◜𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀🜲⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡

𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀🜲⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

♫ 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘵 ♫

Once the Carreras arrived at Midsummers, the two sisters immediately split up and went their separate ways. Kiara went to find Pope, whereas Kyla went to find Rafe. Although she was hesitant about seeing him after what had happened at the Outer Banks Summer Series, she knew it would make things worse if she screwed up the plan for them to walk out with each other.

As Kyla surveyed the party for her boyfriend, she suddenly felt someone grab her wrist and pull her inside the Island Club. Kyla gasped as she turned toward the person, realizing it was exactly the person she was looking for. "Rafe," she breathed out, unsure if it was out of relief or fear. "I was looking for you."

"I was looking for you, too."

She arched a brow. "You were?"

"Yeah, uh..." He cleared his throat before he stepped out of the way, revealing Topper standing behind him and scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Top's got somethin' to say to you."

Kyla tilted her head and crossed her arms. "Oh, really?" She said and Topper nodded, not being able to meet her eyes. "Well, go on."

Topper cleared his throat, forcing himself to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry for, uh, for hitting you the other night, Ky. I didn't even realize it was you. I was just so caught up in the moment and...I'm sorry. I would never intentionally hurt you."

Kyla narrowed her eyes a bit, trying to figure out if the apology was genuine or not. After everything that had happened over the past few days, she wasn't sure if she could trust what her friends said anymore. They just didn't seem the people she originally thought they were.

Nonetheless, she uncrossed her arms and forced a smile onto her face, not wanting to start up anything worse since she was going to have to spend the rest of the night with them. "Well, thank you for saying that, Topper. I forgive you."

Topper smiled a bit before Rafe patted him on the arm and said, "Okay, Top, time for you to go now."

"Right, uh...Bye guys," Topper waved at them before he walked out of the Island Club, going to find Kelce.

The couple watched Topper leave before Kyla turned to her boyfriend, giving him an expectant look. He immediately knew what she had meant by it. "Look, I-I messed up, Ky. I-I know I did," Rafe started to say, a stutter in his words.

"Yeah, you did," she confirmed, raising her eyebrows at the boy.

"I'm sorry. I-I should've never ambushed those-those...those Pogues. I was just trying to, uh, avenge Topper's boat," Rafe told her, wiping at his nose to hide his sniffle.

"A boat is different than a person, Rafe. You could have killed them," Kyla argued, crossing her arms once again as she started to grow angry at his stupid justification for his horrid actions.

"I know, and I'm sorry. Kyla, I...I love you, and I've just been stressed out lately, and I've been making bad decisions. But-but you, Kyla? You help me, and I need you," Rafe told her, placing a hand on the side of her arm. "Without you, I don't know what I would do with myself. Everything has just been going wrong lately and you're the only thing that's been going right."

Kyla licked her lips, looking down at the ground before she looked back at Rafe's pleading face. Even though she was completely disgusted by his actions, seeing the look on his face just made her feel so...guilty. Had it been her fault that he was acting this way? Was she not giving him the support he needed? Maybe if she continued to stay by his side, he would change back to his normal self.

After a moment, Kyla released a sigh, nodding a bit. "Just promise me no more fighting, okay? I don't need you or anyone else getting hurt."

He smiled at her words and replied, "I promise."

She grinned at him and said, "Thank you," before she placed a quick kiss on his lips. For some reason, however, the kiss didn't feel right. She brushed it off, though, not wanting to overthink anything. She had already been doing enough of that for the past week or so. "Uh, so, where's Sarah? She went, like, completely M.I.A yesterday."

Rafe shrugged. "Don't know and don't care."

"Rafe," Kyla warned before she looked past him, seeing Sarah walking up to them in a beautiful white dress with a flower crown in her hair. "Oh, there she is. Sarah, hey!"

"Ky!" Sarah greeted with a bright smile. "You look so beautiful."

"Thanks, so do you," Kyla returned the favor. "Where were you yesterday? You completely disappeared on us. Did you forget about the Summer Series?"

Sarah hesitated to respond, making Kyla furrow her brows a bit. But before the Cameron girl could respond anyway, Ward, Rose, and Wheezie walked up to all of them. "Time for us to walk out, kids. Come on," the older man urged quickly.

"Oh, okay." Kyla looked over at Rafe before she extended her hand out, giving him the opportunity to take her hand. Rafe grinned at her before he took her hand in his and they faced forward, getting ready to walk out behind Ward and Rose.

"That flower looks pretty in your hair, by the way," Rafe whispered to her. "I'm glad you decided to wear it."

Kyla smiled a bit. "I'm glad you decided to give it to me."

The Camerons and Kyla then walked out of the Island Club, causing everyone to look their way and clap for them. Kyla blushed a bit under everyone's gaze, growing embarrassed with all the attention. Although she was known as one of the Kook Princesses on the island, she always liked to stay under the radar in social scenes if she could. She always hated the feeling that someone was always watching her every move.

And her every mistake.

As they continued to walk, Topper stopped Sarah and said, "Hey. Hey, Sarah. Hey, I waited on you. You said you wanted to walk in together."

"Yeah, well, I came with my parents," she told him monotonously, causing Kyla to furrow her brows at the two of them.

Topper glanced over at Kyla, noticing that she was listening in on their conversation. He then looked back at Sarah and asked, "Can you talk for a sec?" Sarah looked back at Kyla, who wasn't sure what to make of what she was witnessing, before she sighed and walked away with Topper so they could speak in private.

Kyla pursed her lips to the side before she looked away from them, spotting Tara a few yards away. She had been wearing a tight, long velvet colored dress with an open back, accompanied by silver heels. "Hey, I'm gonna go talk to Tara."

"Have fun," Rafe said, immediately letting go of her hand to find one of his own friends to talk to.

Kyla walked over to Tara, giving her a small wave. "Well, don't you just look stunning," Tara complimented once Kyla reached her, raising the champagne glass she stole at her.

"So do you," Kyla said with a smile. "Sarah looks great, too. I love her dress."

"I know!" Tara exclaimed before she tilted her head. "And speaking of a Cameron, have you spoken with Rafe at all? I saw you walk out with him."

"Yeah, he apologized for last night. And your brother apologized to me, too," Kyla told the girl, and Tara hummed as she took a sip of her drink. "But I still think what they did was wrong. I mean, Rafe literally threw my sister to the ground and almost beat Pope and JJ to death."

"Well, they did deserve it," Tara pointed out, making Kyla give her a bewildered look. "They sunk our boat, Ky. Do you know how much that shit costs?"

"Okay, yeah, but they didn't deserve to almost get choked out," Kyla argued softly while Tara just shrugged. "You seriously think them sinking your boat should be punished by death?"

Tara rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Kyla, you can't possibly think Topper was actually gonna kill Pope. He doesn't have the balls for that, you know that."

"It sure looked that way," Kyla recalled. "Pope was on the verge of passing out before the screen caught on fire."

"Yeah, how did that happen by the way?" Tara questioned, but Kyla only shrugged since she didn't want to throw her sister under the bus. Tara narrowed her eyes, humming again. "Well, it doesn't matter now anyway. The cops are gonna lock Pope up for what he did. That's punishment enough."

"They locked JJ up," Kyla revealed to the girl.

Tara made a face. "What?"

"They arrested JJ instead of Pope."

Tara let out a scoff mixed with a laugh before she took another sip of her drink, taking in the information. Once she swallowed the champagne, she opened her mouth and said, "Well, honestly, that's probably for the better. We all knew JJ would get locked up just like his father always does. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"I don't think that's fair to say," Kyla defended the Maybank boy even though he wasn't there to hear the blonde's words. "It's not his fault he grew up the way he did. We got lucky and he didn't."

"Why do you keep on defending these Pogues?" Tara interrogated out of the blue.

Kyla glanced away from her, growing anxious by her question. "I'm not defending them. I'm just—"

"Uh, yeah, you are. And it's fucking weird. You do know that if it came down to it, these Pogues don't give a fuck about you, right? I know your sister is one of them, but that doesn't mean they care about you," Tara stated harshly.

"And do our friends even care about me?" Kyla challenged before she could even think twice. However, since she had said it out loud, she knew had to double down on it. "I mean, it seems like everybody cares more about money and being a Kook than actual friendship and relationships. Because if they did care about those things, they wouldn't be doing what they've been doing recently."

Tara narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Are you insinuating that I don't care about you?"

Kyla pursed her lips. "I wasn't talking about you specifically, Tara."

"Then who were you talking about? Kelce? My brother? Sarah? Rafe?" Tara listed and Kyla glanced away, sucking in a breath. The blonde scoffed at the Carrera girl, shaking her head. "You better figure out where your head is at, Kyla, before you do something you regret. Sarah and I are your best friends. Would you really question whether we care about you or not? Over some stupid Kook and Pogue rivalry?"

"I told you, I wasn't talking about you. And I wasn't talking about Sarah either," Kyla responded sternly, although now she was starting to question Tara's motives here.

Tara stared her down for a few seconds before she plastered a smile on her face, straightening up. "Okay. I'm sorry. I was just making sure. Because you know I love you, right?"

Kyla hesitated for a moment, finding her abrupt switch of attitude very odd, before she replied, "Of course I know that. It's just...Everything's been so confusing lately."

Tara nodded, reaching her hand out to place a hand on Kyla's shoulder. "I know. But you can talk to me, you know that, right? Sorry for getting so...defensive just a second ago. I just want you to know that you can trust me."

"No, yeah, it's fine. And I know that."

But Kyla wasn't actually sure if she did.

༉‧₊˚.જ⁀➴

Kyla danced around the dance floor with a tipsy Sarah and Tara, a smile finally dawning on her face after all the chaos that had ensued that week. She didn't realize how much she needed this moment of normalcy between her two best friends, who seemed to have been having a blast as they snuck drinks on the dance floor.

"So, where were you yesterday?" Kyla asked the Cameron girl curiously once she got the chance in between songs. "You weren't answering any of our texts."

Sarah laughed, her cheeks growing red. "Nowhere important."

"Are you sure? You seem...happier," she pointed out, making Sarah's smile widen even more.

"Just...with a friend," she said, hinting at the fact that maybe it wasn't just a friend.

Kyla's eyes widened at that as Tara interrogated, "And what friend was this?"

Sarah shrugged innocently. "That's a secret I'll never tell," she replied, making Kyla chuckle as Tara narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the girl. Kyla's eyes widened when she saw JJ come out from nowhere, tapping Sarah on the shoulder. What is he doing here? She thought to herself, noticing the waiter getup he had on. "JJ?" Sarah spoke in confusion.

JJ brought a finger up to his lips to tell her to stay quiet before he answered, "Yep."

"What?" Sarah asked as JJ slowly spun around to pretend that he was dancing with them.

"What the fuck?" Tara whispered as she stopped dancing, giving the blond boy a disgusted look.

JJ pulled out a folded piece of paper, holding it up in front of Sarah's face. "I got a, uh, note from Vlad," he told her, handing it to her. Vlad? Is that the friend she was talking about? Kyla presumed. "Shh. Yeah."

"From Vlad?" Sarah repeated as JJ danced around her.

"Yeah," JJ confirmed.

"Okay," Sarah said with a laugh.

"Just read the note," JJ told her, pointing at it before he backed away.

Sarah smiled and walked away from the dance floor as Kyla quickly followed. She tried to look over Sarah's shoulder to read the note, but Sarah closed it too fast for her to see. "Who's Vlad?" Kyla questioned, making Sarah spin around to face her.

"Uhh...no one," Sarah lied with a smile, biting her lip slightly.

Kyla scoffed. "Oh, come on, he's obviously the friend you— Wait, how would JJ know who he is?" She realized, furrowing her brows.

"Uh, I don't know, you would have to ask JJ," Sarah told her absentmindedly before she quickly walked past the girl with a giddy look.

Kyla sighed and turned around, watching Sarah run off. She then looked around the crowd to find JJ, her eyes landing on him on the porch with...Rafe and the other Kooks trying to corner him. She scoffed, realizing that Rafe hadn't kept his promise that he just made to her before.

"Oh, my God. You have got to be kidding me," she muttered to herself, making her way over to the porch before JJ had started to sprint away from the group of boys.

She started to pick up the pace, obviously not as fast as them since she was wearing heels and a long dress. She then made it inside the Island Club, rushing down the hall to see if she could hear the boys talking.

She looked over towards the boys bathroom, hearing some voices coming out of it. She walked up to it and pressed her ear against it, hearing Rafe's voice. She sighed, before looking at the door and seeing that men were only allowed to enter. She wouldn't be able to get in there unless she got someone else that could.

Kyla quickly backed away and ran down the hall, trying to find a security guard. Once she did, she stopped right in front of the officer, out of breath. "Is there a problem, miss?" He inquired, noticing her frantic state.

"Yes. I think something is happening in the men's bathroom," she informed him.

"How would you know?"

She sighed. "Because I was trying to find the ladies room and I heard some angry shouts come out of the men's. Just— I don't want to have a fight going on at this fine party. The Camerons wouldn't be happy," she told him, using that to her advantage.

He seemed to contemplate it a second before he nodded, quickly walking over to the bathroom followed by the Carrera girl. He pushed open the door and Kyla followed behind him, not caring that she was in the men's bathroom once she saw Kelce holding onto JJ with Rafe standing in front of him.

The officer flashed his flashlight and announced, "Gentleman!" Kelce quickly shoved JJ away, making him fall over slightly. "Is there a problem here, guys?"

JJ glanced over at Kyla quickly before he looked back at the officer. "Pardon me, officer. No, there's not an issue. I just— Oh, actually, yes. No, there is an issue. Uh, we got a criminal trespass in progress. Beep! Call it in, right? Blatant disrespect for private property."

Rafe clicked his tongue and said, "Yeah." He then looked over at Kyla, but she ignored him as she kept her stare on the Maybank boy.

"I'm in violation of all kinds of shit, sir, but these young gentlemen..." JJ trailed off, placing a hand on Kelce's tie.

"Don't touch my shit," Kelce whispered through clenched teeth, aggressively pushing JJ's hand away.

"...Uh, caught me, sir, and they're about to take me away. And that's what you should do, escort me out of here. You got me," JJ continued, putting his hands up as if the officer was going to handcuff him.

"Come on," the officer said, grabbing JJ's arm as he started to pull him away. Kyla crossed her arms and followed after them, releasing an angry sigh.

"All right. Fix that tie son. Oh, you're lookin' spiffy, too. You Powerpuff Girls have fun!" JJ yelled back to them and Kyla rolled her eyes at his instigating antics.

"Tell Kiara she looks pretty hot for a Pogue!" Rafe called out, making Kyla turn around with wide, furious eyes just as JJ pushed away from the officer to try to get back at Rafe for what he said about his friend.

"Hey! Stop it. Come here!" The officer demanded, pulling JJ back.

"Let's go!" Rafe urged, making Kyla's nostrils flare at his behavior.

"You think I'm afraid of you, bro?" JJ questioned as the officer pulled him out.

"Hey, safe travels back to The Cut!" Rafe taunted.

"This ain't over!" JJ replied.

"Hey, hey, it was really nice seein' you again, JJ!" Rafe added before the door shut behind JJ and the officer.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Rafe?" Kyla questioned, her angry expression still on her face. "You promised me you wouldn't do this. And now you're out here calling my sister hot? With me in the room? What is wrong with you?"

"Kyla, look, baby, he—"

"No," she cut him off, sending him a glare. "No, don't call me baby. I'm done hearing your mediocre excuses. I'm done with-with this."

Rafe blinked at her words. "What?"

"I'm done with this-this...this relationship!" Kyla blurted out, making Rafe's eyes widen. Kyla reached up, taking the blue flower out of her hair. "Take this stupid flower," she began, throwing the flower at his chest for him to catch, "and don't talk to me for the rest of the night. We're done."

"Kyla, baby, what are you talking about?" Rafe asked as he grabbed her wrist before she could leave, the flower in his other hand.

Kyla ripped her hand away from him, her lip curled. "I said we're done, Rafe. That means we're over. This relationship is...over."

"Come on, can we talk about this?" Rafe pleaded.

"We've already talked enough," Kyla stated and with that, she spun around in her heel and walked out of the men's bathroom with her head held high.

Kyla then made her way outside the Island Club, wanting to know why JJ was here, who Vlad was, and just, well, why everything was so bad all of a sudden! She used to feel safe with Rafe, but now...she didn't even know if she could look at him anymore. His behavior truly disgusted her.

"It's okay, everybody! Do not panic!" She heard JJ shout once she got outside, making her sigh since he always had to make a scene no matter what. "Leave it to the men and women in uniform! Huh?! Let's hear it for them!" He continued as he clapped obnoxiously. "Rose! You look like Lady Liberty. It's good to see you again."

Kyla quickly made her way across the porch, coincidentally finding herself next to Kiara. "Let go of him!" The younger Carrera girl shouted, making Kyla look over at her anxiously. "You can't just boot him!"

"Excuse me, ma'am?" The officer replied.

"Really?" Kyla heard Rafe mutter next to her, so she took a step closer to her sister while she pursed her lips with complete disdain.

"Look, I invited him here," Kiara told them.

"Kiara!" Anna warned from behind them.

"Kiara, stop it," Mike whispered.

"I'm a member of this club!" Kiara pointed out before JJ pushed the officer into a table, making Kyla gasp softly.

"Sorry about that. Hey, mandatory power hour at Rixon's, Kie," JJ said, pointing at Kiara. "Pope, you as well, all right? Rixon's Cove. Let's roll. All right, Kie, come on. Workers of the world unite! Throw off your chains!" He yelled as he backed away through the crowd.

"You can't hang around these kids," Mike whispered to the younger sister.

"I'm sorry..." Kiara trailed off before she rushed away from the Carrera family, making their parents call out after her.

Kyla watched her sister run towards JJ and Pope, now accompanied by John B, keeping her mouth shut. Honestly, it was probably better to go with them than stay at the party with Rafe and his goons roaming around. Kyla couldn't believe that she was thinking like that, but after tonight...she just wanted to get away from everyone and everything having to do with Kooks.

And it seemed like her prayers had been answered.

"How about you, too, princess? Come on!" JJ called out to her, making Kyla blink in confusion and point to herself. "Yeah, who else would I be talking to?"

Kyla couldn't help but let a smile creep up on her face at the idea of going with the Pogues. Never in a million years would she have smiled at the thought of running away with the Pogues, but here she was, a newly single woman doing just that. She looked over at her parents, who were giving her a shocked look at JJ's invitation.

"I'll look after Kiara," she assured them, hoping it would make them more okay with this. Then, she began to go down the steps in front of her to run after the Pogues.

But, before she made it down, Rafe had grabbed her arm to stop her. "Where are you going, Ky?" He whispered, staring at her face longingly.

"I told you, we're done. Don't talk to me," she said through clenched teeth, ripping her hand away so she could continue to go down the steps. Rafe watched her turn her back to him, swallowing hard as he clenched the same fist that was just around her forearm.

Once Kyla stepped on the ground, she rushed over to the Pogues with a large smile growing on her face as her dress began to flow in the wind. "Yeah, here she is, baby!" JJ whooped.

"Here I am," Kyla giggled before all the Pogues turned and began to sprint away from the party and down to Rixon's Cove to escape the chaos of Midsummers.

authors note!
guys im so sorry this rewrite is taking
a million years. im not really that motivated
to write for obx right now but ive been trying
so hard to. i also have other fics im working
on (i just recently published a teen wolf fic if
yall are interested in that) and that im more
focused on. but i promise i do still intend to
rewrite this, its just gonna take me a while.
especially since im in college and that shit
is stressful lmao. i hope you guys enjoyed
this chapter tho since it's quite the turning
point and i changed things up a bit from
the og hehe