Dekka woke up. The crushing misery struck her before she could remember what had caused it.
Oh yes. Brianna and Jack had abandoned her. Wait. Why did she care that Jack had abandoned her? He wasn't even her friend. Well, maybe he was. A bit.
Dekka was so tired. She was tired of everything. She just wanted to end it. But she didn't even have the effort to climb out of bed and go to the cliff top.
There was a knocking at the door. She didn't bother answering it. Diana entered anyway.
'Hey, loser,' Diana said in her sarcastic way. Dekka wouldn't have replied if it had been Sam or someone like that, but Diana? What was she doing here?
'What?' Dekka slurred.
'Sam says he'll give me three pots of Nutella if I come here to check on you today. Yeah, I know, I don't like it either, there are a hundred things I'd rather be doing, but I keep my deals….' Dekka wasn't pleased. She couldn't be bothered to talk to anyone.
'Why you?' Dekka asked. 'Why not, like, Sam or somebody?' Diana smiled.
'Well, I guess Sam has better things to do than look after this sick kid. He is the head of the town you know…'
'Whatever. You've checked on me. Mission complete. Can you go now please?'
Diana grimaced. 'Er, yeah, when I said checking on you, I meant looking after you all day.'
'What? Just go. I don't need or want you.'
'Tough. Now get up, you lazy thing. I don't have all day you know!'
Dekka sighed and stood up. After all, it wasn't as if she had much planned for today. And she could do with a little company. Preferably not from a sadistic dragon, but all the same….
It wasn't an easy morning. What with Diana's cruel comments, and Dekka's heartsickness, there was enough bad feeling in the air for several arguments before they'd even left the boat.
As Diana stepped off the ramp, Dekka was starting to feel dubious.
'Where are we going?' Dekka sure as hell wasn't following Diana until she knew what was going on.
'We're going to the forest. There used to be a picnic place and swimming pool there. Now, either you climb off that boat or I quit looking after you!'
'Fine, quit then,' Dekka grumbled, but she still left the boat and followed Diana.
There was literally no conversation until they were at the pool. Both of them were not talkative types, and neither of them liked each other. It looked like it was going to be a long day.
'So,' said Diana, 'Why are you sick? Why have I got to look after you?' Dekka didn't reply. She went with Diana because Sam wanted her to, but there was no way she was going to become best buddies.
'You don't look sick,' Diana persisted. 'Oh, wait! Let me guess!'
'Ok,' Dekka sighed. 'You have three guesses.'
'Like Rumpelstiltskin,' Diana said cynically. 'Guess number one – Sam rejected you and that's why he got me to look after you. Guilt tripping, you know.' Dekka shook her head. It was hard to believe that Diana didn't know all the gossip about her, but after all, Diana had spent the last couple of months on the island, and now she was pregnant so she didn't go out much.
'Okay, guess number two. You've got a desperate crush on Caine, and you want to get advice from me on how to make him love you.' At Dekka's raised eyebrows, Diana defended herself.
'It could happen, you know! Lots of people do fancy Caine!' They both fell about laughing.
'You still have one guess left,' Dekka reminded her.
'Ok… Computer Jack fancies you, and you rejected him (like me), and that's why he's standing behind you looking like he just got hit by a bulldozer.' Dekka spun around to find Jack looking at the two girls with a look of shock and pain on his face. Dekka jumped up.
'What's wrong, Jack?' she asked fearfully.
'She….she….Brianna…'
'Oh my God! Is she OK? Is Brianna OK? What happened?'
'Brianna's fine. A little upset. She's fine, don't worry, Dekka.' At this, realization passed over Diana's face as she understood why Dekka was upset.
'I don't understand,' Dekka said, 'why are you so upset then Jack? Are YOU alright?' Jack appeared to be holding in tears.
'She dumped me;' he said flatly, 'Brianna's gone and dumped me.' For a moment, his words made no sense. Then Dekka felt her own pain multiplied ten, twenty, a hundred times over. To have been rejected by Brianna was painful, but to have been left…. Her arms involuntary went around Jack. He finally started crying at her concern.
Moments passed with Jack crying onto Dekka's shoulder and Diana standing helpless. Eventually Jack straightened up and wiped his eyes.
'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I shouldn't have cried like that.'
'Don't be,' said Dekka. 'God knows I cried last night.' Jack kept a hold on her hand.
'Yeah, we all know you guys are a bunch of cry babies, but can we move on please?' interrupted Diana.
'Where are we going?' asked Jack.
'Well, it looks like it's going to rain soon. I don't know about you lot, but I sure don't want to be standing here in the next storm,' Diana said. (There had been consistent raining since Little Pete's first outburst last month).
The trio walked in silence until they reached the bend where Diana would normally turn off. Diana hesitated.
'You can go, Diana,' said Dekka, 'don't worry, I'll tell Sam you looked after me well. Jack's here. I'll be fine.' Diana's wish to be dry when the rain came overpowered her wish to fulfil her deal, and she left Dekka and Jack standing together.
'Where are you going to stay tonight Jack?' asked Dekka. She had a lot of questions, but she could tell that Jack was still in shock, and so she put them on hold until he had calmed down a bit.
'I don't know. I always lived with Brianna, but now…'
'It's not fair!' said Dekka angrily. 'It was allocated as a shared cabin. Brianna has no right to shove you out!'
'She hasn't shoved me out. It's just, well…. I'll be fine. I can sleep on the beach, it's nice there.'
'Yeah, right. Can't you tell a storm is coming?' Dekka said impatiently. She gave in to the inevitable. 'Fine, you can stay with me for tonight. I've got room for you I guess. Come on, this way…'