𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑
𝟏𝟕:𝟏𝟎 - 𝟑𝟗:𝟑𝟎
𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙜𝙤 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 »𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙩

❦

JJ drove us to the outdoor cinema and Pope sat in the passenger seat while Kie smiled her face off at me in the back seats.

Sure, I was over the moon that JJ and I had finally had sex, but I wasn't exactly thrilled  excited about how both Pope and Kie now knew. The girl hadn't been able to keep it quiet for long, and as soon as she saw Pope she spilled the beans, earning a sharp elbow in the gut from me.

"I'm so glad they're still doing this." Kie smiles as we follow behind her across the grass, carrying the chairs and cooler box, "Keep calm. Carry on. Back to OBX life. You know? Aren't you glad I made you come?"

"Ecstatic." Pole grumbles.

"I know I seemed super excited before but my bed was pretty comfy, to be honest." JJ mumbles setting down the cooler.

"Do you mean Ava's bed?" Kie teases.

I nudge her, causing her to laugh, "Shut up."

"We're out of the green zone, man." Pope whispers to JJ and I shuffle closer to them.

"Dude, tranquilo, okay?" JJ hisses.

"You guys do realise that we're in the middle of Kooklandia." I point out, glancing around at everyone else.

"I know, Ava, and this is the last place I wanted to be." Pope sighs, setting the chairs up.

I pat their shoulders, "I'm gonna go get us some drinks, you two stay here and don't be too childish."

They grumble something quietly in response as I trudge over to the stand selling refreshments. I dig my hands into my back pockets, fishing out some money, "Hey, uh, can I get three Pepsi's, please?"

The guy nods happily, clearly thrilled with his job, "Sure!"

"Hey, Ava."

Rafe. I roll my eyes and turn my head slowly to him as he slides beside me, smirking like always.

"Hey, what's up?" He notices my agitated expression.

"You're what's up," I say lazily, turning away from him and paying the man before picking up the drinks, trying to find a good way to hold all three.

Rafe glances down at my hands, seeing than I'm struggling, "You need help there?"

I shake my head, finally holding them in the right way, "No, I'm good. Haven't needed help from you before, don't need it now."

Rafe throws his head back and I go to walk away, finishing our conversation but he grabs my arm, stopping me in my tracks.

"Rafe, get your grubby fingers off of me." I snarl, leaning in slightly.

"Tell your boy that we know what he did." He rolls his jaw, keeping his grip firm on my arm.

I tilt my head, "I'm sorry, I don't know what boy you're talking about."

"Uh, he'll know." He spits.

"See the thing is, how am I supposed to tell him if I don't even know who it is," I grumble harshly, "Whether you like it or not, I do actually have a lot of male friends."

"Ava, just tell your little pogue friends. He'll know who he is." He growls, leaning down to my ear, "See you later, baby."

I mentally gag, pulling away from him with a grimace on my face, "Bye, Rafe. And we will not be seeing each other later."

I walk back over to the boys, handing them their cokes before sitting beside Kie and opening my own can.

"What the fuck did he want?" JJ mutters, his jaw visually tensed as he watches me carefully.

I glance over at him, "He just said, and I quote 'Tell your boy that we know what he did'."

Kie leans forward to see them, her eyebrows furrowed at the boys in confusion, "What does that mean?"

"Um..." JJ turns his attention back to me, "Where is he, Ava?"

I point behind us simply, without even bothering to look over at the three Kooks, "Right there."

Pope whirls round, clutching the back of his chair whereas JJ just looks subtly, not making it obvious, "Great, the whole death squad!" Pope exclaims.

I smack the back of his head, making him turn back around, "Don't fucking stare, Pope."

"Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now." JJ rushes, "If that doesn't work, I got this right here." He holds up his backpack and shakes it slightly before placing it down at his feet again.

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

I pinch the bridge of my nose and slide down in my chair when I notice Kie's face.

"I'm sorry, JJ..." She snaps, glaring at him, "Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. You can't do that."

I sit up, nodding in agreement, "J, she's right. There are kids here."

JJ waves us off, "No. Guys, I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?"

Kie throws her arms up, "Oh, wow, thank you. That's really convincing. I love that, JJ."

She looks at me, then at Pope and last at JJ, each of us obviously hiding something, "Founding principle, you guys." She sighs, "No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?"

"Kie," Pope leans forward and across me, "it might go down tonight."

I laugh, smacking the arms of my chair, "Pope, that's a horrible way to put it. You're making it sound like we're in a mafia gang."

Kie purses her lips in confusion, "What does that mean, Pope? 'Might go down tonight.' What did y'all do?"

"Deny, deny, deny." JJ hisses quietly then takes a sip from his can.

"Kie, it doesn't matter, okay?" I clear my throat, tapping the side of my coke tin.

"Where's John B?" She questions, changing the subject.

"I have no clue. Last time I saw him was when we were running from the police." I chuckle, shrugging.

"Running from the police?" JJ raises an eyebrow.

I nod, "Social services were gonna take us away, we had to escape somehow. Anyway, I think he's cleaning himself up. I don't know."

If I tell Kie about how Sarah picked him up, she'll become beyond pissed and I can't deal with a pissed Kiara right now.

"At least you two escaped. We wouldn't have been able to say goodbye." Kie scoffs jokingly, smiling gently.

"My thoughts exactly." I click my fingers, "Either way, it's funner without him ruining the whole vibe by mentioning Dad."

She smacks my leg, shaking her head, "Don't say that. He's just determined."

A loud whistle sounds from behind us and I slowly turn my head, knowing exactly who made it. Rafe smirks at me, nodding his head backwards, telling me to follow him. What does he want now?

I rise out of my seat, smiling down at the others, "I'll be right back."

JJ furrows his eyebrows, looking back to see where I'm going. His eyes fall on Rafe and he rolls his jaw, "Ava, do—"

I walk past him, gently holding his shoulders from behind, "We won't do anything. It's Rafe for fucks sake. I'll be back in a few minutes. I promise."

"M'kay." He grumbles, but I still continue to feel his eyes burning into my back while I quickly slip past everyone, jumping over food boxes and trash bins that had been knocked over before finally reaching Rafe, only for him to walk further away and behind the large movie screen.

"What do you want now?" I sigh, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Surprised you even came," He smirks.

"I'm nosy and wanted to know what you want, so tell me," I raise my eyebrows.

He steps closer, causing me to take a step back, letting him know I'm not here to get cosy, "You can tell me from there." I say, pointing at where he's stood.

"It's getting dark," He chuckles, glancing up at the sky.

Huh. I nod, humming, "Yes. Well done for pointing out the fucking obvious, dipstick. That's usually what happens when the Earth rotates."

"Don't fucking speak to me like that," He snarls loudly, his hand forming into a fist by his side.

I immediately shut up, my mouth zipping tightly closed, knowing that if I say amoy thing else, he'll do something out of anger like usual. I'd rather not end up with a broken nose tonight.

He notices my scared eyes and softens his face, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to outburst like that. It's just, I've never done anything to you, yet you seem to hate me."

I hold back from rolling my eyes, "You seem surprised."

"I loved you. Ava, I—"

I hold my hand up, shaking my head gently, "Rafe, we've already had this convo. There's no need to have it again. You loved me and I loved you. You believed your bratty sister over me and we broke up and now I hate you because you beat up my best friend because you're selfish and lazy. Okay? You got that?"

He runs his tongue over his teeth, slicking his hair back even more and taking another step closer to me, "I don't think you get it, though. I still—"

"Rafe, step away from her."

I turn my head to see JJ, his fists clenched by his sides. Pope rushes over still pulling his fly up after having a piss.

Topper and Kelce walk out from the tree line, standing behind Rafe, each of them having a different look of pissed off on their faces.

"She's mine." Rafe grabs my waist quickly, pulling me to his side.

My nose flares as I attempt to pull away but he keeps me tight to his side, not allowing me to move an inch.

"Says who, Rafe?" JJ spits, "Because we all know that everything that comes out of your filthy mouth is a fucking lie."

Rafe pushes me away and walks closer to Pope and JJ, while his friends walk around them, cutting them off as they attempt to run away.

"Chill out, T-Topper." Pope holds his arms out in a panic.

Topper comes closer to us as JJ holds me behind him, "Yeah, that was some nice work you did on my boat."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Pope shrugs, stuttering slightly.

"Oh, yeah? Sure. Of course you don't."

Rafe smirks, looking JJ straight into his eyes with a menacing glare, "Not so burly without a gun now, are you?"

JJ clenches his jaw, letting go of my hand, "Take one more step, I'll rip that prepubescent face off."

"Hey, Pope." Topper speaks up again, "Do you feel good about yourself? Is your Mum proud of you? Is your Dad?"

Pope smashes his head into Topper nose, making each of them groan in pain.

JJ cheers, "Attaboy!"

Kelce runs over, wrapping his arms around JJ but he manages to get free and starts punching him, his hair flapping all over the place. My eyes widen as Rafe joins in and helps Kelce as one of them holds JJ back, the other punching his stomach in as if he's a punching bag.

I run forward, ramming my shoulder into Rafe's and sending him stumbling away from JJ, giving him enough time to get free from Kelce's grip.

"You little bitch." Rafe growls, "You don't know when to stop."

I raise an eyebrow, "What does that even me—"

He rushes forward, pushing me over and sending my flying backwards into the bushes before going back to what he was previously doing. Psycho.

"You motherfucker," JJ snarls, his eyes flicking between Rafe and I while punches are pummelled into his face, "Come on, Rafe." He laughs through the hits, "That all you got?"

I stand up, knowing that using my body to fight them will be useless, "Rafe, stop! Fucking stop!"

Kiara comes running over and immediately uses JJ's backpack to hit Topper, "Let go of him, Topper! You fascist asshole!"

JJ manages to kick Rafe away from him and I charge forwards, shoving his chest back.

"Really, Ava?" He chuckles, staring down at me as if I'm some dirt on his shoe.

"Shut."

Shove.

"The."

Smack.

"Fuck."

Punch.

"Up!"

I let my anger out and his face whips in different directions while I give him no time to think or react. I ignore everyone else's shouts and grunts as I cuss continually at Rafe, shoving him further and further away. All of a sudden he catches both my wrists and picks me up, throwing me to the side roughly.

"You fight well, Ava. But not well enough. Now, stay the fuck out of this!" He yells down at me, running back to the others to get Kiara away.

"Are you okay, Ava?" JJ struggles to shout in between coughs and punches.

"Admit you did it, bitch!"

I crawl over to JJ's bag and Kiara rushes to my side as I pull out the gun. She places her hand on top of mine, shaking her head in disagreement. Instead she picks up his lighter, flicking it open and crawling over to the screen. I grab mine out of my back pocket and move beside her, flicking it on until the movie screen is quickly lightly.

I turn round to the others once the whole screen is engulfed in flames, "Now, GET THE FUCK OFF THEM!"

Rafe and Kelce step away from JJ, while Topper lets go of Pope, allowing him to drop to the floor and cough up more blood.

"RAFE I SUGGEST YOU AND YOUR LITTLE POSSE FUCK OFF!" I scream, my chest pumping up and down while I pant.

"Let's get outta here." Rafe rushes, grabbing his friends and running off.

"That's what I thought, motherfuckers!" I flick them off as they scurry away.

JJ walks over to me, pulling me into his chest for a hug before pulling away to check me up and down for injuries.

I smack his hands away to look over him, "Are you okay?"

He nods, panting, "Yeah. . . mostly. You?"

I hum, "Let's go."

He sighs, throwing his arm over my shoulder as we walk away, "Yo, I saw you smack the shit outta him. Hottest shit ever."

Rolling my eyes, I shake my head before grabbing his hand and rubbing it gently as we near the Twinkie.

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