One Stupid Thing

1:1:3

The next morning, I wake up with a ginormous headache. I hadn't even had a sip of alcohol at the party the night before, so that couldn't have caused it. Whatever it is, it needs to go away.

My phone on the bedside table is buzzing constantly. I pick it up and, to my surprise, I had received numerous messages from an unknown number. I opened the chat and read the messages:

"Hey, Stella. It's JJ. I'm messaging from Kie's phone. Pretty great party last night, huh? How are you doing this morning?"

He texted again after that.

"Stella? U there?"

I smile to myself before responding.

"Hey JJ. I'm doing well, although I have a terrible headache."

He texted back, "Hungover?"

"Uh, no. I don't drink so that's not it."

"Oh, okay. Gotcha. Look, I'm sorry about the whole gun thing."

"It's alright JJ, don't worry about it. I'm not some fragile, Kook princess like my sister."

"I know."

"Well, I gtg. Talk to you later JJ."

"See ya," he responds and then the conversation ends.

I get up from my bed and a delicious smell begins to waft into my room. Breakfast! My stomach grumbles and my mouth waters at the scent. Quickly, I throw on some clothes and walk out into the kitchen.

When I arrive, I notice plates of sausage, bacon, eggs, and blueberry waffles set up on the dining room table. A pitcher of orange juice sits in the middle like a centerpiece.

"Good, you're awake." Rose, my stepmother, says as she appeared in the doorway with another dish. "Go ahead and take a seat, the rest of us will be with you in a moment."

I nod in reply and take a seat at the magnificent table. Soon after, the rest of my family joins me at the table and we enjoy a nice family breakfast.

A couple of hours later, we are soaking up the sun on the back porch at Tannyhill. Sarah and I had lounged in the pool for awhile and now we are sitting at the outside table with everyone else.

Rose pours us all glasses of leftover lemonade from the day before and we all clank our glasses together lightheartedly.

Sarah sits across from me. My sister looks out past me at something and an inquisitive expression comes across her face.

"Uh... I will be right back," she says suspiciously and walks off towards the dock that leads out to the Druthers. I turn to look behind me and watch my sister walk down to the pier. Curious as to what Sarah is up to, I nod to my family in farewell and begin to follow her at a distance.

When I reach the boat I hear Sarah's muffled voice along with another that is deeper, less recognizable, and definitely a guy. I creep my way around the boat and hide inside the central cabin as I listen into their conversation.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sarah asks the other person. Her question seems genuine, but her tone has an underlying sense of sarcasm. "'Cause that eye of yours looks really gnarly."

The guy scoffs and says, "You know what? You can tell Topper he won the first round. I'll get him next time."

I recognize the voice immediately. It's John B. I had meant to ask JJ how he is doing earlier, but I had totally forgotten. He seems okay enough other than a black eye and a bruised ego.

"So, there's just gonna be a reign of terror on this island now?" Sarah asks him with a flirty attitude.

"You know wars have been starts for less, Sarah Cameron," John B responds seriously.

"Okay. Can we drop the whole Pogues versus Kooks thing? It is really stupid," Sarah inquires. For once I completely agree with my sister.

John B sighs. "Oh...you know, it's easy to say when you're a Kook."

The sound of John B's boat engine starting up marks the end of their conversation. I appear from my hiding spot just in time to see Sarah flip him off as he speeds away.

"What was that about? Why was John B here?" I ask my sister.

Sarah turns around with an annoyed look on her face. She doesn't appreciate eavesdropping, but I don't care.

"He came to get some scuba tanks. He's going to top them off for us," Sarah says before brushing past me and towards the dock. I follow her and continue speaking.

"Okay, well why were you flirting with him then?"

Sarah stops abruptly and turns to face me. "I wasn't."

"Oh, don't deny it, Sarah. You know exactly what you were doing."

Sarah gets up in my face as she replies, "I am with Topper, Stella. Not John B. Topper. What you heard wasn't flirting. Besides, I would never cheat and for you to even insinuate that is low, even for you."

"Okay, okay. Fine. No need to get so defensive." I put my hands up in mock-surrender. Sarah huffs and stomps away into the house. Of course, I follow her.

I sit back down at the table and take a drink from my glass of lemonade. The rest of my family is looking at me with accusing glares.

"What did you do to your sister?" Ward asks me, implying that Sarah's bad attitude is my fault.

"Nothing." I shrug. Ward's gaze burns into me. "I didn't do anything to her. She's just in a bad mood," I snap.

I get up from the table and go inside. I can tell that my father hadn't believed me and it is extremely frustrating. How could I be blamed for being the cause of something as out of control as Sarah's emotions?

I walk through the house, down the hallway, and into my bedroom in the east wing of Tannyhill. As nice as it is outside, I can't stand being around my family when all they do is blame me for any minor inconvenience they come across. I need to escape, so I pick up the phone and begin to text Kiara.

"Hey, Kie. I know I'm not your favorite person, but I just need to get out of this stuffy house for awhile. Can we meet up?"

I wait a few minutes until Kie finally responds.

"Uh okay. Should I pick you up at your place?" I can sense an underlying tone of annoyance through my phone.

"No. No, that's not a good idea. Can you meet me at the marina a few miles away from my house?"

"Fine. See you in 20."

"See you in 20."

——
First hangout with the Pogues occurs next chapter. Keep reading to find out what kind of trouble Stella gets into with them.