CHAPTER TWO.
two tribes, one girl

   KARMA APPEARED TO have fallen on Daisy for a whole year and one month already. She never thought she would experience so many disastrous things that would ruin the lifestyle of this one as a happy girl on the island.

    To tell the truth, her life had changed since a long time already. It looked like a storm. A big storm that couldn't let her breathe one second since that started. It never stopped, she never had a break where she could finally stop thinking and just go have fun outside of her racing minds. Every day when she woke up, she saw her appear, telling her to wake up to look for the waves that were just waiting for her to drown the tips of her toes into the ocean. Every time the Kooks came to tell her how much of an impact she had made on their group, Daisy felt bad. She felt like vomiting every time someone said her beautiful name.

    Lila Olive Abbott.

    One year ago, Lila Abbott fell into an endless night. She was known for her reputation as a bad girl with a big heart, the girl who got into drugs with her boyfriend, Rafe Cameron, and came home late at night without ever giving any news. Daisy sometimes had the illusionary impression of seeing herself in her big sister since her death. Maybe because like her, she also wanted to take her mind off things and no longer think about what people were saying about her. But she had proof that nothing ended well by escaping into drugs and alcohol at every party. And she was certain that even if she went against her parents, nothing good would come of it. Lila was the reason. She had lost her life because everyone never really cared about her. She had lost herself in her own game.

    If the death of Atlas Abbott created a void in the family, then that of Lila was their moment of real breakdown. The family was scattered after these two incidents, making their time together dark and gloomy with thoughts no one should have. Thoughts that a sixteen year old girl, like Daisy, should not face alone. She often landed under the stars, and hoped to join her sister. Hoped that all this pain would go away. But she decided to put herself aside when she felt herself plunging into the darkness that her sister was once forced into. It was too difficult for her to continue living as if her death had not affected her. She could try to live in denial like her mother, but she preferred to do like her father and just face it, but just . . . silently. It brought fewer eyes on her.

    Sometimes — even often — she found herself looking back at her life before her sixteenth birthday when she was a young, loving soul at fifteen. She lived with her entire family, with an open heart to everyone who approached her. She spent her days with Lila playing, running around the house to steal each other's candy. She had been planning this birthday since she was eight years old, everything was supposed to go perfectly. But during the year around the sixteenth, everything got up in flames. Her relationship with JJ, the death of her sister and now that of Atlas. She wondered every night if she had done something wrong for God to cause all this to happen in her life in such a short time. But even if she put back the elements of the year before her sixteenth, she didn't see any place where she had screwed up to deserve all of this. Maybe it was just life. People go away, people stay. But it's mostly always the most important ones for you that died, and leaves you with the worst around you.

Every day was torture looking out her window, catching the sunlight on her as orange and pink mixed on the horizon, knowing that Lila was now one of those in heaven.

    But every day, Daisy tried to experience how Lila had asked her to live the very day she died. She always wondered if she had planned to disappear into the stars that day, and she hated thinking about it. She hated thinking that she couldn't have done anything to help her. The Abbott girl was always going to blame herself for the tragic death of her beloved sister who had taught her to live life to the fullest.

But she was also always going to blame her boyfriend's sister for putting her on the road that led to her death. Daisy never really understood where Lila found her attraction to Rafe Cameron. He was a drug addict with some mental problems given how he treated Lila in secret at parties. Daisy often asked her sister why she cried on the way home from parties, and all she got was a scream from her and a push out of the way. She had concluded that Rafe had been part of her collapse in the world. And she hated him for it.

Daisy's life was a storm. A current of air which carried away everything in its path to leave the girl alone against the tornado which ventured closer to her with each blow. If there was one thing Daisy and Hurricane Agatha had in common, it was the strength to destroy everything when the wind was too strong on them to stop them from chasing.

"My mother is actually going crazy." Kyla Hartley grumbled while removing a tree branch from the outdoor table that had been knocked over during the night behind because of the big storm that had hit the entire island. "You should've seen her face when she woke up. She was like :" The girl had fun reproducing the face her dear mother had made when she found a tree lying on the roof of their garage. Daisy snickered at the sight of Kyla with her hands in her hair while her mouth hung open.

"And it's not like she had much money to fix it." Daisy slowly slipped into an ironic tone of voice, continued by Kyla, who rolled her eyes, snickering.

Florian Whitlock was next to speak, looking up to see birds flying off to position themselves on the roof of the Camerons' house. "Agatha really did shit literally . . . everywhere." He added, nodding, approving his own words.

The three teenagers arrived in front of Sarah Cameron's house, discovering the quite serious damage around this rich house. Uprooted trees falling to the ground like soldiers in a line, tree branches scattered all along their path to the blonde who was jumping in the wind with her tennis racket in her hand. Daisy saw so many men with their trucks clearing out the entire mess, which made her grimace in incomprehension.

It was typical of the Kooks to immediately have to turn the internet and electricity back on, not being able to stand not knowing what it was saying about them on social media. They obviously had to hurry to find their beautiful environment back, not being able to bear the idea of ​​being linked to what the Pogues were experiencing on their side.

Daisy followed the movement, then pointed out, "I think the whole island was hit. It was really, like, crazy. I was trying to sleep last night and the wind just kept hitting my house."

"I thought I was gonna die. God, I hate those hurricane nights." Kyla complained, shaking her head as she spoke her words.

    They continued walking in the garden of the house, exchanged a wave with the blonde's father, Ward Cameron, then finally arrived at Sarah's side who had stopped jumping and joined them, completely out of breath from her jumps. "Hey, guys. Agatha did some shit, right?"

    "Exactly what I said." Replied Florian, clapping his hand with Sarah's, happy to have shared this. Daisy frowned with Kyla at her side, exchanging a confused look. "Your father has already called his men by the looks of it." He continued, twirling his finger at the workers around them.

    Sarah nodded. "Yeah. He kinda creeped out when he came out this morning. The generators are already back, but the internet is basically dead. What about you guys?"

    Daisy shrugged, not really having an opinion to give on the subject. She had left the house early this morning to go get her backpack at The Wreck, and she hadn't seen her parents all morning. "Nothing. I left soon this morning."

Kyla and Florian explained that their house had not been hit and that only a few trees had fallen around their house ( and on the garage for Kyla ), but nothing really serious.

"I mean, my mom didn't really pay attention to that this morning. She was called early. Something happened." Florian explained, leaving the three girls in suspense about the rest of his story. He frowned, seeing them in silence. "And I don't know anything else about it." He concluded, making them drop their shoulders to the ground as if in despair.

Sarah took a step towards Florian, venturing into a hypothesis. "Does this have anything to do with Scooter Grubbs?"

Florian seemed on guard, not knowing whether or not he could speak about what his mother had said to him quickly this morning. Florian Whitlock-Peterkin was his full name. He was the sheriff's son that everyone on the island knew very well. A strong woman who cares about people. Daisy had known it as soon as she saw Sheriff Peterkin helping a Pogue out of trouble one day. She was not only someone who ruled the roost in OBX, but also the one who took her job seriously. Serious in a way that she really helped people out. Like Daisy, when she gets caught.

    "What do you know?" He hurried forward, not saying words too loudly to attract attention.

Sarah shrugged nonchalantly for a second time, grimacing in the process. "Not much. I just know that his wife hasn't seen him since last night."

"Right. My mother doesn't know much either. She and her team are going to interrogate the woman and that's all for now." Florian explained as the three girls listened attentively to whatever words came out of his mouth.

Daisy got chills at the thought of a second disappearance on the island and grumbled between her lips, "A second disappearance in less than a year. It's starting to suck around here." She declared, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sarah chuckled, nodding in agreement with Daisy. "Totally. Let's move away."

    "Oh, Greece!" Kyla suddenly exclaimed, raising her hand in the air, the excitement ringing in the ears of the three others around her who looked at her with a mocking smile. Her joy disappeared when she saw their reaction."What? It's a beautiful place." She proved, lowering her hand sadly.

Daisy laughed, uncrossing her arms from her chest, and draping one over Kyla's shoulders, pulling her closer. "I'm with you. Greece all the way."

The sound of an engine made them all turn their attention to the motorcycle as it rolled down the driveway and parked next to Ward Cameron's car. Daisy furrowed her eyebrows a little downward, squinting to try to uncover the head beneath the helmet. Sarah ran her hand through her hair, moving closer to Daisy. She sighed, which caught Daisy's gaze towards her.

    "Who's that?" The Abbott girl questioned the blonde, making her sigh yet another breath of air.

    "Rafe. He bought it a few days ago. You didn't see the face Dad made." She explained, annoyance being heard and seen in her rolling eyes when her brother took off his helmet, revealing his blonde hair like his sister's.

    Daisy's heart leapt when he turned and saw them looking at him. She hoped with all her heart that he wouldn't come to join them, but when she saw him start to take big steps towards them, she turned to the other side already ready to leave.

    So Daisy had no problem coming to see Sarah at her house, provided that Rafe Cameron was not there. Just his presence made her go crazy, and dizzy to think that his sister spent her nights sniffing coke with him. It made her want to slap him, punch him and tell him that this whole thing was his fault. She hoped he lived with the sadness she was having, and the responsibility for what Lila had done. Because it was because of him. It always has been.

From the first day Daisy saw the couple together, she knew everything would end not in a great way. He was bad and arrogance. She was good and understanding. They supported the opposite, and she still protected him at all costs. Maybe it's what love does. It makes people go crazy for a person who doesn't even deserve them.

"I— I have to go." She only managed to say that when she saw that he didn't stop to turn around. Her friends didn't have time to hold her back, she was already running out of the garden, until she was outside the Cameron residence, and she felt herself breathing. Well, before a hand lands on her shoulder.

    "Daisy, are you okay?" A male voice panicked her again, making her jump away from this person. Rafe widened his eyes, raising his hands in the air as she stared at him sharply. "Whoa. You all right?"

    She shook her head, her eyes filling with hatred as in her voice. She ordered, taking a step back again. "Stay away from me."

    He looked confused as hell, not understanding the behavior she was carrying. He took a step forward, hands still exposed, demonstrating the peace he wanted to bring between them. "Look, I just want to talk. We haven't see—"

    "Rafe, I swear, stay away from me." The girl gritted through her teeth, showing him that she didn't want to talk. "I do not want to talk with you."

    "It's literally been one year since Lila is gone, and we're like strangers, D. I thought we were going to help each other out in this situation." He explained his point of view, raising his arms in the air as if he didn't understand the situation.

    She scoffed, sniffing through her nose as she looked ironic. "Oh, I think you're doing pretty well at helping yourself out."

    He frowned, his mouth parted, revealing his teeth beneath his lips. Rafe ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head. "That's what I do for thinking about something else. You should be the first to understand me. We're friends."

    "No. You're only doing this because you never, ever cared about my sister." She replied in a sharp response. "You only wanted someone to do drugs with because your dad didn't pay enough attention to you. Because you're a real kid, Rafe."

    "You don't know shit about me." He spat back, taking a step forward.

    "Believe me, I know you well enough to know that it's you who dragged my sister into this." She answered. This time, it was her turn to take a step towards him, looking up with hatred to judge him as much as she could, hoping to channel all her anger into their exchanged gaze. "You ruined her whole life. And I'm gonna make you pay for that. I'm not a child anymore, Cameron. And I'm not your friend."

    Rafe looked at the girl with pursed lips, as strands of blonde hair fell across his forehead. She didn't know why she spat that out, but she did. Perhaps to show her that her sister had perhaps fallen into his nice guy game, but that she would never make the same mistake as her. Lila Abbott didn't always make the right choices. And Rafe Cameron had been one of the worst she had chosen to do.

Daisy gave him one last death stare before passing by him, heading straight for his shoulder, knocking him back. She pushed him out of his way, and continued towards the opposite path from him. Until his voice reached her ears again.

"We should stick together. She would've wanted us to stay close. I know this year has been complicated, but . . ." He spoke, making her stop in her tracks. She slowly turned her head towards his figure, discovering him shrugging his shoulders. "Come on. I'm not a monster, Daisy."

She scoffed, in turn shrugging her shoulders upwards. "Let me doubt of it." She fired back. She was about to leave for good, but she took the time to add, "And you have no idea what she would've wanted."

The Abbott girl turned around, not to return to her friends still in the garden, but rather towards home. But she didn't go home. Her house had become a sort of cage where all the animals were mad with rage, sad and more broken than ever. She didn't want to go there, so she just walked down the road without ever looking where she was. She just took the time to breathe for a moment, and listen to her heart return to its normal rhythm. She didn't even realize that two tears had fallen down her rosy cheeks. She sniffed a bit, then finally stopped behind a stone wall to regain her composure. She had tried over the last few months not to think about Lila anymore, it was her way of moving forward. But she still seemed to be in the same place.

She'll always remember that night when she came home, and her parents were sitting around the table, hand in hand while the silence reigned loudly in the house. Daisy sat across from them, the anxiety of not knowing what had happened growing inside her. When her father finally spoke, explaining that Lila had made an overdose, her heart also stopped beating with her. She had left with her sister that day, she had taken her with her. She has taken her happiness.

    Daisy wiped away the lovely tears that had started to spread all over her face, and took out her phone to look at how she looked. But she didn't have time, immediately receiving a message from Kiara.

KIARA
Kegger tonight, you in?

Daisy blinked several times, biting her lip as she came to her decision. This was what she had been doing for a year. Go to parties to take her mind off things. So she didn't see why she didn't want to go? Maybe it was because she knew JJ Maybank was going to be there. She sighed, feeling frustrated with herself. He was just a boy, she couldn't continue to stop herself from seeing her friends because of him.

She was going to go to this party.

━━━━━━━━━━━

    By the time Daisy was getting ready at home, people were already piling up by the dozen at the Boneyard. Truth be told, it was the most common place in the entire Outer Banks. It was where everyone came to finally take the time to appreciate each other for an evening, forgetting their hatred for each other. There were the Kooks, the Pogues and the Tourons. It was the way that teenagers took when they wanted to have a good time without problems, no longer thinking about the rivalry between the two tribes. It was just fun with no fights on the horizon. A normal life for once.

    When the girl finally set foot on the sand, accompanied by her friends who had not asked her more questions about why she had run away, eyes turned to her. Being known by everyone on the island, she was approached by different people while remaining polite to everyone despite her not really being happy to be here. Some Kooks came to see her, offering her a drink but she refused saying that her boyfriend would arrive soon. She didn't view Beau like that in any way, but if it helped her escape from boys, then she would take that route. So the group finally ended up being left alone, and they went around a place where there was beer pong.

Daisy smiled when she saw her friends joining in, and she stood aside, scanning her surroundings for Kiara. She searched for a few seconds before her eyes fell on a blond in the distance who was already staring at her, a red goblet hanging from his lips. She swallowed hard, trying to maintain eye contact, but it seemed to last too long for her.

He was looking at her. JJ Maybank was looking at her too intently. He had noticed her the second she arrived in her soft yellow dress and her hair blowing in the wind. She left herself under his eyes for a few more seconds before finally pulling away from him, sending him an arrogant smile. From afar, the blond watched her join the Kooks, more precisely next to Beau Monreo. He clenched his jaw, taking another sip of his drink, and continued to look at Daisy who was clinging to the boy, grabbing his arm as she laughed.

    It was John B who came to pull him out of his thoughts, grabbing his shoulders as he dragged him towards the crowd where the tourists were, and he wasted no time in finding a girl to talk with to alter his train of thought.

After a dozen fake laughs exchanged with Beau, she discreetly turned her face towards where JJ Maybank was to be sure he was no longer there. She sighed, lowering her head to the ground. Thank God, it worked, she thought. Beau swung his eyes at her, and gently grabbed her chin to make her look at him. She smiled uneasily, and leaned back kindly so as not to appear totally disgusted by this gesture of affection.

    "Um . . ." She let out a snicker, now flushed with embarrassment. Beau frowned, and shoved his hands into his beige pants pockets. "I'm gonna go get another beer, okay? I'll be right back."

"Can you get me one too?" He asked, gently grabbing her arm so she wouldn't walk away right away.

    She looked down at his gesture, and smiled without seeming irritated or anything. "Yeah. Sure. I'll be back." Beau nodded, then she finally made her way through the crowd of teenagers around her.

    Daisy took the time to take a deep breath as she walked over to where the people were getting their drinks, trying to erase that last gesture that Beau had just made. She winced just remembering, and glanced back to make sure he wasn't following her. He wasn't. She resumed her natural steps, calming down the speed at which she was going, then finally arrived at the keg.

    Daisy felt eyes on her, not only because she was wearing a dress that was quite revealing at the level of her chest, but also because of the recent events that had affected her family recently. People talked in a small town like this, everyone knew everything before it hit the papers. And that was something Daisy hated — getting attention for nothing. It wasn't her who owed the attention, it was Lila when they went to see her at the cemetery. Even after a whole year, people seemed stuck on the death of the Abbott girl. Maybe because Lila really had been a great person around everyone, but Daisy didn't need all these eyes on her. She hated it. Letting everyone know that she was doing sad, who judged her without doing anything.

    With all her thoughts, she didn't even realize that she was overflowing her glass by pressing the keg handle again. She cursed as she pulled herself away from it, and let her eyes wander to her dress where a beer stain was now in full view of everyone when they went to be near her. She tried to rub the stain away with her hand, but it resulted in nothing but a large transparent stain and the smell of beer on her. She sighed to herself, and took a sip from her red cup.

"Hey, Daisy." She turned around, hearing her name being pronounced a few meters away to find Pope Heyward next to her with tissues in his hand. "You may need them."

    She laughed stupidly, not feeling at all uncomfortable in front of Pope who was looking at her with kindness in his eyes. She placed her glass on the sand and delicately took the tissues in her hands. "Thank you, Pope. How are you doing?" She asked, rubbing on her dress with it.

"Uh, pretty good. I'm trying to flirt with a girl, but I took a break. I can't do it." He said, shaking his head and laughing even though Daisy could see the desperation on his face. She knew Pope as a best friend, she knew he could get annoying and talk about not so interesting topics.  "How are you? You don't really hang out with us anymore "

Dozens of answers floated through dear Daisy's head, but she found herself giving him a fake smile as usual. "Good. I mean, apart from a boy sticking up my ass, I'm fine." She sent with a shrug, which elicited a laugh from Pope.

"Well, if you want, you can come join us. JJ's busy if you're worried about seeing him." He suggested, pointing with his thumb at the group behind him. She looked over her shoulder, seeing each Pogues with a tourist at their disposal. Specifically JJ kissing a blonde who was about to make him fall to the ground because she was clinging to him so much.

She kindly declined his offer, keeping her eye roll to herself. "It's okay. I— I don't want to bother you. And besides, I have to watch Kyla so she doesn't end up drowning in the beer."

    "Are you sure?" He asked, raising his brows. "I think Kiara would be pretty happy if you joined."

    Daisy looked back at her friend talking to a boy, and she moved her head in a downward motion. "I know, but it's fine. Um, see you later, Pope. And good luck with your flirting, I'm sure you'll do great." She said with a wink.

Pope gave her one last warm smile of his own before running off towards the girl he was with earlier, making Daisy giggle under her breath. She stopped trying to remove the beer stain, and threw the tissues into the bag reserved for the cups. She filled Beau's glass without overflowing this time, and rejoined the group with her friends in the distance. Several were now added, like the well-known trio within the Kooks; Rafe, Topper and Kelce. Three faces that she hated, one more than the other. She sighed, knowing she was going to have to stay close to Rafe, but reminded herself that she wasn't just a little girl. She was no longer going to deprive herself of being far from her friends because of him, it was up to him to leave. He didn't belong here.

Daisy forcefully put a smile on her lips, and came to place herself next to Beau, placing the red cup in his hand with joy on her face. "Here for you."

"Thanks." He responded, grabbing it and taking a large gulp.

   Daisy pursed her lips, showing an annoyed smile and stayed at his side for a moment, feeling him try to take her hand in his. She felt out of place, and cleared her throat a little before motioning for Kyla to come join her as quickly as possible. Her friend nodded in the distance, gave the boy next to her a kiss on the cheek, and rushed towards Daisy who had managed to avoid Beau's hand numerous times.

"What's up?" The redhead asked, moving a strand of her hair as Daisy took her hand to move further away from the boy. Beau turned his head, watching them go and sit on a fallen tree trunk. "Everything's fine?" Kyla continued with the questions after they sat down, their beers in hand.

Daisy raised her shoulders, looking around as she bit her lip. "Ye— Yeah. He just sticks up my ass, and . . . He always does uncomfortable stuff." She explained without ever saying his name, but Kyla understood very well who she was talking about.

"Uncomfortable stuff? Like what?" She said, raising her eyebrows.

Daisy turned her eyes towards her, feeling her cheeks flush in embarrassment at what she was about to say. "Like . . . He lifted my chin. Too embarrassing, I can't."

Kyla giggled, covering her mouth with her hand before subtly admitting, "It's kinda cute."

Daisy stared at her with her usual frown when Kyla said something she disagreed with. "No. It's too much. And, I think he thinks we're a couple after our simple first kiss. I'm not interested in him, Kyla."

She took a sip of her beer before pouting a little, feeling bad for her friend. "So why did you agree to a date with him?"

"I needed a distraction, I guess." She tried, shrugging again. She hastened to add, "And for the record, I don't even remember when he proposed this date to me. I probably would never have accepted it."

"You sure as hell don't remember." She pointed out, giggling under her breath, earning a look of confusion and questions from Daisy. She explained, "He asked you when you were drunk, D. I tried to make you understand, but you were completely in love with him at the moment."

Daisy's head fell straight into her hands at this revelation, and cursed. "Oh, my God. I'm such an idiot. He took advantage of my drunk answers!" She exclaimed, pointing at him.

Kyla was quick to lower Daisy's finger so as not to bring more attention to them. "Calm down. It's over now. You just have to stay away from him. and he'll somehow understand, I guess." The Hartley girl suggested as a matter of course. Daisy nodded, already thinking about how to approach him. "But . . . I have a question."

"What is it?" Daisy replied, positioning herself better on the trunk, her hand on her dress so that it wouldn't fly in the wind.

Kyla scratched the back of her head, grinding her teeth a little. "You hated Beau's gesture, but I thought you were a total romantic, Daisy? I saw you doing much more awkward things with JJ—"

    Daisy cut her off, turning away from her, shaking her head like a five-year-old. "It's so unfair to bring this back, Kay."

    "But you know I'm right." Kyla replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

    "I don't wanna talk about it anymore." She slipped between her lips, rising from the tree dead on the sand. Kyla looked at her before seeing a hand point in front of her. "Wanna dance?"

    The redheaded girl giggled before happily standing up, grabbing Daisy's soft hand in hers. The two girls headed towards the middle of the beach where the music was best heard, and let themselves go to the rhythm of the sounds passing through their eardrums for several minutes. Daisy finally managed to free herself from thinking about the boys on both sides of the beach, watching her. She let herself move with Kyla's hands in hers, turning her around.

    The start of the evening was great compared to the rest that was to come.

authors note: Hey everybody!! I hope you're doing good after I dropped this chapter who's very mixed with everything. So, I know you must be a bit confused about Lila's death but... Can I just be honest with you? I just had this idea yesterday, and it's just adding a lot of drama and plot twist sooo I just put that there without thinking.

So story short, Lila Abbott was in a relationship with Rafe Cameron ( for once, the main character isn't in a toxic relationship with him lol, but my girl is not really safe either way... just saying ) and basically, Daisy blame him for it. You'll understand later in the story, don't worry.

Any ideas on what happened between JJ & Daisy?? What about Daisy & Kyla's friendship? I actually find them sooo cute!!

Anyway! Love you all and take care of yourself until next time . . . See you soon <3