𝐓 𝐖 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓 𝐘 - 𝐒 𝐈 𝐗
reconcile the past

"Guys!" Kiara bellowed, running to the bow of the boat with pinched brows. Meredith scoffed upon hearing JJ's manic laugh, watching him climb up onto the boat from the water.

"Are you serious?" Sarah scoffed, moving to Meredith and Kiara's side, both girls sporting an equally pissed off expression.

"Are you fucking joking?" Meredith shouted, throwing her arms up exasperatedly. JJ felt himself cower at the tone in her venom-laced voice but found himself laughing again at the circumstances.

"Get your asses back here!" Kiara shouted through gritted teeth.

"We can't!" John B shrugged. "Not till you three figure it out!"

"I will kill every single one of you!" Kiara threatened, turning to glance over at the two girls momentarily, Meredith sporting her infamous scowl.

Said girl crossed her arms, sharp gaze trained on the blonde pogue. "JJ!"

"Y-You can't just leave!" Sarah cried, face contorted into one of uncomfortability, hand running through her hair anxiously as if her pleading voice would bring the scheming boys back.

"There's food in the cabin, and JJ rolled a blunt!" Pope announced, holding his hand up to mimick a joint between his fingers.

Meredith scoffed at his words, and jaw dropped. "I don't fucking care! Come back!"

"Hydroponic!" The blonde cheered, waving towards the Waters girl momentarily, sending a mischievous smirk towards hers - one she didn't reciprocate. Clearly, he was still thinking about the time when he showed up to her house, and they shared a joint, but Meredith was too pissed to care.

"This is ridiculous," Sarah scoffed, beginning to tear her clothes off, Kiara doing the same shortly after. From beside them, Meredith slid her jean skirt off, tossing her shoes somewhere on the boat.

"Well, I would rather drown than stay here with you, so..." Kiara rolled her eyes, tugging her shirt over her head aggressively.

"Fine, be my guest," Sarah shrugged venomously, unbuttoning her jean shorts. "Maybe you'll finally shut the hell up."

Meredith, who was practically seething and jaw clenched, tore her halter top off, discarding it by the rest of her clothing items to reveal a baby blue bathing suit that Sarah had picked out for her just hours ago.

"You don't even know where you're going," the curly-haired girl bit back, watching as Sarah moved to enter the water. Meredith scoffed at her tone, turning back towards the three boys who had started the boat.

"JJ-" She sighed when he didn't acknowledge her. Instead, he continued to pull the anchor out of the water. "They're not coming back for you." Meredith turned to Sarah, who sent her a harsh glare.

"I don't care," She mumbled, diving into the marsh water, but not before yelling, "Wait!"

"Good luck with the oyster beds," the Carrera girl retorted sassily, bringing her hands up to rest on her hips.

"Godspeed!" Meredith heard Pope's voice echo around the marsh water until the boat was officially gone, leaving the three girls in the dust.

"John B, you asshole!" Meredith could hear Sarah's raspy voice shouting at the three boys in hopes that they would return, but they were already long gone, and she was stuck with the two girls. Meredith sighed heavily, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest as she watched Sarah swim back.

"Love you guys, bye!" JJ shouted, waving to the three with a shit-eating grin, but Meredith chose to ignore their retreating figures.

Kiara brought her hands up to her curls stressfully. "Great," She murmured, inhaling deeply.

Suddenly, Sarah let out a shrill scream, body frantically submerging into the murky water. Meredith furrowed her eyebrows, turning at the sound of her scream's abrupt cut off.

"What?" Kiara snapped, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"I got stung by a jellyfish! Shit!" Sarah whined, face contorted in pain as she swam shakily to the ladder of the boat. Meanwhile, Kiara rolled her eyes, and Meredith sighed, running her hand through her hair before moving to help the blonde up. Sure, they had gotten into a minor argument, but that didn't mean she didn't care.

"Ah!" Sarah whimpered, shaky hand hovering over the large, welted, bloody abrasion, standing on the ladder frantically.

"Dramatic," Kiara rolled her eyes before turning away from the two girls.

"You good, S?" Meredith questioned, grabbing ahold of the blonde's shaky arm and pulling her up the ladder the rest of the way.

"Well, you swam right into a man-o-war," Kiara shrugged helplessly. "Don't know what you thought was gonna happen."

"You're so helpful," Meredith retorted sarcastically, sending the girl daggers over her shoulder.

"Ow," She cried, moving to sit on the floor of the boat with slow steps, lips downturnt painfully. Meredith stood above the girl who had pulled her arm from her grasp, hands on her hips.

"Shit," Sarah panted, straightening her legs in front of her. "Ow!"

"Does it hurt?" Kiara muttered sarcastically, a hint of amusement behind her words. Meredith took notice of the smirk on the girl's lip, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, Mer," Sarah gazed up worriedly. "You know what they say..."

"No," Meredith quickly shook her head, realizing where the blonde was going with this.

"...about curing jellyfish stings?" The blonde continued, speaking over Meredith. "You have to pee on me."

"No, absolutely not," Meredith scoffed, looking at the blonde in bewilderment. "I'm not pissing on you!"

"I'm gonna die-"

Sarah's words were cut off by Meredith's sharp tone, narrowed eyes burning into the blonde's. "Die for all I care-"

"She's not gonna die," Kiara rolled her eyes at their dramatics before dropping her hands from her hips. "I have a better idea."

Without another glance towards the two girls, Kiara turned on her heels towards the cabin of the boat, rummaging through cabinets and drawers in search of where JJ's supposed blunt was stashed.

Eventually, she returned with a small aid kit, opening it to find JJ's joint and multiple joint-making materials. Meredith should've been surprised that he had hidden it in a first aid kit, but she wasn't. Typical JJ Maybank.

"It's for the pain," Kiara muttered, jumping up on the table.

"JJ, bless," Meredith sighed gratefully, moving to sit on the other side of Kiara- much to her chagrin.

Kiara lighted the joint with a zippo lighter JJ left behind, taking a large puff of the weed, taking a deep breath when the drug filled her system. From the other side of Kiara, Sarah continued panting, eyes studying the welted abrasion.

When she took another hit, Meredith rolled her eyes at the girl's clear stubbornness. Then, as if she couldn't annoy the Waters girl anymore, she extended the joint for Sarah to take. However, before the blonde could take it, she pulled it back.

"Actually..." Kiara mumbled, taking another agonizingly slow hit.

Clearly, Sarah had enough before she lurched forward, snatching it from Kiara. "Really?" She took a hit.

"Go easy," Kiara sighed. "It's JJ's cousin's cripple."

But Sarah ignored her, taking a long inhale of the weed, lips tightly enclosed around it. Meredith watched cautiously, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Save some for the rest of us," She retorted harshly, pulling the blunt from her best friend's lips and taking a hit. Suddenly, Sarah began coughing aggressively, hunched over. Meredith rolled her eyes before passing the blunt to Kiara, who took it greedily.

As the two girls shared it back and forth, they found Sarah incredibly annoying as she continued hacking up a lunge, arm covering her mouth. As she continuously wheezed, Kiara nodded her eyes with a clenched jaw, patiently waiting for the blonde to calm down.

"Wow," Sarah Cameron spoke through non-stop giggles, eyes dazily trained on the twinkling stars above. After the three finished the blunt, Sarah had become relatively annoying- apparently, she had never smoked before. Everything she said, she found funny. Meanwhile, the two ex-friends wished that Sarah never got hands on the weed- she was clearly inexperienced.

"Hey, guess what?" The blonde turned towards Meredith and Kiara, the Kook resting her forearms on her bent knees. "Would you rather... have-" She cleared her throat. "I was imagining you like this just now. It was pretty funny."

The sable-haired girl rolled her red-rimmed eyes, turning to look at the blonde with a warning glare, not that she noticed.

"Would you ima- would you rather... have nipples for eyes or eyes for nipples?" Sarah giggled childishly. "Imagine if you get really old and your nipples- your boobs get saggy, and your nipples, if they were your eyes, you could see if your shoes were untied."

Sarah couldn't seem to notice the frustration radiating off of the two girls because she let out a low chuckle. Just when Kiara turned her head with a deadpanned expression, the blonde clamped her lips shut, shaking her head.

"Is this like your first time smoking or something?" The curly-haired girl ignored Sarah's previous words.

"No..." Her embarrassed tone spoke volumes, especially when she couldn't meet their eyes. "Hey, Kiara..."

"Oh, my God," the girl in question rolled her eyes. "Enough of the, 'Hey, Kiara' bullshit! Why'd you do it?"

From the other side of Kiara, making sure to keep her distance, Meredith eyed the two girls cautiously, watching the unamused glare Kiara sent Sarah.

"Why did I do what?" Sarah gulped, voice softening nervously.

"We were best friends," Kiara mumbled, vulnerability dripping from her tone. "We- we stole beers from your dad's fridge, we watched movies together at Meredith's, we cried about boys. And then the next thing I know, I'm watching your birthday party happen from Instagram."

"It was one party," Sarah rolled her eyes, a hint of nervousness behind her words. Meredith could tell she was holding something back.

"You invited everybody except me," Kiara sighed. "And then you told everybody that I was the reason the party got busted."

"Okay, well, who else would've called the cops?" The blonde retorted harshly, narrowing her reddened eyes.

"You never asked," the curly-haired girl shrugged. "You just let the rumor go that I was a rat. You were my best friend, and then you ghosted me, and I don't even know why! I mean, really, what did I do?"

Meredith could hear the slightest of wavering in her ex-best friend's voice, masking the hurt with a raised tone. Just watching her face contort into sadness made Meredith regret everything she had ever done to the girl- from spreading rumors to stealing her friends.

"You liked me," Sarah admits, rolling her eyes at her own stubbornness.

"What?" Kiara and Meredith muttered in unison, eyebrows furrowed.

"When... people get... close to me, I feel trapped. And... I bail. And then I blame them for it." Meredith found her gaze dropping to the floor of the boat because she now, more than ever, understood where Kiara was coming from. Her point of view was just as clear as day. Meredith had put up a strong front and took her best friend back when she desperately missed her, but that didn't mean the feelings necessarily disappeared.

"I'm really sorry," Sarah took a deep breath, her eyes clouding over with tears. "... and I miss you."

Kiara's gaze lifted at the apology, but the slight resentment was still strong behind her dark, coffee-colored eyes. Suddenly, her head turned to Meredith, who wore a somber expression.

At first, the Kook thought she would begin throwing insults and accusing her of things that she was positive she did, but Kiara didn't. Instead, she whispered, "Why did you do it?"

"What?" Meredith scoffed, acting clueless, but she was well aware of what she'd done. She made Kiara Carrera feel like shit and unwelcomed in her own school. She stole her friends for the sole purpose of revenge and spread rumors for hurting Sarah.

"You- you spread rumors about me and made me feel like shit!" Kiara cried, tears welling up in the corners of her pretty, brown eyes. It almost made Meredith's evil, inconsiderate, heart shatter. "I thought that I would still have you- but then you both just shut me out..."

Meredith sniffled, unable to spit the words out that were resting right on the tip of her tongue. She knew what she wanted to say, maybe even apologize. But, it was almost like she couldn't. She really couldn't. She had been raised to show no emotions unless it was a sickly sweet smile, to be one step ahead of everyone, so they didn't see your vulnerability, your weakness. So, when her ex-best friend sat in front of her, pouring out her heart, it hurt everything inside of her to stare back wordlessly.

"I was defending Sarah," She whispered, eyes trained on her jittery hands. "You stopped talking to me. If you didn't call the cops, you would understand."

Kiara felt herself drained of any words because Meredith was right. After the birthday party, she had returned to school as if she had never met Meredith Waters and Sarah Cameron, but she had hurt the Kook Princes more than she knew. Meredith would never possibly understand why she was shut out by Kiara, so she did the one thing she knew would hurt just as much. She got revenge.

"You were the one who didn't want me to go to the party," Kiara cried, voice cracking slightly. But, her words had drawn out confusion from the Waters' girl, eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"What?" The ebony-eyed girl bit back, this being the first she had heard of what Kiara accused her of. "No?"

"Yes," She nodded with raised eyebrows. "Sarah told me you didn't want me to come, and then when I tried showing up, you accused me of calling the cops. I just wanted to be included..."

"What?" She repeated, utterly shocked at the girl's words. "What- no, I wanted you to come. I made you an invite."

"No, you didn't," Kiara shot back. "You guys ghosted me, and I didn't know why!"

Meredith couldn't speak on her behalf because she had tried everything to welcome Kiara Carrera with open arms into the Kook Academy. She had invited her to summer traditions and her best friend's birthday party, but she never showed. Meredith was in charge of making each individual invite for everyone Sarah Cameron wanted at her party, and the blonde was in charge of sending them out. But, when the time came, Kiara Carrera never showed-

Oh, shit.

Meredith's breath hitched in her throat at the realization, eyes flickering up to her best friend, who had remained relatively quiet the entire time.

This whole time, Meredith Waters and Kiara Carrera were framed as the bad guys- the curly-haired girl called the cops and the kook princess turned on said girl.

This whole time, it was Sarah Cameron.

"You told her that I didn't want her to come?" She croaked out through a wavy voice, eyes trained on the blonde with hurt.

When Sarah remained silent, eyes fell on her lap, and it gave the two girls the answer they needed. Sarah Cameron, the one girl who was scared of commitment, had turned two of the most loyal people against each other.

"Why would you do that?" Her voice was just above a whisper, hurt wafting through the air like moist clouds. Meredith wanted to shout at the blonde for her unwillingness to look up, to acknowledge her wrongs.

"I'm sorry..." The blonde eventually mumbled, turning to the two hurt girls, both sharing equally disappointed expressions. "I just- I thought that by doing that it would... it would save me the trouble of bailing on someone. Again."

"So you put it on me?" Meredith scoffed, lips parted in disbelief. Now, the hurt had dissipated, and the simmering hot rage had returned. "You didn't want to break someone's heart by ditching them, so you lied to soften then blow? Are you kidding?!"

Sarah couldn't meet her best friend's eyes, practically feeling the rage from the other side of the boat. Kiara had remained silent, also, equally as betrayed.

Then, like a tidal wave, a surge of guilt washed over the Waters girl like no other. Before, she had no regrets for making Kiara Carrera's life a living hell. Then, she was hurt and defended her friend. But, now? Well, she realized she had no reason to say and do the things she did because Kiara Carrera was not at fault. Sarah Cameron was.

"I treated her like shit for you," Meredith scoffed incredulously, trying to bite back her temper. "I made her life hell, Sarah."

Kiara felt a sense of relief, knowing now that Meredith Waters wasn't as cold-hearted as before. Wasn't so cold-hearted that she could admit her wrongs and own up to it. It wasn't easy for her to betray her life-long bitchy personally for some Pogues, but Meredith was trying.

"I didn't ask you to do that," the blonde fought back, although she knew there was no point in arguing. She was well aware of what she had done. She had planned on bailing on the curly-haired girl. The second thing began going good for them- self-sabatoge at its finest. But, to 'soften the blow' as Meredith would say, she blamed the one person who stuck by her side through everything in hopes that it hurt less for herself.

Sarah had thought about herself and herself only, and now the consequences had come back to bite her in the ass.

"But, I did!" Meredith shouted. "I did because that's what friends do! I would do it in a heartbeat."

"I know," the blonde sighed. "And I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for it to end like that."

The Kook Princess sighed, dropping her arms off of her knees and wrapping them around herself protectively. She would always understand her best friend's self-sabatoge because she constantly went through the same thing. They were alike in more ways other than their shared interest in music or clothing. But, she couldn't understand what possessed her to ruin two peoples' lives like it meant nothing.

Meredith Waters missed Kiara Carrera, and she never used to admit that. But she would now.

"Do you think there's a chance that we could be okay again?" Sarah turned back to her discontinued conversation with the Carrera daughter, who was chewing on her bottom lip nervously.

"Honestly..." Kiara sighed, looking over her shoulder towards Meredith, a hint of sympathy behind her eyes. "I don't know."

With pursed lips, Meredith rose to her feet, moving into the cabin of the boat wordlessly. She had truly hoped that JJ had left them another blunt so she could wash away all of the sickly feelings she had endured tonight. But, instead, she moved to find blankets for the three girls.

She had found numerous blankets, and Meredith used her clothing as a pillow. Without another spared glance, she gave the two girls their respective blankets and laid down on the floor of the boat. She had hoped they would lay beside her, a mutual understanding that they had reconciled for the better part.

And, when Sarah lay on one side and Kiara moved to the other, the corner of her lip quirked up slightly, but the darkness of the star-lit sky masked it.

"Hey, Sarah," Kiara's soft voice whispered into the darkness, blanket covering her shoulders.

"Hey, Kiara," the blonde replied, eyes shut.

"Promise me that you won't bail on John B," At the mention of the brunette pogue, Sarah's eyes fluttered open slowly, looking at Meredith's shoulder as the girl on the other end spoke.

"He's not just..." The curly-haired girl sighed, racking her brain for words. "Some other guy. And he really, really likes you."

"I won't," Sarah confirmed softly.

"Promise me." Kiara searched for more assurance.

"I promise."

Meredith felt distaste rise to the back of her throat. Not at their interaction, but at the feeling of guilt that made its strong appearance again in the pit of her stomach. She tried pushing it off, listening to the conversation to drown out the feeling, but it just wouldn't dissipate. So, instead, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Hey, Kiara," She whispered from in between the two girls, flat on her back.

"Hey, Meredith," the curly-haired girl whispered back, and she realized that this would become their new phrase.

"...I'm really sorry," She swallowed thickly, cheeks flushing pink under the night sky at the apology. It wasn't often- if ever, that Meredith Waters, Kook Princess apologized for her wrongdoings. Before she met a few certain pogues who had changed her viewpoint on most things, she could care less about the feelings and emotions of the people around her. It was always about herself. But, maybe, the Pogues could change that for her. "For everything I did to you. I'm- I'm so sorry."

At first, the silence told her that she was going to ignore her completely. But, then, Kiara's angelic voice spoke through the thick tension. "It's okay."

"No, it's not," Meredith whispered, biting the inside of her cheek to hide the waver in her voice. "I shouldn't have done that to you. You didn't deserve it."

From beside her, she could see the curly-haired girl nod in the corner of her sable eyes, almost as if she understood. No, she wouldn't- if ever, understand how Meredith could harness such immorality, but she understood that she was trying to be better. That had to count for something.

"I'm sorry, too," She mumbled, turning her head away from Sarah to face Meredith. When she sent her a confused expression, the girl continued. "For calling the cops."

"I knew it." Sarah broke out into a wide smile, her eyebrows raised in shock. Meredith couldn't help but giggle when the smile won over Kiara. "I knew it, you bitch!"

Unable to hold the giddy feeling, the three erupted into infectious laughs, all of which had stemmed from Kiara's admission. Meredith rolled over on her back again, ribs aching with laughter.

"I told you!" Meredith shouted through giggles at the blonde, who had her head back in laughter.

"You- you should've invited me," Kiara giggled.

"So you called the cops?" Sarah turned with widened eyes, silencing her laughter to speak.

"Yes!" With that, the three erupted into contagious laughter again, unable to hold back the feeling that they longed for since forever.

authors note!
awe, i loved writing this. i miss them. also, what did you guys think of this chapter? i wanted to write meredith into the whole plot of their drama but didn't want to make it sound as if she was all innocent and perfect because we all know nobody is. i also wanted to come at it from a point of view where kie isn't always the bad guy bc she is overly hated, and i can't stand it. <33 also, how would yall feel about a flashback of sarah's birthday party?