I hadn't plan for this chapter to be so long, but the words just kept pouring! Hope you like it.

I don't own skins.

Chapter 2: Crash

Naomi PoV

"Almost there, just this ferry ride and then another fifteen minutes drive from Vader Island to Burrhea, home sweet home!" Kieran parked the van in a corner of a disturbingly empty, small ferry. I jolted awake at his voice and looked around - there were only two other cars parked behind us. This place we were going to surely had to be deserted. It was friday early afternoon, and we'd been driving since the wee hours of the day. We slept in a motel, or more like those two knockleheads slept and I lied awake listening to their snores - resulting in me being passed out for the last couple of hours. I'm sure I looked like hell, I certainly felt like it.

I turned my gaze to the front seat again, where my mum and Kieran were holding hands and gazing lovingly into each others eyes. It made me want to barf.

"How long is this ferry ride?" I successfully snapped them out of their love bubble. Kieran turned to me and scratched his beard.

"Ah, yeah, about an hour, youngster. It's salons in the keel and on the floor over us, it's really cozy." he turned to my mum "maybe we should go introduce you to some fellow locals?" he asked. Of course my mum beamed and dragged him in for a snog. I felt the breakfast coming up my throat and excused myself. My mum just distractedly gave me a thumbs up. I sighed and got out of the van.

The smell of the fresh sea breeze hit my nostrils immediately. It was such an unfamiliar smell that it almost made me lightheaded. Guess I'll get used to that.

My first priority was fixing my appearance, so I started a hunt for a bathroom and found one just inside the big blue door at the side of the boat. It was quite small, just enough space for me to stand in front of the mirror and get a glimpse from my torso and up. Oh well, this will do.

I started trying to fix my mess of a hair after the unfortunate sleeping position I had in the van. Then I rubbed my tense shoulders and reapplied some make up, since the old one was a bit smudged. I rearranged my white blouse and rectified my tiny denim shorts. After a piss and a good hand wash I felt significantly better and headed for the top salon. It wasn't cozy a bit, as Kieran described, it looked like it had been unchanged since the seventies. Everyone in it (mostly old people) turned to look at me when I walked in. I scanned the booths for mum, but soon realized they was probably still down fogging the car up. Everyone in the salon was still curiously watching me, probably not accustomed to strangers just turning up heading out to their beloved islands. Again I couldn't believe all the options this move was taking away from me. I swallowed and felt the urge for nicotine. I hope there isn't a 'no smoking' policy here I thought as I walked to the roof.

I immediately walked to the side of the boat after stepping outside, and leaned on the railing while lighting up a fag. After one drag I felt some of the tension finally leaving my neck and shoulders. What a day. Then I realized the ferry were moving at the speed of a rowing boat. No wonder it would take an hour, then. I rolled my eyes and kept smoking, lighting up a second one once the first was done. It was a nice day - sun and no clouds in sight. I saw some islands in the distance, and a huge fucking mountain coming straight up out of the ocean to my left. I've never seen that before.

A flirty whistle from behind me made me turn around. A grinning sandy-haired boy seemingly my age were walking towards me. He had a green polo on and a nice pair of grey trousers. The glint in his eyes told me he wasn't as classy as his clothes.

"'Ey there blondie, nice legs" he took off his aviator sunglasses and purposefully looked me slowly up and down before ending his perving with what obviously was an attempt at a sexy lick of his lips. I raised my eyebrow at him, trying to express I was not impressed.

"They're lacking something, though" he smirked. I quickly looked down to check my shorts were still on. They were.

"And what is that?" I replied in a seemingly disinterested voice.

"The Cookiemonster in between them!" he made a suggesting thrust with his crotch and laughed so much the laugh ended up silent. I furrowed my eyes at him. That was one of the more lamer pickup lines I've heard.

I turned and fixed my gaze at the horizon again, "oh fuck off." I answered, trying not to smile.

"Oh come on, everybody loves me. Whaddaya say, me and you in a closet downstairs? Bet I'll make ya come first." he came up at my side and leaned his back on the fence.

"No thanks, I bet one of the prehistoric wrinkle trolls inside could make me come faster than you." I smirked and looked sideways at him. He laughed again and clutched his sides.

"I lika ya, you're fun. Cook" he reached out a hand "Naomi" I nodded at him, shaking his hand.

"So Naomi," he rolled my name over his tongue while I rolled my eyes about him not giving up already "what are bringing you out in the waves? Visiting relatives? I don't think I've seen ya around before, I'm sure I would have remembered those legs" he was perving again. I snapped my fingers in front of his eyes "Oi, eyes up here!" he breathed out a laugh.

He lit up a cigarette for himself and after a beat I answered "No, I'm actually moving to Burrhea … or Barf I'm sure I'll be calling it." he laughed again.

"I understand that you're a city girl, blondie." he took a long drag. "So where exactly on the island are ya going to stay?" he had a much more friendlier expression than five minutes ago.

"I have no idea. Me and my mum are moving in at Kierans. You know him?" I threw the last stub of my fag over the railings and mirrored Cooks position, my back against the sea. The sun hit me in the face, which made me squint a bit.

"You're moving in at Kierans? Fucking top man! Love that chap." he smiled while looking straight ahead, all traces of his cockiness gone for the moment. "Good one, he deserves a woman in his life."

I smiled, pleased to know that my possible future step-dad was well liked.

"So it's not a godforsaken place, then?"

"Naw man, it's ace. Best parties I've been to, and cool people too." I raised my eyebrows and snapped my head to him. "Really?" I couldn't hide my surprise. "Yes, really! I'll show ya soon, alright?" "Alright" I gave him a tightlipped smile. He stumped his smoke and pushed away from the fence.

"Oi, you have to meet JJ! He's in the keel salon. Come on girlie!" he made a motion with his hand to follow. Since he wasn't a terrible conversationalist, I did.

JJ was … interesting. He had Aspergers, which he made sure to tell me within the first two minutes after introductions, along with a bunch of unnecessary facts about the condition, driving himself into a frenzy. After a pat on the back from Cook he calmed down. I was intrigued, this wasn't the sort of friend I imagined Cook to have. He was nice though. Strange, but nice.

When JJ learned I was rather unknowing about the islands, he set his goal to change that. Thank god I'm good at catching information from lecturers, because keeping up with his ramblings were a challenge.

I learned that Burrhea and Vader were neighbor islands, tied together with a set of bridges between islets and rocks scattered about. Both him and Cook were from Burrhea, and they wasn't too big of a fan of Vader - rivaling villages and such. Vader was in Cooks words "built on a smelly swamp, and it reflected in the people living there", though the conversation revealed he had been jumping in the hay with a few Vader girls. They loved Burrhea though, and JJ practically had stars in his eyes while telling the story of the island. The actual island wasn't one island though, no, it consisted of 365 islands under one name. "How cool is that, Naomi, it's as many islets as there's days in a year. I know for a fact that at least 3 known authors have made poems about it."

The place was supposedly a jumble of rocks and straits and houses and bays and boats. I learned about the fishing history of the village - going back at least 50 years. I zoned out a bit during this, not being interested in fishing by a mile. There were a small grocery shop along with an accompanying small café right beside where I was going to live, so I practically lived in the social center of the place. Something positive at least. Both JJ and Cook had a summer job on a fish industry laying just across the strait from the grocery store where they fillet and packed the fish. I rolled my eyes at this, imagining how boring it must be.

There were a bunch of neighborhoods in Burrhea grouped on the various islets. JJ lived in one neighborhood that they called 'the british Wisteria Lane', and was supposedly the biggest one. Cook lived on a small rock of an island by himself. Not divided from the rest, mind you, there were roads between almost all the islets, so many straits got blocked by the human need for driving cars everywhere. And the roads where one-ways, because there obviously weren't much traffic.

Other than that there were an hairdresser, art gallery, small cabins for tourists and a tiny little college that they miraculously have kept from shutting down. In the middle of a rant about what types of products the industry produced, the ferry slowed down, apparently a sign that we had arrived, cutting JJ off.

"It was nice meeting ya, blondie. I reckon we'll see ya soon" Cook winked at me and gave my shoulder a squeeze.

"Yes, it was an absolute pleasure! I mean, not in the gross meaning of the word, just that you know, it's nice with a new face, not that the old ones are not nice, but -" "JJ, we'll miss the bus" Cook interrupted him from the stairs. "Oh right, bye Naomi." he waved at me before sprinting up the stairs.

I stood up and stretched my back until it made a crack noise. Satisfied with my knowledge of my oncoming home I headed for the van, finding mum and Kieran laughing about a story mum was telling of my attempt at writing poetry at the rueful age of 5. They didn't stop laughing and teasing me the whole way home, which made me fling out comments like "So mature, making fun of the attempts of inventiveness of a 5 year old" and "Seriously? Leave me alone, I don't want to be associated with such heartless creatures as yourselves." This only spurred their mocking of course.

The drive was eventful though, we drove over several large bridges which gave us a great view in every direction. There really was a mishmash of land and water everywhere. If I wasn't so grumpy I probably would have been more awestruck than I was, like my mother who was excitingly looking from side to side muttering things as "Wow!", "Gosh, so beautiful" and "I can't believe I'm going to live here". I had to admit it was kind of a nice place bathed in sunlight and everything, because come on, it's the great sea, and nothing is as majestic as that.

Finally parking in a driveway, my only wish was to be directed to my new room and sleep for days. I was knackered, the last week being a blur of stress - and the last hours learning about every inch of the island had combined to one big headache. Mum got out of the car to inspect our new white house, and I followed suit. It was quite tall, I counted four floors, and it was quite literary laying right by the water. It was maybe eight feet to the edge of the quay.

"Come on, girls, I want to introduce you to everyone!" Kieran walked down the path that lead to the other side of the house. My heart stopped for a second. There were others? My mind drifted to the period of collective living my mum arranged when she wanted to save all the strays in Bristol. Oh my god, if the house was infiltrated with old fishermen I would flat out die in my shoes. My mum was already rounding the corner, so I ran after, the panic rising in my chest. With the entrance of the white house, our house, there stood an old couple probably in their 70s or 80s. The old woman smiled warmly at me after shaking hands with my mum and the man almost bowed his head in greeting. She had an old fashioned patterned dress on, along with a white apron while he was sporting a nice shirt tucked in his pants. They were the welcoming old couple we all wanted to end up as someday, and they looked oddly happy at seeing me.

"Ah, you must be Naomi" the old man directed at me "I'm Grant, and this is my wife Anne." he gestured to the smiling woman.

"So lovely to meet you, Kieran have talked so warmly about you and your mum" she moves over and envelop me in a big hug. I'm stunned to silence, slightly hugging her back. My questioningly gaze flickers to Kieran.

"Yeah, um, these are my parents, they live right over there," he points at another white house just past a big yellow fishing cottage, probably for all his fishing equipment and such. I realized the two houses were only separated by a small yard. "They wanted to say hi." he shuffles his feet a little, before my mum takes his hand in hers and happily exclaims "I've never experienced a lovelier 'meet the parents' situation!" smiling at the old couple.

"Uh, yeah, nice to meet you" I mumble, still a bit speechless after just discovering we were going to practically live under the nose of these people. No home parties for me, then I thought begrudgingly.

"Let's have a tour around the property!" Grant declared in a voice rougher than Kierans. He also had a beard like Kieran, though more grayish, and a typical fisherman's cap on his head. He was clearly a retired fisher. Anne had short gray hair with a lot of curls and big thick glasses. They looked a bit adorable, the way just an old happy couple could.

"That would be great" my mum answered and we all trailed to where the boats were stored, on the sea side of the yellow cottage. There were a medium fishing boat named 'Gina' which made my mum scream and almost kill Kieran with kisses. I just rolled my eyes at the cheesiness of it all. There were also a double-ender without roof, two small outboards and a rowing boat, all neatly tied to a floating dock. It was also a big dock at the side of the cottage, with walls to most likely shut out the wind. I imagined it being perfect for barbecuing and sunbathing. The whole scene was a bit peaceful to be honest, but my headache was raving wild, so I didn't manage more than a halfhearted smile when Anne asked me what I thought.

"Gina, I must show you my garden." Anne threaded her arm through mums elbow and lead her behind their smaller white house.

"Naomi, I have someone else I want you to meet" Kieran whispered into my ear. I jumped forward as I was startled.

"Oh?" I felt my patience wearing thin, and didn't know how many more strangers I could meet without a frown on my face today.

"Yeah, she's inside your bedroom. Follow me" he started walking back to the house. I stood rooted to the place, total confusion taking over every inch of my body. If he had a fucking daughter that I was going to share room with, I didn't know what I'd do. I shaked of my chills and paced after him.

When I came into the hall, the first thing that hit me was that it was quite empty. And it smelled of detergent. He had clearly cleaned the house before he left to get us. This made me strangely happy, knowing he wanted things to be proper when we arrived.

"So" he put his arms on his hips "here in the basement is the bedrooms, mine and Ginas in one end and yours in the other. It's not wall to wall, so don't worry about that" he gave me a slight smile. "You'll have your own bathroom and an extra room for bookshelves and other things you want stored." I raised my eyebrows at this. That was actually pretty fucking cool. Don't get your hopes up before you've seen it … or know whether you have a room-mate, I warned myself.

"The living room and kitchen and everything else is upstairs" he gestured towards the staircase "but you'll see it all soon enough." he opened the door which lead to a longer hallway, walking towards one of the doors "Now I want to introduce you to" he opens the door "Tiger!"

There, on a kingsized bed in the middle of a red bedroom laid a little black kitten sleeping. I dropped my mouth in surprise. How cute. I gave a big genuine smile to Kieran, moving in to give him a hug. I stopped myself when I realized what I was doing, and ended up with an awkward pat on his shoulder. I ruefully dropped my gaze, but soon moving over to cuddle the, for once, pleasant surprise.

"Is she mine?" I hopefully asked Kieran, with what must have been big doe eyes.

"Sure thing is. Take good care of her." he gave me a last smile before shutting the door, leaving me alone which I've wished for the last half hour. Well, almost alone. I gazed down at the seemingly out of it cat now laying on her back while I petted her stomach. I always liked animals, liked the way they couldn't irritate me with their words or leave their owner in search for someone better. They were safe.

I stood up and looked around the room. It was big and light and had two big windows, a big wardrobe and some shelves. Everything empty of course. It was two other doors in there, one leading to a small bathroom containing a toilet, servant and shower and the other leading to a small store room with bookshelves and some bean bags on the floor. The moment of glee soon subsided when I remembered my own room back home and my old bed I spent a summer working to earn enough money for. I sighed, went back to Tiger and curled myself around her, soon overtaken by sleep.

I woke by something wet on my noise. I tried to nudge it away, but it came back. I opened my eyes and saw straight into another pair of eyes. Yellow eyes. Tiger meowed, and I smiled despite my abrupt wakening. I checked the clock, seeing it was a bit after 9 pm. Then my stomach roared, I was starving.

I sneaked upstairs, noting mum and Kieran cuddled together on the sofa, watching some lame reality series about wildlife. I didn't want to disturb their moment, so I grabbed a banana from the kitchen and padded downstairs again, but didn't feel like going to bed just yet. I silently put on my shoes and slipped out the front door, wanting to discover some of the island for myself.

It was getting dark outside as I went up to the main road and stared in both directions. Which way? I turned left and walked up a small hill. On top of the hill I could see the grocery store right below it, just a stone throw away from our little yard, and surely, right across the strait was a big grey building which I recognized as the fish industry Cook and JJ worked at. I kept walking, munching on my banana. There were driveways and houses scattered about with no real street pattern. People had to build where there were enough land to make a property, of course. A bit beyond the store I met another crossroad. One went up a big hill to an even bigger bridge, and the other one eventually turned out into the sea making an u-turn. I followed the road with my eyes and understood that it must be leading to the industry. Right, bridge it is.

As I reached the bridge I stopped and lent against the railing, like I did on the ferry. The bridge led to a rather large islet, but there only seemed to be a lot of residences down there, so I wouldn't go further. I shifted my gaze to the horizon and the remains of what must have been an amazing sunset. The sky was pink and red, and it reflected beautifully in the sea. I threw my banana peel over the railings and followed it with my eyes until it crashed into the water. It was probably 65 feet down. Then I closed my eyes and listened to the soft waves coming in at shore and the occasional seagull screaming. It was truly peaceful. But that was the problem, wasn't it? Everything out here seemed to be peaceful, or cozy, or just fucking comfortable. I didn't want that, I wanted challenges and a stimulating environment. I would probably rot here. When my eyes opened again, my face was sporting a somewhat pissed off look.

Right, maybe sleep will cure this need for a successful life in the city.

With a nod to my inner thoughts I turned and walked back. Halfway down the hill from the bridge I noticed three people riding bikes coming towards me, two in the front and one trailing a bit behind. It was two girls on the bikes in the front. One of them were quite small, with brown hair with a hint of purple that swayed in the breeze and a low-cut leopard printed top that didn't leave much to the imagination. She narrowed her eyes at me in a very unwelcoming way. I furrowed my brows at her and switched to look at the other girl with long brown curly hair and was met with a penetrating stare. It felt like her blue eyes physically could go into my own and search through my very soul just to find what she was looking for. Her stare was so disturbing I had to avert my gaze down to my shoes just to hold a straight face. Luckily, they biked past me without a word while I kept my eyes firmly on the ground right before me.

Before I had the chance to process any of it I heard a loud crash before me. I raised my eyes and instantly drowned in dark brown orbs. My breath hitched and I felt a strange feeling in my stomach. It was another girl, quite alike the leopard one that went past me, but she was so much more beautiful and didn't narrow her eyes at me. She had vibrant red hair and smooth porcelain skin. I scanned the rest of her shocked face and lingered on her cute button nose and full rosy lips. After a few seconds I registered that she was currently sprawled on the road leaning on one elbow with the bike halfway atop of her.

Then I see her red hand.

"Shit, are you okay?"

.

We always knew Emily was a bit shit at riding a bike, didn't we? Of course it had to end this way if she was going to ride one whilst seeing Naomi for the first time.

I'm basing the Islands on those I come from, which has other names of course. But if you have trouble imagining what I'm describing or are just plain curious, msg me and I'll tell you the name. Then you can search it up and see pictures :) I promise that it's just like in the story. Only that it's i Norway and I gracefully moved their whereabouts to England. Oh well.