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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗫𝗧𝗬 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

The next morning, Kyla and Kiara walked into the Middle of the Island Restaurant to pick up some breakfast for the family that they ordered. They were surprised that they were even let out of the house, but they chose not to question it so their parents wouldn't take it back.

Kyla also hadn't spoken to JJ ever since leaving the Château, wanting to uphold her somewhat promise to her parents but at the same time...she didn't even really know what she could say to JJ. It was clear he didn't want to speak to her at the moment, so what could she even do?

"Hey, Sally," Kiara greeted as Kyla gave the girl a warm smile since they were regulars. "We ordered about ten minutes ago, the usual."

"Yep, it should be almost done," Sally replied.

"Thank you," Kyla thanked before Sally walked off to go check on their order. She then turned to her sister, releasing a relaxed sigh. "I still can't believe they even let us out of the house."

"I know. Can't complain though, I think we deserve some fresh air. Well, if you can even call the air fresh anymore," Kiara replied, shaking her head.

"Yeah," Kyla agreed, nodding her head as she raised her eyebrows. "I think we just need to keep laying low for a few days and hopefully they'll start allowing us to slowly start hanging out with the Pogues again," she added as Kiara looked past her, her eyes widening a bit. "What?" Kyla asked before she looked over her shoulder, seeing Sarah sitting with...Topper?!

Kyla immediately looked back at Kiara, her brows furrowed in complete confusion. "What the hell is that?" she questioned quietly, not sure why Sarah was with him alone. He did help them with the heist, even though it failed, but that didn't mean Sarah should be alone with him. That being said though, Topper had proved himself multiple times that he wasn't the same as some Kooks, but that didn't give him an excuse for the other things he's done; and especially because he was Tara's twin.

"I don't know, and I don't wanna know," Kiara answered, feeling conflicted at the fact that Sarah was hanging out with her ex boyfriend by herself right after getting into a small fight with John B.

"Here you go. Have a good day," Sally said as she handed their order to them, the sisters quickly taking off with it since the whole thing was just weird.

As they walked back down to their small boat they took to the restaurant, Sarah followed them out to explain herself. "Kie! Ky!" she called out after them. "Guys, wait, can we. Topper and I—"

"It's none of our business," Kiara cut her off.

"—were literally getting breakfast," Sarah continued. "That's it. You guys should join if you want to."

After Kiara finished setting down their food in the boat, she turned to the blonde. "Breakfast?" she queried.

"Yeah, breakfast," Sarah confirmed.

"Yo, Kie, Ky!" Topper shouted out, waving his hand at them.

"Yo, Top," Kiara mocked him and Kyla gave her a nudge of warning. "Oh, come on, Ky, you can't tell me you don't find this suspicious," Kiara whispered even though Sarah could clearly hear her.

Kyla looked at Sarah, who was giving her a pleading look. She then clicked her tongue and voiced, "Well, yeah, I guess it is a little suspicious." She didn't want to take a full side seeing as though they could have been interpreting the situation entirely wrong, and because she really didn't feel like losing more of the people she loved.

Sarah frowned, shaking her head. "I had nowhere to go last night. I — Cleo's at Pope's. I couldn't find JJ." Kyla's eyebrows knitted together at that for a second, a small pit forming in her stomach. "John B and I got into, like, a thing. Like, I'm — He found me and took me to Mase with a group of people," Sarah quickly told them before Topper could reach them.

"Okay, so you bring him to the Middle of the Island Restaurant on a Saturday?" Kiara asked, tilting her head to the side.

Before Sarah could respond, Topper reached then and greeted, "Hey, what's up guys? Random, right?" He extended his fist towards them, expecting one of them to accept his fist bump.

The girls just looked at it unenthusiastically. "Look, we're just gonna go," the younger Carrera responded slowly, neither of them fist bumping him back.

"Oh, perfect," Topper replied awkwardly, taking his fist back.

"Yeah, uh, we don't wanna intrude or anything," Kyla added uneasily. "We have to help our parents set up for their party tonight, anyway."

"You know what? I'm gonna go, too," Sarah spoke which made Kyla give her a look.

"Wait. Wait, what? Our food literally just came out," Topper told her, not wanting her to leave just yet.

"I know."

"How are you gonna smother your hunger?" Topper joked, which made Sarah laugh awkwardly.

The sisters gave each other the same look, getting icked out by the guy. "Yeah, we're leaving," Kiara said under her breath, stepping onto the boat to get it started.

"Topper. Um...I'm going with Kie and Ky. But thank you," Sarah slowly told him before she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm gonna call you."

Kiara started the engine as Kyla stepped on the boat, looking over at the two curiously yet also skeptically. "All right. See you, Sarah," was all Topper said in return as he began to walk away.

Once he was out of earshot, Kiara questioned, "Sarah, what are you doing?"

"I don't know," Sarah answered truthfully, looking down as a million thoughts raced through her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kyla asked her friend, wanting to give her a chance to let all of her thoughts out before they made any sort of judgement. The older Carrera knew Sarah had a track record for cheating, but she didn't think it would ever happen again since she and John B were clearly made for each other.

Maybe she was just bad at love. It seemed to be an ongoing theme for her lately.

Sarah nodded slowly in response before she stepped onto their boat.

"All right, Sarah. It's time to come clean. What happened?" Kiara asked once they made it back to the Carrera household, sitting on the porch with some pillows and blankets. "You and Topper?"

"Oh God," Sarah groaned. "It's actually so embarrassing. He caught me slugging some beer at the at the Tiki Bar."

"You weren't," Kiara laughed in disbelief.

"No way," Kyla shook her head, an entertained grin growing on her face before she tried to shove it down.

"Yeah. Shot drinking," Sarah confirmed, nodding her head.

"I'm not judging," Kiara told her with a small shrug.

"I wouldn't blame you if you were. And then a couple kids from KCD rolled up, and they were already going to Mase."

"And..." Kiara urged, waving her hands around to make her her to the point quicker.

"I kissed him," Sarah admitted and the two sisters slowly took in that information. They wanted to be surprised, but they couldn't really be after seeing the two alone together.

Kyla didn't know how to feel. Sarah had been her best friend for years and she always knew she had been a cheater, but it hadn't really affected her until she had actually been cheated on herself. And now hearing this information, she almost felt betrayed in a way even though Sarah wasn't the one cheating on her.

But at the same time, she couldn't really be mad at her. She understood that she and John B had been going through a thing — even though that didn't make it acceptable to cheat — and with everything going on ...she had just made an impulsive decision while probably being drunk.

She knew Sarah well. When anything went wrong, she would always wanted to go back to the person who had given her some sort of comfort or safety whoever that may have been. And right then, it had been Topper since he tried not get involved with anything crazy or legal — accept the train heist, but he was kinda forced into doing that — unlike John B.

In a way, Kyla thought it had been her fault since she should have convinced her parents to let Sarah stay over. If she had, she would have never cheated on John B.

"Do you guys hate me?" Sarah questioned after they hadn't spoken in a few moments, the silence killing her.

Kiara shook her head. "Hate's the wrong word," she said vaguely, not really knowing what exact word to use.

"Yeah...we're just kinda shaken, I guess," Kyla answered and Sarah slowly nodded, not really knowing what to with that information.

"So you and John B are just — y'all are done?" Kiara asked, wanting to know the answer since she had made Sarah promise not to break his heart all the way back when the boys had forced them to stay on the boat all day.

"No. Well, I don't know. I don't want to be," Sarah spluttered. "Like since the island, everything has felt so...abnormal, and it just felt nice to feel something normal again. And I, like...I'm a mess. I feel like such a mess."

"I think we're all a little messed up," Kyla assured her, being right on the money with her guess on why Sarah did what she did. She just wanted to feel normal again. Kyla couldn't really blame her since she also did.

"Yeah."

"You, me...JJ," Kyla began, earning the interest of the other two since they had known it had been weird between her and JJ ever since getting off the island as well. "He stole that money clip from our dad, and I'm still kinda mad about it. I know he literally almost died and stuff, which is more important, but our relationship is important, too. He's just pretending he doesn't care about stealing it all and on top of that, he won't even try to talk to me. And when I do try to talk to him about it, or just our relationship at all, it turns into some type of argument," she ranted, sucking in a breath.

"I'm sorry, Ky. I don't know why our boys are acting like this," Sarah apologized even though she knew she was also in the wrong as well.

Kiara placed a hand on her sister's arm comfortably. "Yeah, which is why I'm—" Kiara quickly cut herself off, realizing what she was about to say in front of Sarah since she had only been out to Kyla and Pope so far. Kyla had realized too and glanced to Sarah, who had given her a confused look. "Which is why I'm definitely not getting a boyfriend anytime soon," she came up with and Kyla forced a laugh.

Sarah also chuckled softly before her phone dinged and she picked it up to read the message. "Wheezie?"

"What?" Kiara spoke in confusion.

"I texted her when we got in."

The blonde tapped on the voice message she had received from her younger sister. "Sarah, don't be mad, but I ran away. I'm in the OBX, and I have to see you. Come to our rental condo on Greensboro Street, okay? But, Sarah, please don't tell anyone," Wheezie's voice message played on speaker.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Meanwhile at Tannyhill, Rafe has thrown a little party after trading in their gold blocks for cash. Since Tara had been gone, he finally had felt...free?

He couldn't really describe the way he was feeling, but that meant he now could get with other girls without Tara wanting to murder them out of jealousy and rage.

And that wouldn't count as cheating...right? He never technically broke up with her, but with her gone, that meant he could whatever he wanted without her knowing. It was fine!

Or that's what he told himself anyway.

"And if you could kindly follow me, Miss Sofia," Rafe spoke to the beautiful brunette girl he had met while out doing business with Barry, inviting her to his party because of that. "It's a VIP section."

"Oh, yeah?" Sofia replied as he placed his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, only very, very special people are allowed here," he flirted.

"Mm," Sofia hummed interestedly as they stopped at the edge of the balcony, looking at the view as people partied beneath them.

"So you can see the water," he pointed before he saw what the guests were doing down below with the alcohol. "Hey, that ain't no Jim Beam bullshit! All right?! That's Pappy Van Winkle! That's like a day's salary, bro! Hey, if you don't have a drink in your hand, get the hell out of my house, all right?! Get off my property!" he yelled as he and Sofia walked to somewhere more quiet.

"So this is the VIP life, huh?" she asked after a moment, giving the Cameron boy a flirtatious grin.

"Mm-hmm. Yeah," Rafe confirmed.

She continued to smile up at him before she nodded. "Cool."

Rafe looked down at her, noticing how completely different she had been from Tara. It was exactly what he needed: someone who wasn't a psychopath that would enable his own issues. "You wanna see some more?" he queried, realizing he had been staring at her for too long.

"Yeah, I'm down," Sofia replied.

"Great news. That's great news. I'll give you a grand tour," Rafe said as he placed his arm around her shoulder again, causing her to laugh sweetly as he guided her.

"Don't go running," Barry cut in from behind them.

Rafe looked over at him before he looked back down at Sofia. "Hey, give me like five minutes. I'll meet you upstairs."

"Okay," she said, heading up without him.

"Okay, Country Club! Come on, boy!" Barry hyped him up before they dabbed each other up. "Yo, what happened to Blondie, though? You ditch her or somethin' 'cause I haven't seen her since we done melt that cross."

"You don't have to worry about that, all right? She just...decided to go away for a while, that's all," Rafe told him, not wanting Barry to spread around what actually happened since he had promised Mrs. Thornton that no one would know. Rafe also didn't want Tara's mom finding out that Barry had been her plug because that definitely wouldn't end well either.

"You didn't kill her, did you, Country Club?" Barry questioned, not even really joking since he knew what Rafe had been capable of.

Rafe practically laughed in his face. "No, man, stop playin' around! It's cool! It's fine!"

"Aight, aight, if you say so," Barry shrugged before they made their way over to the couch, getting ready to drink together to celebrate them finally winning and beating the Pogues.

authors note
this chapter is kinda
boring sorry about that lol
but dw there will def be a
jj and ky interaction
next chapter (i think, don't
quote me on that LMAOO)
anyway i hope u enjoyed!