CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:
Be the bigger person.

JUNIPER.

                Lennon was being weird. Really fucking weird. Since the night before, after we buried the bodies, she had barely spoke a word to me. Each time I tried to speak to her, she would either mumble out a response or ignore me completely. I tried not to overthink it, but after what had happened, I couldn't help but question her and her sanity. Something deeply traumatic had happened—and on her meds or not, that could be enough to trigger a psychotic break.

              When the sun came up, we groggily got ourselves out of the plane and began packing for the day ahead of us. Now knowing that Ivy could shoot a moving target, we couldn't sit on our asses any longer when Coach Stratford was out there somewhere. But even with the guns, it didn't make me feel any safer knowing how large and deadly those creatures were. But we had no choice—we couldn't leave Coach Stratford out there alone; no matter how badly I wanted to.

I was shoving water bottles into my back when I noticed Maggie from the corner of my eye. She was standing beside me, her eyes darting back and forth between the tree line nervously. It didn't take a genius to know what she was thinking about. Like myself, she was thinking about the creatures—if they were close by, ready to pounce once again. It was natural for us to be afraid, but I knew Maggie, she wouldn't admit it to anyone. She hated the idea of people knowing she was afraid of something, mostly because people expected it from her.

I turned, tapping her arm gently. She jumped, turning to me with wide eyes. She let out a little laugh at her own expense, "Sorry, June. I'm just—I guess I'm a little on edge knowing we're gonna leave the safety of this camp." She admitted, wrapping her arms around her tiny, frail body. It was honestly a miracle she didn't make a habit of breaking bones from how petite and thin she was, and especially now that she had been on the Island for over a week—she looked almost ghostly.

"Everyone's on edge, Mags. Don't beat yourself up about it." I said, giving her arm a rub.

She inhaled, looking across the way to where Lennon was standing with Ivy who was showing her how to handle the handgun she had given her, "Even after everything that's happened, Lennon never seems afraid. She just powers on through." She said, a sad tone to her voice as she enviously stared at my sister. I knew that feeling all too well. It was hopeless to compare yourself to my sister because no matter what, you could never—ever be her. Lennon was one of a kind, she didn't come with copies.

"Lennon has that habit," I began saying, folding my arms at my chest as I looked onwards at my sister. "She can be terrified and you'd never know. I just like to tell myself it means she's scared all of the time—it makes it a lot easier."

Maggie sighed, "I've always really looked up to her, you know? I thought I'd grow out of it. But even now, even here—more so now that we're here, I can't help but wish I was more like her." I glanced at Maggie, noticing how her eyes were beginning to water.

"Hey," I said sternly, catching her elbow, turning her to face me. "There is nothing wrong with who you are, alright? Just don't compare yourself to Lennon. It won't get you anywhere. And besides, she's not really that perfect anyway." I mumbled the last part under my breath, because I was the only one who knew about Lennon's faults. But even then, her faults were nowhere larger than mine. Lennon couldn't help her brain chemistry, that couldn't be seen as a fault. But sometimes, the way her brain worked was the only flaw I could find in her.

Maggie smiled at me through her tears, "Thanks, June." She said before wrapping her arms around me, giving me a tight hug. I hugged her back, but only momentarily before I turned my attention back to making sure I had the necessities for the day ahead of us.

Lennon gave us what was supposed to be a motivational speech before we headed out, but I was sure no one paid it any real attention, too nervous to be out of the safety of camp. However, one thing that brought us some relief was that we were sticking together—none of that splitting up bullshit. Now that we knew what was out there, going into separate groups wasn't an option, even if it could possibly find Coach Stratford sooner.

Instead of heading downstream, like we mostly had each time we ventured out of the camp, we went uphill instead. None of us knew what Coach Stratford had been thinking when he took off, but we had been in the direction of the lake for days and none of us had spotted him, which means he had to be elsewhere. I couldn't help but feel like maybe he hadn't chose to leave camp, that one of the monsters had found him before we got back. It would make the most sense. I couldn't comprehend why he would wander off on his own.

We had been walking for an hour, yelling Coach's name into the air, but no one answered us. I was beginning to grow more and more helpless. It felt like a wild goose chase. What were the chances of us finding him? The island was huge, he could have been anywhere, or his remains could already have been in the stomach of the monsters. Either way, it was beginning to feel like we were wasting our energy on nothing.

We had sat down for a while to catch our breaths and have some water when Abby spoke up, "Alright, bitches, I've got a question for you—something to fill this god awful silence," She said as she stretched her arms above her head, sweat clinging to the curls in her hairline. Everyone looked at her. "Okay, so, hoovering. We're taking hoovering—"

"Hoovering?" Imani repeated, narrowing her eyes, looking unamused from where she sat in a baby blue Juicy Couture sweatsuit—it was Brooke's. Those two has shared clothes the most, since they were the bougie-est of us all.

Abby looked at her flatly, "Yes, Imani. Hoovering. Vacuuming. Whatever you wanna call it," She said as if it were obvious. I exchanged a glance with Lennon who was smiling slightly—the first smile I had seen in a while. "Okay, so, you know how when you're hoovering and there shit on the floor? Like, I don't know, your sisters hair-tie or a quarter. Raise your hand if it's going straight up the vacuum, like no fucking regrets, man—just straight up there. C'mon, raise your hands." I looked around, and then after a moment, raised my hand along with Lennon, Ivy, Kitty and Abby.

Abby inhaled, "Okay, now raise your hand if you clean that shit up, like, you don't even think about putting it up the vacuum, never to be seen again," The rest of the group rose their hands—except for Brooke and Imani. Abby nodded to herself. "Interesting." She hummed, but said no more on the matter.

"I don't really do hoovering—or any forms of cleaning." Brooke announced why she hadn't raised her hand.

"Yeah. Me neither. Fuck that housewife shit." Imani piped in with a scoff.

I felt my left eye twitch, "And the point of that was?" I drawled out, shaking my bead as I looked at Abby.

Abby perked up, running her hand through her tangled curls, "Oh, those of you that hoover that shit up are psychopaths," Everyone burst out laughing. Abby threw her hands up. "It's true! Y'all are fucking nuts!" She exclaimed, only making us laugh more. It felt good to laugh—properly fucking laugh. It hurt my chest and made my eyes water.

                   "Where do you fit in that social experiment, Abby?" Maggie asked through her laughter, wiping at her eyes.

                  "Oh, I'm right up there with the rest of you psychopaths." We laughed again.

                   I found myself looking across at my sister who had her back against Imani's knees, her face buried in the palms of her hands as he chuckled. It made me smile wider, seeing her laugh like that—it made me feel like everything was going to be okay, like we might actually have a chance of surviving this shit. That was the thing about Lennon, bullshit bravado or not, she gave me hope.

                   "Alright, losers and psychopaths," Ivy spoke up, standing to her feet as she screwed the lid of her water bottle back on, a small smile on her lips. "Let's get this show on the road."

                 LENNON.

                 I felt better than the night before—in fact, I felt better than I had in a while. Somehow, Abby's silly social experiment had brightened up my mood, reminding me that it was okay to laugh, despite everything that was going wrong. All we had was each other, and those moments that made our stomachs hurt and our eyes water. If we were truly doomed to spend the rest of our lives on the island, we had to make do with what we had; and that made those small moments all the more important.

                    I was walking at the front of the group, Ethan right beside me. He had stuck close to me since I admitted my disorder to him. It didn't feel overbearing though, I was actually quite glad to have him around. He hasn't judged me, or looked at me any differently—and that made me feel content in his presence.

                     I glanced at him, watching his jaw flex as he picked up a large fallen log and tossed it out of our road. I gave him a small smile, "I think it's really nice what you're doing, you know." I spoke up, making him look at me as he wiped sweat from his forehead, his highlighted curls slightly damp.

                     "What's that?" He inquired in amusement.

                     "Showing us how to be the bigger person," I told him, earning a raised eyebrow. "You're going out of your way to look for Coach Stratford, even though you hate him for what he did. It's really inspiring, actually. Most of us would have left him out here if we were in your shoes." June, mostly, I thought. She had been known for holding a grudge that could surpass the grave. But this time, it seemed like I was holding the grudge after our small argument—and not because I was mad, but because avoiding her was easier than lying to her about my medication running out.

                      Ethan scoffed, "He's a dick and I don't like him. But if that were me out there, I'd wanna know people were looking for me." He said, making me divert my gaze. I knew what that felt like, simultaneously praying I hadn't been forgotten whilst also hoping no one would put themselves in danger to find me. When it had been just Ivy and I, it had been terrifying, knowing we might never find our way back to camp in the vast jungle.

                    Realising the look in my eyes, Ethan nudged me, "None of us wanted to leave you, you know," He assured me, making me glance up to meet his eyes. He let out a small laugh. "Especially June. I mean, she put up a pretty good fight against me—and got socked in the face by Kitty just for wanting to look for you." My jaw dropped. No one had told me that Kitty had hurt my sister.

                      "Kitty punched her?" I demanded, feeling my jaw tighten. I glanced back, looking to where Kitty was with her sister and Ivy, having a conversation I couldn't hear. I let out a breath. "What a bitch."

                   Ethan laughed, "In her defence, tensions were pretty fucking high," I glared at him for even attempting to defend someone who had put hands on my sister. Ethan threw his hands up in surrender. "But, that doesn't mean I didn't wanna rock her shit for it." I nodded my head, content with his reply. Ethan had always looked out for us girls, mostly because his mom had drilled it into him, but also because he was a good guy who actually cared about each and every one of us.

                      We fell into silence again as we walked ahead, moving through the brush as fast as we could. A sigh escaped my lips, "Each time we're out here I'm transported back to that first day. To that feeling I had when I watched the other end of the plane blow." I admitted, that same sinking feeling in my stomach. When I had watched the fire burst into the sky, my entire world had come crashing down. I thought I'd lost June—and it had been the most terrifying feeling in the world.

                     Ethan nodded solemnly and I immediately regretted bringing it up. Ethan had lost his mom in that fire—I hadn't lost anyone. But for a split second, I had known what it felt like to lose the person you loved most in the entire world. I was just blessed that June was okay, that she had survived. If she hadn't, I couldn't imagine even making it to where we had. It all would have been for nothing if June wasn't with me.

                      "It still doesn't feel real sometimes, you know? It's just, like, I expect her to wake me up each morning, telling me to get my lazy ass out of bed," I laughed a little with Ethan, my heart feeling heavy over the loss of our Coach. "It just doesn't feel right, that she's not here anymore. She should have been. Shit, she probably would have made a raft by now out of plane parts and sailed her way back to California." I chuckled under my breath. That was exactly something Coach would have done.

                    After a moment, a thought crossed my mind, "Wait," I said, coming to a stop, putting my hand on Ethan's chest. I turned to look up at him. "The other half of the plane. What if—what if Coach Stratford went there? Just to be close to her." Ethan stared at me with wide eyes before grabbing onto my arm and pulling me back the way.

                   As we passed, Imani threw her hands up, "The hell are you two going?" She demanded as everyone came to an abrupt stop, wondering where the fuck we were going.

                    "The other half of the plane!" I called over my shoulder. My eyes momentarily locked on Ivy's. "Coach Stratford might be there!"