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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬 𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡
𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒉

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Kyla decided not to go to John B's place with Kiara just in case she ran into JJ. Even though she said she wouldn't let him run her life, she still didn't feel like talking or seeing him. She really just needed to break.

Which she wouldn't get anytime soon.

It had gotten kind of late as she just walked around Figure Eight for no reason. She liked looking at all the pretty, lit up houses to distract herself from anything else that could be described as "ugly".

She then got a text on her phone, so she pulled it out of her pocket. Deachs Point. Rafe, was what Sarah had wrote to her from Kiara's phone.

At first, Kyla was confused, so she wrote back, What? But then she realized that Sarah was at Deachs Point with Rafe. She immediately began texting Sarah asking if she was okay and asking why Rafe was there, but she wasn't getting back to her at all.

"Shit, shit, shit," she repeated over and over again under her breath. She had no transportation since her parents had technically kicked her out of the house, and there was no way she could run to Deachs Point on time to help Sarah at all. And it wasn't like she could call any of the Pogues since John B was in jail, Sarah had Kiara's phone, and the other two boys didn't have a car.

"Kyla?" she heard someone call out and she looked over to see that it was Topper. Her eyes widened, realizing that she had accidentally stopped in front of the Thornton's house. "Kyla, are you okay?" he asked once he got closer, noticing her composure.

She blinked rapidly, shaking her head. Maybe he can help, she thought even though she really didn't want him to. But he might have been her only hope. "It's Sarah. I think she's — I think she's stuck at Deachs Point with Rafe and might be in trouble," she told him.

It was his turn for his eyes to widen. "Sarah's in trouble?" he asked and she quickly nodded. "Come on," he said, waving for Kyla to follow him to his backyard, which was connected to a dock on the ocean.

Kyla hesitated, asking, "Is Tara home?"

Topper looked over his, continuing to walk over. "No. She hasn't been home that much," he answered like it was rehearsed. Kyla sighed before she followed him, hopping onto his boat which they quickly took to Deachs Point. "Why — why — why is Rafe after Sarah?" Topper worriedly questioned as he quickly drove the boat across the ocean. Kyla looked over at him, considering if she should tell him the truth or not since he was Tara's brother. "Kyla, come on!"

"Okay, okay!" she exclaimed. "Rafe...he shot Sheriff Peterkin. It wasn't John B no matter how many times the news says it is. Me and Sarah were there and she's a witness, so I'm guessing Rafe might try to get her to change her story," Kyla explained, hoping that Rafe wouldn't try to hurt her, even though that's all he's been doing. "Tara saw the whole thing as well," she then added quietly, making Topper look over at her in shock.

"Tara?" he said and Kyla nodded. Topper shook his head slowly, looking back out in front of him to see where he was going. "Tara she's...she's been different ever since she...ever since—"

"Ever since she hooked up with Rafe at Midsummers?" Kyla finished for him, raising her eyebrows.

"What? Wait, weren't you and Rafe still together at Midsummers?"

"Yeah. But he decided to hook up with Tara anyway," she told him.

Topper shook his head again in disbelief at his sister's actions. He always knew that his sister was a little crazy, but never this...malicious. It was like she was obsessed with ruining Kyla's life and taking what was hers.

"I'm...I'm so sorry, Kyla. I don't know what happened with my sister, but she's different," Topper said, trying to apologize for his sister's actions.

Kyla shook her head. "No. She's always been like this, but no one ever realized because she covered it up," she corrected him, but Topper didn't want to believe it. "Look, I know she's your sister, Topper, but she's crazy. Trust me, I used to hear all the bad things about my sister so I know how this feels. You have to accept that...that she's done bad stuff and she doesn't even regret it."

Topper looked over at her, increasing the speed of the boat. "What other bad stuff?" he asked slowly.

Kyla sighed, looking down at her feet. "She tried to kill me, Topper. After Rafe shot Peterkin, I...ran away because I was scared. She followed me and tried to stab with a stick but, thankfully, my friends were able to get there in time to save me," she recounted, remembering the day vividly in her brain, which caused her throat to become dry.

"Oh, my God," Topper breathed out, running a hand through his hair. "I'm so sorry."

Kyla shook her head, swallowed hard as she resisted the urge to cry while she looked back up at him. "It's not your place to apologize. You might be her twin, but at least you never tried to kill me."

Topper looked over at Kyla. "Her and Rafe are psychopaths. Even though I shouldn't be the one apologizing, I feel bad for you. You don't deserve to go through this shit," he told her.

"We all don't," she replied in a whisper before she realized that they were right at Deachs Point. "We're here. Okay, pull up here quickly," she directed before Topper quickly slowed the boat down as it neared the edge.

They then quickly rushed up to the place, looking around for Sarah and Rafe anywhere. "Do you think they're still here?" Topper questioned wildly.

"They have to be," Kyla answered before she heard the sounds of struggling. "This way," she pointed and her and Topper quickly ran over past some supplies to see Rafe drowning Sarah in a pool of water.

Kyla froze as she watched it happening, completely in shock.

Without even wasting any time, Topper picked up a metal pipe and ran over to Rafe and hit him on the back of his head, making him fall down. "Sarah! Sarah!" Topper yelled as he stepped forward and grabbed Sarah's body out of the water.

Kyla then unfroze and made her way over towards them, wanting to make sure her best friend was okay. "Sarah! Are you okay?" Topper asked as she gasped for air, hugging Topper's body. "Come here. Come on. Are you okay?"

Topper then helped her sit down and Kyla quickly sat down next to her, softly patting her back to help her get the water out of her lungs. "Sarah, are you okay?" Kyla asked and the blonde nodded slowly as she continued to cough.

Kyla then looked over to see Topper make his way over to Rafe before he started to punch him across the face, even though he was already on the floor. Kyla hadn't even realized she had started to cry before Topper said to Rafe, "If you ever touch her again...If you ever touch her again, I'm gonna kill you. You got that? You got that Rafe?" He then punched Rafe in the face one more time, making Kyla let in a sharp breath before she looked back to Sarah.

"Hey, it's okay, you're safe now," Kyla whispered to the blonde, carefully putting her arm around her comfortingly.

"Sarah, are you okay? Can you breathe?" Topper questioned and Sarah nodded slowly before Topper pulled her in for a hug.

Since Kyla's arm was already wrapped around Sarah, it ended up being a group hug, but Kyla didn't care.

All she cared about was that Sarah was alive.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

After Topper had brought the both of the girls back to Figure Eight, they ended up staying the night at Topper's small shack that was on the dock. He assured the girls that Tara had never come out there and that she rarely ever came back to home to stay, so both girls ended up falling asleep.

And then the next day, Topper drove them back to the Château to let the Pogues know that they were okay.

"Hey, Topper," Kyla whispered to Topper since Sarah was busy looking out at nothing. Topper looked over at her as he steered the boat slowly. "I just wanted to say thank you for this. Now, this doesn't mean I forgive you for being an asshole Kook, but it definitely tells me that you care about Sarah. And I also care about Sarah, so thank you."

Topper didn't know how to respond to that, so he just nodded and looked back forward. "John B?" Sarah then spoke up and Kyla quickly looked over to see John B sitting with the other Pogues on his boat. "John B!"

"Oh, my God," Kyla breathed out, a smile making its way onto her face because she realized that John B was out of a jail. Wait, does that mean that they're going to be looking for Rafe now? she thought to herself.

"Oh, my God, he's out," Sarah said happily as he made her way to the front of the boat.

"There he is," Topper said with little to no enthusiasm whatsoever.

Kyla didn't hear it, though, since she had just made eye contact with JJ. He didn't look happy for some reason, so she decided to look away, putting her focus on the reunited couple.

"Hi," John B greeted.

"Hey!" Sarah exclaimed before she wrapped her arms around the boy, engulfing him in a hug.

"Oh, my God. I'm so glad you're okay. Hi," John B said breathlessly as he bobbed back and forth on his feet while he hugged his girlfriend.

"I didn't know if I'd ever see you again," Sarah said before she pulled away. "What happened?"

"Uh, they dropped all the charges," John B answered.

"What?"

"Yeah, no, yeah. I'm a free man. Yeah," John B confirmed and Kyla smiled, hopping off of the boat as she neared her sister.

"Why are you both with Topper?" Kiara whispered to her sister, pushing her sunglasses further up her nose as she shot Topper a subtle, dirty look.

"It's a long story, but...he helped us," Kyla told her sister.

Kiara gave her a weird look. "Uh, how?"

"Good. He's completely unhinged," Kyla heard Sarah tell John B about Rafe, making the two girls turn their attention on her. "He jumped me last night."

"What?" Kiara said in shock, giving Kyla a look, to which Kyla nodded in response.

"That's why I didn't come back. Both me and Kyla," Sarah continued.

"Yeah, man. Rafe has lost his mind. Literally almost drowned his own sister," Topper spoke up, making everyone look at him. "Thankfully I got there...got there just in time."

"We both did," Kyla added and Topper nodded slowly, making some of the Pogues narrow their eyes at him.

"Yeah, they did," Sarah confirmed.

"Uh, well, I guess I owe you one, Topper, don't I?" John B said, ignoring the fact that Kyla also helped to give Topper a sarcastic comment.

Topper laughed. "It's all good. I mean, somebody had to rescue your girlfriend, right?" he replied and Kyla sucked in a breath, now annoyed at the boy because of his stupid reply.

"Uh, that's funny because she's not actually my girlfriend, right?" John B said, gesturing to Sarah with a forced grin.

"Uh..." Topper trailed off, chuckling. "Well, what is she then?"

"Tell him," John B said to Sarah, gesturing over to Topper.

Sarah looked over at Topper and told him, "I'm — I'm with him." Kyla glanced away awkwardly, getting secondhand embarrassment from the whole interaction.

Topper let out another laugh. "Gotcha. You're with him. Okay, yeah. I just, like, needed a little clarity there. You guys clear on that or...?"

"I think it's clear you gotta go now," JJ replied, making Kyla slightly roll her eyes. Even though Topper was being sort of a jerk now, he still helped Sarah. They could have at least said thank you, or something.

"Yeah, think I'll head out. It's about that time," Topper said, raising his eyebrows.

"Topper," Sarah quickly said, making her way over to him. "Thank you." She then wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug.

"Yeah, of course. I'm just glad you're okay," he responded as he sent John B a quick look.

Kyla sighed quietly to herself, wanting to escape the awkward tension that was in the air.