I think I'm gonna miss this place when we get rescued, Melissa thought as she took in a deep breath of the salty sea air. She looked around the beach at the others doing their chores: Daley was scrubbing everyone's clothes clean and Nathan was carrying the large, empty jugs from the campsite to the stream, filling them to the top, and then lugging them back. Taylor had been put in charge of braiding strands of dried seaweed together to create more rope. Lex was...well, Lex was being Lex. Melissa smirked. Lex was the youngest of the group but was most definitely the smartest and most creative. They wouldn't have made it this far without him. Shifting her focus to the left of the site, she zeroed in on the last members of their misfit family. Jackson was using the large serrated knife they'd found in the plane wreckage to cut logs into pieces of firewood and Eric was stacking the pieces into a neat pile.
Their plane had crashed fifteen days ago and there had been no sign of rescue. The first couple of days had been rough, trying to find food, water, and shelter. Things had gotten easier once they'd decided to elect a leader to make the final decision on things. Mel smiled, she was glad everyone had agreed to vote for Jackson. He was the perfect person for the job. He didn't care who was part of the popular crowd back at school and he hated petty arguments.
Melissa's smile faded as she remembered the day she'd accidentally ruined Taylor's shirt and as revenge, Taylor and Eric had broadcasted her video diary for everyone to hear. She'd been mortified when Jackson had heard her voice saying that she had a crush on him. He'd been so nice about it, even getting mad at Taylor and Eric for their prank. To be honest, Melissa almost wished that he would've yelled at her or even been mean about it. Anything but the pity she was sure he had felt when her childish crush had been made known to the group.
It had taken work, but Mel had managed to convince everyone, including Jackson, that it had been a fleeting infatuation. The truth was that Mel had never had a crush on Jackson...she'd been in love with him since his first day at school. He'd started late, arriving in May and the day he walked in was the day the whispers started. Some said he was dangerous, some said he'd been kicked out of his parent's house and was a runaway. Only the small group on the island knew the truth, and they'd only found out a couple of days before.
Mel had thought it would be good to invite Jackson on the school eco-trip to Palau, he'd get to go on an incredible trip, and maybe everyone could get to know the amazing person she knew he was before they'd even spoken. Now, he'd been in a plane crash that had stranded everyone on an island with no way off.
To make matters worse, Jackson seemed to be getting closer to Taylor which was driving Mel crazy. She knew she couldn't force him to like her, and they had been able to be friends, but it didn't make it any easier to think of Taylor winning over yet another boy. Shaking herself from her thoughts, Mel knelt down in the sand to keep looking for oysters, content with being silently in love with someone who didn't even know she existed.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Hey! Watch it, will ya?" Jackson looked to his left to see Eric cradling his hand.
"What?"
"Why don't you look where you're swinging that thing?" Eric pointed at the large knife in Jackson's hand. "You almost took my hand off when I was picking up the other pieces and I dropped the log on my hand."
Jackson rolled his eyes, "Why don't you quit complaining and do your job?" Bending down to pick up a new chunk of wood, Jackson froze at Eric's next words.
"What were you looking at, anyway?" Eric shaded his eyes with his hand and looked in the direction Jackson had been staring.
"Um, the sunset," Jackson set the log on the stump in front of him and raised the knife.
"Do you write love poems in your spare time, too?" Eric smirked.
Jackson schooled his features into the look he used to make people leave him alone. Turning to face Eric, Jackson watched his smirk disappear, "Uh, I'll just finish stacking this."
Raising his arm again, Jackson continued to chop the logs in front of him into pieces. He'd been stupid to get distracted while using the knife but it hadn't been in his control to do anything about it. One second he was making firewood and the next he'd glanced up to see Mel standing on the shoreline. She'd had her eyes closed and the wind was blowing her thick black hair around. She'd looked so beautiful. Jackson sighed, it didn't matter if Mel was standing on a beach surrounded by a sunset or wearing tattered clothes and covered in dirt. She was still the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
Jackson hadn't had an easy or conventional life. He'd mostly been around adults who didn't care enough about him to make sure he was alright. Any kids his own age either treated him like he was gum on the bottom of their shoe or they were afraid of him. After a while, though, this was how he preferred things. No one bothered him and he didn't have to get caught up in any drama. Except for now, where he was stuck on an island with a bunch of high schoolers who fought at least once a day. Except for Mel.
He remembered the first day he'd ever seen her. He'd been getting a tour of his new school and had been tuning out what his guide was saying. They were walking over a small bridge in the courtyard when he'd turned his head to look around. His gaze had connected with a pair of chocolate brown eyes that felt like they could see into his soul. Her full lips had curved up into a friendly smile, revealing perfect, white teeth.
Jackson didn't ever get embarrassed, but the heat creeping up his neck couldn't be anything but that. He couldn't even raise his hand to wave back or nod in response, he'd been so captivated. He forced his head the other way and tried to concentrate on what his guide was telling him. For the rest of the day, he waited to catch another glimpse of her but he didn't see her again. For the next couple of weeks, he would only see a quick flash of tanned skin or long dark hair but it was gone before he could blink.
Then, three weeks into starting school he was sitting in the school-yard reading a book when a shadow fell over him. His heart jolted when he looked up and saw that it was the same girl he'd seen his first day. Like an idiot, he just stared up at her and didn't say a word.
"Hi," She smiled down at him. "I'm Melissa but everyone just calls me Mel." She waited, an expectant look on her face and he realized she was waiting for him to tell her his name.
"Jackson," he finally managed to spit out.
She didn't seem to notice his awkwardness, though, and sat down on the grass beside him, "So, I know you're new an everything, but the school is planning an eco-camping trip to this island called Palau. We raised enough funds to sponsor another student and I thought you might like to go?"
Jackson just stared at her. Was this girl for real? She didn't even know him and she was offering him the trip of a lifetime. She seemed to take his silence for a dismissal of the suggestion and she frowned.
"You don't have to go, I just thought that it might make it easier for you to get to know people."
Pulling himself together, Jackson managed to speak, "When do we leave?"
The smile quickly blossomed on her face again, "Next Friday. We'll be gone for two weeks but the school's decided to let it count as homework for our classes so we don't need to make anything up. I'll go let the others know you've accepted." She stood up and brushed off her clothes before grabbing her bag and walking the other way. Jackson was in trouble and he knew it. One look and he'd fallen for a girl he didn't even know.
~V~V~V~V~V~
~U~U~U~U~U~
Jackson pulled himself from his memories and concentrated on splitting the wood. He'd had his chance. The day Mel's video diary had been played over the speaker and she admitted she had a crush on him, he had felt incredible disbelief that she could like someone like him. After calling out Taylor and Eric for what they'd done and then rescuing Mel from the edge of that cliff he had said the stupidest thing he possibly could have. He accepted her crush on him but made it quite plain that nothing was going to happen. She hadn't even flinched and had gone back to treating him like a friend. He, however, had silently beat himself up ever since. Mel had practically handed him the opportunity to tell her how he felt and he'd blown it.
