The sun had barely risen but JJ Maybank, a piercingly blonde, incredibly goofy teen from Kildare Island, sat against the sand, creating a masterpiece. He held a ripped piece of cloth to the ground, taking a bluntly sharpened stick to the makeshift paint he created, drawing patterns along the cloth. It took him several hours, and by the time he had finished the design, the sun was fully shining down on him. It didn't bother JJ though, after a month on a deserted island in the middle of the Caribbean, no sun could do him more harm.

JJ spliced the ends of the cloth, creating ties from the ripped fabric. He passed by the quiet camp, ignoring the strange looks he received. JJ was on a mission.

The blonde boy walked casually to a leaning palm tree, the trunk of which sat close to the water's edge. He shimmed his way up the tree easily, resting against it as he tied the cloth around the trunk. In the wind, it was clear to see exactly what masterpiece the Maybank boy had created.

On the cloth was a chicken with human legs, lying casually. The chicken had slippers on its feet and a bikini top across its chest. There was a joint in its lips. The word POGUELANDIA was scribbled across the top.

Kie moved from her spot in the camp, approaching JJ's spot at the edge of the shore. "Whoo! You did it, J! Poguelandia!"

JJ screamed in response, appreciative that at least one of the pogues dared to see his work.

Kiara smiled, still cheering her reply, "It's perfect!"

John B sauntered past where Kie and JJ stood, admiring their claim to the land. The boy shook his head, attempting a look of disappointment but clearly amused. He held a collection of branches in his hands, "Alright."

The sun moved slowly. Day seemed longer on the island, and perhaps it was. If Pope was thinking clearly, rationally, in an air-conditioned room, he may have recalled that the days are in fact longer when closer to the equator. Unfortunately, no one was embracing their academic minds. Instead, the six teens were stranded on an island, clearly incapable of doing anything other than surviving.

JJ sat under a collection of palms, teaching Kiara to make spears. The two tied sharp rocks to sticks using stripped, twisted leaves to serve as their twine. It was truly primeval.

Kie wrapped the makeshift twine around the base of her stick. "If given the chance, would you want to be rescued?"

JJ laughed, it wasn't bitter or mocking. "Rescue? From what? From... From paradise?" JJ shook his head, gesturing to the beauty that surrounded him. "I'm not going back. Ever. I mean, look around. We got everything we need. Right here."

"Just like we talked about."

JJ nodded, holding a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes but was still there, genuine, "Exactly." The blonde boy thrust his stick in the air, admiring it as he stood. "How's yours looking? You ready to provide for the family?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go kill something."

Kiara stood, apprehensive of JJ's words. "You don't have to say it like that."

"Yeah... well, that's exactly what we're gonna do."

"It just sounds so barbaric, like..."

The two friends stepped into the sunlight.

"Well, that's the circle of life, Kie. Unless you want to eat coconuts forever."

Kie let a small chuckle escape her, "After the past month, I think I'm good on coconuts."

JJ and Kiara reached the edge of the water. JJ pulled the rugged tank top from his chest, flinging it to the ground. Kie simply shook her head, knotting her hair into a makeshift pony at the back of her head.

The two barely waded into the water, letting tiny waves lap their feet but not quite even letting their ankles be fully submerged.

JJ took a strong position, holding his weapon with confidence. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Kie responded, a little breathy, a little unsure.

"Alright. Today's the day. Alright, remember, watch your shadow. They see that, they're gone."

"Alright."

"Alright, here we go. Just like we practiced, alright?"

Kie nodded, a violent, not completely confident agreement.

"Alright." JJ took the lead, bending down and gesturing to something in the water. "Hey. Hey, Kie. Kie, Kie, Kie, Kie, it's a skate. It's a skate right there. You see him? He sees me! He's coming over by you."

"Alright. It's all me," Kie spoke more to herself in reassurance than anything else.

"He's coming over toward you."

"Yeah, this is me."

"This is it. This is the time."

"I can't. I really can't."

JJ tried his best to reassure Kie, but the girl chickened out, backing away from the chaos slowly. The blonde boy jumped forward, trying desperately to salvage the perfect meal, but he missed.

"Dang it. I missed it. Where is it? I missed it." JJ looked around him wildly. It was quite comical.

But no moment was more comical than the way Kie jumped to the side, swinging her homemade spear into the sand, a loud grunt sounding across the beach. The brunette held her stick up, a two-foot skatefish flopping on the end of it.

JJ laughed, impressed and completely shocked at what he saw before him.

"Oh, my God." Kie practically fell forward, giving JJ a sincere hug. She was in a bit of shock herself. It was true that Kiara Carrera had never actually killed a fish before.

JJ practically picked his friend up, excitedly shouting into the warm air, "You did it! We're having skate tonight."

Kie laughed, "Oh, shit."

"Full Pogue!"

"Yes!"

"That's food in our bellies right there." JJ cheered, truly happy. Apparently, when stranded on an island, the little things will do.

Further in the island, where the foliage was denser but not quite a forest, Pope Heyward and the mysterious, new girl wandered about.

Cleo held an arm in front of her, gently scooching a branch from her face as she talked with Pope, "So, you're telling me you had your own house, your own room, and they was gonna give you money to read books?"

"Well, it was a scholarship. And I don't know if I'd have gotten it. It's whatever now."

Pope lifted a leg, propping himself onto the same level of rocks as Cleo.

"So, you just throw it away to chase treasure with your dropout friends?"

"It wasn't just about the treasure. That cross belongs to my family. It's important to me. And I still haven't lost it."

"Better off keeping what you got than searching for something you ain't gonna find. Did Daddy ever teach you nothing? Sunken treasure. You had the real treasure in your hand, and you just let it go."

"Look, I appreciate the life lessons you're trying to teach, but I am not letting that treasure go. If not for my family's legacy, then for Dani, for her legacy. Besides, what about you, huh? You had a job on a boat, a life, I'm sure, before all of this. You gave it all up to scrounge for berries in the jungle. Just saying."

"Well, what I had wasn't better than this." Cleo threw a berry to Pope, catching him off guard. "You can't actually say the same, now, can you?"

Pope stuffed the berry in his mouth, choosing to ignore the implications of Cleo's words.

The pogues had found themselves in little groups. While Pope and Cleo were venturing through the quieter, thick island bush, and JJ and Kiara spent their time attacking fish in the island bay, Sarah Cameron sat underneath their makeshift shelter. The blonde girl twisted leaves around, creating little bowls from the way she braided dried strands together.

The activity was a bit maddening and tedious some would say, at least, it was enough to make Sarah feel as if she were going crazy.

The girl stood, a shimmer in the distance catching her eye. She barely padded closer to the shore but inched far enough that the tree that obscured her vision was no longer, well, in front of her.

"John B?" Sarah ran a hand through her hair, turning behind her to frantically search for the curly-headed teen.

"Yeah? What's up?" John B jogged beside his girlfriend, staring out at the sea, blatantly confused.

"Do you see that?"

"See what?"

"That boat."

"Boat, where?"

Sarah pointed toward the water as if it were going to automatically solve everything. "Right there! Eleven o'clock. Just under the horizon."

"I think it's just the whitecaps on the reef..."

Sarah cut him off, her hair whipping wildly in the wind and matching her frantic tone, "You don't know that. It's right there. I see it."

"Sarah, Sarah, hey, hey."

"What if it's..." The blonde girl let the sentence die on her lips.

"No. It's, it's... It's not your dad. It's not your brother. Okay? I promise" John B wrapped a comforting arm across Sarah's chest, pulling her into him.

"No, I'm sure," Sarah practically whispered, completely and unequivocally, unsure

John B dropped his lips the Sarah's hair, trying to comfort the anxious girl, "Trust me. It's okay."

No one quite knew how much of the day had passed. Time was an irrelevant concept when stranded on an island. But still, the afternoon sun was clearly blazing above the teens, prompting them to all join together in search of the shade's reprieve.

The blonde girl held her hair up against the back of her neck, allowing for the slight breeze to capture her sweat-ridden neck. "Okay. John B, your turn. Truth or dare?"

"Alright. Alright. Truth?" John B stood, holding his arms out and closing his eyes, bracing himself as if he were about to be pummeled by tomatoes.

"Truth?"

"Truth!"

Sarah tossed John B a homemade straw hat, crafted in the early days of their stranding.

"This is exciting."

John B placed the pointy, badly-made, object atop his head, and crouched down so that he could see the pogue's faces again.

Sarah thought for a moment, deciding what important truth she desired from John B. "If you could do it all again, what would you do different?"

Despite John B holding the answering cap upon his head, the others began to speak their own truths. It was clear they were all thinking of one, particular answer.

JJ dropped his eyes to the ground, a hand going to his hair, "Uh, get the gold out before Ward did. Oh, and you know, save Dani."

Pope nodded. "Maybe hide the cross a little better. Maybe keep Dani safe."

Kie dropped her head, hunching her shoulders up so she looked a bit like a goblin. It was clear that the girl's guilt was eating away at her. "Not yell murderer at Ward, maybe. Maybe, also, keep Dani with me at all times."

John B could do nothing but agree with the sentiment of his friends, "Get Dani in the lifeboat and then, uh, steal a couple of bottles of rum before we jumped?"

"Yeah, why didn't you do that, actually?"

"I don't know. Maybe 'cause I was in a fight to the death? I was a little preoccupied, JJ."

A silence settled among the teens. They had all been a little preoccupied. Clearly...

Cleo noticed the tension, clearing her throat in an effort to bring attention to her. She simply wanted to lighten the mood again. "I would look both ways before crossing the street."

The pogues could not help but laugh. They had all heard the tale of how John B had literally run Cleo over in Nassau.

John B pressed his lips together, holding a hand up sheepishly, "Yep, uh. My bad. My bad."

"Your turn, chief."

John B turned to the brunette girl beside him, placing the basket hat on the girl's head. "Alright, Kie, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Alright. Um, if you could go home to your parents' house on Figure Eight this instant would you do it?"

Sarah sat up intrigued, a hum of curiosity escaping her lips.

Kiara took a second, acting as if she were seriously considering the proposition. "Mmm. No chance."

"Seconded!"

"No chance."

"Hear! Hear! To no chance!" JJ held a busted coconut in the air.

"The shower's tempting though."

John B leaned his head back, eyes closed. "Ooh, I could use a fat shower right now."

"JJ, truth or dare?"

JJ took the hat from Kiara's hands, setting it gently on his head. "I mean, do you even need to ask?"

Kie pointed to a tall cliffside, daring JJ with her eyes. "The big jump. Nobody's done it yet. Dare."

JJ said nothing, a smirk crossing his face as he took off into the foliage behind the teens. It took a minute, but soon JJ remerged from the thick coverage. Yet this time, he stood atop the cliff, walking toward the edge and taking in the water below.

John B watched his friend in awe. "There he is."

"There he goes."

The five friends cheered loudly as they watched JJ from afar.

"Send it!"

"He's not gonna do it! He's not gonna do it."

JJ seemingly developed superhearing in his time traipsing up the cliffside. He shouted back at the teens, hardly discernable as he gestured toward the water below him, "Oh, I won't, huh?"

"No way."

"He's gonna do it."

Pope watched his friend in disbelief. "It's highly dangerous, uh, zero reward? Yeah, he's doing it."

"Do it!"

"Yeah!"

"Do it!"

JJ cheered again, once again ditching his tank top on the ground. He shuffled backward a few steps, preparing himself. And then, without fail, JJ took off toward the edge of the rugged, rocky cliff. He jumped headfirst, letting gravity and momentum do their thing, pulling him fast toward the water. Fortunately, simply for the coolness of it all, JJ was able to flip halfway, rotating his body so that his feet were the first thing to hit the ocean's teal water.

The pogues cheered, loudly, ditching their outer layers and running into the ocean to meet JJ.

"I actually thought I was gonna die."

"You looked like you were gonna die. I thought you were gonna die."

The sun soon set over the island, bringing about a peace and chilliness that seemed to be missing in the daylight. The pogues sat around a fire, roasting their skatefish on a makeshift rotisserie. It really was impressive, all the things the pogues had accomplished in the month spent fending for themselves. Even with the wind howling around them, the lack of fresh water, prepared food, toilet paper... the teens had made a decent home.

JJ stared into the fire, talking to no one in particular, in fact, maybe JJ was talking to the fish skewered on a stick and spinning above the fire, "Mm-mmm. That's what I'm talking about now. Freshly caught."

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Surprise!

<3 lillian