Rafe has always been a troubled kid, he struggled to connect with people, to understand them. His mind couldn't put the pieces together as to why they could be so upset or angry when nothing had happened to them. He had lost his mother at a young age and no one ever really told him that when someone passes, you mourn them. Your family looks after you and helps you to heal. Instead, he was told to man up, earn his place in the family and push down his emotions. Those emotions only made him look weak.
From a very young age, Rafe learned to refrain from showing his feelings. He accepted that he was not worthy of anything and that everything had a cost.
Kiara had been struggling with her own worth for as long as she could remember. Her identity, always out of reach. She thought her worth would come in being a good daughter, working at the wreck, keeping family appearances, and helping around the house. But it was never enough. She always dressed too boy-like or 'below her class'. Her parents never trusted her alone, pressing the judgment they held for themselves onto her and ignoring the war inside her head she had tried to tell them about.
She had looked to gain her worth in school, outperforming her peers in everything. But it seemed her teachers only saw a future for her within the cut. She was subjected to the same belittlement as the majority of the pogues received within the public education system. She had tried to be a part of the cut, but her mannerisms marked her as a different breed. People would glare at her in the street, and snigger in the corridors, all the while her parents pushed her to be something they would reject even more.
When she joined the Kook academy, she had felt a level of connection, but she had quickly realized it would only ever be surface level. They helped her perfect her fake appearance. Happy and all smiles, she felt herself become the shell of the person she was trying to discover.
She felt more like a tourist than a pogue or a Kook on the outer banks.
It was a feeling Rafe and her shared, while they had more things in common than they thought, the troubles on their mind were almost the same. But how they delt with these struggles, shaped them into entirely different people.
During Kiara's time at the kook academy, she and Sarah had become inseparable. The girls were constantly round each other's houses, having sleepovers and environmental debates. Kiara had almost felt a sliver of worth come through, but there was always a doubt that it would all be pulled away at any moment.
Throughout the months they spent together, Kiara would see Rafe a number of times in passing, at the dinner table or in the kitchen at Tanney Hill. He was two years older than them, always emotionless and cold. She had kept her distance for the majority of the time, until his glare had started to linger. He wouldn't leave the room the minute Sarah and her entered, and he wouldn't slam the door in their face when he left.
She would be lying if the emotionally stunted 'best friend's older brother' idea didn't pull at her mind. Rafe held a layer of confidence in himself she wished she could master. So when he would join them at the bar for breakfast or pipe up at the dinner table, she let the idea bubble inside her. Just for fun.
Sarah had started giving her distant looks, and Kiara could already start to see her shield going up.
Rafe had spotted it too, and had started to aim more of his questions during dinner at her. He would hold the door for her, and make direct eye contact when she entered a room. The butterflies inside her had been allowed to grow to a sickening level. But it didn't matter, because sooner or later she was going to be kicked to the curb by her newfound friend and she would never see any of the Camerons ever again.
It's Sarah's 17th birthday and Kiara had been walking up the drive looking to surprise her. The blond had said she hadn't planned anything and silly Kiara had believed her. Bringing movies and treats towards the house, she was frozen by the gate, watching as a crowd of people gathered outside with red plastic cups in hand. Load music blaring from inside.
