One Stupid Thing

1:2:10

I gather myself from whatever that was with JJ, and walk out onto the porch where the Pogues are gathered. Loud voices carry on the afternoon breeze. I can tell by the angry tone that something is wrong. As I was beginning to turn back towards the bathroom to avoid eavesdropping, I overhear someone say my name.

"It's Stella isn't it? What is your problem with her, Kie?" JJ's gravelly voice echoes. "You have been acting so nice to her and now all of a sudden you want her to leave?"

"Well, I never expected her to tag-a-long for everything! She isn't a Pogue!" she shouts back.

"You technically aren't a Pogue either..." Pope trails off. An awkward silence follows. I slowly begin to creep towards the front door. My curiosity is getting the better of me.

"You guys don't understand," Kie's voice cracks with desperation. "We can't trust her."

"And why not?" JJ asks her. I peer through the mesh on the screen window and see the frustrated expressions on JJ and Kie's faces. Pope and John B are smart for staying out of the argument.

"She's Sarah's sister for crying out loud! The Cameron's are practically Kook royalty and they treat us like shit!"

"God, Kiara. Stella is not her sister. Name one time she has ever treated us the way the other Kooks have?" Kiara doesn't respond. "That's what I thought. You're just mad because of some dumb feud that happened with Sarah last year!"

Before the situation can escalate, I quietly pull open the door and stand in the threshold, but before I am able to make my presence known, Kiara lashes out at JJ. "The only reason you want her in the group is because you like her!"

John B was the first to notice me standing there. "Uh... Kie," he says quietly.

She clearly doesn't hear him. "Don't look at me like that. It's so fucking obvious, JJ!"

"Kiara!" John B repeats, louder this time.

"What!" she snaps. John B points in my direction. They all slowly turn to look at me.

"Hey, Stella," Pope greets me awkwardly.

"Um. I should probably go." I head for the screen door but before I have the chance to leave, I feel a hand grab my arm. I turn my head and my eyes lock with ocean blue ones.

"Stella, wait," JJ pleads. "You don't have to leave."

"Well, clearly I am not very welcome here." I lean to look past JJ at Kiara. "For what it's worth, thank you for letting me tag-a-long. And for the record, Kiara, even if I knew what happened between you and Sarah, I wouldn't have judged you solely based on that. I guess you can't say the same." Kiara doesn't say anything. She can't even look me in the eye. Taking my leave, I pull my arm out of JJ's grasp and walk out the door towards my bike.

"Nice work." I hear JJ say and his footsteps follow me outside.

"JJ..." I begin, but he interrupts me.

"El, I'm so sorry." My heart skips a beat when he uses my nickname. "I don't know what has gotten into her."

I avert his gaze and grab my skateboard. I had left it leaning against the Château. "It's fine. I get it. Obviously she is still holding a grudge and somehow I managed to become apart of it. I must have offended her somehow." I look back up and meet JJ's stare. "I should go. My family will be home soon anyways and I don't want to have to explain where I was." I smile slightly and begin to walk away, but before I leave I turn back and say, "Oh, and tell Kie not to worry. I'll give her her clothes back." I turn back around and walk off into the distance without another word with my board tucked under my arm.

——

A few hours later, as dusk approaches, Sarah comes home. She slams the front door behind her, storms into the house, and joins me in the kitchen.

"God. Stella, you will not believe what an asshole John B was to me earlier," she says as she sits next to me at the kitchen island and tosses a bag of Skinny Pop popcorn onto the counter. Without waiting for a response, she continues. "I was on my way home and as he walks by he doesn't even say anything to me! Not even some typical snide remark. Then, he just whips around, gets all up in my face and tells me that Dad fired him. He acted as if it was my fault!"

As I am sitting beside Sarah listening to her tell me this story I wonder if Dad had somehow found out about the scuba and that is why he fired John B. "Well did you snitch about the scuba gear?" I ask.

"What? No of course not! I haven't told a soul I swear!" She hastily continues on her rant. "Oh my God and then the nerve of this guy. He said 'you are exactly who I thought you were, Sarah Cameron,' and smacks the bag of popcorn clean out of my hands! What a jerk!" Sarah opens the bag and aggressively begins to eat the popcorn. Clearly this had riled her up.

"Okay... well he does have a right to be upset. You know they don't have it as good as we do on the Cut. This was probably his main source of income. I'm sure he was just angry and needed someone to blame." I don't know why I felt the need to defend John B, but I have this feeling that foul-play was involved. Somehow, Dad had found out about the gear and if it wasn't me or Sarah, than who was it?

"I guess you have a point, but still. Smacking the bag out of my grasp was so unnecessary." Sarah shoves another fistful of popcorn into her mouth.

Suddenly, a question sparks in my head and my curiosity becomes too much for me. I just have to ask. "Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you and Kiara hate each other so much?" My sister's whole body tenses up.

"I don't hate her," she explains. "Hate is a strong word."

"Well, if you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two last year?"

She hesitates before responding as if she is trying to work out the best way to reply. "It's a long story. One that I don't really have the patience to tell right now, okay?" I just nod, although it was not the answer I wanted. The arrival of the rest of the family cuts the conversation short.

"Sorry we took so long," Rose apologizes. "Your father had some business to attend to." I knew she was referring to John B being fired. Dad enters the kitchen along with Wheezie and Rafe soon after; both of them head to their rooms.

"Did you get everything done that you needed to, Stella?" my father asks.

"Yes, I did. Thank you for letting me stay home today," I lie.

"Of course." He nods and retires as well, kissing the top of Sarah's head before disappearing down a hallway. He hadn't even bothered to kiss mine.
Rose followed him soon after.

"Hey, you should think about coming to that beach cleanup tomorrow. Wheezie and I are going and I think Topper and Kelce will be there too," Sarah suggests. Just by the look on my face she can sense my doubt. "C'mon, Stella. It won't be all bad. You need to get out of the house more, anyways."

"Okay, okay. Fine. I'll come." It's not like the Pogues will ever invite me to hang with them again anytime soon. Might as well start trying to make friends on this side of the island.

"Fantastic." Sarah gets up off her chair. "I'm heading to bed. Goodnight."

"Night."

She turns and climbs the stairs up to her room leaving me alone with my thoughts. Something I had overheard Kiara say earlier came flooding back. Did she really say what I think she did? That JJ... JJ likes me? Maybe I misunderstood her or maybe I didn't. If it's true, and JJ does like me, how would I even navigate that situation? Well, it's definitely too late to even begin to think about such things. I push the thought away, walk down the hallway to my own bedroom, and quickly fall asleep.

——
Yes, Stella. You definitely heard that right! :)