THE PICTURE OF YOU -rafe cameron-

002; the worries of john b

Isn't it weird how things change all the time, yet somehow always stay the same? Isn't it magical in some ways?

"Morning Kie"

John B walked through his home, an old fishing shack on the marsh which they all called the Château. It was not too far from the shack where Myra and JJ lived with their dad. John B's father, who had been missing at sea for nine months by now, was the one who came up with the name. He had always told his son that it didn't matter how big and fancy a house was, the important thing about it is the people inside of it making it feel like a home, thus making their humble little place a real chateau. It was still true, even if John didn't know where his father had gone. The people inside of his old home still made it feel like just that, a home. So much had changed since last summer, yet somehow their group stayed pretty much the same. JJ still got his foot stuck in everything he tried to climb over and he still couldn't tell a good idea from a bad one. Pope still worried about pretty much everything, and he rarely got as much sleep as he surely needed. Kiara still ignored the fact that her parents wanted her home on figure eight and she rocked the same sea shell ankle bracelet as last year. Myra had gotten a year older, as all of them, but she still carried herself with the utter most ease. John still held his friends closest to his heart.

"Morning" Kiara mumbled from where she was laying on a pullout couch, a blanket barely covering her legs and the rays of the bright sun slipping through the blinds of the nearby dusty windows. The teenager remaining in the household wasn't one to keep up with the constant need to be cleaning after himself and his friends, thus letting the dust and the empty beer cans collect everywhere. He had better things to do, more important matters to attend. John B grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge, opening it and clinking it against a picture of his uncle holding a fish that hung on the wall, before taking a big sip. A true champion's breakfast, or something of a poor man. Since his father had vanished, his uncle had became his legal guardian, though John hadn't seen him in months. He was supposedly somewhere in Mississippi right now, building houses. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to eat right?

"Hey" John hummed as he walked out onto the screen porch, seeing Pope laying on the couch there, barely awake. "Oy" Pope mumbled, reaching his left hand up to make a quick handshake with John. "You'd sleep alright?" John asked as he stopped by Pope, glancing out at the yard before the cabin as he slowly sipped on his beer. "Yeah" Pope shrugged, sitting up a little stiffly. The couches around the chateau had been occupied by sleepers in need for years, so they were all rather comfortable by now. John's glance travelled further down the yard, seeing Myra sitting down by the wharf leading to the lake. "How long has she been up?" John asked quietly, a little surprised to see her awake given the time she must've gotten back last night. Pope sat up a little further before he turned to look in the same direction as his friend, taking notice of JJ's little sister sitting all alone, her messy blonde hair blowing in the slight breeze. "I don't know" Pope shrugged his shoulders, "I didn't see her go out there"

John nodded his head gently, keeping his eyes on her as he pushed the door to the screen porch open and walked out. "Good morning" he called out loudly as his bare feet walked down the yard, making Myra turn around, seemingly having been lost in her own world down by the water. "Morning" she said swiftly, smiling warmly towards him. "When did you get up?" John asked, making his way over towards her before sitting down next to her. "Like half an hour ago or so" she mumbled, gazing out at the glittering water "the sun drew me out here"

The sun had always been calling Myra.

"Sure looks like it's gonna be a nice day" John agreed, taking a sip from his beer, holding the bottle out to her to offer her some "how was work?". She glanced at the dark brown tinted glass bottle in his right hand, taking it as she looked up at him, putting it to her lips to get a taste. "It was alright" she spoke after having swallowed a mouthful of cheap beer "I had to stay until two thirty though". It was often like that. She had worked at the hotel and island club last summer too. Most kooks didn't fancy a summer job so they left all the long shifts to the pouge kids. The kooks her age had more important things to do, like going to their summer houses in Bahamas or Spain or whatever. Or travel through Europe just before a nice relaxing beach trip to Florida.