CHAPTER THREE.
god, it's brutal out here

    THE EVENING ON THE BEACH began to slowly move under the ocean, giving way to darkness and the light disappeared below the waves. A cool summer wind had just set in, and small campfires were now lit everywhere. The beer was smell everywhere people went, while the music always rang in their ears, making them all dance together. Everyone was having fun and enjoying their time without any drama or fight. For once, maybe the evening would end without someone with a bloody nose.

    Many small groups had now formed around the campfires, and they talked together with a beer in hand as they had since the beginning of the party. Everything was going perfectly, no fights has been declared since, and Kooks and Pogues were getting along with each other, surely because of the alcohol's effect.

    Daisy was a little further away from each group, not really knowing where to stand now. Several beers had since leaked into her body, and she felt herself losing control of her thoughts a little, but she was still standing on her own two legs. Her hair now fluttered in every direction as she let herself live under the warmth of the night falling on her with the moon illuminating her. She had spent the evening enjoying with each of her friends, starting with Kyla, and then ending with Kyla and Kiara with her. Daisy was surprised to discover that they got along quite well, which was quite a relief to her, not wanting another drama between her two best friends. Talking about Sarah, she didn't see her as much as she would have liked since Topper stuck to her wherever she went. Well as much as Daisy could stand him, when she's drunk she can't do it. So, she created a path away from him and the others.

    But now, after drinking with the two girls, she was wandering alone around people, passing between each of them, jostling some of them. She apologized each time, then continued on her way to the keg to fill her seventh drink of the evening. She told herself she was coming here to take her mind off things, and that's what she did by diving straight into alcohol. She could count herself lucky to hold the alcohol well, she was allowed several drinks according to her own facts.

    After her glass was refilled, she wanted to join Kyla in the distance who seemed to not really be very sober anymore. Kiara was still with her, but the redhead seemed on the edge of falling. Daisy thought in her mind that it was maybe the time to go home. She took a sip of her beer, advanced a step into the cool sand of the night, but a person came to grab the one hand who was free, and dragged her further away with eyes at everything but her. Daisy gasped and tried to free herself from his handle, but nothing worked. He was grabbing her with force but softness. The stranger didn't hurt her, that's what she's trying to say. He took her behind a tree not far from the beach, and the boy finally let go of her, making her sigh while swearing at the person. She lifted her face, brushing strands of hair out of her face only to find the only boy she didn't want to talk to in front of her with a smile on his lips.

    She discovered a blond with slightly red cheeks because of the alcohol he must have taken multiple times during the evening, or it was lipstick, that the girl who kissed him throughout the party, expanded on these. In any case, she hated herself for finding him even more handsome like that. She moved her hand over her face, trying to wash away whatever effect the alcohol had had on her. She had to look sober in front of him or else she might do things she don't want to. She wanted to be the one controlling whatever conversation that was coming soon.

"Oh God." Daisy huffed with annoyance towards the boy who looked at her between his blue eyes. He took a step closer, cocking his head to the side as if proud of himself, but she burst his bubble by pushing him away with a sternly exaggerated eye roll. "You really can't leave me alone, can you?" She smacked those words into her mouth, and he didn't take away his smile as he answered her.

"I have to talk to you." He said that one sentence, leaving her completely confused because, well, they had already talked. They had spoken, what, two days ago? Yeah, it's been two days since Daisy had her bad date with Beau and JJ showed up at her house to talk because of Kiara's need to work things out between them. "Can we?"

"No. We've already talked, and I don't need more." She stated firmly without fear of being abrupt. She had the right to be angry. She had been angry for a year, but people still saw her as an angel. But no, she was angry. Completely red inside. "So, excuse me, but I'm going to go join my friends." She told him before taking another sip of her refreshing alcohol in the hot night.

JJ blocked her path by standing in front of her, his chest close to hers. Daisy tried to deflect him, but he moved with her, making her blush with annoyance. "I have to talk to you." He repeated a little harsher, wanting to make her understand, but all Daisy understood was that he was making fun of her. Everyone was making fun of her when it came to her feelings.

    She looked up at him, blinking white lightning into his. "Maybank, get out of my way." She ordered him at the same time she persisted to make a path away from him.

    "Do you know how pretty you look tonight?" He tried to distract her, his arms spread to completely block the possible passage. She would like to run, but she was in a dress.

Daisy frowned. "What are you trying to do here?" She questioned angrily at him.

"Calm you down." He replied to her honestly while his hair played in the wind in funny movements. He had no control over his hair and Daisy took the opportunity to laugh internally. Each strand went in different directions, making it messy but also . . . shit. He was hot. JJ Maybank was absolutely hot like that, and he didn't even know it.

She tried for another fifteen seconds to escape before finally giving up, her dress flying in the breeze of the wind that flew like a cloud. The wind wasn't strong, just enough not to let her die of heat with the alcohol flowing through her. She took a sip of her drink to keep her nerves in check and not explode, but JJ had other ideas in mind.

He judged her up and down with his blue eyes, staring at her face several times. Then he fell face to face with the red goblet that she had brought to her lips too many times since the beginning of the evening. JJ himself was under the influence of alcohol, but seeing the girl in front of him getting into this thing for probably the same reason as him, he hated it. He knew what she was going through lately with her family, and he knew deep down that alcohol wasn't going to change anything. He had tried too many times to be sure.

So, with his big hand, he slipped it around the glass, grabbing the goblet and emptying it onto the floor. His fingers brushed against Daisy's, and she thought she was stupid for getting shivers with just this simple gesture, even if it wasn't intentional on his part. Her eyes widened as he finally considered what he was doing, and she jumped on him to take the goblet from his hands.

    "JJ, give me that drink." She exclaimed, raising her arm in the air to reach his height, but it was wasted effort. There wasn't a big difference in height between them, but Daisy was having trouble standing up straight at the moment while he was proud of himself. "JJ, come on." She almost begged, her toes on tiptoes to reach him but she fell back repeatedly.

    He smiled to himself seeing her struggling like that, and while she put her hair back in place to attack him a second time, he quickly brought the glass to his lips to make the liquid disappear while she didn't look.

    "Asshole." She whistled between her pink lips when she discovered him finishing what was left in the goblet. He chuckled after swallowing, his facial features coming out with that honest laugh.

    "Okay, I'm done messing." He grumbled as he raised his hands in the air to declare peace between them when he saw Daisy blowing red flames around her head. He finished his laugh by running a hand through his hair, straightening it back into place even though Daisy would have liked him to return to the party with his hair all a mess.

With plenty of annoyance inside her, Daisy questioned as her patience began to disappear from her body a little faster, "What do you want, JJ?"

Slowly, the smile that lit up his face a minute ago disappeared. She stared at him while he suddenly looked lost. It was like he didn't know why he was there with her anymore, like he wasn't sure what he wanted to talk about anymore. His memory had absolutely failed him after this little moment they had just shared, but as he looked at Daisy, he didn't understand why she didn't react more. She stood there with her arms crossed, waiting for his explanation.

"Right. Um," he stuttered as he scratched the back of his head, eyes closing to find what he wanted to say, but nothing came out. In fact, he had come to talk to her, but the words wouldn't come out. In fact, he took her away from people to spend time with her. Not to talk to her, but to hear her laughter that he hasn't heard in months. And again, Daisy didn't look like she wanted to laugh. She looked like she wanted to strangle him. "I saw you talking to Beau Monreo earlier?"

After that stupid question, JJ didn't expect more from Daisy; she choked on a fake laugh, stunned by the fact that JJ had only come here out of jealousy. She rolled her eyes, turning her head to the left to no longer meet his face which no longer seemed to function. JJ kind of froze, knowing that was the question not to ask. "I can't believe you. Are you jealous?"

    He chuckled, pretending it wasn't true.

    It was true.

    Even if he didn't want to answer that, he was still jealous. Extremely jealous of Beau Monreo just to be able to talk to her. JJ replied, "I'm not jealous. I just want you to know that he's an asshole. He's, what, eighteen?"

    She shrugged, not understanding where he was going with this. "So what?"

"So what?" He repeated, his voice raised by the shock that went through him after this response from the brunette. He hadn't expected the discussion to drift like this, but if the opportunity presented itself to him, he wasn't going to reject it. He really needed to talk with her. "Daisy, this is Beau Monreo. We made fun of guys like him three months ago."

    "Exactly." She agreed, her face not changing even though she knew what he was talking about now. He saw the change in Daisy when everyone ignored it. "That was three months ago. Go next chapter, JJ."

    "Yeah." He breathed hard, keeping eye contact with Daisy as he saw what he'd been trying not to see since everything had gone wrong between them. Daisy was angry with him, she didn't want to see him. She hated him with that staring look in her brown irises.

"And...I saw that you had a lot of fun with that Touron. We made fun of them three months ago. But, you see, I got to the next chapter." She muttered, lifting her shoulders upwards because she couldn't do anything else. She didn't have the morals to yell at him tonight, she didn't want to look at him anymore. It hurt her to think that he was looking at her in a different way three months ago and now here he was, acting jealous when they weren't even friends anymore. She couldn't understand it right now. She wondered if she ever understood it. "I'm sorry you haven't moved on. But remember, JJ, it's you. You made me go after guys like him."

    "You can always come back with us, Dais." He proposed, no more talking more about was she just said about the tourist and the next-chapter thing. He took a step forward and pointed to the group of Pogues in the distance. "You may not want to see me, but Kiara's right. You can't distance yourself from us because of me. Don't go with the Kooks." He explained to her in a strangely calm voice that made the girl frown, confusion running through her head as she didn't understand the change in his words. "They're not good for you."

    She let him know, "So are you, Maybank."

He closed his mouth, tilting his head towards the sand where he seemed to sink deeper and deeper as Daisy spoke to him. He licked his lips and finally looked up at her, happy that she hadn't left while he took the time to take what she said into his heart. He analyzed her for two seconds and asked gently, "Do you want me to take you home? You look tired and—"

    "Yeah, I'm tired of you, JJ." She said as a lock of hair rustled across her forehead, and shivers spread across her naked arms. "I'm going to go back to my friends and forget about that conversation. We're not friends anymore, JJ, so stop acting like we are."

He tried to reach her hand as she passed him, her shoulder hitting him. "Daisy..."

    But she didn't stop, and continued on her way to where a campfire was being lit and Kyla Hartley was standing with Kelce talking to her, a wicked smile plastered on her lips. Daisy didn't turn around to find JJ looking at her because she could feel him still staring at her with his blue eyes as if to make sure she didn't do something stupid. This last conversation had taken her by surprise. She had tried to be mean to him, to show him the hurt she had experienced when he did it to her, but it didn't give her the desired pleasure. She even blamed herself a little for most of her actions. How he tried to make her smile by taking away her glass and she didn't even lift her lips into a nice curve. No, she didn't want to give him reasons for them to become friends again. She had to keep her distance and forget about him.

The Abbott girl moved quickly through the crowd, straightening her yellow dress properly and lowering it a little further to her knees. She almost ran towards Kyla who was still talking with Kelce, her hair playing in the wind in an endless dance. Daisy wondered where Kiara had gone, but paid no more attention as she focused on her friend who smelled of alcohol three kilometers away.

"Kyla." Daisy sighed as she came up behind her, her hands falling to her shoulders to keep her in place. The red-haired girl turned her head towards Daisy, her eyes suddenly lighting up with explosive joy. "Hey."

She let herself go into her arms, wrapping her arms around her friend with a big smile. "Daisy! Aw, I lost you but you're back." She whispered in her ear, her voice trailing off as her eyelids grew heavier.

Daisy patted her back, keeping her hands wrapped around her, then she looked up at Kelce who judged them, feeling almost awkward at not knowing what to do with his hands. Daisy assured him, "I'll take care of her, you can leave."

He argued right away, "I was going to take her home. You don't need—"

"I'll take care of her, Kelce." She snapped with more confidence, taking a step back as he had his hand towards Kyla. "Back off."

    "Geez. I was trying to be nice here." He added, raising his hands in innocence, but Daisy knew Kelce was anything but innocent. He hung out with Rafe Cameron and Topper, and none of them were innocent. Daisy could say the same about Kelce. What the hell was Kyla doing with him?

"You? Being nice?" Daisy scoffed without hesitation as Kyla moved out of her arms to stand next to her. "Nice try, Kelce."

    He frowned, but Daisy already stopped paying him any attention. She put her arm around Kyla's shoulders and her friend did the same, then they turned their backs on Kelce, making their way to another place where there was less noise and fewer Kooks.

    "Can you explain to me what the hell you were doing with him, Kay?" She hastened to question, not specifically expecting a good reason since she's as drunk as ever. "Kelce's an ass."

    Kyla nodded. "I agree with you."

    Daisy continued, "He's like Rafe and Topper. Crazy guys who are possessive of their girlfriends, but it's nothing good and lovely, you know."

    "I agree with you." Kyla repeated, still walking in step with Daisy, her head lowered.

    Daisy moved her eyebrows blankly, and without thinking, she tried something. "There's an alien next to you."

    "I agree with you."

    "Kyla!"

    The redhead girl didn't even flinch after Daisy's exclamation. She just raised her head really slowly, swallowing hard. She had a bad look on her face. "I think I'm drunk, Dais."

    "No shit." She said in a loudly sarcastic tone, deflecting her irises towards her to observe her better. She saw how Kyla held back from opening her mouth, but also how she held her stomach with her hand. Daisy opened her eyes wide, but grimaced despite herself. "Oh no."

    The Hartley girl nodded, disgusted by what she was going to do. "Oh yes."

Kyla's breathing stopped for two seconds before she spat out everything she had drunk for hours, vomiting onto the beige sand where the water lay. Daisy grimaced, putting her hand over her mouth to stop herself from reacting and to be there for her friend. She hurried to grab Kyla's magnificent hair, and gently twisted it between her fingers.

    She finished what she had to take out, and in the meantime, a girl came running towards them. Daisy looked up to distract herself from the noises Kyla was coming out of her mouth, and met the face of Kiara Carrera who was rushing towards them with bottles jammed all over her.

    Daisy frowned, still holding the hair, and grumbled, "Kie? What are you doing?"

    Kiara finally arrived at her side, out of breath from the little run she had just done, the water bottles stuck between her arms and hands. "Hey, Dais. I left for two minutes to get some water for Kyla who..." Her words trailed away, seeing and hearing what Kyla was still doing, her hands resting on her knees to steady herself. "Who obviously wasn't throwing up when I left her."

"Yeah, you've been gone for, like, fifteen minutes, Kie." Daisy told her, rolling her eyes, exasperating for so little, but she really didn't want to be here anymore after the discussion with JJ Maybank. She hated him for playing on her emotions. She was fine and two seconds later she was angry again.

Yeah, fuck you, Maybank!

Kiara gave Daisy a bottle of water. "I'm sorry. I got distracted with the others." She explained with a soft smile, and the brunette couldn't stay upset for much longer. It wasn't Kiara's fault, the two girls barely knew each other.

"It's okay." Daisy reassured her at the same time as Kyla finally got up, her mouth half open to take some deep breaths. Both girls looked at her, concerned whether she was okay or not. "You should drink some water, babe."

Kyla did not reject this order and grabbed the water bottle without force. She quickly unscrewed the cap, and swallowed in large gulps to remove the taste that was in her mouth. Kiara and Daisy stared at her doing it, exchanging nothing but a worried look at Kyla who didn't stop drinking or spitting out the water to release the bad taste stuck everywhere between her cheeks.

"Stop looking at me like that." Kyla groaned, breathing deeply to calm the new retching inside her.

"Well, you threw up for a whole minute, Kay." Daisy said, shrugging her shoulders like it was obvious. "So I'm quite worried. Are you okay?"

Kyla shook her head, waving her hand as if to erase what had just happened. "Never again, Dais. Take note because this is the last time I drink."

Kiara scoffed, "Yeah, we all say that."

Kyla closed her eyes, tilted her head back and breathed in the cool night air to cool herself. "Gooood! I hate drinking." She complained, and uncomfortably, Daisy came to pat her back, supporting her as best she could without stepping in the liquid on the floor. "Let's go home, Dais."

"Good idea. I'll take you back." She nodded, putting her arm around Kyla's shoulders again to support her as she walked sideways. Daisy turned to face Kiara, seeing her standing there without saying anything. "Hey, do you want me to give you a ride too? I came with my dad's car."

Kiara kindly declined, "No, it's alright. I'll have to bring the boys back anyway."

Daisy nodded. "Right."

It had been three months since Daisy had distanced herself from the Pogues because of the problems between her and JJ, but it wasn't just the blonde she missed. Truth be told, Daisy still saw a little of the Pogues and hung out with them when the Maybank boy wasn't around, but it had become a little more distant. She was always close to Kiara, spending her days with her when they worked together for hours on end, having fun making jokes about the customers. But Daisy absolutely hated the fact that she had been away from the boys for months because of a simple problem. She literally considered them brothers, always annoying her but at least they weren't jerks like Rafe or Topper.

So when Kiara said that little sentence, Daisy felt a pang jump in her heart because she was usually the one who helped Kiara bring the boys home. She helped JJ and John B because Pope was never as drunk as them. He was almost like the dad of the group while Kiara and Daisy took care of throwing the other two guys to bed like the babies they were.

    She wished, she really wished she could just forget about the misunderstanding between her and JJ, but it wasn't that simple. JJ did really hurt her that night, but there was something else going on inside her besides her feelings for him. Lila Abbott, her big sister. Lila's death had left her a little confused because she wanted to discover what comfort her big sister had found with the Kooks, so Daisy started to get acquainted with them a little more, but for real, it was hell. Nothing was fun with the Kooks. She hoped to forget this thing with JJ, she hoped to forget her sixteenth birthday party. She hoped to forget everything and return to the abnormal. But this was obviously no longer possible. Daisy Abbott was stuck in a wave of problems that she didn't know how to handle.

    "Hey, Daisy!" A voice called out to her not far from her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She blinked, finding that she was walking alongside Kiara and Kyla, still holding her friend tightly with her arm draped over her shoulders. Despite herself, she noticed Beau Monreo approaching her with Rafe behind him, a glass to his lips. "Hey, are you leaving yet?"

    She cleared her throat while he closed the space between them and stood next to her, as did Rafe who was staring at her with his eyes narrowed at her. She ignored him and focused on Beau. "Uh, yeah. Kyla's tired and I'm working tomorrow." She lied because she didn't want to talk to him more than that. Daisy felt Kiara's eyes drifting towards her after that lie, but she didn't do anything about it. It wasn't the crime of the century either.

    "I'm sure Kelce can take care of her. You could stay a little longer, right?" Beau insisted, offering ideas but Daisy didn't want anything.

    She didn't accept anything he told her. "No, that's good. We'll go." She declared while Kyla was literally sleeping on her arm.

    Beau took a step towards her, making her look up at him with this sudden gesture of his. "Come on, Kyla can stay with her while you come with us." Beau continued, pointing at the two other girls who were on either side of Daisy.

"My name is Kiara, asshole." The curly-haired girl replied, taking a step forward as she crossed her arms. "And if they want to leave, they will. Back off, dude."

Beau stared at her without hiding it, and at the same time, out of the corner of her eye, Daisy saw Rafe take a big step towards her, moving closer and closer into her space where there was a limit to where he could stand close of her. And he was going way too far over the limit, making her breathe rapidly. He had to go away because she hated this hold of anxiety that he managed towards her when he was near. It's the same boy who had your sister killed, her mind whispered to her, quickly bringing her back to the memories of Lila collapsed on the ground lifeless. She closed her eyes in pain, attracting the attention of everyone.

"Come with me, the whole group is over there." Beau directed, taking Daisy's free hand in a firm grip, getting it away from Kyla who nearly fell to the ground if Kiara hadn't supported her at the right moment. The Abbott girl frowned, trying to get away without yelling or causing a scene because Beau was too drunk to know what he was doing.

"Beau, I'm good. I have to take Kay home." She explained as he pulled her closer to his chest, his breath smelling of alcohol close to her face. "Let me go."

The boy didn't answer right away, running his fingers through Daisy's hair which made her react. He was in no good condition now. His eyes were dilated, and a wicked smile was drawn on his face which gave no good impression. "We could go on a date again, what do you think?"

"No, thank you. Let me go." Daisy demanded for the second time, pressing her hands to his chest to stop him from getting too close to her. "Beau, let me go."

"Man, she told you to leave her." Kiara intervened after sitting Kyla on a tree lying on the sand. She pushed him to make him understand, but he remained almost frozen and held Daisy's wrists firmly. "Hey!" She exclaimed when he didn't react.

"Stop that, Kiara. That's not about you." Rafe leaned into the confrontation, taking place in front of the girl he had just spoken to, looking down to reach her. "Go away."

    "What's your problem?" Kiara retorted, her eyebrows furrowed as she seemed to try to process the words of the tall blonde in front of her. "She doesn't want to."

    Daisy didn't hear the next few words he spoke to Kiara, because Beau was now dragging her with the others. Her wrists were still between his, but she pulled in the other direction to escape him, which failed miserably. "Beau, let me go. What's wrong with you?"

"Rafe told me some things about you and your crazy family." Beau began abruptly, stopping walking and Daisy blinked repeatedly to catch what he was saying with those words. "Your sister was a drug addict? I didn't know about it. There are several rumors circulating that she committed suicide, is that true? Because I don't want that in my life and—"

"Fuck you." Daisy finally managed to push him away when he eased his pressure around her wrists. She pushed away from him, shutting out the other bad words that were going to come out between his lips if she hadn't pushed him away. "You don't have an opinion to give, Beau. So shut up."

Beau ran an annoying hand through his brown hair, and persisted, "Are you a drug addict too? Sometimes it runs in the family."

It was too much for Daisy. He had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, and hearing the fact that rumors were still circulating about Lila after a year and four months was something she would want to burn. No one was allowed to utter Lila's name under their lips if it was to ridicule her or send insults while she was in heaven. No one could talk about her like that when they didn't even know what he was talking about.

A slap flew towards Beau's face, making a sharp, direct sound as Daisy brought her female hand to his boy's cheek. She released all the anger that she had accumulated and welcomed inside her since the beginning of the evening. Beau took the slap into himself, trying not to show the effect the slap had just produced on his cheek.

"You're a fucking bastard." She spat in his face, taking a step forward to push him a second time. "You didn't even know her."

"All right, calm down." He articulated after shaking his head several times to clear the tingling that crossed his cheek where a red spot began to form. "What did you just do, huh?"

    She didn't have time to respond before Beau tripped her backwards, causing her to fall on her butt. She gasped, landing hard on the sand. Her head fell back, bumping painfully against the texture she loved, but right now the sand seemed harder than usual because it punched her in the back of the head. She grimaced as she raised her head with difficulty, and she judged with her eyes Beau who walked away from her without saying anything more. She wanted to get up and hit him again because where could he possibly think of talking about Lila like that without consequences? And why had Rafe said those things about them?

"Hey. Hey, are you okay?" Someone asked to her left, crouching beside her. Daisy raised her brown eyes to the voice, sensing Kiara kneeling next to her with Kyla doing everything she could to stay standing. "Come on, get up slowly."

Daisy nodded, then slipped her fingers through Kiara's to find stability amidst the chaos that was confusing her thoughts. Her head was spinning from the alcohol still in her body floating through her veins. Kiara helped her get back on her feet, and without waiting, she removed the sand that had settled on her pretty dress.

"Thanks, Kie." She whispered to her, trying to show a smile but she couldn't.

"That asshole of Rafe didn't let me come to you, I'm sorry." She hurried to say, not wanting her to think that she hasn't try to help her. She pressed her hand to her shoulder, searching the girl's eyes intently. "Are you okay? He was pretty hard on you."

    "I'm okay." Daisy lied again, but now it was to her best friend. Kiara remained silent for a moment, keeping her palm pressed against her shoulder. She judged her with a look, then gave up with a sigh. Daisy cleared her throat and moved towards Kyla, putting an arm around her waist. "Let's go home."

    Kyla groaned tiredly as Daisy passed by her, holding her close before she started walking towards the car, which was quite far from where they were. The two girls only had time to take four steps before hearing shouting in the distance, where a camp fire was being lit and most of the people remaining were placed.

Daisy spun around, taking Kyla with her and what she saw took her breath away. Damn, it really is impossible to have a single evening without drama between everyone, she thought at the moment she saw the faces of people fighting. Beau Monreo appeared in her vision, but the onewho mattered to her was the other, JJ Maybank. But what was he doing? Fighting with Beau Monreo? And not just a little, Daisy could see the brunet boy fell to the ground after a punch from JJ.

"Why are we not moving anymore?" Kyla asked, looking at Daisy with half-lidded eyes. When she saw that she didn't answer her, she followed the direction where the girl was staring. "Who's fighting?"

    "JJ." The name crossed Daisy's lips faster than she would have liked.

    "Oh, shit." Kyla exclaimed, now opening her eyes wide. They were only twenty-five meters from the battle, and they could see very well what was happening. "What are you waiting for? Go."

"Go? Kay, I don't care about JJ." Daisy admitted, even though part of her was forming a ball of worry for the blond because she knew him. He was always in fights, and it always ended up in the ears of the police station.

Kyla shrugged, ignoring what Daisy said. "Okay. If you don't go, then I'll go by myself."

Daisy frowned. "What?" She questioned, looking over her shoulder to see her, but somehow, Kyla was already running towards the battle in the distance. "Kyla!"

Daisy couldn't hold Kyla back as she ran towards the storm of people that had formed around the battle in the middle of the beach. For a girl who was about to fall asleep on her shoulder a few minutes ago, Kyla was more than awake at this point. Daisy took a second to think about what to do, but decided there weren't a thousand things to do. Kyla was still drunk, and she had to take her home. She must not lose sight of her. So it was with a roll of her eyes and a grunt of annoyance that the Abbott girl headed towards the circle of people who were screaming and . . . enjoying? Yeah, some people were having fun watching two guys fight.

    Daisy finally arrived alongside Kyla again, the two girls hiding behind older boys yelling for the boy they thought would win. Daisy couldn't believe what she was hearing. She could say she loved the island she lived on, but this? This kind of battle contest that always happened between the two tribes was something she hated. She didn't like violence unless it was necessary, so seeing people, both girls and boys, applauding for two people who were beating each other up was a horror to see. But she didn't help, because if she got caught between these two guys, she wasn't going to end up intact. She was probably going to come out with a black eye. And she didn't want to think about how her father would react to seeing her in this condition.

Four people were in the middle of this cursed circle. Beau Monreo getting up from the ground, JJ Maybank being pushed out of the fight by his best friend, John B Routledge, and without understanding, the person she should have thought would obviously end up in this, Topper Thornton. This guy couldn't help but grab the attention and always send hate towards the Pogues for stupid reasons. Topper patted Beau on the back before pushing him out of the drama. Daisy followed the boy who had pushed her earlier, and she saw his bloody nose and a crack on his forehead. JJ hadn't been gentle with him, he had even let go a little too much. She worried for a second about what was gonna happen to him if that fight got to the police, but suddenly, another fight started.

    "What the hell?" Daisy huffed under her breath, meeting JJ's eyes as he returned to stand next to Pope who began yelling at him, talking about being incognito. She broke away from his gaze on her, and turned to look at the battle that was taking place before her irises.

Now, for the second round, it was John B Routledge and Topper Thornton who pushed and punched each other while the Kook shouted insults at the Pogues. "Dirty Pogues!" He exclaimed, causing John B to react with anger appearing on his features.

    In less than a microsecond after these words passed Topper's hate-stained lips, John B turned, unleashing his flames of anger against the blond by pushing him with all his force. Topper stumbled between his feet, but still didn't fall to the ground while Sarah gasped as she saw the scene happening in front of her. She stretched her arm forward to reach her boyfriend, but he was already moving forward to slam his fist mercilessly into John B's face.

    Daisy grabbed Kyla's arm unwillingly. Her eyes played between Pope who tried to contain JJ Maybank who was struggling to add to the battle and defend his best friend, and to Topper who strode towards the Routledge boy who was now lying on the ground after the blow received in the face. The Abbott girl pushed her way through the boys blocking her view, and landed in the middle of Kiara and Sarah who both looked completely distraught while Topper kicked John B in the stomach, knocking him down in the water, making him hold in pain at the same time as he had to prepare to fight back.

"Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?" Topper shouted at him, pointing at him as the teen leaned on his elbow to keep himself from falling completely, feeling waves hitting his back. He was still in the water when the Kook punched him in the chest again.

Daisy couldn't help but let out little screams of fear inside, seeing what Topper did, but she couldn't do anything as the anxiety grew inside her for John B. She always worried about them and it's not because she sees them less than usual that she wouldn't help them. She wished she could jump on Topper and bore his eyes into his head, but she couldn't. If she dared to enter this battle, it was over for her. She was going to finish with one arm less. So, she remained clinging to Kyla's arm, analyzing all the chaos before her eyes.

    While people of everywhere shouted Fight! Fight! Fight!, Daisy ran a trembling hand through her long brown hair. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and she wanted to scream back for them to stop approving of what was happening. Her nerves were starting to spike as she tried her best to keep her stress within herself and not cling to anyone or simply ask someone to stop what was happening right in front of them.

By the time Topper did his little celebration with his arms raised in the air, considering that he had won the battle since John B was still in the water, the brunette suddenly got up, a new light brushing his eyes before throwing himself on Topper to take him into the water with him. John B put his arm around him, tossed him towards the sand, making the boy drink salt water from the sea. Daisy watched the scene with horror and worry playing between her dark eyes, taking a step back in realization of how it was turning out.

"John B, cut it out!" Daisy couldn't stop herself from blurting out these words because it was getting too serious and dangerous.

    Kiara joined Daisy, exclaiming, "Stop, you guys!"

    But nothing seemed to stop them. They delivered blow after blow, getting up on their feet mixed in the sand and water. Now both soaked from the sea, they returned to the middle of the beach, the circle around them having expanded from the beginning. Sarah Cameron took steps back, her arms in front of her to protect herself as the two boys took over for their stupid fight. Continuing in a certain collision, they surrounded each other, and each threw punches in the ribs, trying to weaken the other but both remained standing like animals.

    Topper finally managed to free himself from John B's large arms, pushing him away from him, growling. Kyla stepped back with Daisy so they wouldn't get hit by John B's elbows who wouldn't stop fidgeting, preparing for the second level he advanced towards.

"Topper! Stop!" Sarah ordered in a trembling voice, and Daisy turned her face to meet her eyes at the right moment since the blonde was staring at her too. Daisy simply responded with a shake of her head, telling her not to get involved.

John B managed to reach Topper by punching him in the face, and Daisy's hands came to cover her mouth which had just let out a loud cry. They continued to circle each other, their eyes locked on each other with powerful rage in their bodies. "Come on!" John B hissed.

Topper raised his eyebrows, his fists preparing to strike. "Yeah, you wanna go?" Daisy could swear she saw a smirk pass like a breeze across Topper's face. The Kook didn't wait any longer before returning the punch, causing John B to bounce backwards.

    It was pure hatred venting between them. They expressed their anger at each other, John B wishing to defend his father's honor after what Topper had just mentioned, and the Kook deigned to show himself as stronger than a simple Pogue. The teenagers all around continued to shout loudly, wanting a bloody battle between the boys of two different tribes. Daisy couldn't think straight when she saw Kelce laughing with Rafe close to him, their eyes locked on Topper who kept throwing punches into John B's face that were spinning from side to side with the force the blonde put in his hands.

"Get him, John B! Come on!" Daisy heard a roar near her. She moved to hear who was cheering, and she met JJ Maybank's face glinting with anger in his navy blue eyes.

As if he felt her gaze fixed on him and on what he was forcing out of his throat, he turned towards her. She shook her head before he could speak or anything, and exclaimed, "Are you serious? This is going to end badly, JJ!"

He didn't have a single second to be able to stupidly shout back at the girl when they both returned to the battle where people were shouting even louder, fists raised in the air, each proclaiming different things. Daisy didn't understand at first and looked for the boys in the circle where they were before, but they were no longer there. No, now they were back in the cold sea water. Daisy's eyes popped out of her head when she saw what was happening. It was no longer a simple battle.

Topper held John B's head underwater. He was drowning him. The brunette couldn't breathe anymore. He was choking, his hand was trying to grab something or someone, but no one was helping him.

    "Oh, my God." Daisy whispered so quietly that even she wasn't sure she heard the words.

    Sarah Cameron commanded her boyfriend, "Topper, stop! No!" But nothing could stop him, Topper stayed to hold John B's head underwater, not even letting him breathe as the waves crashed all over his head.

    "Daisy, he's drowning him." Kyla finally spoke alongside her friend, worry shooting in her eyes. Even though Kyla wasn't as close to the Pogues as the Abbott girl, she had still spent a few evenings with them when Daisy invited her to join them. She seemed as scared for John B as Daisy even though she didn't know them that well. Kyla was like that, even worrying about enemies. "Topper, you asshole!"

As everyone's cheers continued to sing in their ears, Daisy exchanged glances with Kyla, then with Kiara and then with JJ Maybank. He stared at her as if knowing what to do, his jaw clenching, resisting a powerful urge to do something Daisy didn't know he had. She swallowed hard, her throat completely dry and against her will, she scrutinized the horrible scene before her.

Topper still held John B underwater, his grip against John B's shoulders to let him drink the salt water into his lungs. Daisy felt Kyla ready to move forward to defend a stranger, but as Daisy held her back with one hand, a new person intervened in the war. She followed the Maybank boy with her eyes, and before she could think of an idea of ​​what he was going to do, the most improbable happened before her eyes.

JJ manually pulled a gun from his back, his face hard. He took three large steps quickly towards Topper, and without warning anyone, he placed the tip of the weapon in the crook of the Kook's neck. A fucking gun. Daisy watched JJ put the gun against the head of someone like it was nothing. Like there was nobody who could report him to the police.

"Yeah, you know what that is." JJ nodded the moment he felt Topper stiffen like a plank of wood, almost straight away removing his hands from John B to raise them up in evidence. "Your move, broski!"

Then, without much time left, after JJ made the gun appear in front of everyone, the teenagers who were shouting for a fight a minute ago were running away from there, gasping and screaming, totally afraid by now. Daisy stayed close to Kyla, putting her behind her out of fear that JJ would let a bullet go out in one wrong move and shoot someone. She definitely didn't trust him with a gun right now. She knew he was reckless and protective of his friends, but a gun? First of all, where did he get a damn gun?! He had been out of control for some time, always doing the stupidest things and getting into trouble, it was getting out of hand.

"Come on! Chill, dude!" Pope Heyward tried to spoke out to his friend, but he reminded still with the gun on Topper's head.

"JJ! Calm down!" Kiara came in, her voice taking its place in the icy night air.

    Sarah, with her arm placed in front of her, trying to control the situation, dictated to the blond, "Put the gun down! JJ!"

    The girl took a few steps forward, leaving Kyla behind as she made her way towards the tragedy five meters away. "JJ, someone's gonna get hurt. Put the gun down!"

    "Did you say something, Princess?" JJ provoked, only raising his eyes towards her to give her a look she didn't know. She shook her head, stunned by the situation and stepped back, running a hand through her hair.

    Topper, who still had the gun pointed at him, panted as he slowly got up, leaving John B in the water like a wreck. "We're good. We're good, man."

JJ finally let go of him, pushing him with his hand on his head, pulling him away from him with the rage boiling inside him more and more as he saw what Topper had just done to his best friend. He enjoyed glancing at Daisy, sincerely caring about her even if he didn't seem to think so at the moment. She did not return any emotion, remaining almost shocked by what he had just committed.

"Kie, can you check on your psycho friend, please?" The Cameron girl asked her enemy, pointing at JJ who ran his hand over his face to finally reach his hair, containing the things he would like to do.

    "Sarah, that's your fucking boyfriend who was drowning him!" Daisy stood between the two old friends, falling in front of the blonde who stared at her for a few long seconds before a light passed over her face as if she realized who was really at the origin of this stupid fight. Daisy turned away from Sarah and watched as Topper walked away to go see his group further away. "Maybe you should tie him up somewhere."

It wasn't uncommon for Daisy to take the side of the Pogues during battles, the only reason being that often the Kooks were the cause for starting it with stupid problems that weren't worth the trouble. And it was also not uncommon for her to tell Sarah what she thought of Topper. The two girls were good friends, they knew each other well and had become close during the time Lila and Rafe were dating. But for some time now, Daisy hasn't known where to turn.

    Being part of both tribes was good and bad, but more often it was impossible to live with. Always having to make choices, like tonight. And the only thing she could think about was standing up for the right people. She always found herself defending the Pogues, which obviously cost her bad judgment from the Kooks. But yet, even by being called for a bitch on Figure Eight, she always played between the two. For some time now, she had been wondering if they weren't just accepting her because of the reputation that Lila had on people. Because for the last year, even though she spent several evenings with the Kooks trying to understand what special thing Lila had found about Figure Eight, she felt that things were starting to deteriorate. Like tonight when Beau tried to take her, what were those sudden rumors? Why after a year after Lila's death, the rumors only started now?

"Okay, everyone, listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!" JJ ordered towards the people who were running away from the remaining group, the gun raised towards the sky before firing two shots, waking everyone's eardrums with these two bursts.

Daisy quickly covered her ears to suppress the noise that was whistling in her head, and she pursed her lip to not scream after this new shock which awoke like a bomb inside her. She closed her eyes for two short seconds, seeking silence to forget the burst of bullets in the sky, a little smoke escaping from the gun while JJ remained with his arm raised in the air with a menacing look drawn on his face, his teeth grinding together.

Daisy looked up at him, her eyelids blinking, closing and opening as many times as she could before finally staring him up and down with a flash of incomprehension living in her brown irises that were completely black in the night. JJ lowered his gun to find her frozen, a silent, fragile tear rolling down her cheek. Daisy was fragile, and this single shot proved to her that she didn't know JJ as well as she thought.

    He finished his way towards her, not listening to what Pope and Kiara were accusing him of. He was a few centimeters from her, and without thinking, in an automatic movement, he passed his hand over her face. "Are you okay?"

    "Don't touch me, JJ!" She said, pushing him away from her in an abrupt movement. The blonde didn't try to come back to her, clenching his jaw as she judged him. "What was that? A gun? Are you out of your mind?!"

    "Look, I was trying to protect my friend!" He retorted. "Topper was drowning him, Dais!" He explained, raising his voice and pointing with his hand at John B.

    She didn't know what else to do, absolutely dizzy and worried, so she shook her head hoping to clear away the last scenes that had just happened. "You're dangerous, JJ. Beau didn't need—"

    "Seriously? Are you actually going to defend that bitch after what he said to you?" JJ chuckled, swallowing an angry laugh in his throat so as not to lose his cool again and say the wrong thing to the girl in front of him. "He deserved it, Dais. I was just trying to help you."

    "I don't need your help, JJ." Daisy pointed out, raising her arms in the air because she couldn't take it anymore. "I'm fine. If I want to go out with Beau, I will. You have no say in that."

He silenced himself for about three seconds before speaking, "Don't be like that."

"Like what?" She questioned.

He pointed with his head at the group of Kooks who were heading away from the beach. "Like them."

    She looked in JJ's direction, saw the Kooks, and with a rock stuck in her heart, Daisy shrugged. "Maybe this is really where I belong." JJ stared at her like she was crazy, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth hanging open. She wiped the tear on her cheek that was still falling further and further, and added in pain, "You said it yourself that night, JJ. I'm just a Kook who search for attention."

For a second time, JJ moved closer to the girl, his hand close to touch her. He only wanted to touch her hand and apologize dozens of times, but she walked away, moving her head. "Daisy, come on."

    She didn't pay any more attention to the boy, nor to the other Pogues who were trying to keep John B awake by holding his head above water. Daisy ignored the hurtful words she heard like a storm in her head, remembering everything she would like to forget. It was a fucking whirlwind in her mind, never having the courage to face what she heard. She didn't want to hear anything. She no longer wanted to hear the slightest noise in her head that reminded her of everything that had happened over the past year.

    Daisy grabbed Kyla close to her as she was talking to Pope, and the two girls left in silence without ever looking back. She couldn't turn around and face that look that she once loved and confessed her feelings to, and then rejected and said the things she never thought she would hear come out of his mouth. Daisy Abbott didn't know the real JJ Maybank. Since their last night three months ago, JJ has transformed into something else. Sometimes he was the kindest to Daisy, trying to find back what they lost. And the other times, he acted like an ass. As if suddenly bursting, too much fury in his chest to resist doing nothing. He was like that. A fire that no one knows when it will start.

Daisy Abbott was water. She was a hurricane of emotions that she didn't really know how to control so she stayed there swimming, and without her knowing it, one day it was all going to come out without her being able to stop it because of the pressure in her heart.

    JJ Maybank was the most orange fire there could be. Sometimes he was warming and kind. He helped others find happiness in his warmth, but other times, when he exploded, he burned everything around him, turning the world into ash and black.

    That was maybe the reason they couldn't be anything.

authors note: No I didn't disappear for months for this book, I would never...🫣 Okay...I'M SO SORRY!! I'm gonna try to write this book and the other one at the same time. Anyway, hii guys!

So you guys are served with this big chapter of 9K+ words 🤭 So...of course you're surely wondering what happened between our lovebirds?? Yeah, well, you're gonna find out someday I guess.

I for real LOVE this book!! I know it's just the start but like, what I have planned between them is crazy :))

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