CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"who's trying to rob her anyways?"

( episode six ━━ parcel 9 )

SCARLETT HALL HAD TRULY STRUCK gold last night.

Well, not actual gold, (not yet anyways) but the words exchanged between her and Kiara last night made Scarlett feel like a whole new person. A better person... What a shame it would all come to an end soon.

It's at this moment that she wants to kick herself, scold herself, and scream at the top of her lungs all at the same time. If only she had come clean about her feelings earlier, she and Kiara could have had longer together. The truth was, Scarlett had no idea why her parents wanted to move all of a sudden.

Well, okay — JJ was right. A long distance relationship in today's day in age was probably no big deal, mainly due to all the technology they had access to. Only it felt like the end of the world to Scarlett.

Sure they could call, text, FaceTime and whatever else. Although it wouldn't be the same and she knew it.

Ugh, Scarlett really hated her brain sometimes.

A good thing, a really good thing finally happens to her, and instead of enjoying herself here she is sitting on the edge of a boat wondering when it's going to be ripped away from her — when Kiara was going to be ripped away from her.

And truth be told, Scarlett didn't know if she could handle that.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

The sound of Kiara's voice brought the Hall girl back to reality. She turned her head slightly and gave the girl she spent so many years pining over a smile. "Hey."

Kiara leans down, moving a strand of the blonde girl's hair out of her face before connecting their lips. "Hi."

As they breakaway, Scarlett kept her eyes closed for a moment, wanting to savour the moment a little longer. "This is something I really could get used to."

The best she could do was push her earlier thoughts away, and just enjoy every moment with Kiara that she could. Only a month ago, she would have killed for a chance to be this close to her, and now here she was, getting a good morning kiss from her on a boat.

It was time to think positive for a change.

Kiara bumped their shoulders together before asking, "You seemed so wrapped up in your head before I came out here. Everything okay?"

"I'm just— I'm so happy, yet so upset at the same time." Scarlett pauses for a moment and then continues, "On one hand, I finally got you, and it won't even be for that long."

"What do you— oh right."

Kiara had almost forgotten the fact that Scarlett would be moving away at the end of summer, cutting down drastically on their time together. When she first broke the news to her at midsummers, Kiara thought it was some kinda cruel joke. Now, she desperately wished it was all an elaborate ruse to get under her skin.

Scarlett looks down at her hands, feeling ashamed. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't been so scared to admit to you and myself how I feel, we could have been together way longer, way sooner."

"Don't focus on the past. Focus on what's in front of you." Kiara grabs both sides of her face with her hands. "Like me."

This almost cracked a smile out of Scarlet.

Almost.

She sighs and slowly removes the girl's hands. "Kie... at the end of the summer, I'm gone. I don't even know where to, so who knows if we are even going to be in the same time zone."

Kiara shrugs, racking her brain trying to find some way to change the Hall girl's mind and stop thinking about all the bad. "Then we'll just have to make the most of the time we have."

Scarlett beams at her, leaning up and giving her another kiss. "I love you."

It was those three little words that took Kiara's breath away — but not in the way people might think. Truth be told... she didn't know if she loved Scarlett back.

Now before her words get twisted, Kiara did have feelings for Scarlett. She liked the Hall girl, she really did.

Luckily for her, the other blonde walked in, ruining their moment but also saving Kiara from having to respond to Scarlett's love declaration. "Alright. I'm happy for you two, but that doesn't mean I wanna be a third wheel."

"Hey, this is just packback for all of the many times I had to do that." Scarlett rests her head on Kiara's shoulder. "So get used to it."

Kiara playfully rolls her eyes. "Good afternoon."

"Yeah, looks like you two are having a great afternoon." said Sarah.

As much as Sarah joked, she was unbelievably happy for both girls right now. Seeing Scarlett with a smile on her face and someone she truly wanted to be with warmed the Cameron girl's heart greatly.

Off in the distance, Scarlett spotted a boat in the distance headed towards them. "Oh wow, look who's on their way over."

Unsure of how Kiara wanted to go about their new relationship, (if you could even call it that) Scarlett began to feel insecure and quickly detached herself from her. She didn't want Kiara to feel pressured into telling the rest of the Pogues something she wasn't ready to share, wanting to give the girl the same time and space she had. It was only fair.

Before Scarlett could move further away, she felt Kiara's arm wrap around her waist and pull her back over. As she looked down and saw Kiara linked their pinkies together, the blonde girl could feel her stomach doing somersaults.

God, Scarlett Hall was so in love with Kiara Carrera.

"Uh-oh!"

Scarlett lifted her head as she heard Pope yell and saw the boys approaching them faster. While she wanted to strangle every last one of them for stranding them here overnight, she really did have them to thank for everything. Without their schemes, she and Kiara would have never patched things up and be...

Dating? A couple? Girlfriends?

Honestly... Scarlett didn't know what to call them — that was a conversation for later though.

"You forget your keys or something? You need a tow?" John B joked.

Scarlett groaned. "I'm gonna kill them. Every single one of them."

"Hey you two." Kiara began, "Don't give them the satisfaction of thinking this worked."

"Absolutely not." agreed Sarah.

Catching the look on the three girl's faces, John B sensed he and the guys were all in serious trouble for this little stunt. "You gotta admit it was funny."

"And yet I'm not laughing." Scarlett narrowed her eyes at him. "So you're the mastermind, huh?"

John B shrugged and smiled at the girl. "I'm always planning."

"Some patriarchal bullshit." Kiara muttered, climbing off from where she was sitting.

"Yeah, that sucked." said Sarah.

"You still love us though, right?" JJ asked as he grinned widely at the three of them.

The blonde boy tossed Kiara the rope in his hand. "Yeah, whatever." she mumbled while tying the boat's together.

"Hey, you still hate me?" John B glanced over at his girlfriend and hoped she had gotten over her anger.

Sarah stood up, crossing her arms and looking off into the distance. "A little. We're gonna get you back when you least expect it."

"Watch your back, boys." Kiara commented.

Pope laughed at her words. "I welcome that challenge."

"Me too."

JJ was fairly quick to agree with Pope, causing Scarlett to arch her eyebrow and shoot JJ a look. This caused him to almost laugh, having to glance away from him before he bursted out chuckling in front of everyone.

"So, did you guys, you know..." Pope trailed off, waiting for one of the girls to explain how their night went.

"Reconcile our differences?" Kiara finished for him.

Sarah exchanged looks with the two girls by her side before saying, "Not even close."

"But we're..." Scarlett paused, for dramatic effect of course, "willing to work together."

"You know what? That's victory." Deciding that this was better than nothing, especially after the huge shit show that went down at his house yesterday, John B was just happy they were all having a conversation together without either one of them fighting. "You guys ready to jack some loot?"

Scarlett stuck out her hand as John B took it, helping her into the boat. "We were born ready, Baby John."

☆

This may sound absolutely insane... but Scarlett was actually quite excited to be breaking into Ms. Crain's house tonight. Terrified as well, but still excited.

Hey, don't judge her. She'd lived a pretty sheltered life. In the company of others — which was really the only time her father paid attention to her — he was always telling her to be proper and to act accordingly and Scarlett was sick of it. Tonight she was doing something terrible without worrying about the consequences.

Well... let's hope everything goes smoothly and she wouldn't have to.

The moment after the boys rescued them, (never mind that they were the ones who stranded them in the first place) Scarlett never went home, instead choosing to spend the rest of the day at John B's. She knew immediately after stepping through the door, her parents would bombard her with a million questions about where she was, why she was out all night, blah blah blah.

Once upon a time, that sounded like a dream to Scarlett — her parents actually paying attention to her! Yes please! Unfortunately, this new helicopter parenting routine they have going on could not have come at a worse time.

And so she thought, may as well stay out two nights in a row and go back tomorrow. Always ask for forgiveness, never permission.

"You got rope?" John B asked Pope, wanting to make sure they had everything.

"Got it."

"Grappling hook?"

"No grappling hook." Pope scoffed, "We're not Batman."

"Pulley?"

"Check." Kie confirmed.

"Dark clothes?"

"Got it."

"Flashlights?"

"Check."

"All right, good." John B said, feeling satisfied. "We're ready."

"Let's go get rich, guys." JJ commented.

Everyone hummed in agreement and Scarlett bit her tongue before she stated the obvious — that she was already rich. Hey, sometimes it was better to stay quiet.

"Wait, wait." John B spoke, causing all of them to pause whatever they were doing.

The Routledge boy looked over at all of his friends, all of them who were willing to risk everything just to be here with him. He took a deep breath before speaking, "I wanna say thank you, guys. Seriously. It means a lot to me

that you're here tonight."

Kiara gave him a small smile. "Always."

"Of course, man." Pope pats his shoulder.

Being here with all the Pogues seriously made Scarlett feel content with her life. It had been a really long time since she had a friend group that she could be herself around.

But at the same time... they really didn't have time for this.

"All right, we done with the circle jerk? Can we go do this?"

It was like JJ had read her mind, since he had spoken what she was feeling. "Yeah, this is really cute, but we do gotta go. We can do hugs and kisses later, after grabbing the loot."

"Let's get that wheat in the water."

JJ's head spun around at Pope's words. "Weed? I'm up for weed."

"Wheat. I said wheat."

The six teens hopped out of the van and began walking towards Ms. Crain's house with their flashlights in hand. The nerves quickly began to take over Scarlett's body as she immediately began overthinking everything. Was she really about to break into an (alleged) axe murder's house? What happens if they get caught? Would she kill them too?

As if sensing she was uncomfortable, Kiara took her free hand, lacing her fingers with Scarlett's in an attempt to relax her — and she almost immediately felt at ease.

Well that, and she had eventually come to the realization that while she wasn't a particularly fast runner, she wasn't slow either. The chances of her out running the others here was around fifty percent.

Except no one unfortunately counted on the old woman to have motion sensor lights installed.

Sarah gasped, diving quickly into the bushes. "Shit!"

"Guys, flashlights!" Kiara reminds everyone.

Everyone wastes no time listening to her and proceeded to take a moment to calm down, attempting to now dwell on the fact that they almost got busted before even making it inside the house in the first place.

Yeah, they really were the world's worst criminals.

Pope removes his hood and sucks in a breath. "Okay so, slight setback. We just have to figure out a way past without triggering the lights."

"Why would she even need motion sensor lights? Who's trying to rob her anyways?" Scarlett paused and thought over her past sentence once more. "Wait... no one say anything, I see where I went wrong."

"We could, uh... move really slowly, maybe?"

Pope narrows his eyes at JJ, although not even surprised at his suggestion. "That's not how it works. Slow motion is still motion."

"Oh shit, I got it!" John B exclaimed quietly, "Let's throw a rock at it."

Sarah scrunched up her nose. "What?"

"That's a really good idea. Let the axe murderer know that we're here." Kie said sarcastically.

"You guys got a better idea?"

"Literally anything but that."

"What about the breaker? In the circuit box on the porch."

After Sarah's suggestion, the rest of the Pogues gave her uncanny looks, obviously confused how she knew this information. Regrettably, Scarlett knew what her friend was referring to. It truly was one of the worst core memories of her childhood.

"A group of us used to play hide-and-seek here as kids." She jumped in and explained for Sarah.

"And if we were brave enough, we'd go all the way up to the porch."

Scarlett winced. "Guess who never went all the way up to the porch."

"My point is, I've seen it." Sarah concluded.

"No, no. You're not going in the house alone." John B protested.

"Watch me."

"Crain chops people into pieces."

Sarah scoffed at JJ's words. "If you believe that, but she's like what, eighty-five?"

"Yeah, somethin' like that."

"She's probably barely still kicking."

"Here. I'll go with you." Kie offered.

Now it was Scarlett's turn to protest. "Whoa— I don't know how I like that."

"I'll be fine."

"Kie—"

Kiara kisses Scarlett, cutting her off and also surprising her immensely. Mainly because they hadn't exactly been public with their affection, (duh, they had only been together for less than twenty four hours) but Scarlett was the opposite of complaining right now.

JJ's eyes widened at the sight. "Well that's new."

Kiara pulls back from Scarlett's lips, looking into her eyes as she grinned. "Still feel like arguing?"

"Not even a little."

"You gonna follow us?"

"Absolutely." Scarlett turned back, saluting the other Pogues while she trailed behind Kiara. "Later boys."

"Hey, be safe." said John B, still not liking this part of the plan.

"We will." Sarah reassured him before turning and following her friend's lead.

Walking around a creepy house with only crickets being heard, Scarlett began to feel as though she may have made a mistake. Think about it, this was quite literally how the plot to every horror movie ever made started out. Old creepy house? Check. Disturbing legend? Check. Dumb kids ignoring all of that and walking straight in anyways?

... Check.

Let's just hope tonight didn't end like a horror movie.

"This is definitely in the top ten most terrifying moments of my life." Scarlett complained.

Kiara chuckled. "What's number one on that list?"

Scarlett's first thought was of her love confession to Kiara just the night prior, but no way was she going to admit that out loud... it was way too embarrassing. Besides, some things a girl just needs to keep to herself.

"Nothing in particular comes to mind."

"She must have a generator plugged into the main power supply." Sarah interrupts their conversation, bringing them back on track.

As they reached the circuit box, Kiara instantly noticed something was wrong. Wondering why there were no breakers in sight. "What is this?"

"No, this can't be happening." Sarah follows along the wires with her flashlight. "Shit. It goes inside."

Scarlett groaned. "Of course it does."

Kiara slowly opens the door, Sarah and Scarlett following her swiftly as they all just wanted to be finished with this.

The Crain household was decked out completely with old antiques and decorations that were clearly not from this time period. Which only further increased Scarlett's fear. It was at the point where she couldn't try and act tough — this entire place gave her the chills.

The small girl shuddered as she continued looking around. "This house is in desperate need of a makeover."

Sarah sighed. "Scar, focus."

The sound of a cat yowl almost caused Scarlett to have a heart attack, immediately latching right onto Kiara's arm.

"What the fuck." she whispered.

"Don't be such a wuss. You being scared is starting to make me scared."

"Okay well my bad I don't go wandering through axe murderers houses every night Kie. When I build up a tolerance to it, I'll be sure to let you know."

A couple more steps forward and they finally found what they needed, turning off the generator so they guys could get to work. More importantly, they could get the hell out of here. Woefully, their celebration was short-lived.

A creek was heard throughout the house. Scarlett moved her back against the wall and placed her hand on her heart, attempting to slow her breathing.

"It's fine." she whispered, "We're gonna be fine."

She thought if she repeated the sentence enough, that would make it true. However the truth was, Ms. Crain was awake — and she was coming. Scarlett closed her eyes and began silently praying to every God out there.

"Please tell me she isn't headed this way."

Kiara leaned forward slightly to get a better visual, almost immediately slinking back to her spot. "Okay, I won't tell you that."

"It's... it's late, Leon." Ms. Crain croaked out. "Too late."

Remember when Scarlett said she was excited to break into the house tonight? Yeah scratch that. Just the sound of the woman's voice alone almost made her weep. Kiara placed her hand over her mouth, hoping she wouldn't cry out and give away their hiding place.

Every step she took brought her closer and closer to their hiding spot. The old woman walked right past them, and the girls could only hope she didn't catch a glimpse of them.

"I can hear you, Leon." Ms. Crain paused before spinning around and screaming, "I've been waiting all night!"

Now Scarlett truly felt as though she was in a horror movie. The moment Ms. Crain swivelled her head around to face the girls would be an image she would never be able to get out of her head, no matter how hard she tried.

"Go!" Kie screamed, ushering the two blondes forward.

Scarlett sprinted for her life (literally) through the Crain residence directly behind Kiara. The Carrera girl held onto Scarlett's hand tightly with her flashlight in the other as they desperately tried to find an exit.

"Where are you, Leon?" Ms. Crain screeched. She was getting closer.

"Shit!" said Kiara.

"What?"

Kiara fiddled with the door once more, but it was no use."It's locked. I don't think I can—"

"Kie!"

Scarlett pushed the Carrera girl out of the way as Ms. Crain swung directly at her with a fire poker. The two were so preoccupied with getting the door open, they had failed to pay attention to the fact that she had entered the room.

Luckily, Sarah rushed into the room after hearing all the commotion. Grabbing the poker (or at this point more like a weapon) from the woman and throwing it down to the ground.

"Come on, this way!" she shouted at them.

They rushed away to another part of the house, slamming the door shut behind them and hoping that was the end of that. All three of them attempted to catch their breath while Scarlett was desperately trying to make sense of what just happened. Sure, she may have believed the rumours, but she never believed the rumours. It was just supposed to be a fun little story you tell your friends to spook them. Now, there was no way those stories weren't true. Based on the way she swung at them, that old woman was one hundred percent a murder.

And they were inside a house with her.

"Okay," Scarlett started, "we need to get the fuck out of here before Mrs. Voorhees keeps trying to kill us!"

Right on cue, Ms. Crain slammed the fire poker through the wooden door, almost hitting Scarlett in the process. Instantly causing them to back away from the door and rush off.

"This way, it goes underneath the house!" Sarah leads them down a flight of stairs.

Sprinting their way down, the girls met up with the other Pogues. "Guys!"

"What's going on?" Pope asked, concerned about the looks on their faces.

"Ms. Crain!" Scarlett wheezed while trying to catch her breath. "She's up there!"

"She tried to kill us with a fire poker." Kiara finished.

"We locked her in the parlor, but we gotta go."

"Okay, code red." JJ leaned over and shouted towards his friend. "Let's go. John B! Get back on, man!"

No one wasted any time grabbing onto the rope. Everyone having the same thought on their minds: grab John B and get the fuck out of here.

"Okay, everyone ready?" Pope asked, and waited until he saw everyone nod to continue. "Three, two, one, pull!"

"Where the hell is he?"

With everyone talking and panicking all at once, Scarlett could barely focus. It seemed Kiara had the same thought, quickly shushing her friends before yelling, "John B!"

He shouted something towards them, unfortunately not a single one could decipher the words. JJ leaned forward. "What's he saying?"

He yelled up one more time, still no one understood any of it.

"Yo, he's drowning!" Kiara panicked, moving from the well and going straight for the rope. "We gotta pull him up!"

Pope shouted down to him. "Hey, John B! Get back on the rope. We're gonna pull you back up, okay, buddy?"

"I do not have the upper body strength for this." Scarlett muttered. "Can I sit this out?"

Immediately Scarlett was met with glares from four pairs of eyes. Causing her to grab the rope with no hesitation and assist saving her friend. All she should think of was that if treasure hunting was going to be this much work, she really needed to start working out.

"Pull!"

Right after that four lettered word left Pope's mouth, the sound of a gunshot spooked Scarlett so terribly, she dropped the rope in her hands. Everyone scattered to run and hide with Kiara following both Sarah and Scarlett, huddling together in a far corner.

It took Sarah a few seconds to calm down before saying, "She can't aim for shit."

"She can't see. She's blind." added Scarlett.

Another gunshot rang out, and this time Scarlett wasn't sticking around to hear a third.

"Shit! Go!"

Making sure Kiara was in front of her and safe, the three girls took off. Bolting outside and refusing to pause until she reached their vehicle. She was not in the mood to get shot.

Scarlett practically ripped open the door to the van when they finally reached it, taking a deep breath and leaning against the seat in an attempt to catch her breath. "I don't ever wanna run that much again."

"Can we go now?"

"Not without John B." Sarah glanced out into the pitch black hoping her boyfriend would make an appearance soon. "Where is he?"

"Why are we always getting shot at?" Pope complained, flailing his arms around.

The missing boy was finally spotted just as the van was driving off. Jumping in at just the right time as Scarlett slammed the door shut — the faint noise of gunshots still in the air.

"JJ, drive!" said Sarah.

JJ listened, turning back to look at John B. "Are you okay? Are you shot?"

"No."

"You good?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Pope glanced at the Routledge boy and almost gagged. "You look disgusting."

"God, you smell like ass." Kiara wrinkled her nose.

Sarah leaned back in her seat, running her hands down her face. "What the hell just happened?"

"All-time Pogue Hall of Fame, baby."

"Hell, yeah." Kiara agreed with JJ before adding, "That bitch is possessed."

"That bitch can't aim."

Pope furrowed his eyebrows in an attempt to make sense of the situation."How does she move that fast?"

"She's possessed." answered Sarah.

"I don't get it. She's blind."

"Like Master Yoda."

Scarlett lightly smacked JJ's shoulder. "Don't insult Yoda like that."

"Hey, hands off the driver!"

"It makes no sense, scientifically."

"She does yoga. Pilates."

Turning out of the conversation, Scarlett grew concerned with how silent John B was being. Until she saw why for herself. In his muddy hand, the boy held something that looked strangely like—

No. That wasn't... It couldn't be.

"Holy fuck." she muttered.

Kiara immediately spun her head around to look at Scarlett. "What? You okay?"

Scarlett was at a loss for words, only pointing towards John B in response. Kiara followed her line of eyesight, her jaw dropping immediately. "Oh, my God!"

"No, you didn't!' Sarah added, sounding completely astonished.

"We did it, baby! I did it!" He shouted, holding up the bar of gold.

"Guys, we're gonna be rich!"

"Like Kook rich."

"Full Kook! Full Kook!"

Scarlett laughed along with the rest of her friends as they all kept chanting. They did it, they really did it. Glancing around at them and thinking about how fortunate she had been lately.

She had finally had Kiara, a friend group she could be herself around, and was possibly nearing a better relationship with their parents. One where they may actually pay attention and parent her. Everything in her life just finally felt perfect — and maybe that wasn't a good thing. Once you're on top, there is only one way to go from there.

The scale has to tip back sometime.

author's note.
uhhhh... hi?

i'm so sorry for going ghost on this story!!! i was feeling v insecure about my writing so i just... stopped writing for a few months and i'm just starting to update my all my stories now but i apologize <3 i've learned to stop over thinking and just go w the flow so that's what i'm gonna do from now on yay

also this is insane but thank you guys so much for 33k / almost 34k on this i'm forever grateful and love you all sm