The next day, I was the last one awake. I immediately changed into my bathing suit, and grabbed my towel and toiletries, before heading down to the water, where everyone else had already congregated. Soon, I felt the cool water wash over me as I dove in, it was the most perfect feeling in the world.

We spent most of the day in the water, there was nothing left to do to set up camp, and Charlotte and I had come up with food for at least a week. For a while, the five of us girls sat in the sand, laughing and joking, while the boys continued to play in the water, but of course, we ended up getting splashed, being forced to seek retribution, and we were all in the water yet again.

In the late afternoon, Charlotte and Frank, hand in hand, wandered alone across the sand. Bob and Tori sat at the edge of the pool, talking. Zara and Amanda were sitting on the bright yellow tarp, inexplicably doing their make up, while Mikey and Ray banked the bonfire again. I hurried to the cabin, and up into my compartment, stripping off my wet bathing suit, and pulling on the light blue sun dress I had found in the luggage. I quickly brushed my hair, and hurried back outside, where Gerard was waiting on the mat. He looked at me, and took my hand. Slowly, we began to wander across the beach in the opposite direction. Several yards away, we sank down into the sand, and stared out over the ocean in a companionable silence, watching as the sun began to set. He draped his arm across my shoulders, and I rested my head against his shoulder, feeling more relaxed than I had since the plane went down.

Soon, Tori was calling us, and hand in hand, we wandered back to the yellow mat, where everyone was beginning to eat. As soon as dinner was over, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned around, to see Frank smiling down at me, offering me his guitar. Zara, I noticed, already had Ray's guitar slung over her shoulder.

"You promised, Angel," Frank said. I sighed.

"Fine," I said. "But don't expect anything amazing." Zara immediately began to play, I'm Not Afraid, one of our old songs, and I got to my feet, joining in and singing.

Somewhere in those three minutes, as we played and sang, my mind was transported, and I was on stage at Axis, five years ago. I could see the lights, I could hear the crowd moshing, I was back home. Everything was alright. We finished the song, however, and the real world came crashing back down around me, and once again, I was stranded on a beach.

"Actually," Frank said, as soon as we finished, "you are pretty good. Zara was right, you have an amazing voice."

"Thanks," I whispered, and took his guitar off to hand back to him.

"Do one more," Gerard asked. I looked to Zara.

"Do Love Songs," she said. I nodded.

"Here," I said, handing the guitar to Frank. "I don't need it for this one." He took it from me, and Zara gave me my note, and I began to sing again, Zara beginning to play when I reached the first chorus. To my disappointment, this time, I wasn't transported home.

As I sang about songs with no words, and paintings with images blurred, I found myself looking at Gerard. He was looking back at me. Soon I reached the line in the middle, and realized that the words I had written seven years earlier were more true now than they had ever been.

"Get me out of here, oh get me anywhere away from here,
I cannot see just what I wanna see.
Oh I rely on you, to get me where I'm going to,
Anywhere with you is where I wanna be."

As we finished the song, I realized that it was true. I WAS relying on Gerard. I knew then that I was falling for him.

"Do another one," Charlotte asked dreamily, from her spot leaning against Frank on the mat.

"No, I don't have any more in me," I replied softly. I sank down on the mat beside Gerard as Zara handed Ray his guitar, looking slightly disappointed.

"That could probably be a hit, you know," Ray said. I shook my head.

"I chose medicine. That's that," I replied with a shrug. He started playing, something incredibly familiar, but I couldn't place it until Gerard and Frank started to sing.

"I heard you crying loud, all the way across town," they sang, and suddenly, the rest of us, except for Amanda and Zara, who I realized didn't know the words, were singing loudly to Green Day's When I Come Around. Soon, we were all singing, as Frank and Ray played their huge repertoire of the Beatles, cheesy 80's songs, and stuff I remembered from high school. I sat, singing with the rest, with Gerard's arm around my shoulders, until they began Santeria, by Sublime. Charlotte jumped to her feet, and began dancing as she sang. Suddenly, she held out her hand to me.

"Come on, Koko, you know you wanna!" she cried. I jumped out of my seat, and together, we danced, running around and spinning like idiots on the beach, my blue sun dress swirling around me. It was probably the most fun I'd had in years.

After three or four more songs, we had tired ourselves out, and sank back onto the mat with the others.

"I'm beat," Ray said. "I'm off to bed." He stood up, and headed towards the cabin.

"Here, take mine too, would you?" Frank called, and handing his guitar to Ray, who placed both onto the floor of the cabin.

"Night, kids," Ray called. "Night, Pansy," he added, ruffling Frank's hair, before climbing up the ladder.

"You know, I think I might try to get some sleep too," Mikey said, standing and following Ray to the compartment they shared. One by one, the others departed as well, all heading to their beds, and soon, Gerard and I were left alone on the mat. He sighed, and laid back, looking up at the stars. I sat by his head, my arms around my knees.

"You think one of those lights up there is a search plane?" he asked softly. I shook my head.

"Probably not at night. Don't they usually call off searches at night time?" I asked.

"You're probably right," he replied. "Don't worry. We'll all get out of here." I nodded, and we were silent for a few minutes. "You know," he said eventually, "Frank was right. You have a beautiful voice."

"Thank you," I said softly, staring out at the waves.

"What, you're not gonna compliment me?" he asked, laughing lightly. I chuckled.

"If I tell you you're amazing now, you'll think I'm just repaying the compliment," I replied. "I'll wait, and compliment you out of the blue sometime." He laughed again. "I'm kind of tired myself," I added, softly.

"Me too," he replied. "Let's go to bed, Monkey."

"You gonna call me that forever?" I asked laughing.

"Yup," he replied.

"Think we should stoke up the fire before we go?" I asked.

"Nah, they're probably not looking for us at night, I think we can let it die down a bit," he replied, as he stood. He held his hand out to me, helping me to my feet, and waited as I climbed into the cabin. He followed me, and took my hand as we walked quietly to our compartment. Zara and Amanda were still awake, giggling quietly to each other. I could hear Tori's and Charlotte's light breathing, and snores coming from Mikey, Ray, Bob, and Frank. Without bothering to change, I crawled into bed, and a moment later, Gerard climbed in beside me. He held his arms open to me, and I rolled into them, placing my head on his shoulder. One of Gerard's arms wrapped around me, the other began to stroke my hair, and in moments, I was asleep.

Notes

Yup. She's sleeping again. I mean, I guess it is a pretty good place to end a chapter. But seriously.

By the way, thanks, everyone, for the encouragement. It means a lot!