Nicole's body was slowly recovering, but her heart was still aching: where was Ashley? It had been... what... two days since the beach?
Her muscles stiffened at the thought, and her back cramped. Nicole squirmed in bed, twisting onto her back, trying to stretch and get comfortable. Elizabeth liked to cuddle and Nicole hated to push her away, but waking up the past two -- three? -- mornings had been painful. Elizabeth's long brown hair draped over their naked breasts and tickled as the brunette roused herself. Nicole wrapped an arm around Elizabeth's neck and pulled her face close. Ashley and Elizabeth were her family: they had met on their first visit to the island, advanced together, and grown to love each other. She hated not knowing where one of her little sisters was.
Dim, green light shined in through a silly round window in the curved wall across the room -- that was about all the sunlight Bag End got, situated in a hillside deep beneath the jungle foliage. Nicole and Elizabeth lay together, skin-to-skin from head to toe, in the middle of a large bed built into the wall. Bag End had a couple of other bedrooms scattered through its labyrinthine tunnels, but they were empty now, and this one felt empty without Ashley. The bed was too large for two.
Elizabeth lifted her head with a groan and rolled onto her back. She stretched her arms and legs and said, "I think I'm feeling a little better today, what about you?"
Nicole sat up and grabbed her knees to stretch out her lower back. "Yeah, but no sign of Ash." Nicole half-expected the girl to show up overnight and roll her eyes at their worry.
"I'm sure she's fine," Elizabeth said, for the hundredth time, convincing no-one. She slid herself down Nicole's body and pushed open the blonde's legs to rest her face against her pussy. Elizabeth was a giver, and Nicole knew it would make the brunette feel better to pleasure her, so she laid back and did her best to clear her mind. Elizabeth was a wonder with her tongue, and she knew just how Nicole liked to be touched. Her tongue crept into the folds of Nicole's pussy and was greeted with a rush of warm juices.
Nicole curled her fingers into Elizabeth's hair and moaned, grinding gently against the girl's face as she arched her back and came. It wasn't mind-blowing, but it was intimate and comforting for both of them. Nicole petted Elizabeth's hair as her friend licked up her juices, then they kissed and held each other in silence.
"We'd better get going," Nicole said. "I'll pay you back later?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Let's ask Hannah and Emily to stay over tonight," she said.
"Maybe," Nicole said, and tried to keep a straight face. Elizabeth meant well. They had grown close to the two newbies in recent days, and normally Nicole would have no objection to a few more warm bodies, but Elizabeth already wanted to adopt them into the family. Nicole's family. Hannah had trusted them with a lot of information, but could she herself be trusted?
The girls washed up and brushed their teeth and hair. Nicole missed the simplicity of the island when she was back in the "real world". She was tall, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, with perfect c-cups and long legs, and her mind knew she was beautiful... but it took a lot of work to feel that way in the real world. On the island she didn't have to think about it: everyone was beautiful and naked.
Nicole wordlessly took the hairbrush from Elizabeth and took over brushing her friend's long, brown hair. Elizabeth was several inches shorter, brown-eyed, with bouncy c-cups, and narrower hips. Nicole loved brushing her hair, and Elizabeth would purr if she did it just right.
On the jungle path headed towards breakfast Nicole and Elizabeth joined up with a large group of girls who were staying in Noah's Ark. They were rambunctious and flirty and tried to tease the pair out of their somber mood.
"Where's Ashley? Still not back?" Erica asked, laughing and swatting as another girl tried to pinch her nipple. Apparently that was their game this morning. Nicole had known Erica for over a year and the girl was close to graduation. They'd had sex several times and shared Dr. Wilcox once. Nicole liked her, but she never took anything seriously.
"No," Nicole said.
"Maybe she flunked out," Erica said, and swatted another hand away from her nipples, then yelped as a different girl pinched her ass.
"No way!" Elizabeth said. "Her sister Olivia graduated. You know how Dr. Wilcox is with sisters."
The swarm of girls swirled around each other, laughing and pinching, legs and arms flailing. Erica struggled and tangled with two arms that were grabbing at her breasts. "If I were you today, I'd be more worried about the snorkel!"
As she said it, the other girls in the pack started chanting: "Snorkel, snorkel!" The chant broke down as they laughed and started pinching at each other again, but Nicole and Elizabeth grimaced.
"Today? How do you know?" Nicole yelled over the group's laugher. It had to come someday, but the thought made her break into a cold sweat.
Erica turned around and walked backwards for a few steps. "Dr. Wilcox mentioned it last night," she said. "Or was it this morning?" she asked the girls next to her, and they laughed. Then she reached down to her pussy and stuck a finger inside. She pulled it out and made a big show of tasting it. "Yes, this morning! Good luck!" Erica was such a show-off.
Nicole slowed down to let the group go ahead and Elizabeth took her arm. "Well, we knew it was the next test for us," Elizabeth said, and Nicole nodded. "Do you think Ashley could be... gone?" Elizabeth asked, but Nicole didn't have an answer.
Mrs. Carver gave them a disapproving look as they emerged into the clearing. The two were among the last to arrive at breakfast but found seats next to Hannah and Emily at a table with a few other girls. Hannah was Nicole's height and build, with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes that radiated a ferocity that had grown over the past few days. Emily was slim and athletic, a bit shorter, with brown eyes and amazing, curly blonde hair you could lose yourself in. Her body was scraped and bruised worse than Nicole's or Elizabeth's from spending a second day hauling rocks on the beach. Hannah had escaped that trial, and looked as perfect as ever.
Hannah leaned towards Nicole, almost pressing their heads together. "I asked Shelly about Ashley. She wouldn't tell me anything. I think she's suspicious of me."
Nicole frowned. "Then be careful." Hannah was a friend. Nicole took her hand and whispered, "Thank you."
Nicole was surprised when Hannah kissed her forehead. "You know how Shelly smiles -- she's hard to read. But I got the impression that Ashley is ok."
"What were her exact words?" Nicole asked, heads together.
Hannah furled her brow adorably. "Shelly said, 'She had an epiphany.'"
An epiphany?
"What's the snorkel, anyway?" Emily asked Elizabeth loudly enough that the whole table turned to her.