The Adventures of Teen Island

Native Teen

Courtney's POV
Emma and I walked into the kitchen. Tony is at the counter on his laptop. "Hey Tony" I said. He immediately slammed his laptop shut. Emma and I looked at each other and then him. "What was that?" Emma asked. "Uh. What was what?" He asked trying to play it off. "Um. The thing that you just so quickly shut off" I said. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Promise you wont tell Carter. She cant know yet" he said. "Ok?" We said confused. "I'm looking at colleges" he said. My eyes widened. "You're leaving early?" I asked shocked. He nodded. "Yes. I'm not exactly sure when but yes" he said. "We wont tell Carter" Emma said. Just then, Carter walked out and grabbed her pans. We plugged our ears. "Team meeting!" Carter yelled smashing the pans together.

"Why the team meeting?" Clay asked. "Someone spotted the griffin migration" Carter said. "What? Isn't it too early?" I asked shocked. "Apparently, sometimes they come earlier. Although, since only one person gave the alert, it could be a false alarm. So we're going to camp out in the landing field for a bit just incase they are coming" Carter said. "Are we sharing a tent?" Oliver asked. "Yes. But we have a massive tent so it'll be fine" Carter said. "What's the griffin migration?" Emma asked. "Every other year around the Christmas season, a pride of griffins fly's in and stays on the island until sometime in January" Oliver explained. "That's sounds really cool" Siren said. "You've never seen it?" Joey asked. "I've only been here a year" Siren said. "Yeah, Emma, Clay, Siren, and Noah haven't seen it" Stephanie said. "Well then. You should know before they get here. Griffins imprint on people. They have very good memory and are very smart. They name themselves, and can remember faces. If they imprint on you, they'll remember you when they come back. And sometimes they'll even let you ride them" Joey said. "I'm guessing you have a griffin?" I asked. "Sure do. Just don't tell Joker" Joey said. "Anyway... go pack for camping. We leave later this afternoon" Carter said.

Tony and Carter are setting up the girls tent. Oliver, Clay, and Joey are setting up the boys tent. We decided it would be better this way. I'm pretty sure we just separated the singles from the couples but if they wanna say boys and girls then ok. Siren, Emma, and I are setting up a campfire while Stephanie and Noah get wood. "We should really get the boys girlfriends" I said. Siren and Emma looked at me confused. "I didn't forget. Oliver gets more play then you think" I said. They looked at each other grossed out and went back to what they were doing. "Clay said he's taking a break after Benny" Siren said. "Yeah and Noah has never been a relationship guy. Not that I know of anyway" Emma said. "What about Tony?" I asked. "He's good" We heard immediately. I turned and Stephanie walked over to drop the wood. "Tony's good" she said. I raised an eyebrow. "Whys that?" I asked. "He's not interested in anyone. And I mean no one... we need more wood. Bye" she said quickly and walked off. "That was uh... weird" I said. "Yeah. Sounds like someone doesn't want Tony to move on" Siren said. My head snapped over to her. "What?!" I exclaimed. "Relax. Everyone knows how much she loves you. It just seems like she's pretty protective over Tony's love life" Siren said. Emma looked at Siren and then my horrified face. "Its ok Courtney. Siren, shut up before she has a stroke" Emma said. Siren rolled her eyes. "If anyone should have a stroke, it should be you. You and Carter are on the rocks" Siren said. "What? What's going on with you and Carter?" I asked. "Nothing. She's being dramatic" Emma said. "That's exactly what's happening. Nothing! You guys don't even kiss" Siren said. "We did! ...once. So we aren't all lovey dovey like you and Joey. That doesn't mean anything" Emma said. "You and Joey just started dating. Why are you already so lovey dovey?" I asked. "We're both clingy" Siren shrugged. "Maybe Siren has a point there. You and Carter should be a little more lovey" I said. "That's the only point I had?" Siren asked. I shrugged with a smile. "Don't have a stroke" I said innocently.

We're all around the campfire. Its dark now. We've been watching all day and there are no griffins in sight. If there's no landing tonight or in the morning then we're going home. We're all sitting on logs around the fire. "Are we gonna be weird and tell cringy 'scary' stories?" Clay asked. "I would prefer not" Carter said. I thought for a moment. "I have a story for us" I said. They looked over. "This better be good" Carter sighed. "Its a story that everyone thinks they know, but they actually have most of it wrong. There's a million different versions but mine is the only correct one" I said. "How is that possible?" Siren asked with a laugh. Stephanie looked at me concerned. "The story of the girl born on teen island" I said. All of their faces turned to concern. "Are you sure?" Carter asked. "If I'm gonna tell anyone the truth, it should be you guys" I said. Stephanie took my hand in hers.

"So. Common misconception about this is that my mom was raped. Not even remotely true. My parents were dating. Another misconception is that I was conceived at Lovers Cove and that's why no one goes there. Also not true. My parents, Payton Quinn, and Amalia York, had... a little incident with a condom. I don't know how you break one of those but good job dad, you managed to do it" I said. A few of the others held in their laugh. "I have no problem with you guys laughing. I would, and I do" I said. They nodded and looked back to me for the story. "My mother caused a huge scandal. She had to be protected because of all the slut shaming. She was the reason for a new style of teaching in the hospital. When I was born, everyone in the hospital was barely qualified to help. They had the bare knowledge, but they pulled it off. After I was born, the anxiety started. Obviously, teen island is not made for living your entire life there. So finding the things I needed was hard. That, and the crushing defeat that was the age limit." I said. "Yeah, I always wondered why they let you stay" Oliver said. "Trust me, they didn't want me too. My parents would get into yelling matches with guards when they tried to kick me out. Fortunately, my aunt was a guard. She was thirteen and she saved my ass. The teen island rules state that no one younger than 13 can come to the island. I never came to island. I was already on it" I said. "Wow" Carter said with a laugh. "I know. I definitely got lucky with the wording. Anyway, my father was fifteen and my mother was sixteen when they had me" I said. "He was fifteen?! Lucky bastard!" Clay said standing up. Siren slapped him and pulled him back down. I rolled my eyes. "The crushing anxiety my parents had was awful. I still feel bad about it to this day. Despite what they wanted, they still had to leave. It was especially bad after my mom left. My dad had no idea what to do. I was only four. Even after my aunt left the island, I was still only seven. Luckily, when I spent all that time with my aunt, I also spent time with her friends. So I ended up getting passed down kinda. I went from friend to friend until I was eleven. Then I fended for myself. Being a tween was the worst years of my life. People hated me because I wasnt a teenager and I wasnt under supervision. I was attacked way more than once. That's actually how I first found out about the bandits. Because they protected me so much. They actually gave me the idea to have everyone as a friend. Everyone already knew about me by that point, so when I asked around for friends, it wasnt like they were gonna say no. Everyone wanted to be friends with me, even though they knew nothing about me" I said. "I'm guessing that still works?" Tony asked. I nodded. "Not always in a good way. For instance, people say they're my friend to get what they want. Oh! And the worst one, men say they've slept with me to seem cool" I said. Stephanie looked grossed out. I looked over at her. "Well its not true. I'm a lesbian!" I said. "Still gross" she said. I squeezed her hand. "When I turned twelve, I applied for the welcome committee since I needed everyone to know me. Mostly so I could stop getting thrown in the frozen lake. And now we're here." I said. "So you went from most hated, to most loved? Cool" Noah said. "Yeah that definitely clears up the rumors. And meeting you in person was even better" Joey said. I raised an eyebrow. "I heard you were a priss, but you're pretty cool" Joey said. "There you go Noah. As you can see, I'm not exactly loved" I said. They laughed.