blessing in disguise - rafe cameron

03

"Shut up, JJ, stop acting like a dog in heat." Sarah rolled her eyes, while I was still processing what was going on. "This is Jenara, my best friend." she introduced me, and I waved over briefly.

The blonde boy jumped off the branch he was sitting on and quickly wiped off his hands on his dark red shirt before he extended it towards me.

"Best friend, huh? How come I've never seen you around? Did you just move here? I'm JJ, by the way." he grinned charmingly, his tousled hair and god..that captivating smile of his adding to his charm.

"You can call me Jen. And yes, you could say that."
I shook his hand, returning a playful smile.

"Hey, JJ, watch out before you start drooling." one of the other guys called out. He wore a cap and leaned against one of the terrace pillars, and from the looks of it, him and Sarah were very close, as they stood huddled together just a few seconds later.

JJ scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, and I couldn't help but let out a giggle before moving past him and introducing myself to the others. Besides JJ and Sarah's boyfriend, who introduced himself as John B, there were Pope and Kiara, who eyed me skeptically.

"So we've become a refuge for every kook now?" she snipped, and I couldn't help but laugh. It seemed like she wasn't too fond of me.

"Excuse me? I'm anything but your typical kook, be sure of that, babe." I replied in a falsely sweet tone, causing JJ to bite down on his lip to hold back laughter, Kiara sending a glare into his direction.

"Come on, guys, relax." John B stepped forward before turning to me. "Nice to meet you, Jen. Make yourself feel at home."

"Thanks, at least someone here takes hospitality serious." I smiled and noticed Kiara rolling her eyes from the corner of my eye.

We'll definitely become good friends.

After a while, I got used to Kiara's snarky remarks, which I skillfully ignored, and JJ's flirty comments, which I found myself increasingly enjoying. Now we were sitting in the garden of the chateau, a small campfire in the middle of us. Sarah and JJ sat on either side of me, while the others had settled comfortably on the opposite side of the fire.

"So, Jen, what brings you here?" John B finally asked the question that probably had been burning on all of their tongues for a while.

"I actually always lived on Figure 8, kook through and through I would say, but I had to leave the island exactly a year ago...due to..well, specific reasons." I began to explain, swallowing briefly when I realized that I hadn't processed the whole trauma like I thought I did.

Sarah immediately noticed how tense I became and gently placed her hand on mine before continuing. "Jenara went through a tough time. She went down the wrong path, and there was no other way for her but to leave the island. All thanks to her toxic relationship with my brother..."

Just seconds after Sarah dropped the bomb. I looked into the shocked faces of the Pogues and heard JJ mutter a barely audible "shit."

Yes, it was true. The Kook King and I were once boyfriend and girlfriend, and he was the reason why I completely destroyed myself back then.

"You and Rafe Cameron?" Pope asked incredulously, and I immediately felt my heart sink as I heard his name spoken out loud after such a long time. I wasn't used to it and honestly, it felt weird.

"I'm not exactly proud of it." I pressed my lips together and nodded slowly, as they still looked at me with pity.

"So you don't want to know how he's doing?" Kiara asked me, her voice now gentle compared to before, almost as if she felt sorry for me.