"He kissed Astrid?" All I do is nod, and Minho's jaw drops. "Is that why he's sitting with her?"

"Probably," I say.

"That brat." He shakes his head in disapprovement. "When did it happen?"

"Yesterday."

"Where's Braedyn?"

"In his cabin. He's with Thomas, who is making sure Newt stays as far away from him as possible."

"As he should," Minho says, nodding at our friend's sympathy.

"I've got an idea," I say suddenly, probably louder than necessary. Minho jumps in surprise, dropping his fork as he flinches.

"What is it?" Minho asks, picking his fork back up.

"We take Braedyn to get ice–cream with us," I say.

I'm getting mint chocolate chip.

Minho nods. "Which ice–cream place?"

"The one by the beach," I answer.

He pauses before asking another question. "When do we go?"

"You sure are asking a lot of questions," I comment, chuckling. "But I don't know. Anytime?"

He nods. "Alright. Should we invite anyone else?"

An idea sparks in my mind. "Pass me your phone."

"What?" He cocks his head.

"Pass me your phone," I repeat the command. "I'm going to text Brenda. Braedyn seems to get along well with her, he'll want her to come."

Nodding, he gives me his phone.

I stare at it for a second before looking up at him in confusion. "Why is this your contact name for her?"

He shrugs. "She is kind of a mini–Thomas."

"Not really," I mutter, my gaze fixating on his phone.

Mini–Thomas

7:23 am

You

Heyyyyy!

Brenda, it's me, Whit

Mini–Thomas

Hiii

What's up?

You

Caught Newt kissing Astrid

So Braedyn is upset

Mini–Kater

Whattt!!

You

Yeah, so do you want to come get ice–cream with us?

Mini–Thomas

I would never turn down ice–cream

So ofc

You

Alright

Meet you on the beach at eight?

Mini–Thomas

Yep, okay

Cya!

You

Bye!

I turn the phone off and grin as I pass it to Minho. "She's meeting us on the beach at eight."

He nods. "Alright. Should we invite Thomas as well."

"Yeah, sure."

"Let's go."

We get up and put our dishes away. We then leave the main hall and head straight for Braedyn's cabin.

When we reach the door, I hesitate to knock, but do anyway.

"Who is it?" Thomas asks from inside the cabin.

"Me and Minho," I answer. "Can we come in?"

He pauses, and I can guess that he's asking Braedyn. Soon, he says, "Come in."

My hand shifts to the door handle and I twist it, pushing the door open as I step inside.

"Hey." I crouch down, wrapping my arms around my best friend. "How are you doing?"

"Horrible," he croaks, his cheeks stained with tears, his eyes glassy.

"Well, come on." I reach out and softly take his hand in mine. "Let's go get ice–cream. I already told Brenda."

Braedyn looks up at me. "Really?"

I give him the most comforting smile I can manage. "Really. Come on."

I lead them all to the beach, which is luckily empty; most people are actually doing their daily activities. We are not.

"We'll wait for Brenda before having ice–cream," I say, sitting down on one of the rocks by the sea. "Is that okay?"

Braedyn nods, sitting down beside me.

"Hey," I whisper, wrapping my arm around his shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

He shrugs. "Amazing," he replies sarcastically, his voice low. "As you could obviously guess. But why Astrid?"

I shake my head. "Trust me, I don't even have a clue."

"And why did he act like he liked me?" Braedyn continues. "Yet he didn't, did he?"

I sigh. "Braedyn, stop. You're going to make it worse."

Tyler is making everything worse.

"Newt already made it the worst," he replies, shrugging one shoulder.

No, Tyler did. Or will.

"If you say so," I respond.

"Hey guys!" We all turn to see Brenda. "Have you guys gotten ice–cream yet, or were you all waiting for me?"

"We waited," Thomas answers blankly.

"Aw, I'm so special," she jokes. "Let's go, then."

I stand up, my arm still around Braedyn's shoulder, and we walk together towards the ice–cream stand.

"Hey there, kids," the worker greets us with a raspy voice. "What ice creams are y'all after?" Unlike the younger one from our girls' night out, this worker is much older, so I doubt there'll be any flirting. Compared to the younger worker with Astrid.

I glance at Braedyn, signalling for him to order first.

"Um, I'll have a... waffle cone with cookies and cream, uh, please," he stammers, face turning a shade of red, eyes darting everywhere possible. He clears his throat before repeating his order. "I'll have a waffle cone with cookies and cream, please."

The worker nods, eyes switching to Brenda. "And you?"

Brenda grins. "I'll have a waffle cone with two scoops."

"What flavours?"

"Pistachio and chocolate."

"Please," Thomas adds for her, earning himself a roll of his sister's eyes.

The worker taps a couple of buttons onto his tablet. "Alright. You?"

Minho and Thomas both order a waffle cone with one scoop of cookie dough ice–cream. Then it's me. I already know what I'm going to get.

"Mint chocolate chip," I tell the worker. "Please."

The worker nods. "The total comes up to $18.95. Who's paying?"

I don't have enough money. And I never have had money.

For some reason, all of our eyes immediately land on Thomas.

"Why me?" He throws his hands in the air. "Brenda literally got the biggest ice–cream."

I glance at his sister, and by reading her facial expression I can tell she doesn't mind paying. In fact, she's already doing so.

"Thank you," the rest of us say in unison.

"You're wel—"

"Kids!" We all twist around to see Mr Vince running as he screams at kids. "I'm not even mad at you for getting ice–cream right now, just go into a cabin. Any cabin. Hurry!"

"Wait, why?" I question, heart racing faster by the second.

"There's a man on the island."