𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬| 𝑅𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑛

nine

You know when you're sleeping so peacefully, and all of a sudden, there's a sound? And not just any old sound, no. It's not a jazzy jingle or some sweet melody.

It's the sound of a phone alarm.

And what's even worse?

Someone telling you to get up at the exact same time.

Banksie turned over in her bed, turning off the alarm and squinting ahead of her.

"Dad?" Banksie said sleepily, her eyes strained with tiredness. "When did you come home?" she asked.

"Where were you last night?" he asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I was here... sort of," she said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Sort of?" he asked, his thick Argentinian accent coming through. "How can you sort of be home?" he questioned.

"Well, see, I was about to come, but then–"

"What on God's green earth happened to your nose?" he asked, his voice now a little raised in question.

"I got elbowed in the face," she said, making direct eye contact. "By accident," she added with a smile.

He raised a brow, but all she did was shrug.

"Your mother was beside herself last night," he said, his brown eyes rolling. "Little dramatic if you ask me," he grinned.

Banksie and Daniel had mostly the same sense of humour, something people noticed quite often.

"Funny thing," he said, starting to wander off to the window in her room. "That party your mom was throwing the other night? Neither Cameron child showed up, well except the youngest," he said, staring off outside her window.

"Sarah didn't show?" Banksie asked.

"So you were with Rafe?" he asked.

"What?"

"You didn't ask about Rafe, just Sarah," he grinned knowingly.

"No, I wasn't with him," she lied, her teeth pressed together tightly. "I just know where he was," she smiled.

Daniel hummed and began to walk to her bedroom door, smirking as he did so.

"Since when did you have secrets?" he asked, chuckling and walking out.

"Jesus," Banksie said to herself, putting her hands to her face.

————

"I wanna die."

Was the first thing Banksie said to anyone that evening. Her long, pale pink dress scrunched up in her hands.

"Tell me about it," Kiara spoke as she scanned all the faces who were attending Midsummers. "Like, have you ever seen so many Kooks in one place?" she asked.

"Yeah," Pope and Banksie said in unison. "Last year," he finished.

"We're in the lion's den," Kiara spoke.

Banksie looked around, making eye contact with Topper and Kelce. They gave a small smile and waved before talking amongst each other again.

"Either of you heard from JJ?" Pope asked.

"What happened to JJ?" Banksie asked.

"He'll be alright. He's got the survival instincts of a cockroach," Kiara shrugged.

"What happened to JJ?" Banksie asked again.

"It's all my fault,"

"You didn't do this, Pope,"