I searched the house and Tannyhill's grounds but they are gone. I have no idea where they could've went. Frustrated and confused, I hop on my bike and ride to the park.
Situated right in the center of Figure Eight, the park is the only place I can think that Sarah might have gone. All evening they are playing movies projected onto a large white sheet. An event called "The OBX Summer Movie Series." It's pretty popular amongst Pogues and Kooks alike, so it is likely that she just decided to go make an appearance.
I leaned my skateboard in the bike rack and immediately saw Kiara, Pope, and of course, JJ, setting up chairs on the grass. Kiara strays from them and walks up to the concessions stand. It's no use hiding now. I'm sure she'll see me eventually, besides, maybe John B told them where he was going before he disappeared with Sarah. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and approach her. "Hey, uh, Kiara. Have you seen Sarah?"
She whips around to face me and her expression says it all. She was not exactly thrilled to see me. "Um, no. Why?"
"Just wondering if she has shown up yet," I tell her.
She eyes me suspiciously. "Have you seen John B?"
"Um... not since earlier this morning."
"What? He was with you today? Hold on, let me get my drinks and then you need to tell us everything."
I nod. It annoyed me that she was ordering me around, but I wasn't going to question it. As we are waiting a familiar voice calls Kie's name.
"Hey, Kie." It is my brother, Rafe. "Hey, what's up you two? I didn't know you were friends." He had this mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"We're not," Kie says quickly. "Just both waiting for our drinks." I nod in agreement.
"Well, how are you?" Rafe says, turning to Kie. What could he possibly want? He has to want something because my brother wouldn't just strike up conversation with Kiara for no reason.
"I'm fine," she responds unenthusiastically.
"Good, good, um...tell your boy that we know what he did." Rafe moves closer to Kie, towering over her threateningly.
"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?" she asks.
"Uh, he'll know." Rafe glares down at her with a devious smirk.
I walk between them and place a hand on Rafe's chest to prevent him from moving any closer. "Back off, Rafe," I say. He looks down at my hand and chuckles mockingly.
Kiara grabs her Pepsis from the counter and walks off, not even bothering to see if I was following her. She calls Rafe a douche, and rightfully so. I give my brother a last, accusing glance and follow after her.
Nothing prepared me for the look on JJ's face when he saw me. He looked up and did a double take, as if he didn't believe I was real. Kiara gave us no time to react and jumped straight to business.
"So, Stella mentioned to me that she was with John B this morning." She walked behind the boys and crossed her arms, willing me to speak.
I tell them everything. How I found John B and Sarah in the study, how Sarah ran into him when he was running from CPS, and how when I returned from doing my laundry they were just gone. "That's why I had asked if you had seen Sarah, because I haven't seen her since they disappeared together."
The three of them stare at me in silence. I stand. there awkwardly, avoiding JJ's gaze.
"Well, that wasn't much help," Kie says.
"Um, yes it was," Pope chimes in. "Now at least we know that John B is probably still with Sarah. We shouldn't be too worried."
Kiara sighs dramatically and settles down into her chair. "Well, anyways, we just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'tell your boy that we know what he did.' What is that?"
Pope gives JJ a panicked glance. JJ takes his eyes off of me and asks, "Where is he?"
"Right there." Kie gestures behind us.
Pope whips around in his chair to look in that direction. Rafe, Kelce, and Topper are staring back menacingly. Something happened and I can tell that Pope and JJ know something that Kiara and I don't.
"Great, the whole death squad." Pope's voice cracked with fear.
"Don't stare, bro." JJ pushes his friends head back around. "Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now. If that doesn't work, I got this right here." He lifts up his bag. Kiara has a confused look on her face.
"Yeah, yeah. So, we just gotta stay in the group. They can't get us in the group," Pope anxiously convinces himself.
"Like a school of fish," JJ adds.
"Stay in the school. Can't leave the school. Stay in the school," Pope repeats to himself.
Realization spreads over Kiara's face. "I'm sorry, JJ.... Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids."
"No. Kie, I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?" He tells her.
I sit down on the grass in front of them and sigh.
"Wow, thank you. That's really convincing. I love that, JJ," Kiara spits.
"Just tell us what happened. We can help you," I plead. JJ looks down at me, but he quickly looks away and shakes his head.
"Founding principal, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues," Kiara reminds them. "What is Rafe talking about?"
I shrink back at her choice of words. Even in a serious moment she takes every opportunity to make sure that I don't feel welcome. I look down awkwardly, unsure if I should take my leave now or not. When I look back up, JJ's eyes are fixed on me. They are full of pity. I hate that he pities me. Then, they turn to Kie and I can tell that he is as frustrated about her choice of words as I am.
Pope leans in closer to Kiara and says softly, "Kie, it might go down tonight."
Kie's expression remains unchanged. She remains as confused as I am. "What does that mean? 'Might go down tonight.' What did ya'll do?"
Pope looks to JJ for guidance, but JJ just shakes his head and mutters something under his breath.
"Well, this seems like a Pogue matter, so I guess I should leave now," I say bitterly. I stand up and walk back towards my bike without a second glance. I half expected JJ to run after me, but I'm sure Kie wouldn't have allowed him to.
Instead of going home, I settle myself beneath a tall tree and watch the movies that play. I wasn't going to let the Pogues ruin my mood, and why shouldn't I be here? If anything, they are the ones that don't belong on this side of the island. However, deep down I don't really believe that. The fine line between Kook and Pogue has blurred and now I'm not even sure if I belong on this side of the island anymore. But, if I don't belong on Figure Eight or on the Cut, then where do I?
Later that night, after the sun had set, the Addams Family was playing on the giant screen. About halfway into it, I notice two silhouettes break from the crowd and disappear behind the screen. Oddly enough, another group of people followed them shortly after. Curious, I get on my feet to peer further into the darkness when I see Kiara grab JJ's backpack and run in the same direction. The Pogues are in trouble and I have a funny feeling that this has something to do with what Rafe mentioned earlier.
Quickly, I dart after Kie and when I reach the other side of the screen a whole battle has already broken out. JJ, Pope, Topper, Kelce, and my brother are having a full on fist fight. I rush to Kie's side and she looks over at me with determination. For the first time I think we might actually understand each other. Both of us care deeply for our friends, so maybe we are more similar than I thought. We give each other a knowing nod and join the fight.
"Let go of him, Topper! Fascist asshole!" Kie yells as she runs into the battle. She raises the backpack over her head and smacks it against Topper in attempt to get him off of Pope, but Topper is quick. Kie is only able to get a few hits in before Topper whips around, grabs the bag from Kie and tosses it over his head.
Meanwhile, while Kie is trying to help Pope, I run over to JJ who is outnumbered by Kelce and Rafe. I run over and try to pry JJ from Kelce's grasp. Rafe, who is landing harsh blows to JJ's face, turns on me and grabs my arm. "Stay out of this, baby sis. This isn't your fight."
I can't help but feel intimidated by Rafe. His eyes are bugging out of his head, but this isn't the first time I have seen him like this. Psychotic.
Rafe has always been... interesting. Like I said before, we used to be close, but one evening everything changed. The two of us sat in the den at Tannyhill playing a game of War. Usually, I lost, but this time I didn't. This one time. Well, Rafe didn't let me celebrate for long. Everything happened so fast. One second I was jumping up and down with joy and the next Rafe had me pinned against the wall. Something in him changed. I had never seen that side of him before. Now, with Rafe towering over me, I felt that familiar fear rising up in me. Except this time, I fought back. "It's as much my fight as it is yours, Rafe!"
A few feet away, Kie had jumped on Topper's back, hitting him and trying to keep him off of Pope. While, Rafe is distracted I yank my arm from his grasp. "This conversation isn't over!" he calls over his shoulder as he runs to Topper's rescue.
As soon as I am free, I race to JJ's aid who is locked in a chokehold. I claw and pry at Kelce's arms until he finally drops JJ to the ground. I sit down next to him while he gasps for air.
"Oh, let go of me, Rafe!" I hear Kiara shout. I look over my shoulder to see my brother throw Kie to the ground.
"Kie! Are you alright?" I ask her.
"Yeah," she yells back.
I figured the Kooks would have given up and fled, but I was wrong. Topper grabs ahold of Pope and starts choking him out. "C'mon man just admit it. Admit you did it, bitch," Topper spits.
As I am about to comfort JJ, I am peeled from the grass and detained by my brother. He has my arms pinned behind my back and is breathing heavily into my ear. "You thought you could rescue your little Pogue friends, huh? Since when did you start taking these washed-up, ruffians for friends, huh? You've been keeping things from me, little sis. Don't you ever go near these sorry excuses for people ever again. You hear me?"
While Rafe has me pinned, Kelce stalks over to JJ and starts beating him in front of my eyes. I wriggle in my brother's arms to try and find a way out, but it's no use.
Suddenly, the whole place is lit up with an orange flame. The heat is so intense that it feels like my skin itself is on fire. I hear screams. Immediately Rafe drops me and I fall onto the grass. "Guys, fire!" he shouts. Topper releases Pope and along with Kelce and my brother they flee into the darkness.
Quickly, I get to my feet and make my way over to JJ, who is laying in a heap on the lawn. I help him up and together, with Kie helping Pope, we stumble away.
Somehow, we made it back to the Chateau in one piece. I managed to grab my skateboard amongst the fleeing crowd and bring it with me. I lean it against the house and follow the others onto the porch. Pope managed to get away with only some shortness of breath, but JJ on the other hand has a busted lip. We thought maybe John B had made his way back here, but there is no sign of him.
The three of them walk inside, but I stop myself in the threshold. I still haven't forgotten what happened the last time I was here. JJ notices my hesitation. "You can come in ya know. Kie won't bite your head off. Right, Kie?"
Kiara slams the door to John B's room shut in response. "Well, then," JJ says. He leans against the door frame and gestures inside. "Can we talk?"
"Look, it's Midsummers tomorrow and it's really important to my Dad. If I'm not home tonight I will face the wrath of Ward Cameron, and I don't even want to imagine what that would entail. If it was any other night he wouldn't even notice I was gone, but of course keeping up appearances comes with being a Cameron. It's practically my birthright," I tell him. My heart hurts to reject his offer, but he will just have to wait, even though I have so much that I need to say.
"Oh, yeah, of course." His eyes drop to the floor and I can tell that he is disappointed, but then he lifts his chin up with that familiar spark in his eye. "Another time?"
"Yeah. Another time."
—
I rode my bike across the island back to Tannyhill. Block after block the small, overgrown cabins gradually transformed into large, pristine, townhomes. I park my bike and creep through the front door. Suddenly, the lights turn on, and standing in the entryway is my father.
"Stella Cameron, where have you been? And where is your sister?" As he interrogates me I can feel his eyes burning right through me.
"Oh, um, there was that movie night in the park. Sarah and I got invited to Scarlett's afterwards for a sleepover. I just wasn't feeling good and I didn't want to spoil Sarah's fun, so I came home," I lie. I can only hope that he buys it.
I notice my dad's posture relax. "Oh, alright. Next time, at least give me a call to let me know, okay? You guys gave me a heart attack. Now, go to bed. If you aren't feeling well the rest will do you good."
"Goodnight, sir." I nod and scurry past him to my bedroom.
That was a close call. Once, Sarah comes home I swear, she better explain all of this. She owes me.
——
An extra long chapter to make up for episode 4 being only two parts long. The Midsummers episode will be out tomorrow night <3