hey ho
new character alert!

PEACE - played by younger! Anna Cathcart

TW// DEATH also i'm sorry i'm making this depressing lmao

It was finally time for the annual BSC sleepover! Katara couldn't wait- she was more excited than ever.

Everything was going well, and Katara ate more pizza than she had ever before. She loved her friends, and she loved every one in that room.

Kristy had the idea to take personality tests, and Claudia wasn't happy, as that was going against her agenda.

"So, we have two new members. We need to integrate them according to our individual weaknesses and strengths to harness our corporate synergy." Kristy explained, and Katara sighed loudly.

"Kill me now." Katara mumbled jokingly as Dawn made a comment, and continued as Kristy rambled on. "I feel like I've taken this already. I probably have. I definitely have."

"'Do you pay quarterly taxes or prefer to leave finalised numbers until the end of the fiscal year?' Should the club be paying taxes? Do I need to look into this?" Mary Anne asked, panicked.

"I believe we don't unless we make more than $10,000 a year. Do we?" Katara asked, and Mary Anne thought for a second and shook her head. "Then, we're good. Then again, I think that might be for the average person, not a company. I'm sure Dawn knows something about it."

"Done," Jessi said, and Kristy stared surprised. "I know myself."

"As much as you think you do, you never truly know someone," Katara said, pretending to be a wise old man as Malory complained about the questions.

"Malory, just be yourself," Claudia suggested.

"That's easy to say when you're you."

Katara wanted to give a word of advice; something about how no one in the club knew who they really were. But she kept her mouth shut, and probably for the best.

"Done! I need water. Does anyone want anything?" Stacey asked, handed her test to Kristy, and left.

And that's when Katara got a call from Chloe, so she quickly ran outside the room to answer it.

"Hey! What's up?" Katara asked, eating a Skittle.

"You need to come to Chloe's house." A male voice said, breathing heavily. Katara gulped and hung up, and ran back into Claudia's room.

"I have to go. There's an emergency. I'm sorry guys." Katara said, grabbing all of her things. All of her friends said bye, and she ran home.

A few minutes later, she walked into the house, and threw her things down onto the floor. "Chloe, I'm home! Are you ok?"

"Kitchen." A familiar said, without emotion in his voice.

Katara's heart started pounding in her head; That was Darry's voice.

He was halfway sitting on the kitchen table, fidgeting with his nails.

"Drunk driver hit Chloe. I was still on her contact list from when we were dating. Pack your stuff, you're coming back to my place." Darry said, getting straight to the point, not letting Katara process anything.

"Oh."
***

Two days after the sleepover, Katara went to the next meeting, which Kristy was not attending.

Katara sat next to Stacey, waiting for the meeting to start. She hadn't slept in 2 days because all she was thinking about was Chloe's death. She had just finished her third cup of coffee since she came to Claudia's (which was an hour ago).

"Okay, um-" Claudia started, but then got cut off by Dawn.

"Welcome, everyone! Let's call today's meeting to order." Dawn smiled, looking around the room.

"Uh, Dawn, I was just about to do that." Claudia said, an annoyed tone in her voice.

"Oh, well, as alternate officer, it's literally my job description to take over the duties of any club officer who is absent, so I'm acting president." Dawn explained and looked to Stacey and Mary-Anne.

"Well, I'm the vice president, the vice president takes over when the president is unable to perform her duties. It's in the Constitution. The actual one." Claudia scoffed.

"Kristy called me and asked me to take over until she gets back." Dawn explained awkwardly, and Claudia stared at her in disbelief.

"I don't think she wanted to put pressure on you." Mary-Anne chimed in.

"Yeah, totally, and thought I might be more comfortable in a leadership role" Dawn agreed.

Katara stared, taking turns to look at Claudia and Dawn. She liked the drama and was too sleep-deprived to really understand what was going on.

"Oh, is that because of the stupid personality test? Just because I'm an individualist doesn't mean I'm not a good leader." Claudia said, and Dawn shook her head.

"Of course not, and we can absolutely dialogue about that, but for now since I know my time as president is limited, I wanna use this week wisely and truly make a difference. Like Lady Jane Grey." Dawn smiled proudly.

"Who?" Mallory asked.

"She was the queen of England in 1553. She was fifteen and ruled for nine days, in which she ushered in major reforms." Katara said with a fancy tone in her voice, surprising the kids around her as she hadn't said anything yet. "She was beheaded in the end, so not a good idea."

Dawn was about to say something, but the phone rang. "Hold that thought."

She picked it up and answered it, and Katara wiggled to the side and picked up a bag of Sour Patch Kids.

"Anyone want?"

***

Katara sat in her new-old room, hugging her knees. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and there were snotty tissues in a pile all over the bed.

She didn't know what to do: she was back in a house which held so many good memories, but yet one crucial bad one.

Katara got out her phone, and texted a friend who she knew would drop what she was doing and be there. 'meet me in the coffee shop in 15?'

She got a reply almost immediately: 'ofc!'

When she arrived, she saw her new friend Peace sitting at the table where the two had met.

Katara had explained practically her whole life story in just a few minutes, and Peace listened intently.

And that's the story of how Peace knew every little thing about Katara. That'll play in later.

Soon again, it was time for the next meeting. Katara sat in Claudia's room once again, reading yet another book. She hadn't said anything about Chloe or Daddy since the day of Chloe's death.

Currently, Dawn had been on the phone for such a long time that Katara had already gone through half a book.

"Yeah, I hear you. But that would trigger me too. But he's trying to push your buttons and you need to be the strong one." Dawn said, nodding to the person on the phone.

"It's been over twenty minutes," Mary-Anne mumbled to Stacey and Katara.

"She's rewarding bad behaviour. It's textbook codependency." Stacey said, and Katara nodded in agreement.

"Hi, Natalie. Yeah, I have to free up the phone, but I'll see you Thursday." Dawn said, and finally, put the phone down.

"Seriously?" Stacey asked, annoyed.

"I know, I'm sorry, but Natalie Barrett's ex-husband took the kids to a pumpkin patch with his new girlfriend, and it's hard to hang up the phone on someone who's sobbing like that," Dawn said, looking at the girls.

"Dawn, I've been thinking about your new dues idea, where we all pay a percentage of our earnings instead of a fixed amount. But then if I work more, I'm covering for other people." Stacey said, and Dawn did not hesitate with her answer.

"Oh, well, that's how progressive taxation works. Those who have more, give more." Dawn shrugged, but Jessi had a debate.

"And I cant work as much as you since I can't sit as late and I have ballet. So when I pay the same amount, it's a way bigger percentage of my earnings. How is that fair?"

"And if no one's paying dues and we're still having meetings, I'm paying for all the food on my own, unless we don't want snacks." Claudia agreed, and the other girls argued against the no snack part.

"And another thing, if we start paying a percentage of our dues to charity, who gets to pick the charity? You?" Mary-Anne started.

"Will it be the same charity each time? Because that's not fair, it should be different ones."

The girls started taking over each other, and Dawn tried to get their attention but she failed.

***

The next BSC meeting was held, and Kristy was back! Katara was happier than ever to see her.

"I hereby call this meeting to order. Now, I've looked over the minutes that Mary-Anne was instructed not to take." Kristy said, specifically looking at Dawn.

"Mary-Anne!" Dawn said, annoyed at her friend.

"I'm sorry, okay? I had to! They're important for record-keeping. I tried to write down as much as I remember." Mary-Anne stammered, and Kristy nodded.

"No, and it's a good thing you did! Because, I have to say, Dawn, there's a lot I like about your administration."

"Really?" Dawn asked, at the same time as Katara whispered "Really?" and got smacked in the arm by Claudia.

"I mean, thanks!"

"I've read over your ideas, and I would like to propose the following. Everyone will pay a small and manageable amount of dues each week for club fees. After that, dues will be 10% of each individual sitter's earnings. So, on good weeks you pay a little more, and bad weeks a little less. Fair."

"I like that idea," Katara agreed, and Kristy smiled.

"Charity donations. We will donate 50% of our dues, after expenses, once a month to one charity. Kat will do a vote and choose the charity each week."

"Stacey, what do you want to do?" Katara asked, putting her head on her palm.

"I choose JDRF. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. They fight for a cure for type 1 diabetes and have great resources for kids like me." Stacey smiled, and the other girls clapped, and agreed to the charity.

"That's amazing! And, Dawn, you found flaws in the system and brought important issues to light. The job of a true revolutionary. I'm proud of you."

"And you made decisions that took everyone's needs into consideration. That's leadership, which is why you're the Captain." Dawn smiled.

And Katara had smiled for the first time in a while.