———✰———
"Here they are, the brave young women whose tale of struggle and survival has gripped the nation. The unsinkable nine, as we have come to know them." Brooke told the audience before turning to the girls "Ladies, you must have dreamed of coming home for so long. Now that you're here what do you want to do most?"
"Honestly, smoke about a hundred cigs, you know? Really rip through a carton or two" Dot answered making the other girls chuckle or smile fondly.
"Okay. How about the rest of you?" Brooke asked smiling at the girls.
"I don't know; maybe hit up the OG for a never-ending pasta bowl and just—I don't know— get back to our real lives," Toni spoke up leaning forward from where she was sat between her best friend and girlfriend.
"I'd like to read The Odyssey again, rather than, like, live it" Nora spoke up making the girls chuckle at her comment.
"Leah, what about you?" Brooke spoke directly to the blue-eyed girl.
"Oh, my, I just wanna reconnect with certain people...people who may have been worried and-or felt like we had unfinished business." Leah spoke up from next to Rachel and Martha before turning and looking directly at the camera and saying "and if that person is watching right now, I just wanna say that I did not not miss you every day."
"My turn, Brooke," Fatin immediately spoke up after Leah's little stare down with the camera "and I've got a nice, straight answer for you. I'm going to fuck the rowdiest guy with the biggest dick as soon as I fucking can."
Fatin's comment made them all snap out of there daydream and turn to the girl sitting at the end next to Addie in amused shock.
"I don't think you can say that on live TV." Leah chuckled making Fatin's smile drop slightly.
"Okay, make it more media-friendly." Fatin agreed before eating her throat and using her hairbrush as a microphone "I am going fornicate with the healthiest penis I can find ASAP" her answer still made the girls all chuckle in amusement.
"All right, I wanna change my answer," Dot told the girls moving so she could see the two girls at the end "you remember that guy that I was telling you two about?"
"Nurse Mateo Caliente?" Both Addie and Fatin teased the girl with the name they had given him when Dot told them making the others smile in amusement at the pair.
"I'm 100% going to jump him as soon as I see him." Dot giggled making the others laugh.
"Atta girl." Fatin commented as Nora clapped before Addie added "wink wonk Dottie"
"While we're workshopping our responses, you wanna work on that wmo shit of yours?" Fatin asked directing her attention to Leah.
"Was it maybe no that great?" Leah asked the others.
"Leah. You are going to be trending. Romeos from all over the world are gonna be blowing up your DMs" Fatin told the girl crawling over to sit in the middle of Marty and Leah.
"Um, do you think Romeos will be in my DMs too?" Martha asked the girl shyly making Fatin's attention turn to her.
"Martha, angel, your DMs will be overflowing." Fatin put her arm around the girl making her giggle.
"All right, then" Martha smiled before grabbing the vodka bottle and raising it in the air shouting "we're going home, bitches!" Making everyone smile and cheer other than Shelby and at the words going home Addie's smile dimmed slightly which Toni noticed and nudged her gently.
"You ok?" The girl asked her quietly but only got a fake smile and a nod.
The girls all started to get up and celebrate. Toni dragged Addie up too before trying to cheer her up by dancing which received a small real smile as Shelby walked off.
———✰———
Shelby
"You've read the nurses report on her? Heard how all over the place she's been?" Young asked Faber as they sat down waiting for the next girl to come in.
"There have been some dissociative tendencies, yes." Faber nodded looking at the report once again.
"So how do you know what's best for drawing her out when we don't even know which her we're gonna get?" Young questioned but didn't get an answer from his partner before the girl entered the room.
And there she entered a smiling like always moving over toward the chair on her crutches sitting down in front of them was Shelby now with a buzz it instead of her long blonde hair.
"Hi, there" Shelby smiled at the pair.
"So according to the others, were the resident optimist," Faber told the smiling girl.
"Oh, that's sweet. Though, I'm sure that's not how they put it." Shelby carried on smiling.
"No, no, not exactly" Faber nodded before turning to his partner and asking "what was that one expression?"
"Shelby's a Pollyanna mall girl who probably shits confetti" Young answered and Shelby's smile never faltered.
"Fatin, bless her heart" Shelby smiled fondly,
"Yeah, but once you thought rescue was imminent that, Uh, enthusiasm flatlined." Faber stated, "do you care to explain why?"
"Adrenaline had been pumping for so long, you know as soon as I knew I could relax, I just sort of crashed," Shelby smiled before leaning forward as if she was sharing a secret "only so long before you run out of stamina"
———✰———
At some point Toni and Addie decided to get some alone time, well Toni decided because she wanted to know why Addie's smile dimmed at the words home, so they retreated to the rocks that were outside the cave Dot and Shelby had found two weeks ago.
"Ads" Toni spoke up breaking the pair out of the comfortable silence that had been sitting in "why have you been acting off, today?"
"What do you mean?" Addie asked even though she knew where this conversation was going.
"You get all excited about leaving this place and then someone will say home or families and you just dim" Toni explained looking at the girl next to her softly.
The pair were put back into silence when Addie didn't answer until she looked over at Toni with tears in her eyes and confess "I can't go back there Toni, I can't"
"What? Why not?" Toni asked staying in a calm soft voice as a teary-eyed Addie stood up and started pacing.
"I cannot go back to a homophobic mother. I just can't, I can't do it anymore. Not now, not after this. I have finally been me and I cannot go back to fake pushover, Addie. And that's what'll happen if I go back to my parents." Addie confessed still pacing as Toni was left unsure what to say to the crying girl.
She hadn't seen Addie cry before, not when they first got here, not when they got ill, never she hadn't cried once on the island, not properly. She had seen the blonde looking slightly teary eyes but never properly crying.
"Hey, hey" Toni tried getting the pacing girls attention before finally dragging her down to sit on her lap. "Surely you have someone you can live with instead."
"No, not really. My father's side are all assholes and my mom's side are like carbon copies" Addie told Toni.
"Ads, I promise I'll help you figure something out. You won't have to go back to them, if you don't want to" Toni asked softly.
"Promise?" Addie started to cry again.
"Hey, hey, shh, shh" Toni shushed the blonde girls who was still sitting on her lap "I promise."
———✰———
The girls, minus Shelby, were sitting around the fire as Dot announced they could eat all of the food.
"So you're saying we can eat everything?" Martha asked sounding a little suspicious of Dots plan like she was just pretending and getting the girls all excited.
"Hell yeah." Dot nodded surely "Major closeout sale! Everything must go!" She started throwing packets of food at the girls as Leah sat down.
"Chaser, my darling?" Dot spoke to Toni who had taken a sip of vodka before sitting up and catching a packet of food.
"The ration queen let's loose. I'm into it" Fatin nodded as Martha and Addie snooped through Jeanette's backpack for any food.
"We were robbed of our island vacay. Here's our chance to take back one day of it back, maybe live a little." Dot told the girls offering Nora some food as Martha opened the pack of gummies she and Addie found.
"Thanks" Nora thanked Dot shyly as Addie ate a gummy but paused at the strange taste.
"Hey, what the hell, you two? You've got candy" Toni asked the pair who were holding the gummies.
"Hey, where'd you get those?" Dot asked the pair who had nodded to Toni's question.
"Side pocket of Jeanette's bag," Martha told the girls and Leah snatched them away.
"They taste kinda weird though" Addie added before the pair saw that everyone was staring at them.
"Are we in trouble? I thought everything must go." Martha asked looking between them all.
"Yeah. No, Martha, Addie, these..." Leah cut herself off with a chuckle before carrying on "these aren't candy. They're edibles"
This made the other girls chuckle at the two who had eaten them and Toni nudged her girlfriend teasingly.
"That would have been why they tasted so strange" Addie laughed and covered her face in embarrassment when she realised she and Marty would be high as a kite soon.
"Well, I know they're edible; we just ate them" Martha shrugged not understanding as Addie did.
"No, no, like— like..." Leah laughed unable to explain to the girl "THC" Leah laughed but Martha still wasn't getting it "pot" Leah dumbed it down nudging the confused girl. "Martha, they're marijuana bears"
Fatin had taken them off of Leah and looking at the packet before chuckling "oh, man! These are potent. I had a foot once, and I couldn't feel my feet for, like, 24 hours. I didn't know I had them"
"God, does that mean I'm not gonna be able to feel my body?" Addie laughed laying back and leaning against Toni.
"So...what would happen if someone accidentally ate three?" Martha questioned making the girls laugh even more when they realised how high Martha was going to be.
"Oh, Martha, you're gonna be tripping motherfucking balls, dude." Fatin chuckled lightly.
"It's alright. We can be tripping together." Addie assured the nervous girl with a laugh.
"And you two won't be alone" Rachel spoke up holding her hand out so that Fatin could hand her the packet, which she did with an impressed laugh.
"First-timer" Rachel admitted before eating one of the beats "fuck it"
"I'm in too. Solidarity, baby" Toni told the others and Rachel held out the bag in Toni and Addie's direction before the latter took at and handed it to the girl she was still leaning against.
Toni took it before shaking the bag to see if anyone else would take it. Leah leaned forward and took the bag with an "I want one" before eating one of the bears.
Fatin was next to be eating one. Before Nora happily plopped one in her mouth and passed to Dot who also ate the bear happily. Martha started laughing at the thought of she and Addie being the reason as to why everyone was gonna be high soon.
"All right. I'm going to take a piss before it happens involuntarily. So..." Dot stood up and declared before walking off leaving the girls to laugh at her admittance.
"Thank you" Dot thanked as she picked up the vodka that was in front of the couple and took it with her.
———✰———
Before long the girls were all high as kites laying down in a circle other than Fatin who looked like she was meditating in the circle.
"Marcus? Marcus!" Martha slurred out calling for the lost mannequin.
"He's gone, Martha. He moved away" Nora told the girl calmly.
All the girls were kind of in this blissed-out high state but Martha was a little higher and was a bit of a fidgety mess. And Addie would giggle at nothing every so often, obviously she was the giggly high one.
"Well, where did he move to?" Martha asked the girl next to her.
"Right there" Nora pointed to the girl's heart before chuckling in a high manner.
"Yeah, that's where he is." Martha smiled agreeing with Nora even though their conversation didn't make much sense.
"I'm so fucking blissed out." Fatin spoke up from her seated position but never opening her eyes "not even from the gummies, just from the thought that in 48 hours I can have an orgasm."
The girls laughed as Fatin opened her eyes and smirked at the thought.
"Wait. You haven't, like, self-induced?" Leah asked sounding slightly shocked.
"No" Fatin shook her head before explaining "I can't do it with my hands, actually. I have this weird cello-vibrato PTSD. It's a whole thing"
"So you're electric toothbrush hasn't seen any action?" Dot asked making Fatin chuckle and shake her head "I mean, we've all just assumed."
"Yeah, thirty minutes to brush your teeth. What's that all about if you're not..." Addie laughed.
"I might be a horny bitch, but I'm not gonna scrub my teeth and my labia with the same brush." Fatin told the girls making them all chuckle "wait. Who has got off here?"
Everyone raise their hands other than Fatin, Rachel and Martha. The girls all chuckled at the admission and Fatin high fives Dot's raised hand.
"Wait. When I say got off, was it self induced or did you two help each other?" Fatin asked pointing between Toni and Addie who were now both blushing.
"Fatin! We did no such thing!" Addie exclaimed in mock horror as the other girls laughed at the blushing couple not completely believing them.
"Can I ask... where do you all even go to do it?" Rachel asked curiously lifting her head to see the others.
The question made the girls all laugh and Fatin let out an agreeing "yeah! Where do you go? Where are the pleasure nests?"
"What I like to do it just take Martha's suitcase..." Dot started making said girl look at her horrified whilst the others laughed at her playfulness "open it up and just get inside it." Dot smiled before rocking her head back and forth as everyone all laughed.
"What's everybody talking about?" Shelby asked as she made her way over to the high girls with the big vodka bottle she had been drinking out of.
"Orgasms" Leah simply told the religious girl.
"Yeah, I- I do it, too, with the - with, Uh, the bath hets at our home jacuzzi." Shelby started to drunkenly confess "I might be a virgin, but I'm not just some prude. Love me an orgasm."
"Wow, I mean, just when I thought this place couldn't surprise me anymore, turns out Shelby likes to fuck her whirlpool." Fatin snorted as the other girls laughed along.
"Yes, I do." Shelby agreed a little too seriously making Fatin awkwardly look away before Shelby started speaking again "so let's cheers to our orgasms."
Which made some of them chuckle and the other smile in amusement.
"Jesus, she's trashed" Toni commented to Dot and Addie a hint of worry edging her voice since she and Addie understood what the girl had been going through.
"Yeah. That's a little bit my bad." Dot chuckled not sounding apologetic.
"You know, I'm gonna deny this till the day I did, but...I'm gonna miss the shit out of you guys." Fatin told the girls as Shelby sat now next to Marty and Addie. "And if you're even in L.A., you got a place to crash." Fatin smiled and rested he'd head lightly on Leah's who was leaning on her lap.
"Wait. You're not moving back to the Bay?" Leah asked since she was the only girl who, she assumed, she could see every day.
"Yeah—no. No, I got this whole life mapped out. I'm gonna got to L.A. and cash in this heinous watch, get an apartment at 1600 Vine, where all the influencers live." Fatin explained her plan to the other girls.
"No idea what any of that means, but if you're looking for a roommate... I might be interested" Dot sat up and informed Fatin seriously.
"Dorothy. Are you offering to be my live-in muscle?" Fatin asked curiously with a playful edge to her voice.
"I'm in too" Addie raised her hand with a smile.
"Adelaide's in too" Fatin smiled before commenting "People are gonna assume two of us are lovers or were in a thruple, because, let's face it those cargo shorts still scream gay."
Dot and Addie laughed as Toni told the girl, "it's not our uniform, you know. We've all got our own different swag."
"Thank God, I could not pull cargo pants off" Addie giggled from next to Dot and Toni, who's head was in her lap.
"I know I'm just saying, people are gonna talk, and I'm gonna like it." Fatin chuckled before she, Dot and Addie started making kissy faces at one another.
"Okay. Hey, campers." Shelby practically shouted uncomfortable at the scene but chuckled through it "I— what...what do you say that I do what I do best and suggest some fucking games?"
There was a slight silence before Martha began to shout loudly "whoo!" Which made all the other girls join in.
"To the water!" Shelby pointed and the girls all did as they were told stripping off clothing as they went.
Addie entered the water in her shorts and a bra and Fatin fell overtaking her pants off. The whole thing made Addie laugh until Fatin demanded that she help.
The next hour in the water started off with Dot giving a piggyback to Nora and the others messing around in the cold shallow water and Leah teaching them all a handshake.
At some point Dot, Leah, Toni and Addie playing chicken but never went far enough into the water. Leah and Dot, who were the two tallest, bent onto there knees in the shallow water before Toni got on Dots shoulders and Addie on Leah's. It wasn't the most succeeding game ever as Dot and Leah couldn't hold their balance and kept falling into each other giggling which made the girls on their shoulders so the same. Nora and Rachel decided they also wanted ago and the same happened to them as it did to Toni and Addie.
Toni and Addie split away from the four girls playing chicken who took it to Shelby for the blonde, who never entered the water for very long, to place bets on there play fighting.
Toni and Addie were with Fatin and Martha still half messing around and half watching the other four chicken fight.
"I'm kind of worried about her" Toni spoke quietly in Addie's ear from where she was hugging the slightly taller girl from behind.
"Who? Shelby?" Addie asked but was still a high like the others, Toni seemed to be the least affected by the weed gummies, much to Addie's disappointment. Toni nodded which made Addie speak again "me too. Maybe I can talk to her. When she's not drunk and I'm not high. You know child of Texan homophobic parents to child of Texan homophobic parents"
Her idea made Toni nod before laughing at the girl who seemed to be rather giggly in her high state and would randomly start giggling. In the beginning, Toni would ask why she was laughing but now she just watched in amusement.
"Dot, you're bleeding" Leah pointed out as she came closer to the girl.
"Uh-oh Where?" Dot asked looking around her body for blood.
"Right there." Leah pointed out to the blood on the girl's shoulder and the pair inspected it further but found no wound for Dot to be bleeding out of.
"It's me. Uh..." Rachel confessed embarrassed as she looked down. It took the other girls looking at the girl and finding no wound before they worked out that she was on her period. "I'm sorry. I'm...I'm just gonna..." Rachel fled before anyone could say anything.
"Uh-oh. Shark week for Rachel" Fatin commented lightheartedly from her place on the edge of the water with Addie who had wandered over to her shortly after finishing her last giggle fit with Toni.
———✰———
At some point Shelby spoke to Toni, suspicious that the girl had told Martha bout what had happened the day before.
"Shelby is way too deep in her own denial," Toni told Addie who had been sat on her own watching the others.
"About what?" Addie smiled and finished her sentence with a slight giggle which made her cover her mouth. "I don't mean to laugh they just keep coming out."
"I don't think she's okay with being gay. Like at all" Toni explained only for her girlfriend to fall into another fit of giggled which made Toni look at the blonde highly amused with how she couldn't keep herself together.
"You are way too high to be having this conversation aren't you?" Toni questioned the giggly blonde with a smile on her face.
"Mm-Hmm" Addie nodded unable to get a word in edgeways with her giggling.
"Okay, we will have this conversation later then, lightweight" Toni nodded patting the girl's leg as Addie's head fell onto her shoulder still giggling slightly.