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CHAPTER FORTY THREE Jellyfish ‿︵‿︵‿︵
(PRESENT)
Weirdly, Sarah Cameron wasn't the last person Avery expected to walk through the door with John B.
"This is our thing. A Pogue thing" Kiara fumed. Her brown eyes burned into John B's and the frown crinkling her forehead only grew deeper.
"I gotta say, I'm just a tad uncomfortable with all of this" Pope awkwardly admitted.
"When are you not?" John B snakily asked.
"I dunno. I rode here on the back of JJ's bike pretty comfortably" The Heyward shot back, innocently shrugging his shoulders.
"It's true. Most relaxed I've ever seen him" JJ added and shook his head slightly. The blond boy yelped, earning a smack around the back of his head.
"That's cute, guys" John B muttered.
"You know we were all extremely comfortable until you brought her" Kiara sneered, acting like Sarah wasn't in the same space as them.
Avery sheepishly raised her hand, catching her friend's attention. She nonchalantly said, "I'm comfortable. Can we not just talk about this instead?"
"Are you seriously siding with her right now?" Kiara snapped at Avery.
"What? I'm not siding with anyone. I just think we could be doing this," Avery gestured between everyone with her hands and sighed, "a lot better than we are right now"
"You don't know anything, Avery. You left, remember?–"
"Hey, Kie, that's enough" John B was quick to jump in. He gazed over at JJ, already noticing the boy's tense shoulders and glare.
"Are you serious right now, Kiara?" Avery scoffed, almost laughing at how stupid this situation was becoming. She stepped out from around the back of the chair that JJ and Pope sat on, "you are never going to forgive, or trust me. Maybe I'm siding with Sarah, you are being a little harsh on her, and John, right now. Stop making Pope uncomfortable and get your head out your arse"
"I don't have a good enough reason to trust you. You were my friend–"
"Were? I was your friend," A scornful laugh left her mouth as Avery shook her head and stepped closer to the girl. "Well, the jokes on me then, I guess"
There was silence between the group for a prolonged moment. No one dared to speak, afraid to say something wrong and fall deeper into the spiral that had already started to spin. JJ's eyes were stuck on Avery, observing her stiff posture and narrow eyes, he rarely got to see her so rowed up. She was always composed and calm but recently, Kiara had been pushing every right button and tipping her over the edge.
The boy was about to stand up and ease her, thinking to pull her way and towards him, to telling her it was okay and to back down before she did something she would regret. However, just as he thought about it, Avery was already moving. She stormed off, purposely bumping shoulders with Kiara as she passed her.
Just like lost puppies, JJ and John B came running after Avery. They found her at the docks, walking aimlessly through the locals. She was still letting her emotions dissolve, mumbling incoherent sentences under her breath. It took a while for the two boys to get her to stop and listen. Eventually they bribed her into taking the boat out.
Somehow, Avery wasn't aware of the other blonde on the other side of the vessel. She was too preoccupied with JJ, unwillingly listening to him rant about boats and fishing. She picked up on his weird behaviour but chose to ignore it, not thinking too much about.
Suddenly the boat stopped. The jolting movement made Avery flinch, bumping against JJ's side. The boy excused himself, cursing at John B who had taken controls and was being accused of playing with the buttons. She chuckled quietly to herself, sitting back comfortably at the back of the boat.
The sound of a motor caught her attention and Avery huffed, raising for her spot and peered around the frame to see Kiara pull up with Pope on the HMS Pogue. She assumed that they had called them for help, even if she didn't particularly want to be near the Carrera girl right now, she also didn't want to be surrounded in the middle of the marsh all evening either.
"Get your asses back here!" Kiara's voice boomed.
"We can't. Not until you three figure it out!" John B called back with a smug smile.
"JJ! I swear to god, what the hell!" Avery's voice startled the two girls. They twirled around to see her, watching her sulking her way over to the bow of the boat.
"I will kill every single one of you!" Kiara threatened.
"You can't just leave!" Sarah whined loudly.
"There's food in the cabin, and JJ rolled a blunt" Pope called out, slowly sailing the boat further away from theirs.
"Hydroponic!" The blond added, making Avery roll her eyes and she aggressively flip the trio off.
Before Avery knew it, Kiara and Sarah were already bickering. The Kook rushed to strip down to her white patterned bikini, proving that she would rather swim away then stay on the boat with them. Kiara let her jump in, knowing that she was at risk at swimming into some sea creature.
"Sarah, be careful. Come back. There are–" Avery leaned over the edge and called out, being cut off by the girl's loud squeal. "Jellyfish"
"I got stung by a jellyfish! Shit!" Sarah yelled out, flapping around in the water as she tried to swim back.
"Dramatic" Kiara muttered, earning a glare from Avery. She stared back and rolled her eyes at the sight of the blonde helping the Kook up the ladder. "You swam right into a man-o-war. Don't know what you thought was gonna happen"
"Thank you for your help" Sarah sarcastically shot back. She gripped onto Avery's arm, sending her a small smile nevertheless.
"Sit down, let me look," Avery softly said and guided her to the other side of the boat. She carefully ushered her down, cringing at the sound of Sarah's whimpers and hisses. Her hazel eyes analysed the injury, "it should be okay. Try not to itch it and it should heal in a few weeks"
"Does it hurt?" Kiara sounded fairly amused.
"Hey, Kiara. You know what they say about curing jellyfish stings?" Sarah deadpanned, fighting her smile as she heard Avery snort a laugh besides her. "You have to pee on me"
"I have a better idea" Kiara grimaced that the idea of the fact that had been scientifically proven wrong.
