𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋'𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 || 𝐣. 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲

"Fine. Fine, go fishing," Pope relented after they realized that he had a point.

Kie added, "And at least JJ will probably have washed up by then."

After they were done at the restaurant, Bree decided that it was time to head home and face her mother. Ever since Midsummer's, she had just been sneaking through the window the get clothes or only coming when she knew that Allison wasn't going to be there.

"Where have you been?" The Callaway girl winced when she heard that voice as soon as she opened the door and stepped inside the house. She looked up to see her mother sitting at the kitchen counter, facing her.

The younger girl ran a hand through her hair and sighed, "Mom, let me explain."

"Explain what?" the woman exclaimed, standing up so that her heels clicked on the ground when she took a couple of steps forward. "Why you completely abandoned and humiliated me at Midsummers? Why you haven't been home in days?"

"I'm so sorry," Bree apologized, and she was, honestly. She was a coward for not doing this sooner.

Allison took another step toward her daughter. "You could've been dead for all I knew. No one had heard from you, and you've been hanging out with those filthy Pogues. So, you could've been buried in Mexico."

"Mom!" the girl scolded, her jaw dropping at how rude her mother was being. "I get that you were worried, but those are my friends. You can't talk about them like that."

"Well, your 'friends' are criminals. One of them held Topper at gunpoint," the older female stated as if the younger didn't know about it.

Bree scoffed in disbelief before rolling her eyes at the woman's dramatics. "He was protecting his friend. Topper was going to drown John B. He wasn't actually going to shoot him."

"How do you know that?" Allison questioned.

"Because I know him," the brunette girl answered, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "They're good people, Mom. They would never hurt me or anyone I care about. I swear."

The woman was still not convinced. She reached over and put a gentle hand on her daughter's cheek in comfort. "Sweetie, did they threaten you? You can tell me, you know."

"Oh, my God," Bree groaned, pulling away from her mother and pushing past her so that she could walk up the stairs. She really couldn't deal with this right now. She thought she could, but she couldn't.

Allison called after her as she ascended the stairs angrily, "Gabby! Gabrielle Callaway, we are not done talking about this!"

"I am," the girl yelled back before slamming her bedroom door closed behind her, shutting out all of the yelling along with all of her Kook problems. She just needed some time to herself, time to relax because she hadn't had that in what felt like forever.

《✵》

BREE WAS SITTING ON HER BED WITH A BOOK. Music was flowing through her earbuds and into her ears, and she got distracted from her book for a moments when she zoned out and began thinking about the gold. What was she gonna do with 80 million dollars? That was a lot of money. A lot. Like, she wouldn't have to work for a very very long time, maybe even the rest of her life.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tapping at her window. She paused for a moment but passed it off as something in the song she was listening to. When she heard it again, she finally took her earbuds out and got up, making her way to the glass with furrowed eyebrows and thinking, Why are people always tapping at my window? She figured it was Sarah again or Kie coming to update her about the gold or something.