Bali stared at her empty word document, frowning as she tried to type but couldn't find the inspiration she once had.

"God, i'm sorry, Bal. That really sucks." Kie said as she sat on her bed, "You've been working on that a while."

"Maybe it was a sign, you know?" Bali asked with a shrug of her shoulders and a long sigh, "Like, one in ten writers actually get their books published. Less then that get them in book stores and can make money off of them."

"Don't say that." Kie said back with a frown.

"Why? It's true." Bali said back to her, "It was a stupid dream in the first place."

Kie crossed her legs as she looked over at the clock, "You're coming tonight, aren't you?"

"Have to, my parents are making me. For someone who's on house arrested, they really don't mind stringing me along to talk about the same things over and over." Bali said with a tight lipped smile and a shrug, "Have you heard from JJ?"

"No, not since they brought him in." Kie said back, "You worried?"

"He's my friend now, you know." Bali made the excuse quickly, "So are you, and Pope, and John B."

Kie gave her a smile, "What about Sarah?"

"I think she's having one of those things were she pushes me away for a while. We got really mushy and soft a few days before she dipped." Bali said back as she fell back on her pillows, "I just feel like-"

She stopped herself.

"You can say it, you know? Everyone knows." Kie said bluntly.

"I just feel like i'm in her shadow so much." Bali said as she shut her eyes, "I'm so tired of feeling like a side character in my own book. That's not her fault, but it's how I feel."

Kie understood her, and it made her sad, "You aren't a side character, okay? You're so much better then the rest of those stupid Kooks we're both apart of by default."

"I fucking hate having to pretend i'm like them, Kie, I feel like i'm going crazy." Bali said as she sat up. Her face was in distress and she looked as if she was seconds away from having her head explode, "I feel like i'm not even living, like i'm just existing in some time period no one is gonna remember me by and i'm just wasting my days in a boring life i'll look back on and think wasn't worth it."

Kie stood up and pulled her with her, "Then change your story. Don't you have a plot twist in there somewhere?"

"What if my plot twist ends with my family being ruined and my parents hating me?" Bali asked her, squeezing her hands tightly.

"You can't ruin your family by living." Kie corrected her, "You'll just have to make them see that."

"You look handsome, Pope." Bali compliment the boy later that evening at Midsummers, "Can I take a picture of you?"

"Sure." Pope said as Bali held up her camera, "Should I smile?"

"Yeah, and hold up that sausage link." Bali said as Pope did so, making her snap the picture before they laughed over it, "I didn't know you took pictures."

"What? Do you think I just know coordinates and how to distract people?" Bali asked with a snort, "I'm offended."

"Let me see." Pope encourage her, watching as Bali clicking through the picture of the sunsets she took over the last few days and some of Sarah, "These are really good, Bali, when did you start taking pictures?"

"I don't know, sophomore year, I think." she said back with a shrug of her shoulders, "My dad had me take pictures of our old house when we put it on the market a few years ago. I guess it just stuck since then."

"Yeah, I heard you had a bit of a fight with your parents." Pope said with a slightly guilty looking, "Sorry we got you in trouble."

"You didn't." Bali shook her head as the flower crown tilted some, "I was trying to protect JJ and it back fired on me."

"Have you heard from him?" Pope asked hopefully.

"Last thing I heard was he was still at the station." the pretty girl said back with a frown. She looked over and saw Sarah waving at her, "I'll come back and talk to you soon, okay?"

"I'll be here." Pope said, waving the fork at her.

Bali walked up the small hill and met the blonde at the top. Sarah smiled as she hugged her, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in, like, forever."

"You mean after you left me at Toppers party?" Bali asked, having a rush of confidence from her talk with Kie earlier, "I've been around, trying to do something with my life."

Sarah sensed her hostile words and gave a frowned of her eyebrows, "Are you mad at me? I'm sorry for Toppers party, we went up to the roof and-"

"I'm not mad at you for Toppers party." Bali cut her off, though that was a lie, "You're my best friend, you've always been my best friend. And it's not your fault but I'm trying to not be such a shadow anymore."

"A shadow? You aren't a-" Sarah began.

"Yes, I am." Bali cut her off, "I'm a shadow because when you're with me i actually do something but then when you're gone, I have nothing to do with my life. No one actually sees me unless we are together. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be known as just Sarah Cameron's best friend."

Sarah blinked at her, "Why didn't you say anything to me before?"

Bali shrugged her shoulders. Sarah reached for her hands with a sigh, "I know i've been MIA the last few days, and i'm sorry. But I have a good reason, and I really want to share it with my best friend, who isn't a stupid shadow, by the way."

Bali couldn't help but smile, accepting her hand as they hurried off toward one of the empty rooms in the country club.

"Holy shit. John B. A pogue." Bali said after Sarah told her everything, "And you know about the gold? And all the crazy shit they've been doing?"

"And about you being a boss lady and protecting their asses? Absolutely." Sarah gushed as she crossed her legs and looked over at Bali, "Were you gonna tell me?"

"No." Bali said honestly, "Sorry."

Sarah snorted at her words, "Nice sugarcoating."

"So, did you break up with Topper yet?" Bali asked. Sarah gave an embarrassed look, making Bali give one back, "Sarah, seriously?"

"I'm going to. My dad just wants me to wait under after this stupid thing." Sarah explained, referring to midsummers.

"Fuck your dad, deny deny deny." Bali said suddenly. Sarah gapped at her, "Sorry, I don't know where that came from."

Sarah laughed at her, "What have you done with Bali?"

They laughed together before Sarah looked at the time, "I gotta get back down there before Rose throws a fit."

"I saw her crown... what is going on there?" Bali asked with a snort.

"Don't ask me." Sarah laughed, "Okay, i'm gonna walk out first and then you come down five minutes later so it doesn't look like we were snooping and stealing stuff."

"Okay, go on." Bali nodded, looking at the time and making sure to head down five minutes after Sarah left.

Two minutes passed and Bali was applying a new layer of a light rose lipstick that she stuck in her bra. The door opened, Bali's eyes snapped up as they widened. She turned and found the blonde she adored so much, "JJ, did you-"

She was cut off by him hurrying to grab her face and press his lips into hers. Bali kissed him back immediately, dropping her lipstick down onto the carpet and staining it on the process. She rubbed JJ's back before she pulled back, "Did your dad bail you out?"

"Yeah, and John B has a plan, and you're a big part of it, okay?" JJ asked before kissing her again. Bali pulled back, "What? What is it?"

"Your face." Bali said as she looked at the three bruises and three cuts to go along with it, "Your dad?"

"Yeah, it's okay, doesn't hurt." he reassured with a shake of his head and a smile, pulling her delicate fingers away from his bruises, "It's all good."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked while his his hands, sad eyes, "I'm right here, you can tell me anything."

"No, I wanna talk about how good you look." he shook his head and smiled down at her, making her face flush.

Bali leaned in and kissed him again. JJ grinned and pulled her closer, his hands feeling the silk of her green dress. He pulled back to press hot peaks to her neck, "You look so pretty, Bal."

JJ pulled the thin straps down her shoulders and kissed the base of her collar bones, coming around to her shoulder again and then getting lower and lower, kissing her abdomen through the thin layer of the dress.

"JJ, we're on Kook grounds." Bali said breathy like, her hands in his hair.

"Wanna stop?" he asked her, dropping down to his knees as his hands traced her calves, going up to just above her knee before coming back down.

"No." Bali said back, "Keep going."

He grinned up and her and encouraged her to hold her dress up for him.

"Bali, where have you been? We wanted you to meet some friends." Cassandra said as she finally found her daughter walking from upstairs, "What were you doing up there?"

"Long line for the bathroom." she said. Cassandra whipped the smeared lipstick off her mouth with a sigh, "I was putting on lipstick without a mirror."

"Is that so?" her mother asked back in disbelief.

"Totally." Bali said back with a forced smile.

"I can walk myself, man!" the familiar voice echoed through the area, making Bali and her mother both look over.

"Already?" Bali asked in disbelief, just leaving JJ not even five minutes ago.

"I got legs, can you see that, brother? I really appreciate what you did back there." JJ said as he looked back at the man who'd been escorting him.

"Is that the boy from the hotel?" Cassandra asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." Bali said, a grin on her face.

"He's so getting fired." Cassandra said with a gapping look when he took a drink from a older mans hands and downed it.

"It's okay, everybody! Do not panic. Leave it to the men and woman in uniform. Lets hear it for them." JJ clapped his hands as he was being pulled. Bali gave a loud whoop into the air as her mother scolded her quickly, "Rose! You look like Lady Liberty."

"Oh my god." Cassandra said in disbelief, "Does this kid have no manors?"

"Depends in what scenario." Bali said honestly as she smiled at JJ when he caught her eye.

"Let go of him!" Kie yelled out from the porch, being scolded by her parents quickly, "You can't just boot him."

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Daryl, the man pulling JJ, asked as he looked back at her.

"I invited him here. I'm a member of this club." Kie defended JJ before he pushed Daryl back and began running.

JJ spun around and was running backwards, he pointed to Bali, "Midnight! Lovers Creek!"

"Is he talking to you?" Cassandra asked her daughter with wide eyes.

"No, no, I think he's talking to Rafe." Bali shook her head as she looked at the Cameron boy behind her, hiding her smile.

"Kie, cmon. Workers of the world unite!" JJ hollered out as he snapped his fingers at her then the same to Pope. Bali watched with amazement in her eyes and a smile on her face when Kie took off after him, John B cheering for her deeper down the land. Pope pulled his apron off and was sprinting after his friends.

"They're living." Bali said out loud with inspired eyes.

"Some friends you've got there." Conner said as he slapped Bali's shoulder, "Whats mommy and daddy think about that one?"

Bali threw her drink in his face suddenly, bringing her parents attention onto her in disbelief, "Not sure, but I know what they think about you, at least."

•

kylie speaks

meow! i dig, i
dig!

MISS KYLIE, IM
GONNA NEED A
REAL HUG
BETWEEN THEM REAL
SOON!