"Oh, and for the record ... " said Kevin with his mouth full of banana, "I don't 's...o...b..r' on girls, okay?"

Candi laughed. "Whatever you say."

As Jonathan and Sarah broke through the trees and headed towards the campfire, Candi immediately knew something was wrong. As they got closer, she saw that Sarah was limping and Jonathan had a cut on his forehead and terrible, bleeding sc.r.a.pes on his hands and arms. Strangely enough, even with this new batch of injuries, both of them looked happier than they had when they left.

"We found water!" yelled Sarah, a triumphant grin splitting her face.

"I found water," corrected Jonathan.

"Like I said we found water," said Sarah sweetly, shooting Jonathan a challenging look.

"Fine, we found water. Just through the trees about thirty minutes that way."

"And it runs over a rock like a shower, Candi. A shower!"

"I'm totally jealous, no wonder you look so refreshed," said Candi as they drew near. "But what the heck happened to you? And you? You guys look like you got in a fight." Her eyes narrowed. "You guys didn't get into a fight with each other did you?"

She was instantly dismayed at the thought. How could they have? We're all we have now. We're family. Just as she was admitting this to herself, Candi realized how true it was. Oh, the irony.

"No, don't be silly. What happened was that Mr. Know-It-All here decided he had to do some exploring without my recommended safety precautions in place, so, of course, he nearly fell to his death, and it was only my quick thinking and awfully powerful, if I do say so myself, physical prowess that saved his life. Isn't that right, my little pookie pie?" Sarah reached over and touched Jonathan's chin with her finger.

Jonathan looked at her, a horrified expression on his face.

Candi looked at Jonathan in shock.

Kevin looked up from the ground where he was lying, instantly amused.

"No, that is not what happened. What happened was that I made an error in judgment with regard to the angle of the slope of the rock I was on, failing to take into account the friction coefficient between the sand, my shoe, and the rock, which resulted in my having to make alternate arrangements for ... "

" ... getting his a.s.s back up on the rock in one piece," Sarah finished for him. "Lucky for him, I was there to save his cute a.s.s." She looked around the campfire and put her hands on her hips. "So, what's for dinner?"

"Bananas."

"I'm getting tired of bananas, bananas, bananas for every meal," said Sarah. "'This s.h.i.t is bananas ...'"

"STOP!" the other three yelled in unison.

"Geez, sorry. No need to be Gwen haters."

Candi stared at the banana she was having a hard time choking down. "She's right, we need to find other food. We're surrounded by the ocean. Maybe we could catch some fish or octopus ... or clams even."

"Oh, sick. Octopus." Sarah shivered for effect.

"Well, you could always stick with the bananas," suggested Jonathan.

Sarah nudged him with her foot and he smiled back.

Kevin didn't appear to be nearly as tired of the bananas yet as everyone else. "I ate at least four bananas a day at home. They're good for the muscles all that pota.s.sium." He looked down at his bicep muscle as he flexed. "d.a.m.n. I'm already losing ma.s.s."

Candi sat mesmerized by the muscle that was slowly bulging up, out and then down again on Kevin's arm.

Kevin looked up and caught her staring.

She looked away quickly, but not before she saw him smiling at her. Busted.

"Okay, so let's make a list of everything we need to do," said Jonathan.

Everyone just sat there looking around.

"s.h.i.t, we don't have any paper," said Candi.

"Did Sugar Lump just say 's.h.i.t'?"

"Yes, she sure did," said Kevin happily.

"Don't call me Sugar Lump."

"Okay, stop fighting," said Jonathan. "We'll have to remember the list then. Each one of us will remember part of it. So what do we need to do?"

"Decide where to live. I think it should be near the fresh water," suggested Kevin.

"Agreed, but I also think we need to be able to see the sh.o.r.eline from where we are."

"Yeah, you might have missed this while you were hanging over the edge of the cliff, but where we were, we had a perfect view of the entire island which by the way is shaped like a giant peanut if anyone wants to know. Aaaand, there wasn't a single biting insect up there either, probably because of the deliciously refreshing breeze."

"Okay, so unless anyone has any problem with it, I think we should build our permanent camp near the fresh water."

"But it's not a camp, it's a home," said Candi.

"Whatever."

"No, not whatever. It's not a camp, Jonathan." Candi was looking at him seriously, but he obviously didn't see what the big deal was because he just rolled his eyes.

Sarah chimed in. "No, I get it, she's right. We have to stop acting like this is just a couple day thing. We could be here for a really long time. I mean, so far we have seen zero signs of any other people, either here on the island or out there in the water. I looked out over the island when we were up on that rock. The whole thing looks the same. Maybe we're going to be here a long time. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to continue to freak out about it, 'cause if I do, I'm gonna get zits." She finished firmly, "We need to find a home, not a camp."

Kevin looked at Jonathan and they exchanged knowing looks. Candi was certain both of them were thinking about PMS. Whatever. So long as it kept them from arguing.

"Okay, we'll find a home to live in. We can build it out of bamboo and palm fronds."

Sarah sat up excitedly, "Oh, and we had the most amazing idea. The place by the water and the bamboo and the view it has a huge, huge elephant leg tree, and we were saying we should build our home in the tree a treehouse like they have at Disney World, Swiss Family whatever. Tree, breeze, view, no bugs ... heaven!"

Candi couldn't help but join in. "That sounds perfect. I want to see it right away! And what is an elephant leg tree?"

"I think we need to wait for Kevin to feel better. Maybe tomorrow," cautioned Jonathan.

"Of course, yeah, we can wait for Kevin." Candi felt a little bad that she had just blown off his condition so easily.

"Why, thank you, sand beast."

Candi ignored him. "So, elephant leg tree? Anyone?" She looked from Jonathan to Sarah, waiting for an explanation.

"Oh, I don't know," said Sarah. "It's a giant tree that has a trunk about the size of a car, grayish and kinda wrinkly and thick ... like an elephant leg or a group of 'em all stuck together."

"I think the tree is a banyan tree or a ficus or something. It really is huge wide enough to support a pretty big structure. Our biggest problem is going to be the bamboo. We have a hatchet from the boat supplies, but I think bamboo is pretty tough to cut."

"Leave that part to me," said Kevin, mocking a weight lifter's pose. "Fire power!"

"Ugh," said Sarah.

Candi tried not to stare but couldn't help herself. Kevin caught her looking again and winked. At this point he was doing all of his flexing for her benefit, and she knew it.

"So what else? Kevin, you remember the house thing on the list. What else do we need to do?"

"Find another water source," reminded Sarah.

"Right. You remember that. What else?"

"Figure out how to catch fish or whatever."

"Yes, definitely. Candi, you remember that."

"I also think we should put together some transportation for the island as we explore," said Jonathan.

"What do you mean? Like a railroad?" Kevin said jokingly.

"No, not exactly, but maybe we could find a way to travel through the jungle quicker, in the trees or something, rig up some platforms. I'm just thinking maybe we could move from tree to tree instead of on foot down there with the critters."

"Ah-ha, like Tarzan or something. I like the way you think, Jonathan," said Kevin. Then he let out a wail that was supposed to be a Tarzan call but sounded more like wounded water buffalo.

"Um, yeah, I think you'd better work on that, Kevin," said Candi.

"What? Not ready for prime time?"

Everyone shook their heads no.

"Fine, I'll work on it. You guys are just jealous, I know."

"What else? Anything else?"

"Smoke signals."

"What do you mean, Kevin?

"I mean, we need to have some giant bonfire we can light if we see a boat ... something to signal rescuers."

"Absolutely. Excellent idea. That one is also yours to remember. So let's review. What are we going to plan for and do starting tomorrow?"

"House, bonfire."

"Good."

"Fish."

"Operation Tarzan."

"Fine. Good. What else? Oh, collect more water." Jonathan looked around the camp at the faces staring back at him. "There's one other thing."

"What?" they all answered in unison.

"We need to name the island."

No one said anything at first. It was as if naming it made it all the more real, like it wasn't temporary anymore.

Kevin was the first with a suggestion. "How about B-F-E Island?"

Everyone laughed.

"No, seriously."

Then the ideas came flooding in.

"Bug Island."

"Skeeter Beach."

"h.e.l.lhole Island."

"Life's a Beach Island."

"Armpit of the World Island."

"SuckySuckLand."

"I Wish I Was Somewhere Else Island."

"Runaway Island."

"Nowhere Island."

"Sandineverycrevice Island."

"The Sand Lot."

"Peanut Island."

Everyone stopped after that one. It had come from Sarah.