My name is Ally Perkins, I am fourteen, and have been living on a deserted island for three years. I was flying over the island with my dad, a pilot, when he lost control. The first instinct that all humans go through is fear, and for me that came as soon as we started to spin wildly. For the first time my father, Jonathan Perkins, and I were lost. When I was two years old my mother, Anna Perkins, had caught tuberculosis from one of her patients at the hospital she worked at. She died on my third birthday; there was no party that year, or the years following for that matter.

As the plane spun wildly out of control I had a memory of my mother, one of her and I sitting on the steps when I was little. She and dad had a big argument over something silly, or it seemed like it to me. The only thing I can remember about that day is it was the day she told me about her 'condition'. The only real thing words I remember are, "Ally, honey, when you ever find your self in a situation that you eve need help in, trust your father. He knows what to do and he will help."

The only reason I remember this is because my father had so often told me this line that is it embedded into my brain. Just before we hit the ground I looked at my dad, he held out his hand to me, I grabbed it and yelled over the whirr! Of the contraption we were in, "I love you dad." And with that we hit the island, the impact alone was enough to knock me out. Now I probably should mention what our destination was. We were heading out to meet my Uncle Sam, my gather brother, for a weekend getaway.

When I finally came to, I was under a tarp, a few feet from the plane. I sat up and looked around. It was dark out, and the plane was a shadow in the night. The only light was coming from the moon, which hung like a pale, circular lamp that was on a low setting. I stood up and looked further around. Our suitcases were out of the plane, along with a pile of equipment from the plane. I looked towards the plane, it had landed on the shore. Or really it landed about a hundred meters from it.

"Dad?" I called, "Dad? Where are you?"

His shadowy figure appeared from the plane, he ran to me and hugged me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "You hit your head kinda hard there."

"Sore but okay," I said looking around at our surroundings, "Damage report?"

"Well," he began with a laugh, "Well, we blew both engines and I found out we had a stowaway."

"What?" I asked appalled, "I thought I checked everything!"

"Not the cargo area, thankfully he's not hurt. I have him getting some wood for a fire."

"Do you know where we are?"

"An island just south of Florida, uncharted and unexplored."

"Holy crap,"

"I know right?" said a voice behind me.

I jumped and spun around.

"Sorry," the person said, "My bad."

"This is Paul, our stowaway."

"Ally," I said.

"I see you at school." Paul said.

"You go to my school?"

"Paul DeMiao." He said

"Oh!" I said in shock.

Paul DeMiao is a popular, I didn't associate with them and they didn't associate with me. That way the way it was, never be caught talking ot one another, it sparked rumors and most of those were hurtful, so I just stayed out of it.

"Got the wood?" Dad asked

"Yes sir, I found much more too that I can go get later."

"Show me," I said, "I can carry some back too."

Paul set his wood down and turned back to the woods, I followed him. He led me to a tree that was fallen and started to hand me wood.

"So," Paul said, "Your dads a pilot?"

"Yeah, he is."

"So, how long do you reckon we'll be out here?"

"As long as it takes for my dad to get help out here."

"How long?"

"As long as it takes," I said irritably, "Any other questions?"

"Yeah, where are we sleeping?"

I laughed out loud, Paul looked at me.

"Hello? We're sleeping out side!"

"Really?"

"Most likely, I mean come on! It's beautiful here, besides being stranded here, its cool."

"You are not like most girls." Paul said.

"Thank you." I said happily as I loaded up my arms and walked away.

He ran to catch up with me.

"Why did you some on board?" I asked

"I thought I might get to see another place, you know adventure."

"You bring cloths?"

"Yeah, I'm not stupid."

"Lets hope so, you'll need your survival skills out here."

"You act like this has happened before!"

"Well, I like to camp, so my dad and I'll go out to remote places and stay out there for a couple months in the summer."

"You sound like your close to him."

"He's all I have left." I said

"What happened to your mom?"

"She died."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, and what about your folks? Won't they be worried?"

"No, I told them I was going to my Uncle Patrick's for a weekend."

"So, they'll worry when they call and your not there?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

We entered the clearing where Dad had set up camp; I put my load of wood down and began staking the wood. Paul sat down and looked towards the sea.

"Do we have fresh water?" I asked.

"I found a small pond, clear but deep."

"Good thing I can swim huh?" Paul said

"I found two, one is warm, we can use that to bathe, the other is for drinking only." Dad said

"Okay, which is closer?"

"The drinking one is to the left side of the plane, bathing is on the right. If you get confused feel the water."

"Can we set up a system?" I asked imaging one of them comeing over when I was bathing.

"Yes, we should, seeing you're the only girl here." Dad said tweaking my nose, "You go first, the Paul, then me."

"You sure?"

"Positive, and that leads me into the sleeping arrangements. Paul you can sleep over near the planes wing, I'll sleep near the nose."

"And me?"

"Inside."

"Dad!" I said baffled, "Come on!"

"No," I'd feel safer knowing that you're safe."

"Fine." I grumbled, "I'll sleep in the plane."

"Go get some sleep you guys." Dad said.

I sighed and kissed his cheek, he hugged me. I jumped into the plane and sat one of the seats back. I fell asleep a few minutes later. The sun woke me up the next morning, that and the smell of wood burning. I sat up and looked out the window, Dad and Paul had started a fire. I walked towards them.

"I thought your guys burnt something there for a second." I yawned.

Dad smiled, "No, but we can't cook, help."

I ran back to the plane and grabbed a pan, a bag of jerky, and my pillow. Dad held up a rabbit as I came back.

"Yum." I said, "Have you started with the radio?"

"Not yet, after breakfast I will though."

I smiled and put the pan down.

"This will have to burn down a bit more, I need coals otherwise I have to hold a metal pan the will be very hot."

"Then I'll start now and call me when breakfast is done."

"Will do Dad." I said.

Paul looked at me as my dad walked away and smiled warily.

"I don't bite," I said, "I promise."

"That's nice to know, I just with I was close with my dad."

"We got really close after my mom died."

"I can tell, but you seemed kinda upset you couldn't sleep outside."

"My favorite thing to do and he sticks me in the plane."

"Yeah, it's not all it's cracked up to be."

"You don't have experience; I've slept on a rock before, after that, sand, piece of cake."

"So how long does it take to get used to the ground?"

"Depends on the person really."

"Me?"

"A month tops I guess." I said putting the pan on the coals and sticking the rabbit in too.

I found a stick and began cooking it, Dad found his way back to us fifteen minutes later, just from the smell of cooking food.

"Mmmm…I miss your cooking Ally."

"Yeah, it's been what? Two days?"

"I know, two days of poorly cooked food."

"Ha! Don't let Aunt Melissa hear that!"

"She's not here, so I'm safe."

I smiled at him as I flipped the rabbit one last time. I had Paul get something to put our food on and divided it between the three of us. When we were done I went to get some water for everyone to drink. When I came back Dad and Paul were huddled over the radio, I went to join them.

"Well," Dad said, "I might be able to fix it, but we'll have to use some of the plane scraps."

"Anything else that you guys need me to do?" I asked, "if not, I'm going to take a bath."

"Go ahead; we'll be fine for a few minutes. Did you bring shampoo and conditioner?"

"Yup, that and my other stuff."

"Then we're good, go take your bath."

I nodded and grabbed my suitcase and the extra towel I had packed. Wow, I thought, I never thought I'd be the one with the only towel, I have to wash it tonight. I grabbed my shampoo and conditioner and slid into the water. It was warm, I realized, and deep too. I sank into the water just enough to cover my head so I could get it wet. I washed my hair and my body and then dried off; I dressed in my light summer dress with a pair of my shorter shorts I had brought. I walked back around the plane and sat on the wing of the plane with Paul.

"So," I said, "What are you doing?"

"Thinking."

"What about?"

"My mom, she'll be so worried. I hate causing her worry."

"I know that feeling, I was like that with my dad, I hated not knowing if he was going to come back home. I was scared to death that he wouldn't come back. But he always has."

"Did the worry stop after a while?"

"No, at it never does, never will for that matter. I am always scared. But he told me that he would take me for a trip over the summer, which he is."

"One heck of a trip for the summer."

"Well this wasn't in the plan but, you know, things happen."

"Yeah, I'm sorry that I climbed into the plane."

"Yeah, and I'm sorry about the rumor that your gay that Meggie started."

"So it was from your group?"

"I tried to stop it but you made Meggie so mad."

"I didn't mean to stand her up."

"What did you mean then?"

"Cassie called last minute and told me that my grandma was in the hospital. She had a heart attack." I could read the lie plain in his eyes.

"What really happened? I won't hurt you."

"Okay, Cassie called last minute and invited me to a party."

"Yeah, the same party you were taking Meggie too."

"Your kidding me?"

"No, I went with her and saw you all over Cassie Steele."

"You didn't!"

"I did and just so you know, Meggie did too." I stood up and walked away, Paul came after me.

"Hey! Don't be mad at me!"

"Why not?" I asked turning to face him, "You broke her heart!"

Dad came running around the plane and looked at the two of us. We were both equally angry, and Dad could tell.

"I know that! Okay? I was caught up in the moment, I didn't even know you two were there!"

"Really? Because you looked right at Meggie before going into that room with little miss Cassie."

"Hey!" Dad yelled, "What's going on here?"

"She's accusing me of—"

"Accusing! I'm telling you the truth! Your hurt her!"

"Ally!" Dad yelled, "Stop this now and explain to me what's going on!"

"Yesterday when I came home from the party," I said furiously, "and Meggie was crying you told her that the boy who did it wasn't worth her time. The reason was because Paul stood her up, and Paul made out with Cassie. And then they took it into another room where I imaging it got— how do you say it Paul? — 'hot and heavy'?"

"That's none of your business!" Paul yelled.

"You made it my business when you asked me to join you and Cassie in the bedroom!"

"You said no right?" Dad asked suddenly grabbing me.

"Of course! I'm not stupid enough to go laying around like Cassie, just trying to get someone to lay on her!"

"She's a good person!" Paul yelled at me

"And you're a doormat!"

"You're a hoe!"

"Really?!" I yelled back at him, "Coming from the guy who has three children!"

Dad put a hand on my shoulder, I looked at him. He was making an obvious effort to keep calm.

"Excuse me," he said, "What did you just call my daughter?"

Pauls' mouth opened in shock, I kept eye contact with my father.

"Dad," I said in a calming tone, "stay calm, breath."

He looked at me and sighed, "Could you give me and him a moment? Maybe go read a book you brought or something?

"Sure thing, call me when you need me." I said running towards the plane.

I've seen my dad like this, this was his anger mode. And it took quite a bit to make him angry. I hid on the co-pilots seat and avoided the conversation. Dad came into the plane a while later and sat next to me. He looked at me as I turned to face the window.

"Look at me." He said

I looked at him slowly; he looked back at me coolly.

"You had to bring that up? We have to work together to survive. You know that."

"I couldn't help it; he was being nice to me when he knew that Meggie was at the party. And then after we got home, I haven't told you this yet but, he called and asked me to come back to Cassie's house and 'party' with him and Cassie. It was either I confront this now or let him think I'm a pushover."

"Well I'm glad you confronted it but, in that manor? Ally please, promise me you start a fight again."

He held out his pinky, we pinky promised and hugged.

"I'm sorry I started a fight," I said, "I didn't mean for it to get out of hand."

"You two need to apologize to each other." Dad said, "And then you two can go get more wood and water."

"Where is he?" I asked.

"In the bath, you van get him when he's done."

"Okay." I said, "I'll be nice."

"Good, because you need him to help us, this isn't like our last trip where we got stranded because of the sudden freeze."

"I understand, I'm sorry Dad."

Paul came out then, hair dripping and disheveled, and stood in front of Dad.

"Mr. Perkins," he began.

"Patrick," Dad said softly, "I'll leave you two alone."

Paul and I stared at his back as he walked away; Paul was the first to recover his voice.

"So, we should get some more wood huh?" he asked

"Yeah," I said, "We should."

We entered the forest and got to the tree before either of us spoke again.

"Paul," I said not looking at him.

"Yeah?" he asked

"Listen, I'm sorry about the whole bringing up the party, I didn't mean to come across that way. It's just I'm worried and when I get worried I get mad and stressed. I didn't mean for it to come out that way I was just scared because we're stuck on this island with nothing…I'm talking to much aren't I?" I asked looking

"A bit," Paul laughed, "And I apologize for calling you names and for being rude. I'm scared too."

"I shouldn't have been rude about Meggie, it was wrong of me to do that."

"I only asked out Meggie because I wanted to get to know one of her friends better."

"Well that was mean, she likes you."

"And I like one of your other friends, I told Meggie this before I asked her out."

"But if she knew why did she cry at the party? And why did you stand her up?"

Paul let out a noise and dropped his wood.

"Sheesh! Do I have to spell it out?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I like you, that's why I jumped onboard. I was going to surprise you at the airport when they found me."

"You jumped onto my dads plane to tell me you like me?"

"Yeah, is that weird?"

"A bit," I said softly watching as he picked up his wood again.

We walked back in silence, I stopped just before we were visible to my dad. Paul looked at me questionably and came to my side.

"I like you too," I murmured, "I do like you much more than I thought I would."

Paul looked at me and smiled before walking into camp. I followed him silently. Dad looked at Paul and then me before smiling. I sat next to him and helped with the radio. We spent much of the rest of the day working on the stupid thing, we only got static. I cooked lunch before going back to help Dad and Paul, who had joined us after cleaning up something, with the radio. Lunch was just a can of food I found in the plane, nothing big. That night just before darkness came Paul and I slipped away from dad, who was taking a bath at the time.

"So," I said sitting on the plane wing, "what drove Mr. Popular to liking the weirdest girl in school?"

"Well," Paul said laughing as he sat next to me, "you and your friends are always laughing, the guys are always judging people. You know, 'she doesn't have the right size boobs.' or something. I just can't relate to them very much anymore. It's more weird to be around them then it is to be around you when your mad at me and are on the war path."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." I said.

"I was being mean with Cassie that night though, I didn't mean to ask you to join in. Cassie told me to and I thought 'what the heck? It'll get me more tonight than I've had.'"

"Not a smart thing to think." I laughed.

"Yeah, I realize that now, however the testosterone was talking at the party."

"Yeah,"

"So you've never…done…it?"

"No I'm waiting for the right guy who wants to sweep me off my feet."

"I keep telling you," my dad said coming around the nose, "You wait to long and you'll be bored with just hanging around me. You have to let a guy sweep you off your feet."

"I can be hard of hearing." I laughed.

"So no more fighting?" Dad asked

"No more fighting," I said, "I promised you I wouldn't."

"Paul didn't."

I turned to him and held out my pinky. He took it saying, "No more fighting."

"Alright," Dad said, "get to bed you two."

"Or maybe a quick swim?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, now get."

"Night Daddy." I said kissing his cheek.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Dad said suddenly, "You two can hug too."

I hugged Paul before jumping into the plane and curling onto my seat.

"You know," I heard dad say, "She likes you."

"I like her sir."

"Patrick."

"Yes sir, Mr. Patrick."

"I have to tell you something, but I don't think I can tell her."

"What is it? I could tell her for you."

"The real reason that we were on this trip, I never thought I would, or that I could—"

"What?"

I listened intently to my dads' next words "I have leukemia, there's no hope for me, not unless I get off this island. I was going to ask her to get checked to see if she could be a donor, I was hoping she would."

I flew out of the plane and looked at his back, they turned to me.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked

"Oh," Dad said startled by my sudden entrance, "Baby, it's real complicated."

"Why?"

"I wanted you to be around Uncle Sam when I told you so you knew you wouldn't be alone."

"When did you find out?"

"Last week."

"How?"

"Routine checkup."

My breathing accelerated and came in shallow pants. My breathing was beginning to stop when Paul came to my side.

"See the plane?"

"Yeah," I said looking at it

"See the sand?"

"Yes,"

"See the trees?"

"Yes,"

My breathing returned to normal, Paul put an arm around me.

"Panic attack." he told my dad.

"Will she be okay?"

"Yeah,"

"Can you take her to the plane?"

"Yeah,"

Paul led me the plane and helped me inside. I curled into a ball on the chair and was barely able to contain my tears. Paul sighed and pulled me to him in a hug. I gave up not crying and clutched him. My dad was going to die if we didn't get off this island, and I would be an orphan. After awhile Paul laid me on the seat and brought a chair next to me. I put my head near my knees as I rolled into a ball. Paul took my hand and started stroking the back of it, I began to fall asleep. I don't know when I really fell asleep, but when I woke up the next morning, Paul was gone. I got out of the plane and looked around, I saw no one. I walked around the plane and stopped. Paul and dad were swimming; I went back to the plane and sat down. Paul came over and peeked in, I smiled at him.

"You wanna swim?"

"Yeah," I said, "I think I do."

"How are you feeling?"

"Weird,