WHEN BREE GOT TO HER HOUSE, SHE ALMOST TURNED RIGHT BACK AROUND. Rafe was sitting on her front porch, bouncing his foot when she climbed out of her car. She didn't even notice he was there until she looked up, and then she wished she had stayed with Pope and JJ when they asked if she wanted to.

He stood up when he saw her, walking toward her as she got ready to push past him. "Bree—"

"What the hell are you doing here?" she questioned angrily, not looking him in the eye when she reached down to pull the keys out of her pocket.

"Please, just let me explain," he pleaded, stepping in front of her so that she couldn't pass, causing her to finally glare up at him. "I am so sorry. It was an accident."

She was so close to punching him in the face it wasn't even funny. "I'm gonna say this one time. Get the fuck out of here."

"I didn't mean it. I need you to know that," he told her, and she fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'm not breaking up with you because you hit me!" she yelled at him, gesturing to her eye. "I'm breaking up with you because you're an asshole that keeps hurting my friends."

He scoffed loudly. "Those people are your friends?"

"Yes, they are," she replied, her eyebrows raised, daring him to argue with her more. She thought back to the times they had when he was so sweet and acted like a gentlemen around her no matter how much of a jackass he was to other people. Did she miss those times? Yes. Would she go back to them? No.

"They're Pogues, Bree," he insisted like she hadn't known that fact before and him stating it would just suddenly change her mind, and she would just go running back to him. "They won't let you live up to your true potential. They're holding you back."

Her eyes widened in amazement when he said that. "If we're judging each other by the company we keep, that's a fight you're not going to win."

"You can do better," he informed her as if he was this 'better.'

"Rafe, get it through your thick skull," she told him, taking a step closer so that she could make sure he heard her low but stern voice. She was so done with him. "We're done, over, however you want to put it, but whatever you do, get the fuck off my lawn."

His expression dropped completely as he began backing up. "Fine, but don't come running back to me when they ruin your future or get you killed." He was almost to the road when she spun back around, facing her house, opening the door, and yelling an answer back at him.

"I won't." Then the door slammed shut.

《✵》

"I'M SO GLAD THAT THEY'RE STILL DOING THIS."  Bree, Kie, JJ, and Pope were walking into a outdoor movie, and the two boys were seriously on edge. John B had been awol ever since they found the Royal Merchant boat, and they just assumed he was wallowing somewhere. Kie smiled. "Keep calm. Carry on. Back to the OBX life. You know? Aren't you guys glad I made you come?"

"Ecstatic," Pope muttered sarcastically, causing Bree to shoot him a glare. If they really didn't want anyone to know about the boat sinking, then maybe they should act more normal.

JJ sighed, "My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest." Then, he and Pope went off into their own little whispering conversation while the girls set up the chairs on the lawn in front of the screen.

"What's up with them?" the Carrera girl questioned, glancing between the pair and Bree, who just shrugged. "I'm gonna go get us some drinks. Keep an eye on them."

"Aye, aye, Captain," the Callaway girl told her before sending her a playful salute as she walked toward the concession stand.

Just as she left, the Maybank boy muttered, "Shut up, Pope."

"Can you two be a little more obvious?" the brunette girl asked the boys, whipping her head around to face them, and they just settled into their seats quietly.

After a moment, Kie came back with two Pepsis in her hand. She handed one over to the boys to share while her and Bree would share one. "Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did.' What is that?"

"Um..." JJ trailed off as he and Pope glanced at each other nervously, and the Callaway girl fought off the urge to groan in annoyance. "Where is he?"

"Right there," Kie informed them, and they all spun around in their chairs to see Rafe, Topper, and Kelce standing in the crowd behind them with drinks in their hands and smirks on their faces.

Pope muttered, "Great, it's the whole death squad. Ah!"

"Don't stare, bro," the blonde boy ordered him, grabbing his head and twisting it around to face the front again and causing the Heyward boy to yelp. "Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slicin' and dicin'. I'm on edge right now."

"Yeah, yeah," the other boy replied as Kie stared at them in confusion, and Bree just wanted to find a wall somewhere and hit her head against it repetitively. 

Then, JJ held up his bag and shook it, indicating to all of them that his gun was in there, and realization was slowly appearing on the Carrera girl's face. "If that doesn't work, I got this right here."

"Yeah, yeah," Pope nodded. "So, we just gotta stay in the group."

"Like a school of fish," the Maybank boy added, and Bree rolled her eyes at how nervous and stupid they were being. That behavior would definitely get them caught for sure.

The Heyward boy began to rock in his seat, and if the brunette girl didn't know any better, she would think that he was losing his mind. "Stay in the school. Can't leave the school."

"I'm sorry, JJ..." Kie spoke up while Pope kept to his muttering, and she looked up at the blonde boy with an angry but hopeful expression. "Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids."

"No! Kie, I didn't bring the gun, all right? Everything's fine, okay?" JJ assured her, but none of it was very believable, and they all knew it.

"Wow, thank you. That's really convincing. I love that, JJ," the raven-haired girl responded sarcastically before sighing. "Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?"

The Callaway girl told her, "They did something stupid."

"When do they not?" the Carrera girl asked, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration as she looked between the two boys in front of her with raised eyebrows.

"Thank you for that," the Heyward boy said to Bree before turning to Kie and putting a hand on her shoulder like he was about to tell her that someone died. "Kie, it might go down tonight."

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and worry. "What does that mean? 'Might go down tonight.' What did y'all do?"

"Deny, deny, deny," was all JJ mouthed to Pope.

It was about halfway through the movie when one of them spoke again, and it was the Heyward boy. He leaned over to JJ and whispered, "Gotta take a piss."

"Hold it," the blonde boy responded simply.

"I can't hold it," Pope insisted, and Bree, who had her head resting on Kie's shoulder, sat straight up to listen into what they were saying. "I drank too much soda."

JJ explained, "It's too exposed. They'll totally see us." Then, they both turned around to see where the Kook boys were to make sure the coast was clear. It was not.

"They're blocking the bathrooms," Pope pointed out in shock.

After a moment of looking around, the Maybank boy began to stand up, ducking so that he didn't block the screen too much for the people behind them. "Come here. I know where."

"Where are y'all going?" the Callaway girl questioned, catching Kie's attention when Pope followed him.

The blonde boy answered as they both turned back to the two girls. "We gotta wring it out."

"You gonna hold it for each other?" the Carrera girl questioned in disgust, but neither of them gave an answer as they maneuvered past the rows of people and crept off behind the screen.

The girls went back to watching the movie, but after a minute, Bree got worried when they didn't come back. She turned around in her seat to make sure that Topper and company were still there, but her eyes widened when they weren't. "Shit."

"What?" Kie asked in a low voice.

The brunette girl just groaned before getting up as well, and Kie had no choice but to follow her, not wanting to be left alone. They snuck to behind the screen and gasped when they saw Topper and Pope fighting and Kelce holding JJ while Rafe threw punches at him.

"Let go of him, Topper!" the raven-haired girl explained, rushing over to them and hitting the Thornton boy with JJ's backpack. "Fascist asshole!"

While Kie dealt with Topper, Bree raced over to Rafe and kicked him hard in the side. Without the Cameron boy hitting him, JJ was able to elbow Kelce in the ribs so that he would let go of him. Rafe then got up and turned around, grabbing Kie from off of Topper's back and throwing her to the ground roughly while yelling, "Stay out of this, Kiara!"

"Kie, you okay?" Pope exclaimed, but the blonde Kook had his arm around his neck in no time. Bree couldn't focus on that because a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground.

A chill ran down her spine when a cold voice spoke in her ear. "This is what you get for breaking up with me."

"Let the fuck go of her," JJ demanded, breaking away from Kelce and diving into Rafe, causing all three of them to tumble down onto the grass. The two boys began fighting, and Bree got up to help the blonde. However, Kelce grabbed her and held her back.

Rafe, talking to Topper who had Pope in his arms, ordered, "Finish him off, Top!"

They didn't have much time to do anything though because all of a sudden, the screen went up in flames. Gasps were heard from the other side as people watching the movie noticed it.

"Guys!" the Cameron boy yelled to his friends, causing them to release the Pogues. "Fire!"

"Get off of him! Kelce, let go of JJ!" Kie shouted at the Kook, and they did what she said before running off somewhere.

Pope and JJ were left coughing, and Bree rushed over to JJ while Kie did the same with the other boy. "Oh, my God. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," the blonde boy breathed out, looking up at her with a relieved grin as blood dripped into his mouth. What shocked both of them was when she pulled him into a hug. After he got rid of the initial shock, his arms wrapped around her torso. 

"Yeah, I'm great."