CRUEL SUMMER
011 | blue ridge

" HUNGOVER?"

a voice asks, making Renee to lift her head off of the table. She exhaled as she noticed the class room begin to fill up, Jaylee included as she placed her bag on top of the desk.

A sweet smile on her face as she Renee acknowledged it was her and smiled back

" just a genuinely horrible night, the quarter bottle of vodka I drank didn't really help."

The smiles, sitting down and tilts her head to look at me " wanna talk about it?" she hums.

She doesn't pry like others would, doesn't force Renee to answer but instead asks, a courtesy she isn't granted often.

The blonde exhales " nah, I'm all good."

Jaylee hums, trying not to look slightly deflated as Renee watches as she sits down.

The phone buzzes in her pocket buzzes. Renee picks the phone up and opens the message that makes whatever makeshift smile was beforehand on her face fall off.

contact: fletch

fletch
talk?

Renee looks up, noticing the brunette looking at her from across the room, his body rotated so he is facing her and not the girl who is hopelessly waiting for him to pay attention to her. he looks guilt ridden as he should do.

renee
I think you did enough of that last night

fletch
I'm sorry

fletch
& I'm not even going to blame it on the drinks

renee
owning up to your own stupidity? is it doomsday?

Renee's head lifts at the deep laugh that exits his mouth as she presumes he reads it. It's a sweet sound, enough to make her smile despite her lingering annoyance for Fletcher.

fletch
as much as I dislike your boyfriend, I shouldn't be hassling to you about it.

fletch
it's not fair and for that I apologise

fletch
I'm sure he's nice enough

renee
thank you

renee
for that heartwarming apology and for the necklace, even though I didn't take it.

fletch
I'm sure it'll look good on you

renee
flattery will get you nowhere mr Fletcher

fletch
...worth the try

one final smile from one another before she locked her phone and placed it back in her bag.

" CHARLESTON?" Renee asked slightly louder than she anticipated. hiding herself behind a pillar outside of the of the school buildings, her phone pushed to her cheek as she spoke to JJ over the phone " JJ I can't just go to Charleston."

Her eyes scanning for any sign of student or facility that would most likely reprimand her for being on her phone during class hours or the fact she was skipping her class in order to have this phone call.

The conversation was about what Renee had been missing out on due to her different schooling location to her friends. The current highlights being: Pope getting a letter, the letter claiming that they could help clear John B's name and an appointment to meet him that evening: a place eight hours away.

" babe, come on." JJ exhaled, trying to reason with her  " this could be it." he informed her — Renee's head tilted back until it collided with the stone pillar. Shifting her focus to the blue sky above her, her eyes momentarily squeezing shut with her teeth tethered into her lip, it hurt yet Renee kept applying the pressure.

As much as she wanted to ask the forbidden question of 'can I sit this one out' she knew she couldn't.

Despite the events that unfolded over the last couple days that had quite frankly put her off the whole investigation into proving what she already knew: that John B was innocent.

But she couldn't. Because she knew if it were her hauled up in the Bahamas on the run wrongly accused of murder , that they would look for her and wouldn't stop until they had. John B would single-handedly put his life on the line if it meant getting her back.

Renee exhaled, taking in a shaky breath before speaking again, " we're gonna have to make something up to tell my mom." she said, admitting slight defeat to herself, " you know as well as I do that she won't let me leave the island without a valid reason."

She can hear JJ's chuckle " don't worry, I'll handle Caroline." his remark is something he would hear distant laughter for but as JJ stands in the boys bathroom in Kildare community high school, it's radio silence.

" hey," he speaks again " you ok Ren?" his voice is concerned. The girl fakes a small chuckle as she feels her free hand toying with one of her earrings. Although the smile that accompanies it is not genuine.

Renee is not ok. Her head is a minefield of spiralling thoughts — she thought that the revelation of John B and Sarah's being alive would have stopped it all, but if anything the pressure that is lying on her shoulders to bring them home and clear their name is one that is only making things worse.

" yeah, I'm fine blondie." she answers, and she can tell from across the phone that her boyfriend doesn't believe her, but he hums. " pick you up after school ok?"

Renee hums in reply, heading a faint " love you" from JJ to which she feels the ache in her heart subside momentarily.

" love you too blondie." she tells him before the line goes dead. and the facade slips off of her face and her breath is heavy again. The weight is back on her shoulders.

But once Sarah and John B return home it will all be ok again,

won't it?

" A SPONTANEOUS BIRTHDAY TRIP."

Renee repeated the words JJ had told her to say, walking down the steps and into the living area where Lennon sat unfazed scrolling on his phone whilst Caroline stood with her arms folded, staring down her daughter.

" where to?" she asked, the girl shrugging in reply "it's a surprise apparently." lies one again slipped off of her tongue.

Sitting down her bag on the counter top before raiding the cupboards for some snacks not knowing exactly how long the ride was going to be and couldn't be bothered to deal with hangry teenagers.

" and why did I know nothing about this?" Caroline continued to interrogate her daughter who shrugged.

" mom I didn't know until like this morning." she countered with a small laugh " but it'll be fine, it's only for the night. "

contact: blondie 💌

blondie💌
things really kicking off at the carerra's

blondie💌
how long you gon be?

" JJ?" she asks, noticing her daughters flickering attention. Renee nods " he wants to know how long I'll be"

pretty girl
she's sat me down for a 'talk'

pretty girl
what the odds it's the birds and the bees?

blondie💌
far too late for that one

blondie💌
birds and the bees became acquainted a long time ago

Renee let's out a snort of laughter which makes Caroline snatch the phone out of her hands " I need your attention!" she tells her daughter before placing the phone face down on the table.

Renee sighed, crossing her arms as she looked at her mom who seemed on the verge of something, she was clearly nervous. Only making Renee more skeptical.

" I've been thinking." Caroline exhaled, head bowing slightly as she wiped her hands over her hair "god-I don't know how to say this."

Renee's eyebrows furrowed, sitting up slightly  "mom you're scaring me-"

" well, I've been speaking to the Carreras." She informed her daughter, Renee humming " about you and Kiara."

" what about me and kie?" The girl questioned, Caroline's eyes filled with guilt, lips parted but not able to speak yet.

" we're worried." Renee was told, Caroline exhaling again " and, we've spoken to officer shoupe he's concerned about you guys also."

Renee's face scrunched up with confusion " why have you been talking to shoupe mom?" she questioned.

Caroline palmed her hands over her face " Renee, I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through this summer." Renee felt her breath hitch " but you can't go around claiming that Ward Cameron is killing people in the middle of the night at his construction sight."

" you're coming and going whenever you please Renee." she told her " ok, some times you don't even get in until midnight, and your boyfriend is always sneaking in through the window."

" but I still come back?" she countered her mom who shook her head. " I'm always here in the morning isn't that what matters?"

" that's not the point Renee." she exhaled " after everything that has happened in the last couple months I'm worried about you, your brother is worried about you."

Lennon exhaled " I told you to leave me out of this." he spoke from the couch. Renee's eyes looking to her older brother who was still looking at his phone.

" your best friend was accused of murder, and I honestly can't remember what you were doing at all in the summer, but I know you were with them — those pogues." she spoke up, ignoring her sons comment " you came through the patio door bleeding, and you run away all the time, at midsummers, from me proclaiming that you were going to save John B."

" mom-" Renee tried to intervene although she was cut off bluntly by a ' I'm not finished' from a stern Caroline Lowe.

" I am not dealing with this shit anymore, as long as your under my roof Renee." she told her, reaching over to pull out a small brochure out of the drawer and slide over the table.

For a moment or two, Renee just looked at it. Caroline holding a stern a gaze with her youngest child before urging her to look at it.

" what the hell is this?" Renee scoffed as she picked  the small brochure up and held it in her hands, " Blue Ridge, a disciplinary boarding school?" she repeated the words that say on the front.

" mom, what the actual hell?" she asked again, Caroline exhaling " it's for the best Renee, it'll get you out of here you can start new."

" no it's not for the best!" she shouted " I am going through stuff, I need people to rely on and your first instinct is to ship me off to some other school and remove me from my friends, my family, my boyfriend."

pushing her feet against the floor, Renee stood up her head shaking " mom this is bullshit, I am not going to some stupid boarding school." she stated picking up her backpack and phone — beginning to walk towards the front door.

Before Caroline called at her from the opposite side of the house.

" you might be seventeen tomorrow and you may go around acting like you're adult but you're still a child!" Caroline told her daughter " and as long as you're in the house, on this island I am in charge of you and if I want you to go to this place then you will be going!"

Renee scoffed, turning again and marching towards the older woman " dad would never do this to me, he wanted to be there for his kids— he would want  to help us himself." she watched as the tears filled her mothers eyes but the remorse was yet to fill Renee at the sight

" not pay other people to do it for him."

AUTHORS NOTE
quick side note, can we just pretend that popes truck can fit 4 people ( + a dog) in it just for convenience in the next couple chapters. thanks