gold rush [the wilds, toni shalifoe]

chapter 7

Toni turned to Dot with a scowl on her face, trying to hide the fact that she had been caught out. She rolled her eyes as the Texan laughed on the ground, refusing herself to crack a smile knowing that Dot was completely right and kinda funny too.

____

"Fuck, I miss my socials," Fatin sighed as she held on to her broken phone. Nora, Shelby, Hunter and herself had waddled out to the sea to try and give themselves a little bath since they'd almost been stranded a week now and it wasn't like they had access to a shower.

"Feels strange to say this, but I sort of don't," Shelby admitted, holding the soap dispenser in her hand as Nora and Hunter waddled beside her in the water. 

"Oh come on, the fans, the haters, the memes, the thirst traps" Fatin said, rolling her eyes in disbelief at Shelby. "It's all happening somewhere, but... without us."

"You know what my daddy always says when he thinks I'm looking at my phone too much?" Shelby said, Fatin and Hunter sharing a quick look before turning around to look at the religious teen. Hunter didn't mean to be disrespectful, but there was only so much about Jesus and God she could listen to before losing her mind. "He says, 'you'll never spot a rainbow if you're looking down'."

"Uh," Nora interrupted, surprising the other three as she usually didn't speak much unless it was to ofter some wisdom or something intelligent. "Except that people are always posting rainbow pics on Instagram."

Hunter chuckled, taking off her t-shirt and standing in just her bikini top as she scrubbed at some of the dirt on her body. "You make an excellent point, Nora."

Fatin laughed at the other girl, surprised too that Nora had spoken up and actually said something that wasn't serious for once. It certainly was a welcome change, one that they could all get used to: much like the change in Hunter bathing with them instead of going herself like she had been before now.

"Can I get my soap? Time for a quick whore bath," Fatin asked Shelby, holding her hand out for the bottle of soap they had all been sharing. The blonde raised an eyebrow while Hunter and Nora laughed slightly, knowing exactly what Fatin meant.

"Excuse me, what is a whore bath?" Shelby asked, letting out a surprised chuckle at the name with zero idea of what was about to happen.

"Just the pits, tits and slits," Nora said slightly awkwardly as she submerged her body into the water. All three girls burst into laughter as they looked at the girl, knowing that this was a sign that she was starting to come out of her shell.

"You're lowkey very edgy, aren't you?" Fatin asked, laughing as she decided she actually kinda liked Nora when she wasn't hanging out around Rachel in silence. 

"Wait, why do I feel like I'm being ganged up on?" Shelby asked, before turning to look at Hunter who had been mostly silent. "Are you hearing this? What the HELL IS TOUCHING ME?"

Just before Hunter could reply, Shelby let out a squeal and rushed forward through the water, accidentally tripping and stumbling into the Boyd girl. Everyone heard their yelling from on shore, turning around and watching as Shelby tripped and caused her and Hunter to go splashing backwards into the water. 

"Fuck, Hunter!" Fatin swore as Shelby jumped up from the water, unsure whether or not she should reach out and help the girl back to her feet since she still seemed very against contact with the other girls. 

Hunter shook her head, water droplets clinging to her face as she stood back up, shaking slightly from a mix of trauma and coldness before plastering a small smile on her face and trying to calm her breathing.

"It's okay," she muttered, the smile on her face not doing very well to convince the others that it was okay but at the same time showing them all how much she had progressed since the first few days on the island. She would have screamed and cried had this happened during the first three days, but six days in and they were starting to notice the smallest of changes.