Chapter Text
Shelby glanced out her bedroom window at the world around her. After everything that happened, she was still trapped. Trapped on an island, then trapped in a bunker, and now she was once again trapped in the perfect Goodkind life.
Her life changed drastically in the past four months. Yet- at the end of the day she came home as the same person she was before. A carefully curated persona, designed for the approval of her family, her peers, and the church.
Because Shelby Goodkind was a good person. It was in her name, she had to be. Good n’ kind, just like her mother, just like her siblings, just like her pastor father. A young pageant star with a smile that could blind. Her unrelenting love for the lord was admirable to the rest of her church. Shelby Goodkind was level headed, she always kept her cool and always stood up tall.
Except- Shelby wasn’t any of those things. Not deep down anyway.
Shelby was a fake. She put all her trust into an unproven, all-knowing figure whenever she was in a tough spot. All because she was too cowardly to deal with it herself. Shelby lost her cool, frequently in fact. Even her smile, the pageant winning, blinding white smile, was fake.
The world only knew Shelby Goodkind. The world only needed to know Shelby Goodkind. Surface level Shelby who never did wrong.
That was until she plummeted into the fucking ocean along with girls she had known for all of ten minutes.
She had learned to let loose on that island. There’s no approval to wait for when the people you're with are gonna die on the same island as you.
It was a morbid thought, to know you were walking on your grave. But Shebly found it liberating at the same time.
In Texas, she had to be perfect. Any trip up would be a point off at the pageant, a disappointed sigh from her friends, or worse- a report back to her father.
Upsetting her father was the last thing Shelby wanted to do.
But on the island- nothing she did was getting to her father.
Shelby could say what she wanted, be what she wanted, and do what she wanted.
Which is why it almost hurt to be back home. Being safe in a bed with proper food and shelter never felt more painful. Her parents had questioned her about what happened on the island and Shelby almost felt like she was back in the irrigation room.
But unlike in the room- she could never tell her parents what she did out there.
Some of it was obvious, she couldn't exactly hide a shaved head. But others...
The hand on her waist pulling her closer, the lips on her, using her mouth for what the lord never intending it to be used for-
Shelby hid a lot of her island experience from her parents.
Rain sprayed her window lightly, blurring her view of the outside but not removing it. It felt so quiet in her room. The island was never silent. Even if nobody was talking, the waves crashed, the leaves moved, and the animals played. In the detention room she was given, the lack of sound was suffocating. The room was numbing and cold. But here, at home, it was just lonely. It managed to seem more isolated than the bunker.
Her room used to always hold someone else. Shelby always had a friend over or a family in the parlor. But now it's silent. Her parents didn’t allow anyone in. They wanted Shelby to ‘heal one on one with the lord’.
But Shelby didn’t pray.
Shelby sat at her window.
She didn’t talk with anyone.
Not even God.
The only people who would understand were the girls. Her friends. Her family . She’d never admit it to their faces but- they were family. A forced one, but family. Shelby tried to keep in touch with them. But on the fifth week of being home, her father took her phone and changed the number.
Her family claims to be looking out for her-
But it felt like a punishment.
She missed the rest of the ‘unsinkable eight’ as Martha had named their group chat.
The rain outside was now pounding violently on her window. It reminded Shelby of the freak storm from day three. They were practically still newbies to the island. The storm was a rude awakening of how much danger they were in.
The storm outside was just as strong but not as nearly as intimidating. Maybe it was because Shebly was inside, or maybe it was because Shelby had been through so much worse.
Shelby picked up her phone, turning it over in her hand. Her parents got her a new one after she got back home, giving her just under two blissful months of keeping in touch with the girls. Then the number changed and homeschooling kicked in. The isolation was painful. Shelby was done with it after one day of it at the facility. To go home and be quarantined again felt like a spit in the face.
It felt like a punishment.
Maybe it was.
This could be her father's message for not being as open about the events on the island as he had hoped Shelby would be. Or maybe her parents genuinely wanted what's best for her.
Shelby didn’t know.
She doesn't know a lot of things anymore.
Did the rest of the girls even notice she stopped responding to their messages? She messaged Toni every day, maybe she noticed.
Toni.
Shelby looked away from the window, placing her phone down on her bed.
Dear Lord, how she missed Toni.
Even before her phone number changed, it wasn't the same texting all the time rather than feeling Toni’s solid body pressed against hers.
And now of course there was nothing.
Which was arguably worse.
It’s been two weeks without the rest of the unsinkable. Seven weeks since they’ve last seen each other. Nine weeks since they were rescued from the island.
Shelby remembers the last thing Toni told her on the island. They were all being put on separate boats, something about no discussion of what happened because it could interfere with their stories. None of them knew it would be three weeks before they saw each other again. Yet- she remembers Toni shouting over the panic mixed with excitement. Yelling to Shelby as they both got pulled in separate directions and onto different boats.
“ I’ll be waiting for you!”
How long was Toni willing to wait? The question made Shelby’s heart sink. She wasn’t worth waiting that long for. Toni was a fiery ball of passion. She was amazing and confident. She could probably get any girl she wanted. Why wait for Shelby?
The phone on Shelby’s bed buzzed, cutting over the silence filling the room. Shelby picked up carefully, ready to see a new text from one of her relegion friends, or a message from the church.
But-
hey shelby the unsinkables are in town. meet us at the bowling alley at six. if u need to be jailbroken, just say the word and we got it- Dot
Shelby froze. She blinked once, then twice- even rubbed her eyes to make sure the message was still there.
It was.
How?
As if to know she asked, another message popped up.
can’t make fun of my dealer period now, my connections landed me a pretty nifty new phone number lmk when you get this message
Shelby laughed a quiet chuckle in disbelief that turned into full-blown laughter.
Of course.
Lord- she owes Dot her firstborn.
There were a lot of questions on her mind. How did the rest of the unsinkables make it all the way to Texas? Who gave Dorathy Campbell her number? How was she gonna make it to the bowling alley tonight?
That last question she could answer now.
Shelby turned the door to her room, making her way quietly down the hall. She could hear her family downstairs, probably eating lunch together. Shelby ran through the ways to phrase her question in her head carefully. She wasn’t much of a liar. Not to her father at least. Shelby could count on one hand the number of times she lied to her parents. If she tried to lie about this one- she’d probably get caught. Instead, the best option would probably be simply to- eliminate some of the truth. Yeah.
“Shelby!” Her mom sang as she entered the kitchen. “How nice of you to join us!”
“Hi, Ma,” Shelby said tentatively, sitting next to her brother. “I have a question.”
“Shoot.” His father smiled.
“Dot, one of the girls from the island, messaged me- on Instagram,” Shelby said, throwing the Instagram in quickly at the end. If her parents know Dot knew her number, it’d just be changed again. “She wants to hang out tonight, at the bowling alley. She was the other girl from Texas, please can I go? I miss her, I haven’t seen any friends in like- three weeks.”
“Wasn’t Dot your school's drug dealer?” Her father asked. Of course, he was worried about the reputations of who Shelby was with.
Shelby froze. “I- well, yeah. But it was to help pay for her sick father. She doesn't do it anymore. Her father, well, passed.” Shelby looked at the table, her heart pounding as she waited for a response.
“If it will just be Dot, then why not.” Her mother smiled. “Send her our condolences. May God bless her and her father.”
Shelby nodded, trying not to laugh at how much Dot would hate to know somebody is praying for her. “Thank you, thank you. You won't regret this.”
“I'm sure we won't.” Her father smiled.
Shelby could tell they didn’t fully believe her. They probably hated the idea of her hanging out with a dealer- former or not. But a pity decision was a decision nonetheless.
She practically tripped over the stair as she ran back up to her room, grabbing her phone off her bed.
See y’all at six .