𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟱

***

Tiffany was unaware what time it was when she woke up but it was dark. The moon made everything look pale, the usually transparent sea had a black blanket covering it making it look almost sinister. There was a figure sat facing the sea, Simon.

"Simon, are you okay?"

she looked at the young boy, he was holding his lizard as he stared out at the sea. "Yes I'm fine thankyou Tiffany, I just enjoy watching the moon." "Shall we look at the moon together?" "Yes I'd like that." The boy smiled at her appreciatively as she sat down on the sand next to him. It was obviously he was a lonely boy, his presence went unnoticed by most of the boys which was why Tiffany was so confused on how such a fragile and gentle character like Simon would be in military school in the first place, he was much too pure for that.

"Simon?"

"yeah tiff?"

"why do you attend military school in the first place?"

He paused for a minute, Tiffany could clearly see him fidgeting uncomfortably in the sand.

"Well my father has this thing were he believes all of his sons should be tough, real men. He doesn't think I'm a real man and so he enrolled me in military school so I would 'toughen up' like a real man."

Tiffany nodded, it all made sense now.

They both went back to staring out at sea in a comfortable silence.

***
"Man don't be such a pussy." Jack grabbed the spear off sam as he threw it at the pile of fruit that was clinging to a branch.

"See, not hard is it?" He threw the spear back at him with force as he walked over to where Tiffany was playing with Percy.

"Shouldn't you be doing your jobs like Ralph said?"

"Shouldn't you?"

He smirked as she was splashed by the little boy.

"Yeah that's it Percy, get her!"

Jack watched observantly as she picked up Percy, wrapping her arms around him as she hugged him whilst pulling him away from the water. "Hey, less of that or I'll feed you to the fish!" They both laughed as they watched his smile fade and wriggled free before going to find some other littluns.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, Ralph says we are both on fire watch tonight so you better be there."

"And if I'm not?"

"I'll stab you with my spear."

"Oh, right okay because that is normal."

"Like any of this is normal."

They both then split up, Jack sauntered back over to his group of hunters who were practicing getting down fruit from branches and they were failing miserably. Tiffany walked along the beach and over to piggy who was watching as Ralph ordered around some of the younger kids who simply giggled in response.

"Hey."  Tiffany refrained from saying piggy's name as much as possible, she hated it. It was an insult, not a name and it was a way to bring him down in everyday conversation, it wasn't right.

"Hello Tiffany." Piggy wiped his glasses as he spoke before placing them back on at the crook of his nose. "What's he doing?" "Oh, Ralph is telling those kids that they need to finish collecting fruit before they can go play in the sand." Tiffany tutted, "they're kids and they don't understand any of this, simply let them be." Piggy thought for a moment, before nodding his head and turning away from her; he had disengaged in the conversation.