"Always a ladies man," Atticus joked with a smirk as he stared at his talkative, blond friend.
From behind them, Renna heard a group of people tapping on bongos, creating a beat in the cool, summer air. She instinctively looked up at Atticus with a grin before beginning to drag him towards the music, the boy wildly shaking his head in protest.
"Renna-"
"Come on, it'll be fun. Loosen up a little, shake it out." He groaned but followed after her anyway, discarding his drink on one of the nearby logs as he trailed behind the visibly excited girl. They only stopped once they came across a clearing in front of a small group of people, the group looking up at the pair with a knowing smile before encouragingly cheering. They slapped their hands on the edge of the logs in which they were seated, clapping as they beamed towards the teens.
"You're not helping!" Atticus shouted with a playful smile as Renna laughed, pulling him closer to her by the hands. All the people sitting on the logs started to cheer louder as she began to move around the boy, swinging their joined hands whilst he shook his head with a disbelieving smile. He was really about to dance. This girl was really about to make Atticus Fletcher dance.
Before they knew it, they were stupidly dancing around each other with laughter and bright smiles, others unknowingly joining in around them. More and more people moved over to the circle forming around the teenage dancers as the small group from the start continued to tap against the loud bongos. It was as if there wasn't anyone else in the world: only Renna and Atticus.
However, Kiara broke their trance.
"Renna! Atticus!" She called as she ran towards them, her worried voice pulling the pair away from the dancers alongside them. She motioned towards her before taking back off in a sprint, running away as the pair - with furrowed brows - nervously chased after the girl. They ran over to the beach, standing along the water's edge with the others, to see Topper throwing a punch at John B. Before she could say anything, she saw Blake trying to push through the crowd out of the corner of her eye.
"Blake, stay out of this!" She shouted as she ran up to her brother, trying to push him back. When he tried to advance, Atticus - who'd been warily watching the siblings' interaction - stepped in-between them both, standing tall in front of Renna's elder brother.
"Back up, man," Atticus nodded forward. Blake clenched his jaw before raising his hands, backing away with pressed lips.
"All right, all right." Atticus sent him one last glare before spinning around and grabbing Renna's hand, pulling her away from him to the sidelines.
"Don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?"
"Oh my god," Renna muttered, her grip on his hand tightening. She looked up at him to see him staring at the fight in the water, anger brewing behind his eyes as he watched his best friend being shoved into the salty sand. She knew what he was thinking.
Before she could react, he'd dropped her hand and started storming towards the pair. Renna moved to chase after him, but two strong hands grabbing her upper arms restricted her.
It was Blake.
"Let go of me!" She tried as she squirmed in her brother's grip.
"We're leaving," he informed her as he pulled her away from the fight.
"Like hell we are."
"Get in the car." He pushed her by her shoulders towards his vehicle. She shook her head, making a move to run past him but he grabbed her again.
"Did you not hear me? Get in the car." His voice was low, deathly, as it travelled through the air and into Renna's tense ears. She couldn't feign out the shouting coming from the beach before she was harshly shoved into the car.
Down at the bank, Atticus was getting held back by Pope and Kiara whilst JJ ran up to the cold water.
"Let me get in there, Pope!" He tried, but Pope's hold on his shoulders kept him back.
"Where the hell is Renna?" Pope wondered aloud, his eyes travelling over to the curly-haired girl beside him with furrowed brows. However, Atticus pushing him back by the shoulders interrupted his train of thought, trying to step in front of him as Pope regained his balance. Thankfully, just in time, Pope stepped in his way once again.
"You're letting JJ go and not me?" Atticus Asked as he cocked his head to the side, furrowing his brows as his breathing grew deeper and deeper.
"You got a fist that can kill, man," Pope reasoned lightly.
"And JJ's got a fucking gun!" Atticus shouted in his face. Pope's eyes widened as everyone around them fell silent, a faint clicking sound being registered in his ears. He spun around with his hands on his mouth, allowing Atticus to quickly rush towards the water.
"Yeah, you know what it is. Your move, bro-ski!"
"We're good. We're good. All right? Come on, man!" When Topper began to back away, Atticus ran at him and pushed him backwards by the shoulders.
"Get out of here, Topper," he leaned closer, "and don't bother coming back."
"This isn't over!" Topper gestured between himself and Atticus repeatedly.
"Oh, I know it isn't," Atticus smirked, his glower not faltering.
"Okay, everyone, listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!" JJ shouted as he fired two shots up, into the nighttime air. All the visitors screamed as they fled, the group of friends flocking towards the blond to scold him for his naivety. Whilst everyone was preoccupied, Atticus ran straight towards a falling John B, struggling to drag his recently unconscious body up to the shore.
"Everyone, shut up!" Atticus yelled, grabbing their attention as they ran to help him. He looked up to find Renna - to make sure she was okay - but she wasn't there. "Where's Ren?" He asked worriedly before lowering his voice. "Where is she?",
"We don't know, okay, Jesus," Pope mumbled as he approached John B. "We have bigger problems right now."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
