The next week passed without any major incidents which was both a relief to everyone and slightly nerve-racking. Mel normally prided herself on being an optimist but the lack of, well, anything happening had her on edge as well. She was sitting around the campfire considering this when Jackson sat down next to her.
"Have you noticed it's been, I don't know, quiet around here?" Jackson added some sticks to the fire as Mel groaned.
"Why did you say that? You just jinxed it."
Jackson smirked, "You believe in jinxes and all that stuff?"
"Yep. I take it you don't?"
Jackson smiled and shook his head. He opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a loud shriek, "Jackson!"
Mel and Jackson turned towards the direction of the shout. They could tell the yell had come from Taylor and it wasn't a scared scream, it was well-known to them now as a scream of frustration or anger.
"Told you," Mel grumbled, referencing their talk about jinxes.
Jackson snorted before he let his usual look of mild annoyance fall over his face. They watched as Taylor marched into sight, followed closely by Daley. Their loud voices quickly summoned Nathan, Eric, and Lex to the fire, too.
"Jackson, do something!" Taylor stared at him.
"Don't bring him into this," Daley glared at her.
"Well, someone has to stop you. What kind of insane person are you?"
"What happened?" Nathan looked between them.
"She wants me to...to...uh, I can't even say it, it's so gross," Taylor's face showed her revulsion.
"To what?" Eric's curiosity got the better of him.
"All I said was that her job for tomorrow would be to fill in the pit so we could start a new one," Daley crossed her arms. The others all knew what she meant by 'the pit'. When they'd first gotten on the island, they had dug a large hole in the ground for them to use as a bathroom. Not the most pleasant thing in the world, but it served its purpose.
"I am not going to stand over that disgusting, smelly pit all day. And I don't see why we can't keep using it," Taylor looked around at the others for support.
"I told you. It's getting full and it's going to be a lot harder to fill if it reaches the top. But if you don't want to do it, then you can just stand behind a tree when you have to go," Daley crossed her arms.
"What!?" Taylor screeched.
"Taylor, just do it," Nathan broke in.
"If it's so important to you then you do it," Taylor shot back at him.
Nathan frowned at her, "I've got my job to do. Quit being so lazy."
"I am not lazy!"
"Eh, you kinda are," Eric smirked.
Daley turned to him, "Don't even start, Eric. You're just as bad as she is."
"Hey, I do my part," Eric scowled.
Lex attempted to smooth things over, "Why doesn't someone trade jobs so Taylor can do something else?"
Taylor pointed at him and nodded, "Yeah, someone can trade with me."
"No. You always get out of doing the hard work, now it's your turn." Daley's voice rang with finality.
"That's not fair!" Taylor wasn't about to give up.
"Enough!" Every head swiveled in the direction of the voice, shock registering on their faces when they realized it had been Mel who shouted. Jackson's annoyance slipped away as he looked at her with raised eyebrows.
Mel just couldn't take it anymore, "Why does everyone always have to fight?"
Daley opened her mouth to argue her point, "Mel, she—"
"No. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and you can't change that."
"What?" Daley frowned in confusion and Mel saw that everyone was watching her with an expectant expression, waiting for her to explain.
She turned to Eric first, "Eric, you can be lazy and obnoxious and you try to manipulate people for your benefit."
"Hey!"
Mel ignored him and continued, "But when you stop messing around, you're helpful and fun to hang out with. Daley, you're bossy, you tend to see the worst in people and judge them before you get to know them. You can't hold people's mistakes over their heads forever. I know you just want everyone to be safe and you're a good friend and a good sister," Mel gestured towards Lex as she spoke. "But maybe you'd do better if you stopped being so afraid of showing any kind of weakness."
Mel spoke to Nathan next, "Nathan, you take things too personally and you try too hard to prove yourself. We all know how smart and helpful you are. You're a good listener, too, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks so."
Mel grinned as she moved to Taylor. "Taylor, you can be really lazy and you like to get revenge on people no matter what happened." Mel raised an eyebrow at her, hinting at the video diary incident and Taylor bit her lip as she stared at her feet. "But, you're a good person, you just don't show it as often. You're smart, too, but for reasons I don't understand you don't let others see that side of you."
"And Lex," Mel smiled down at the twelve-year-old, "You are blunt and matter of fact and you have a knack for noticing things that no one else does. To be honest, I'm not sure how such a large brain fits in there," Mel tapped his head before ruffling his hair. "As of right now, I can't find any weaknesses of yours," she grinned.
Letting out a big sigh, Mel continued, "As for me, I lost a part of myself when we landed here and I tried to make everyone happy and smooth everything over. I've decided to stop doing that and start standing up for myself again. But I know my strengths, too. I'm a pretty good judge of character and I try to see the best in people," Mel shot a glance to Eric, whose mouth quirked up at the corners.
"So, you see, we all have weaknesses but we all have good hearts, too. Some of us just hide it better than others," Mel gave a pointed look at Eric, Daley, and Taylor. "I think if one of us struggles with something then we should be willing to bend the rules a little to help them out. We won't survive if we don't work together. So, Daley, whatever my job for tomorrow is, give it to Taylor. I'll fill in the pit." Mel sat down next to the fire again, "Everyone good?"
Mel could have laughed out loud at the expressions on everyone's faces. Daley and Nathan looked surprised that she was capable of making a speech like that, in spite of the fact that they'd known each other the longest. Lex just smiled at her and Eric and Taylor both looked at her with gratitude in their eyes. She didn't think many people took the time to dig beneath their shallow surface. Mel saved Jackson for last. Turning her head to look at him, she found that he was watching her with a faint smile on his face. If she looked closer, though, she thought his eyes looked troubled, but she left it alone for now.
Slowly, one by one, the others sat down to eat dinner. Mel smiled to herself when she saw Daley hand Taylor some fruit and a handful of oysters, knowing that it was a silent apology and a peace offering. Eventually, Lex got everyone talking by mentioning all of the things he'd been finding in the plane wreckage. By the time they went to bed, the argument was long forgotten. Mel just hoped they'd get rescued before there was a fight she couldn't fix.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Jackson couldn't stop replaying what happened last night in his head. It wasn't the fight that had been played over and over in his mind, that was a normal occurrence on the island. It was how Mel had ended the argument, the way she talked about each person, even herself, and had called them out on their faults but also brought some of their best attributes to the surface. Jackson grinned to himself. Mel had this quiet power that, when provoked, turned into a raging storm. The part that Jackson couldn't get past was the fact that Mel hadn't talked about him. She had mentioned everyone else, but not him.
Was it because she couldn't think of anything good to say? Was she only able to come up with faults? Jackson thought. He hoped it wasn't the case but what other reason could there be? He couldn't focus on his job for the day, which was to catch fish for the group's dinner, so he sat on the rocks overlooking the water. It was while he was most deep in thought that a shadow fell over him, his heart picking up speed when the person started talking.
"You were more quiet than normal at breakfast. Is everything okay?" Mel stood to his left, her long black hair flowing down her back.
"Just thinking," Jackson turned back to face the ocean but he couldn't concentrate. Mel had taken a seat beside him on the small portion of rock that was left, which forced her to sit close to him.
They were silent for a couple of minutes before Mel let out a quiet sigh, "Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" Jackson looked at her for a long moment before seeming to come to a decision.
"Last night, when you ended that fight between the others, you talked about everyone except me. Why?"
Mel gave a small smile, "I didn't need to. You already know your strengths and weaknesses.
"How do you know?"
"Because I know them, too."
Jackson's curiosity got the better of him, "Prove it."
Mel raised an eyebrow at the challenge, "You're quiet and you keep to yourself, which makes some people think you aren't paying attention, but you're actually listening to everything being said. You don't care if what you say makes people mad, so you're usually brutally honest. You've got a temper but you know when you need to apologize. Combined, these make you a good leader, it's why we chose you." Mel gave a quick smile before continuing, "You're too stubborn for your own good and you have a good heart, too, but you're cautious about getting too close to people. Sometimes when people fight they lose their ability to be objective and see the truth. Because you stay on the outside of things you tend to be more impartial than everyone else so you weren't the one who needed to hear what I was saying."
Crossing her arms, Mel grinned at Jackson's shocked expression. He didn't ever show that he was surprised about things and Mel felt a quick flash of pride that she had been able to bring that out in him. "Well?"
A small smile appeared on Jackson's face before he quickly returned his gaze to the water. Mel watched him for another minute, "Is there anything else bothering you?"
Jackson looked at her again. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something before pressing his lips together and shaking his head. She nodded slowly before standing and walking back the way she'd come, leaving Jackson to wonder why he was so stupid. He didn't know that Mel could read him so well and when she'd asked if something else was wrong he'd been so close to just blurting out that he wanted to take what he'd said back. That he thought it would be a great idea to be together. That he'd never had anything good in his life until he met her and he wanted her to say she loved him as much as he did her. But that wasn't going to happen, because he'd extinguished any spark of interest she might have had in him that day on the island.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Mel looked around the campsite, letting her eyes slide from one person to the next. Everyone was focused on completing their tasks for the day and Mel had once again landed the job of locating food in the forests. This time she'd be doing it alone instead of with someone but she didn't mind. The time alone gave her a chance to think and just enjoy the peace of the island. Besides, this job was much preferable to filling in the pit and digging a new one.
Mel headed towards the group's usual entrance into the forests, passing by Jackson who was chopping firewood. She'd be lying if she said she didn't take a moment to enjoy the view. He was wearing his usual tan cargo pants and boots with a black t-shirt, the short sleeves showing off the muscles in his arms as he raised the camp knife above his head and brought it down on the logs in front of him. His cheeks were slightly flushed from the effort and his spiky brown hair stuck out in different directions.
Mel let out a wistful sigh, alerting Jackson to her presence and her cheeks flushed bright red as his eyes connected with hers. Mel attempted to school her features into a more normal expression instead of the infatuation she was sure was there. Jackson didn't seem to notice, though, as he put down the knife and picked up his water bottle.
"Where are you going?" He asked after taking a sip.
Mel raised up the bucket in her hand, " I'm on food hunt duty, remember?"
"Right. Well, give me a minute and I'll go with you."
Mel's heart skipped a beat but she ignored it, "Why?"
"You shouldn't go into the forest by yourself. What if you get hurt or something?"
Of course, he was just being the camp leader and worrying about safety. He didn't offer to go just because he wanted to spend time with her. Mel let out a laugh to cover up her disappointment, "Don't worry, I'll be fine and back with a bucket-full of food in no time." Before Jackson could respond, she walked into the trees.
The scenery was the same as always: palm trees that stretched far above Mel's head and smaller trees that stood at her height, exotic flowers of all colors, birds calling to one another higher up, and the scuffling of small animals on the ground. As she wandered along, Mel came to the conclusion that the group had exhausted their food resources in this part of the island, which meant she had to find somewhere else to go. One part of her knew that she probably shouldn't stray from the path but the other part rationalized that the group needed food and if she didn't go too far then she should be safe. Taking a breath, Mel broke from the worn-out trail and entered the yet unseen part of the island.
