HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER FIVE !

THE NEXT FEW DAYS came and went faster than everyone had expected and yet, no rescue team had found them yet. Though none dared to speak it, fear of not being found was beginning to settle in amongst the group. As more time passed and not a single sound of a passing helicopter searching for them or calls of people scanning the forest for them, it was becoming hard to keep up hope.

   A decision had been made to bury the deceased. From the blistering heat from the sun beaning down accelerating decomposition and therefore the horrid smell, to the attraction of the wild animals, they needed to bury everyone they had lost.

   Not far from the crash site, a series of small graves were dug allowing each person to be buried. They had just finished filling in each hole with dirt before placing a broken piece of the plane on top of each grace as a marker of sorts.

"Before we took off, I heard Rachel say that she was going to see Oasis at the Meadowlands next month. She was really excited." Van informed everyone. A sense of sadness emitted from the young redhead as she spoke. "And she's never gonna hear 'Wonderwall' again."

Laura Lee glanced around briefly at everyone. "Come on. Let's join hands. We'll pray for them." She finally suggested with what she hoped was a comforting smile.

Everyone quickly grabbed onto the closest sets of hands to them. For Nola that was Javi and Taissa.

   Once everyone joined hands, Laura Lee began to speak. "Rachel, you just moved up from JV so we didn't really know you. But, in Trig, you never confused your secants and your cosecants. You seemed really smart. Anyone else?"

"I saw her carrying a flute case once." Van spoke up again, causing many sets of eyes to glance her way. Nola couldn't help but send Van a look of pity. She was clearly taking everything harder than expected.

"Oh Lord, please accept Rachel Goldman into your arms so that she may fill your kingdom with music." Laura Lee closed her eyes as she began her prayer. The more religious of the lot followed suit.

"Please accept Coach Martinez into your glory too and flight attendant Janet, Pilot Robert, Pilot Fred. Even though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death, take them to your kingdom, Father and reunite them with your love."

    "The Lord is my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is my strength, whom shall I fear?" Laura Lee uttered as she finished up her prayer.

    "I'm going for a walk." Taissa announced as she released her hold on Nola's hand before turning on her heel and walking off. They watched her as she went further into the trees.

    "Should she really go off on her own?" The Rilke girl asked in concern while looking around at everyone. She wondering if it was smart for the Turner girl to go into the forest alone. What if she got lost? "Maybe someone should follow her?"

Van shook her head. "She'll be fine. Let's just give her some space." Was all she said with a half smile before walking away.

   With one last look over at the direction Taissa ventured and unaware of the flecks of jealously painted across Shauna's face, Nola let out a sigh then followed behind everyone else back to their makeshift campsite. They all sat down on the ground, staring down at the pitiful collection of food and water that they had left.

Mari took in the sight before her. "This is all we have?" She questioned in disbelief.

    "Yeah, we gotta ration." Van declared with a frown. She couldn't believe the situation they were in. Very quickly their food and water had dwindled down, leaving them with very little left.

    "Okay. Cut them." The Palmer girl instructed as she handed over food to Shauna for her to cut with a knife. Van then handed over a bottle of water to Mari. "Split this water."

   Shauna got to work slicing the food up, handing over a piece to Jackie with a little half smile. "Here, close your eyes and pretend it's bacon."

"Don't spill any." Mari stated as she poured water from their supply into small plastic cups held tightly by Akilah and Crystal.

The poison ivy that had been growing along Jackie's leg the last day or so continued to itch, causing the blonde to scratch. Her movement was quickly stopped by Shauna who warned, "Hey, Misty said don't scratch. It can get infected."

   Nola couldn't help but smile at her girlfriend. "Kinda easier said than done, Shauna. You remember what it was like to have Chicken Pox? Non-stop scratching even though you weren't suppose to." Short burst of laughter emitted from the group at the comparison of poison ivy to Chicken Pox.

While smiling at Nola's words, Jackie continued to scratch at her leg. "Yeah, if poison ivy's what kills me out here, then I deserve to die."

   Within seconds of Jackie finished her sentence, all of them (minus Natalie) were consumed with frustration as they watched Travis bulldoze past them, grab food from the pile and begin to walk off.

Lottie glared up at the boy in disbelief as he walked away. "Uh, maybe you didn't notice, but we're kind of in a situation here, Flex."

"Don't." Natalie swiftly snapped.

"Who died and made him King of snacks?" Lottie softly uttered, her eyes widening slightly as she turned to glance back down at the food pile.

   Natalie shot the brunette an incredulous look. "His dad, Lottie. Literally his fucking dad." She huffed out in defence of the Martinez boy.

From where she sat, Jackie nodded her head. "Nat's right. We should cut him some slack." Her words confused Nola greatly.

"Wait, I'm confused. Why should we?" Nola suddenly spoke up, capturing the others attention. All of their heads turned to face her as she sighed. She knew what she was about to say would garner some negative reactions.

After taking a sparing glance Natalie's way, Nola then opened her mouth again. "Last I checked, we're all in the same boat. Coach Martinez died and that's horrible, I can only imagine how Travis and Javi feel. But that means Travis gets to do what he wants while the rest of us starve to death?"

Perhaps she was over the line but she didn't care. Travis has been an asshole long before the crash and his dad's death. His nasty attitude toward them didn't appear overnight, he'd always been this way. Now, he just had a proper excuse to be a dick.

Plus, Nola couldn't stand the way in which Natalie had become Travis' cheerleader, fighting for him every time he did something the rest didn't like. It was frankly a little pathetic, if she was being honest. She also chose to ignore the glare from the blonde, who sat shooting daggers Nola's way.

Mari couldn't help but agree as she sarcastically said, "Yeah, I guess it's fine if we all starve to death as long as Travis's feelings are okay."

"We're not gonna starve to death." Jackie insisted with a smile. Her shoulders shrugged as she then said, "Okay, when the rescue team gets here—"

"If it gets here."

A sigh fell from Jackie's chapped lips as she uttered, "Don't say that."

   Silence fell over the group briefly as they all contemplated on what to say next. No one had been brave enough so far to breach the topic of possibly not being saved.

   Finally, Shauna decided to speak up, "I mean, it has been three days." Her shoulders shrugged slightly as she spoke, the girl refusing to glance Jackie's way to avoid her continuing hopeful stare.

"They're coming. They're coming." Jackie's attempts to assuage everyone's nerves did very little. The suffocating fear that they many never be rescued still loomed in the air, slowly but surely wrapping around their necks and squeezing them free of air.

"Guys!" All of their heads turned in the direction of the voice. Running up to them was an out of breath Taissa Turner. "Guys, there's a lake! There's a lake. I saw it from that hill. It looks about four or five miles away."

"Do you think we can hike it?" Shauna asked as she rose from the forest floor, her hands absentmindedly brushing away the small stones and dirt that clung to her clothes.

"It's pretty rocky, but yeah." The Turner girl explained with a half smile. She really believed they could do this and with their water running out fast, they had to do this.

Immediately Jackie also stood up, stumbling to her feet as she uttered, "Uh, we-we can't...we can't just leave."

"We've got two days of water, tops." Taissa replied. She spoke the truth. They needed water most of all, what would happen when they ran out? "And then what? Just sit around and die?"

"What if the rescue team comes?"

"Do you think they're taking their time on purpose?" Taissa couldn't help but shake her head at Jackie's words. Why hadn't the reality set in yet for her like it had many of the others? Rescue may never come. "If they knew where we were, they would be here already."

The team captain shook her head. "You don't know that."

Laura Lee, who had remained quite quiet the entire time, suddenly turned to face Coach Scott. "What do you think, coach?"

   The man slowly struggled to push himself into a sitting position. "I don't-I don't know. I mean, you'd have to leave me behind. I guess, or whatever." What could he really say? It wasn't as if he could ask the girls to forgo the chance of fresh water simply to keep him company.

Ready with an idea, the Turner girl spoke once again. "We could make you a stretcher."

"Oh, okay." Jackie scoffed at the suggestion. As if they would be able to carry the man four or five miles away.

"Seriously, if we take turns carrying it—"

Unable to accept the reality of their situation, the Taylor girl didn't hesitate to snap, "No! This-this is bullshit. I say no. Okay? No way."

"Let's put it to a vote." Taissa suggested, her words pleasant though her features insistent. They were voting whether Jackie liked it or not. "All in favour of waiting here."

A couple of people, Jackie included, rose their hands up in the air.

"All in favour of the lake." Again people rose their hands, this time including both Shauna and Nola. The fact that both her friends had voted against her, well and truly pissed Jackie off. "Then it's settled. Grab your shit."

As hurt began to paint itself across Jackie's face, Nola quickly walked over to her friend. She didn't want to hurt Jackie but siding with her solely because of their friendship just wasn't something Nola could bring herself to do.

While Jackie bent down to grab her things, Nola quietly said, "Jackie, look. I'm sorry but it makes the most sense. If we don't die of starvation, it'll be dehydration that gets us. We need to get to that lake."

Though her words made sense, Jackie found it impossible to bring herself to look at her friend. Instead, she grabbed her things and walked away with nary a glance in Nola's direction, leaving the brunette standing alone and feeling like a bad friend.

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   HAGGARD GASPS FOR AIR broke through the otherwise silent forest as the group made their way up the hill. They had been walking for ages, their legs growing incredibly weary and weak with each step. A stretcher had been built for the coach allowing them to bring the man with them, stopping every now and again to swap out who struggled with carrying him.

At this point in time, Nola had been clutching onto the stretcher for at least an hour and a half. Her legs were close to giving in as her knees buckled and the muscles in her arms burned and ached as though they had been doused in hellfire.

A grunt escaped from Natalie as she pushed herself up the hill. "This shit is way longer than four miles. What if we missed it?" She asked worryingly, afraid they had been heading in the wrong direction.

Taissa glanced around briefly before staring up at the sun that had slowly began to set. "From the angle of the sun, it looked just left of due north."

"God, I forgot. When did you become a Girl Scout again, Tai?" Nola sarcastically quipped at the Turner girl, though it came out in a series of grunts and pants as she hiked further ahead.

"Right around the same time your friendship with Jackie expired." Taissa didn't hesitate to bite back with a smirk as she turned to briefly look at the brunette. She enjoyed watching the Rilke girl struggle.

"You know things are starting to get back to normal when those two start arguing. I swear, it's like you guys are always going at each other." Mari laughed as she spoke. It certainly wasn't news that Taissa and Nola fought constantly.

Nola couldn't help but laugh along as she knew everything said was true. "Seriously though, imagine if we're actually walking in the complete opposite direction of the lake."

"Oh shit! Oh hell yeah, bitches!" Van suddenly cheered causing everyone to glance over at her. Her hands threw up high in the air as she began to race ahead. "Come on, let's go."

Their eyes locked on to the redhead as she ran. The sight of a beautiful lake just ahead caused bursts of joyous laughter to break out amongst the group. As though the pain had subsided, everyone gained a new lease of life as they rushed forward, everyone desperately to dive in.

Van shed herself of her shirt and pants before splashing gleefully in the water. Her voice was dripping with happiness as she yelled out, "Guys come in! It feels fucking great!"

After helping place Coach Ben on the ground, Nola was quick to strip herself free of her plaid shirt and jeans and follow behind everyone else as they sprinted into the lake. A gasp fell from her lips at the freezing temperature of the water, though it was welcomed greatly as they had been desperate to cool down.

A splash of cold water enveloped Natalie, thanks to Travis. "Asshole." She splashed back at him, watching with intrigue as he swam further out into the lake.

"Is Travis actually hot?" Mari asked as she and Jackie stepped up to stand alongside the Scatorccio and Rilke girl respectively. Jackie kept her distance from Nola however, something that didn't go unnoticed.

Jackie stared at Mari and Natalie in disbelief. "It's been three days. You guys can't be that desperate."

Nola shifted her gaze back and forth between the drenched Martinez boy and the two girls who leered after him. She didn't see what they saw and couldn't understand the sudden attraction. Had isolation seriously gotten to them that fast? "Gross."

With a final glance of disgust at the girls, Nola took the initiative to head over to Shauna, who had been absentmindedly floating in the water. She quickly stood on her feet once she noticed Nola heading her way, staring at the Rilke girl while her hands wrung together.

"Hey." Nola greeted with a small smile.

"Hi." Shauna muttered back, the girl following Nola as she lead her further out into the water and away from the others. A little privacy was some times necessary plus no one seemed to notice. "You having fun?"

A shrug of the shoulders and a small lift of the corner of her mouth spine volumes. "Somewhat. I've missed you." Nola admitted, feeling a little embarrassed by how easily she came to miss the girl despite being around her all the time.

"Yeah?"

  "Yeah, I never realised how much time we truly spent alone together until we were constantly surrounded by other people and unable to do anything but talk." The Rilke girl said.

A calming silence fell over the pair as they simply looked at one another for a moment, the sounds of their friends cheers falling in deaf ears. This moment was theirs and they planned to savour it the best they could.

"I really want to kiss you." Nola spoke honestly, reaching out her hand and seeking out Shauna's under the water.

A little laugh fell from Shauna's lips. She admired how willing Noam was to admit it and frankly, she found it kind of adorable. Adopting a suggestive tone and giving a gentle squeeze of the hand, she uttered, "How about we take a walk later?"

The suggestion would go unanswered for the time being as they were interrupted mere seconds later.

"Guys!" Their attention was suddenly captured by a yell from Lottie. Everyone turned to look her way, watching as she pointed ahead. "Look."

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter five. not proofread.
so they've found the lake and the cabin is next plus we're starting to see some flickers of jealousy from Shauna even though we all know what she did. but also a fun little moment between her and nola. anyway hope you enjoyed :)