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"All right, let's keep it moving. I wanna get to the top before sun goes down, see if we can flash a good signal." Rachel spoke as she led the group through the forest.
"If the context we're different, like... if we were on a field trip and somewhere in some parking lot a chain-smoking bus driver was waiting to take us home, I'd think this place was beautiful." Leah confessed.
Iris smiled at Leah, glad they shared the same opinion on the beautiful Island.
"I'm telling you." Shelby starts. "God does not do ugly." Iris couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face, she loved to see people passionate about things they admired. In Shelby's case, it was God.
"You thought much about college Leah?" Shelby addressed the girl.
"Not really. I've been busy with other things." Leah answered.
"What about you? Big college plans?" Shelby then asked Rachel.
"I'm already committed to Stanford." Rachel answered. Iris rose her eyebrows extremely impressed. "Their diving program is basically an Olympic pipeline."
"Cool. Will your sister go with you?" Shelby and Iris asked in usion. Smiling slightly at each other while doing so.
"No! Why does everyone ask me that?" Rachel snapped.
"Sheesh. It's just a question. Iris, what about you? Big college plans?" Shelby asked, turning around to face the brunette.
"I'm actually going to Princeton." Iris admitted. Frowning at the thought of not getting to go to the University. She was starting to lose all hope that rescue would come.
——————-
After walking for a while, Iris's feet were starting to ache and burn. She would definitely have calluses by the end of the hike. But it was nothing like what Shelby was experiencing.
"I might... I might need a little breather." Shelby struggled out. Panting and huffing.
"We're almost there." Rachel argued. Clearly annoyed.
"I don't mean a full-on siesta, just a water break. I don't want to make excuses for myself, but I did come out yesterday, and it wasn't the easiest."
"We're almost there." Rachel repeated. Getting more frustrated by the second.
"Yeah, well, almost there doesn't mean the same for you as it does for us, okay? We are... working with very different thresholds here."
Rachel turned around at Shelby's words, "Wow. That's racist."
Iris silently laughed to herself as Shelby struggled go defend herself. "What? No! No, I-I only meant because... because you're like a world class athlete. I-"
