“What do we do? What do we do?” Holly cried, hopping up and down like a frightened bunny.

Brian scratched his chin and held up his finger. “We could….. We could….. We could search for the boats around the island!”

“Hell no! I’m not going back in there!” Malaya shouted. “Those things might be waiting for us!”

Brian held out his arms. “Then how the hell are we supposed to get off-”

Two dark furry arms grabbed Brian’s ankles. They pulled him into the water, leaving a loud splash.

“Brian!” Tiffany ran toward the edge, but I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her back.

“Let go of me!” She cried, slapping my arms. “Let go!”

No matter how much Tiffany slapped me, I still held onto her. After all, I was totally stronger than her.

“He’s gone, Tiffany!” I shouted. “He’s gone!”

“No!” Tiffany struggled to reach the water. “He’s my baby!”

“We need to get the hell off this dock!” Malaya screamed and ran down the dock.

I chased her while Tiffany and Holly followed me. Brian might be gone, but I won’t lose one of my friends.

Back in the woods, Malaya kept running until she fell into a trench. I jumped down and landed next to her. “Are you okay?”

Malaya rubbed her knee. “Yeah….. Damn, I didn’t see this ditch!”

Thank god she didn’t break her leg.

Tiffany and Holly landed next to me. Their feet snapped the leaves on the ground.

“We need to go back and find Brian!” Tiffany exclaimed. Her tears smudged her makeup.

“I’m sorry, Tiffany,” said Holly, resting her hand on Tiffany’s shoulder. “But I didn’t see him in the water. I think the-”

“Don’t say that!” Tiffany hissed. “Don’t say that creature ate him!”

I crawled toward her. She was totally losing it.

“Tiffany, we cannot risk searching for him. Holly might be sadly right.”

Tiffany glared at me. “Why didn’t you let me save him? Why?”

My lips trembled as a moan escaped from my mouth. “Tiffany, please…..”

She pointed her finger straight at me. “I know why! Because you are jealous!”

I blinked my eyes. “Jealous?”

“I totally know you been giving Brian and me dirty looks, Jessica. Admit it! You hate us being happy!”

I glared at her. “Why would I totally hate you for being happy?”

“You have been jealous since you lost your boyfriend-”

I immediately slapped her. When she mentioned my boyfriend, I totally snapped. My inner beast instantly wanted me to rip her apart, but I totally blew out my steam.

“You want to know the truth?” I shouted, snarling my teeth. “I never cared about you and Brian! Not because I lost my boyfriend! I just don’t want my deep feelings get between you two!”

Tiffany widened her eyes at me, frozen in shock. Even Holly and Malaya left their mouths wide open. This was the first time they saw me flipping out.

I cupped my hands on Tiffany’s cheeks, staring close toward her face. She felt cold and her cheeks were still wet from her tears. “You’re my friend, Tiffany. I just totally don’t want to lose you. I’m still sorry for Brian, but I didn’t want you to throw your life away for him. We still need you, Tiffany.”

“She’s right, Tiffany,” said Malaya, sniffing. “We don’t want to lose you.”

“You are the best cheerleader captain we ever have,” said Holly, with tears in her eyes.

Tiffany’s eyes watered, until she hugged me, crying on my chest. She grew warm with the smell of roses as I embraced her.

Holly and Malaya hugged us next, sobbing all over us. We all need a hug after what we were going through.

My ears twitched when the sounds of running feet grew closer and closer. Something was coming!