Chapter 8 - And The Storm Ends
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"Hey, Melissa. Wake up." She felt a gentle shaking.
"What's going on?" She grumbled.
"The storm stopped. I'm surprised Taylor didn't wake you up." Jackson said.
"Oh." She sat up and climbed out of her sleeping bag. "I'm hungry. Let's get something to ea-"
"Achoo!"
"Looks like you caught a cold Jacks-Achoo!"
"Looks like you caught one too!"
"It's way better than throwing up!" Melissa then sneezed again. "It's cold."
"Must be cause of the storm." He replied.
They headed off to the fire, which Jackson started in between sneezes. Nathan and Taylor had also caught colds.
"This stinks. Good thing there was a whole bunch of Kleenex and paper towels in the plane." Nathan sniffled.
"I think we'll live." Melissa smiled and handed him some fruit.
"You know what I really miss right now? Hot chocolate." Taylor said. And nobody argued.
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They all spent the day doing their chores. Well, Melissa, Jackson, Nathan, and Taylor did their chores in between coughs and sneezes.
"You guys can do the fire and boiling and easy stuff while we lug water and search for food you know." Daley said.
"I'm already lugging water! You want me to lug food too?" Eric complained.
"Thanks Daley. We'll do the hard chores once we're all better." Melissa said.
"Hey, speak for yourself Melissa!" Taylor said.
"Oh come on, all you ever do is sit around, do some work for a change!" Melissa said.
"Now, let's not get angry at each other!" Jackson said.
"Fine. I'm sorry Taylor." She said, when a coughing fit hit her. Jackson thumped her on the back gently, then turned back to the fire.
"Taylor, you could do some work for at least a day, to thank Lex, Daley, and Eric for doing our chores."
Maybe she faked that coughing fit, to get Jackson to take her side. I'm such a good actor, maybe I could pull off a little stunt. Taylor though. She stood up.
"Fine, when we're all better I'll help with the chores." She started coughing, though you could tell she was pretending. Then she pretended to gag, and threw herself on the ground and gasped "I'm dying, somebody help me!" and closed her eyes, trying to look as though she had passed out.
"If your dead, why are you breathing?" Jackson said.
Her chest immediately stopped moving up and down. Jackson sat and stared at her. Then she gasped out a breath. She stood up and said "I can't get any respect around here." and walked off after stopping and grabbing some fruit. Jackson and Melissa looked at each other, rolled their eyes, and went back to tending the fire. Nathan excused himself to go to the bathroom. Then Eric turned the corner.
"Where's Taylor going?" he asked. "I saw her walking away in a huff."
"Let's just say she needs to brush up on her acting skills." Melissa said.
"She pretended to faint because I was trying to get her to do some work after we are all better." Jackson explained.
"I'm gonna go get a sweatshirt and a blanket. I'm cold. You want a blanket too?" Melissa said.
"I'll come with you. I think the fire can stand alone for a little bit."
They walked to the tents. They each gabbed a sweatshirt and a blanket and headed back to the fire. They turned the last corner, and dropped their blankets.
"The fire's out." Melissa said, and rushed over.
"How could it have gone out? We weren't gone for more than a few minutes!" Jackson said.
"The wood is wet, and there's a bunch of water in the bottom of the pit. Like some put out the fire purposefully…" Melissa said.
"Who would have done that?" Jackson asked, a suspicious look on his face.
"What happened?" They heard Eric's voice. Nathan, Daley, and Lex came from one side, and Taylor and Eric had come from the other.
"We went to get some sweatshirts and stuff, and we came back and the fire was out!" Melissa exclaimed.
"See how irresponsible they are? We can't leave Jackson in charge, if he's as careless as this. And Melissa should help lug water, since she obviously can't keep the fire going." Taylor declared rather rudely.
"But this wasn't our fault! We were only gone for five minutes tops!" Melissa cried.
Jackson put an arm around Melissa's shoulders comfortingly and said "We have proof it wasn't our fault. The fire didn't go out on it's own. The wood is wet. That means, one of you put it out." He gestured around the group.
"Jackson, why would we put out the fire? It's as damaging to you as it is to us." Daley pointed out.
Suddenly, Melissa noticed something. "Quick Fire-Keeper Conference!" She grabbed Jackson's hand, sneezed, and pulled him toward the trees.
Once they were far enough so that they wouldn't be heard, but could still see the group, Melissa said "Do you notice anything weird about Taylor's sneakers?"
Jackson peered over at Taylor, then turned back to Melissa. "They're all wet, but that could have happened to anybody in the rainforest."
"But nobody else's shoes are, not even Eric, who was walking with her."
"It was Taylor! This must be payback!"
"My thoughts exactly!" Melissa said triumphantly, then coughed.
"Take it easy! Now lets go confront her." Jackson said.
They walked back to the group. "Taylor, were you really that mad?"
"What are you talking about?" she replied, her bad acting working against her.
"Well, the wood and the pit is all wet. So are your shoes. It's salt water, so you had to have got it from the ocean, requiring you to get at least your feet wet." Melissa said.
"Fine. I did it, but I didn't want to do work!" Taylor said.
"That's no reason to put out the fire!" Daley cried.
"I'm sorry, okay!"
"Get the fire started, then get to work lugging water." Jackson said.
"But I'm sick!" Taylor exclaimed.
"Shoulda though of that before." Jackson said as he handed her two water jugs and the lighter. Taylor glared at him and walked off to find some dry firewood.
"Can you at least clean out the fire pit?" she whined.
"I think we can give her that much." Melissa smiled, and her and Jackson sat down at the fire pit. The others walked off. "I saw your sign. Before the storm, I mean."
"Yeah." Awkward silence. "I'm not very good at stuff like this but well, I, uh, Ilikeyoutoo." Jackson blurted, then a relieved look came over his face. She turned to look at him. They stared for a moment, then shared their first kiss. Then Nathan walked around the corner.
"Hey Mel!" He hadn't seen them. They broke apart quickly and blushed. "Oh. Sorry, I'll leave now."
"It's okay Nathan. You can stay." Melissa said, embarrassed. Nathan sat down awkwardly.
"I found some more coconuts." he said.
"You climbed up in a tree again? You could have really hurt yourself, you could have died!" Melissa exclaimed.
"I didn't climb up a tree, I found them on the ground!" Nathan said, holding his hands up. She raised her eyebrows. Nathan nodded.
"The important thing is, he's alive and didn't break any bones, and he'll never climb a tree for food again, as long as we're on this island." Jackson said.
"Right!" Nathan said.
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A/N: Haha! Jackson and Melissa are a couple! Hahaha! This was a very long chapter. I would have finished it and put it up yesterday, but we went to the Santa Cuz Boardwalk, and we were gone all day. Also, on the falling off a cliff idea, I think they've had enough trauma for a little while, what with Melissa getting the flu, and the storm, and the colds... I need some ideas on how to get Nathan and Daley and Taylor and Eric together. So, review!