Kevin became serious. “Really, Candi ... all joking aside. I know I’ve kinda been what a lot of girls might consider a dirtbag at school – you know, focusing on getting laid and having fun.” He had the grace to look embarrassed when Candi shot him a scolding look. “I probably should’ve put more thought into who I was hanging out with. I kinda knew that then; I guess I just ignored it, blocked it out. But now we’re here, and, well, things feel different.”
“Yeah,” responded Candi, bitterly. “I’m the only girl in town, so now you’re suddenly noticing me. No thanks.”
“Hey, that’s not fair. I’m being honest here, and you’re just shooting me down without even giving me a chance.”
“Yeah, right.”
“What do you mean, ‘yeah right’? The more I say, the more pissed you get. I don’t get it.”
Candi threw down the last pieces of wood she had in her hand and turned to face him directly.
“Kevin, I’m going to be straight-up honest with you right now because, what the hell, we’re stranded on a deserted island in the middle of who knows where, and all the high school bullshit might as well be a million miles away.”
“Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. Give it to me, I can take it.”
“Fine, you want to know what I’m thinking? Here it is: I’ve had a stupid crush on you for two years. Two frigging years. I’ve watched you slobber all over supermodel after supermodel. I watched you walk the halls with girls hanging on to your every word. I’ve listened to girls fight over you in the bathroom, for crap’s sake! You charm the pants off everyone you come near: teachers, parents, coaches. I never had a chance with you then, and to tell me I have a chance now, when I’m literally the only girl in your world, is frankly kind of insulting.” She paused for a breath and then continued, “So there, that’s it. The truth in all its ugliness. Now I’m going to go walk into the ocean and drown myself.”
Candi stood to get up and start walking to the water, mumbling to herself.
“Wait! Don’t drown yourself yet, sand fairy! You like me! You said it yourself! Come back here!”
Kevin came up from behind her and grabbed her by the elbow, spinning her around to face him. A clump of her knotted hair fell into her eyes. He tried to move it aside gently, but it resisted his efforts and kept falling back into her eye.
Candi broke away in frustration and started walking again. “I’m more like a sand beast than a sand fairy.”
Kevin walked quickly to catch up to her. They continued on together, walking side by side down the beach.
“Okay, if you insist, sand beast.”
Candi turned partway and punched him in the arm.
“What? I’m just trying to make you happy.”
“Shut up.”
“That’s it.” Kevin all of a sudden grabbed Candi in a bear hug and lifted her up and spun her around.
“Put me down, you troll.”
“Not until you agree to give me a chance.”
“No way.”
“Okay then, I hope you like bear hugs.”
“Put me down! Seriously, I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t either. You’ve taken my breath away with your sand beastiness.”
Candi started laughing in spite of herself. “God, you’re annoying. Fine, put me down and we’ll talk.” She struggled a little before saying, “I know you know how charming you are. You’re not going to be able to manipulate me like you do everyone at school.”
“Just don’t try to run. I’m getting my energy back, and I’ll take you down like the cheetah takes down the weak-ass antelope on the Serengeti.”
“Okay fine, I won’t run. I don’t want you passing out again.”
“I’m putting you down now, so behave yourself.”
“You behave yourself.”
Kevin put her down. Candi stood staring out at the ocean, her arms folded.
“Look at me.”
“No.”
Candi felt Kevin lay his arm across her shoulders, pulling her to his side.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for bear hugging me to death?”
“No.”
“Sorry for sweating on me all night for the past two nights?”
“No.”
“Well what are you sorry for, then?”
“I’m sorry I was so stupid and blind before.”
Candi had nothing to say to that.
“Forgive me?”
“No.”
“Okay then ... ”
“Okay then what?”
“Okay, now I’m apparently gonna have to bear hug you into submission, since you won’t see reason.”
Candi yelped and took off running, laughing.
Kevin came up behind her huffing and puffing. He still was no match for her, since he hadn’t eaten in about four days and was seriously dehydrated. He called out, “Just wait! I’ll get you, little sand beast ... as soon as I get my ... energy ... back.” He could barely get the last words out, he was so out of breath. “You’re mean, stop running away from me. I’m weak. Aren’t you supposed to be taking care of me or something?” He reached the campsite and collapsed in the sand where he’d been lying earlier.
“Come on, you need to get something to eat and drink, tough guy.” She peeled him a banana and held it up with the remainder of their last bottle of water.
“Eat. Drink.”
“Yes, boss.”
“That’s more like it.”
They smiled at each other in companionable silence. A line had been drawn in the sand, and Kevin had stepped over to her side. It felt good for both of them, even if Candi didn’t want to admit it. Their worlds had changed. The old world was behind them; this new world was going to be something else entirely.
“Oh, and for the record ... ” said Kevin with his mouth full of banana, “I don’t ‘slobber’ on girls, okay?”
Candi laughed. “Whatever you say.”
***
As Jonathan and Sarah broke through the trees and headed towards the campfire, Candi immediately knew something was wrong. As they got closer, she saw that Sarah was limping and Jonathan had a cut on his forehead and terrible, bleeding scrapes on his hands and arms. Strangely enough, even with this new batch of injuries, both of them looked happier than they had when they left.
“We found water!” yelled Sarah, a triumphant grin splitting her face.
“I found water,” corrected Jonathan.
“Like I said – we found water,” said Sarah sweetly, shooting Jonathan a challenging look.
“Fine, we found water. Just through the trees about thirty minutes that way.”
“And it runs over a rock like a shower, Candi. A shower!”
“I’m totally jealous, no wonder you look so refreshed,” said Candi as they drew near. “But what the heck happened to you? And you? You guys look like you got in a fight.” Her eyes narrowed. “You guys didn’t get into a fight with each other did you?”
She was instantly dismayed at the thought. How could they have? We’re all we have now. We’re family. Just as she was admitting this to herself, Candi realized how true it was. Oh, the irony.
“No, don’t be silly. What happened was that Mr. Know-It-All here decided he had to do some exploring without my recommended safety precautions in place, so, of course, he nearly fell to his death, and it was only my quick thinking and awfully powerful, if I do say so myself, physical prowess that saved his life. Isn’t that right, my little pookie pie?” Sarah reached over and touched Jonathan’s chin with her finger.
Jonathan looked at her, a horrified expression on his face.
Candi looked at Jonathan in shock.
Kevin looked up from the ground where he was lying, instantly amused.
“No, that is not what happened. What happened was that I made an error in judgment with regard to the angle of the slope of the rock I was on, failing to take into account the friction coefficient between the sand, my shoe, and the rock, which resulted in
my having to make alternate arrangements for ... ”
“ ... getting his ass back up on the rock in one piece,” Sarah finished for him. “Lucky for him, I was there to save his cute ass.” She looked around the campfire and put her hands on her hips. “So, what’s for dinner?”
“Bananas.”
“I’m getting tired of bananas, bananas, bananas for every meal,” said Sarah. “‘This shit is bananas ...’”
“STOP!” the other three yelled in unison.
“Geez, sorry. No need to be Gwen haters.”
Candi stared at the banana she was having a hard time choking down. “She’s right, we need to find other food. We’re surrounded by the ocean. Maybe we could catch some fish or octopus ... or clams even.”
“Oh, sick. Octopus.” Sarah shivered for effect.
“Well, you could always stick with the bananas,” suggested Jonathan.
Sarah nudged him with her foot and he smiled back.
Kevin didn’t appear to be nearly as tired of the bananas yet as everyone else. “I ate at least four bananas a day at home. They’re good for the muscles – all that potassium.” He looked down at his bicep muscle as he flexed. “Damn. I’m already losing mass.”
Candi sat mesmerized by the muscle that was slowly bulging up, out and then down again on Kevin’s arm.
Kevin looked up and caught her staring.
She looked away quickly, but not before she saw him smiling at her. Busted.
“Okay, so let’s make a list of everything we need to do,” said Jonathan.
Everyone just sat there looking around.
“Shit, we don’t have any paper,” said Candi.
“Did Sugar Lump just say ‘shit’?”
“Yes, she sure did,” said Kevin happily.
“Don’t call me Sugar Lump.”
“Okay, stop fighting,” said Jonathan. “We’ll have to remember the list then. Each one of us will remember part of it. So what do we need to do?”
“Decide where to live. I think it should be near the fresh water,” suggested Kevin.
“Agreed, but I also think we need to be able to see the shoreline from where we are.”
“Yeah, you might have missed this while you were hanging over the edge of the cliff, but where we were, we had a perfect view of the entire island – which by the way is shaped like a giant peanut if anyone wants to know. Aaaand, there wasn’t a single biting insect up there either, probably because of the deliciously refreshing breeze.”
“Okay, so unless anyone has any problem with it, I think we should build our permanent camp near the fresh water.”
“But it’s not a camp, it’s a home,” said Candi.
“Whatever.”
“No, not whatever. It’s not a camp, Jonathan.” Candi was looking at him seriously, but he obviously didn’t see what the big deal was because he just rolled his eyes.
Sarah chimed in. “No, I get it, she’s right. We have to stop acting like this is just a couple day thing. We could be here for a really long time. I mean, so far we have seen zero signs of any other people, either here on the island or out there in the water. I looked out over the island when we were up on that rock. The whole thing looks the same. Maybe we’re going to be here a long time. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not going to continue to freak out about it, ‘cause if I do, I’m gonna get zits.” She finished firmly, “We need to find a home, not a camp.”
Kevin looked at Jonathan and they exchanged knowing looks. Candi was certain both of them were thinking about PMS. Whatever. So long as it kept them from arguing.
“Okay, we’ll find a home to live in. We can build it out of bamboo and palm fronds.”
Sarah sat up excitedly, “Oh, and we had the most amazing idea. The place by the water and the bamboo and the view – it has a huge, huge elephant leg tree, and we were saying we should build our home in the tree – a treehouse like they have at Disney World, Swiss Family whatever. Tree, breeze, view, no bugs ... heaven!”
Candi couldn’t help but join in. “That sounds perfect. I want to see it right away! And what is an elephant leg tree?”
“I think we need to wait for Kevin to feel better. Maybe tomorrow,” cautioned Jonathan.
“Of course, yeah, we can wait for Kevin.” Candi felt a little bad that she had just blown off his condition so easily.
“Why, thank you, sand beast.”
Candi ignored him. “So, elephant leg tree? Anyone?” She looked from Jonathan to Sarah, waiting for an explanation.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Sarah. “It’s a giant tree that has a trunk about the size of a car, grayish and kinda wrinkly and thick ... like an elephant leg or a group of ‘em all stuck together.”
“I think the tree is a banyan tree or a ficus or something. It really is huge – wide enough to support a pretty big structure. Our biggest problem is going to be the bamboo. We have a hatchet from the boat supplies, but I think bamboo is pretty tough to cut.”
“Leave that part to me,” said Kevin, mocking a weight lifter’s pose. “Fire power!”
“Ugh,” said Sarah.
Candi tried not to stare but couldn’t help herself. Kevin caught her looking again and winked. At this point he was doing all of his flexing for her benefit, and she knew it.
“So what else? Kevin, you remember the house thing on the list. What else do we need to do?”
“Find another water source,” reminded Sarah.
“Right. You remember that. What else?”
“Figure out how to catch fish or whatever.”
“Yes, definitely. Candi, you remember that.”
“I also think we should put together some transportation for the island as we explore,” said Jonathan.
“What do you mean? Like a railroad?” Kevin said jokingly.
“No, not exactly, but maybe we could find a way to travel through the jungle quicker, in the trees or something, rig up some platforms. I’m just thinking maybe we could move from tree to tree instead of on foot down there with the critters.”
“Ah-ha, like Tarzan or something. I like the way you think, Jonathan,” said Kevin. Then he let out a wail that was supposed to be a Tarzan call but sounded more like wounded water buffalo.
“Um, yeah, I think you’d better work on that, Kevin,” said Candi.
“What? Not ready for prime time?”
Everyone shook their heads no.
“Fine, I’ll work on it. You guys are just jealous, I know.”
“What else? Anything else?”
“Smoke signals.”
“What do you mean, Kevin?
“I mean, we need to have some giant bonfire we can light if we see a boat ... something to signal rescuers.”
“Absolutely. Excellent idea. That one is also yours to remember. So let’s review. What are we going to plan for and do starting tomorrow?”
“House, bonfire.”
“Good.”
“Fish.”
“Operation Tarzan.”
“Fine. Good. What else? Oh, collect more water.” Jonathan looked around the camp at the faces staring back at him. “There’s one other thing.”
“What?” they all answered in unison.
“We need to name the island.”
No one said anything at first. It was as if naming it made it all the more real, like it wasn’t temporary anymore.
Kevin was the first with a suggestion. “How about B-F-E Island?”
Everyone laughed.
“No, seriously.”
Then the ideas came flooding in.
“Bug Island.”
“Skeeter Beach.”
“Hellhole Island.”
“Life’s a Beach Island.”
“Armpit of the World Island.”
“SuckySuckLand.”
“I Wish I Was Somewhere Else Island.”
“Runaway Island.”
“Nowhere Island.”
“Sandineverycrevice Island.”
“The Sand Lot
.”
“Peanut Island.”
Everyone stopped after that one. It had come from Sarah.
“What? I told you the island is shaped like a peanut, you can totally see it up on the rocks.”
They all looked at each other and made the decision, nodding their heads.
Jonathan slapped himself on the knee as if banging a gavel. “Peanut Island it is.”
“And today, Jonathan is the king of Peanut Island because he found the water!” said Sarah.
“Hey!” said Kevin, in mock injury.
“Don’t worry,” Sarah assured him, “a new king will be crowned each day, depending on his contribution.” She smiled sweetly at him and then at them all.
“And I suppose you’re the queen of the island?” asked Candi.
“Of course.”
“And what does that make me?”
The question hung in the air above their heads. There was a challenge in her eyes; there was an answering challenge in Sarah’s.
They all knew this was a game changing moment here on Peanut Island. Even though it was going to pass in a mere second or two and seemed kind of silly, the answer Sarah chose to give would have far-reaching consequences. Would she answer as the old Sarah – the Sarah that never deigned to even acknowledge Candi’s existence at school? Or the new Sarah – the one who had started to let her guard down? The one who had begun to form a delicate connection with Jonathan …
“Well, you are the other queen, of course. There are two queens on this island – permanent queens. The kingship, on the other hand, is a rotating crown.” She smiled serenely out at her subjects.
Candi grinned, satisfied with the outcome. Something had changed in her too. She wasn’t going to take the back seat anymore. Going to this faraway place at the ends of the earth had shown her that reality was not the reality created for her by other people at high school; it was what she created for herself. There was something much bigger at play here, and she was going to be a player. No more getting played for Candi Buckley.
***
As they finished dinner, talk turned to their parents, a subject they had all deliberately avoided discussing. There were plenty of tears all around as they wondered aloud what had happened to them, wondered if they had gotten off the ship okay. They assumed they had – they had to in order to avoid the pain of the alternative. Even Sarah, who wasn’t her father’s biggest fan, didn’t like the idea of losing him to the depths of the ocean. They had seen firsthand those swarming sharks, and the idea of people they loved in the midst of something like that was too much.