Tidal Wave. | obx szn 1

Pinky Promises.

Aurora walks again. Instead of heading towards the chateau, she goes to where the movie is playing. Every summer, they play a movie in the park on a big projector screen. It's one of Aurora's favorite parts of summer.

When she gets there, she doesn't see any of her friends. They normally sit all the way in the front, so she goes there. Maybe she just missed them.

She finds a familiar blanket. It has three backpacks too. They're JJ, Pope, and Kiara's, but none of them are there.

Some commotion comes from behind the screen. Aurora knows it's her friends. She looks through JJ's bag for a lighter. He's got to have one in there. The kid always has one. She doesn't exactly know what she's going to do with it, but Aurora Minerva is pretty creative. She'll come up with something.

"I feel like Toodles from God damn Mickey Mouse." Aurora mumbles to herself as she searches for anything that could help her. "Backpack, Backpack." Now she's just making herself laugh. "Focus, Rory." She says to herself.

She finally finds a lighter and runs to the fighting and shouting. She's immediately met with Kiara.

"Kie! What the hell is happening?" Aurora shouts.

"Rory! Please, help them!"

Aurora watches as Rafe Cameron picks up Pope and punches the shit out of him. Panicking, she lights the projector screen on fire.

Screams erupt from the crowd on the other side. Aurora helps Pope and JJ off the ground and forces them to follow her as her and Kiara run away.

They finally make it to the street. They know they're safe now. Families walk to their cars in the distance.

"What the hell was that?" Aurora asks. Pope and JJ don't answer. They hunch over and cough heavily.

"I've been wondering the same thing." Kiara adds.

"Rafe beat the shit out of Pope, so we did a little payback." JJ vaguely explains.

"What do you mean 'a little payback'?" Aurora asks.

"Topper's fancy boat may or may not have sunk."

"Oh, thats badass." Kiara laughs proudly.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Rafe beats the shit out of Pope. Topper watched. You punish Topper." Aurora questions.

"Yeah, basically." JJ says.

"That's not something to be proud of, JJ!" Aurora shouts. "Topper didn't do shit to you! He's just another Kook that gets on your nerves."

"Do you not remember Topper beating up John B? He almost killed him!" Pope argues.

"Oh, so that makes it okay?" Aurora says. "Sinking Topper's boat means that you're just as bad as they are!"

"Rory, you can't mean that."

Aurora sighs. She's drags her hands down her face. "Yeah, I know. You're right. It's just— a lot of family stuff. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. We get it." Pope says.

A moment of uncomfortable silence creeps over the group. Aurora's mind races about how— or if— she's going to go home.

"So, Aurora, why'd you come tonight?" JJ asks. "Isn't it your mom's birthday?"

Aurora tries to come up with something.

"She just—" She pauses. "Said something really really stupid tonight and my dad didn't exactly disagree with her."

"Damn." JJ says. "Harrison gone jackass?"