Charlene POV

Tears blurred my vision as I shoved branches out of my way. I yelped when my toe caught on something and I fell flat on my face. I instantly scrambled to a crouch, wiping off my face and spitting out dirt.

"Graceful, Charlene, just graceful," I mumbled in annoyance, turning to see what I tripped on.

Maybeck's other crutch.

I sucked in a breath, reaching down and picking up the damn thing. This one didn't cause problems. This was a normal crutch, to hold Maybeck up in his time of weakness. I winced with guilt.

I made him run away. I stood up, lifting the crutch and using it to push my way through the brush. I had finally stopped crying, thank god.

Another sudden wave of guilt washed over me. He was scared that I hated him, the thought almost made me start crying again.

I continued pushing away branches with Maybeck's crutch, my head swimming with guilty thoughts. I guess I did hate him, for a little while. But I'm over it now, right? After all that, how could I still hate him?

Then, I was hit by another thought. I have always hated Maybeck! I hated his sassy, sarcastic remarks to any ideas. I hated his stubborn determination to be "the manly one". I hated his lack of caution throwing us into terrible situations, just like this one! I hated the way he flirted with every girl he meets. I hate the way girls LOVE him when he flirts! I hate the way he hides his true, sweet, artistic nature, masking it with a "tough" exterior! I hated the way he always had to be the strong one. I hated the way I felt the need to always be better than him, because he was always trying to be better than me. I hated the way he picked fights with me! I hated the way he spoke, acted, looked at me! I hated every inch of that selfish, sarcastic, stubborn, stupid boy! I hated him, hated him, HATED HIM!

So why? WHY WHY WHY?! WHY am I out here, chasing after the one boy I despise? Why did I feel the need to run after him into the forest, getting scraped up by branches and bitten by mosquitoes and sweating so hard my hair stuck to the back of my neck? Why am I going through all this trouble to apologize to that terrible, awful, detestable boy?!

My thoughts were interrupted when I burst through some trees and stepped into a clearing. I stumbled in surprise, not expecting the sudden change in scenery. When I looked up, I saw a figure crouching at the other end of the clearing. Maybeck.

"M-!" I cut myself off from calling out his name when I noticed what he was bending over. He didn't seem to notice me, he was only paying attention to one thing. A skeleton in front of him.

He scooted away from the thing, grimacing. "Ew..." he hissed, clutching his hand in pain.

I opened my mouth to call out for him again when my eyes trailed upwards. I froze, mouth open, head raised. Maybeck was so focused on the skeleton he didn't notice me.

Or the giant thing in the trees that I was staring at.

Amanda POV

Finn the Wimp was too scared to hold the sword, so I held it tightly in my right hand and continued walking towards the shore.

"You're keeping it?!" Finn yelled in surprise, running after me.

"Why not? It's useful," I shrugged.

"Obviously not for this guy," Finn said, kicking another stray bone across the dirt. I burst through the trees and stepped onto the sand. I looked to my left and there was the plane, Willa clawing at the door, and Jess, sitting hopelessly by the water, obviously having given up on trying to calm Willa down.

"JESS!" I waved my sword in the air. "LOOK WHAT I FOUND!"

She turned and her face lit up. I knew that this would be the kind of thing Jess liked. She leapt to her feet and ran over, holding out her hand. I laughed and handed her the sword.

"Look, there's still dried up blood on it!" Jess marveled in the beauty that was our rusty sword.

"You Lockharts are weird," Finn chuckled. I elbowed him in the stomach and the three of us started walking back to the plane.

Right as we made it back, the door to the cockpit slid open, revealing Philby stumbling out and falling to his hands and knees on the sand.

"PHILBY!" Willa fell to her own knees and embraced the red-head, starting to weep with relief. She pulled away and smacked him upside the head. "DON'T YOU DARE SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

"Where's Maybeck and Charlene?" Philby asked, looking up and noticing their absence.

"I wouldn't know," I shrugged before looking at Jess. She sighed.

"They kind of...got in a fight."

Philby groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Was it about-"

"Yes," Jess interrupted him. I looked back between Jess and Philby, my hair whipping around. Jess, Philby, Jess, Philby, Jess, Philby.

"What was it about?" I asked suspiciously. They were hiding something!

"Nothing, Manda, nothing," Jess said sweetly, fluttering her eyebrows. I groaned. Jess being cute is NOT a good sign.

"For now, lets search the plane. We're looking mostly for water bottles and food then doesn't need preparation. Honestly, though, anything would be good for now," Philby said, standing up. "Knowing Maybeck and Charlene, they'll mostly just yell for a while then come back to us."

I smirked. "That's true, I guess. Alright, guys, let's look for stuff in the plane."

"And let's take a look at that SOS button, Philby," Willa added. "Maybe we can get off the island without being here for another night."

"Wouldn't that be great?!" Jess raised her hands above her head. We all winced away from her, for fear that she would hit us with the sword accidentally. "Although, I don't miss Mrs. Nash at all!"

"And Jeannine!" I added, laughing, pointing out our TERRIBLE orphan roommate.

"But I do miss my friends from school," Jess's shoulders slumped.

"And I miss my brother," Willa added.

"And my mom," Finn interjected. "And surprisingly, I miss my sister." We all chuckled, we knew about the small sibling rivalry between Finn and his little sister, Sarah.

"I bet Maybeck misses Jelly," Philby scratched the back of his head, looking at the forest. I looked up at Philby sadly. Sometimes, I forget how close Philby and Maybeck are. Those two have been best friends for, like, years. And they make the cutest pair of best friends, might I add.

"Maybeck will be okay, Phil," I whispered comfortingly. "We all know he's stro-"

I was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream from the forest.