor aside and went running in the direction that they had come from.
They saw Daley and Nathan, then, holding each other close and lovingly. Lex ran back to camp immediately, almost positively grossed out, but Jackson and Melissa coughed to announce their arrival.
"Oh!" they jumped apart.
"Yeah…" Melissa sighed.
"Um…" Nathan murmured, blushing furiously and Daley matched his color.
"I guess our rules' annulled, then," Jackson smiled.
Nathan beamed, excited, and Daley smiled too.
"Thanks Jackson!" Daley said gratefully.
"Anytime," he grinned and went back to camp with Melissa.
"So…" Melissa grinned, "The rule's annulled?" she chuckled.
"I couldn't stop them," Jackson laughed, "and it wasn't fair to let only them have the right, so…"
"Yeah, I know," Melissa laughed, "I just thought it was kind of funny."
"You know," Jackson began awkwardly, "since its null and void and all… maybe we could… erm… well I really want to… erm…"
"Yeah," Melissa giggled while blushing.
Jackson turned to face Melissa, and slid his hands to the back of her neck, in between her neck and her hair. Melissa stared at Jackson as he leaned in to kiss her.
Melissa kissed back briefly before breaking apart from the kiss, almost in shock.
"I… Jackson…" she mumbled.
"Have you ever been kissed before?" Jackson asked, smiling.
"No," Melissa giggled, "my Dad's… well… kind of… protective of me…"
Jackson smiled thoughtfully, "then you deserve a proper date."
"What can we do here?" Melissa asked with a skeptical laugh.
"You'll see," Jackson smiled, and grabbed Melissa's hand and laced his fingers through hers.
Melissa smiled and giggled a bit as they walked back to camp, just to run into a very annoyed Lex.
"Oh great, now you guys too?" he sighed, annoyed.
"Sorry Lex," Melissa smiled sheepishly and bit her lip in shame.
"Ah well. I don't mind walking in on you two, or Eric and Taylor if and when they finally get together, but Nathan and Daley? She's my older sister dating one of my friends! Sure, she's friends with him too, but that's still very weird to me."
"Yeah, I can imagine," Jackson nodded.
"You know, I'm going to make another mazethon," Lex grinned, "it was fun."
"Same prize as before?" Jackson laughed.
"Yup! That was the funniest part!" Lex chuckled.
"Indeed!" Melissa giggled.
"Well, I'll get started on it. You guys… erm… don't have too much fun, I guess…"
Jackson laughed, "Okay, Lex."
And they went their separate ways.
Daley and Nathan came back a little while later, Nathan carrying piles of wood and Daley carrying fruit. They were laughing about something Nathan had said.
"That's hilarious! How'd you…" Daley stopped laughing and stared at the mazethon Lex was making out of all the useless junk. Lex looked up- and looked relieved in the bargain.
"Glad to see you two have finally managed to un-cling," he joked.
"Sorry, Lex," Daley said quietly.
"Yeah, Lex, I know it's weird for you," Nathan said sorrowfully.
"It's fine. Just don't get mushy on me, or around me. Too gross for someone as young as me to handle," Lex shivered.
"Deal!" Daley laughed.
"Now, form teams for the mazethon!"
Daley and Nathan grinned and ran off. Lex chuckled a bit.
Daley and Nathan came back dragging everyone. The teams were the same as last time.
"Ready?" Lex laughed.
Nathan and Jackson nodded.
"On your marks, get set, go!"
And they took off. Running through the piles of sticks made as a sort of jungle-gym, Nathan noticed Jackson didn't have his shoes on again. He pulled off his own, but that only made his feet burn.
They ran back, neck in neck, and Nathan tagged Daley as Jackson tagged Melissa. They ran neck in neck for a while, before Daley went in the lead and tagged Taylor. Taylor walked mostly as Eric ran ahead, but both tagged Nathan and Jackson at the same time. They ran neck and neck until…
Jackson's team won. Again.
"Well, this sucks," Nathan joked as he and Daley brought back more firewood.
"Yeah," Daley chuckled, "poor Taylor!"
Taylor was working as a servant girl for Melissa, Eric, and now Jackson… again.
"Ah well, its enjoyable to watch!" Nathan laughed.
"Yeah," Daley giggled as they dropped off the wood.
Suddenly Nathan took Daley by the waist and kissed her passionately. She kissed back briefly before breaking apart.
"Sorry, Nathan, but we have to get back to work," Daley said sadly.
Nathan grumbled a bit.
"If it helps," Daley smiled, "I love you!"
Nathan smiled back, "I love you, too."
They kissed briefly before going back into the jungle.
Jackson, Melissa, and Eric were all sitting in chairs that they had saved from the storm, drinking water in coconuts that Taylor refreshed more often than she had too (they dumped out some of the water just to make her angry).
"Ah, where is that young lady?" Eric said in his rich-man accent, "Oh young lady!"
Melissa and Jackson suppressed their laughs.
"WHAT?" Taylor said, annoyed.
"Could you refresh my drink, please?" Eric said pompously.
"Arg," Taylor said while pouring, "Did I mention I'm going to kill Lex?"
"You might have!" Melissa said in a fake British accent.
"Indeed," Jackson tried to do a combination of the two.
"AGG!" Taylor screamed while walking off furiously. Everyone in the circle laughed, and they heard Taylor yelling at Daley and Nathan to stop collecting wood and goofing off and help her serve those bozos.
"Apparently we're now 'bozos'," Eric laughed.
"Indeed!" Jackson laughed again.
"Funny, I didn't think that 'bozos' was in Taylor's vocabulary," Melissa giggled.
"Will the wonders never cease?" Jackson placed a hand to his forehead.
"Oh no! I ran out of water again!" Eric exclaimed while he poured out his water, "Oh young LADY?"
Melissa and Jackson burst out laughing.
It was night. A clear sky. The seven were sleeping outside, under the stars. Taylor had grumbled and complained about it, but since the other 6 wanted to, she lost.
"I wonder what lies beyond all those stars," Melissa said thoughtfully.
"Other worlds. Planets. Living beings, maybe," Lex murmured.
"There does have to be more than… this…" Nathan said wisely.
"Yeah. More people… more living things… Intelligent life, too," Daley grinned in the darkness.
"I hope they have fashion sense on other planets," Taylor said dumbly.
"Yeah," Eric said sarcastically, "and ways of getting home when they've been stranded."
There was a murmur of assent in the group.
"Well, goodnight everyone," Jackson yawned. Nathan placed an arm around Daley's shoulder, and Jackson held Melissa's hand loosely.
Soon, all fell asleep.
(1,140 Words) Preview: Next Chapter:
Nathan walked in the forest, collecting fruit. Eric and Lex were behind him. He soon tripped on something, and found it was pale…