SPY GAMES;
part one
AFTER A SMALL SURF SESSION down at the beach, another night spent camped up inside the Château, and an early yet rough morning at sea, the Pogues came across empty handed. They had found the shipwreck, but it was vacant. The six hundred million dollars worth of gold was gone.
The group went back to their homes, most of which being the first time in days - one of whom being Renna. As soon as she had pushed open the grand, front door, footsteps trampling down the stairs caught her attention.
"Uh, hello?" She asked with a confused grin as her brother almost tripped down the stairs. He looked up at her, but instead of his eyes latching onto hers like usual, they found themselves trailing across to her cheek.
What happened to your cheek?" He pointed to it sternly. The bruising had gone down to being barely noticeable, so she automatically assumed her brother wouldn't spot it. However, as soon as the words left his mouth, she knew she would have to tell him.
"Nothing, it's fine-" she began to try.
"Was it Topper?" She looked up at him.
"How did you know?" Her voice was low, soft, as if the wind was knocked out of her. She truly didn't know how he could possibly have known.
His face hardened as he trampled down the last of the steps. "That son of a bitch. I'm gon-"
"You're not gonna do anything," Renna uttered quickly, moving across the hall to stop her brother half way. She laid her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to keep him situated. "I can deal with it, okay?"
"But-"
"No buts." The hall went silent. The whole house went silent. "Thank you. You're just as bad as Atticus," she grinned as she moved away from him, giving the boy one last reassuring pat on the shoulder before moving towards the stairs. She had only managed to climb up a few before he stopped her again.
"Can you at least tell me what happened?" Blake asked, turning around so he could look up at his younger sister.
"He saw me after doing a few lines and decided enough was enough for us, I guess," she shrugged, looking down over her shoulder. Her brother faltered once again, staring into the air.
"I'm sorry, he did a few lines? Whose lines?" He questioned immediately whilst walking closer to the bottom of the steps.
"Rafe's, I suppose," she answered quietly.
"Did you have any?"
"What? No, of course not." She shook her head, pushing the image of Rafe trying to convince her out of her mind. She could still feel his tightening grip against her throbbing arm. She could still feel the way Kelce had looked at her from over the couch's back. She could still feel the immense fear lingering in her chest as she inched closer and closer to the powder spread on the table.
"Jesus Christ. Where'd he get drugs from?" He asked himself beneath his breath, looking down at his shoes as his mind ran in circles.
"I don't know, ask him yourself," Renna shrugged for the last time before turning around, sighing to herself as she continued up towards her bedroom.
Later that afternoon, she heard a knock at her window. With a glimpse in its direction and a laugh stifled beneath her breath, she walked over to it with a smile.
"You could have just used the door, you know?" Renna said after she'd opened the window, looking out at Kiara and Atticus balanced on the tiled roof of her house.
"I know, but we saw your dad's car in the drive. We didn't wanna risk seeing him," Atticus said with a grin.
"Well, what do I owe the pleasure?" She joked, leaning forward to rest her elbows against the windowsill.
"Can I have that pink jumper I left here a few weeks ago? I'm kinda cold, for the first time ever," Kiara asked cheerfully, Renna instantly moving towards her cupboard to grab it.
"Of course! Anything else?"
"Yeah, we're gonna go see a movie. You wanna come?" Kiara offered before shrugging her jacket on, flicking her hair out from beneath it.
"Is that even a question? It's so boring here," she laughed before reaching for the top of her opened window. "I'm going to use the front door though."
Upon their arrival, they were all taken aback. Whilst JJ, Atticus and Pope were sulking behind the pair, Kiara and Renna strode into the open space with glee, until they saw the amount of people there. It was hectic.
"I didn't realise so many people would be here," Renna muttered, her wide eyes rolling over the collection of people.
"I'm just glad that they're still doing this. Keep calm, carry on, back to OBX life. Aren't you guys glad that I made you come?" Kiara ranted with a grin.
"Ecstatic," Pope sarcastically replied, his hand tight around his foldout chair.
"My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest," JJ nodded to himself.
"Yeah, I think Alex hates you now. I was playing cars with him before you came," Atticus mumbled as he held the rug slung over his shoulder.
"Well, I'm ecstatic to be here, Kiara," Renna smiled, knocking shoulders with the girl who turned to face her in response.
"Thanks, Renna-Benna. Come get drinks with me," she smiled before the two walked off, Renna waving to the three boys as Kiara dragged her away with an arm around her shoulder.
They approached the counter. "Hey, uh . . . can I get two Pepsis, please?" Kiara asked the man, before turning towards Renna. "Do you want anything?"
"Nah, it's okay." Kiara nodded.
"Hey, Kie, Renna! How are you two?" Rafe shouted as he walked up to them, the pair rolling their eyes before spinning around.
"I'm fine," Kiara smiled, tight-lipped.
"Good, good. Um- what about you, Ren?"
"Also fine," she nodded with a click of her tongue.
"That's great, um . . . tell your boys that we know what they did," he muttered as his tone dropped sternly, his eyes flickering between the two girls as their eyebrows furrowed.
"I'm sorry, who?" Renna asked as she shared a look with Kiara.
"They'll know," Rafe nodded as Kiara took the drinks and started to walk away, sneaking a hesitant look with Renna before parting ways. However, before the girl could follow, Rafe pulled her back.
"Oh, and, Ren?" She turned around. "Tell Atticus that Topper's jaw . . . it's healing up nicely." She squinted her eyes suspiciously before walking back off, hurrying through the crowds to catch up with her friend by the boys.
"-what is Rafe talking about?" She heard Kiara say, but she didn't pay any attention to her.
"Atticus!" She whisper-shouted, interrupting her friend as she walked around the group towards the boy. He threw his head up, sitting up straighter in his chair at her harsh tone as he widened his eyes.
"Renna," he tried, smiling worriedly.
"Did you punch Topper?"
"Of course I did," he mumbled with a smirk. He knew what he had said, he had agreed to leave it alone, but he just couldn't. Topper was there, practically calling his name. He couldn't not punch the boy.
"I thought I told you not to do anything! Now it's gonna start-" she began, her hands splayed in front of her as her face moved side to side nervously.
"Renna, baby, sit down. You just need to relax, everything's fine." Himself, JJ and Pope all shared a look - they knew that wasn't true.
"Everything is not fine! What did you do? What did you guys do?" Renna asked as she pointed a finger between the three boys.
"Nothing, okay? We didn't do shit," JJ managed, his voice flat through the air.
"You definitely did something," she mumbled as she turned in her seat, resting her back against Atticus' legs on the ground.
Later on in the film, Atticus and Renna were blissfully unaware of the conversation happening beside them, as well as Kiara. Whilst JJ and Pope were bickering back and forth, the other three friends were peacefully relaxing as they watched the film in the night sky.
"This has got to be the oldest thing I've ever seen in my life," Atticus whispered as he leant down beside Renna, who laughed before nodding in agreement.
"Literally, it's in black and white."
Suddenly, interrupting their conversation, JJ and Pope brushed past them.
"Hey, where y'all going?" Kiara asked as she shifted forward in her seat.
"We gotta wring it out," JJ said, causing Atticus to burst into laughter as Renna grimaced beneath him.
"Gross," Renna muttered under her breath before turning back to the movie.
"You gonna hold it for each other?" Kiara joked, but the pair ignored her.
"Good one," Renna whispered, holding her hand out for a high-five. However, a few minutes later, the duo still hadn't returned.
"Oh shit," Atticus whispered as he and Renna caught sight of Rafe pushing their friends behind the cinematic screen. The trio quickly ran behind them, watching as Topper elbowed Pope in the ribs and Kelce and Rafe teamed up against JJ.
Whilst Kiara ran towards Pope, Renna and Atticus moved towards JJ.
"Let go of him, Topper. You fascist asshole!" Kiara shouted as she whacked him with the bag.
Meanwhile, Atticus pulled Rafe back as Renna tried to push Kelce away, but his grip on JJ's shirt was too strong.
"Let go of him, Kelce! Don't be an idiot," Renna yelled as she tugged on his back, but he wasn't budging, so she did what she thought she would never do. She punched him.
He stumbled back once her fist hand collided with his cheek, holding his jaw as JJ fell to the ground with a groan and a cough. She glanced over to Rafe, who was having a heated discussion with Atticus, but Renna knew him. Atticus had it handled, he always did.
"You sunk my boy's boat, so I've gotta get you back!" Rafe shouted before moving to punch him, but Atticus ducked with a laugh.
"Really? 'cause you missed," he joked, cracking his knuckles as Rafe shook himself out of it with a glare.
Suddenly, however, the screen lit up, causing everyone to back away. Alas, the blaze didn't stop Kelce, because - in a fit of rage - he had ran at Renna and pushed the girl to the ground. He stumbled back with wide eyes as soon as Renna's bruised body hit the ground, not noticing the heavy glare of a curly-haired pogue nearby.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Kelce! Come on!"
He was gone before Atticus could catch him.