"And my dad. I really don't miss him at all. Whenever he was home, I tried not to be. Now I don't have to work at avoiding him."

"So being on this island is easier."

"Yeah. I guess. It's almost like a relief, not to have to deal with all that negativity. At home and at school. The drama got old."

"You do seem happier here."

Sarah gave him a narrow-eyed look. "That sounds like a nice way of saying something else."

Jonathan held his hands up in surrender. "No, not at all. I mean it. You're more relaxed. Just less ... stressed."

She stared out at the water again. "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink."

"That's weird. That's exactly what I was thinking when we were on that lifeboat."

"Thank you, Language Arts cla.s.s. I can't get that stupid poem out of my head. At least here there is a drop to drink."

"That reminds me, wanna go check the water catchers with me? We had some good rain last night, so they might be full."

Sarah shrugged. "Sure, why not."

Jonathan and Sarah moved away from the back room and climbed down to the ground. They strolled toward the rainwater catching basins that Kevin and Jonathan had rigged out of banana leaves and bamboo cups they had made.

It turned out that each bamboo pole had several cups in it. Each one of the rings that was visible on the outside was actually an internal divider that ran completely through the cane. All they had to do was make a cut just below each ring, and they instantly had a st.u.r.dy cup that would hold water. Not only were they using these cups to store water around the treehouse, they were also using the cups at mealtimes.

They arrived at the water-gathering site a couple minutes later.

"Looks like we're full. Here take some of these water bottles and fill them up from the cups."

Sarah took three bottles from Jonathan and started emptying the cups into them.

"Do you think we'll ever get off this island?" asked Sarah.

"Yes, I think so. I don't know that it'll be soon, but eventually humans will move in this direction. The planet is already suffering from overcrowding."

"Have you thought about what life will be like when we get back?"

"Not really, have you?"

"I have been lately."

"You don't sound very happy about it."

"I guess I'm not."

"That's strange."

"Why?" Sarah stopped filling up her bottle and looked at Jonathan.

"I don't know. I heard what you said earlier, and I get it; but I still can't discount how popular you were in school. You had lots of friends, a nice car, a nice house. You're beautiful. I guess, what I'm saying is, you had it all there. Why wouldn't you want to go back to having it all? Even if there's drama and stuff it's got to beat being here with just three other people and not a lot to do other than survive."

"Well, I could say the same about you."

Jonathan smiled. "That's really nice of you to say that, but you know it isn't true."

"Well, sure it is. You had friends in school. You had your own transportation, a decent house. Your parents seem pretty nice. What's not to miss?"

"First of all, comparing our lives is like comparing apples to oranges. I was invisible in that school. You were the homecoming queen. You're a supermodel, and I'm well I'm me. My friends were just as invisible as I was. Your friends are the who's who of our town. You live in a mansion, I live in a saltbox." Jonathan shook his head, not agreeing with her a.s.sessment. "There's no comparison, really."

Sarah walked over to where Jonathan was standing, filling up a water bottle.

"I've had some time to reflect on my life back at school, and I've decided after hearing you say this stuff that our lives back there were seriously effed up."

Jonathan chuckled. "In what way?"

"Well, every way really. I mean, you defined us and our positions in school by our looks and the status of our friends. It's like who we are, deep inside, really didn't matter at all. That's just ... bulls.h.i.t."

Jonathan nodded his head. Logically, what she was saying made sense, even though he knew high school life wasn't necessarily based on logic. "Go on, I'm listening."

"And your a.s.sessment of my home life is so far off I mean you have no idea. My father is a complete douchebag, and my mother is a drugged-out airhead who can't even open her mouth to protect her own children."

Jonathan stopped what he was doing and looked at her. She was staring at him intently.

"Why do you hate your father so much, and what do you mean your mother's drugged out?"

Sarah walked over and sat down on a nearby log. "My father and I have a long history of mutual loathing. When I was a little girl, I thought he was awesome; he was my dad, you know? But then, when I was about thirteen or so, he just turned into this monster. One day I was getting ready to go to school, and he didn't like what I was wearing, so he just tore into me. He actually told me I looked like a s.l.u.t. It, like, totally came out of the blue."

"Wow. That's pretty harsh."

"I know, right? No matter what I did after that day, he just wouldn't let up. Every day it was like he had a new insult for my hair, my clothes, my brains or lack of them. He used to say that someday my personality was going to get me into a lot of trouble, that no one liked people like me."

"G.o.d, what a jerk."

"No, the word is 'douchebag'. I decided after hearing his insults for years and trying unsuccessfully to change his att.i.tude towards me, that I might as well just be full-on me. When I was sixteen I told him to go suck it. That kind of sealed the deal between us."

"Holy c.r.a.p, you told your own dad to suck it?" Jonathan laughed in spite of himself. This was serious stuff, he shouldn't have laughed, but he couldn't help himself.

Sarah giggled too. "Yeah. I told him to suck it and to get off my friggin' back, only, I didn't say 'friggin'."

"Man, Sarah, you have b.a.l.l.s. What did your dad do?"

"Thank you, Jonathan. I consider the fact that I have b.a.l.l.s to be a compliment even if the idea is kinda gross. To answer your question, my dad slapped me across the face and then chased me through the house. I locked myself in my bedroom and he punched a hole in the door."

"Holy c.r.a.p, your dad isn't just a douchebag he's a psycho. What did your mom do?"

"That's the thing she did nothing. She takes pills for anxiety and stress, so whenever my dad starts being a jerk, she says she has a headache, pops some pills, and goes to bed."

Jonathan couldn't think of anything to say. He couldn't imagine what he would do if his mother was like that. He'd always just a.s.sumed she'd be there and always be, well, a mother. No wonder Sarah didn't really miss her parents.

"That's ... well ... that's just horrible Sarah. A girl should be able to count on her mother; at least, it seems like that should be the case."

"Yeah, well ... " she shrugged her shoulders.

"If you're interested, I have some thoughts on this matter that you've shared with me, but first I have another question."

"Okay, shoot."

"What does Kevin think about all of this? I mean, he seems to get along with your dad pretty well, but I can't see him just sitting there and letting all this happen to you."

"Kevin actually doesn't know about a lot of it. Most of the incidents happened when he was out of the house. My mom covers everything up, and I'm threatened with everything under the sun to keep my mouth shut. My dad is fond of reminding me that it wouldn't surprise him if I ended up breaking up the whole family."

Jonathan shook his head in sympathy. "Well, in my humble opinion, your dad has mental problems and your mom is missing some critical DNA the part that causes a mother to protect her young against dangerous predators."

Sarah smiled at him as he continued.

"Whatever happened with your dad, whatever happened at school, that doesn't change the fundamental, irrefutable facts: you're smart, you're beautiful, you're s.e.xy, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with your personality, you're just bossy. But lots of bossy women end up being chief executive officers of large, successful corporations, so I think you shouldn't look at it as a negative."

Jonathan turned around to grab another water bottle. He turned back towards Sarah as he continued to talk. "And another thi ... "

Suddenly, he found himself face to face with Sarah. She was mere inches away.

"Um, h.e.l.lo," the sweat instantly started breaking out in his armpits. "I, uh, ... "

"You just said I'm smart."

"Yeah ... because you are."

"And you said I'm beautiful and s.e.xy too."

Jonathan cleared his throat. It felt like there was a frog in it. "Ahem ... yes, I did."

"So, why don't you like me?" She raised her eyebrow, a challenge clearly being broadcast.

Jonathan felt the sweat bead up on his upper lip. Then he felt it break out on his scalp, slowly trickling down his back. He fought against stepping back for one reason, he knew that rejecting Sarah now would cause her to not believe anything he had just said, and he really did mean it. For another reason, he liked being this close to her, he just didn't have the guts to make the move himself. But for some reason, right now, in this moment, Sarah didn't seem as intimidating as usual. She seems vulnerable.

"Sarah, I do like you."

"No, I mean like me like me."

Jonathan rolled his eyes up to the heavens for inspiration. This was his moment. Now or never. Tell her now or lose her forever, like in Top Gun.

"I do like you like you." His voice raised up at the end like he was back in seventh grade when his voice cracked all the time.

Sarah got her c.o.c.ky look back on her face. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

Jonathan dropped the water bottle he had been holding, ignoring the water spilling out of it onto the ground. He gently raised his hands and placed them on her upper arms. He pulled her towards him, slowly, and as he did, he lowered his head. He moved his eyes from hers to look at her lips, and felt the heat rise up everywhere in his body.

Sarah's lips parted ever so slightly, in antic.i.p.ation. He could smell her. It was making him crazy, her salty, wind-scented skin. She was several inches shorter than him, which made him feel powerful. She was beautiful and delicate.

Jonathan knew this moment was going to be one of the most important ones of his life. His first real kiss with the most beautiful girl in the world. He could feel her breath on his mouth, a split second before his lips finally touched hers.

It was dizzying. Her whole mouth was sweet, her lips soft. This was nothing like the kiss on the cruise with that other girl whose name he couldn't even recall. This was something entirely different, intoxicating. He felt the tip of her tongue against his lips, and he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss.

She pressed closer to Jonathan's body, telling him she wanted to feel all of him. His hands moved from her arms to the middle of her back. Then they stroked down until one was on her lower back and one was pushing on her b.u.t.t. She sighed in pleasure.

Her body was exquisite. She was soft in all the right places. He could feel her b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed against his chest. He felt them rising and falling with her quickened breaths. He reached a hand around to take one in his hand. She let out a whimper, or maybe it was a moan. He didn't know what it was, only that it meant he was doing something she liked.

A crashing through the underbrush and the sound of Candi's voice snuffed out the flame that had begun to grow in an instant.

"Hey, where are you guys? Did you get that water yet? We were thinking we should go over to the ... "

Candi came through the trees into the water collection area, just in time to see Jonathan and Sarah hastily break apart. Both of them had very flushed faces and seemed very distracted. They instantly started acting very busy, collecting bottles from the ground and making excuses.

"Wow, look at that, I dropped one of the bottles. I'm so clumsy sometimes," said Sarah.

"Yep, we're done here, got all the water. Look three full bottles. That's one for each of us."

Sarah smiled nervously at Candi, looking nervous and unsure of herself.

Candi smiled. She was pretty sure she'd just broken up a serious lip lock between her brother and Sarah. It's about time the two of them worked out their differences. "Cool. Yeah, Kevin and I were saying tomorrow maybe we should go over and look into the jungle farther, see if there's any reason to put platforms up in that area. Also, Kevin thinks we should try to catch some rats one of these days. Not sure I agree with him, but ... " She trailed off, giving them an opening to start talking again. It looked like they were back on solid ground now.

Jonathan took the water bottles that Sarah was holding and gestured for her to walk in front of him.

"I think both of the ideas are good ones," said Jonathan. "Now that we have a lot of the treehouse done, at least the basics, I think we need to start planning for the platforms. And having the rats is good for testing food, like you suggested, Sarah."

"I still wish we had a monkey."

"No, you don't want a monkey. They bite and they get into trouble."

"And rats don't?"

They started walked back to the treehouse as they discussed the pros and cons of different food tasters.

"Well sure, but they don't take off fingers when they bite, and they get into little rat trouble, not nearly-human trouble."

Sarah wasn't ready to give in. "Monkeys are cuter."

"Not when they're throwing monkey poo at you, they're not."

Sarah got a disgusted look on her face. "Monkey poo? Are you kidding? Monkeys don't throw poo; you're nuts."

"No, really. Candi and I were at the zoo one time, and ... "

Candi laughed as their conversation faded in the distance she put between them, walking faster so they could be alone. She remembered that trip to the zoo, when the monkeys had started slinging monkey poo on the zoo visitors. It seemed like Jonathan's inability to stop sharing every detail of his knowledge had not turned Sarah off, if that lip-lock she caught the end of was any indication. Good for them. They're good together, even if they are a bit of an odd couple.

Actually, now that she thought about it, she realized Sarah and Jonathan weren't such an odd couple after all. Maybe in high school they were, but out here, in the real world the most real world she'd ever been in they were perfectly matched, like yin and yang. He was quiet and she was outspoken, but it worked. They had a lot of similarities too. They were both smart, both athletic, and nowadays, both pretty good looking. She had always thought Jonathan was cute, but now with his tan and growing physique, he was what most teenagers would consider pretty hot, actually. Huh. Weird.