Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry that I haven't uploaded! But I typed it out and my sister infected our computer with a virus, so I had to retype it. Many apologies. As a gift, I made it a much larger chapter :) Once again, I own nothing except Kat. And as always, I'll have a lengthy Author's note at the end.

Please review at the end! I want to hear your thoughts!

"Where have you been?" Piggy whined, flailing his arms as Kathryn and Jack walked up the sandy shoreline towards the other boys. Kathryn smiled to herself. As if they couldn't see the heavyset boy without all that hand waving.

The rest of the boys had moved farther inland, no longer on the powdery sand dunes, but rather clustered near the edge of the thick, lush forest that grew in the middle of the island. The younger boys were still asleep, curled up on the ground in huddles, while the older boys were cross-legged in the dirt, hacking and sawing at what appeared to be large orange fruits.

Kathryn didn't know how she'd managed to fall asleep on those rocks with Jack. She clearly remembered babbling conversationally about how she wished they'd find food soon, and then the next thing she remembered was waking up hours later, curled against a cold, rough rock, with a horrible pain shooting through her back, and her golden hair knotted beyond hope.

"We fell asleep." Jack yawned. Kathryn smiled a little at his disheveled appearance. His own clothes were as wrinkled as hers, and his hair shot up in every possible direction. He held his discarded uniform jacket and tie in one hand.

"We had no clue where you were!" Piggy persisted, now in front of them. He waved a sausage-like finger at the two as if they were young children. "You could have drowned! You could have gotten lost! You could have been eaten by a wild beast!"

"Shut up, Fatty," Jack sneered, a frown furrowing his brow. Kathryn knew by now that he didn't like being scolded or told what to do. "There are no beasts on this island, anyway."

Piggy shrunk backwards slightly at the tone in the older boy's voice. "B-but from now o-on," he stammered, his social awkwardness returning strongly, "t-tell me where you're g-going first."

"That's it, you little—"

"Okay, Piggy, we understand." Kathryn snapped over Jack's attempt to insult Piggy any further. She spat the last word warningly at Jack. She felt like they'd made more of a connection after Jack's confession after his near fight with Ralph, but that didn't mean she wanted him attacking any other boys. Especially not soft, round, defenseless Piggy.

Grabbing on to his forearm, Kathryn dragged Jack around the fat boy, who was looking quite proud of himself at the moment now that someone had taken an order from him, and continued up the shoreline to the boys gathered by the edge of the forest.

"Why'd you do that?" Jack asked, pulling his arm away from her grasp. He yawned again, still waking up, and ran a hand through his hair to smooth it a little.

"Not everyone is out to pitch a fight with you, Nosebleed." Kathryn said exasperatedly. She put her hands on her hips. "I mean, couldn't you tell that he just wanted someone to listen to him for once? All you had to do was nod and walk away, but you had to almost jump him."

There was a concentrated look on Jack's face, and Kathryn figured he felt a little guilty now.

"Nosebleed?" Jack asked, grinning from ear to ear as Kathryn's face fell with the realization that her words hadn't sunk in.

"It's an American thing." Kathryn sighed, throwing her hands up in the air as a show of exaggerated helplessness.

Honestly, there's no helping this boy.

"Glad to see you two are still alive." a voice said from behind them, and the two turned to see Ralph standing there, his arms full of the round orange fruits that the other boys were slicing in to. "Where'd you go?"

Kathryn felt Jack go rigid by her side at the sight of the blonde boy, and took the opportunity to answer herself. "Around the shore to a bunch of rocks by the water. We accidentally fell asleep."

Ralph nodded and allowed the fruits to tumble from his arms to the sand in a pile. Kathryn noticed that he'd cut his dress pants off at the knees and removed the sleeves off his white shirt to expose pale but lithe limbs. Casting a quick gaze on the other boys, Kathryn could see that they had followed his example. "Looks like you two had fun." Ralph winked suggestively, making a show of scanning them.

Kathryn's face went scarlet as she caught on to the joke. Her dress was askew and wrinkled and her hair was tousled and matted. Jack, meanwhile, was just as rough-looking, with bed-head hair and a shirt unbuttoned a little too far. "Wha – no!" Kathryn stammered, and Jack flirtingly raised his eyebrows at her.

Ralph laughed. "Relax, I'm just kidding." His blue eyes gleamed with friendliness, and Kathryn caught herself wondering if this was the same boy from the night before whose ego had been so inflated.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, and Kathryn idly traced lines in the sand with her big toe.

"You two hungry?" Ralph asked finally. "We found these trees inside the jungle…only about a few yards in. They have these orange fruits all over them." He gestured to the pile of fruit he'd dropped, from which the other boys had began to pick from.

"How do you know they're not poisonous?" Jack asked shortly.

"I ate the first one last night and I'm fine." Ralph shrugged. "Everyone else has eaten them since then, and there have been no problems. We just drain the sap out of them first, since we don't want to risk anything."

Kathryn pulled a face at the alien fruits, but the growl that tore through her stomach betrayed her hunger.

"Yeah, we'll try them." Jack decided, his tone neutral towards the other boy. His tight jaw made it obvious that he wasn't comfortable with the boy he'd tried to sock in the face earlier, but he was trying to remain civil.

"Go over there and talk to Simon. He'll show you how to cut into them." Ralph instructed, wiping his hands off on his cut shorts. "I've got to go collect more anyway." He gave Kathryn a slight wave, and offered Jack a little nod, before turning on his heel and disappearing into the jungle again.

"He's a strange one." Kathryn whispered. "He was a completely different guy last night."

Jack nodded, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. "Just keep an eye on him." he said finally, walking towards Simon with Kathryn in tow.

"Hi." Simon said shyly. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground, splitting open a fruit with a wide parang blade.

Kathryn knelt down to be eye-level with him, and Jack followed her example. "Hi, Simon," Kathryn said sweetly, "Jack said you're the man to talk to about getting something to eat around here?"

Simon smiled and nodded. "Sure." he answered. "Just go get a knife from over there." He pointed to a pile only a few feet away.

Jack's eyes widened at the pile of flat parang blades. "Where the hell did you get all these?" he asked, picking one up and twirling it by its heavy wooden handle.

"They washed up in a case." Simon said. "There were some first-aid supplies too. The name of the airline was printed on the top, so it must have come from the plane."

"It must have crashed farther away." Jack mused to himself. "Do I get to keep this?" He held the knife up and the sun glinted off it brightly.

"Yeah. All the older boys get one." Simon said, making a welcoming gesture with one hand.

Kathryn frowned as Jack proudly brandished his new blade. "What about me?"

Jack and Simon turned to look at her. "What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"Do I get a knife?"

"Why would you need a knife?" Simon asked.

"W-well," Kathryn stammered, looking for a decent reason. "Well, because everyone else has one!"

Jack laughed. "You wouldn't know what to do with a knife. You'd probably kill yourself." His tone was deadly serious, but his eyes glinted with humor.

"I wouldn't!" Kathryn protested. "And I could use a knife for all sorts of things! To cut wood…or cut these fruits!"

"Women don't need knives." Jack said pompously. His tone suggested that his argument was only to tease.

Kathryn narrowed her green eyes. A new approach then. "Jack Merridew, you will give me a damn knife, and you will give me one now."

"I think you should give her a knife." Simon whispered helpfully, a small smile tugging at his lips.

Jack let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "Fine." he trailed dramatically. He handed a knife to Kathryn, who took it delicately in her hands. It felt foreign and startlingly heavy in her palm.

"You gonna put that in your garter too, Kat?" Jack asked, a scandalous smirk decorating his lips.

"What?" Simon asked, cocking his head in confusion.

Kathryn felt her cheeks grow warm. "It's nothing." she snapped quickly, averting her gaze to the ground. She heard Jack holding in laughter above her.

"Alright, let's just eat something already!" Kathryn said loudly, after another few silent awkward seconds passed.

Simon nodded obediently, and Jack lowered himself to once again sit next to Kathryn. "You know I was just joking, right?" he whispered in her ear. His breath tickled and she felt tingly with him so close.

Stop it, you silly girl.

"You know I'm just about to tackle you to the ground, right?" she hissed sarcastically.

Simon raised his eyebrows amusedly at their bickering, calmly waiting for it to pass like a patient parent.

"Tackle me and make sweet love to me?" Jack asked cheekily. "Because I would be completely okay with that—"

Kathryn's fist connected squarely on his shoulder and easily shut him up. "Damn that hurt." he winced, rubbing it tenderly. "I'm just trying to joke around with a woman and she gets all touchy."

Kathryn smiled triumphantly at his expression of pain. "I only had brothers." she stated dryly. "Violence is like a second nature." Simon gave her a curious look.

Jack shook his head in mock disappointment. "Whatever, Kathryn," he said. "Can we just eat already before your violent nature kills somebody?"

Simon rolled each of them a fruit, and showed them how to push it into the sand to prevent it from moving around.

"Then slice it down the middle, but you have to go around the pit." Simon explained, doing the same as an example. His thin hands turned the fruit gracefully, severing it in half, revealing the pale orange fruit inside.

Jack struggled with his fruit. "How do you turn it so smoothly like that?" he asked in frustration. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on sliding the knife downwards, but he missed the grace needed to do it cleanly. Juice spurted over his knuckles and the blade slipped through the soft flesh in a choppy manner that barely missed his fingers.

Kathryn took pity on him, after enjoying his helplessness for a few seconds. "Here," she said kindly, reaching over and laying one hand on top of his.

His hand is so warm! She inwardly marveled, but pushed it back. "And then," she added, laying her other hand over his other one holding the knife, "you just glide it down." She applied enough pressure and pushed his hand down smoothly, using his other hand to turn the fruit and remove the pit.

"Just like that?" Jack asked breathily. Kathryn looked up to answer, only to realize his face was much closer than it should have been, his black eyes boring into hers.

"Yeah," Kathryn said quietly. "Just like that." She shifted backward to her original spot, well aware of the thick tension hanging in the air like dense fog. She felt the apples of her cheeks blooming, and hoped no one would notice.

"Anyway," Simon cut in, clearly holding back a smile, "then you just scrape out the white sappy stuff with the round part of the blade, and remove the skin."

Her cheeks still tingling, Kathryn followed his example, finally left with a slippery. mango –like fruit.

"And you can just eat this?" she asked. Simon nodded.

Cautiously, Kathryn sliced a piece off, and hesitantly put it into her mouth. She winced as overly-sweet juice reached her taste buds. It tasted rotted and over ripe. Still, her stomach grumbled with hunger, so she sliced off another sliver, her face twisting as she chewed the unpleasant fruit.

"Uh, God, this is awful." she groaned, looking up to see Jack making similar faces as he tried the fruit.

Simon shrugged. "You get used to it. I've had a few already. It's a better option than, you know, starving."

Jack gagged loudly, and spat the chewed up piece in his mouth out onto the sand. "I don't know if I can eat this." he complained.

"You have too." Kathryn choked out, still wincing at the taste. "There's nothing else."

Jack cut off and ate another piece reluctantly. His face twisted. "You know what we need?" he asked once he finally swallowed the orange mass.

"Hmm?"

"Meat." Jack said harshly. "We need some damn meat." His eyes lit up at his own suggestion. Kathryn's own mouth watered slightly as she pictured the hearty dishes of roasted boar and alligator tail that she grew up with back home.

"You can say that again." A deep voice resonated from behind them, and everyone turned to see Roger. He ran a hand through his greasy hair and sat next to Jack. "I've eaten four of those damn fruits, and I swear I'll die if I eat another one."

"Are there any animals to eat here?" Jack asked curiously, his own stomach emitting light growls.

"There's pigs. I've seen the tracks." Roger said shortly. He looked at Simon and curled his lip. "Why aren't you working?"

Simon cast his gaze down shyly. Kathryn saw he was intimated by Roger's large, muscular build and cruel eyes.

"He was showing us how to cut the fruit." Kathryn cut in, not wanting to see Roger bully the kind, shy boy.

Roger looked at her as though he hadn't seen her there before. The odd look on his face was a cross between amusement and repulsion. Kathryn felt herself wanting to shrink back behind his gaze, but she stood her ground.

"I don't recall asking you."

"I don't recall needing permission to speak." Kathryn hissed back icily.

He looked at her strangely for a few seconds. "It figures that out of the entire world, we get stuck with the most annoying bitch possible." Roger finally laughed harshly, elbowing Jack. "Right?"

Jack frowned. "Don't talk about her like that." His lips hardened into a line.

Roger gave Jack a funny look. "Whatever." Kathryn set her jaw, and felt annoyance bubbling up inside of her.

The awkward silence was interrupted by Ralph, who emerged again from the forest, dropped yet another pile of the horrible fruits from his arms, and then dropped himself down to sit with the group, next to Kathryn. "Mind if I join the party?" he asked. He was breathing slightly heavily from carrying the load through the forest.

"Be our guest." Kathryn answered, still trying to eat the remaining part of her fruit. Ralph laughed at her disgusted expression.

"Not exactly a delicacy, is it?" he asked. Kathryn pursed her lips and shook her head.

"We need meat, Ralph." Jack said blankly. "I don't know if I can eat one more of these fruits."

Ralph nodded. "I know. We'll have to start hunting soon. But first, I have a proposition for you, Jack."

Jack raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"I want you to go into the forest with me. First we have to make sure that this is even an island to begin with. Then we need to look for resources, like firewood, pig tracks…"

"Why me?" Jack asked shortly.

"Because you're the best suited for that kind of thing." Ralph said evenly. After a few confused looks he admitted, "And because I think you're one of the strongest allies I could have here, and we got off on the wrong foot."

'You could say that again." Jack retorted. He gave Ralph a suspicious look. "But alright, I'll go. Anything that means getting some real food."

Ralph nodded to himself. "Good." He picked up Jack's knife off the sand and handed it to him. "I recommend you bring this." he said. "And you might want to cut off your sleeves and the bottoms of your pants…it's awfully hot."

"Good idea." Jack decided, standing up. "These wet clothes are starting to rub." He took the knife and sawed a line into each sleeve, then ripping them completely off with his hands. Kathryn stopped herself from staring appreciatively as his muscular arms were each revealed. When he was done, and the leftover fabric lay in a heap in the sand, Jack held the knife out to Kathryn playfully.

"Want to cut off a few more inches on that dress?"

Kathryn rolled her eyes and snatched the knife, burying it up to its handle in the sand imperiously.

"What about me?" Roger asked gruffly. Heads turned to look at him.

Ralph looked at him cautiously. Maybe he distrusted the boy's looks as much as Kathryn did. "I suppose you could come too." he said after a few seconds. "But that's all. I don't want to take a whole group into the unknown."

"But what about me?" Kathryn asked, annoyed that she was being discounted yet again. And she knew why. It was without a doubt her status as a woman.

"Come on, you don't really want to go into the woods." Ralph reasoned. "Just stay here and see if Simon and Piggy can find you something to do."

Kathryn looked at Jack, who just shrugged in apology. "There might be spiders in there." he added light-heartedly. "You wouldn't want to run into a spider, right?"

"Well I don't want to stay here and sit on my ass either." Kathryn snapped angrily.

"I'm sure you'll find something worthwhile to do." Ralph said soothingly. "And we'll be back in a few hours."

"You can make it a few hours without me, right Kat?" Jack asked jokingly, his dark eyes gleaming humorously.

Kathryn, realizing she wasn't going to be accepted into this expedition anytime soon, rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "Fine." she snapped. "I hope you all get attacked by a beast." she added vengefully after a second of thought.

Ralph and Jack laughed, and Roger folded his own arms sourly. "We'll be back soon." Ralph smiled, turning towards the forest again. Jack waved at her overly-sweetly, a goofy grin on his face, and turned to follow Ralph and Roger.

"Wait! Wait! I want to come!" a shrill voice called, cracking with the signs of late puberty. Piggy jogged – or more like stumbled – towards the group of boys. He stopped when he reached them, heaving.

"I w-want to g-go too!"

"Piggy, you can't come." Ralph said quietly.

"Why not?"

"Because –" Ralph began.

"Because you only ran few feet over here and you already can't even breathe." Jack said dryly, raising his dark eyebrows as he cut off Ralph's softer decline.

"But I have a-asthma!" Piggy protested. "Th-that's not fair!"

"You're better suited to stay here and watch over the others." Ralph said kindly. "Maybe you can find Kathryn something to do."

Kathryn shot the blonde a dagger-like look at his suggestion. She refused to be babysat by the overgrown kindergartner, that was for sure.

"But I want to—"

Roger stepped forward. "If you don't stop whining, I'm going to make you stop, git." he growled, his eyes, the same black as Jack's but without the friendly gleam, flashed.

Piggy shriveled under his harsh gaze. 'I-I'll stay here then."

Ralph smiled encouragingly at him, with the support and firmness of a good leader, and laid a hand on the fat boy's shoulder. "Good man."

The group of boys turned away from the dejected boy, slightly sniggering at his misfortune – the way all boys do – and continued into the forest.

Kathryn watched them disappear into the lush leaves with narrowed eyes. What was she supposed to do while they were gone?

She scanned the area, noting the little boys still sleeping, and the older boys – although still younger than her – slicing into those horrid fruits. Who was she supposed to talk to?

"So we're the r-rejects, aren't we?" Piggy asked, bumbling towards her when his eyes caught sight of her and Simon. Kathryn raised her eyebrows, not sure that she wanted to be part of the reject club.

"I suppose so," she said finally, realizing there was no way around it. "They don't know what they're missing." she added.

"I hate feeling useless.' Simon groaned. He tossed the knife down into the sand.

Kathryn nodded in agreement. "But we aren't." she reasoned. "They just think we are."

"I am actually useless." Piggy admitted, his face falling as he spoke. Kathryn felt her stomach twitch with repulsion at his pathetic self-loathing, but also with pity.

"We should do something to prove we're not." Simon suggested.

Kathryn's eyes flew open wider as an idea erupted in her mind. She looked at Piggy happily, admiring the round, goofy glasses propped up on his upturned nose. "I know what we could do."

"What?" both boys asked curiously.

"The boys were talking about building a fire. Let's give them a fire." her eyes shimmered as she spoke, and the boys look at her wondrously, admiring the new life in her.

"But there's no fire wood." Simon said reasonably. "That's what they're out there searching for."

Kathryn cast her gaze around the area. "We could use palm fronds." she suggested. "They're a lot of dead, dried ones." Sure enough, piles of brittle, brown fronds lay in piles in the sand, fallen from the palm trees.

"Hey, littluns!" Kathryn called out, standing up and dusting the sand off her bottom. She shook the young children's shoulders to wake them from their sleep. "Wake up; we have a job to do."

"Littluns…" Piggy murmured. "That's a n-nice name for them."

"That's what my grandma used to call me and my brothers." Kathryn said conversationally, still rousing the drowsy boys.

The boys rubbed their eyes. "What?" they asked together, their voices faint with sleep.

"Collect those big, dead, palm fronds." Kathryn instructed. "We're going to make a big fire."

The littluns perked up at the mention of fire, something that they'd always been curious about, but weren't allowed to ever encounter at private school.

"Okay!" the chorused happily, rushing towards the fronds. Within a few minutes, there was a large pile of palm fronds nestled in a heap.

"That's good." Kathryn decided. "We don't want to burn all of them. Piggy, give me your glasses."

"My specs?" Piggy asked in confusion. Kathryn smiled at his British vocabulary.

"Yes."

Piggy removed them from his face, reluctant to hand them over. He clutched them to his body. "But they're very e-expensive. And if I b-break them then…"

"I promise I won't break them." Kathryn said, smiling sweetly.

Piggy hesitated a second later, but finally decided to trust the pretty girl, and handed her his most prized possession.

"What are you going to do with his specs?" Shy little Simon asked, cocking his head curiously.

"I'm going to start a fire." Kathryn said logically.

"But how?"

"With the sun, obviously." Kathryn said, turning to him. "Haven't you ever done this before?"

The two boys shook their heads.

"Wow. Private school must have sucked." Kathryn commented dryly. "We used to burn up ants back home and melt little plastic army men with glasses and the sun."

Piggy looked at her as if she was evil. "Why would you do that?"

Kathryn shrugged. "I had all brothers. Boys will be boys. Or at least, that's what American boys do as kids."

Simon and Piggy flared their nostrils in disbelief, but stared in awe as Kathryn's dainty hands angled the lenses to direct the sun. Their breaths hitched as a stream of smoke wisped up from one piece of the palm frond.

"That's not enough to start a fire." Piggy said obviously, scrunching up his nose.

"Hush." Kathryn snapped, maneuvering the lens and causing the ray of light to become sharper. Finally, one of the fronds caught fire and it hastily spread. Kathryn jumped backwards, a satisfied smirk on her amazingly still-red lips, and watched the hungry flames burn the papery leaves.

"Woah." Simon said wondrously.

"They wanted a little fire? There's their little fire." Piggy agreed, his proud features revealing that he thought himself at least half-responsible for this accomplishment.

Kathryn dropped to the sand again, far enough away from the fire so it wouldn't be too hot, leisurely leaning backwards. "And that is how you do that, boys." she drawled arrogantly. "I'd like to see Jack come up with that idea. Or Ralph. Or any of them for that matter."

Her stomach clenched. She knew it was useless to get angry. But inside she was so sour at the older boys' mindless rejections towards her that her hands were curling into fists. She'd heard of sexism before, even experienced it a little when she left town, but during her childhood in the Louisiana bayous, she was always just another child, another worker, another person. Ralph's upright refusal to take her with them was a foreign scenario to her. Was she less capable because she was born female? Was she less of a person?

"Stop worrying about them." Simon's soft voice said, interrupting her thoughts. He collapsed into the sand across from her. Piggy, meanwhile, was excitedly waving his hands over the fire's smoke, entranced by the heat and the patterns.

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

Simon's sweet, mossy eyes seemed to be reading her mind. "You're mad they wouldn't take you with them." He shrugged. "Don't worry about it. They were just raised differently. Believe it or not, they're just trying to protect you."

Kathryn raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? And why do you think differently than them? Weren't you raised the same way?"

Simon nodded. "Sure I was." he admitted, "But I read, a lot more than those thick rugby heads ever do. So I learn more than them."

Kathryn cracked a smile at his insult towards Jack.

"And I know all about American women," he continued.

"Oh really?"

"I've read about the Wild West cowgirls, and Amelia Earhart, and, uh…" Simon's cheeks colored here, "and Betty Grable. You American women are something else."

Kathryn laughed, well aware of Betty Grable's famous bathing suit photos that revealed a scandalous amount of leg. "I guess you could say that," she said idly, running her fingers through the sand to trace patterns. "I just wish Jack knew it too."

"I'm sure he will soon." Simon reassured her. "I mean, I just saw you make a fire with some specs and dried leaves. He'll find out that you can take care of yourself real fast, won't he?"

"You're telling me." Kathryn sighed, laying all the way back, but so that she could still see Simon. "Hey Simon?" she said after a few silent seconds.

"Yes?"

"Don't you think this is all a little ridiculous?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"All this preparation. Scouting for resources, building fires, tearing clothes…" Kathryn explained. "I mean, we aren't really going to be here for that long, are we?"

Simon studied her quietly. "I think we will be." he said finally. "No one knows where we are."

Kathryn's stomach clenched in fear. That was exactly what she didn't want to hear. "But." she raved, trying more to convince herself, "they'll know where the plane stopped responding! They'll know something went wrong, and when we don't show up, they'll come looking for us! Right?"

Simon shrugged again. "Normally, maybe, but we're in the middle of a war, and might be farther into Nazi territory than we think. The Allies will be plenty mad that a passenger plane got shot down, but they'll be more interested in seeking revenge then finding a bunch of lost school boys. They might just assume we've already died. For all we know, this might even be an undiscovered island."

Kathryn's stomach rolled. Before now she'd pushed this all away – this fear and the feelings of helplessness. The boys hadn't cried, and so she had refused to as well. But now the reality of the situation sank in forcefully. Her eyes welled, but she blinked them away quickly. Would her parents inquire about her whereabouts? Had they even thought about her yet? She hoped they had. But then again, maybe they didn't care where she was, as long as she was far away from Louisiana. As long as she was so far away that she couldn't embarrass the family any further.

Bitterly, she remembered her mother's parting words as she saw her only daughter off on the plane. "Good riddance." She had hissed. She had whispered it to Kathryn's father, probably not intending for Kathryn to hear it, but her daughter's sharp ears had picked up on it anyway, and it had ripped her apart on the inside. If she was such a pest that it was good to be rid of her, why would her parents search for her?

"I don't want to be here." she whispered to herself, hating the pitch in her voice that mirrored a little girl.

Simon fell quiet, wringing his hands between his knees thoughtfully. The tension hung thick in the air, although the squealing little boys, delighted to be so close to fire, didn't notice and continued to shout gleefully. Piggy meanwhile, at last bored with the smoke, ambled over heavily, before plopping himself down on the ground.

"What are you two talking about?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing." Simon said shortly, sensing that the subject was closed.

Piggy frowned. "Okay then." Kathryn scrunched up her nose in disgust at the sweat rolling down the fat boys' body, a product of the fire's heat. Ash lightly streaked his face where the smoke had colored his hands and he'd wiped himself.

"You know what I could use?" Piggy asked. Without waiting for a response, he continued. "Another fruit."

Simon raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Another fruit?" he asked. "But they're disgusting."

"Well, I'm hungry!" Piggy protested. "I've never gone so long without a decent meal."

Kathryn jumped to her feet. "I'll get one for you," she volunteered uncharacteristically. "One second."

She made sure to use the bangs of her golden hair to hide the stubborn wetness growing in her eyes. Her stomach flip-flopped. She hadn't been prepared for Simon's frankness, and the idea that no one was out there to save them terrified her. Could they really survive here? Any of them?

She picked up a fruit hesitantly from the pile, using the back of her hand to wipe away the beginnings of her tears. She straightened up again to walk back towards the two younger boys, her legs shaky with fear now.

Control yourself. She hissed to herself. Don't cry. These delayed emotions, only just now settling in, made her nauseous and caused her head to swim.

The boys lounging on the sand grew blurry and cloudy in her vision, and the world titled upwards. For a minute she didn't know what had happened, but the rough sand scraping mercilessly against her face hinted that she had somehow fallen.

"Kathryn!" she heard, and she rolled herself over. Simon was running towards her, concern etched on his face. Piggy was still trying to get up. Her stomach pitched and rolled like an animal inside of her, and the small amount of orange fruit she'd eaten earlier was emptied out of her stomach.

She winced in disgust and embarrassment that this had happened again, but was nonetheless thankful to feel Simon's cool hands brush her neck as they lifted her hair. Another roll of nausea enveloped her, and she gagged some more, her now-empty stomach convulsing.

"It's okay, it's okay," Simon said, his shy, soft voice soothing.

Piggy joined them now, his bare feet visible in the corner of her vision. "W-what happened?" he huffed, but there was true caring in his voice.

Simon shook his head as she quaked beneath him. "She just got sick." he said simply. "I don't know why."

Kathryn's instinct told her it was because of her nerves and her newfound fear, much like immediately after the crash when she'd fallen sick, but she was too stressed to tell him that, and instead leaned back on her heels, her face titled upwards towards the sky.

"Maybe she got too hot." Piggy suggested. "It's really hot out, and she was by the fire."

Kathryn shook her head, using Simon to help pull her to her feet. "I'm fine," she croaked, her legs wobbly and her heart racing. The nausea had passed, but she felt disgusting now. "I just need to sit."

The boys nodded and walked her down to the shore, where she could dip her toes into the cool salt water. She breathed heavily for a while, until she had almost returned to normal. She cursed her stomach, which always seemed to be completely willing to upchuck at the drop of a hat, and managed to enjoy the sea breeze ruffling her matted hair.

And she noticed that if she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the waves, the calls of the birds, and the hiss of the surf, that the island began to seem more like a dream and less like a nightmare.

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What did you guys think? :)

The next chapter will kind of backtrack a little so we can see what happened with the boys in the forest, what they encountered and their conversations (that should be fun) but then it'll catch up with this one. Just some points and a few quick questions for you guys:

-I understand that the story is moving slowly, but I'm putting a lot of effort into making this a well-developed story with many chapters, instead of a 10-chapter story. As for the relationships developing slowly, they've only been on the island for like, one whole day, so I doubt that a relationship would have progressed much farther than theirs is now. Are most of you happy with the speed of the overall story, however? If it's a problem, I'm sure I can adjust it.

-I'm working on making Ralph a little less OOC, and I hope you guys caught on to that now that he's more civil. However, I deliberately made his initial attitude in chapter 2 rough and arrogant, because I have much in store for Ralph as far as character development goes, and he has a back-story that prompted that behavior.

-I had a few complaints in my PM's about Jack being such a flirty "loverboy". That's actually the angle I was trying to work at, since a flirt is always a welcome addition in my eyes, as long as it isn't overdone. Is this a problem for anyone else, though? I have to admit I've kind of already fallen for Jack's flirting ;)

-Finally, I'm giving Kathryn more flaws (like her apparent drinking, her slightly arrogant attitude, her unhappiness with how she's being treated as a woman, her judgments of others – especially Piggy, her new fear, her "violent tendencies" and of course, that dark big secret) and I think she's far from Mary-Sue-ish now. However, if you think she still is, just holler and I'll try and think up something else to throw into the bunch.

To everyone who reviewed the pro/con lists: Thank you a million times over! Those detailed reviews keep me going and really influence my writing, which I love, because I know it's helping to develop me as a writer. Please don't think that you're inconveniencing me by writing huge pro/con reviews when there is already a ton, because I just eat them up happily :) I have absolutely no objections to them – ever – and I'd love it if you guys continued, and some new people began reviewing as well! Love you all~

Thanks for reading, and please REVIEW! I swear, those are the only things that keep me motivated to write!

-I love, love, love critiques since it improves me as a writer, but please don't flame. (a nice pro/con list would be good :p) -