( CHAPTER NINETEEN )
GIRLHOOD
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GIRLHOOD WAS SUCH A LITTLE WORD WITH SO MUCH EXPERIENCE YET. A girl's life is, well, different for everyone. Nothing's like boy's life. Something is happening in girlhood. Happiness, sadness, breakup, friendship, the joy of achieving something, of showing one's worth. It's also the thing about feeling too much or not enough, to never be thanked for the things you do. Boys will never understand this affection of feeling accepted, or just feeling good about our body or just feeling like we should—ourselves. Eden was in girlhood, and for once, she was finally touching the happy side of girlhood. Her sadness hadn't gone away, but she was only beginning to understand that even if it's not completely gone, she can at least have the pleasure of enjoying this side of her life with the people she wants.
And it started from now.
The following night of the little confession between the girls when Eden was tricked by the boys into following them in their plan, it was finally time to go look for the treasure that led to this whole thing. When she thinks about it, everything wouldn't have happened if she hadn't received that stupid letter after the party on the beach. The moment after that night when she decided to go see the Pogues, she already knew she was crossing the line. And she was quite happy to have taken the risk. Even with all the trouble it took her, she had more fun this last month with them than she had with the Kooks in a year. We can't fit in everywhere. Eden was not made for Kooks. Her place was in the middle of the chaos with people out of the ordinary.
"You're going to make me fall!" She shouted in a whisper to John B who had his hands clinging to hers trying to pull her out of the window. "We should have just taken the door. Damn it."
"Yasmina would have seen us. And Fred, and Noah, and Bella. And the whole neighborhood—"
She said with a sigh, "Okay, I get it. Stop talking. Gotta concentrate. . ." She passed the second foot outside the window, almost hitting the brunette, and finally landed on the roof with a heavy noise. Eden caught her breath, risking making even more noise as John B waited to see if anyone had heard the noise.
No signal.
They took their backpacks, and John B followed her to the edge of the roof, right in front of the trampoline. Eden stood frozen, turning towards the Routledge boy who was mentally and physically preparing to jump into it.
"Are you completely crazy? I'm not jumping." She admitted, crossing her arms.
John B rolled his eyes. "Do you have a better plan, besides throwing yourself off the roof? Because seriously, that's our only solution right now."
Eden looked around the house, her eyes drifting to the solution that might stare her in the face. Of course, it would be safer to just jump on the trampoline, but she wanted to spice up the evening. She finally turned her head towards John B, shrugging her shoulders with a smirk.
"You got your plans, I got mine," she sent with a wink, before turning around. He frowned, watching her walk towards the roof of the garage. Eden felt the little wind on the hair sticking out of her ponytail, as she walked delicately so as not to fall and make too much noise.
She shrugged her bag off her shoulders before tossing it onto the roof of the garage. John B opened his eyes wide at the scene when he saw her jump between the space of the house and the garage. He quickly walked towards where she was, afraid that something might happen, but what he saw was just Eden on the other roof picking up her backpack. He sighed, hands on his hips as she smiled at him with a thumbs up.
"You were scared, weren't you?" She laughed, picking up her phone in her back pocket. "You're a baby, John B."
He ignored her comment, scratching his forehead. "Yeah. . ."
She laughed a little more, watching him throw his bag onto the other roof as well. "Hurry up, JJ will be here any second."
He took a deep breath, stretching his neck and feet before not thinking twice, and jumping, seeing the empty space between the two. He landed on his legs right in front of Eden who stared at him with an amused look.
"Now, what do we do? 'Cause we're still on a roof I'll let you know," he pointed out, taking his bag.
She said with a slightly less amused tone, "Um. . . I guess we have to jump again?"
"Oh, my God. Eden, I'm not going to jump out of there," he warned, shaking his head and taking steps back.
Eden nodded. "Okay. But that wasn't an option, pretty boy," she grumbled before poking him with her hands without giving him the signal.
He let out a loud scream, then landed on the damp night grass, on his back. Eden gritted her teeth before jumping too, landing on her leg, but her knees gave out so she landed on them with a relieved sigh. Maybe she should have followed John B's idea, but something made her risk it herself. She looked up, hands on her thighs, seeing the Twinkie right in front of her, flashing lights. She grunted badly, tapping John B on the shoulder to get him to stand up.
"Come on, they're here. Get up, Grandpa," she hummed, grunting a bit of pain from her back. John B helped himself by placing his hands on his knees, getting up with difficulty. Eden rolled her eyes, running to the van, followed by the old man who was making his little victim.
Someone opened the door for them, and she froze a little when she saw Kiara standing in front of her with a sincere smile on her lips. Eden had a hard time thinking that this same person hated her two days ago, and now it's fixed. Maybe it was just a necessary discussion, to show that even if Kie thinks Eden is just a heartless bitch, well she's not. Now that she was aware of the pure truth that lay in the heart of the brunette Winslow, Kiara was less defensive and aggressive. She was ready to listen to her, and perhaps let her enter the circle again.
Sarah grabbed Eden's hand, helping her stand next to her, with Pope in front of her. John B got in the front with JJ driving. It was probably very strange to understand, but Eden was much more comfortable with JJ driving instead of John B, remembering that she almost died because of him a month ago. She frowned herself when she heard what she had just thought.
She looked through the dirty window, revealing the view of the black sky lit up with sparks falling all over the island. Eden stared at the sky as she thought to her father. Although she was seventy percent sure that Thomas Perez was still alive, and just hiding in one of his thousands of secret places, the other percent was still afraid that he was really dead. This evening, by going to get this gold, she was doing it especially for him, to show him that she was following the path that he had never stopped showing her at a young age.
The van suddenly stopped while John B had been checking all the way to see if they had forgotten anything. Eden took a breath that crushed her lungs, as she smiled at Kiara and Sarah who suddenly looked very excited.
"All right, good. We're ready," John B confirmed, getting out of the van, wary of his own movements.
JJ added with a smirk, "Let's go get rich, guys." To which Kiara agreed his words, sending him a toothy smile.
"Let's do this, my dudes," Eden said, patting Pope's shoulders with an enthusiasm that was starting to take over.
As they were all getting ready to get out of the dirty van, the Routledge boy stopped them for a moment. "Wait, wait," he quickly repeated, stopping them all in front of him. "I wanna say thank you, guys. Seriously. It means a lot to me that you're here tonight."
Kiara did not fail to roll her eyes with a breathtaking smile on her face. "Always."
"Of course, man," Pope continued, making their handshake together, exchanging proud, sincere smiles.
And when he looked at the person sitting in the back of the van, he was treated to an illuminated face that he hadn't seen for a long time. They held their eyes as if a padlock was caught between the two of them, and Eden could see that his hatred towards her was no longer there. It was gone, she could see it in his eyes. And in hers, she was really happy that there was no discomfort with him after the mistake on the beach. Eden needed support, a friend to rely on at this time, and John B was more than there for her. The least she can do was to accompanied him, like the younger ones, in his treasure hunt stories.
"All right, we done with the circle jerk? Can we go do this?" JJ spoke in a serious voice, taking away the silent moment that was happening.
Eden chuckled, slipping between them to finally get out. "If I get attacked, know that I'm going to kill you all. We're all going to end up in heaven together afterward."
Kiara replied, following her closely, "I still have a lot to live for, so don't throw a drama queen crisis, okay?"
Eden raised her eyebrows, not expecting this response. "Hey, Carrera. Something was being built, so calm down, okay? I'm not done giving you some crisis." She concluded in an ironic tone, to which the curly-haired girl rolled her eyes and chuckled gently.
The six teenagers quickly went over the brick wall, coming across a garden filled with trees, tall plants, and at this point it was no longer even a garden, but a forest. Eden stood with her hand clenched around her flashlight, the boys just behind her, and the girls in front of her. To be protected from all danger, she was. The humidity of the herbs rubbed against her skin at the top of her Converses, and this feeling was surely one of the things she hated the most.
They all stopped in front of the house, and without wasting time, a light suddenly flashed, blinding them as they hurried to hide under some plants, avoiding being even more noticed. Murmurs of swearing rang out, hurrying to turn off their flashlights.
Pope quickly removed his bandana and placed it under his chin, sighing, "Okay. . . Okay, so she has motion sensor lights."
While Eden frowned, JJ was already saying the stupidest thing on earth, "We could, uh. . . Move really slowly, maybe?"
Sarah said exactly what Eden was thinking at that very moment, "What?"
"Are you that stupid, bro?" Eden asked in a serious more than knowing tone, sending him a discouraged look. "That's not how it works."
"Oh, shit. Let's throw a rock at it." John B proposed almost as sure as JJ was two seconds ago, but Pope instantly discouraged him by his disagreement.
"That's a really good idea. Let the axe murderer know that we're here." Kiara scoffed.
John B, surprisingly offended, replied, "You have a better idea?"
"What about the breakers? In the circuit box on the porch," Eden suddenly said, looking at each of them. "When we came to play here, I already went there with Noah. I've seen it. It'll be easy. We just have to cut th—"
"No, no. You're not going in this house alone. She's creepy, like, she killed people. Well, that's what JJ thinks," John B declared, shaking his head as he looked at her.
Eden chuckled, "Look and learn, pretty boy."
The blonde obviously had to explain his point of view again about this old lady, "Crain chops people into pieces, Eden. You're risking your life."
"Well, I have nothing to lose," she said before getting up to leave, but a voice stopped her.
"Wait. We'll come with you," Sarah said, taking Kiara with her. Eden smiled softly, nodding.
"We'll wait for your signal," Pope informed them, as they began to follow Eden, but were stopped again.
John B whispered, but with a high voice, "Hey! Don't die, okay?"
Eden looked into his eyes, where she couldn't read what was written because of the darkness, but just in his voice she heard the worry rising more and more in his heart. So she decided to fool around to relieve his stress a little. "We won't. Told ya, look and learn. I'm a professional. . ."
The three made their way through the plants, following the well-scrubbed dirt path that led to the porch. Thanks to the flashlights, they illuminated their path, coming face to face with a little black cat which passed in front of them as if nothing had happened. Eden jumped, giving the other two a scare.
Sarah quickly asked, frighteningly, "What? What's going on?"
Eden sighed, holding her chest, letting the stress subside. "Nothing. Just a cat."
"Oh, my God. Imagine she's making a collection of dead cats. Gotta go save them!" Kiara pointed out, leaving the brunette and the blonde with disgusted looks and crossed eyebrows in a crooked line. "I'm dead serious, let's go."
Eden shouted almost in a whisper, "Yeah, you're really going to be dead serious if you don't stop saying stuff like that! They're humans!"
"Exactly! Gotta go save them, Winslow!" Kiara said before motioning for the two to continue walking towards the porch.
Eden rolled her eyes. They turned around once more, then finally arrived in front. They climbed the wooden steps which creaked under the weight of their feet. Eden gave Sarah her flashlight to shine on it, and slowly opened the circuit box. She let out a sigh, catching the girls' attention.
"The breakers aren't here," she informed them, turning to face them, being blinded by their light.
Kiara sweared, "Shit. That old lady is still smart." Carrera pointed her flashlight at the breakers heading inside the house. "It goes inside, guys."
Sarah wasted no time, and opened the door which creaked even more than the steps on which they had placed their feet a few seconds earlier. They made discreet and well-placed movements to avoid any other drama like the lights. Eden illuminated the breakers who continued further into the house, until they reached the corridor where it stopped. She pointed it to the girls behind her, and a smile placed itself directly on her lips when they reached the breakers.
Eden started to turn the click, which was a little stuck. Dusty and full of cobwebs, she made a face of disgust. With a little more force, the click was heard, and suddenly the generator powers went down. They all let relieved sighs escape their mouths, as she leaned against the wall, all sharing the same mood.
"I saw another cat, we have to do something, Eden," Kiara said, seriously ready to get out of here with at least one cat.
Sarah spoke before Eden, "Guys, I know it's not cool what I'm about to say, but. . . They can be very dangerous. They might bite us."
Not listening to anything the blonde had just said, the Winslow girl looked at Kiara. "The next one we see, we'll take him, okay?"
Before she could even grant her agreement, a bell rang throughout the house which had fallen into darkness. They all looked at each other, trying to understand without speaking. The banging of a cane echoed through the walls, giving Eden shivers as she remained glued to the wall. It was panting breathing that alerted all her senses, and dictated to her only one thing: Run.
But when a voice intervened in her thoughts, she held on to herself so as not to scream. "It's— It's late, Leon. Too late. . . Hm."
It only took ten more seconds before an elderly woman with gray hair appeared in front of them, walking at a turtle's pace with her cane in hand. Eden's eyes widened, her breath heating in her chest as a hand was placed over her mouth to say nothing.
"I can hear you, Leon. . . I've been waiting all night!" Shouted Mrs. Crain, suddenly turning towards the girls who all let out a desperate scream while the white eyes of the old lady focused on each of them.
"Go! Go, go, go!" Kiara exclaimed repeatedly, pushing them to run towards the corridor which led to several rooms. The three went into different rooms, giving Mrs. Crain difficulty of having them.
Eden ran through the living room to hope to come face to face with a door which would give freedom to the outside, but she came face to face with a black and white cat half crushed on the ground, as well as a door locked with boards nailed to this one. She looked behind her, hearing the same footsteps of the old woman, and she leaned towards the cat first to pick him up. She ran her delicate fingers over his soft, irritated fur first, until a blow to the back attacked her, causing her to arch as she fell to the ground.
"Leon!" Crain cried out with force, which could sound like hatred as she quickly leaned down again to cut her cane on Eden's skin. "I've been waiting for you!"
Eden had half a second to roll to the left, dodging her other blow. She quickly got up despite the pain in her back, and grabbed the first thing she saw. With a pot in her hand, she threw it at the lady's shoulder, without causing too much damage. Grunts were heard as she sank onto a gray sofa in the darkness of her house.
She wasted no more time as she heard her name being called by the girls. Eden picked up the cat in a blanket she found on the ground, and wrapped him in her arms. She ran as fast as she could, and hurried towards the cellar.
"Eden!" Once stopped her, and made her turn towards the two girls who had been looking for her for minutes. They moved towards her, finding the cat with her. "Oh my God. . ." Sarah slipped between her dry lips.
Kiara smiled. "Good job, Winslow. But we really have to go. Come on!"
Eden nodded, then followed Kiara who led them towards the basement, overlooking JJ and Pope who was holding a rope which joined John B in the well. The three girls arrived out of breath, attracting the attention of the two boys.
Pope was the first to ask the question everyone dreaded, "What's going on?"
And Kiara didn't even take the time to calm down to alert them. "Mrs. Crain! She's up there! She tried to kill us with a fire poker. We locked her in the parlor, but we gotta go."
JJ stunned by this information, only said, "Okay, code red! Let's go, John B! Get back on, man!"
Eden placed the cat on a cardboard box, and grabbed the rope like everyone else waiting for Pope's signal to pull. As they did, the rope falling into their hand as they all crashed into each other like dominoes. Eden's eyes widened as a groan left her mouth, the pain in her back plus the pain the rope had just brought to her hand. She moved towards the well as Pope does, shouting John B's name only to end with a muffled response from him.
"Eden! Pope! JJ! I found it!" He didn't stop shouting, but no one understood his last sentence well enough.
"He's drowing, guys! We gotta pull him up!" Eden warned them, returning to get the rope.
They all got ready to pull, none of them paying attention to the noise that came from the stairs leading down to the basement. They began to raise him, pulling with as much force as they could and then pulling out at full speed. When no one expected it, a gunshot came and attacked them from behind. Sarah and Kie had the reflex to squat on the ground, while Pope tied up the rope to prevent John B from falling into the well and drowning.
Eden took the cat with her, and went to hide with Pope and JJ under a table in the corner of the room. She took calm breaths despite her breathing going faster than she herself wanted. Another gunshot erupted, making them all move to get out of there. Kiara and Sarah were the first to come out, shouting at each other to run as quickly as possible.
At the third shot, JJ and Pope hurried out too. JJ grabbed Eden's hand and she didn't move, waiting for John B to appear but nothing. She couldn't even think that the blond was already dragging her out of the scary house. They made their way through the trees, sometimes eating plants in their mouths. Pope went first after the girls over the brick wall, while JJ made Eden go before him. She placed the cat in his hands, causing him to jump and freeze for a moment as he tried to understand how a cat could have gotten into his arms.
"Get into the car!" Sarah said, opening the door to let them in. Eden almost jumped into the van, as JJ passed the cat from hand to hand, until it landed in her hands again.
"Come on, start the car. Go!" Pope shouted to JJ, as Eden looked outside, the van door still open. She smiled when she saw John B coming running, being chased by gunshot in turn.
"Come on, John B! Grab my fucking hand, dude!" Eden ordered him, pulling her muscles to try of getting closer to him as he ran towards her.
John B gave himself one last push before taking Eden's hand and jumping into the van. "Whoa!"
"Oh, my God!" The blonde screamed seeing his best friend covered in mud from head to toe. "Are you okay? Are you shot?"
"No," John B replied simply, shaking his head as his gaze fell on the cat in Eden's hands. "What the hell. . .?"
Eden shrugged her shoulders before bursting out laughing when she saw his gaze wandering over the black and white cat lying in her arms.
Kiara exclaimed, touching her chest, "I think I'd know if I was shot, right?" To which Sarah nodded.
"You look disgusting." Pope noticed, looking at John B.
Kiara continued with more intensity in her words, "God, you smell like ass."
"All-time Pogue Hall of Fame, baby!" The Maybank boy said, pointing his fist in the air. Kiara agreed, patting him on the back.
"Yo, Eden, why do you have a cat?" Pope finally asked the question everyone had been asking all along.
"There were lots of them. And this one was half dead. So if I can save him, that will be good. Especially since this crazy lady probably has a lot of dead cats in her house."
"She's possessed," Carrera added. "She does yoga. Pilates."
"What is that?" Sarah intervened in their discussion, holding her gaze on what John B held in his brown hand. "No way!"
"Oh, my God! You didn't!" Eden said in turn, smiling toothily while shaking her head.
"We did it, pretty girl!"
"No, you didn't!" She screamed again, not believing her eyes.
"I did it!" He assured with a scream followed by those of his friends.
Screams of joy were heard throughout the van, making the cat's ears perk up as he looked at the six humans in front of him celebrating. JJ hit the roof of the van with joy while Pope and Eden did their handcheck with smiles on their lips.
"Full Kook! Full Kook! Full Kook!" They shouted non-stop, celebrating their first victory as Pogues.
At that moment, Eden thought of her father, of what she had just accomplished for him, but also of the fact that she was rebuilding what she had lost a year before. The Pogues, but also a dazzling smile that will make you lose your head.
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"I CAN'T BELIEVE WE CAME BACK WITH A CAT," JJ Maybank said with a very proud smile. Eden turned to him, with her lips placed in a shiny look like him.
Everyone was asleep, only the blond and Eden still couldn't sleep. JJ clearly couldn't believe there was real gold in the Chateau, while the Winslow girl didn't want to leave the cat alone. She managed to get him to drink, and make him eat some piece of salad that was left in John B's fridge. No name had yet been given to him, but she would eventually find one that defined him perfectly.
"It was Kie's idea first, and. . . When I saw him, almost dying, I did the first thing I thought of," she explained in a calm, but tired voice. Mostly bored, she moved her nails as gently as she could to not scare him even more than he was.
"Does he have a name?" He asked, receiving a shake of her head from her. "Is he a guy?"
Eden smiled. "Yeah."
He thought for a moment before gasping and looking back at the tired cat. "Stanley." Eden turned her eyes, which were half asleep but now wide open, and questioned him with her gaze. "What? He looks like a handsome Stanley, doesn't he?"
Eden tilted her head to the side, nodding. "Yeah, kinda. . . Stanley Winslow."
"What do you mean 'Stanley Winslow'? I found his name," JJ protested, reaching out to take the cat, but she pulled away, frowning.
"Oh, yeah? Who saved him, huh? It's my cat," Eden replied sharply and harshly, making JJ step back an inch. She realized her tone, and shook her head, gritting her teeth. "Sorry. That was rude."
"No problem," he replied simply, making her smile.
If Eden was happy to finally find the Pogues back, she was even more happy to find this blond guy completely unaware of what he was doing. Having been one of her younger best friends, the blond and Eden were the chaotic duo never to have dealings. As nice as they were stupid, they never managed to blame each other when one of them did something stupid. JJ Maybank was known for his funny side and the guy who didn't give a damn, but behind that, there was a very good heart. Loyal and soft, Eden never got tired of his personality.
"Hey, what's going on with John B?" He suddenly entered into a completely different conversation, leaving Eden to choose the paths she could take. There was so much going on, but the only thing that came to mind was their impromptu kiss that she had let happen. "'Cause I don't know if you noticed, but man. . . The tension is absolutely there."
"You think I didn't notice? I'm the girl in the story, JJ," she sent out in a sharp breath. She let her brown eyes wander over the cat's scruffy fur, as she heard JJ enter the house without saying anything. "Jay?"
She kept her eyebrows furrowed until he came out with two Kinder Buennos in his hands, and another blanket for Eden. When he sat back down, she fixed her eyes on the chocolates in his hands. "He saved plenty for you. . . Look, I don't know what's going on, Eden, but do something. Are you friends again or something like that?"
Eden sighed a breath kept in her body, placed the cat next to her now asleep in his blanket, and brought her hands to her knees. "I. . . I don't know what's going on, okay? But I just know that I did him impossible harm, and that he's stupid to let me back into his life like nothing happened."
"Well, that's John B. Of course he's stupid," JJ said, shrugging as he bit into the chocolate bar. "But he's not stupid for letting you come back. Otherwise, Pope and I are, too."
Eden giggled softly, taking the Kinder Buenno that was handed to her. "I kissed him on the beach last morning," she admitted on impulse.
JJ's eyes became as round as those of a fish as he turned towards Eden, as much smiling as excited. "What?!"
"Yeah, some kind of mistake. I was in a middle of a breakdown, and he was comforting me like always, and then I just pushed the limit," Eden explained in small detail, having JJ's attention focused on just her words. "And it wasn't awkward. Well, a little, but he said it wasn't a big deal. Like I could jump on him, and he wouldn't say anything."
JJ chuckled, while Eden looked at him with a serious look accompanied by a small line crossing a smile on her lips. "Jeez. I don't know anymore what to do with you guys. You're blind."
"I'm not blind," she stated, absolutely offended by his words. "John B and I were best friends, we played a risky game and that's how it ended. I won't fall into the same trap another time."
"So you admit to falling in love with him when you were fourteen?"
"I'm not admitting anything. I'm correcting what you think, dumbass," she hissed, afraid that JJ would start to get even more ideas. "Seriously, I feel like my life revolves around this boy. Leave me alone." She jumped up, taking the cat with her.
"Uh-uh. . . Denial. One of the phases of love, Eden."
She didn't even bother to answer, rolled her eyes and entered the Chateau. Eden didn't waste any more time, and went to wrap herself in the blankets on the couch. Preferring not to listen to JJ's senseless stories, she preferred to remain in denial as he said so well.
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authors note: i really need to stop disappear for a month and then coming back loll ( not funny )
anywayyy!! A CAT OMFG!! i found this so funny to add a cat in the story ( idk why ) so yeah, here's STANLEY WINSLOW ( or maybank lol )
JJ IS SEEING ALL when eden is litteraly blind, man
big love, take care of yourself AND MERRY CHRISTMAS 🤭