Day 12

Leah, second visit

"Hey Leah," Dr Faber said to the paranoid girl as he entered the room, having been informed from the nurses that she had seemed particularly twitchy that day - something that was only increasing with every moment the girls spent in their bunker. 

Leah didn't say anything as she looked up at the man, not sure why he had came back to visit her. They hadn't really seen her much at all minus their interrogation that they claimed was just a conversation but Leah had the gut feeling that they were taking part in something much bigger than just an investigation on what happened to them while they were on the island.

"We just had the chance to speak to Hunter," Dr Faber continued as he closed the door behind him, not wanting to waste too much time annoying the girl since he planned on coming back later on that afternoon to speak to her. Leah looked up, slightly unimpressed by whatever he had to say but also trying not to hide the confusion as to why he would be coming to see her after talking to Hunter.

"Okay?" Leah mumbled, not sure why he was entering her room. Had he visited the others after they spoke to her?

"She asked us to give you this," Dr Faber said, holding up a letter before placing it gently on the desk that they had provided in the dark room she had been stuck in. "Something about an apology for a fight you guys had on the island."

Leah nodded, her heart rate increasing as she narrowed her eyes at the letter on the desk but making no movement towards it. If Hunter was writing her letters about a fight that Leah knew never had happened, she didn't want Faber to be in the room when she looked at it. Leah knew that no-one had really believed her that much when she told them all that she was sure they had been put on the island for a reason, but Hunter had never denied her thoughts even if she hadn't taken them on either.

Dr Faber smiled once more at the girl before looking around at the room. Some of the others had asked for things to pass the time: for example, they had given Toni a little desk basketball game for her to pass time with and Hunter had been given a jigsaw or two after she had repeatedly moaned to the nurses about going crazy. Leah hadn't asked for anything at all yet.

"Do you want a diversion? Get your mind off things, I know it'll be hard but it might help you," Faber asked, noticing how Leah finally looked at him properly for the first time since he had stepped into the room. "Like crosswords or something?"

Leah nodded, running her hands along the rough material of the grey pants that they had all been given - not that she would know that since they hadn't really been allowed to see the other girls. She titled her head slightly as she opened her mouth to speak, feeling the slight burn from how dry it was.

"Yeah, whatever," Leah muttered, purposefully rolling over so that she had her back to the man. She knew there were cameras watching her every move in the little cell type room, but she knew that they wouldn't be able to see her confusion if she sat facing away from them when reading the letter.

Dr Faber closed the door, confused about how unethusiastic Leah had been to receive a letter from the blonde. He knew that Leah was rather confused and disorientated about the whole situation but he genuinely thought that she would have rushed to read the letter.

Regardless, he set off to go find some puzzle books for the girl before he returned later on in the afternoon. He wanted to get a better feel for how Leah's mind worked and he knew the exact spots to poke in to do so.

Leah held the letter close to her chest as her eyes scanned over the words, confused about what Hunter was even saying. The words in their individual sentences made sense, but for someone who had told Leah she was an avid reader, there wasn't much of a structure to the letter that made it easy to read.

She scrunched up her eyes as she found yet another spelling mistake, something that surprised her since they all knew that Hunter had a 4.0 GPA that she tried to hide. It had came up in conversation a few times before, but that didn't make it any less surprising than when she first told them. Leah was starting to wonder if it was a lie before her eyes fell on the final part of the letter, instantly causing her to realise what she was holding in her hands.

"Yours sincerely, Nancy Drew (just kidding, it's Hunter)."

_____

"Did you even like that book?" Hunter asked the night before Day Twelve, Leah looking over at her with a slightly defence attitude from her question. She knew the girl was only being curious but it was a stupid question - of course she liked the book, or she wouldn't have tried to save it so often before she had to give it up.

"Obviously?"

"Nah, I mean like, did you actually find it any good or did you just like it because of the love notes and the annotations," Hunter asked before noticing how Leah was tensed slightly. The girl sat up from where she had been laying on the sand, raising her hands in defence. "I didn't read it, by the way, I'm just recalling what Fatin and you had argued about."

Leah sighed as she shrugged slightly, backing off a bit as she realised that Hunter wasn't trying to be bitchy or anything. It had been hard for a few of them to get past the head cheerleader, popular stereotype they had formed in their heads but once they had, they knew that Hunter was never purposefully malicious about anything. She was just genuinely curious.

"Yeah, I did," Leah admitted before looking at Hunter with a raised eyebrow as she tried to figure out why the girl was even asking her about the book when she hadn't really cared much for it when it was still in their presence before. "Why?"

Hunter shrugged as she retied her shoelaces, a tell-tale sign that she was itching to go a run. Leah was quite surprised that she was still heavily into going a 3ish mile run every day but if it was helping Hunter with being on the island then who was she to judge? Sure, it did make her a little paranoid at first but since either Rachel or Toni had started going with the girl on a run she no longer was worried that Hunter was sneaking off on some evil scheme.

"Just thinking of what I'm gonna read first when I get home," Hunter replied back casually, not noticing how Leah almost seemed to perk up at hearing how the other girl seemingly was an avid reader.

"You like to read?"

"Hell yeah," Hunter laughed, a smile falling on to her lips as she turned to look at Leah. It wasn't something she really spoke about often since a lot of her old friends had thought reading was stupid and much preferred watching a film or something, but she loved being able to disappear into the pages of a book and out of her own life for a while. "My aunt got me this like Nancy Drew code book when I was eight and I swear I can still remember how to crack all those coded letters to this day."

"Shut up," Leah said, a genuine laugh leaving her lips as she looked at Hunter in surprise. "I had the same one!! I swear I know those pages off by heart at this point."

"No way!" Hunter enthused as she rose to her feet upon noticing that Rachel had just finished lacing up her trainers and was walking their way too. She had promised they'd go their run just before the sun set and Day Eleven ended. "I used to leave Hudson letter's all the time but he never was able to figure them out."

"Looks like we're much more similar than I thought," Leah teased as Hunter started to walk off with Rachel who hadn't said a word. She wasn't really the talkative type when they were on their runs so it didn't really bother Hunter that much.

"Looks like it indeed."

_____

"The others, when do I get to see them?"

"Soon I hope. The quarantine order aside, we can't have you conferring during the investigation. Keeping you separate, it helps the account be less muddled, more honest. To be honest, we probably shouldn't have given you Hunter's letter but she was rather... persistent that we did. You really must miss them, huh?"

"Yeah. Maybe more than I thought I would. Maybe like... a lot. Maybe it was just the passing of time but at some point we just sort of clicked. It wasn't like we were friends or anything, but for the first time, we were an 'us'. We laid out rules. We each had tasks. It sounds lame but it didn't feel that way. The rules were fair and the tasks were all shared and we were each entitled to one rest day because it was brutal out there and we all just needed a chance to mellow and to be alone with our thoughts. Everyone except for me. Ever since Jeanette's body went missing, everything about the island just felt off again. Things got dark...in my head."

_____

"So..." Toni lowly muttered as the two of them carried the container of water towards the campsite. They'd started to now use half of Fatin's suitcase to carry the water since it held more than the bottles they had been using and it was much easier for two to carry due to its handles. They'd simply moved all of her stuff into Hunter's case now that it was dried up and its wasn't like it mattered whose stuff was whose since everyone was just sharing anyway.

"So..." Hunter teased back as she watched Toni roll her eyes playfully, a side of the girl that only Hunter really got to see much off at the moment. Martha and Shelby were still giving Toni the cold shoulder and the girl spent most of her time with Hunter anyway so she couldn't even really be that mad that Martha was making her own friends when she was too.

"I've gotta ask," Toni admitted, trying to hide the red blush on her face as they got nearer to the campsite. "Two days ago when you and Rachel had that competition, were you..."

"Flirting with you?" Hunter grinned as they sat the water down beside the fire, Fatin and Dot turning to look at the two as they heard Hunter's words since it wasn't like she was trying to keep her voice down. Toni fumbled with her words as she watched how straightforward Hunter was about it. "Obviously."

Dot and Fatin both let out exclaimed laughs, looking between each other and the two girls who had some clear sexual tension going on between them for the past few days. They all knew that they both liked each other but they didn't actually expect Hunter to be so straightforward about it. It made sense to them though, how quickly she had started to bond with everyone ever since she had told them a few days prior about the truth behind her paranoia of being touched.

They'd all been a lot more patient with her - and even though Rachel could be quite tough on them all, even she was extra careful with doing things that might be out-with Hunter's comfort zone. A few conversations between different people had lead them all to learn that Hunter wasn't just a straight cheerleader that they had all originally believed, and after another game of Never Have I Ever, the girl had officially told them all that she was bisexual. She wasn't really coming out as such since it had never really been a secret, but it did feel like it.

Hunter was well aware of Shelby's opinions about that part of her. While the blonde hadn't said anything explicitly to Hunter ever, she knew how Shelby had been brought up. She'd heard the rumours of how Shelby's old best friend Becca had been caught kissing some unknown girl and how Shelby had excluded her from her life due to their religious upbringing believing that it was wrong (although she liked to hope that this was something the blonde highly regretted since her friend had committed suicide weeks after). But even with that, Shelby's father had a long history of supporting and attempting conversion therapy - something that she had always been glad that even her terrible parents didn't support.

Everyone else didn't seem to have any issues with it at all but rather had taken it as an open invitation to start observing how Toni and Hunter reacted with each other now that Toni was fully aware that Hunter also sometimes did play for the same team as her. Usually, Toni would have taken offence at the assumption that just because they're both into girls that they'd get together, but she didn't blame them for thinking it since Toni was clearly head over heels for the blonde.

Before Toni could reply to Hunter's admission, Rachel's voice rang out from the distance and broke everyone's concentration from what they had been doing. She was grinning in the distance, a makeshift bag in her hands from one of Fatin's shirts.

"HEY PARTY PEOPLE! Who's ready to fucking feast?"

Hunter swore she had never heard more beautiful news in her life. They all cheered as Rachel did a little victory dance before all nine of them crowded around the fire as Dot and Shelby attempted to cook the mussels that Rachel had managed to scavenge for them all.

Toni sat a few down from Hunter, which she was kind of glad for since she didn't think she would have been able to take her mind off her flirting confession if they had been sitting right next to each other. She had so much she wanted to speak to Hunter about now, but at the same time she wasn't quite able to find the words for any of it.

"You know, I can already feel my health meter coming back up to 100," Dot told them all as she ate a mussel, Fatin scoffing playfully from beside her.

"You true fucking geek," Fatin joked as Dot stuck a middle finger up in return, Hunter and Nora both laughing at the gesture. "Please tell me that wasn't a gaming reference."

"Can't do that."

"I know these are little animals and all," Martha interrupted, happily eating a mussel as she sighed in delight. "But they're so good and I can't stop eating them. What is wrong with me?"

"You should give yourself a pass," Nora told her as she too had a mussel in her mouth. "Like, for invertebrates."

"And starvation situations," Leah pointed out, passing a second one to Hunter who had already scoffed down her first one. The girl hesitated for a second as she waited for everyone else to agree to them having seconds before everyone nodded enthusiastically at the idea.

Hunter grinned as she dived into her second one, casting a quick glance at Toni who was already looking at her. She blushed a little as the raven haired girl winked ever so slightly at her, knowing that now she had admitted she had been flirting that they had entered a no mans land on how far they'd both go before the other one simply couldn't avoid the elephant in their private room.

"You not eating any mussels, Shelby?" Martha asked, her voice padded with concern for her newest friend.

"No no, I'm good," Shelby said, with Leah immediately clamping at the bit to ask her why she was refusing the mussels. Hunter could literally see Leah tense from the corner of her eye and she had the sudden notion that whatever theory Leah now had formed about the island included Shelby.

"Why not?"

"I'm beyond allergic to shellfish. I had a single popcorn shrimp at my cousin's birthday party and my windpipe shut like a trap," Shelby admitted before looking at Hunter with a slight smile. "Hunter can back me up, her and Hudson were there."

Everyone looked at the other blonde in surprise, forgetting sometimes that the two blondes in the group came from the same small town. It was hard for them to link their past lives together since they didn't run in the same packs but it was interesting to note how different their beliefs were. Hunter assumed it was because Shelby's parents were overbearing and strict while her own simply did not care about Hudson and herself. There was no happy medium in this equation.

"Well, you're missing out," Fatin told her as she held her second one in her hand. "I mean, ideally these would be eaten with garlic butter and crispy fries on a terrace in Barcelona, but salut!"

"Fucking one-percenters," Toni joked as she picked up her second one, shooting a quick side glance to Hunter to show that she was joking. She knew Hunter's family were rich - maybe not Fatin level of rich - but she didn't want to offend her.

"Damn Toni, you're plowing right through them. You too, Hunter."

Toni smirked as she looked at them all, noticing how Hunter couldn't take her eyes off the raven haired girl who was now wearing one of Hunter's red crop tops. The Boyd had switched with Toni and was back to wearing her brother's long sleeved jersey, but she did admit that the red suited Toni much better than it suited her.

"Trying to stay on brand, yanno?" Toni told them all as she grinned before licking the mussel in such a way that they all knew exactly what she was hinting at. Hunter rolled her eyes while the others laughed - well, everyone except Shelby anyway. "You gotta admit all right, the shape of these things..."

"Shape and texture," Leah nodded, agreeing with what Toni was suggesting.

"Yeah right? I mean, you know, it's kinda like a..."

"LIKE A PUSSY!" Nora yelled out, giving everyone a fright including Rachel who looked amazed that the words had left her sisters mouth. Everyone burst into more laughter at the sudden yell from the girl, pissing theirselves at the situation that they had ended up in.

"If you wanna know how to eat this soft, beautiful treasure, I can show you and it does not take garlic butter," Toni joked, trying to avoid looking at Hunter because she knew it was just going to make her ridiculously flustered if she did. "All it takes is finesse."

Everyone started cheering as Toni licked the mussel, clearing pretending that it was something much different than an invertebrate. Hunter chuckled from where she sat, trying to not let her thoughts wander too much as she looked at the girl in slight amusement. Fatin and Dot both smirked as they noticed how Hunter was purposely trying not to look at Toni for too long, but also how she shifted slightly in her place.

"This is the most action any of us have gotten," Fatin teased, sending a smirk towards Hunter as the blonde met her eyes. Hunter flushed a little before composing herself and rejoining in with the teasing and laughter from everyone minus Shelby.

"WOULD YOU STOP?" Shelby suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone's laughter and teasing to grind to a halt immediately as the blonde literally flinched at Toni's actions. Toni and Hunter shared an all-too-knowing look before they looked over at Shelby, knowing exactly where this was about to go.

"That was hilarious and Shelby has no chill," Dot said, trying to ease the tension that had just been cast across them all. She was well aware of Shelby's beliefs too but she had been praying that the girl didn't fall into that stereotype that the people from her church had cast.

"Excuse me, I have chill." Shelby's voice was a little colder than normal as she huffed at them all, her hands wrapped around her knees as she shot Toni a disgruntled look from the display she had just put on. "I guess I just don't see the humour in that sort of thing."

There was a slight pause as Toni went to open her mouth, but Hunter was the one to speak.

"Hey, what do you mean 'that sort of thing'?" Hunter asked, her voice a little too sharp for everyone's liking as most of them caught on to what the blonde was insinuating. Rachel and Leah exchanged a quick glance as they both understood what was happening here, knowing that this was gonna get a little messy.

"You know. Pornographic gestures," Shelby said, trying to cover what she really meant. Toni however, was on the exact same page as Hunter and knew what she was really freaked out by. "I'm a Christian, alright? From a very Christian home, so I'm allowed to be a little skeeved out."

Hunter took her fourth mussel from the pile as she watched Toni's temper rise. The blonde knew that she had a lot of mussels compared to the rest of them but she was so hungry and no-one had protested at her for taking extras so she had gone ahead.

"Get the cross out of your ass, it's fun to be filthy," Fatin said as she tried to scoop up some more of her own mussel. She hadn't caught on to the sudden fire in Hunter and Toni's eyes, but rather had just assumed Shelby was telling the truth. But she hadn't seen the way the blonde had flinched in the way that Toni and Hunter had.

"I mean, that's not all that's going on here. Don't bullshit me Shelby, cause the vibe that's coming off you right now I've felt it a few too many times not to know what it is," Toni snapped, looking to Hunter who nodded in agreement.

"What are you saying Toni?" Martha asked, suddenly annoyed at her friend for arguing with Shelby. There was a slight hesitance in her voice as she had a gut feeling at what Toni and Hunter were accusing Shelby of but she didn't want to believe them.

"I'm saying that she can't stand that I'm gay Marty," Toni snapped, not at Martha but at the situation in general. "That's what fucking skeeves her out."

"That's not true," Martha tried to brush off, before she looked over and saw the haunted look on Shelby's face. 

"Look I'll be as honest as possible because y'all deserve that," Shelby told them all, Martha's face dropping as Shelby didn't deny the accusation. Hunter scoffed as Leah tried to place a hand on her arm to keep her calm but the girl shot her a warning look before she even made contact with the skin. "I do believe that way of life is a sin."

Toni sprung to her feet immediately like Hunter had known she would, the blonde holding her breath and just praying that she didn't get violent or she just knew that all she was going to see was Riley again.

"I can't fucking believe this," Toni snarled as she threw her mussels to the floor, wanting nothing more than to launch herself at Shelby.

"I'm sorry but everything that I've ever known has taught me that. Hey look, there is no hate in my heart - for either of you," Shelby told them, addressing both Toni and Hunter in the second part of her sentence. "I just feel sorry..."

"FUCK YOU!" Toni yelled, her fists tightening at her side as she glared with nothing but pure anger at Shelby who was refusing to meet her gaze still. The rest of them were all silent in anger and disappointment at Shelby while all praying that Toni didn't attack the girl.

Just before Hunter was sure Toni was about to go for Shelby, the raven haired girl looked at where Hunter was watching her with wide eyes and instantly knew that she couldn't hurt Shelby - not for the Christian's sake but for Hunter's. She had already hurt the girl by smashing the shelter and reminding her of Riley and she wasn't going to bring back more trauma for her by attacking Shelby. Turning on her heel, Toni stormed off and round the corner of the beach as she tried to take a walk to cool off.

Hunter immediately jumped to her feet too, taking off after Toni without a second glance at the rest of them. Yeah, she was angry too but she was just worried that Toni was going to do something in her anger that would get herself hurt or worse.

"What?" Shelby asked as everyone remained silent after the two had disappeared round the rocks. "Am I not allowed to have my own beliefs?"

"Not those ones."