𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝑶𝑵𝑬 ━ 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑶𝑼𝑹

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍'𝐓 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐄'𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄, 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐃 a lot since the cursed day but one of the main things that had changed was her social interactions. Melanie was known for being a party girl or maybe she just was more sociable than others, she didn't mind it when people would talk about her. Melanie could hear the blissful waves crashing against the sandy edge of the beach full of teenagers that were either already drunk or going to be drunk in a matter of a few minutes.

The sky was slowly turning an orangey or maybe a reddish colour and the clouds were forming a dusted cover over it as Melanie was walking with Kiara through the crowd of sweaty people, it wasn't really what Melanie would have remembered parties to be like again. Melanie scrunched her nose as she looked further around the beach, the sun hadn't set yet so the sunlight was reflecting on the crowd making it hard to follow Kie who was already a bit further away.

The night before a terrible hurricane, Hurricane Agatha was what the news named it, had struck the Outer Banks but it hadn't really affected her and her mothers night, they had just stayed inside for most of the time which wasn't really anything unusual about their nights. That was also another reason that she couldn't sleep. She had heard that it had destroyed a lot on its way and she had seen some of the stuff that had happened on her walk to the party with Kiara.

Kiara had talked about what she had seen in the morning, an abandoned boat. Her friends and her had been in their boat like usual until they had hit something and one of her friends, Pope was his name if she remembered clearly, had pointed it out and they had gone down to see it. They had tried to go to the police but it didn't really work out and so they may or may not have left it there.

Melanie walked forward at a quicker pace, she could barely see Kiara talking with someone as she put a hand up to block the sunlight from blinding her view. It wasn't really late enough for it to be the evening but it was enough for the sun to start setting on the horizon.

Nobody was actually acknowledging Melanie as she walked past the many others since they could not tell it was her, there were way too many people around her, she didn't complain though — the thought of having to talk to some of them wasn't really on her mind. Melanie didn't want everyone to start questioning her about being back.

She stepped through the branches and logs that were scattered everywhere on the beach as more and more teenagers were coming. Crashing against the shore, small waves washed the night's debris onto the land. The untouched golden sand covers the floor as far as your eyes can see. Soothing, a gentle sea breeze rustles through her hair. Kiara was sitting down next to some guy on a log. Melanie didn't want to intrude but she didn't really have anything else to do so she did.

"Kie, sorry I kinda lost you in the crowd," said Melanie awkwardly as she stepped forward to be in front of Kiara. The girl wasn't really sure if it was polite for her to do this but she didn't really want to be alone for her first party back on the island.

The brunette smiled brightly and patted the place next to her for Melanie to sit down. "Yes! I thought you had gone to get yourself a cup, so I was gonna wait for you here."

The guy next to Kiara looked up at Melanie and smiled though it was a confused one but still he pushed his thoughts aside and curiosity took the better of him as he said, "Wait, you're Melanie — Melanie Fortini right! I didn't know you were back—."

Kiara shushed the guy who looked a bit offended at her which made Melanie think he was probably a kook, now that she thought of it — he was wearing kook clothes, Kiara had then asked him to get them both cups of beer so that he would leave them alone. "I'm so sorry about him, he was actually nice, we were talking about virgos, you know."

"Oh," said Melanie in embarrassment for interrupting the twos conversation. "He's cute you know."added Melanie as she looked back and forth from Kie to the guy who was now talking to the person next to the kegger. "Yeah, but I don't really like the dumb ones," replied Kiara with a laugh as they both started laughing.

"Oh my god, I don't think we're going to get our drinks Kiara," said Melanie as she pointed to the guy that they were talking to before as he walked towards a group of girls with the two cups in his hands.

He was trying to impress the girls by showing off his watch or well something on his wrist, Melanie couldn't tell — it wasn't really doing its job since the girls merely looked at him, barely acknowledging him. He still tried though which was sad, honestly if Melanie was there she would take pity of the guy.

"Yup! Guess we're gonna have to go get our own." said Kiara, she didn't really look upset but more relieved at the sight.

"I'll go get some okay!" said Melanie as she got up and walked carefully towards the kegger, trying to not trip on one of the branches and logs around them, where a boy stood offering drinks to others.

He had brown hair and stood tall. Melanie could see the sun setting a bit lower as the sky slowly turned orange. The sky looked it was on fire which made it look like a gradient dance between the two. Melanie walked towards the boy but she wasn't really paying attention to him until he looked up.

"Do you want a drink—," asked the boy as he looked up but stopped half way into giving it to her, a shock expression on his familiar face. "Melanie, I didn't know you're back!"

Melanie knew him, of course how could she forget, it was John B. She hadn't seen him since freshman year, it was weird seeing him again, he looked better and worst than he did before. He looked obviously older and more mature but there was something that told Melanie something had happened when she was gone, he looked sad — she should ask Kiara later about that and maybe she'll get the answers she wanted.

"John B! Hey!" exclaimed Melanie as she looked up and smiled at the boy who had been some sort of friend to her. They weren't really friends back in freshman year but they were close enough to be considered friends.

John B had helped her family with a few things back then, and they had sort of talked and became friends although they didn't really talk after, they did say hello to each other in the hallways.

John B was a nice guy, really sweet but he was sometimes a bad influence on others even though he just wanted to see people be more free and Melanie liked that about him. John B was liked by the Fortini's and his dad had helped them too with boating problems. It had been a while since Melanie had seen him maybe she would ask John B about him later.

The two talked for a while, talking about the last year or so and what had happened during her absence. She hadn't known that his dad had gone missing and was presumed dead by the police.

Honestly Melanie couldn't believe it, how could this have happened? His dad was a great sailor, what did happened? Maybe he is washed up on one of the island's shores or somewhere else where he couldn't be rescued. Finally Melanie walked back to Kiara with two solo cups in her hands.

𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐍𝐀𝐈𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 already set, the sky now a dark blue, the moon shining it's silver luminosity through the clouds that covered it's front. It looked beautiful and Melanie wasn't keen on leaving the sightseeing at all. Melanie and Kiara had stayed together for a while just because Melanie didn't really have anyone to stay with except Kie and John B.

Maybe if she talked to some people that she didn't know would make more friends again. Kiara had left her with Pope who was an absolute sweetheart. Melanie had liked Pope, he was smart and that was something impressive to her.

Pope wasn't like the other guys she'd talk to that day, he wasn't trying to flirt but was trying to be a friend to her which she gladly accepted. They had talked about his scholarship, he had been one of the finalists, they had talked for the better half of an hour.

Melanie was now walking along the shore alone since the others had gone to talk to someone else or went to get more drinks, she didn't really mind honestly. She could just enjoy her time alone, it didn't bother her at all — it wasn't bad at all, she was just looking at the sky, she wanted to know how it could look so beautiful in complete darkness.

The faint sounds of the party, which was still continuing a few feet away, put Melanie at rest. Melanie wasn't far from the party, but she also wasn't too close to hear the chatter and low music through her headphones which were only in one ear. She was moving slowly when she came to a log that was facing the water, and she sat down without thinking since she needed to catch her breath.

Melanie was aware of a couple more individuals around, but she refrained from asking what they were doing because she assumed they were making out or doing something else.

She really didn't want to know, but unbeknownst to her it was actually Sarah Cameron and her boyfriend Topper. Sarah, Kiara and Melanie were best friends since they were kids but Kie had fallen out of the friendship which also meant that she hated Sarah — Melanie didn't know why, but she was torn between the two.

"MELANIE! IS THAT YOU?" yelled a voice from behind Melanie who turned and looked towards the source. She smiled and got up from her seat.

"SARAH! Hey! How are you?" said Melanie as she walked towards Sarah who was running towards her, as they met halfway— Sarah threw her arms around Melnaie in a tight friendly hug. To be honest Melanie had missed Sarah a lot since she was a good support for her. Topper was still standing next to his girlfriend even though it wasn't as awkward as before.

The sound of the waves were now a far away sound as Melanie could only hear Sarah's breathing in her ear, she was still hugging the girl. They had missed each other too much for a quick hug, Melanie could swear she could feel some tears starting to appear in her eyes and Sarah's. "Hey, hey, I'm here Sarah," comforted Melanie as Sarah sniffed and said, "I know, I am really just...just glad your back."

Sarah laughed out in a breathy voice, making it as if she was out of breath from crying too much or laughing too much, Melanie couldn't tell. Melanie took a step back to get a good look at Sarah who wiped her tears with her hands, "Look at you, Sarah!" said Melanie.

"You look so good!" she added. Sarah laughed and shook her head as she exclaimed, "Have you seen yourself, you look gorgeous Mel!"

"Hey Melanie!" said Topper as Melanie moved to greet him. "How are you Top?" asked Melanie as the two hug and as the three of them start to move so that they are sat on the logs.

The two girls laughed while Topper went to get them drinks and started talking, as time moved on, the night got colder but unbeknownst to them the night was going to get way more exciting or maybe dangerous was a more proper word to describe the actions that were going to start a whole new chapter of Melanie's life again...

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❪ ៸ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ━━━━━ ! ﹆◞ ❫
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❪ . . . the forth chapter everyone! a bit shorter than the others at only 2.1k but enjoy!!! ❫
❪ . . . I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! NEXT CHAPTER IS GONNA HAVE A BIT OF FLUFF HEHE <33❫
❪ . . . PLEASE tell me how you guys feel about it ??❫
❪ . . .PLEASE don't be a ghost reader, comment and vote, I love to reply to everyone and interact with my readers, love all of you darlings <33 ❫
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