Jayed crossed his legs, using his arms to stay up. "Eira, do you know what's wrong with him?" The girl touched Quinn's forehead once again, shrugging. Jayed could tell she was concealing her reaction to his temperature, which made him a little worried. It didn't get better, did it? "It must be from running or something, how would he have caught anything here? We're the only humans on this island."

"There's plenty of bacteria on the trees and in the grass, I doubt running gives you a fever and makes you puke that much," Lany said. "Plus, he might have brought it from school. I wouldn't be surprised if it just started acting up." He sharpened his piece of strong bark even more with the rock, making something sharp enough to act as a knife. He had a weird knack for using his surroundings to his advantage.

"Why not?" Jayed asked. "He was perfectly fine on the plane!"

"I'm sure Jayed's right," Quinn said. "I probably just ran too much."

"Sure you did," Lany said sarcastically. "What do you think, Eira?"

Her head shot straight up and looked at Lany as if he had just asked her to present a speech to a group of people. Once again, she shrugged.

"Is Quinn going to die?" Jayed said out of the blue, eyes widening and heartbeat quickening. He can't die! Jayed couldn't loose his best friend!

"No!" Quinn exclaimed, shocked. "Jayed, really?" Eira shook her head, which made Jayed much calmer.

"Well..." Lany started nervously. Quinn smacked his hand.

"What the hell, Lany?! Why would you even say that?! I'm not even sick, I don't feel sick! I'm not going to die!"

"Oh, you're sick, alright," Lany said. He gave a sympathetic look that Jayed hoped was real.

"No, I'm not! I just ran a lot! Honest!" He insisted, but by the look of his face, Jayed was pretty sure he was holding something back and trying to swallow it.

"Quinn, you're sick. Your face is green, apparently you threw up a bunch when I left, and you can hardly walk," said Jayed. "We need to get you more water."

"No!" Lany said, grabbing Jayed's wrist to stop him from getting up. "It's not safe out there."

"I thought you killed it," He asked, confused. "If it's dead, why are we still hiding out here?"

Lany sighed. "Are you really that gullible? That was just one of the monsters. It explains why it wasn't injured at all after Quinn hurt that one on the beach, and how it's so fast. There are probably hundreds of them, hiding."

Jayed's eyes went wide, slowly sitting back down. Hundreds? There were only 16 of them left, they stood no chance against hundreds of monsters! Eira, looking frightened as well, backed up a little from Lany and Quinn. "Y-You know what," Jayed started, voice full of nerves and a fake chuckle. "I-I'll just stay here, I-I'm sure they'll bring back e-enough to last."

Some of the students, William, Marisa, Sparna and Liam, were collecting water from the stream using baskets they created. Basically because they were the only ones brave enough to go. Or maybe because they were the only ones stupid enough to go. Quinn wasn't surprised that Sparna decided to come, since she seemed to be going crazy in the cave-with cutting her hair and all-and obviously needed some fresh air.

"Great job, Lany. Now you--scared--him," Quinn said, his voice broken up by his coughing. He held his fist to his mouth to cover his cough, bunching into a ball beside the wall.

Lany rolled his eyes. "It's the truth. It needs to be known, and if he can't handle it, then there's no way he's going to make it out here."

Jayed's mouth popped oven, goosebumps covering every inch of skin on his body. "Lany! Why would you say that?!" Quinn snapped.

"I'm just being honest!"

"Please, just stop!" Quinn ordered, and he said it so sharp that his voice started to crack and become scratchy.

"Fine! I'm out of here!" He said, angrily standing up and walking away, continuing to sharpen the bark as he did. Quinn turned to Jayed.

"Y--You'll be fine. He's j--just trying to s--scare you," He choked out as best he could.

"No," Jayed said, shaking his head and trying to look brave. "He's right. I need to toughen up if i want to survive." It was going to be a challenge, but he was going to try.

Then, something startled him from behind. A voice, one that was rather deep and belonged to someone that Jayed did not want to see at the moment. "Hey," He said. "Why'd Lany run off? Is he upset? Because he won't tell me."

Jayed froze. Quinn gestured his head as if to tell Jayed to turn around, and while he tried, he found that it was impossible. Eira shrugged, then looked at Jayed, confused. He heard Hedi sit in Lany's spot next to him and Eira, but Jayed still didn't turn to see him. He stayed still, hoping that he would just disappear.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Hedi asked, touching Jayed on the shoulder to get his attention. Jayed jumped, glancing at Hedi before nervously looking back at the wall.

"He--He's a little jumpy since the monster," Quinn said quickly. Jayed let out a small sigh. Thank you, Quinn, he thought. Quinn nodded, as if reading his mind.

"Oh, that's understandable. It's pretty freaky, right?" Jayed nodded a little bit, still not making eye contact. Eira and Quinn nodded along. "I mean, I was almost monster bait back on the shore. But someone saved me, I'm not sure who."

Jayed's eyes went wider. Don't you dare, Quinn, he thought, hoping that Quinn would get the message, but of course, he didn't.

"That was Jayed," He said, motioning to the boy. Jayed wanted to run away and hide in embarrassment, but of course, he couldn't. First of all, there was no place to hide, and second, it would be even more weird. "He noticed that you were still on the beach when it came, so he ran and saved you. Pretty brave, huh?"

"Really?" Hedi asked, touching Jayed's shoulder again, making him face him. Jayed held his breath. "I don't know why he did what you did, but thank you. And I mean it. Thank you. You saved my life." And with that, he smiled and wrapped his arms around him, giving him a small hug. Jayed's mouth dropped wide open in shock, Quinn doing the same, except smiling a little as well. Hedi let go, but Jayed's mouth stayed open.

"Okay," He breathed in a rather high pitched voice, heart pounding out of his chest. Quinn let out a laugh, but covered his mouth right after. Hedi smiled awkwardly before turning away from Jayed and back to Quinn. His face turned from thankful to concerned.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" He asked. Quinn raised his eyebrows at first, but then nodded after a second.

"This? This is nothing," He said, his voice scratchy.

"Nothing? You're face is greener than the grass on this island!"

That's not saying much, Jayed thought, but was too shy to say it out loud.

"Well, I can't do anything about it," Quinn said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Can we talk about someone else now?"

Hedi shrugged. "I still want to know what happened with Lany. I mean, I know he can be dramatic, but he really did seem odd."

Quinn sighed. He cleared his throat. "Jayed was saying how he was going to go get water for me, but then Lany explained how dangerous it was. He was talking about how there are probably hundreds of monsters still out there and how if Jayed couldn't handle it then he was going to die. He got scared and I got upset, so he left." Jayed slumped down, embarrassed that Quinn told Hedi that part.

Hedi bit his lip. "Yeah, he's pretty sensitive. I mean, he has gone through a lot, so it's hard to count on anyone anymore. Maybe being alone is his healing method or something."

Eira nodded, and Quinn responded with, "It's hard to count on anyone, anyways. They could betray you like that out here." He snapped as he said 'that', which ended up snapping Jayed right out of his daze. He moved so that he could see Hedi, even though he was still shocked from when he hugged him.

"Sad but true."

"When do you think someone will find us?" Jayed said out of nowhere. He didn't even mean to; it just came out.

Hedi looked at the others, as if waiting for one of them to answer, and when neither of them did, he started to speak. "I don't like to... to think about it. I like instead to hope that in a few minutes, a helicopter will come by with a plentiful of sweets and drinks for us to eat and no one else will have to die." He paused. "I like to believe it, but after believing it for a while, the charade kind of fails in my mind."

Jayed, surprised by how deep it was, nodded along. He could see both a confused Eira and an excited Quinn with a ginormous smile in the corner of his eye, but he ignored it. "I like to hope, too," He said, one of his hands shaking from nerves that he had to stabilize with the other. He was a little disappointed that he couldn't say anything more meaningful, but Hedi didn't care. In fact, he laughed. 

"That's good. Hope keeps people sane in this horrible place." He turned back to the whole group, but Jayed didn't move. He was too awe-struck. He then felt a slap on his leg, making him jerk towards who did it. Quinn was grinning across his whole face, and Jayed was just glad that Hedi was currently talking with Eira.

Stop it, Jayed thought, trying to silently give him the message with his facial expressions. Quinn's smirk grew as he shook his head. He got it. There was just no way he was going to listen. 

The three talked for a while, and even though Eira didn't speak, the boys made sure not to dis include her, which made her smile. Jayed and Hedi had been at the same schools since middle school, along with Quinn, but they had never really had a conversation, besides maybe during a group project or something. But never about their real lives.

Hedi didn't talk much, however. Jayed assumed that he just didn't want to share much about himself because he would get homesick but even so, he loved listening to Jayed talk about his life. Or at least, he assumed so. It was impossible to wipe the smile off of his face. He didn't even feel as nervous any more. The butterflies were still there, but they didn't control him as much.

However, while it was fun to open up to him, he wanted to know more about Hedi.

"So, a-are you Spanish?" He asked. Hedi's eyebrows crossed.

"What?"

"You have an accent. I was just curious."

"Oh," Hedi said, looking at Quinn for some reason. Jayed wasn't exactly sure why. "Well, yeah." He didn't say anything else.

"Is that it?" asked Quinn. Hedi shrugged. "Come on. If we're going to be trapped here for a while, I want to get to know the people I'm stuck with."

"Look, I don't really like talking about this," He said, shaking his head and looking at the ground.

"It's okay, I won't judge," Jayed said reassuringly. Eira touched Hedi's shoulder in empathy, but the boy still wouldn't budge. In fact, he kind of tried to get her hand off. 

"That's not it," Hedi continued. "Can we please talk about something else?"

Quinn smirked. That was exactly what he said earlier when something was bothering him. But Jayed let it go. If he didn't want to talk, he wasn't going to make him, no matter how much he was yearning to know.

He knew Hedi would tell him eventually, when he was ready.

***

"Okay... how do you say 'talon' again?" Orion shrugged, smiling a little.

You tell me, He signed. Talon sighed, thinking to herself for a second.

"Well, I know 't'..." She said to herself, placing her thumb under her index finger. After a few seconds, she signed a, l, and o. "What's 'n' again?" He silently chuckled, signing 'n' with his right hand.

"Oh, so like 't', but under two fingers." He nodded. "Thanks for teaching me. It's much easier to talk to you like this."

No problem, He signed, realizing that he had not yet taught her that sign yet when he saw her reaction. She laughed and he spelled it out slowly for her, finally leading to her understanding.

"So... show me the sign for good." He proceeded to teach her a few more basic signs to the point where he could say a few more things that she could understand without needing to write them in the sand. Sure, it was hard because he literally couldn't speak when he tried to explain what the signs meant, but she was a fast learner. She was already fluent in half of what he taught her within the past half hour.

Suddenly, somebody starting walking towards them as Orion was showing Talon the sign for girl. He turned around to see a smiling Zeke who sat down right next to him.

"Hey," He said, Orion signing it back. He tried to act normal, but it was sort of hard at the moment. "Wha'cha doing over here?"

"Orion's teaching me sign language!" Talon said excitedly. Orion nodded.

"Cool," Zeke said, moving his hands from the ground. How much do you know so far? He signed. He got his answer when he saw Talon's confused face. He laughed a little.

Orion tapped Zeke's shoulder to make him face him. We just started, He said. 

Talon looked at the laughing boys, eyebrows crossed. "What are you saying?" She asked with no response. "Is it about me?"

Orion shook his head, trying not to give anything away. To be completely honest, sometimes he felt joy in others not being able to understand a thing he was saying. Maybe because he felt special in a way that wasn't weird or different.

"Hey, Zeke," Talon started. "You should help Orion teach me! You can translate what he's saying!" Orion nodded in agreement. It would be nice to have some time with Zeke without Marisa. Just like old times, where they did everything together. And with Talon there, it would be even more enjoyable.

"Okay, why not?" He said, shrugging his shoulders. "Beats helping Lany remember things."

That's the spirit, Orion signed. Zeke laughing shoving him a little.

"You know what I meant," He said, which made Orion smile as well. Yep, just like old times, when Orion didn't have to worry about losing him to some brave, perfect girl. He turned to Talon, and started signing.

Alright, so this is 'dumb'. Zeke, as he said he would, translated and Talon tried it out herself. Now, this is 'monster'. He held his hands above his head, clenched into fists. When Talon copied him, she added a face as well, preventing Orion from keeping a straight face.

Orion knew that Talon was a fast learner, but he was extremely surprised that after only another hour of teaching she could read some of his signs and interpret them a little. For example, when he said "You're really good at this", she actually understood it without Zeke saying anything in translation, signing thank you back at him.

"Wow," Zeke said as he nodded. "Impressive, for starting today."

Talon smiled. "I've seen a few signs here and there, but I don't know what most of them mean."

Just show them to us and we'll tell you, Orion said. She shrugged.

"Alright, then." She showed them the signs for day, school, sure, hate, and love. Apparently, she already knew about 'bad' before Orion taught it to her.

It didn't take her too long to learn enough to be able to have a simple conversation with Orion, as long as he went slow and used basic signs. Zeke said he had to leave because he needed to get some of the water than the group had brought back, and Orion asked him to bring him some for him and Talon. Once he left, Talon turned him around so that he could focus on her.

Are you good that he doesn't like you? She asked. Orion was shocked and upset at first, but then he realized that she probably messed up on good and wanted to say something else.

This means 'good'. As he said 'this', he signed good, and when he said 'good' he slowly spelled it out as well. And once he did, Talon's eyes widened.

"I didn't mean that, I swear!" She whispered. "I meant to say are you sure."

You can talk, He signed, spelling out 'can' for her.

"I know. I just didn't think you wanted people to overhear."

Orion shrugged it off. It's okay. And yes, I'm sure, Talon. He likes Marisa. He had to do it very slowly, but she understood. She shrugged as well, but it felt more like a are-you-sure-you're-sure kind of shrug.

"He's known you longer..."

Talon, He said. He doesn't like me.

"Alright," She said defensively. "Fine. He doesn't like you." Orion nodded in agreement, but when Zeke came back with two baskets of water, a question arose in his mind.

Did he?

A/N

This was supposed to come out a while ago, but something was weird with Wattpad so it's coming out now :)

And this one is actually "edited" so there aren't as many mistakes.