Bea Ashby:
I woke up in the morning feel somewhat refreshed which was odd to me. Yesterday was boring as we all stayed in our huts to catch up on some rest while dad and the other Doctors left to do some work. Justin had gone with them of course.
Yawning, I removed the covers from myself and got out of bed to grab my suitcase and change out of my pyjamas.
In the end, I decided on a pair of shorts and a simple white t shirt. Today was suppose to be a relaxed day of just seeing the island. Our guide David explained that a minibus would be waiting for us the morning to take us to the coast of the island for breakfast before we would get to explore.
When I leave the hut, I'm greeted by Jennifer and Noah who are both dressed accordingly to the weather. "You don't understand how glad I am to be out of the snow." Jennifer says after we exchange good mornings. I nod, looking back at the other huts.
"They left early," Noah answers for me. "We're going to meet them there."
I nod and we pile into the minibus that was waiting for us. We arrive to the coast and I notice a big wooden table set up in the sand and near a palm tree to provide some shade.
Justin was wedged right between Doctor Ramone and Doctor Terrenlot with a blank look on his face.
"It's like they don't trust him," I whisper to Noah, glancing back at Justin who still hasn't looked up yet. I wanted to go over to him, but the way Doctor Terrenlot glares at me makes me uncomfortable to even look their way.
"Because they don't," Noah replies,"at least not Doctor Terrenlot."
I frown. "He wouldn't just run away." I say in a determined voice, refusing to believe Doctor Terrenlot's terrible assumptions. The only reason he would have to run away would be because of Doctor Terrenlot and her nasty behaviour.
Noah, Jennifer and I join the group at the table. Breakfast consisted of a large variety of fruits, breakfast sandwiches and freshly grilled meat that was cooked on the fire. It kind of felt like camping morning, but on the beach of an island rather than the woods.
"So, Bea," a voice speaks up and I freeze.
Doctor Terrenlot is looking right at me. At the sound of my name, Justin's head snaps right up for the first time.
"Are you adjusting well?" She asks.
I don't want to answer her. If anything I want to scream at her for all the horrible things she said about Justin being a test subject. I still haven't let that go. I do not like this woman at all.
"It's nice here." I simply reply, hoping she'd drop the conversation. This was just too uncomfortable.
"That's not what I'm asking."
What? I look at her in confusion and she sits up straighter. "I'm referring to this man's position in your family. Are you adjusting well to his presence?"
"Um it's fine." I reply, not wanting to give her an actual answer that she can analyze like the nosy little researcher she is.
"Just fine?" she raises an eyebrow at me.
"Yes." My voice is strained now.
Unfortunately for me, she doesn't stop there. "Your father says you and Justin are close. Is that true?"
Before I can reply, she asks another question. "Tell me, how close are you and Justin? Or is he closer with Noah? He should be right, since they are both the same gender so he should be showing Justin over here the ropes of this new environment."
"Terrenlot," Doctor Ramone speaks up, glancing between us. "I think you should let Beatrice relax. She's probably still tired and hungry. Let the girl eat."
I mentally thank Doctor Ramone for cutting in. Doctor Terrenlot purses her lips and nods. She doesn't talk to me for the rest of breakfast.
When we are done eating, we all get up to leave to do some exploring.
"Okay so I'm going to be splitting you guys up into groups!" David claps his hands. "All the adults who are here to do boring research please go to the minibus up on the front." He jokes, directing all the doctors to the blue mini bus.
"Justin," Doctor Terrenlot calls out in a strict tone.
My dad who's standing between us stops him before he can leave his side.
"Actually I think Justin should go off with Jennifer and the kids."
Doctor Terrenlot's eyes turn to slits "Is that so?"
"Yes." He replies. "I think it will be good for him to enjoy himself while we are here. Plus, he's not needed during this part of our research." Dad assures the other two doctors.
"Sounds good to me." Doctor Ramone shrugs. Doctor Terrenlot still doesn't seem convinced.
Jennifer smiles, not noticing the obvious tension in the air. "Let's go then." She seems happy to be out here and away from the cold weather of New York. Noah, Justin and I follow her to the mini bus and we all pile on with David who sits up front to drive.
"I'm going to be taking you guys down to the other side of the beach and from there we'll do some walking in the wild forest. It's absolutely beautiful, very tropical," He chuckles. "It might be a little bumpy so hold on."
The ride there was very bumpy as David warned us to the point where everyone basically shifted out of their seats at one point.
Noah had practically almost fallen out at that point and we all bursted out laughing and even Justin had chuckled which made me smile even more and lightly touch his hand with my own.
The light brush of our fingers made him look over at me and smile. I returned it, removing my hand before anyone could notice. Suddenly, the mini bus came to a sudden stop.
"We're here!" David yells, hoping out of the minibus and landing right onto his feet. "Now let's get exploring!"
Jennifer and David walk ahead, leaving us kids all together. I probably shouldn't identify Justin with the word 'kid' considering he's in his early twenties, but he's not exactly apart of the 'adult' group here on the island, I guess. Anyway, I notice the way Justin's eyes light up in recognition as we enter the tropical forest.
David stops to put something out to us, but i'm not exactly listening. Instead, I turn to put my attention on Justin, but then realize he's no longer by my side.
"What the heck?" I say out loud, catching the attention of both the adults and Noah. They instantly notice Justin's absence.
"Where'd he go?" Panic starts to take over in Jennifer. Dad and the rest of the doctors are going to be really upset if they find out that somehow Justin managed to disappear in the matter of two seconds under our watch.
I feel my chest tighten as we all searched around the area. He couldn't have gone far, could he? I know he's fast, but surely we would have heard him.
That's when it happened.
A round brown thing fell right at my feet, hitting the ground. I jumped at the sudden sound. It's a coconut. Then one after the other, coconuts started to drop from the sky and down at our feet. "What the-" I cover my head with my hands in fear that a coconut would drop down on my head any second from now.
And thats when I heard it. The chuckle that gave it away. Instantly my head snapped up to look in the trees where Justin was perched looking down at me with an amused look in his eyes.
"Justin!" Jennifer let out a sigh of relief when she glanced up. Everyone seemed to visibly relax from his presence.
Justin had somehow managed to quickly, and very quietly, climb the nearest palm tree. He had himself wrapped around the tree, his hands up top near the coconuts and his feet planted on the tree to support him. I could see his back muscles visibly contracting beneath his tight shirt.
David picks up a coconut and grins before saying he was going to get something to open it with from the minibus.
With that, Justin expertly climbs down the tree half way before pushing himself off and landing right onto the jungle grounds, not even flinching from the harsh landing on his feet.
"Okay, nobody tell Vince about this," Jennifer jokes, "he'd never trust us again if he finds out we lost Justin the first 2 seconds of our little excursion."
Noah rolls his eyes, "Yeah and Doctor Terrenlot would plan to keep an eye on Justin 24/7. Might as well lock him up in a room on his own with just her."
Both Jennifer and Justin seem to visibly tense up from his words. A certain look of fear and anger blazes up in Justin's eyes and I recall the conversation my dad was having with Doctor Terrenlot on the phone when Justin was taken away for Isolation. It clearly affected him and I felt terrible. It was my fault he got sent in there. I overreacted when he lashed out on Grant, but I was just worried and his sudden outburst frightened me.
Noah is unaware of the sudden tension in the air that only Jennifer, Justin and I seem to notice. Jennifer is the only one who really knows what happens. My dad obviously told her, but not us.
Luckily David returns with a machete that looked like it was meant to open coconuts. He grabbed one and with one swift moment he indented the coconut, allowing a small opening. He stretches out his arm to Jennifer. "Enjoy."
She takes it with a smile, but then notices that she doesn't have a straw. Justin doesn't wait for the rest of us as he grabs a coconut and wastes no time to smack it against the palm tree, allowing the coconut to split.
Some of the water inside of it spills out, but Justin is quick to bring it up to his mouth with two hands and titling his head back to drink up the water. The sight is almost shocking as he gulps up the water, drinking like dehydrated man who has gone days without water.
I watch as some of the water drips down his shirt and face as he indulges himself in the sweet tasting drink before dropping the coconut to the ground.
Justin is suddenly aware of our stares and he brings a hand up to wipe his face. "Damn," Noah whispers in an impressed tone, "what a savage."
"Savage?" Justin tilts his head to the side, hearing this word for the first time.
Noah grins, "Yeah man, up top!" He holds his hand up for Justin to high five, but he just stares at it in confusion.
"Oh, right," Noah mumbles, grabbing Justin's hand and hitting it against his own. "It's a high five."
"High five?" Justin mumbles in pure innocence, staring down at his hand with wide brown eyes.
Everyone seems amused by Justin's lack of knowledge on a high five. It was quite cute.
"Yeah." I lift my own hand to wiggle my fingers in his face. "High," I bring my hand up and Justin watches. "Five!" I count my fingers for him. Justin seems to finally understand as he brings up his own hand and wiggles his fingers for me.
I laugh with a nod and Noah lifts his hand again and brings his hand down for a high five. Everyone laughs and Justin is smiling.
"I guess we won't be needing this!" David grins, tossing the machete back behind his head. I watch in horror as it flings back into a nearby tree, but he doesn't seem to notice. David is a little... odd I guess, but it makes him fun to be around.
Justin picks up another coconut and repeats the same actions as before, cracking the coconut before handing one to each of us. He teaches us how to drink them using hand movements with an example coconut and we all do it, even Jennifer.
Noah and David are laughing as Jennifer struggles to gulp down her drink, spilling most of it on the front of her shirt and Justin approaches me with a freshly split coconut. "Drink," He hands it to me and I take with an uncertain look in my eyes.
"Avocado want help?" He questions and my heart flutters from the use of my nick name. As silly as it was, it made me smile.
"Yes please," I reply and Justin guides me on how to hold it without tipping the whole thing out onto myself like Jennifer. He then steps back and allows me to drink the water. Of course some of it does spill out, but I feel accomplished as I drink most of it down without doing so.
A coconut chugging challenge later, we continue down the forest for a little bit, stopping every now and then to watch Justin climb a coconut tree to retrieve coconuts for the group. We spent more time drinking coconuts and watching the guys chug them down to see who can drink them the fastest than exploring.
Eventually David leads us back to the minibus and we all climb in, tried from all the walking and drinking. We all have to pee to once we arrived to the huts, we all rushed to our own huts to use the bathroom.
I change out of my slightly damp clothes and into a fresh shirt and shorts for dinner. We got back to the coast where dad and the doctors are cooking some food that has been provided for the trip.
"How was it?" Dad grins when he spots us, jogging over.
"Absolutely wonderful," Jennifer smiles.
"Awesome," Noah pitches in.
Dad looks over at me. "I drank from a coconut!" I exclaim and dad chuckles. He looks over at Justin, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You feeling good, pal?" Justin nods and dad smiles with a reassured nod. "Good. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."
The rest of the night goes well. David and dad even bring back some coconuts and Justin shows off his skills once again, impressing dad and everyone.
As we pack up for the night, Justin finds me and pulls me aside from everyone who were too busy doing their own thing to notice us. We settle behind two palm trees.
He doesn't waste time as he leans down and plants a kiss onto my lips, allowing me to taste the faint flavour of coconut water on his lips. "Missed you," He whispers lowly, placing a gentle hand around me.
I relax in his touch and place a hand on his cheek, looking up at him. "I missed you too." I admit. Sneaking around can be difficult, but the two of seem to understand that it is what we're going to have to do until I can tell my dad.
"We need to go back." I mumble into his chest, but neither of us move. I stay close to his chest and he tightens his grip around me. "Don't want to." He grumbles.
Sighing, I let out a small "Neither do I."
"Justin?" Dad calls out and that is when we are forced to pull away. Justin goes first and I stay behind, pretending I was examining the near by waves as the crashed against the sand.
I eventually join the group and we all climb back onto the minibus, tired and full.
When we arrive to the huts, I close my door and slide down in exhaustion. "You know he can't stay with you forever, Doctor Ashby." Doctor Terrenlot's voice reminds him from outside my hut.
"I know."
"How do you plan to tell him that when the time comes?" She questions in a sharp tone. My heart instantly drops to my stomach. They're talking about Justin.
"I told you he should have never come to live with you and your family. He's getting attached."
"He doesn't have anybody." Dad counters back. "This is good for him."
"That's what you keep telling yourself, but you know someone's going to screw up and it's going to hurt him and even yourself in the end, Doctor Ashby. Remember that." She snaps and I hear her walk away.
I frown at the thought of Justin leaving. He can't leave, he belongs with us. It just doesn't seem right to have him stay and then leave like nothing ever happened. I'm not just saying that because of myself, but everyone else. We've all grew found of the jungle boy and him leaving would crush us all.
That night, I don't sleep very well. I have too much on mind. The next morning I wake up tired and sad. I don't know how i'm going to do it, but I'll do my best to make sure Doctor Terrenlot doesn't take Justin away. Not just away from me, but our family.
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A/N:
Woohoo another update! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and enjoyed seeing Justin interact in his previous environment plus a little kiss between him and Bea haha.
There is lots more to come guys so be ready!!
-Diana