Strawberry Island (girlxgirl)

The Locals

The Cadwell boys dumped the remaining logs onto the pile of firewood. The sun had began to set and the three girls: Florence, Clara, and Evangeline made their way down the path and onto Tanglewood beach, privately owned by the Ainsworths. 

"Took y'all long enough, we started to think you girls weren't coming." Liam called out to them as he struggled to light a match. "Well, it looked like you guys needed some help making the fire" Florence responded, her bare feet kicking up sand as she walked up to them. "It's these damn matches." Liam replied with a disgruntled scoff. "Its the bad workman that blames his tools." Logan interjected, grabbing the matchbox from his younger brother. He swiftly scraped the head of the match against the side of the box until a small burst of flame flickered. 

Clara took a seat next to Logan, sinking into the cold beach sand. Her soft blonde hair was in a messy bun, her head tilted up at the sky. "Hey, happy to see you again." He nudged her shoulder with a smile, illuminated by the bright fire. "You too." Clara let out a faint laugh. Evangeline had a full face of makeup on that she spent nearly an hour on applying, she laughed at everything Liam said, funny or not. Although, it was obvious that Liam had no interest in Evangeline but he liked having someone shower him with praise, so he'd never tell her off. 

Florence leaned back on her elbows watching the flames grow, her face was warmed by the heat as she tuned out the four of them. She was fine with being excluded from the conversation, she had nothing on her mind she felt like discussing anyway. Evangeline leaned closer to the stiff blonde boy, that was just enough for Liam, causing him jump to his feet falsifying enthusiasm. "Anyone up for a game of truth or dare." He proposed as he escaped the clutches of Evangeline. 

"Sounds good to me." Logan answered, eyeing Clara, a grin tugging at his lip. "Florence, you up for it?" Liam raised his eyebrows awaiting an answer. "Fine but only if Clara goes first." She responded with an indecipherable expression aimed at Clara from across the fire. "Not a problem" Logan affirmed with a solid clap of his hands. Clara tilted her head inquisitively wondering why the brunette was so fixated on tormenting her. 

"Truth or dare?" Florence sat up with an observant look; Clara contemplated for a moment, bitting her tongue before she gave a conclusive answer. "Truth." She flashed a smirk, just wide enough to get a glimpse of her straight teeth. That was the option Florence had anticipated, "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" Clara was slightly taken aback by her question, she expected to be asked something bland as an attempted cheap shot from Florence but this specific question got under her skin. Clara felt her cheeks redden, struggling to find a safe answer. Florence quickly took notice of the blonde's hesitation; she had a smug grin painted on her face, pleased to see that she was able to irritate the outsider. 

"Um, I..I guess the worst thing I've ever done was-um." Clara stalled, frantically searching for a lie. "Oh! I know, say what happened last summer. That was pretty bad." Evangeline chimed in cheerfully trying to help her best friend. Clara shut her eyes momentarily, defeated. For fucks sake, Evangeline. Clara shouted in her mind. "Right, I cheated." She voided eye contact, absently distracted by the blazing embers and how they flew up into the sky just to wither out as they fell to the ground. "Clara, you have to tell the story." Evangeline pressed, oblivious to the sensitivity of the subject. "I'll leave it up to your guys' imagination." Clara forced a smile, praying that Evangeline would let it be.

"That's it? From the expression on your face, I was convinced you killed somebody." Florence scoffed dissatisfied, deep down she wanted to know the details and why Clara was unwilling to share. "Now that's a fun start to the game. Someone ask me." Liam ran his hand through his shaggy hair. Evangeline pounced at the opportunity, "Truth or dare?" She squeaked. "Dare." Liam responded slightly nervous. "Get slapped by someone of your choosing." Evangeline was a little spiteful of Liam's rejection of her earlier advance. "Then, I'll choose Clara. She's the only one with no motive against me...yet." Liam crawled over to Clara who wore a bewildered expression. She didn't say anything, she just gave him a swift slap across his face and watched as he backed away with a chuckle, "Gosh, wasn't expecting that." 

 A few quick and harmless rounds went by, then it was Florence's turn to be asked by Clara. "Dare." She said, before Clara even had the chance to proposition. "I dare you to swim in the lake." There were a few scattered "Oooh's." But Florence showed no weakness, she briskly peeled off her top and leggings as she slowly made her way into the cold water. "Wait, Florence, you'll get hyperthermia or something." Evangeline called out after her in a worried tone. "No, the lake water shouldn't be that cold." Logan assured confidently. Even if it was, it was too late; Florence was already shoulder deep in the crisp water, her body shivering more than usual.

Clara thought Florence would have at least put up some sort of resistance to the dare. "Is it nice?" Liam hollered at the submerged girl, she felt her body tremble uncomfortably but it was relatively serene surrounded by the water. "Why not join me and find out." Florence responded, tilting her head back until her brown curly hair was drenched. That was the green light for the four of them to follow suit, throwing all caution to the wind, along with their clothes. They sliced through the water until they were all the same distance from shore. 

"Hey, its not too bad. Wait- Florence, are your teeth chattering?" Logan laughed as he obnoxiously splashed around. "Don't be ridiculous." She countered, embarrassingly trying to keep her jaw muscles from trembling. "Florence's always cold." Evangeline gracefully twirled around in the dark water. 

Florence felt her body go numb, her head felt heavy, and nausea had began to set in. Florence, lightheaded, made her way back to the beach shore. It was as if she pressed pause on all of her surroundings, nothing felt real. Dizzy and weak, she collapsed to the sand ground on her hands and knees. This caused the other teens to rush to her aid in a panic. "Whats wrong?" "Are you okay?" 

"I just feel sick, I'm going to call it a night." Florence shuddered profusely stumbling to her feet, snatching up her clothes and continuing up the path to Mulberry. Clara chased after her, catching up with her. "Hey, are you- ?" She asked, her voice was soft like satin and curiously soothing. "Listen, would you just leave me the hell alone. I don't know what gives you the right to invade my personal life, holy fuck." Florence snapped, stopping in her tracks with a fiery look in her eyes. Florence knew she only said what she did because she was in a vulnerable state. "Sorry," Florence added under her breath with a tone of regret, before resuming to walk back to the house, this time at a much quicker pacer.

 Clara stood in her bra and underwear with her arms crossed in defense to the cold breeze, droplets from her soaking body hitting the ground.  This 'freak out' would of been the last straw for Clara's patience if she didn't acknowledge the 'sorry', she could easily infer that it was out of the ordinary for Florence to lose her composure and on top of that apologize. Though Clara was a forgiving person, she couldn't help but let her resentment towards Florence's unwelcoming attitude grow.

Florence hurried through the back door of Mulberry, her weak body carried up the spiral staircase to her room. She rummaged around searching for the item she purchased from the pharmacy. Once she found the white paper bag, she popped open both the top of pain killers and iron vitamins and took them with a swig of water. Florence did not have a serious or life threatening illness, she had a rather common type of anemia. She was ashamed of this condition which she deemed as a form of weakness and knew how much her family looked down on weakness. 

Florence drew a warm bath, sitting on the granite counter watching the tub fill up. After lowering herself into the hot water she found herself looking back on the conversation she just had with Clara. She closed her eyes and tried to picture the look on Clara's face when she fell victim to Florence's cruel words. In her mind, she could see Clara's hurt, yet gentle blue eyes being hit by the beams of the moon. Florence wondered if Clara was back at Winterberry crying on the floor of her bedroom or still at Tanglewood making it to first base with Logan. 

Clara dragged her feet in the sand back towards the fire where the others were drying off. "Is that out of the ordinary for Florence?" Clara asked, even though she already knew the answer. Though she was surprised by her question going unanswered, instead met with quietness from Evangeline, Liam, and Logan who all pretended as though they did not hear her. 

In truth, this was unfamiliar conduct on Florence's part, and those close to her knew that any conflict should be swept under the rug in order to protect her Ainsworth reputation. Clara was new to this world and didn't understand why no one was concerned with Florence's worrisome behavior. The nightly get together quickly ended, the fire was put out and each teen returned to their respective home.