"MOM, I AM NOT GOING TO MIDSUMMERS WITH RAFE."  Bree must have told her mother that ten times in the days leading up to the event, but the woman did not seem to understand. 

Midsummers was this annual summer party that every single Kook was invited to. Everybody who was anybody was going to be there, and there were no Pogues allowed. It was literally the definition of Kooklandia, and it might be one of the worst things in the world. Bree will admit, she had fun in past years, but with all of the drama this year, it was going to be pretty bad.

"Why not?" Allison questioned. "You two were so cute."

The brunette girl sighed, running a hand through her hair before leaning back in her seat at the kitchen counter to look up at her mother frustratedly. "But we broke up."

"And you still won't tell me why," the older Callaway responded, propping herself up with one of her arms.

"He's a jerk," Bree answered, and it was not a complete lie because that was why she ultimately broke up with him, not just because he hit her with a golf club. The bruise was almost completely healed, so she would easily be able to cover it with makeup for Midsummers. "That's why."

Allison raised her eyebrows at her daughter, a little worried. She wasn't an idiot, and they both knew that. She knew that something else happened between the couple. "You wanna be a little more specific than that?"

"Nope, I'm good," the younger female replied, picking up an apple from the basket next to her and taking a chunk out of it in an attempt to get her mother to take the hint that she didn't want to talk about that.

The woman sighed, "You know, when your father and I were your age, we went through many off-and-on phases."

"Yeah, and how did that work out for you?" Bree spat out, but she regretted it immediately when she saw her mom's face fall. It was a low blow, and she knew it. They both hated it when either of them brought up her father. She apologized quickly, "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean it."

Allison exhaled before nodding and looking her daughter in the eye. "I know. Just promise me that you'll have fun tonight and not be miserable the entire time."

"I'll try," the girl replied with an overdramatic sigh. As long as she had Kie, she knew she would be all right, and she also heard that Heyward and Pope were catering.

"Thank you," her mother said with a smile before straightening up and pointing at the girl. She ordered, "Now, go get your dress and everything you need. I want you to have enough time to get ready at Kie's."

"Will do."

She got to Kie's to get ready, and she was doing her hair at the desk as the Carrera girl was staring at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a light purple dress, and her hair was pulled up with a flower crown. "This is disgusting."

"I know. It's horrible," Kie's mom called sarcastically from the other room. "I'm asking you to relax and go to a fun party."

"I look like a bourgeoisie pig," the raven-haired girl responded in disgust, turning around as her mother entered the room and walked past her. 

The Callaway girl disagreed strongly. "I think you look great, Kie."

"Right?" Anna said, looking at her daughter's friend with a smile before turning back to Kie. "Now, will you please not worry about socioeconomic injustice for one night?"

"Mom, people not three miles from here have no power, no running water, and we're going to Midsummers. That's so tone-deaf," the girl explained to the woman who was putting her earrings in.

Anna sighed, "Do you know how hard we had to work to get into the Island Club?"

"Yeah, Mom," Kie groaned, rolling her eyes as her mother walked into the kitchen once again. "How could I forget? You had to grovel for, like, ten years—"

"Twelve, and we also had to cough up a huge chunk of dough, and do you know why we did that?" the Carrera woman asked the girl.

After a moment, the younger female guessed, "To keep up with the Joneses?" Bree snorted from where she was sitting and almost dropped the bobby pin in her hand.

"No. So you could have the same experiences that I had as a child," Anna responded, looking at her daughter from the doorway with her hands on her hips matter-of-factly. She took a step forward. "Honey, do you even know what the Island Club is?"

"A factory farm for debutantes," Kie answered.

The Carrera woman reached up to cup her face. "It is a nice place, with nice people, where you can do fun stuff."

"With out-of-touch rich people — no offense, Bree — while the island sinks slowly into the ocean," the raven-haired girl added.

Bree waved her off right after she finished her hair and stood up.  "None taken."

Her dress was a light green color, and it flowed all the way down to her ankles. Her shoes were silver to match the jewelry she was wearing, and the green flowers braided into her hair in intricate patterns went nicely with her dress.

"Okay, I want you to put on your party face, Kie, if you wanna live," Anna threatened playfully, and then she walked out of the room, but not before she glanced at the Callaway girl. "You look lovely, Bree."

Once they arrived at the event, the two smiled when they noticed Pope working the barbecue, and they walked over to him. Kie glanced at the oysters and spoke up in a British accent, "Excuse me, sir. Do we have to shuck these ourselves?"

"Because it might mess up our costumes," Bree added, following along with the accent. Pope turned around, ready to be annoyed, but then he chuckled when he saw that it was them.

"We wouldn't want that, now would we?" he questioned jokingly before moving to give Kie a handshake, and they all turned around to look at the party. "Those accents were bad."

The Carrera girl smiled in agreement. "Yeah, they were. I was gonna let it go. You ever seen this many Kooks in one place?"

"Yeah. Last year," Pope answered.

The brunette girl just exhaled, her eyes scanning the crowds of people in blazers and dresses. "And it's early, so this isn't even half the people."

"We're in the lion's den," Kie announced, and Bree followed her gaze to where Topper and Kelce were standing and talking to each other about something that was probably stupid and boring.

"Exactly." The Heyward boy nodded, before looking to the two girls with raised and nervous eyebrows. "Hey, have either of you heard from JJ?"

The Callaway girl shook her head, and the raven-haired girl replied, "No. He'll be all right. He's got the survival instincts of a cockroach."

"It's all my fault," Pope sighed.

Bree turned to him with confused and furrowed eyebrows and shook her head. "Uh, you didn't do this, Pope. Topper almost killed you, remember?"

"Here come Lord Capital and the Exploiters," Kie muttered, and they all looked up just in time to watch the five Camerons walk out onto the balcony dramatically.

This was going to be a long night.