Hot Summer Nights, Pope Heyward

Forty Four. soul sisters

XLIV. soul sisters

      Kiara's Kook year was the hardest time of her life. She constantly felt like she was in a nightmare. A sheep who was thrown into a pack of wolves. She was different and everybody knew it. She was a Pogue, a surfer, an environmentalist. She cared about helping to world and making it a better place. All the Kook's cared about was their expensive cars and mansions. They cared about their appearance more than helping others. Kiara hated her parents for separating her from her friends. Her family. Her home.

But throughout the entire of year of torture, she still had Dylan. She didn't care that she was in Kook territory, she was just Kiara and she was her sister. Even when she became friends with Sarah and the Cameron girl turned her life around for the better, Dylan was her best friend. They did everything together.

Thats why when Sarah betrayed her and her life began to crumble again, Kiara was so angry when she found out that Dylan was still friends with her. DJ was hers. She was her best friend. She hated that the one person who understood her could still be friends with a girl like Sarah Cameron. But fighting with Dylan was always hard. She was a girl with a golden heart and she grew up with a good family. There wasn't a bad bone in her body. The one thing they had in common was how stubborn they were.

But even though they had their fights, and things were said that were now taken back, Kiara and Dylan would always remain sisters. That's why when she returned home after lashing out at the court house, and being yelled at by her parents, Kiara immediately drove to Figure Eight where the Jennings family lived.

Ainsley Jennings opened the door. "Kiara," she spoke in her usual soft tone of voice. Her face downturned when she saw the girl's expression. "Is everything okay?"

A frown settled on Kiara's face. "Is Dylan home?"

The woman didn't answer and she stepped aside, allowing the girl to enter the home. Kiara saw Dylan curled up on the plush couch with a white blanket covering her body. "Kie?"

"My parents found out what happened at the court house," Kiara began to explain and she came over to sit beside her. Dylan sat up on the couch. The frown deepened. "My dad yelled at me. Told me I was stupid for lashing out like I did."

Ainsley immediately came and sat with the girls.  Dylan's expression fell. "Oh, Kie, I'm so sorry."

"You're not stupid, honey," the mother spoke and sat beside Kiara. She pushed the wet curls (it was till raining outside) off the girl's shoulder. "You're angry.  You both are—" she cut her eyes to her daughter. "You have every reason in the world to be."

Kiara's dark eyes filled with tears. "I'm just so tired of them not getting it. My dad was a Pogue. How can they not see that I'm just trying to help my friends?"

"I think they're just worried about you getting hurt,  Kiki," Dylan responded, trying to look on the bright side.

She shook her head. "No, D, it's like they're trying to isolate me from you guys. They've always wanted me to be the picture perfect Kook I was supposed be when I went to the Kook Academy." She wiped her tears. "But I'm not. I don't want to be like that. I just want to get away from that—"

"You're not like that, honey," Ainsley told her and Dylan grabbed her hand. "You know how highly I think of you. You've always been such a good girl."

Kiara slowly looked at her with a heartbroken look on her face.

"But I need you both to know something," she continued and scooted closer, now looking at both of the girls. "I fully support you girls in trying to help John B. Logan and I will do everything we can to help.  But you need to be careful."

"Mom—"

"No, listen to me," she interrupted her daughter.  "Dylan, I have always told you how hard life was for my parents growing up. My dad always had eyes on his back with the police. It was like waiting for a bomb to explode. I got extremely lucky to get out of the neighborhood we lived in when I was a kid. And I've always tried to teach you and Braxton how to act when it comes to the police,"

The two girls looked at each other with the same expression, knowing where she was going with the conversation.

"I'm not mad at what you girls did. I'm proud of you for standing up for what you believe in," Ainsley continued. "But it could have gone very differently. I saw the way those cops tried to grab you. You're young black girls in a situation where the higher authorities will always side with the Kooks." She looked again at Kiara. "I think in a way your parents are probably scared that something bad is going to happen to you, just like I am with my kids. I just want you both to be safe and understand what you're going up against.  Fighting the justice system is a battle you can hardly ever win."

Dylan looked down at her hands, Kiara's still latched in one of them. Growing up, her mom always had these kinds of conversations with her and her brother. Even though they lived on Figure Eight in a nice home and they had a good life, they were still different than the other kids on the island. They had a target on their backs simply because they were black.

The news, the Internet, and history was a reminder that the world would always be against them because they looked different than others. Dylan understood that when she got a gun pointed at her by the police. One wrong move and the trigger's pulled. She understood. Kiara understood. And Pope understood.

Kiara longed to know that there was an adult on her side but even more than that, she longed to be told that wasn't screwing up her life just because she wanted to do the right thing. "I understand, Miss Ainsley," she said and smiled at the woman, her tears now dried up. "Thank you."

"Thanks, mom." Dylan muttered and the corner of her mouth turned up.

Ainsley smiled at her girls. She patted Kiara on the shoulder once more and got up from the couch,  leaving the living room to go upstairs. Kiara turned to her friend again and they smiled at each other. "Have I ever told you that I love your family?" She questioned.

Dylan chuckled. "Maybe once or twice." She pulled the blanket up so that it covered her arms.

Their legs were criss crossed so that they were facing each other. "Are you okay? I mean, after what happened with JJ?" Kiara asked her, remembering the blow up.

Dylan shrugged lightly. "It's JJ. You know how he gets.  We'll be okay tomorrow, I'm sure." She excused.

"That doesn't mean how he acted was right. Your dad's doing what every adult should be doing. He's helping John B. JJ should be grateful."

"He is. I know he is. He's just angry. He always lets his anger overtake him." Dylan knew Jesse James Maybank like the back of her hand. She knew all of her friends that way.

Kiara cracked a smile. "You should've seen how angry Pope was. Gave him shit for what he said."

She giggled, her smile stretching even more. "I'm glad you came here."

"I felt like I couldn't go anywhere else," Kiara confessed. "You're always the one I go to when I'm having problems. I feel like we haven't got to talk like this lately."

She was right. With everything that happened, from discovering the ship wreck to Peterkin's death, the two girls hardly got to spent time with each other. Dylan grabbed her hand again. "Well, don't be a stranger, Kiki. My home is your home."

Kiara smiled again because she knew she had a home away from home. Anytime she cried or was hurt or just needed to have a conversation, she could always go home to Dylan.