𝐓 𝐇 𝐑 𝐄 𝐄
who owns who?

"Jeez, man. This is nuts." Topper voiced, aiming towards the broken powerline strung across a two story house in Figure Eight, its boat tipped upside down just feet away.

Meredith had decided to tag along with her friends and Rafe when they asked if she would like to hang out. Albeit her displeasing towards Topper at the moment, she decided to ignore it for the time being.

She also chose to ignore her hatred towards Rafe for the day. Water bottle in hand, Meredith walked beside Kelce, head tilting up to view the destruction Agatha caused just nights before.

"Agatha's a bitch." She muttered, sliding her vintage retro sunglasses onto the top of her head, curly hair falling in pieces at the sides of her face.

"Damn right, she is." Kelce chuckled from beside her, mouth agape in slight amusement at the view. A tree had fallen close to the house, although, not close enough to cause severe damage.

"I mean, I just - I can't get it out of my head." Topper switched topics, forcing the others to fall silent and listen.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Topper was still beyond pissed over being held at gun point, but Meredith couldn't disagree when he constantly reminded them that Pogues were no good.

They are trash. And they know how to fuck everything good up.

Because she believed that, Meredith so desperately tried to forget the foreign feeling that appeared when she watched the group hopelessly cry for John B. Why did her stomach churn at the thought?

"It's just on repeat. 'Your move, broski'."  Topper scoffed, and so did Meredith.

"Bro, he had a semiautomatic pointed at your head." Kelce sympathized, his turn to voice his opinion.

"That's what I'm saying," Topper conceded. "It's insane."

"Safety off." Meredith reminded, taking a swig from her water bottle.

"That Pogue." Kelce sighed, shaking his head in annoyance.

"They're fucking Pogues, man." Rafe seethed, looking out into the distance with squinted eyes. As much as she loathed the Cameron son, she had to agree with him.

Time and time again, the derelicts have proved to not just themselves, but to everyone else that they were worth nothing but south side trash. No matter how badly they wanted something, their actions managed to mess it all up.

That's who they were. Meredith would never change her mind.

"You know you should get a piece." Rafe suggested, but only caused confusion between the others.

"What do you mean?" The Thornton son's eyebrows drew together, clearly perplexed.

"You gotta fight fire with fire and defend the homestead." He shrugged, implying that it was so simple. "Right?

"Yeah." Topper nodded.

"Better than being caught without one." Kelce reasoned, referring to the gun.

"Listen, guys." Topper halted, forcing the others to do the same. "I-I'm gonna get him back, all right? I'm making it a little project of mine."

"It hasn't even been twenty-four hours, Top." Meredith muttered, incertitude laced in her tone.

"Hey, no, that's not the point, Mer." Kelce smiled, shaking his head.

"Yeah, you should." Rafe babbled, chuckling humorously, returning to the topic at hand.

"Yo, that's Sarah." Kelce spoke out loud, pulling the three out of their conversation to take further actions. Dreadfully, Meredith's ebony eyes followed the direction he pointed to see Sarah kneeling down in front of a little girl.

Her blonde hair was in two little pigtails, and her face was contorted into one of misery.

Sarah, on the other hand, looked determined, slowly standing, hands still clutched onto the little girl's.

Unaware of the conversation the two seemed to be having, the four teenagers (besides Rafe), watched as Sarah cautiously sauntered towards a wreckled boat, electrical wires strewn across the boat's floor.

"What's she doing?" Topper mumbled underneath his breath, leaning towards Meredith.

"I don't know, let's not stay to find out." Meredith pursed her lips, linking her arm with the boy to turn around, but his feet stood planted.

"Meredith, just wait." He halted, insinuating that he was worried for his girlfriend. She, on the otherhand, couldn't care less.

"Watch her fall and make a big deal out of it." Rafe rolled his eyes, a clear distaste for his sister, a mutual feeling he and Meredith shared -which wasn't often.

Arms out in preparation to catch herself, Sarah crept towards the boat, tiptoeing on a fallen pole, using it as a beam.

"Hey, there's 14,000 volts in those wires!" Rose shouted from the distance, arms crossed tightly.

"Hey, Sarah, be careful!" Topper shouted coherently towards his girlfriend, who swayed forwards, frantically going to catch herself.

Meredith's eyes rolled sassily, by no means interested in sticking around to find out if Sarah makes it out alive or if she tragically electrocutes her bitchy behavior out of herself.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Rose scoffed, tugging her sunglasses off. "Sarah, get down now!"

"Rose, calm down. I'm an athlete." Sarah shouted back, the wide grin on her lips signaling her abutment towards making her step-mother aggravated. "I got this."

Meredith sighed deeply. The only athletic ability she has is jumping from guy to guy, the sable haired girl pondered.

"You're gonna get electrocuted! Get down!" Rose raised her voice, seething.

But, that only motivated the blonde teen more. So, she crept to the boat, leaning down cautiously to find something, most likely belonging to the young girl who she had coaxed just minutes before.

"She wants attention." Rafe muttered, looking down at the sable-haired girl.

"You kidding me?" Rose catechized. "Get-" She halted her own words when Sarah began shrugging her shoulders teasingly, a disobedient grin on her lips.

"Oh my... No." Rose finished.

"Sarah, that's not funny." Topper was practically radiating tension off of him, and all Meredith wanted to do was turn around. No, in fact, she would rather shove thr blonde right onto the shredded wires, accidentally.

"When I tell you dad about this, Sarah..." The snotty step-mother warned, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Little fried Sarah." Rafe whispered psychotically, and Meredith found herself giggling quietly at the comment.

This was all too amusing for her.

"Rafe, your sister's crazy, man." The dark-complexioned boy exhaled a laugh, swatting at his friends shoulder.

Prudently, Sarah got on her knees, avoiding the fallen seat cushions and broken cargo latched door laying on the floor of the boat. Eyes scanning the rummaged area, her lips broke out into a proud smile.

"I see her." She looked over her shoulder, enjoying how the girl's face lit up in excitement.

"Sarah!" Rose called again, and no matter how many times she threatened, the teen ignored.

Stepping away from the large wire below her foot, Sarah reached to grab something at the bottom of the boat, but suddenly, let out a blood curdling scream.

Gasping in shock, Topper jolted into a run, Meredith on his trail. She meant what she said when she couldn't care less, she just didn't expect it to actually happen.

The girl's body fell limply to the floor, hair splayed out across her face.

"Sarah!" The girl's sweet and innocent voice cried, Meredith rushing over to the child. Without hesitation, she grabbed onto her hand, pulling her to stand beside her, but she had to lean down slightly since she was so small.

"Sarah!" Topper voiced, but she didn't move, only causing Meredith to pull the little girl closer. She didn't have to see someone die of electric shock because she was stupidly cocky. "Sarah!"

Like out of a horror movie, Sarah's head turned to face the others, hair spewed on ever feature. Her grin widened as she playfully wiggled the wire in her hand, not able to contain her laughter.

Aggravated, Meredith rolled her eyes, quickly cursing under her breath. "My God." She scoffed, returning to her friends, wanting nothing more than to turn around and continue on with her day.

In disbelief, Kelce laughed manically, hands on either side of his head. As did Rafe, finding complete amusement in his friend's terror.

"It's disconnected." The blonde giggled, shoving her hair from her face and tossing the wire aside.

"Holy shit!" Kelce wheezed, hand on top of Meredith's shoulder. "She got you." He pointed towards the fuming blonde.

"Absolute sucker." The Cameron girl smiled in contempt before regaining her stance and reaching for a purple stuffed bunny. "Topper, you should see your face."

Anger running through her veins, Meredith pulled her sunglasses off of the top of her head and slid them back onto her eyes. It was evident that her and Topper had the same mindset, different reasons.

"Yeah. Okay, yeah, I'm sorry that I care." He raised his arms in defense. "All right, guilty."

"As charged." The girl grinned sarcastically. "Let's go." The Waters girl turned around on her heels, and delightfully, the three boys followed.

"Congrats, pussy, you're officially her bitch." Rafe chuckled, patting him on the shoulder, much to Topper's chagrin.

"All right." Rafe nodded affirmatively. "Officially, did you know that? You're officially her bitch, all right?"

He repeated, as if they didn't hear the first time. If only he knew he was no better when it came Meredith, not that he would admit. Secretly, when nobody was around, Rafe Cameron found himself pining over a certain Kook princess. His ego, as large as it was, shielded the fact that his cold act towards her was just another excuse to be around her.

Rafe Cameron liked Meredith Waters. It would be the death of him.

author's note !
i have like, 3 weeks left of school ! WHOOP. so that means you guys will get regular updates and won't have to wait for my lazy ass hehe. i hope nobody hates the main character cuz i will kill her off if u test me...