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Chapter 7:

Lex was used to being ignored. In general, ten year olds were pretty easy to overlook. As a rule grown ups didn't pay much attention to anyone more than a couple of feet shorter than them, and even among ten year olds Lex was really leaning towards the short side. It didn't help matters that his main interests were science and history. He didn't care much for baseball, or video games, or anything else the other guys in his class at school were in to. He usually spent any free time during school reading or looking up cool articles on the internet. His teachers loved it, they were constantly telling him he'd really make something out of himself someday. His classmates however, weren't so kind. They wanted to make something out of Lex right now…they wanted to make him out to be a freak. A brain, a boring, geeky kid. Needless to say he didn't have a lot of friends. But Lex didn't really feel deprived or anything, at least not most of the time.

His parents had gotten divorced when Lex was five. He didn't really remember much about his Dad from before he left…and the memories Lex did have from afterwards weren't that great. His Dad just showed up every other month or so, took Lex for ice cream or something, and then took off again to go who knows where. Once he brought Lex a baseball glove, and even though he could care less about baseball, he still had it in the back of his closet.

Lex figured half the reason he was so…different from the other kids at school was the fact that as soon as his Dad left he felt as though it was his responsibility to take care of his mom. He was just a kid, but he started trying to think of ways to make things easier for her. People sometimes called him a genius, but Lex knew he was really just a kid who had trained himself to think.

A couple of years ago Lex's mom had married a pretty nice guy, and he'd gotten a stepfather and a new sister. That would be Daley. She was great, really. But sometimes it was hard for Lex to adjust. Daley was also the type of person who felt an obligation to take care of those she cared about (probably because of what happened to her mom), and Lex was too used to taking care of himself to like getting watched over by anyone.

All of that seemed so far away now. Yesterday their parents had dropped him and Daley off at the airport in L.A., and now look at them…only Lex knew no one was looking at him. He'd been trying to get everyone's attention since they'd crashed. As soon as he'd gotten off of the plane, Daley had patted him down from head to toe, probably looking for broken bones or something. Lex grudgingly allowed this, knowing it would be faster just to submit. After that she'd wandered off to check on everyone else, and he'd taken a good look around.

A quick scan of their surroundings told him all he needed to know for the time being. Help wasn't just around the corner, and although they'd been lucky the sand had broken their fall somewhat, the beach wasn't really the ideal location for their plane to be stranded…the tide was going to be coming in eventually, and when it did…

Lex looked around again, surely SOMEONE would realize how important this was…just then Taylor and Eric sprinted past him towards the water. They were really going swimming?

"Just another day at the beach." Jackson shook his head and headed toward the edge of the jungle.

Daley was already half way down the beach, and Nathan was even farther away. The pilot was fiddling with the radio, which was producing nothing but static, and Jory, Ian, and Abby were hovering over his shoulder watching his non-existent progress.

Melissa was still standing next to him, but she looked like she was still in shock.

Lex felt a little sorry for her. She'd gotten pretty freaked out on the plane, well, they all had, but Melissa was obviously pretty sensitive…in other words, she wasn't like him and Daley. She wasn't the type of person who could bury her emotions...it was no reason to be embarrassed, and Nathan had pretty much made her feel just that.

"Maybe you should sit down." Lex told her carefully.

"I'm fine." She shook her head as if to convince herself it was true.

"Well, then I guess you could help me…" Lex started.

"I'm sorry Lex, but I really want to go make sure Nathan's ok. He seemed kind of upset after he talked to Daley…maybe she could help you until I get back?" Melissa was nice, but obviously distracted.

"Yeah, I understand, but…" Lex started to protest.

"Thanks Lex, I'll be right back." And with that she set off across the beach.

Lex sighed. Yes, he was used to being ignored. But it never really got any easier at all.