As the principal of the prestigious Gentle Academy, Khun Saint Suppaphong's position afforded him many luxuries. One of which included a spacious office that could comfortably accommodate six people.
Three times as many were currently standing or sitting in there, making the place feel cramped and stifling. Saint resisted the urge to tug at the collar of his shirt.
Fidgeting was a sign of weakness, and with so many heads of industry, titans of business and trust fund brats in the room, weakness wasn't something he could afford.
Khun Beer Siriphan, the head of twelfth grade, stood by Saint's desk looking every bit as uncomfortable as she felt. The reason for the mass of bodies in her usually spacious office was the ten missing students.
It had been three full days and there was still no sign of them, or their plane. Saint took comfort in the fact that no wreckage had been found. There was still a chance they were out there somewhere, alive and well. Saint drummed his nails against his desk as the parents all spoke over one another, all vying to be the loudest voice in the room.
At present, that voice belonged to Marian Mercado— the mother of Queenee Mercado and the CEO of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Southeast Asia.
"This is unacceptable!" Marian snapped, slamming her hand down on Saint's desk. She was pretty formidable for a woman who was barely five foot tall. "You are aware that our President is my daughter's godmother, aren't you?"
Saint was well aware of that fact. Marian had made sure to tell him on almost every occasion they had to meet. Saint fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Mrs. Mercado, I assure you, everything is being done to find your daughter."
"To find all of them." He added, looking at each person in the room in turn. "Your children are the best and the brightest of Gentle High Academy, and we are doing everything we can to find out what happened to their plane. The Coast Guard is out in force and the ATSB are carrying out a full investigation."
"That's right. I'm leading the team personally." Said the short man leaning against Saint's bookcase with his arms folded over his chest; Khun Chen, Heng's father. He worked for the Asian Transportation and Safety Board and had more than a dozen inquires in to aviation accidents and failures under his belt. "The plane's tracking signal was lost four hours in to the flight, and they disappeared from the radar five hours after that. We have an approximation of their last position, but the plane could have carried on traveling for much longer than that. We've narrowed it down to a two thousand square mile area-"
"Two thousand square miles?" Anne Austin's eyes widened in disbelief. "They could be anywhere! And what's this about the tracking signal being faulty? Are you saying there was a fault with the plane? What kind of company did the school hire, Khun Saint?"
Saint held his hands out as the room erupted in to chaos again. "Khun, please! Please! The firm we used has an excellent safety rating. No one could predict this would happen."
"Khun Saint's right, these things happen." Khun Chen said. "We don't know what caused the plane to go down, or even if it did. We're in the dark right now."
At the back of the room, Khun Aoom Malaiwong standing by the door, quietly sobbed in to her hands. She'd been a wreck ever since she'd got the call about the plane disappearing. Irin was her entire world. She was all Aoom had.
Sunny Armstrong wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. They'd only met the day before, when all the parents had arrived at the school, but he knew she was the mother of one of Becky's friends. She'd want him to look after her. Besides, Khun Aoom was a farmer and he was a mechanic, they were the odd ones out in a room full of millionaires.
Aoom turned and buried her face in Sunny's chest, her sobs growing louder. Sunny squeezed her tight. "They're smart kids. They'll be okay na... You'll see. They'll be okay."
🏝️
Less than a mile from their camp, Queenee was pointing out various herbs and berries that were edible, and others that weren't. They'd only been at it for half an hour, but they'd already collected quite the haul. Queenee really knew her stuff.
"This is soursop. It looks a little ugly, but tastes great. It's like strawberry and pineapple in one. Sour, but super sweet! Try it." Queenee peeled open one of the spiky green fruits and held it up to Irin's lips.
Irin recoiled, taken aback by the intimacy of the gesture. She took it from Queenee, inspecting the familiar fruit closely.
"They have plenty of health benefits, including stabilising blood sugar. The leaves can be crushed and applied to wounds to promote healing... and of course they taste good." She grinned as Irin finally took a bite and her face lit up.
Queenee collected some leaves to use on the wound on her thigh, while Irin filled her backpack with the fruit.
"Oh." Queenee's eyes landed on a green heart-shaped leaf. "Yes! This is the good stuff!" She grinned and started picking the shrub from the roots.
"What is it?" Irin asked. She'd grown up on a small farm in Chiang Rai, so her knowledge of green leafy plants went as far as Bok Choy.
"It's kava." Queenee said, turning her grin on the other girl. "It's psychoactive. The roots and stems have been used for thousands of years. It's nature's Xanax... and something of an aphrodisiac." Queenee wiggled her eyebrows at her.
"Stop it!" Irin said, a furrow forming on her brow as she scowled at the other girl. "Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Flirting." Irin said. "Stop flirting with me! I get it, you're pissed that I got with Richie and now you're trying to humiliate me by-"
"Irin." Queenee caught her hands as the red head gestured wildly. "I'm not trying to humiliate you."
Irin pulled her wrists free of the other girl's grasp. "Then what are you trying to do?"
It was the wrong question to ask.
"This..." Queenee said, right before she moved to cup Irin's cheek and leaned in to kiss her.
Their lips had barely touched when Irin reared back. She brought a hand up to her mouth, her lips parted in a silent 'O' and her eyes as wide as saucers.
"I told you I'm not gay!"
Queenee shrugged. "Gay, straight, what does it matter? It's all about feeling good. We've all been through a lot, Irin. Let me make you feel good."
Queenee leaned in to kiss her again and Irin slapped her. The sound echoed through the forest like a gunshot. Irin scrambled to her feet and bolted before Queenee could stop her.
Irin was the first one back to the camp when she arrived. She stalked in to the fuselage, expecting to find Charlotte sleeping in there.
Irin's cheeks were still flush with anger. She couldn't believe Queenee had been brazen enough to try to kiss her not once, but twice! Irin felt like she had to tell someone about it before she'd burst.
"P'Char, I-"
Irin's words died in the back of her throat as her eyes widened at the impossible sight before her; Engfa Waraha shirtless and straddling Charlotte, the two of them making out like they were staring in their own porn movie.
"Nu!" Charlotte's eyes snapped open at the sound of her best friend's voice. She froze, her body growing stiff with indecision. Engfa didn't have the same problem. She scrambled off the other girl and snatched her shirt up off the floor.
"It's... it's not what you think, nong!" Charlotte stammered, her usual brash confidence nowhere to be seen. Irin shook her head as she took a couple of steps back. It was the second time in a single day she'd walked in on one of her best friend's.
"I can't... I can't deal with this right now." Irin shook her head again and turned and walked out without another word.
"This isn't good." Engfa said. Charlotte glared at her before covering her face with her hands. That was the understatement of the year.
Richie and Nam were dumping armfuls of seaweed next to the fire when Irin walked back out of the plane.
"Hey, nong!" Nam greeted her with her usual enthusiasm. "We got a great haul!"
"That's great." Irin said, a forced smile wavering on her lips as she avoided Richie's curious gaze. She could only imagine how flustered she must look after the morning she'd had.
Charlotte and Engfa came out of the plane a few minutes after Irin. Neither of them could look the other girl in the eye and Irin felt a pang of guilt as Charlotte sat hunched up on the sand, her chin resting on her knees and her expression distant.
Irin took a seat beside her best friend and wrapped her arms around her. Charlotte stiffened for a moment before shifting to hold Irin back, burying her face in the other girl's shoulder.
"Don't worry, phi... I won't tell anyone." Irin whispered so no one else would overhear.
Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut and held Irin tight. She knew that wouldn't be the end of it. Irin would expect Charlotte to tell her everything - and Becky too - but she'd cross that bridge when it came to it. "Rak na, nuu."
Heng and Nuch came back to camp a little before midday, while Becky and Freen showed up in the early afternoon, laden down with their backpacks full of water and half a dozen fish impaled on Becky's makeshift spear. The pair had dried off from their dip in the water, thanks to the scorching afternoon heat, but the return trek had been harder and the back of Becky's shirt clung to her with sweat. She would have done just about anything for a nice cold shower as she threw herself down on the sand.
"There's no way we can do that twice a day, phi..." She groaned, rolling her shoulders and trying to work the stiffness out of them. Freen sat down beside her and lay flat on the sand, sprawling her arms out like she was making a snow angel.
Becky bit at her lip before she said, "I think we should move our camp closer to the water. It makes more sense than sweating our asses off lugging the water back here."
"And what if a plane flies over? They won't see us!" Charlotte frowned. "We're better off staying here, where people might spot us."
"P'Char is right, and there's shelter here too. We should stay na?" Freen looked to the side as she felt Becky's eyes on her. This thing between them, whatever it was, was only just blossoming. Freen didn't want to argue, but she knew moving was wrong. They were better off staying put.
"We should put it to a vote." Freen said, trying to be diplomatic about it, just as Becky had suggested. "All those who want to stay on the beach, raise your hand."
The teens all looked at each other before voting, all except Irin — who was lost deep in thought. Freen raised her hand first, followed by Charlotte. Engfa waited until Nuch and Nam raised their hands too before raising hers. She didn't want it to look like she was siding with Charlotte.
Freen counted the votes. Becky, Heng, Richie and Irin all had their hands down, though Irin looked like she was on another planet. Freen didn't know if the other girl even realised they were voting.
Five for, and four against. Freen scrunched up her face as she checked the count again and realised they were one short.
"Where's Queenee?" Freen asked, causing Irin's head to snap up as if on a spring.
Her eyes were wide and a faint blush coloured her cheeks. She'd been so wrapped up in herself she hadn't realised Queenee was still gone. "Didn't... didn't she come back yet?"
Freen frowned. "What do you mean? She went with you... None of us were supposed to be on our own, nong."
"Uh, I, the thing is-"
"How could you just leave her out there?!" Freen demanded, her tone hostile. Irin shrunk in on herself, guilt and shame eating away at her.
"Hey, lay off, phi!" Becky snapped. "Irin must have had a good reason for leaving her out there. Right, girl?"
"She can hardly walk, Becky! Anything could have happened to her!" Freen huffed, scrambling to her feet. "We have to find her!"
"Let's dial it down a notch, na?" Nuch said, stepping in to play peacekeeper. "We'll all go look for her. She can't be far."
The entire group fanned out in to the jungle to look for the missing girl, each person within sight of the next. The last thing they needed was for anyone else to go missing.
Charlotte caught up to Irin ten minutes in to the search. She glanced back at Engfa, whose eyes were glued to the pair. The other girl was terrified Irin might say something about what she saw.
"Hey, nong. About what you saw earlier-"
Irin wasn't in the mood. She had too much on her mind to worry about whatever it was Charlotte and Engfa were getting up to.
"Phi, can we just drop it? I won't tell anyone." The red head wrapped her arms around herself and stalked ahead to catch up to Nam. Her reprieve was temporary as Richie appeared beside her. He caught her arm and Irin reared back like she'd been bitten.
Richie held his hands up in apology. "Sorry! I just wanted to check in with you. You seem... upset. Did Queenee do something? Look, I know what she can be like and-"
"She's missing!" Irin snapped, taking her irritation out on Richie. It was his fault she was in this mess. If he hadn't made a pass at her, none of this business with Queenee would even be happening. "She's missing, and it's my fault, Richie!" Irin ducked her head and stormed away, ignoring Richie's calls to her.
Further along, at the end of the line of searchers, Becky and Freen walked along together in silence. There was a palpable tension between them after Freen's outburst at the fire. Becky got it, she would have been just as upset if things were the other way around; but they weren't. Irin was her best friend. She'd defend her no matter what.
The group carried on the search, shouting Queenee's name as they combed the dense forest floor for any signs of her. Irin's guilt snowballed with each hour that passed without them finding her. By nightfall she was a wreck.
"We should head back!" Charlotte called out to the others, bringing and end to their search. "It's too dangerous to be out here after dark. We could walk off a cliff without realising until it's too late."
"We can't just leave her out here!" Freen objected.
Becky took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "P'Char is right. It's too dangerous. We're all tired and it's too dark to look. We should head back to the camp, get some rest and start again at first light... Queen might already be back there waiting for us." She said, a note of optimism in her voice.
Freen relented with a sigh. She knew Becky was right, they had little chance of finding Queenee in the dark. "Okay. Let's head back."
To be continued...
Sorry for any mistakes, thanks for reading! ❤️