Stranded Love

Take A Leap

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT

The six Pogues are relaxed around the fire pit and just enjoy a moment to chill. JJ is situated closest to the water as he sits on a horizontally placed stump. Sarah is on his left with a vertically placed stump below her and Pope is seated next to the girl on one of their log seats. Cleo is relaxed on JJ's right whereas Kiara and John B are on the opposite side of the pit on another log.

The waves are neither calm nor overly rough under the cloudy sky soaring above. The fire isn't lit as it isn't cold out and they already ate hours ago. It's been a 'nothing day' with only Kiara and JJ leaving camp to spear some fish which were cooked up earlier. Apart from that they've only played checkers and sat around doing, well, nothing. The Pogues are definitely feeling a little tired today but that doesn't bring down their mood.

John B and Sarah have been soaking in their victory against JJ and Kiara since the other night. Of course the Maybank boy was salty as shit that they lost due to his unruly competitiveness but Kiara was way saltier because he dropped her. He had one job and that was to keep her upright and he failed that despite her legit warning him not to drop her. Her spitting water at his face was definitely warranted and made her feel a little better. JJ made a comment that if he gets deathly sick then it'll be because of her girl germs. She promptly smacked him for that remark whilst Pope said that the "sexist pig" title won't belong to him anymore as it'll be JJ's.

Cleo is now able to put her full weight on her toe and no longer has uneven footing when she walks. Pope has been winning almost all the checkers games whilst Sarah is second best at it. John B is no good at all whilst Kiara and JJ aren't terrible.

The Carrera girl and Maybank boy have been going to their secret spot whenever they get a chance. They talk whilst seated side by side on the sand. Sometimes they lean against each other, their backs together or they'd lie down and watch the clouds in silence where JJ would occasionally fall asleep after saying that "this is boring". They'd stuff around under the waterfall and allow the flow to wash away the sand and grit from their hair and bodies. All in all they enjoyed their alone time together.

Pope spins the weaved frond hat that Sarah made weeks ago on his pointer finger whilst Kiara attempts to spin Cleo's knife between her fingers rather messily. She just can't seem to do it as fluently as Cleo does no matter how much she tries.

Kiara's eyes naturally fall onto JJ's back as he watches the waves crash against the beach. She's actually surprised that he's put on his shoes when they've been spending a lot of their time barefoot on Pougelandia. The boy's hair is shaggy and his arms are tanned. His shirt has got a bunch of holes and fraying fabric around the stitching of his shoulders from wear. A lot of the Pogues' clothes have breaks in them and are extremely dirty and smell like death.

"We should play true or dare," Sarah suggests brightly and pauses tracing random shapes in the sand.

JJ turns around, eager. "I'm in. Y'all better take some risks this time."

Kiara scoffs lightly and thumbs the bottom of Cleo's knife absentmindedly. "It's personal preference, J."

The Maybank boy ignores her and pushes onto his feet to grab a coconut from the pile. "It should be dare or dare."

John B's lips form a straight line as he watches his brother. "So it's just dare, JJ."

JJ snaps his fingers. "Precisely," he gestures between them, "you and I must have some telepathy shit going on here." John B just blinks at his words.

Kiara rolls her eyes and JJ notices.

"Jealous, Kie? Looks like I'm the master of spiritual shit and I didn't even need a glass ball," the Pogue gloats and appears overly proud of himself.