Pooks

Chapter 6

"Am I dropping you somewhere or you coming to mine?" Jb asks as he turns into his street. It's both your street but he doesn't know that yet. He steers the car whilst simultaneously shoving a piece of chicken into his mouth. We just went through the KFC drive through. "JJ's probably still over"
"Yeah what was that surprise you guys were on about last night at the drive in?" John B smiles and nods his head
"Oh yeah" he turns into his house and parks the car. "Come on" he grins and you both get out. "JJ!" Jb shouts. JJ comes strolling out the house onto Jb's porch like he owns the place. He sees you and jumps down all four stairs and jogs over.
"Tiv!" You give up trying to stop that nickname from sticking, it's stuck. I guess it could be worse. "I have a surprise for you!" JJ says stopping his jog right in front of you. You look at John B suddenly worried what it could be.
"Is this some sort of joke?" John B shakes his head and you look back at JJ.
"Nope not a joke" JJ looks like a 6th grader who's about to present a project he's been working on for months. "But you have to close your eyes"
"Woah" you hold your hands up in defence and take a step back from JJ. "I swear if you guys pull something-"
"We won't!" JJ's laughing but not in a cheeky way, just as if he's really excited. Like he's about to burst and ruin the surprise if he has to wait any longer. You put your hands down and John B comes behind you. He covers your eyes with his hands and JJ takes both your hands and starts guiding you. It takes you guys ages to walk a few metres, you keep stumbling on rocks and god knows what else. Every time you do JJ's grip tightens on your hands as he holds you up to keep your balance. Eventually you guys stop walking. "Ready?" JJ says
"I think so?" You're still worried, you met these guys three days ago what on earth can they have that's a surprise for you?
"Surprise!" They say at the exact same time, Jb removes his hands restoring your vision and JJ lets go of your hands and jumps to the side revealing a surf board propped up against the side of a half built shack you're all now stood under.
It's worn and absolutely covered in thick wax. It's a short board, 7ft you can tell. It's got a sharp pointed nose and thin rails, the turning ability on this thing must be insane. There's a few faded stickers on the sides, some of which so faded you can't even make out what they are anymore. It's beautiful.
"Okay? A surfboard? And?" You look at the boys who are just grinning at you like school kids. They make you laugh "What about it?"
"It's yours!" JJ says, his hands still high in the air from yelling surprise.
"Wait. What?" You look at Jb who's smiling too, he puts his hands on your shoulders and shakes you.
"All yours kid" Barry calls you kid too, that makes you smile. For some reason the fact Jb calls you kid too makes absolute perfect sense.
"Wait, wait. What?" You're not sure what's going on. JJ's arms collapse back to his side hitting his legs for dramatic effect.
"You told me how much you wanted one and that you've never had your own, plus how else am I going to be able to crush you in our challenge if you don't have your own board?" You watch JJ as he speaks to you, no smirk he's being serious. You shake your head
"I can't take this off you guys, who's even is it?"
"It was mine" John B says as he sits down on a stray chair next to the board.
"Then mine" JJ says, he slides his hand down the board
"Yeah that's why it's drowning in wax" John B says which makes JJ glare at him.
"But I have a new one now"
"Stole a new one" JJ glares and Jb again.
"Some kook was throwing out a brand new long board, I'm not gonna just let that go to waste. I haven't used this one in months plus if I want a short board I can just borrow John B's" he gives you no opportunity to turn down his offer. Suddenly your stomach is doing backflips.
"Jay-"
"Just shut up and accept the gift Tiv!" You look at him and cover your mouth with your hands. You could cry.
"Oh my god" you scream like a little girl on Christmas morning and throw your arms around JJ. Let's be honest these guys are used to you doing that at this point. JJ laughs finally happy with your excitement and spins you around as you're hugging him. He lets you go, you turn and hug John B too. "It was mostly JJ" he says, you look back at JJ who's still smiling. You hug him again, you can't contain it. My own board? MY OWN BOARD?!
"I cannot believe I have my own board" you say practically jumping up and down. You run your hand over it like JJ did and look at John B "JJ waxed this?"
"Biggest over waxer on the south side" John B winks at you knowing he's winding JJ up.
"Hey shut up! Best surfer on the south side too so I'm doing something right" JJ yells from where he's stood.
"Second best" you say turning your attention back to JJ.
"That's right, we have a little competition to sort out don't we?" JJ's cocky as he talks, like he's already won.
"We do indeed" you say back matching his tone.
"Okay" John B claps his hands together making you and JJ look at him. "I'll tell Pope and Kie to come over tonight. Bonfire and surf competition what do you say?"
"You're on" JJ says "unless you don't think you can handle it?" He's still being cocky.
"You've already lost Mr Maybank" you say to him. "I'll even let you use John B's shortboard so it's a fair fight" JJ nods and turns his attention to the other boards hung up.
There's four others. Kie's I'm guessing is the one covered in turtle stickers. There's a plain white one that screams 'Pope' a brand new long board, that must be the one JJ stole and one other that someone has written 'P4L' on in big black sharpie. "What's P4L?" You point at the board.
"That's John B's, it means pogues for life" JJ says. You look back at the board JJ just gave you, would they still have given this to you if they knew you're a kook? Was a kook? Would they ever understand that you were a kook but never a kook?
John B has walked back up to the house, you follow him as JJ pulls up John B's shortboard and starts waxing it. Not that it needs more wax, Jb's right JJ needs to chill with the wax.
You sit on John B's porch steps, a place you find yourself sitting more and more as the days go by. John B comes out of the house and sits next to you with his bucket of chicken from earlier. He offers you a piece, you take a drumstick and you both watch JJ from the steps over waxing John B's board. "I'm gonna slip right off next time I use that board" he says with a mouthful of chicken, you nod in agreement. "One thing I will say" he pauses to finish chewing before ending that sentence. "JJ's the best surfer I know, just don't tell him I say that." You finish your drumstick and put the bones back in the bucket like John B has done with his.
"I'm not worried" you say. Truthfully you have no idea if JJ's a better surfer than you, you've only ever surfed on Figure 8 beaches at ungodly hours because your mum didn't approve. You once surfed so late at night the coast guard were called over because they thought you were on a suicide mission. To be fair that was pretty scary, you couldn't see a thing and the waves were every couple of seconds. Worth it though.
My point is you've never really seen anyone around here surf. Not JJ or any other pogues, you barley got to see any kooks surf. Not that many did.
"Hey, John B?" He pulls his head off the bucket of chicken and turns to you. He nods at you instead of speaking, his mouth is full again. I think he's on his third piece already. "Why was no one surprised I was new when I first met you guys?" You don't know why you asked him, you just did. It's been playing on your mind.
"I don't know. I guess everyone kinda knows everyone around here and we didn't know you" you don't say anything because you can feel it's more that just that. "You had a vibe about you." Oh god, I regret ever asking. "Like you were trying to hide something, like you didn't want us to see who you really were" you look at him like he's just told you your future. He shrugs "I don't know, people around here don't really care about other peoples opinions. But it was like you cared too much, no offence" he looks at you worried you're going to be offended but you give him a soft smile.
"It's okay, you're pretty much spot on" you admit.
"But then we got to know you" he says. "And it didn't matter whatever you were trying to hide because we got to see the real you whether you meant to show us or not" he takes another bite of chicken and looks back at you. "You're one of us, we see that" he says finally looking away and back at JJ still waxing the board.
"You do?"
"Yeah. Whatever impression you were trying to give didn't matter. We saw the real you when you ditched school. When you showed up to the party. When you got into a fight for JJ" John B laughs. "When you threw your drink over someone for Kie. We've all got secrets Tiv, what makes a pogue is everything I just said"
For the first time you begin to understand what it means to be a pogue. A pogue isn't just someone who lives on the south side and grew up on the cut. To be a pogue is armour. It's having people there for you no matter what. Someone who would fight a kook for you and who you'd fight a kook for. Being a pogue is seeing through the secrets that someone hasn't even told you yet and knowing they're worth fighting for whatever those secrets turn out to be. P4L. It's not just a saying, it's a family.
"John B?" You want to tell him everything. That you grew up on Figure 8 and Rafe Cameron is your best friend and he always will be. You hold your breath completely unsure whether you're about to tell him but after a few seconds you let your breath go along with the words you want to say. "Nothing. Just uh... thanks for everything"
"So what's the deal with you and Sarah?" He asks. You look over at JJ even though he's at least 10 metres away, there's no way he can hear you guys.
"I told you, we just became friends" you say. I mean that's not entirely a lie.
"Are you friends with any other kooks?" You look out to the marsh and slowly shake your head like you're guessing the answer to his question. "So you're not friends with her brother? I can never remember his name" John B closes his eyes as he tries to think of Rafe's name.
"Whose brother?" You play dumb.
"Sarah's. What's his name- Rafe! Rafe Cameron" you keep your eyes on the marsh. Be cool, everything's fine, he knows nothing.
"I mean I've seen him around yeah" you say keeping your eyes fixed on the shallow water a few metres away from you as you think about waking up in his bed this morning. John B would so freak out.
"I don't really know him but him and JJ have a bit of a history. Some stuff went down last summer the usual kooks vs pogues but him and JJ got into it pretty bad a few times." Great. Of course the pogues you happen to make friends with have a history with Rafe.
"What happened?" You ask but you're not sure you want to know the answer.
"I'm not sure you'd have to ask JJ, I missed a lot of it. It was right after my dad went missing" you look at John B, what did he just say? "So I was pretty MIA all summer"
"Wait, what do you mean?" John B looks at you and smiles but his eyes are full of sadness.
"Told you I know what it's like to have a lot going on" he says.
John B's dad is missing?
"What happened?" You ask. He looks out to the marsh before he speaks like he's preparing to relive whatever he's about to tell you.
"He went out to sea one night and never came back. There was a storm that our weather detectors didn't pick up, I never would've let him go if I had known" Jb's head falls straight down and he's looking at the floor.
"I'm so sorry" the words sound stupid as you say them, he's probably heard that 100 times. The picture of John B and his dad that you were looking at yesterday morning pops into your head. John B looked so happy, so did his dad. "But it's not your fault" you say. "It's not your fault the reader didn't pick up the storm Jb" you say wishing there was more words you could offer him.
"Yeah" he said like he knows you're right but still blames himself. "They never found a body and I refuse to sign any papers saying he's dead. He's still out there, I know it" John B says looking back out to the marsh. "Who goes missing at sea these days right?" You both sit there for a few minutes in silence, John B has stopped eating KFC. "Hey" he nudges your shoulder and you smile at him even though your heart is broken with what he just told you. "Don't worry about me" he says.
"We're pogues" you say and he looks at you. "We stick together, you guys taught me that" what you say makes him smile. "Give me your number, I'll give it to Sarah" you say and his smile grows. He pulls a phone with an almost entirely smashed screen out his pocket "Jesus" he laughs as he pulls up his contacts.
"JJ dropped it out the twinkie window, can't afford to fix it" he laughs.
"How on earth did he-"
"It's JJ" he says as if that's an explanation in itself. He reads out his number which you make note of just as a text comes through from Barry:
U good?
Barry hasn't messaged you in years. You smile at the message, he's checking up on you. That or you didn't come home last night and he's worried DCFS are going to turn up at his door. You instantly feel guilty for thinking badly of him, he's given you no reason to since moving in. You reply:
Yeah. Crashed at Rafes last night, see u later?
He replies:
I'm out tonight won't be back till late. Do you need any money?
You know Barry doesn't earn his money legally but he's taking care of you in his own way and you're grateful. You reply:
Nope still got your 50
He thumbs up the message and you put your phone away. John B is still on his phone too so there's no worry he saw who you were messaging.
You spend the next few hours at John B's with him and JJ. You shave the wax off your board and reapply. Your board. You still can't believe it.
After about two hours Pope and Kie show up for the competition. Pope brought snacks from his dads shop and Kie brought you a bikini to wear. "Here you go" she hands you a mint green bikini covered in white flowers.
"Life saver, thank you" you take the bikini from her and she smiles at you
"Anything for my knight in shining armour" she laughs. She's referring to you throwing the drink on that guy again, you laugh. "Go get changed, I'll tell JJ to get ready"
John B has already made a fire even though the sun is barley setting and it's still really warm, him and Pope are both sat next to it.
You head into John B's and go into his bedroom, you tried the bathroom but his room is the only one with a lock on the door. You get changed, throw Rafe's t-shirt over your shoulder and go back out into the hallway just as JJ comes out the bathroom. "Ready?" You say rubbing your hands together like an evil villain. JJ takes a sip of the beer can he's holding and looks at you, as your eyes meet he starts choking on his drink which makes you laugh. He clears his throat and runs his hands through his hair with his free hand.
"You're going down Tiv" he says but he doesn't sound nearly as confident as he did earlier when he gave you the surfboard.
"What's wrong? Starting to doubt yourself Maybank?" JJ forces a smile but you can see it's not genuine. You walk up to him and hold the beer can that's in his hand. He stares at you like he's under a spell. "Got to keep a clear head for the competition" you say taking the can from his grip.
"Nothing wrong with a little distraction" JJ says letting you take the beer. For a split second his eyes fall to your chest but just as quickly as he looked down they move back up to your eyes. You squint your eyes at him trying to figure out if that was an accident or not.
"Hmm" you say still stood close to him from when you took the beer from his hand. Just as he looks like he's about to collapse you stick your elbow into his stomach making him flinch. "Come on" you walk into the living room and out to the garden, you can feel JJ's eyes on you the entire time.
You go outside and Kie is in a bikini too making you feel way more comfortable, John B and Pope have trunks on too. "You didn't think it was just JJ you were competing against did you?" John B shouts, Kie and Pope both smiling.
"Doesn't matter" you walk over to your board and pick it up under your arm "I'll take all of you down if I have to" they walk over and grab their boards and bring them over to the twinkie, you do the same. You put Rafe's t-shirt on over Kie's bikini and JJ finally comes back outside. He's topless now and has the same pair of trunks on John B had on the day you first met him. He walks over, strands of his blonde hair fall onto his face. He's looks golden in the light of the sun that has now started to set, JJ is sort of beautiful. As he gets closer you can see washboard abs and he's wearing a shark tooth necklace. You roll your eyes, such a cliche.
JJ climbs onto the roof of the twinkie and John B hands him everyone's boards one at a time. JJ ties them down and hops in the back with you and Kie. Jb is driving and Pope is in passenger. The twinkie feels so much bigger inside, you sit on the back seats with JJ and Kie sits behind Pope. Your converse are untied on your feet and your bare legs are sticking to the seat but you're happy. And excited, you haven't gone this long without surfing since you started doing it.
John B and Pope are talking at the front you can barely hear their them and Kie is turned to them, her head resting on Popes chair trying to join in on their conversation.
You look out the window, John B is driving slow or maybe just the speed limit you're used to driving with Rafe. You feel something tap your leg, you look down and see JJ's hand resting on the seat next to your leg. "If you want me to go easy on you just tell me now" he whispers. You look at him, those blue eyes are full of mischief and smirk.
"Give me everything you've got" you whisper back. You look back down at his hand. He has three bracelets on, two string bracelets tied to his wrist and a wooden beaded one. You reach out and pull the elastic on the beaded bracelet back then leg go so it hits JJ's wrist. He doesn't say anything, just pulls it off his hand and puts it onto yours.
"Have it" he says. It doesn't fit as well on your wrist as it did on JJ's, it's slightly too big. You shake your hand to make sure it's not going to fall off, it stays put.
"Are you sure?" You ask
"Yeah" JJ holds up his other hand "I got this one" on his other wrist he has the same bracelet he just gave you but it's slightly darker in colour.
"Thanks" you say, he winks at you.
"That's my lucky bracelet, you got no excuse now" he says referring to the competition.
"We're here" John B calls as he pulls the van over taking up two parking spots in a completely empty car park.
You all jump out and JJ climbs back up onto the roof and hands everyone their boards. You take Rafe's t-shirt off and throw it on the seat you were sat on and grab your board. You all walk into the beach and as you get closer to the sea you all start running. I've never been friends with other surfers before, they just get it. The closer you get to the sea the harder it is to contain your excitement so you have to start running it's like an unspoken rule. You all paddle out far enough and sit on your boards. The swell isn't great but it'll do, plus we have the waves to ourselves there's no one else here.
"Here we go!" Pope yells as you spot some waves heading towards you. Your heart starts racing, there's no feeling like it. You turn around on your board and lie flat, your toes hanging just over the edge. You look back and start paddling as the wave approaches you. You feel your feet rise with the wave and pull yourself up onto the board and stand up. This is it, this is why you were put on this earth. To surf.
You ride the wave down the shore and just before the wave is about to break you turn in the water. You flick the board up with your feet hang 10 and do a full turn on the wave so you're now riding back the direction you came in. The wave breaks so you crouch low on the board again holding onto the sides and let the wave pass under you so you're back on still water. You lie back down into the board before turning it around and paddling back out to sea towards the pogues. As you get closer you hear cheering and clapping. Popes mouth is wide open with his arms in the air like he's watching his favourite soccer team score the winning goal. Kie is clapping and John B and JJ are yelling how cool that was. You sit up "thanks guys!" You say. "Who's next?" JJ doesn't wait for anyone else to answer before announcing it's his turn and he starts paddling as another wave approaches. You hold onto the sides of your board as the wave passes under you and watch JJ catch it. John B was right, he's frickin amazing.
JJ rides the through barrel and just when you think he must've fallen off because you haven't seen him in so long he pops out the end of the wave and does the exact same thing you did. His turning technique is better than yours you can tell even from here. He looks like he controls the wave, he turns with such effortlessness. His board rises up as he turns and changes direction just as you did but it doesn't end there. He bobs his board along the now broken wave for more power, you've never been good at bobbing you always just give up and wait for a stronger wave. JJ rides the wave right out to the sand and steps off his board onto the shore. He makes it look as easy as walking. He turns around with his arms up and you all yell as loud as you can so he can hear you.
Everyone takes their turn and they're all really good. You're probably slightly better than everyone apart Jay, he's by far the best. He's the best you've ever seen in person. When you were a kid you used to stay up all night watching pro surfers on YouTube, JJ is the closest thing you've seen to those guys in real life.
You all spend the next hour catching as many waves as possible. It stops being a competition and you all just enjoy the surf. Surfing on your own is one thing, surfing with people who love surfing as much as you is a whole different story. It's like all the magic of surfing is doubled, tripled even. You find yourself wishing you had met these guys sooner.
The waves die down and eventually they're too small to surf. Pope and Kie got out first, they're sat on the sand talking soaking up the last few minutes of the sun. John B then got out and is doing something with the twinkie. He really loves that piece of junk. You and JJ are sat on your boards, floating in the flat water.
"Okay, I admit you won" you say to JJ who looks overly pleased with himself.
"I'll give it to you though Tiv, you're not what I expected"
"What do you mean?"
"Well you're a better surfer than I ever imagined. I still beat you but not by as much as I was expecting" that makes you smile. You don't try to argue, JJ is the better surfer.  "Just everything, you're just not what I expected"
"Well you aren't either Jay" he looks at you as you call him that. "yaboyjay" you say which makes you both laugh, you actually like the username.
"Ha ha very funny" he says. "Stalking my instagram were you?"
"You requested me! We both know you were the one doing the stalking" you smile at him. He's grinning but looking away like he's been caught.
"Absolutely I was" he admits. "Too many bikini pics not to"
"Hey!" You smack the water drenching JJ, he flinched back and falls off his board. You laugh but then feel something grab your foot and pull you under too. You kick your leg from JJ's grip and burst back up to the surface. You hold onto your board so you're just floating there, JJ comes back up and does the same on his board. You wipe the water from your eyes and move strands off hair from your face. JJ shakes his head to dry his hair off and move it from his eyes.
He's still laughing "sorry" he says looking over at you. You just look at him as you both tread the water. "Can I ask you a question?"
"What's up?" You say as you adjust to get a better grip of your board. The water is flat it's not hard to stay afloat.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" JJ's question shocks you, that's not what you thought he was going to say.
"No" you giggle "what makes you say that?"
"Your instagram" JJ pauses like he's trying to think of the perfect way to word his next sentence.  "There's a few pictures of you with a guy but you can't really see his face in any of them" you smile fades and suddenly it's harder to stay afloat.
I'm such an idiot!!! I accepted the pogues follow request without thinking about what's actually on my Instagram! To be fair you never post Rafes face, you used to and you would get messages from all over the world asking for you to get in touch with his dad for random business men. You only have a few posts on your Instagram, you've never been one for social media. There's a really old selfie on there, a picture of you and Sarah at the beach which must be the bikini picture JJ was on about. A few surfboard shots and there's a photo of you and Rafe walking down a street in the Bahamas from one of his business trips that Sarah took. But it's the back of you both, you can't see either of our faces.
"No, I don't have a boyfriend" you finally say. "That's my best friend, we've been friends since we were kids" you say and look at him for a reaction. He remains calm just nods at you which makes you realise why is he even asking that? "The surfboard friend" you say as that's what JJ referred to him as before. "Why?" You smile which makes him look at you with a hint of panic.
"Yanno" he says, you can see he's trying his best not to smile. "Just wondering" he says.
"Come on" you pull yourself up onto your board and start paddling away. You jump off the side when it's shallow enough to reach the bottom, JJ's right behind you and does the same.
"Hey Tiv?" You turn around to look at him about a metre back, the sea up to his waist. "I'm glad you don't have a boyfriend" he says with a straight face. You just look at him and he just stands there. You're not sure what to think. JJ picks up his board and carries it the rest of the way stopping as he stands next to you. He turns to look at you, there's water dripping from his hair onto his tanned shoulders. He doesn't say anything, just holds eye contact for a few seconds before walking ahead of you and meeting the others on the beach.
What was all that about?
You follow him and walk up to the twinkie where everyone's waiting for you. You hand John B your board and he ties it to the roof. JJ's already sat in the back, he hops out the sliding door and hands you Rafe's t-shirt. He probably wouldn't even touch it if he knew who it really belonged to. You take it and put it on before climbing back into the back seats with JJ. Everyone's in the same seats as before expect you and JJ are sat in each others. Pope and Jb are talking again and Kie has rested her head against the window and closed her eyes. You do the same, it's been almost a week since you last surfed you're shattered.
You feel the van stop and you're back at Jb's. JJ opens the sliding door and Kie jumps out, he holds up his arm up to offer you to get out first so you do. He follows you and closes the door making him stand right next to you. John B and Pope have sat back down by the fire and Kie has gone into the house. You feel JJ's eyes on you again so you turn and look up at him. He reaches out and pulls a strand of wet hair from your cheek tucking it behind your ear. You're looking into his eyes as he does it still having no idea what to make of the situation. Just when you think he's going to say something he walks away and joins the others by the fire.
"Hey guys" you walk over to them "I got to go" you say as they all look at you.
"You haven't even eaten you must be starving" Pope says. You're not actually that hungry you're still full from John B's KFC.
"I'm okay, thank you so much for today you guys, and for the surf board" Kie comes out of the house and hands you your shorts that you left in John B's room. You put them on over the bikini "Am I okay to leave it here JB?' he nods and takes a sip of beer. "I'll see you guys soon!" You say as you turn away and start jogging down the road. You can actually cut through the grass straight into Barry's yard but everyone would see where you were going so you walk out into the road and round to Barry's from the front.
You approach your place, it's dark the suns gone now and there's not a single light on inside. Barry's bike is gone too, he did say he's be out. The house looks creepy at this time with no one home. Over at John B's there's people and fairy lights hung in the tree and a fire. Here it's dark and quiet. You pull your phone out and turn the torch on as you go inside. You find a lamp to turn on which lights up the living room. You change out of your bikini and put joggers and a vest on. Your hair is still wet from the sea and your eyes sting ever so slightly. You text Rafe:
Can u pick me up?
You sit on your bed and wait for a reply from Rafe. An Instagram message comes through, it's from yaboyjay.
Hey Tiv, I really enjoyed today. It's nice having you around come by anytime
JJ's message makes you smile, you're glad they like having you around because you like being around them. You reply:
Hey yeah today was awesome. Thanks again for the board, best gift ever!
He reads the message straight away and starts typing. He replies:
See you soon x
Your eyes fixate on the kiss. What does that mean? Was it accidental, out of habit? JJ doesn't give off the impression of someone who sends kisses on the end of his text messages. Just as you're wondering what to reply Rafes name fills your screen, he's calling you.
"Hello?"
"Hey I'm almost there, you ready?"
"That was quick"
"Yeah I was out in the car before you messaged" Rafe sounds weird like he's underwater, you must be connected to the car speaker.
"Okay see you in a sec" he hangs up and your chat with JJ comes back onto your screen. You double tap his message and come out of the chat, he's just being friendly.
You grab a few t-shirts and a spare pair of shorts and throw them into your backpack along with your phone charger. Sarah's got anything you'll need to borrow if there's something you've forgotten anyway. Car lights shine through your window and you run outside. Rafe gets out the car, he always does. He never sits and waits for you to come to him. "You okay darling?" You walk over and he takes your bag off your shoulder without you asking. You give him a hug which seems to shock him.
You know how when you've been out all day even though it was the best day ever but now you're tired and just want to come home, put your pjs on and crawl into bed? That's the feeling you get when Rafe hugs you, you're exhausted but you're home now and can relax. "What you been up to?" He says running his fingers through your wet hair.
"Surfing" you smile "I borrowed a board" you say as you get in the car so he can't ask you any more questions about it.
You get back to Rafes and follow him upstairs. You stop outside Sarah's room and he turns to you. "Night" Rafe says softly looking down at you. He kissed your forehead and goes into his room and you go into Sarah's. She's fast asleep, you slip your shoes off and crawl into bed besides her. There was a period of about 3 years you and Sarah had sleepovers every single day taking it turns over each others houses. You try not to wake her but as you lie down she turns over onto her side facing you.
"Hey" she whispers with her eyes still closed.
"Hey" you whisper back "I'm sorry I woke you" she smiles and opens her tired eyes to look at you.
"I miss you" she's still whispering even though it just you two in the room. This time you smile at her and she closes her eyes.
"Hey Sarah?" She answers you by opening her eyes again. "I really hate Topper" you say softly which makes her smile again.
"Me too" she says closing her eyes again, you're smiling even more now. Her breathing gets heavy as she falls back asleep. You feel your phone buzz in your back pocket, you forgot it was there. You reach down slowly to grab it careful not to wake Sarah again. Maybe it's JJ carrying on the conversation?
You turn your brightness down so you can read the message, your eyes have already adjusted to the dark so you squint until the screen is darker. It's a text not an Instagram message, it can't be JJ.
You tap on the message, it's from an unknown number. It reads:
Lying to pogues about kooks and kooks about pogues. Where does that leave you Yn?
Is this some sort of joke? Some sort of threat? You're frozen still in Sarah's bed, you want to jump up and freak out but you lie still, staring at the unknown number on your screen.
Someone knows. Someone knows you're friends with Cameron's and pogues. And it looks like they're willing to use it against you.