BEFORE THE MORNING CAME

.05 - before the summer ends

as the school year continued on and the boys got jobs, michelle saw them less than she had before. humorously enough, john b. had gotten a job working for none other than the cameron family on their yacht.

she watched rafe cameron spiral in front of her eyes. each day, each time he dipped his head down and collected white dust into his nostrils, the angrier of a person he became. eventually, michelle could not take his bitching anymore, and would always sneak away when he arrived. she would never stray too far from home, unless one of the boys had an off day, then she would spend her time with them. she always slept with her door locked, as rafe came over more and more frequently.

as the school year came to a close and summer picked up, she found that her phone held a charge for days, because her friends were not texting her. she was curious, of course, but expected their busy schedules to play a part in their lack of communication.

then, hurricane agatha hit, and all of their lives changed.

the evening after the storm, michelle and barry had spent the entire day cleaning up their yard from the fallen branches and trash that had blown in from the top of the island. the cell towers were down, but barry somehow knew of her friends' party that was being held at the boneyard, the most popular spot for parties in the outerbanks. he sent her with her fanny pack, as normal, but decided to hang back, as it was supposed to be an occasion for the pogues, leaving him with little to no business.

the first thing that michelle learned about herself that night; she did not enjoy kiara carrera. maybe it was the fact that she had been spending more time with her boys than she had, or maybe it was the fact that she was a kook who complained about her cushy life, but michelle was not happy to be around her.

that being said, michelle excused herself from their pow-wow at the keg to go "work." all was fine and well until the sun had set, blanketing the beach in black skies and shining stars. as a tourist slid her a crisp twenty-dollar bill, shooting her a wink, people around them began shouting that there was a fight between the infamous jj maybank and topper thornton.

"shit." michelle grumbled, stuffing the bill into the front pocket of her jean shorts while taking off, following the crowd towards the shoreline. "shit, shit, shit." she murmured as she approached the scene, finding jj and topped standing chest-to-chest, their noses nearly touching.

"move!" michelle shouted to the forming crowd as she attempted to make her way towards the front. "jj!" she announced, hoping her voice would stand out in the crowd. before her vision was blocked by the sea of bodies surrounding her, she saw john b. jump into their fight, swinging on topper immediately. "john!" michelle gasped, now fighting harder to make it towards them.

growing up, john b. had always been a softie. he would use his words before his fists, and appeared to be the counterpart of jj's aggression. john b. always used violence as a last resort, so seeing him and topper whacking one another with closed fists caused the girl to fall into a pit of anxiety.

"get the fuck out of the way!" michelle continued to fight her way to the front. once she was only separated from the fight by salty air, the girl made an attempt to unsheath her pocket knife, but was stopped when arms enclosed around her. at first, the girl assumed it was jj, but when she swung her head to the side, she saw the blonde boy staring at her with wide eyes.

"put me down!" michelle began to wiggle as her body was lifted with ease, her arms pinned to her side, leaving her vulnerable.

"don't want you getting hurt, what would barry say?" hot breath hot hear ear, accompanied by the voice of rafe cameron. michelle froze, only for a moment, then began swinging her legs furiously, attempting to break free from his hold.