Day Nine
The rest of the afternoon passed without much drama. The same, however, couldn't be said for the evening.
It had started as a joke from Fatin, which had lead into a challenge by Toni and curated into a full-scale competition by Leah who was desperate to try and take her mind off of the paranoid that was beginning to fester in her head.
"Hey," Fatin said to all the eight other girls as they all sat around the small camp fire, the sun slowing starting to go down. They probably had an hour or so until it started to set, and it didn't exactly feel like rescue was coming anytime soon. "Who do you think is the most athletic: Toni, Hunter or Rachel?"
That's when it truly started.
Rachel, naturally, had immediately scoffed before answering herself. Toni had abstained from voting, declaring that while she was fit she certainly wasn't as athletic as Hunter and Rachel were. Sure, Toni liked to go on runs as a way of working her anger out but Hunter had ran for at least an hour every day since the crash and Rachel was always doing sit ups or planks when she had time free.
These answers would have been fine of course, had Hunter not declared that she probably could give Rachel a run for her money. Cheer meets weren't just pom-poms and chants, but rather extreme amount of skill that required not just power and precision but the upmost flexibility and dedication. Rachel had immediately brushed her to the side thinking that she was joking, and while Hunter didn't necessarily take offence to that, she wanted the girl to take her seriously. Sure, Hunter wasn't going on to win any gold medals anytime soon but she wasn't going to let all of her hard work get shoved aside.
"You could always battle royale it out," Toni said, everyone shooting her a look to shut up. Their last battle royale event that Toni had participated in had ended up with her smashing up the second shelter, but the girl knew that they'd all get over it soon enough. Did it hurt that Martha seemingly wanted nothing to do with her? Of fucking course it did, but she knew Marty would come around. She had to.
"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Leah said, looking between the girls with a slight fire in her eyes. "Guess we can't believe either of you until we've seen it with our own eyes."
Rachel had instantly rose to the challenge, feeling the need to win coursing through her veins from the second Leah opened her mouth. Hunter was just looking for a way to pass the time, something that would help take her mind off her life before the island. Admitting to Toni had taken a weight off of her shoulders, but she still felt like she was suffocating in some weird sense. Hunter knew exactly how to make the weight on her shoulders lighter, but she just didn't know if she was ready to do it yet.
Shelby and Martha had devised the rules of their challenge, with the help of Dot who made sure that everything was strictly safe for them. Nora had made the good point that they wouldn't be able to judge it based on one thing, so they had devised a small mini-triathlon for the two girls to complete. Hunter was sure herself and Rachel could have done a much bigger task but since they only had an hour maximum before the sun began to set, she figured it was probably for the best.
The first part was what she knew she would excel in: running from one marker (a broken heel that Fatin found at the bottom of her case) to the other (the burnt remains of Leah's once beloved book, RIP). Hunter was almost on the track team before she decided to cheer instead, and she knew from having watched Rachel run over the past 9 days that the girl simply didn't have the technique that she had. The second task was more of a fair field: 30 push-ups. Hunter knew she was good at push-ups, but after having seen Rachel do them all the time she knew that it would be a hard competition to beat.
The third and final part of their challenge was the part that Hunter knew would either scrape a win for her or completely ruin her chances. They were swimming out to this one large rock that poked out in the sea, and back. Hunter knew that Rachel was an extremely qualified diver which meant she was pretty much a water baby, while the blonde very rarely swam. It wasn't something that any of her friends really did.
"You ready to go?" Toni asked her as she hovered next to where Hunter was tying her laces, her shoes now a little more tattered than they had been at the start of their time on the island. Hunter looked up, nodding before she realised Toni had changed clothes.
The red top that she had changed into after her basketball top had been ruined form the sinkhole was gone, and in its place was a very familiar long sleeved top. Her eyes widened for a second before furrowing her brow as she looked at the top in confusion.
"Where did you get that?"
Toni shrugged as she looked at it, before looking back up at the girl in confusion. "It was in the pile of suitcase clothes you and Fatin gave us all. How come?"
"It's Hudson's. I didn't even realise I packed it," Hunter said, her eyes skimming over the material as Toni instantly felt like she had overstepped some invisible boundary.
"Oh shit," Toni rushed, her hands grappling at the base of the top as she went to tug it over her head. "I can take it off..."
Hunter chuckled ever so slightly, her hand shooting out to grab on to Toni's wrists and stop her from taking the shirt off. Across the beach, Fatin and Dot nudged each other as they noticed the interaction. It was as if something had changed between the two since they had gone to get the wood and foliage that morning and everyone was desperate to know the gossip. Toni looked up at Hunter in surprise, uncurling her fingers from the material that she had been so ready to pull off.
"Toni, it's fine," Hunter laughed before rubbing her thumb subconsciously on Toni's wrist that she still had clenched. "Besides, you look good in it."
Toni rolled her eyes as she tried to hide how flustered she had gotten. The girl was usually so much smoother than this and here she was getting flustered over something she didn't even know if it was flirting or not.
"Wow, touching me twice in one day?" Toni joked, motioning to where Hunter was still holding her wrists. As soon as the words left her mouth, Toni instantly regretted them as she wasn't sure how the girl was going to take it. Sure, her coping mechanism for a lot of stuff was either with extreme anger or misplaced humour but she didn't know Hunter well enough to have assumed that.
However, her instant fear faded as Hunter laughed as she moved away from Toni. The girl continued to wear a huge smile on her face as she turned back around to look at the girl with a hint of mischief in her eyes.
"Keep looking so damn good in my clothes and maybe I'll do it again," Hunter said with a wink before turning around and rolling her eyes as she listened back to what she had just said. In her head, it sounded so much smoother especially since she hadn't considered that it was technically Hudson's top and not her own. She knew Toni was gay, but she wasn't sure if Toni was aware of her bisexuality or if the girl had just chosen to never mention it. Regardless, Hunter blushed as she headed to where Rachel and the others were waiting to start their competition.
If she had looked back, she'd have seen the huge grin that spread across Toni's face once she realised what the girl had said. There was a lot about Hunter Boyd that Toni had yet to figure out but she knew that in that moment the one important question to the girl had been answered: Hunter fucking Boyd WAS flirting with her after all.
____
Hunter had finished the running portion of their race quicker than Rachel which they'd all anticipated. She'd managed to therefore get a head start for their 30 push-ups, but it wasn't long before her arms were getting tired while Rachel kept it consistent.
Dot had been counting for Rachel's reps while Leah did the same for Hunter and it was becoming closer and closer as Rachel managed to finish her 30 reps only a few seconds behind Hunter. The blonde however didn't waste any time, and was stripping down into one of Fatin's bikinis and launching herself into the cold sea as soon as she had finished her own 30 reps.
While Hunter knew Rachel would swim in her own clothes, the blonde also knew that if she wanted any chance at beating Rachel then she needed to make sure she was as aerodynamic as possible (without taking it too far and going completely nude). The seven girls watching from the campfire laughed loudly at her antics, truly not having expected her to do that at all.
Toni had really been hoping that Hunter would win, but it was apparent within five seconds of the girls being in the water that they weren't going to have the outcome she and the blonde wanted. Rachel was like a rapid torpedo, shooting through the waves as she almost immediately overtook Hunter before they even reached the big rock.
It was hard for the girls to see the two swimmers before they even reached the rock, with the visibility having gotten a lot worse as the sun had began to set over the water meaning that they all had to squint to even try and catch a glimpse at the girls. It didn't really matter though, as it was only ten seconds or so before Rachel had passed the other side of the boulder and was almost at the finish marker they had drawn in the sand.
Toni was still squinting as she tried to make out where Hunter was, her eyes scanning the water as they teared up slightly from looking so close to the sun. She was assuming that Hunter must have been ridiculously slow compared to Rachel since she still hadn't came back into their line of sight.
Or she had been anyway, until Rachel skidded to a half as she touched the sand, her ears obviously having picked up something that none of the seven girls at the camp fire could have heard. They all rose to their feet slightly as Rachel did a 180, turning and diving right back into the water. Everyone rushed forward, shouting out and asking what was wrong but they all knew in their gut that something wasn't right with Hunter.
Before they all knew it, Rachel was dashing towards them and supporting Hunter through the water. It didn't take someone with 2020 vision to notice how the water was slightly red around them - not hugely like a shark attack or anything, but enough to be noticeable. Rachel was yelling out Toni's name, the basketball player not hesitating as she ran through the shallow part of the water and grabbed on to Hunter, swinging her other arm over her shoulders as they pulled her out of the water and on to the beach.
"What's wrong with her?" Martha asked as the rest of them caught up, panting slightly from how quickly they'd all sprinted over.
Rachel pointed to her calf, pulling off her own t-shirt and pressing it down against the bleeding gash across it. Fatin visible gagged at it, not having expected to see the other girls calf shredded to bits all from a simple game that they had decided to play. Dot immediately dropped to her knees, shouting out to Nora to bring over the pilot supplies they had found previously.
Hunter wasn't saying much, but her eyes were squeezed shut as she moaned in pain. Toni had lifted her head so that it was laying in the girl's lap, something that didn't go unnoticed by everyone else either. It seems that the angry time bomb they had living with them had a severe soft spot for their resident cheerleader, and it seemed that Hunter obviously trusted her a lot since she was letting her do it without yelling or flinching - even if she was injured.
"What the fuck happened?" Leah asked, her eyes wide as Dot poured something on the girl's leg, causing Hunter to grip Toni's arm tightly and yell out louder in pain. "Did something attack her?"
"Nah," Rachel panted, still out of breath from how quickly she had been swimming and from having to go back and help Hunter through the water. "I think she got it caught on the underside of that rock, it was fucking sharper than it looks!"
Nora patted her sisters back slightly, a little awkwardly before looking down at where Hunter was crying into Toni's lap. None of them could imagine the feeling of it, but they knew that Hunter would be able to survive this since it didn't seem to have gone too deep.
"Okay, it's not as bad as it looks," Dot tried to calmly tell them all, wiping away at the excess blood on her leg as the others gathered round. "It's mostly a few scrapes that'll stop bleeding within the next five or ten minutes, but there is this kinda bigger one here that we'll need to wrap for now."
Considering Dot was the only one out of them who hadn't known CPR when they first arrived on the island, there was some irony in how much she seemed to know about literally everything else to do with survival. Toni looked down as Hunter looked up at her, the girls eyes searching Toni's as she tried to hold back another yell as Dot started to wrap the gash.
Yeah, that was the last time Hunter tried to prove she was more athletic than a diver.
_____
Everyone had mostly given the girl her space for the rest of the evening, before everyone moved back to the shelter for the end of the night. Toni had pretty much stuck to her side, trying to fuss over the girl no matter how many times she said she was fine. Besides, Dot had kinda given her enough painkillers that Hunter doubted she'd ever be able to feel pain again in her life. It was almost soothing but rather unnerving to the girl.
As Toni moved away from Hunter's side to help Shelby and Dot collect some water from the waterfall before it became completely dark out (much to Toni's disgust that Shelby was also going with her and Dot), Fatin took this as her opportunity to slide into place beside the young cheerleader and find out exactly what was going on with her and the basketball player.
"So, did you fuck?"
"Excuse me?" Hunter gasped, turning to face Fatin with amusement and confusion spread across her face. Of course she knew exactly who Fatin was talking about, but it still amazed her at how brutally honest and forward the other girl was. "No, we did not."
"At least a little PG-13 touching? Kissing?"
"No Fatin, we did not even kiss," Hunter told her, trying to keep her voice low. "Shut up, everyone can probably hear you anyway!"
"Nah, they can't."
"Yes we can," everyone echoed from around the shelter and the fire, causing Fatin to erupt into laughter. Hunter tried to pretend to be angry at the other girl before she too was laughing, until eventually everyone else was in fits of laughter too. It felt good to laugh, especially since they had been scared originally that Hunter was going to need her leg amputated or something. Honestly, they were all just thankful they didn't need to deal with a shark attack or something else that seemed impossible to them.
"What's so funny?" Shelby asked as the trio appeared with the water they'd set off to get, a grin on her face as she took in the positive atmosphere they'd came back to. She had kind of been expecting a less positive attitude that night after Hunter's injury but everyone seemed in some of the best spirits since they'd all met.
"Long story," Leah said, covering up for Hunter as Toni looked at them all in confusion. Hunter smiled at her appreciatively before everyone started to pile into the small shelter, the blonde sitting the furthest into the shelter which surprised the rest of them since she'd usually sleep at the very entrance so that she wouldn't be touching any of the others.
Just as everyone was able to sleep - minus Dot who had offered to take the first watch since they were all worried there were wild animals on the island after Jeanette's body being nowhere to be found - Martha's voice broke the silence with a timid but curious statement directed towards Hunter.
"You're not as jumpy about us touching you anymore, Hunter," Martha thought out loud, causing Rachel's eyes to bulge at how slightly insensitive it was for the girl to just announce considering it was the first night that Hunter was properly in the shelter with them.
"Martha," Leah muttered lowly, shaking her head in a mirror image of Rachel. The last thing they wanted before sleep was to spook Hunter and cause her to disappear again.
"It's okay," Hunter spoke, her voice soft and calm which surprised them all. "She's right."
Toni felt how Hunter tender up slightly beside her, taking a deep breath as she looked around at their curious gases and prepared to tell them something that she never really had planned on telling them. Toni grabbed her hand on the sand under them, causing Hunter to look at her as she silently told her she didn't need to explain herself. Hunted smiled thankfully at the girl, but the way she continued to speak told Toni that this was what Hunter needed to do for herself.
"I wasn't jumpy around you guys and the touching because of something any of you had done," Hunter told them all, trying to not make eye contact as she riddled with the bracelet around her wrist. "Rather something that I'd had done to me."
She took a deep breath before diving into her story.
"Riley, my ex-boyfriend, was lovely when we met. His dads the police chief of our town and his mom drags him to church every Sunday even though he doesn't believe in it - sorry Shelby," Hunter spoke, the other Texan blonde shrugging. She knew Riley Black only attended her dad's services because he was forced to go or his parents would stop paying his allowance.
"He was the perfect boyfriend yanno? So charming, so romantic, and he got on so well with Hudson too."
"I thought Hudson almost beat him to death?" Nora asked, having heard the story from Dot and Shelby. Hunter looked to the two other Texans who were avoiding her gaze, unsure if she was going to be annoyed at them for telling everyone that.
"Yeah. I don't blame him."
"Hunter, you don't need to tell us anything you don't want to," Fatin interrupted, a knowing look in her eyes as she looked at who she was starting to consider her closest friend on the island.
"I know, but I want to- no, I need to tell you all this. We were a few weeks into our relationship when he... hit me for the first time. I was so fucking stupid and believed him when he said he only did it because he loved me so much that his emotions overtook his anger. And I believed it for the next 30 or so times too."
Everyone looked up in shock at her story, not having expected the words to fall from her mouth. While a few of them were fully surprised, some of the other girls had already had their suspicions but it still hurt to hear the girl admit it out loud.
"I knew how to help with your sprain because of the time he jammed my ankle in between a door and it's frame," Hunter admitted as she looked at Martha. "The scars on my side you saw at the waterfall arent wax burns, they're cigarette burns. If I slept in, he'd sometimes... sometimes he'd pour hot water on me to wake up - never like enough to properly burn me or anything but still enough to give me a fright."
Everyone sat in silence before Hunter wiped away at a tear that had escaped from her eyes.
"I was so jumpy with you guys because I'd started to associate every touch with pain. Even when Hudson touched me all I could see was him beating Riley to a pulp and as much as he deserved it, I was so afraid my brother was turning into him. I kept my distance from you guys because I didn't want you to be like him. I didn't want to open up and allow anyone in incase you all thought I was a liar or did what he did. I'm sorry."
This time, there was no silence. It was Shelby's voice who rang out from the other end of the shelter first - surprising Hunter since she attended church with Riley so she didn't think the blonde would say anything.
"Don't you ever apologise for that," Shelby said, her voice just a little stricter than usual. "We believe you. We'll always believe you, Hunter."
Toni smiled slightly at Shelby, knowing that while she severely disliked the girl that it was the right thing to have said to keep Hunter calm after telling them what she had been trying to hide for so long. She felt free now that she had told them, and she allowed her head to slowly lol to the side onto Toni's shoulder as they all started to fall asleep.
One thing was for certain: on the ninth day of being stranded, Hunter Boyd officially had found her second family.