Day Twenty-One; the Shore

In the freedom and in the glory of his own tent, preserved just for him upon his four friends departure from the beach in which for the past twenty-one days they resided, Andre Harris took advantage of the early morning by himself, as to not be bothered and pestered by Robbie or more commonly Trina. There was absolutely no denying that when around the two, one would get annoyed – in fact; that was probably the case with all of people he hung around, despite a pair that almost the entire population of Hollywood Arts adored and fawned over. He took this into account a while ago and just recently a few months ago, upon the arrival of one of them. Beck and Tori, he decided, were the most tolerable people out of the gang of misfits.

Despite the fact that he was dating an overly possessive, Gothic girl obsessed with scissors and infected with the disease of extreme jealousy, Beck was undoubtedly, the most collected person one could meet. He may have been a bit emotionless, boring even, but there was more to that than what meets the eye - something only a best friend of girlfriend would notice. The lean, tan boy was much like a book waiting to be read, with no secrets ("Trust me, if there was anything going on with Tori and I, she'd be stuffed in my locker with my heart in her hands. I love only Jade, man") and complete honesty.

Tori was just normal, and that was not to say that normal was a bad thing. In Andre's eyes, normal fit the youngest Vega almost a little bit too perfectly, like the jeans she wears or the shirts; not that he took any of that into account. She might have been the most normal person he's ever met, to walk the hallways of Hollywood Arts, but she was good-natured, everything she did was purely based upon the well being of another. Her heart was made of gold and her host was beauty and he was sure there was not a single, terribly bad bone in her body regardless of what anyone said. Sure, he would admit that things come a bit too easily for her, for whatever reason no one had ever understood nor guessed; he assumed of which it was only a dose of good luck, but she was his best friend, and to him, she had no flaws. She was perfect, and to be quite honest, he wished that heart of gold beat for him and him alone.

And the others were just purely insane, to put it candidly. Robbie, the 16 year old nerd that was a good guy to be around, but had his hand shoved up a puppet's butt and thought he was real. Trina, who he really couldn't believe she was a friend, all things considered, even still she thought his name was Andrew. Little Red, Cat, that beautiful, innocent five foot girl who was too crazy for him to even explain. And finally Jade, Snow White, that same scissor obsessed, jealousy inflicted sexy Gothic girl that threatened people with harming situations almost daily. The four of them together would drive anyone to any extremities, but somehow, everyone in the group, he, Tori and Beck all included, put up with it without too much trouble or difficulties.

Brent was also a friend of his, though a graduate from high school and Jade's stepbrother, the two rarely spoke. But, from what he had seen for the most part, on this island and off, the guy was mysterious and secretive and according to Snow White, he had landed himself in prison back in London more than once. He wasn't sure he could trust him with Cat (the two obviously had some time of chemistry between them, and Andre was always very protective of the girls in the group), but nonetheless he could never bring himself to say so to his face.

With a tired sigh, only wishing that he had his keyboard so his fingers, which were folded behind his head and tangled in his dreads, could glide across the smooth white keys and create a harmony, a melody in which the group, or what was left of it, needed in such a time like this – Andre wasn't sure whether or not he should get up. He had a duty to fulfill after all; as the strongest male here now he was to provide the group with food and water and protection; to put everyone, especially Tori for the obvious reason that he was crushing hard on her, before his own self. But, whether he was up to it right now, so early in the morning and still suffering from the shock that four people had left to go on their own, was completely out of his hands. He'd much rather wait for someone to come and "wake him up" before doing anything at all.

So, like he had desired just this once, he remained in the privacy and the seclusion of his tent and closed his eyes, partially willing for sleep and the other have just wishing that maybe if he opened them again, he would be sitting on his bed at his Grandma's, and the rest of his friends would be out or at home, doing whatever it was that they did. He had done this every night for the past twenty-one days and little by little, his heap of faith in God himself (he was religious; he went to Church, he did good things) was slowly diminishing, even though he knew something as ludicrous as wishing on a star or whatever it was he was doing, would never come true.

Rubbing a dark fist against his eye Andre's tack had gotten the better of him, but he took his precious time in hauling himself off of the uncomfortable floor he had grown rather used to sleeping upon. His hands enclosed around the back of his shoes and he brought them over to himself, but he did not put them on. Instead, he pushed his way from the tent with the two sneakers dangling from his fingertips, and into the bright light of the morning sun, which already, was emitting extreme heat upon the beach at which the abandoned four had resided. For once in his life, or at least, for the first time they had landed on this island, he really wished it would rain and based upon the lack of clouds in the sky, he figured that would not bid true. He glanced around the empty beach, to the plane, to the small huts and fireplace they had set up with their beach chairs and logs, to the tents and to the cockpit – Tori was seated near the cooler, slowly slicing a mango in her hand into slits, alone.

Here, he couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't woke him up and why she was alone, but part of him knew what the answer already was. She must have been blaming herself for the departure of the other quad; he himself still couldn't believe they had gone so abruptly, and without even consulting it with the rest of them.

"Sup, muchacha?" He called to her as he made his way over, the sand seeping between his toes and kicking up as he walked, his manner and stride easy going – he was probably the only one of the entire eight that took the situation as lightly; after all, he was raised not to get stressed over things like this, because when someone was stressed, so were the others. That would, he decided, not be such a great situation in their case should it have happened.

"Cutting up some mango" Tori answered him as he neared, keeping her eyes downcast upon the fruit within her slightly shaking hands. The chastity in her response was almost bewildering, and most definitely uncharacteristic of the young Latina.

"I take it you aren't taking this too well, huh?" He asked as he sat down beside her, taking the pocket knife and the remainder of the fruit from her hands and into his own before she ended up hurting herself.

"Of course not!" She cried, throwing her hands up and then promptly covering her face with them, nails embedded into her hairline. "We should have all stayed together and it's my fault they left! What if something happens to them? 'Cause I don't know about you, but I have this horrible, sinking feeling that –"

"Tori, Tori, relax girl. Nothing's going to happen to them" Andre reassured, his soft and gentle words silencing her. He chuckled despite himself. "They're going to come back fine and dandy, trust me."

"Dandy?" She giggled, peeking through her fingers with a small smile curling at her lips.

"Yup, dandy" He nudged her with his shoulder lightly, placing the mango and the knife upon the frequently used paper plate upon the cooler, wiping his hands upon his swim trunks before taking them to remove her own from her face. "Don't you hide that pretty smile, Cheekbones. Come on, you know you want to laugh…" He paused before throwing his arm around her shoulders, a bold, brave mood for someone who was as cowardly as he was, even though he was suave around the ladies. "And it's not your fault."

If anything, he thought, it's mine.

…

Three Weeks Earlier; Hollywood California

Asphalt Café, April 23, 2010

Nothing out of the ordinary, the Hollywood Arts outdoor cafeteria was in full swing, with boisterous music and dance crews showing off their moves and singers doing what they do best. To any outsider it may have been an outlandish, eccentric sight, but to the students enrolled in this performing school, this was nothing special, nothing new. Well, perhaps it was special, only because it was original and entertaining all at once, to watch and listen too, and to know that not one person who stepped foot in the school's hallways was normal, even the ones who seemed and acted normal, were all unique here. Student's sat and others danced upon the benches of the blue tables in loud choruses of laughter and simultaneous chatter, the upbeat melody of the music blasting within the speakers at a perfect octave.

Andre was sitting at his usual table, waiting for his friend to arrive from their classes or from getting their lunches, by himself. Of course this wasn't much of a problem; he knew for a fact that they were coming anyway, and he had his keyboard in front of him, his fingers resting upon the smooth albino keys, to keep him from getting even remotely bored, or even lonely. Regardless he couldn't keep his excitement at bay and couldn't contain himself from playing the happiest tune he ever had when his group of friends arrived either separately, or together. Tori and Robbie (without Rex, who was apparently, not feeling too well) had reached the table first, quickly followed by Cat, Jade and Beck – each equally confused with Andre's suddenly outgoing and bewildering mood.

"Sup, guys? You're never gonna believe this! Guess what?" He took his hands from his keyboard, smiling brightly at the five of them as they sat down, lunches sliding onto the metal table before them.

"I really don't care, but something tells me you're going to tell us anyway, so…What." Jade huffed monotonously, her black fingernails prodding at her vegan burrito in slight, but not unsurprising, disgust.

"You got to guess." He told them, rubbing his hands together – he knew that they would never guess what he had to tell them, he just knew it. And if they did, then he'd have to give them a lot more credit than he would have done normally. Still, he didn't think that crediting them was going to be needed.

"Ooh, I love guessing games! Okay…hmm…" Cat clapped her hands together, looking slightly and uncharacteristically worn (he supposed that was because Jade had her working 24/7 as the lead in her play, "Well Wishes"), but with the usually smile gracing glossy lips. "Okay! Does it have something to do with unicorns? Or magical leopluradons?" The group silenced and all eyes fell upon the ditsy redhead, who was absently twirling her hair, in partial confusion and wonder. He couldn't possibly understand how she could have been so clueless, or rather, so weird, but it made her, her, so that was alright.

"'Rina…That was from a youtube video. Leopluradons, are NOT REAL." The Gothic under Beck's arm seethed, hand squeezing her burrito. Regardless of her scary demeanor, no one would have guessed that she and Cat were best friends (she was the only one, after all, who called Cat, 'Rina', which was the shortened version of Caterina.), but Andre looked up to it. It was almost a symbol that no matter different personalities, people could get along as well as they did.

"Oh…phooey."

"So, what is it Dre?" Tori asked, shaking her head at the duo and smiling at him, beautiful face enlightening with unmistakable curiosity and interest. "Did you finally get that record deal you've wanted?"

"Nah, I wish, but alright, get this." Andre begun to explain, that proud smile returning to his dark features. "You know how my folks are out of town for the spring break?"

"Yeah, you told us that they were going to New York for a Broadway show." Robbie said as he ate his cream Mushroom soup, glasses askew and falling down the bridge of his nose, a rather comical appearance.

Tori, forking at her salad with a gentle smile, begun speaking. "You're totally insane for not going by the way; I always wanted to go to Broadway." She chuckled, shaking her head at him.

"Are you kidding me? You've never went to a Broadway show before, Vega?"Jade asked with a disbelieving grimace.

"Well I went to go see the Lion King when I was really little, but that's about it. I don't even remember it." She shrugged, brows furrowed.

"Not everyone's been to Broadway before, Jade." Beck sighed, his arm around his girlfriends shoulder casually. He spoke again before Jade could retaliate, and for that, Andre couldn't help but be grateful. Beck was his best friend for a reason, after all."So what about your parents leaving, man?"

"My dad said I could get out somewhere with friends for the week if I didn't want to stay at Grammas', so he gave me a couple hundred. He said we could go to Hawaii, maybe out of country, who knows!" Andre explained excitedly, dreads cascading down the side of his face and shifting slightly as he spoke and moved. Around the table, all eyes fell upon him, some barren with excitement and Jade's uninterested.

"Out of country? For the entire spring break?" Cat was the first to answer; her head snapped up from her pasta and dark brown eyes were focused intently upon him and him alone.

"Yeah, if it's cool with all your parents and stuff." He nodded.

"I'm sure my dad will be delighted I'm out of the house for a week. I'm down for it." Jade deadpanned uninterestedly inspecting her dark nails, burrito abandoned.

"Same here! Ooh, maybe we could go to Russia for the week then!" Cat cheered, a little too eagerly. She prodded at the Goth's arm repeatedly with her radiant crimson nails that matched perfectly with her hair. "I go there every summer, she came with me last year! We can all stay at my Uncle's house! He and Isaac are off for their honeymoon" She giggled.

"Wouldn't you want to go somewhere new, Cat?" Beck suggested casually, shrugging lean shoulders and raising his eyebrows at the tiny girl.

"You go to Russia every summer?" Tori asked, astonished and seemingly jealous of the fact.

"Duh, she was born there and she lived there. God, sometimes you're so –"

"How about Tahiti? According to my PearPad" Robbie took the device from his book bag, interrupting Jade as she begun to insult Tori once again, which was certainly no surprise, "There's a really nice hotel that we can stay at for the week, and we all chip in for the payments."

It didn't take long for anyone to agree, and the decision was settled. That Saturday after Jade's play, it was to Tahiti they go.

...

So, you can't to see what happened to Cat and Beck until the next chapter, this one was kind of just a filler and kind of how I interpreted this entire "vacation" started. Haha. SO with that being said, I'm going to be generous and offer a little preview:

Jade hobbled through the woodland with her stepbrother trailing anxiously behind her, eyes scoping the area for any type of evidence of where the missing duo had absconded. She attempted to hide her panic and her wonder, but evidently, with the prompt overload of keeping how ill she was feeling at bay, this was almost completely comical and impossible. She felt, to be rather honest, like her lungs were shrinking – which would admittedly be awesome if it wasn't her, and if it wasn't so hard to breath – or filling with water.

Holding onto the bases of the trees, black nails chipping as they dug into the debris infected trunks, she stumbled along, calling out her boyfriend's name as Brent shouted for Cat. They had, thus far, gone so far from the small, overnight camp they had made the night before that she wasn't quite sure whether they would be able to find their way back.

…Which meant, all their stuff might as well have been good for nothing.

"Look! Jade, look!" Her stepbrother's smooth voice abruptly sounded, and, though she never took orders, she turned around and stumbled toward him, feeling dizzy and lightheaded – still.

"What?" She snapped irritably, her eyes narrowing as he stared down at the bark of a topiary, fingers tracing along it.

"There's blood."

Eh.

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