My feet pounded down the wooden dock and in my hurry, I almost dropped my phone into the water as I ran down towards the yacht waiting for me, struggling to keep my messenger bag on my shoulder and suitcase on its wheels. I slowed, then turned and stopped to wave goodbye to my father and Laurel, who stood on the end of the dock, waving us off for our adventure.

I turned around again to see my best friend, Oliver Queen, stepping off the boat and heading towards me, a grin lighting up his face as he raised his arms.

"I thought you'd never get here, Mia!" He exclaimed as he caught me in a hug and took my suitcase before I could manage to be any more clumsy.

"I got caught up with trying to make sure I had everything I needed, Olly," I replied with a huff, sweeping my dark curls from my eyes. "I had to make sure I had my laptop and the project downloaded and the backup wifi and disc drives, and-"

"I'm kidding, Mi," he says gently, blue eyes sparkling with mischief. He nods his head towards the Queen's Gambit. "C'mon, I'll show you your room. The sooner we're on board, the sooner we can take off."

I rolled my eyes, but hefted my messenger bag containing my prized senior thesis higher onto my shoulder, and followed him up the gangplank and onto the boat. I was sure to get the best grade in the class with this research project, and be on my way to a career in marine biology in no time.

"You know, I've never been on a boat like this before," I mused as I followed him below deck, watching that my converse didn't slip on the narrow metal stairs. I looked around at the carpeted floors, the photo frames nailed to the walls of the hallways. It felt like luxury, even if the Queens only referred to it as a "small" thing.

"Well, considering you're studying to be a marine biologist, I find that hard to believe," he tossed over his shoulder.

"No, idiot. I mean a boat like this- a nice boat," I clarify and swat at his arm and he begins to laugh. "Not a fisher's boat or one of the college's motor boats. This is a yacht."

He turns down a hallway and I follow him into a room at the end of the hall as the yacht thrums to life, the floor vibrating under my feet.

He opened the door to the room and I peered inside. It was small, but perfect enough for me. There was a desk and a closet built into the wall. The chair also seemed to be sort of bolted to the floor, but could move on a track so I could sit without getting thrown out of it by the waves.

The bed was on the opposite wall, and there was a small cushioned seat under a window.

"Well, here's your room for the next few days. Hope it's to your standards," he says with a small, lopsided smile as he puts his hands in his pockets.

"This is perfect, Olly," I said, then turned to face him. "I can't begin to thank you enough for all of this... really, it means a lot."

"Well, that's what happens when your best friend in the whole world is a billionaire, Mi," he said, nudging me with his elbow.

I laughed slightly. "Yeah, the Lances and I lucked out with being best friends with two of the richest families in Starling City."

He laughed. "True. We'll be heading out soon. I'll see you at dinner?"

I nodded and said with a smile, "I'll see you at dinner."

******

Being able to study on the ocean was amazing. For the rest of the first day and into the next, we took tours where known coral reefs were located, and I forced Oliver to dive with me, telling him about the ecosystems when we came up for air. I knew he didn't actually care, but it was nice that he still made an effort to listen.

The project was on studying different species of coral in warm and cool waters, and the Queens had no problem with locating the different reefs with me, and Mr. Queen actually asked questions.

I spent a lot of time in my room, writing notes, drawing pictures, and typing my research into what I found.

I was sorting through my notes three days into the trip when I heard a thump next door, and then strangely, giggling. As far as I knew, I was the only girl on board....

Confused, I got up and opened the door to my room, peering down the hallway.

I saw Oliver with his dad outside the door, and they smiled at me, and that's when I looked down the hall at the next door over and froze. I didn't know anyone else was aboard, and I certainly didn't expect to see anyone else... least of all to see Sara Lance in nothing but scanty lingerie and a robe.

The source of the thump sound I had heard
earlier, I presumed. I resisted the urge to scowl at her, instead, directing it at Oliver.

Laurel's sister- the very Laurel that Oliver had been dating for a while now- was here... with Oliver... doing all the things she shouldn't be. Her eyes locked on me, then she looked at Oliver as a sense of panic seemed to hit her.

"Laurel is going to kill you two..." I said with a heavy sigh, hoping I had escaped the drama. I straightened, and crossed my arms over my chest. Oliver was my friend, and he was an idiot when it came to pretty girls. But this? I couldn't help him out of this one, and there was no way I'd be putting myself in the Lance's business- especially because Sara hated my guts- the Goody-Goody Maria Walker, who's been single and poor living in the Glades all her life and seemingly miraculously is friends with the rich people who trade relationship statuses like Pokémon cards.

"Mia, I-" Sara began and I raised a hand. Too bad I didn't give enough of a shit about Sara to tolerate her excuses.

"Oh, don't go apologizing to me, Sara. You know what you're doing is wrong. I won't say anything to Laurel, but you both better come clean to Laurel when we get back." I crossed my arms over my chest and sent them a disapproving look. "Not as if she probably doesn't already know by now."

"You think you're better than me, don't you, Mia?" Sara demanded, wrapping her robe around herself tighter and stepping out into the hall more.

Oliver's eyes rolled to the ceiling, and Mr. Queen excused himself and left.

I raised my eyebrow. "How would I think that?"

"You-" she was cut off by Oliver.

"Sara, stop. Mia... please just... I'll handle it."

"I'm just looking out for you, Olly. But this was pretty shitty of you both," I said, then stepped back into my room, closing my door to Oliver before he could say anything more to make me feel guilty as Sara began to yell at me on the other side of the door.

But that was the thing about the Lance sisters and I. While they had had countless boyfriends, one-night-stands, and had been dating since middle school, the only relationship I managed to have failed within a week. And it was because he cheated on me.

I just wasn't desirable to anyone, I guess, and while it was never held against me by Oliver, I felt like the Lances hated me for it at the same time. My relationship with them was... complicated, and I was really only friends with them because of Tommy and Oliver. I could never tell if they saw me as competition- or what- but their dislike of me started freshman year of college.

I stared at myself in the mirror bolted to the closet door and turned side to side. I was skinny, my boobs were small, and I only stood at five feet and four inches. My black hair was always a mess, and I had freckles all over my body and my skin so pale I could be compared to Snow White.

I wasn't anything to look at- anything to desire. And yet, here I was. I was "Mia the bestie". I was "Mia the pure", "Mia the good girl". If it weren't for the fact that I was legitimately friends with Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn, you could mistake me as being around to just make them feel less bad about themselves.

Eyes stinging with tears of frustration, I turned away from the mirror and sat back down in front of my laptop and stared at the cursor blinking on the end of a sentence. I clenched my fists and tried to slow my breathing.

I wiped at the moisture in my eyes and released a shaking breath. This was stupid. Sara and I weren't friends.

There was nothing between Oliver and I, and never was. Oliver Queen was not my type, and Mia Walker wasn't his. It was as simple as that. Yet Sara was jealous anyways. I rubbed my fingers into my eyes and sighed in exasperation.

I paused, releasing a breath, then lifted my fingers back onto the keys and began to write. 

The thunderstorm we had been dealing with continued, and as I wrote, I counted the distance between thunder booms in the distance, only pausing in my writing as I began to feel concerned as the storm only got progressively closer.

But it hadn't even been a full ten minutes before a bang suddenly went off somewhere close by, the whole yacht shuddering. I stood up immediately, wrapping my father's hoodie around myself more securely as I zipped it up.

The power suddenly went dead and there was a groan and another, louder bang even closer now.

Heart beating fast in my chest, I looked down at my father's watch and had a moment to squeeze my eyes shut before the wall next to me exploded inwards and I was sucked out and into the ocean.

Everything was dark underwater. And cold.

So cold, I almost breathed in the salt water around me as my body froze up in momentary shock. But I couldn't do that. I forced my eyes to open, the salt stinging my eyes.

I swam up, or to what I thought was up, my lungs burning, until I finally surfaced. I coughed, the rain pelting my face and providing momentary relief from the salt in my eyes as I struggled to breathe, and then I was plunged under the waves again. I surged up to the surface, coughing and choking on the waves, screaming for help.

Suddenly, another wave came towards me, but before I could be swept under again, I was grabbed from above and behind me by a pair of strong arms.

I yelped as they pulled me up and into a life raft before the waves could push me underwater anymore.

I coughed water out of my lungs, my whole body shaking. Hands moved to my shoulders, and I spun around to see it was Oliver holding onto me, grip tight, and eyes wide with fear.

I grabbed ahold of his arms as I struggled to breathe, tears falling down my cheeks as Mr. Queen helped me into a life jacket.

I looked up at my friend as lightning flashed over us, illuminating our faces and the boat as it disappeared under the waves.

Oliver then pulled me into his arms and whispered hoarsely, "Sara is gone."

******

I coughed as I crawled ashore an island after floating on that damned boat for days. Tears stung my eyes as I made my way up the rocks of what appeared to be a river draining into the ocean.

I pulled myself up to sit on a rock and looked at my wrist to see my father's watch had a crack in the glass face. My hands began to shake, but I clenched them into fists, forcing myself to take deep and slow breaths to calm my anxiety.

I ran a finger over the cracked watch and felt my eyes brim with still more tears. Would I ever see my father again? I closed my eyes, forcing myself to count and steady my breathing. I could only control what I knew. And I knew I had Oliver with me. I opened my eyes and looked around for Oliver and my eyes fell on him.

He sat slumped against a tree, his father's body covered in a tarp not far from him. His hands covered his face and his shoulders shook.

I slid off the rock and limped over to him, falling to my knees in front of him. "Olly..." I rasped, reaching out to rest my hands over his.

He slowly moved his shaking hands from his face, eyes rimmed with red as tears poured down his cheeks. "Mi... this is all my fault... I-I'm sorry."

I shook my head and slid closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck tightly. His arms circled around me as his head dropped to my shoulder. His fists gripped my life vest tightly and I held onto him even tighter, not wanting to let go of him for even a minute.

"It's not your fault..." I said softly. "Not at all, Oliver. Not at all. You couldn't have known this would happen." I pulled away to look at his face.

He lifted his head and his eyes searched mine. "Mia, we have to find a way home... I... don't even know where the boat sank or where we are. We could be anywhere."

I nodded, lifting my hands to wipe at my eyes, releasing a breath, then met his eyes again. "Then we search for people, because people means a way out of here. If we find people... well, that's the first step. A-And we tell them about what happened and see if they can get us home," I said with a nod, trying to convince myself of the presence of people here. "If there's people, there has to be a boat off of this island, and then we're free." 

He nodded and rested his forehead against mine, releasing a shuddering breath. "Let's rest, Mia... just rest, then find water. And go from there."

I nodded and when his arms didn't loosen from around my waist, merely settled back against him, curling up between his legs as he wrapped himself around me in a tight hug, his face tucked into my neck.

And we fell asleep holding onto each other under that tree, not knowing the horrors soon to come...