AAAAH! This story's almost over!

seriously, only like 2-3 more chapters left. :( So I have a question. Would you guys rather me post one chapter tomorrow and another the day after to get it over with or one update before Sunday and another before Thursday to kinda stretch it out a bit? Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. And R&R! No, not rest and relaxation, read and review :)

Chapter 5

Daley awoke the next morning to find Melissa's sleeping bag empty. That's weird. I'm usually the first one up.

She shook Taylor awake. "Taylor. Taylor, wake up."

"Five more minutes! Justin Timberlake and I are about to get married..."

"Taylor!" She shook her more.

"Argh," Taylor said sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Fine. But just so you know, I would never ruin your wedding..."

"Ugh, whatever. Do you know where Melissa is?"

"Sleeping bag?" She glanced at Melissa's sleeping bag. "Oh. I don't know."

Daley rolled her eyes. "C'mon." She got out of the tent and Taylor followed. She was looking around for Melissa and foundJackson coming out of the boys' tent. "Jackson, do you know where Melissa is?"

"She's not in the tent?"

"No, I woke up and it was empty."

Jackson looked around and noticed that some of the tall grass from the jungle was moving. He pointed. "Maybe that's her."

And sure enough, it was. She was struggling with two full jugs of water when Jackson, Taylor, and Daley got to her. Melissa wouldn't let any of them help her, so they watched as she half carried, half dragged the water jugs to the fire pit. As they all sat down, they noticed that she had also gathered enough food to last the whole day.

"Whoa, Melissa," Taylor said, her eyes growing wide at the sight of all the food. "When did you become Superwoman?"

Melissa laughed a little. "Oh, well, I figured that since everyone was so busy and everything, I would start helping more. Y'know, do my fair share of work." She handed each of them a bottle of water, averting her eyes away from Jackson as she handed him one.

"This is way more then fair share." Jackson said, sounding a little concerned.

"No, it's not." Melissa said coldly.

Jackson was staring at her intently when Nathan, Eric, and Lex arrived.

"Whoa."Lex said, stopping in his tracks and staring at the food. "Who got all this?"

"Melissa." Jackson said, still watching Melissa as she started to boil the water from the water jugs.

"Thanks, Melissa. I always knew you were a good person." Eric said, sitting down on the log and grabbing a banana.

"No problem," she said smiling. She handed them water bottles, too. "I'm gonna go get some more water." She picked up two more water jugs and headed off toward the jungle again.

Jackson went after her. "Melissa! Wait!"

She sped up. "Leave me alone, Jackson."

Jackson sprinted in front of her and stopped her. "Melissa-"

"I said leave me alone, Jackson."

"Melissa, what is going on with you?"

"I'm fine." She attempted to sidestep him but he was too quick for her.

"Melissa, you've been acting all weird ever since yesterday afternoon. Can't we at least talk?"

"No."

Jackson sighed in frustration. "Look, you're not gonna let some stupid mistake between us ruin our friendship, are-"

"Stupid mistake?" Melissa said incredulously. "That's what it was to you, a stupid mistake? Well for your information, that 'stupid mistake' was the best thing that had ever happened to me. And you ruined it."

"That's not what I meant-"

"Then what do you mean, exactly? Because I'm trying to understand and it's not going so well."

"I-"

"Jackson, just leave me alone." And with that, she sidestepped him again and practically ran away.

Jackson watched her go, mentally beating himself up for being so stupid.

The whole day, whenever someone went to go do something or get something, Melissa had either done it already or was in the process of doing it. Taylor was right in calling her Superwoman.

Lex walked over to Jackson who was lying down on the ground since there was nothing to do. "Jackson?"

Jackson nodded.

"Do you know what's wrong with Melissa?"

"I would tell you, but I don't think you'd want to know."

"It's not... that thing that girls get every month, is it?" Lex said, shivering slightly.

Jackson laughed. "No. But it's about some stuff that boys your age might not be interested in."

"Cooties?"

"Yup."

"Okay then." Lex left.

Jackson was left to his own thoughts for a while, but suddenly, he heard indecipherable screaming. As he went outside to find out what was going on, he heardsnippets of the conversation about what was going on:

"What happened?"

"I was looking for her and found her on the ground. She was unconcious. I had to carry her here."

"Do you know how long she's been there?"

"No, when I got there she was already down."

Jackson followed the voices.

"What do we do?"

"Should we give her water?"

"Is she going to die?"

By this time Jackson was running to the voices. When he got there, he was not prepared to see what he saw.

Unconcious on the log that someone had placed her on, in the center of the group, was Melissa.

oooh, bet you didn't see that coming :)

or maybe you did. I don't know.

anyway, R&R.

I love you guys :)