Teenage Castaways

Chapter Seventeen || Chad

Radishes. I plucked one out of the ground and chomped down. Crisp radishes. Plucking out a few more, I planned on distribution. Seafood and radishes. Selfishly, I would take three. Seafood and crisp radishes. Then I would give two to Jovie and one to Ruby. Salty seafood and crisp radishes.

Radishes.

Actually, now that I think about it, Ruby probably wouldn't take a radish. She keeps to herself so much. We hardly see her at dinner.

Ruby is nocturnal, so breakfast and lunch were never an option. Which, to be honest, is good because I have more chances to talk with Jovie.

Sometimes I wondered what Ruby did all night. Whenever I got a rare glimpse of her or when she actually joined us for a meal, she seemed angry. And starved. She seemed ready to snap and kill someone at any moment.

Ruby would snap and kill, but I didn't know that yet.

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I never truly appreciated Jovie's beauty until the first time we kissed. Once that happened, I forgot everything about wanting a beach blonde baddie.

We had done more than just kiss a couple of times, but it didn't happen as often as one might think. Honest. We started to get to know each other more than anything.

I didn't get how she couldn't feel romantic feelings. I caught them pretty quickly for her, but she never felt anything like it back.

"You're maturing, Chad, you know that?"

I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh really?"

Her arm extended to me and her hand intertwined with mine. "Yeah."

Maybe I didn't care if she couldn't feel romantic things back to me. She was perfect the way she was.

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To this day, I don't understand why Ruby killed Mateo.

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The seventh day returned. Fawn, Adeline, Ruby, Jovie, and I sat on one side of the table while Mateo, Elijah, Lexie, Pierre, Emma, and Little Joey sat on the other. Killian never showed up, as per usual.

No one had seen him in a long while.

"This dried seaweed is heavenly," Jovie said.

I nodded, chewing a bit of fish. "Whoever cooked the fish needs a raise."

"Thanks," Adeline monotoned.

There was a stretch of awkward silence.

"So... how's everyone doing?" Pierre asked after a sip from her cup.

"Our camp is going good," Jovie said. "Thanks to Chad's farming and Mateo's generosity, we're getting by."

"Not me," Ruby snapped quietly, though everyone heard it.

"I'm... glad to hear you two are doing well?" Pierre questioned with a confused glance Ruby's way.

Mateo laughed. "Ruby, I've offered you fish." To the rest of us, he said, "don't worry. I'm sure she's just a bit upset."

Ruby grumbled something unintelligible.

"Well..." Pierre turned her gaze to Mateo and Elijah. "How's life at Camp Avión?"

"Great," Elijah said flatly. "Lots of fish and fire."

Mateo nodded. "Ay!"

"Sounds loads o' fun," Little Joey said, mouth still filled with fish.

Mateo then asked how things were going at Pierre's Camp, to which Pierre said, "good, good."

"Is anyone going to talk about the elephant in the room?" Lexie suddenly peeped.

"What do you mean?" Elijah asked.

"Kilian, idiots. He's missing. Maybe someone should... I don't know... check on the guy?" she grumbled.

"What? If you care so much, why don't you do it yourself?" Elijah huffed.

Lexie rolled her eyes. "I'm so sick of all of you."

"Gee, thanks."

"Guys, don't start," Jovie intervened. "I can go check on him."

"I'll go too," I offered.

Jovie nodded and we both stood up. "Thanks for the meal," she said. "We'll be back soon enough with good news."

The group was silent as we left the sandy shore.

Walking down the trail, we soon found ourselves in front of Killian's shelter. Jovie knocked on the side of the shelter, but no one answered.

"Killian?" Jovie called.

Something in the back shuffled and a beast grew from the leaves. It was Killian, reduced to skin, bones, and two bloodshot eyes.

"Hello, my lovely choir."

Jovie and I passed a look when a crackle of flames erupted from the back, lighting up the round lodge. Killian invited us in, so, warily, we stepped inside and sat at the door.

"You missed a really great dinner," Jovie said lightly.

Killian's eyes were glassy. "I'm sure I did."

"Well... uh, how's it going?" Jovie asked.

"Great."

"That's... good."

"Yes. Are you two dating?"

"Kinda," I murmured.

"Good. Just like it should be. Boy and girl. No cheating. Perfect union..."

I felt the need to roll my eyes. "That's not always how it has to be-"

"Oh?" Killian cut me off. "Tell me then. Do tell me."

"Girls can date girls and boys can date boys," I said dully.

"Disgusting. You disgust me." Killian waved out his torch and crawled back into his bed. We took it as a cue to leave and crept out of the shelter.

"Well," Jovie said. "That was... nice."

"You always said that."

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"Chad," she whispered in my ear, "it's a child."

I couldn't believe it.

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Elijah's shouts woke us all and we were rushed to Camp Avión. My lungs burned. My feet slammed hard on the sandy ground. We were back to the camp in a matter of minutes.

The scene was horrific. Ruby, mouth bloody, was held fast by Killian on the ground right outside of Mateo's shelter.

"What happened?" I asked, breathless.

"It's Ruby," Emma sobbed. "She's killed Mateo!"

"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" Ruby shrieked, her voice shrill. "Let me go! Let me go!" She thrashed around. Elijah rushed to slam her face back down in the sand.

I couldn't believe it.