HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER FIFTEEN !

NOLA DIDN'T WANT TO DIE. Well, it was safe to say that none of them wanted to die but Nola truly didn't want to unless it was for the greater good. If she died while trying to do something useful, something helpful then she would die knowing that she tried her best. Perhaps that was what influenced her decision.

            When Taissa had given an hour for people to decide on whether they wanted to go find help with her or not, the thought of her going off into the forest alone, not knowing if she'd ever be seen again solely so she could try and get the rest of the group help, put things into perspective for the Rilke girl. Either way, if she went along with Taissa or stayed behind, she'd end up dead from starvation and the elements. Perishing without fighting to survive was not how she wanted to go out.

Hesitation filled her every movement as the young Rilke girl approached her friend, who busied herself with tidied up the inside of the cabin. "Hey Jack, can I talk to you about something?" Nola mumbled out as she stood beside the blonde, wringing her hands somewhat nervously.

She feared the response she'd received from Jackie but knew she couldn't just leave without talking to her first. They were best friends, after all. Plus Nola knew that Jackie would understand once she properly explained her reasoning behind wanting to go.

Jackie looked up from the dishes she had been cleaning and stared inquisitively up at her friend. Her head nodded as she utter her reply, "Sure, yeah, what's up?"

            A shaky sigh tumbled from Nola's lips as she prepared herself. "About what Taissa was saying." She began to explain. Her bottom lip was constantly getting trapped and released from between her teeth as she tried her best to ease into the topic. "I think I'm gonna go with."

            The bowl that the blonde had been holding fell from her grip, crashing down into the large basin of water, splattering it everywhere. Jackie couldn't have care less though as she spun around on her heel, her eyes blow open wide and the expression on her face screaming her emotions.

            Her voice immediately broke out into a screech. "Are you crazy? You wanna just go off out into the wilderness with no fucking clue if you're gonna make it out? What the hell is wrong with you?" As she spoke, her splayed open fingers flung aggressively in the air.

Nola's eyes immediately scrunched up as the shrill yell of Jackie's voice assaulted her ears. Her friends concern was warranted but unnecessary in Nola's eyes. Whether she stayed or went, her life was in jeopardy. All of their lives were.

As if sensing the tension that lay thick in the atmosphere, Shauna stepped into the cabin through the open door, confusion all of her face. "What's going on? Why are you yelling at her?" The Shipman girl questioned.

Shauna was sure it was probably something trivial as Jackie had a habit of getting mad at silly, meaningless things, but she was more than willing to join in on the conversation if it meant Nola would actually speak to her. The way in which her girlfriend tensed up at her voice didn't go unnoticed.

Jackie welcomed the brunette to the conversation, a smug grin on her lips at the fact that she now had backup. No wha would Shauna be okay with this. "Good thing you're here. You'll get a kick out of this." The blonde said as unamused laughter trickled out. "Our fucking idiot best friend here, wants to go off galavanting in the woods with Taissa."

How stupid could a person be? Shauna couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nola would rather go off into the woods, not knowing if she'd actually find any form of help than stay at the cabin with her friends?

Annoyed sputters erupted from the Shipman girl as a flabbergasted look overwhelmed her face. "What the fuck? Why would you do that? And were you not even gonna tell me?" She accused Nola, her eyes focused solely on the brunette who had barely glanced her way.

Nola let out an annoyed sigh. "I want to be useful. I hate sitting here and struggling. Tai was right, okay? We need to find help otherwise we're all going to die out here."

            The atmosphere grew still almost instantly as the two took in Nola's words. Not a single word left their lips as the three friends silently stood there, the only sound to be heard was the creaking of the wood they stood upon and chatter from outside the cabin.

"I don't wanna die." Nola finally admitted, breaking the quiet. The honesty was incredibly raw from the Rilke girl. Her bottom lip wobbled as her voice trembled.

            Never before had Jackie or Shauna seen her so honest. Sure, she could tell the truth from time to time but opening up about her true feelings regardless of potential judgement was just so unlike her. Having grown up with parents who barely acknowledged her existence, Nola had conditioned herself to close off her true emotions, wear a mask to hide her feelings.

            Nola's fingers began to wring somewhat nervously together as she forced an expression of determination. "So that's why I'm going. If either of you actually care for me, you won't try to stop me."

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JACKIE HAD TAKEN NOLA'S decision better than had been expected. The raw honestly that the Rilke girl had used seemed to convince Jackie of Nola's seriousness. Shauna however...yeah she hadn't been as easily convinced. Once Jackie dashed off outside, Shauna had immediately changed her reaction. She wasn't pleased one bit by Nola's decision.

She watched on, absolutely enraged at this decision, as Nola began to pack what little of her belongings had survived the crash into her backpack. "Why are you doing this?" Shauna questioned the girl.

Nola just shook her head as she shoved her clothes deep into the bag. "I'm not doing this with you, Shauna. Not now." She responded, not bothering to turn around and glance at the brunette.

She truly didn't want to discuss anything with Shauna at this point. She had been lied to, cheated on and betrayed. There was no coming back from that. But she also couldn't bring herself to confront the Shipman girl.

Shauna folded her arms in annoyance. She stood like a child being told it had to go to bed early. Her voice fell in volume into a harsh whisper. "Why not? You owe it to me to tell me why my girlfriend is going off into the fucking woods and didn't even bother to tell me."

Unbeknownst to Nola at the time, she had a trigger that would activate her rage. Something that would bring all of her emotions to the forefront. That very trigger was Shauna's audacity.

"I owe you?" Nola scoffed as she spun on her heel, her eyes sharp and her gaze a fiery inferno, something Shauna never expected to see aimed at her. As though her words were acid, they burned at the Shipman girl as she snapped, "I owe you nothing. No, you lost that right when you fucking cheated on me!"

Shauna looked a mix of surprised and shameful. Nola couldn't help but wryly chuckle. "That's right, I saw you that day with Taissa. I know what you were doing, Shauna."

"It isn't what it looked like." Shauna lowly muttered, the girl having the nerve to actually appear sorry for what she had done.

Don't insult my intelligence, Nola thought to herself. Immediately her arms crossed and snidely smirked. "Oh, really? A long, sharp wire making its way towards your womb isn't what it looked like? Do you think I'm an idiot?" She sarcastically quipped back at her unspoken ex girlfriend. "So, who was it?"

Shauna didn't answer. In many ways, she couldn't. If she did, she'd be putting herself in even hotter water and with two people, the two people she loved the most, more than anything in the world. Her two best friends.

"Tell me. You owe it to me to tell me who it was." Nola repeated the very phrase Shauna used, the phrase that had started this entire confrontation, back to her.

"Randy."

"Bullshit." Nola snarled back. She knew for certain that Shauna couldn't even stand Randy at times so chances of her having sex with him were extremely slim. "Don't treat me like an idiot, Shauna. Tell me the truth now."

When Shauna still refused to confess, it basically confirmed and validated all of the insecurities Nola had ever felt. "It was Jeff, wasn't it?" Shauna once again had to nerve to seem shamed. "So not only did you screw me over, you also screwed Jackie. You just really wanted to fuck over your friends, huh?"

Shauna's hands were now clenching and unclenching nervously down by her sides, her nails scrapping and catching on the fraying fabric of her jean shorts. "Nola, I'm sorry. I love you." She desperately implored.

            Her doe eyes were wet with tears. Her gaze was latched onto Nola's face, searching across the features for any sign that the brunette believed her.

Despite the urge that grew in her gut to simply forgive Shauna, to not let one incident ruin their relationship but she just couldn't let her resolve fizzle out. "Do you? Cause if you really love me, like you say you do, you wouldn't have done this to me."

            Her own eyes began to sting with oncoming tears. Her voice became slightly deeper as she forced her voice past the building lump that was forming in her throat. "You were everything to me." Nola pointed out. "We saw us spending our lives together, travelling and doing anything and everything we ever wanted."

            There was a beat of silence. Nola swallowed hard before forcing herself to ask, "When did that stop being what you wanted?"

            "It still is. Please, Nola. I've never regretted something more in my entire life. It was the biggest mistake and if I could take it all back, I would. Please don't leave me. I need you." As Shauna uttered her deepest emotions, spilling her heart out as a few tears trailed down her cheeks, she took a step forward only to halt in place once Nola backed away.

            It felt like a knife was being plunged deep into her chest, scraping violently against her heart. Had this been how her actions had made Nola feel?

            A deep, shuddering breath trembled free from Nola's lips as she took yet another step back. She spun back around, zipped her backpack shut and swung it onto her shoulders. A look of complete dejection covered her face as she looked back at Shauna. "I won't tell Jackie." She stated with a tone of finality laced within her words.

            "Nola, please." The Shipman girl begged though her words went unanswered as Nola walked past her, leaving her to quietly sob and forcing her to face the consequences of her actions.

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"PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE." Jackie Taylor had pleaded of her best friend, the girl totally oblivious to the tension that now lingered between Nola and Shauna. All she wanted in that moment was for Nola to be safe and not die from dehydration or an animal attack. The thought of her friend going off into the woods and never returning was something that Jackie simply couldn't bare.

Nola gently smiled at the blonde. "I will, Jackie." She replied with an affirmative nod. The sudden movement of Jackie's hands caught her attention which caused her to glance down and see Jackie extending out a closed fist. Curiously she peered back up at her friend. "What's this?"

Jackie swiftly unclenched her fist and laid out her palm to reveal her heart necklace, the very one she and Shauna had been exchanging back and forth since they first stepped foot on the plane. A sly smile pulled at Jackie's lips as she responded, "I want that back which means you have to come back and give it to me."

Then before Nola had a chance to argue or claim she didn't need it and for Jackie to keep it, the Taylor girl quickly unclasped the chain, wrapped it around Nola's neck before fastening it once again and allowing it to hang free, decorating the brunette's throat.

            For a brief moment the two girls just stared at one another before Jackie sniffed loudly and reached out for her friend. "Come here." She muttered whirl she pulled Nola into a tight embrace, wrapping her arms around the brunette's shoulders with all her strength.

            Nola found her face burrowing into the fabric of Jackie's top, breathing in the comforting scent of her best friend. Suddenly the idea of leaving didn't seem so good. "I love you, Jackie." Her voice crackled slightly as she spoke.

            "Love you too." Jackie sweetly smiled at her friend while she pulled back from the embrace and began to step aside, allowing Nola to say her goodbyes to the others of the group.

Nola's attention was quickly swept away by an approaching Lottie, who spoke in a low, earnest tone. "You can keep them safe. You just have to listen." Her gaze was intense as it scanned Nola's face. It was as though she knew that Nola could protect them.

"Lottie, we're gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be fine. We're gonna find help and send it back for you all." The Rilke girl uttered, attempting to comfort the fearful girl.

Lottie just shook her head. Once again she said, "You have to listen." This time, only the most serious of tones laced within her words and her gaze was hardened considerably, staring intensely at Nola.

            Unfortunately, Nola knew exactly what Lottie meant. It was no secret that since the crash, both she and the Matthews girl were the most affected. However unlike Lottie, Nola didn't wish to listen. She wanted to simple block out the words, block out the urges the voice gave her.

            Despite this, the brunette nodded her head anyway. "Okay, I will."

            Everyone's eyes flew to the opened cabin door as a dizzying rush of blonde curls hurled towards them. "Wait, wait for me. I'm coming." Misty informed the group, grinning from ear to ear. She stepped up in front of Coach Ben, staring up at the man. "Ben, uh, coach. Please don't try to talk me out of this, okay? I've given it a lot of thought and I just...I feel like my team really needs me right now."

A high intensity of awkwardness and discomfort exuded from the man, something everyone minus Misty picked up on with ease. Coach Ben cleared his throat as he decided to play along with her belief, the man not wishing to dishearten the girl as she risked her life to get the rest of them help. "Oh. Well, that's uh...you know what? That's really brave, Misty. I'll do the best I can without you."

"I'll come back for you. I promise." The Quigley girl said in a low whisper, though due to the silence that had swept over the group, everyone heard her. She didn't care though as she continued to grin at the man as she moved past him and gathered alongside those who chose to leave.

As Nola moved to follow the blonde, standing beside Stevie, who had also chosen to leave not long after Nola did, a somewhat sarcastic though strangely sincere voice captured her attention. "Don't die out there."

An amused smirk pulled at her lips at Travis' attempt to be kind to her, in what may be the last time the pair ever saw one another. "I'll try not to. Thanks for your concern." She quipped back.

"It's what I'm here for." The Martinez boy responded before stiffly walking away and leaning his entire body's weight against one of the cabin's pillars.

With one final look exchanged between them all, the group that chose to leave and find help, spun on their heels and began to heading out into the vast greenery, hoping and praying that their efforts would prove fruitful.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter fifteen. not proofread.
so the confrontation has happened lads. It needed to happen honestly. As you can see I'm slowly trying to build the relationship between nola and stevie and Travis, two people who will be big parts of her story going forward. anyway i hope you enjoyed :)