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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻: 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀

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Cassie pulled on the light pink A-line maxi dress with the flower patterning that she had bought shopping with Kiara the other day. She had kept her hair down and instead, made a braided crown in which she placed little pink flowers in it with small bobby pins to hold them in place.

She had put a little more makeup on than usual since she knew she wouldn't be ending up in the ocean by the end of the day. Well, that's what she hoped anyway.

She had been putting on some earrings when a knock sounded at her door. "Come in," she called out and she looked over to see her mother opening the door, wearing a light yellow dress with a daisy behind her ear. Cassie forced a smile onto her face, still mad from their conversation about JJ. "Hey, Mom."

"Oh, Cassandra, you look so beautiful," Savannah complimented her daughter, making her way over to her as Cassie stared straight ahead in the mirror. Savannah placed her hands on Cassie's shoulders, looking at her reflection in the mirror. "Tonight you're going to have fun, okay?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Cassie replied before she finished putting in her earrings, standing up a bit straighter. Although she had been looking forward to Midsummers earlier in the week, everything that had happened over the last few days with the Kooks and JJ going to jail made her just want to rot in bed.

Or get revenge. One of the two.

Savannah sucked in a breath, her hands tensing slightly around Cassie's shoulders before she loosened them. "I just want to have a good time tonight with no funny business or drama."

"Why? To keep your image looking clean?" Cassie questioned bitterly.

"To keep both our images clean. Once people find out you have been hanging out with these Pogues and one got sent to jail, do you know how they'll look at us? We are in the Island Club for Christ's sake. We are respected among the likes of the Camerons," Savannah explained, moving away from her daughter and shaming her head.

"Why do you always feel the need to bring up the Camerons?" Cassie spat, turning around to face her mother. "May I remind you that Sarah and I are no longer best buds?" She said, venom dripping from her voice.

"Yes, you should remind me because you never told me what actually happened. Hell, Ward barely knows either," Savannah pointed out and Cassie just shook her head, making Savannah sigh. "Fine, don't tell me. Just know that all we want for you is to be happy."

"We?" Cassie said in confusion.

Savannah huffed. "Ward has been here for us ever since we moved here. Him and your father were practically business partners for a year before...before the accident. He cares about us, Cassie. He cares about you."

"Tell him he should care more about his daughter because she clearly wasn't raised well with her bitchiness," Cassie retorted.

Savannah pursed her lips. "Cassandra, enough with the attitude. We are going to show up to Midsummers with smiles on our faces and we are going to greet people like they are our best friends, okay? Can you do that just this once?"

"You mean, once a year?"

Savannah had enough of her daughter's comments. "Cassandra..."

"Okay, okay, fine! I will," Cassie let up to get her mother off of her back. "I'll be good."

Savannah relaxed. "Good. Thank you. Make sure you're downstairs in the next ten minutes so we can get there at a reasonable time."

"Yeah, yeah," Cassie muttered as her mother walked out of her room, making her roll her eyes once she left. Cassie had always been a bit closer to her father than her mother, but ever since his death, it seemed like they had drifted even further.

Maybe it was because Cassie saw herself in her mother, always trying to get validation from those who were above her. But she didn't want to admit that to herself.

Once Cassie was done getting ready, she and her mother left the house to arrive at the Island Club where Kooks had been bustling around in their expensive outfits and dresses talking to one another.

Cassie had to force a smile onto her face, buttering up these people for her mother's sake which it seemed like she had liked. Once she was finally able to escape, she ran into Kiara. "Kiki!" Cassie exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the girl who had been wearing the satin dress she picked out for her with a matching flower crown. "You look fantastic."

Kiara shrugged once she pulled away. "I don't know, I kinda feel weird now dressing up to be here when everyone on the Cut has no power or running water."

Cassie thought about she had said, releasing. "Oh, yeah, you're right..." She trailed off, rubbing her arm sheepishly. She had been so worked up about herself going to Midsummers that she completely forgot some people were barely even surviving right now. She felt so out of touch. "Shit, I feel like a horrible person now."

"No, I didn't mean to make you feel that way," Kiara quickly said, pursing her lips. "If it's any consolation, you look hot as hell."

Cassie laughed a bit. "Thanks."

Kiara then looked over, seeing Pope cook some seafood on the grill. "Oh, look, there's Pope. Let's go say hi. He has to work this stupid thing because Heyward's Seafood is one the caterers." The two girls made their way over to the boy, who had their backed turned to him. "Excuse me, sir. Do we have to shuck these ourselves?" Kiara asked in a fake English accent, causing Pope to turn around with an annoyed expression on his face. "'Cause it might mess up our costumes."

Pope immediately smiled once realized it had only been them and not some posh Kooks. "We wouldn't want that now, would we?" He replied, doing the Pogue handshake with Kiara that Cassie had yet to learn.

"That accent was so bad," Cassie chuckled, shaking her head at her friend.

"Yeah, it was. I was gonna let it go," Kiara muttered in her normal voice, making Cassie and Pope snort. "You ever seen these many Kooks in one place?"

"Yeah. Last year," Pope answered.

"And then the year after this one," Cassie added and Pope nodded, his eyes wide as he thought about the prospect of going to another Midsummers party.

"We're in the lion's den," Kiara voiced as they all looked around, seeing Topper and Kelce talking to one another.

Pope went over and shut the grill top. "Hey, have you guys heard from JJ?"

Kiara pursed her lips, frowning. "No," she said before she forced a smile onto her face, trying to be optimistic. "He'll be all right. He's got the survival instincts of a cockroach."

"I called him," Cassie revealed abruptly, making the two turn their heads to look at her in disbelief. "What?"

"You called JJ?" Kiara reiterated, sharing a look with Pope. "How- why- what?" She stammered, not knowing why Cassie, of all people, would call JJ. Especially with her not even knowing about it until now.

Cassie sighed. "I called Shoupe and then I made him put me on the phone with JJ," she told them, not mentioning the girlfriend idea she came up. She knew that once JJ got out, he would be running his mouth about it anyway. "I just wanted to make sure he knew we were trying to help him instead of just sitting on our asses and doing nothing."

Pope blinked at her. "Cassie, have you been cloned?" He asked her, referring back to what she said on the HMS Pogue the other day.

"What? No, I haven't been cloned. I'm not allowed to do one nice thing without y'all questioning me why? Jeez," she shook her head.

"Well, it's because you're doing the nice thing for JJ," Pope pointed out and Kiara nodded along.

Cassie huffed in annoyance. "Don't you want your friend to know we wanted to at least try bail him out of jail? Not my friend, your friend," she reasoned and Pope began to nod slowly at that. "And besides, I remembered I had Shoupe's number on my phone so I'd be the only one to do it anyway. It was a last second decision."

"Well, what did he say?" Kiara questioned eagerly, wanting to make sure her friend was alright.

She sighed. "He said his father was probably gonna bail him out," she responded unenthusiastically. "Do you guys know if his father is, like..." She trailed off, not knowing how to word this because she wasn't even sure what they knew.

"Like not a good father?" Kiara guessed. "He's terrible."

"How so?"

Kiara and Pope shared a glance. "Just is," was all Kiara said and Cassie narrowed her eyes a bit, not knowing why they wouldn't elaborate further. That only made her think that there was more to the story about JJ and his father.

Pope sighed after a moment. "It's all my fault," he blamed himself.

"You didn't do this, Pope. Topper almost killed you. Remember?" Kiara reminded him before all the Kooks started to clap, indicating the arrival of the Cameron family. "Here come Lord Capital and the Exploiters."

Cassie caught sight of Rafe in his baby blue suit, making her sneer. Next to him was Sarah, who was wearing a floor length white dress with a leaf crown. She hated how good she looked all the time. Again, she thought, why are all the people she hated so hot?

Her eyes traveled over to her mother, who had been smiling warmly at Ward and his family as she clapped for them and all she could do was roll her eyes. Although Ward had been very helpful to them, she couldn't understand why her mother kept dick-riding the whole family. It pissed her off to no end.

"She's definitely gonna poke somebody's eye out with that," Pope deadpanned, referring to the ultra pointy golden crown that Rose was wearing. Cassie and Kiara chuckled at that before they separated from the boy, not wanting his father to get mad at him for not working.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

A little while later, once the sun had set, JJ arrived to Midsummers wearing a waiter's outfit so he would be able to sneak in undetected from security. As he walked in, holding a tray with glasses, he looked around the party to find Sarah Cameron per John B's request to give her a note from "Vlad." He knew he was definitely macking Sarah Cameron no matter how much John B tried to deny it.

As he looked around, he saw Sarah dancing in the middle of the dance floor with her friends. He nodded to himself before he caught a glimpse of someone's familiar blonde hair with a braided crown wrapped around her head.

His eyes widened a bit at the sight of Cassie who had been next to her mom, looking bored to death as her mother spoke to some Kooks. But JJ couldn't help but the notice the way her pink dress had perfectly wrapped around her curves and the way the fairy lights casted a golden glow onto her face that accentuated her features.

He stopped and stared for moment, thinking about her phone call to him when he was in the cell. He had been thinking about it ever since it happened. Why would she, someone who clearly despised every little thing he did, call him to tell him that she tried to bail him out and it didn't work?

Ever since she helped him get away from the dog and pulled out the gun to try to fight against the Kooks, he had been thinking about her differently. Like everything he thought about her was wrong. And he didn't like to be wrong, so it also frustrated him to no end. But at the same time, he couldn't help but keep on thinking about her and what she could've been thinking in those moments.

Did she truly want to fight for the Pogues, or had she been doing it on instinct? JJ knew Cassie to be pretty aggressive when it came to her emotions, so was that all it was? Her anger taking over? Or had there been more it?

All he knew was that he was starting to think less and less that she was a true Kook, like Kiara. He didn't want to think that, but he did. He really hoped he wasn't letting his guard down just because she had been helping his friends, who were people he was one thousand percent loyal to and would do anything for. If she were to go against them because he had started to stray from his original thoughts about her, about her wanting to still be a Kook...he didn't know what he'd do.

He quickly got distracted from his thoughts about the girl once someone grabbed him, scaring the living shit out of him, before he realized it was just Pope.

"Excuse me, but I have to go to the bathroom," Cassie excused herself from the conversation she was having with her mother and some random Kooks she didn't bother to learn the name of. "I'll be right back."

Cassie walked away, not noticing that JJ had arrived to the party just yet. After she went to the women's bathroom, which had been secluded from the rest of the party, she washed her hands and exited.

However, once she did, she smacked right into someone's chest. And that chest being Rafe Cameron's. Her eyes widened as she pushed back from him. "Rafe? What the hell?"

"Hey, is there anyone else in here?" He called out as he stepped inside the bathroom, making her step back into as well. Once no one answered, his lip curled into a grin and he locked the door behind him.

"Rafe, what the fuck are you doing?" She questioned, her nose flaring angrily as he turned back around to face her.

"I just wanna talk, Cassie. You know, I was texting you, but you-you didn't answer," he told her and she swallowed hard. "And then, I see you at the Summer Series none other than with Kiara's guard dogs, who sunk Top's boat, that you told me weren't even your friends. What's up with that, huh?"

"I was there with Kiara. They always just tag along, you know that," she lied, not knowing what he had been planning to do with her in here alone.

Rafe let out an ironic laugh. "Now, come on, Cassie we both know that's not true. What, are you fucking them? Are those the other guys that are stopping you from wanting to be with me?"

She sneered. "No, Rafe, God!" She exclaimed with a scoff, not believing how he could be so full of himself.

"So Maybank hasn't got you in his pants like every other girl on the Cut?" He interrogated. "I find that hard to believe, especially because you apparently like to fuck guys and leave them the next morning."

"No, he hasn't," she said sternly, glaring at him since she thought it was pretty obvious she had no interest in the Maybank boy to anyone who actually paid attention to her. "But what, are you threatened or something? You think he's got more girls than you?" She countered back and he rolled his eyes, poking his tongue in his cheek. "And I don't fuck other guys and leave in the morning. It was just you."

Rafe's blood boiled, his eyes darkening as he took another step forward but she didn't back down. "You know, I didn't appreciate you hitting me the other night at the movie. I was just trying to keep you out of it."

She scoffed at him. "Keep me out of it? I had everything to do it! You were beating up my—!" She stopped herself before saying the f word: friends. She closed her mouth, thinking, Are they my friends?

"Oh, what, your friends?" Rafe guessed. "I fucking knew it. You're a dirty fucking Pogue just like them. You and Kiara."

Cassie pointed her finger at Rafe menacingly, "Hey, you leave her—" Without warning, Rafe smacked her hand down harshly and brought his hand up to her throat, closing his fist around it. She gasped in shock, trying to fight him off of her but he was too strong. Stronger than usual.

"Can't fight now, huh?" He taunted and she snarled at him, scratching at his hands with her nails but he dealt with the pain. He then shoved her back into the wall, causing her to hoarsely groan as he kept his hand on her neck. "Poor little Cassie. I wonder what everyone will think once they find out you're all bark, and no bite. Hm, sad," he spoke right in her face that she could feel his breath, tainted with alcohol, on her skin.

"R-Rafe, please," she choked out, still clawing at him as tears started to form in her eyes from the lack of oxygen. Rafe slowly brought his hand up her throat and to her cheeks, squeezing them tightly. She had started to breathe normally because his hand was only her around her throat, but now she was just in a state of shock as his fingers dug into her cheeks.

"If you tell anyone about this, I will come after you and your little Pogue friends. You hear me?" Rafe threatened as he used his hand to shake her head, but Cassie just stayed silent as she looked at him through her glossy eyes. He took his hand away, deciding to slap her instead. "I said, do you fucking hear me?"

Cassie's head whipped to the side and she released a shaky breath, slowly bringing her hand up to her throbbing cheek. She slowly looked back over to the boy, never being more afraid of someone like this in her life. She had never been like this, so still and frozen without trying to fight back.

"Yes," she breathlessly said, her lip quivering. "Yes, I...I hear you."

Rafe pursed his lips, nodding. "Good. Good." He then looked around the bathroom, his eyes darting around crazily before they landed back on her. "You could've been with me, Cassie. But you decided to choose some stupid Pogues who don't even care about you. It's a shame." And with that, he turned around and unlocked the bathroom door to leave.

If Cassie hadn't been so in shock, she would've screamed, "And you care about me? You care about me after you just choked and slapped me?" But no, all she could do was slowly walk over to the mirror and see the marks that he had left on her throat and the way her left cheek had been left red hot from his slap.

A few tears rolled down her cheeks, not because she was in pain, but because she had let him do this to her. How could she have let him do this to her? She was supposed to be Cassandra Blake, someone who fought back at every chance she got. But she just let him do it. She let the guy she stupidly fucked out of spite do this to her.

She then opened her mouth, her voice coming out hoarse, "Vodka. I need Vodka." She quickly wiped at her tears and prayed to God no one had noticed the marks on her neck as she zoomed out of the bathroom, heading directly to the bar area.

The bartender seemed to be preoccupied with dealing with aloof Kooks, so she reached over the bar, her hands trying to find the bottle she was looking for as quickly as she could. Once she felt the familiar handle of the Vodka bottle, she pulled it up without anyone noticing and walked away with it to find some secluded area to drink it in peace.

Once she had, she immediately opened it up and started to down it, ignoring the burning in her throat and the way her stomach started to hurt from drinking it too fast without much food in her stomach.

She didn't care about any of it, she just needed to forget what had just happened.

What she had let happen.

authors note!
idk why i always make rafe
ultra unlikable in my jj books
when im literally in love with him
irl 😃 im so excited for next chapter
bc drumroll...more angst! sorry yall