A/N So, I warned you guys. I spend my summers at my cottage, and it is really hard for me to update. I do write, though. I'm here just for a day, but I was able to get this chapter up.

Anyway, this is the longest chapter yet! That's what comes out of writing on my iPod. Nothing looks long enough, but then it ends up being way longer than my other chapters. This chapter is darker than the last. I hope it lives up to my reviewer Rainbow and Butterflies' standards!

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Flies.

Deception: To cause belief of what is not true.

I woke up before sunrise. I fell asleep quickly, but didn't get a very restful night. I woke up in the same position - head on Ralph's chest. But that's why I didn't get a good sleep. What if Roger or even Jack found out about our kiss last night? I'm sure Jack would be incredibly pissed off, and Roger... Well, he would be even worse. It scared me to think about it.

I sat on the same log in the same spot I had the previous night. Last night was just, so, perfect. But the perfection could only last the night. I thought about the possible consequences for what I had felt, but I couldn't bring myself to regret what I'd done.

I heard footsteps behind me, but I didn't turn to see who it was. To be honest, I really didn't care. However, I did care when Roger sat down.

"Hey," he said in his rough voice.

"Hey," I replied, trying to keep a monotone voice.

"Sleep well?" He seemed determined to try and have a normal conversation with me. I decided to play along.

"I slept okay. How about you?"

"Yeah, I slept well, I guess. Jack wanted to know why you and Ralph weren't at the fire last night." And there it was. Roger being a slave to Jack - asking me things Jack was to scared to ask me himself.

"We were down here, watching the sunset," I replied, looking ahead. Technically, that wasn't a lie. We did watch the sunset, along with various things I didn't want to tell my brother about.

Roger seemed to believe it, which was good. I didn't want him to go searching for the exact truth, because if he did, chances are he would find it.

"The hunters are all going hunting today. Hopefully we'll have some meat by tonight," he changed the topic.

"Yes, maybe Jack will finally be able to catch something." Something flashed through my brother's eyes when I referred to the fact that Jack had yet to catch a pig, but the weird glint disappeared when Jack appeared behind us.

"What are you two talking about?" Roger told him we were talking about the hunt today, which excited Jack and they started eagerly talking about strategy.

I started drifting into my own thoughts again, but I was soon pulled out when Jack asked me to get him a coconut shell. I didn't mind getting away from the hunting conversation - not at all - so I happily obliged.

I continued to think about what I was going to do about my situation with Ralph, and eventually forgot about my task. I wandered deeper into the jungle, until I found myself at the entrance of a clearing. Curious, I pushed a few creepers away from my face, and entered the beautiful area.

There I saw something more beautiful than heaven. The trees had collapsed in places, seemingly blocking the clearing off from the rest of the jungle. Vines fell down, holding the trees in place and creating a magical scenery. Bushes were placed just right, and long thickets of grass stood so tall, if you laid down in them, you could disappear.

I walked into the clearing out of pure astonishment. It was just, one of the most perfect things I had ever seen. I was amazed at its beauty. It didn't seem possible for anything to be that perfect.

I heard rustling in the bushes, and that pulled me out of my trance. I looked in the direction of the sound, and saw Simon pop his head through the vines.

"Oh, hello," he sounded somewhat happy and sad at the same time. I didn't know how that was possible.

"Hi, Simon."

"I didn't know anyone else knew about this place. I thought I..." he trailed off. Now I understood. This was his place, and I would leave it to him, even if it was perfect.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Simon. I'll go now," I stood up to leave, but I then heard his voice telling me to stay, so I did.

Simon and I seemed to talk for hours. We sat in the long grass, just chatting about our lives. Sometimes we'd just sit in silence. But a very comfortable silence. Simon was a shy boy. One of those people who didn't talk much, but when he did, he had something important to say.

We left the clearing when the sun started to beat down harder. It was probably about noon since the sun was at it's highest.

We headed to the fire together where there was safe water to drink. Samneric were there on fire duty. Simon and I stayed a while to talk to them. Eventually, Simon wanted to leave, but I wanted to stay and keep talking with the boys. Simon left, but I stayed and helped keep fire watch.

Jack and his hunters came up the hill to where we were sitting. He was painted in different colour makeshift war paint, as were the rest of the hunters. Black circles around Jack's eyes made the icy blue colour stand out. I couldn't help but find it kind of attractive.

Attractive? You can't just kiss a guy one night, and like another guy the next! I mentally screamed at myself.

"Sam, Eric, go into the forest with the hunters. They'll prepare you for the hunt," Jack declared.

"But we have-"

"To watch the fire-"

"Ralph said!" The twins said at once.

"This is a big hunting mission. I need everyone to help," with that, Samneric went into the forest after the hunters. All of the hunters other than Jack. He stayed where he had been standing. When he had told the twins to hunt, he had been standing over them in a superior way, but he sat down beside me.

"So, Riley, would you like to come hunting?" I looked at him, surprised. There were so many things wrong with this picture. Jack seemed like the kind of guy who cared a lot about masculinity - it didn't make sense for him to be asking a girl to come hunting. And the way Jack asked me, it seemed sincere and inviting - out of character for him. Why was he acting so different with me? Normally all we did was fight, but the fighting was weird. It seemed to bring us closer together. But now, we weren't fighting - why was he acting nice? If I went, who would watch the fire? Would Roger be mad? Would Ralph think I was betraying him? I could only ask one of these questions. The others would give too much away.

"But then who would watch the fire?"

"No one," we locked eyes. His cold, blue eyes seemed to be daring me to come with him, "The fire will stay lit by itself for a while, and if it goes out, it goes out. No big deal. We'll just have to light it again," what Jack was saying made sense. Complete sense. We could re-light it later, but we needed meat now. We couldn't live forever on fruit from trees.

"Alright, fine. I'll go. But, don't I need my face painted or something?" Jack smirked, obviously happy he won me over.

"Yes. But we can do that right here," he leaned in towards the fire. He grabbed the end of a branch that wasn't burning, and moved it to the other side of the fire. He dipped his index finger into the charcoal at the bottom of our fire pit, covering his fingers in black dust. He leaned towards me, and brought his fingers to my face.

His fingers were really warm and felt nice. I could feel a black line being drawn beneath both my eyes, down my cheeks. Then there were black circles around my eyes, identical to Jack's. He then proceeded to draw a line from the top of my hairline, over the bridge of my nose, and down to my chin, but was sure not to get any charcoal on my lips.

"You need those for better things than war paint," he said jokingly. Even though it was a joke, I thought I heard some truth behind it. Instead of making me mad like it should've, it made me feel, well, flattered and, attracted to him.

Jack got to his feet and extended a hand to me to help me get up. I gladly took it and used it to pull myself from the ground.

We walked into the forest together, still hand in hand. He had tried to let go after I stood up, but I held on tightly. It would give me security from Roger.

Roger did look mad when I entered the forest in war paint and holding Jack's hand. Not only was I 'intruding' on his activity, but I was hand-in-hand with Jack - his best friend and leader.

Jack handed me an extra spear. I took it, but then I immediately felt regret of coming. I looked down towards my hand, and quickly slid mine out of Jack's. What would Ralph think? He was probably at the bottom of the forest, alone, and I was at the top, holding hands with another guy. I was deceiving his trust, and I couldn't do that.

Jack didn't seem to be fazed by my withdrawal. He made his way to the front of the group, near where Roger stood. I stood in the back, trying to blend in - something that was proving to be hard.

Then Jack said the two words that set off a riot of near-savagery, "Let's hunt!"

The boys started running forward like animals, screaming and shouting. We had been running for nearly forty-five minutes before we saw a pig. Suddenly, everyone stopped making noises and formed a circle around the creature. The pig must've sensed us and tried to run away - right towards me.

I didn't know if I could kill the pig, and stepped backwards in fear. There was a sudden flash of movement from my right side, and the pig was soon bleeding at my feet with a spear through its stomach. I looked down to see Roger pulling his spear out of the creature's flesh. His dark bangs covered the top of his eyes, but that made him even scarier. His dark eyes glinted in that awful way, and a menacing grin of evil and accomplishment spread across his face.

He stood, looked directly at me and whispered harshly, "You're welcome."

The whole group of hunters crowded around him, congratulating him. His expression had changed to one of superiority. I personally, liked this look a lot better than the previous one. I tried to leave the group without anyone noticing, but Jack caught my wrist in his hand before I could get anywhere.

"Where are you going?" He asked me, but it wasn't in an angry way - just inquiring.

"I was going to relight the fire," I lied.

"We'll do that when we get back. We're all leaving now, anyways, so stay," I once again found myself won over by his smooth talking and blue eyes. I started to wonder if maybe he was deceiving me, but even if he was, he was only doing it to make me stay - and that counted for something.

A few of the choirboys had put a stick through the bleeding pig, and were carrying it. Somehow, Jack had kept me at the front of the line, and Roger was falling behind, a look of jealousy on his face.

He was jealous, why exactly? Because I was up front with Jack? Maybe the tables were turning - maybe I was becoming Jack's second-in-command. And maybe that wasn't such a bad place to be. I knew Jack wouldn't let anyone hurt me as long as he was my leader. And with that thought, I finally understood my life at home. Roger was second-in-command to mother because as long as she knew she could control him, she would never hurt him. At least not too badly. Roger had those nights where he was bruised and bloody, but never to the extent I was.

But now it was my turn. I had spent too many days being beaten and too many nights trying to stop the bleeding and pain to not get a chance to live my life. I would not live on this island in fear of Roger. I would have someone to protect me and look out for me.

I slipped my hand into Jack's just to prove a point to Roger if he was watching, and, ultimately, to prove a point to myself.

I vowed to forget my previous night of perfection so that I could have protection. And even though Ralph had protected me from Roger, there was no way Ralph could win a fight against my brother - but Jack could. Roger wouldn't even dare to try and fight Jack.

I would have to explain to Ralph when I got back to camp, and he would have to learn to deal with it. Now, I would officially become Jack's - a small price to pay for my own safety and protection from Roger.

I knew if there was anyone on this island who I could possibly fall for, it would be Ralph, but Jack had a lot to offer, too. Jack, who wasn't as great as Ralph, but who could protect me better. Yes, I would be Jack's.

A/N Did you enjoy it? Hmm? You know what I want. Reviews! And if you give me reviews, maybe I can incorporate what you want into the story! So review!