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[turnthebadinme]

Serena had forgotten. It was stupid, she knew, to forget that people vanished here, that it would happen to her, too. This was, after all, a basic rule of island life, of life anywhere, and she had lost more than a few people in her time, so it should have been easy to remember. She was, however, an optimist by nature, and although she'd been badly

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[turnthebadinme]

Serena wasn't a stupid girl. For all her pretense at innocence, she wasn't particularly naive either. She had seen too much for that and been left too many times, and she had known that the price of falling in love was, sometimes, getting left. It just never seemed real. Men had always come and gone, but the very few she'd ever loved, she'd never believed they would go. No matter how many times she was let down or left behind, cast aside, she couldn't help believing. She built everything on her hopes and here it all went, falling down around her ears again -- not stupid but she never learned

[turnthebadinme]

Serena nodded, grateful. Alone was the last thing she could stand to be right now. Slowly, biting her lip, she rose to her feet, heading into the next room. She didn't have it in her now to be particularly good as a hostess, didn't have Blair's determination to excel in this at all times; she just went where she needed to, sitting on the edge of her bed and doing her best not to look at the wall where she kept her photos. "Okay," she murmured. "It's okay if we don't talk, right?"

[learnwhatsreal]

"Yeah," Jenny replied quickly, shaking her head a little. It wasn't like she could have expected much more, after all. What mattered to her was just being there, of how little help it might have been. Serena and the others had all been there for her when Dan disappeared; the least she could do was return the favor now. Having followed Serena into the bedroom, she hung back a few steps, weight shifting from her heels to her toes and back again. "Whatever you need. And let me know if there's anything more I can do."

[turnthebadinme]

Serena shook her head. Tucking her legs up onto the bed, she drew them toward her, curling in against herself. "Just stay a little while," she said quietly. "That's all." In the end, it didn't make much difference. She was alone whether or not Jenny was there. Maybe it would get easier someday, maybe she would feel better, but here and now, she was utterly alone.