Stranded | ✓

one

RORY

"I don't wanna go." Lila whined as she dragged her feet next to me.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't get why you don't live in the woods. You're basically already one with nature." I said.

"I know right!" She exclaimed. "If it weren't for college I would be building a shack in some pretty forest right now!"

"I would help, but the wilderness isn't my thing. I've gotten bit by enough bugs on this island to last a lifetime." I said as I itched a mosquito bite on my arm. "That repellent didn't do shit."

"Because you spritzed it on like perfume." Lila deadpanned.

"Because I'm allergic to it, smart ass. That's what all these bumps on my arms are."

She nudged my arm with a grin. "I know, I'm just fucking with you. But wasn't this trip so fun? It's not everyday that you get to stay on an island in the middle of the pacific, let alone—"

She halted when I let out a loud yelp, my body falling into a heap on the twig covered ground. "Ow." I muttered when I looked down at my scraped knee.

"Wow, astounding job, Rory. You walk with the grace of a supermodel."

I looked up with a harsh glare directed at the black haired bastard standing in front of me.

"Shut up, butt head." I hissed, pushing myself up and brushing the dirt off of my legs.

He raised his hands in defense, a slight smirk tipping at the corner of his lips. "I was just giving you a compliment, Fish Stick."

I glared once again. "Stop calling me that."

"Nope." He sang.

"Rory, we're gonna be late to the plane if we don't go now." Lila said from behind me.

I waved her off. "You go ahead. I'll be there in a second."

She seemed weary to go, but eventually she turned on her heel and walked down the beaten path towards the beach where the two planes were parked. I turned back to the subject at hand.

Beckett Hensley was the definition of an asshole. At least to me he was. Ever since freshman year of high school, he's decided to make my life a living hell. Naturally, I did the same to him.

Once upon a time, Beckett and I were actually friends. Best friends to be exact. We met in preschool when he brought a Lego set to school — which had been one of my favorite toys at the time — and let me play with them.

I always wondered where that kind Beckett went. Probably up his ass.

We lasted as best friends up until halfway through eighth grade, and even our parents became the best of friends. In eighth grade, our parents got in a fight over something that they wouldn't tell us. After the fight, they forbid Beckett and I from being friends. The rest of the school year was spent awkwardly avoiding each other so we didn't disappoint or anger our parents.

However, everything changed in ninth grade.

He was the one that started the whole not-getting-along thing. It started with a nasty glare towards me when I walked into the home room class that we shared. After that, he "accidentally" spilled glue all over me in art class. Then I struck, purposely spilling my lemonade over his crotch in lunch to make it look like he peed on himself.

It was absolute war after that.

I expected for it all to stop when we got to college since I assumed that we would be going our separate ways, but when he walked into my biology lecture on the first day of classes, I knew that wasn't the case.

"I need you to stop bothering me." I told Beckett with a glare.

He grinned, stuffing his hands into his basketball shorts pockets. "I don't know what you're talking about, Fish Stick. All I did was compliment you."

"That was not a compliment."

"In my book it was."

"Well in my book it was an insult. It was sarcasm."

"Relax, Fish Stick." He said as he began to walk towards the beach. "I was only playing."

I grumbled obscenities under my breath as I followed after him, trying not to bend my knee too much because of the scrapes.

"Do you even know where you're going?" I asked as he turned in the opposite direction of the beach.

"I know a short cut."

"And how did you find a short cut? We were here for one night."

"Did you really think my friends and I would go to sleep when the professor told us to?" He asked, looking at me with a raised brow.

"I guess not." I mumbled. He took another turn, and slowly the dirt beneath our feet began to turn to white sand. I looked around for the planes but came up empty.

"Aren't the planes supposed to be right here?"

He grimaced. "They...were here." He said. "Now they're there." He said, pointing into the sky where two small planes were flying in the opposite direction of the island.

"Fucking hell." I said in disbelief. "Did they leave us?"

"What does it look like?" Beckett scoffed.

"Surely they'll realize, right? Lila will see I'm not there."

"And the guys will realize I'm not there."

We stayed silent as the planes began to get smaller and smaller.

They weren't turning back.

•••••

LILA

"Professor, aren't you going to take attendance?" I asked warily. Neither Rory nor Beckett were on the plane I was in, and I couldn't see inside the one in front of us.

Professor waved it off. "Everyone's on board, don't worry."

"Can you at least call the other plane and see if Beckett and Rory are on it?"

He sighed. "Fine." After a few words with the pilot, Professor was talking with the pilot on the other plane.

Suddenly, his face paled.

"Oh no." He muttered.

My body went cold. "They're not on there, are they?"

Professor slowly shook his head. He raised the walkie-talkie to his lips again. "We have to turn around! There are two students left on the island!"

"Sorry sir, we only have enough fuel to fly back to the mainland." The pilot from the other plane said.

"But we cant just leave them there!"

"It's either two or it's all of us but in the middle of the ocean. Dead."

Guilt gnawed at my stomach. I had a bad feeling when I had left Rory behind instead of dragging her with me. I should've grabbed her. Now who knows how long it'll take to get another plane out there? I'll take days no doubt.

Shit.