◜𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀🜲⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗡

𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙𝙨

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀🜲⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

♫ 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘫𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵 ♫

The Kyla Carrera a week ago wouldn't have gotten involved with any of this. But now that she almost felt responsible for this — for not doing anything to help Pope when he was getting beaten up by Rafe and Topper, which therefore caused him to sink Topper's boat and for JJ to take the fall — she knew she had to do something about it. Which was why she was standing right in front of the Maybanks rundown house with an extremely nervous feeling swirling around in her stomach.

After Shoupe had driven off with JJ, Pope had angrily stormed off, and Kiara was quick to go after him to try to comfort him. Kyla tried to do the same, but Kiara pushed her away, like she always did. That caused Kyla to get right into her car and leave, planning on driving back home so she could panic in the safety of her own bedroom. But that's when she got the idea to go to the police station, trying to see if there was any way for her to help JJ. She knew that she was probably the last person that JJ wanted to see, given the fact that her boyfriend was responsible for this, but she had to use her status for something.

However, when she pulled up to the police station, they had already told her that JJ had been bailed out by his father. Kyla only heard the stories about Luke Maybank, about how he was a no-good crook who was always going in and out of jail, and that JJ would probably follow in his footsteps one day.

She didn't want to believe the second part, knowing that JJ was a good guy. Sure, he may have been a thief and liar at times, but most Pogues were. If he were truly a bad guy, she knew for a fact that Kiara wouldn't hang out with him. She had so many negatives things to say about Rafe and Topper, and men in general, but the only bad thing she could say about JJ was that he was annoying and reckless sometimes.

That had to mean something, right?

That's why Kyla was standing outside of his house now, debating about whether or not she should go in. If JJ got bailed out, then clearly he was fine, but something was telling her it would be good to check in on him. Maybe it was to help clear her conscience, or maybe it was for another reason she wasn't aware of. Either way, her legs began to take her over to the old house as she slowly climbed the rickety stairs up to the green door.

She went to raise her fist to knock on it before she realized that the door had already been open. Her stomach dropped at the realization, assuming the worst. Did Rafe and Topper get to him? She thought to herself, knowing that it probably wasn't a good thing that that was the worst thing she thought of. How could she still be dating a man she assumed to be so violent? Maybe it was because he was violent. So why was she still with him? She didn't want to tackle that question yet.

Kyla swallowed hard, preparing herself for what she might be walking into. It could be JJ lying on the floor, bloody and bruised. Or even worse, it could be Rafe and Topper standing over him as they beat him to a bloody pulp. However, once she pushed open the door and cautiously made her way inside the house, what she saw was somehow so much worse than anything she was thinking of. Clearly, she didn't learn from her mistakes the last time she walked into a Pogue home unwelcome.

What she saw was JJ in the living room, pointing a gun at his father's head as he lay asleep on the couch.

Kyla's whole body froze as she took in the sight in front of her. JJ's hand was trembling as he kept the gun pointed at his father's head, his face scrunched up in a way that was both angry and afraid. She took a moment to really take in his appearance, seeing as though he hadn't even noticed she was there yet. He was so focused on pointing the gun at his father that he had tunnel vision.

As Kyla examined him, she realized that he had more bruises and cuts littering his face, more than what she had seen previously at Heywards. She wasn't sure where on earth he could have gotten those from. Unless...Did his father do that? That must be why he's doing this. He's trying to...retaliate. Although she assumed what Luke did was awful and he didn't deserve anything good in the world for doing so, she couldn't let JJ go through with killing somebody. She knew it would destroy him, especially if it was his father that he killed.

Kyla finally worked up the courage to say just above a whisper, "JJ." The blond whipped his head over at her, keeping the gun trained on his father, his eyes blinking as he processed her presence there. She slowly held her hands up, showing him that she was unarmed and she wasn't there to do any harm. She had just walked in on the wrong place at the wrong time. Once again. "JJ, listen to me. Put the gun down, okay?" She pleaded quietly.

JJ's bottom lip wobbled as he looked back down at his sleeping father. "I can't," his voice cracked.

Kyla felt her heart grow heavy at the sound of his voice, having never heard JJ sound so...weak before. How could someone sound so weak when pointing a gun at somebody? Kyla wasn't sure, having never been in that kind of position before, but she knew that what JJ needed right now was help. He probably rarely ever received it, so she needed to be the one to change that. Even if she wasn't well-equipped to do so. She had to try.

"Yes, you can, JJ. Just breathe. We can work this out," she told him slowly, trying to keep herself calm as well in the process. If she showed him how much she was freaking out, she wasn't sure how erratically he could react. "Just breathe."

JJ looked back at her for a moment before back down at his father, squeezing the gun tighter. Kyla quickly shut her eyes, not wanting to see what would happen if JJ pulled the trigger. She was waiting for the moment when she would hear the sound of the gun going off, but it never came. Instead, she heard JJ take in a breath and the floor below him creak, making her open her eyes back up.

She watched as he took a step back from his father and shove the gun into his backpack, clearly not going through with his plan to kill his father. JJ slung the backpack over his shoulder before he stared at Kyla for a moment, seeing the fearful look on her face. He looked down, beginning to shake his head before he began to walk past her. "You can go now, Kyla," he told her as he swiftly made his way out the door.

Kyla blinked a couple of times, taking one last look at Luke, who was still sound asleep, before she turned around and followed the teen out of the house. "JJ, are you okay?" She asked, her voice shallow.

"Fine," he replied, continuing to walk away from her across the dead grass to get over to his old motorbike.

Kyla sighed, still following after him even though it was clear he didn't want to have a conversation with her. "JJ, did he...did he do that to you?"

JJ's jaw noticeably clenched at the question. "Just stop, Kyla," he forced out without so much as a look back at her.

However, Kyla wasn't going to back down so easily. Not when she had almost just witnessed a potential murder. "JJ, you're clearly hurt, and-and you need help."

"No, I don't," he refused.

"Yes, you do."

"You know what? Why the hell are you even here, Kyla?" JJ interrogated as he spun around and stopped in his tracks right in front of her. Kyla almost ran into his broad chest at how abruptly he stopped, her eyes widening a bit. They were only a few feet apart, the air tense and humid. "Shouldn't you be doing your Kook activities or whatever the hell you do with your extra time and cash?"

Kyla resisted the urge to scoff at his offensive questions, knowing that he was most likely worked up from what happened before. She had to be patient with him, she knew that. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, JJ," she told him truthfully, and he let out a low, sardonic laugh. "What? Is that so hard to believe?"

"Actually, yeah, it is," he replied.

"Oh, really? I showed up to Heywards, didn't I?" Kyla pointed out.

"Yeah, probably to cover your own ass," JJ claimed, causing Kyla to rear her head back at the words. "Which is exactly why you're here right now. You're only here so I don't blame you for getting thrown in jail. You could have stopped Rafe and Topper from jumping Pope the other day, but you didn't. Why?"

Her lips formed a thin line, her patience growing thin. "Do you seriously think I could have stopped Rafe and Topper on my own? I wanted to, but I couldn't."

"Oh, but you could've. You're Rafe's little princess. He'd listen to anything you'd say," JJ mocked.

Kyla scoffed at him. "If that was the case, I wouldn't be here right now, JJ. I wouldn't be here to try to help you. If I was Rafe's little princess like you said, I wouldn't care!" JJ looked down, shaking his head since he clearly didn't believe a word she was saying. "I know I don't live the life that you live, so I can't understand what you must be going through, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of helping. I want to help! That's why I showed up to Heywards, and that's why I showed up here. To try to help."

JJ looked up from the ground, staring at her for a few moments. He could see how genuine she was being, how truthful she was as he looked into her brown eyes. And that only made him more upset. Why? Because he didn't want to — no, he physically couldn't — believe a Kook like Kyla could actually care about trying to help him. That wasn't what the universe had written for him, so it couldn't be true. "Well, maybe you should stop trying to help. It clearly never works," he responded shortly before he got onto his motorbike, revving the engine. He gave her one last look before he drove off, leaving her in the dust.

Kyla watched him drive off with a frown on her face. She couldn't think of a time that JJ ever spoke to her like that before. Sure, sometimes he could have been short with her, especially if she and Kiara had gotten into a recent argument, but what he just said was...cruel.

Nonetheless, Kyla didn't want to believe he meant it. She knew he was most likely upset about what happened with his father, and then seeing Kyla there — the girl who was dating one of the men responsible for all of this — was probably the icing on the cake. She would probably just have to give him time to cool off before trying to have a conversation with him again, if he even wanted to have another conversation at all. She guessed she would have to wait it out.

Kyla took one last look back at the house before she got in her car and drove back home.

༉‧₊˚.જ⁀➴

Kyla stood in front of the mirror in her parent's bedroom, taking in her appearance. She was wearing a navy blue chiffon dress that went down to her feet, along with some gold heels and gold jewelry to match. Her face was also painted with makeup, something that Tara usually did for her, but she had to it herself this time around. As she stared at herself in the mirror, she couldn't help but think back to what had happened just a few hours prior with JJ. Although the events ran rampant in her mind, she didn't speak a word of it, not even to Kiara. She felt like it wasn't her place, especially since JJ seemed so...defensive over what happened.

She wondered if the Pogues even knew about what his father did to him. Seeing the amount of cuts and bruises on his face, she wasn't sure how he would be able to hide that from them. But JJ was good at hiding things. Great, even. She could never actually tell what he was thinking. It both scared her, and intrigued her. He seemed to have that effect on people.

Suddenly, Kiara had nudged Kyla out of the way so she could look into the floor-length mirror, snapping Kyla out of her thoughts. "This is disgusting," Kiara commented as she looked at her light purple satin dress in the mirror. Kyla resisted the urge to sigh and roll her eyes at her sister since she was being totally dramatic. It was just a dress. A dress that she looked beautiful in.

"I know. It's just horrible. I'm asking you to relax and go to a fun party," Anna replied sarcastically. "Even Ky's excited to go."

Kiara sent her older sister an annoyed look before she slowly turned around and deadpanned, "I look like a bourgeoisie pig."

"Will you please not worry about socioeconomic injustice for one night?" Anna begged as she put in her expensive earrings.

Kiara walked up behind her mother. "Mom, people not three miles from here have no power, no running water, and we're going to Midsummers. That's so tone-deaf."

"Honestly, she's kinda right," Kyla piped up behind them, making them spin around as looks of confusion spread across their faces. Kyla looked between the two of them, not knowing why they seem so...perplexed. Actually, she did know why. It was because she actually agreed with Kiara on something for once.

But after hearing Kiara's explanation as to why she upset about going to Midsummers, it made a bunch of sense. While they were getting ready to go to a huge, catered party for all the rich people on the island, those who lived in the Cut had to worry about when their next meal would be. It was...revolting.

Kiara quickly cleared her throat and gestured over to Kyla. "See! Even Kyla agrees!"

Anna shook her head, ignoring Kyla's commentary on the topic. "Honey, do you know how hard we had to work to get into the Island Club?"

"Yeah, Mom. How could I forget? You had to grovel for, like, ten years—"

"Twelve," Anna corrected Kiara as she walked into her spacious bathroom. "And we also had to cough up a huge chunk of dough, and do you know why we did that?"

"To keep up with the Joneses?" Kiara remarked as Anna walked back out into the bedroom.

"No. So you and your sister could have the same experiences that I had as a child," Anna explained, making Kyla bite the inside of her cheek. It was a constant battle for her since on the one end, she should be grateful for what her parents did for her and her sister, but on the other end, she felt guilty for it since other people didn't have the same opportunities as they did.

"Honey, do you know what the Island Club is?" Their mother asked Kiara as she walked closer to her.

"A factory farm for debutantes," Kiara answered bitterly.

Anna forced a smile before she looked over at her eldest daughter. "Kyla, will you please tell your sister what the Island Club is?"

"Oh, yes, Kyla, do tell," Kiara added sarcastically with the same forced smile as their mother.

Kyla huffed, not really wanting to answer to question since she was honestly on Kiara's side of the argument. Maybe she felt more guilty about everything because she saw the state JJ was in, but it did seem tone-deaf to be going to an extravagant party when people on the other side of the island were suffering. However, she always wanted to appease her mother, so she forced out the words, "Its supposed to be a nice place, with nice people, where you can do fun stuff."

Kiara rolled her eyes. "With out-of-touch rich people, while the island sinks slowly into the ocean," she added.

"Okay, I want you to put on your party face, Kie, if you wanna live," Anna instructed before she turned around and left the room the two sisters were in.

Kyla waited until their mother left the room before she walked closer to her younger sister. "Hey, I just want to let you know...I do agree with what your saying."

Kiara looked over at her sister, eyes narrowed. "And why's that?"

"Because..." Kyla trailed off, sucking in a breath as she thought about what the correct words would be to say to her sister. "Because after spending some time with you and your friends, I can see how unfair it is for all of them. How we get to live here and they...they don't have much."

Kiara scoffed, shaking her head. "I don't believe that for a second."

Kyla furrowed her brows. "Why not?"

"Because if you actually believed that, you wouldn't be friends with Sarah, Tara, Topper, or Kelce, and...you'd also break up with Rafe. And yet, here you are, still friends with the man who tried to kill Pope, and dating one of the men who jumped him and JJ." With that, Kiara turned around and left the room, leaving Kyla blinking behind her.

Although the words were harsh, Kyla knew they were the truth. That was why she couldn't be mad at her sister for saying them since she was only being honest. She sucked in a breath and turned around, looking at herself in the mirror once more. She looked perfect, like everyone always said she did, but she didn't feel perfect. Not when she was caught between two worlds:

Kooks and Pogues.

She had been a Kook for all her life and didn't know anything different. She didn't realize the extent of which her sister's friends had been suffering, and how much more privilege she had. Sure, she had been aware of it, but it wasn't something that had constantly bothered her in the back of her mind. But now, after seeing how much people looked down on the Pogues, even so much as hurting them just for being Pogues, she couldn't stop thinking about what she could do to possibly make it right.

But could she even do anything? When her boyfriend seemed to be going off the deep-end and his friends were becoming just as bad? She knew she wasn't her boyfriend nor her friends, but she still chose to associate with them. She knew they were in the wrong and yet, she still chose to stick beside them. Because she was so used to keeping up a public persona that she didn't realize, after all these years, how terrible they really were. Maybe not all of them, but some, at least. But now that she realized it, she had no idea how to change it. Not when she was still so stuck on this idea of coming across as perfect as can be.

"Kyla, you almost ready, hon?" Her mother called out from the other room, making Kyla break out of her thoughts.

"Y-Yeah, just a second, Mom!" Kyla replied as she looked away from the mirror to grab the matching blue flower that Rafe had gifted her to wear for Midsummers. She stared down at it, twisting it around with her fingers. She knew that she and Rafe were possibly on the verge of breaking up despite the fact that she was supposed to walk out with him and his family at the beginning of Midsummers. That's why they decided to match and he bought her this flower, after all. Wearing it would make her and Rafe look like the perfect couple.

But were they?

She tucked the blue flower behind her ear because even if her and Rafe weren't exactly perfect, she needed other people to think they were.

Just for now.

authors note!
im sorry this rewrite is taking so long,
college is time consuming guys 😣