𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬| 𝑅𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑛

eleven

The Twinkie was parked, with four bored teenagers.

As the boredom settled in, Pope, JJ, Kiara, and Banksie found themselves in need of entertainment, with nothing but time on their hands.

"You know what's weird? Pineapples don't have sleeves, but they're always wearing jackets in cartoons," Pope said, looking down at his hands.

"Why are you so weird?" JJ asked, with the shake of his head.

Banksie gasped with excitement as she remembered something she thought of a while ago. "You guys ever wonder if aliens have their own version of reality TV? Like, 'Planet Earth: The Human Edition' where they watch us do dumb stuff all day?"

"Yeah, I can guarantee that," Kiara nodded, JJ nodding with her. "You know what I don't get?" She asked. "DVDs, or just discs in general," she said with furrowed brows.

"How'd you mean?"

"Well, I mean, how does that little circle thing carry a whole hour-long movie on it?" She asked.

"Good point,"

"Dude, what if birds are just drones sent by the government to spy on us? Like, every time you see a pigeon, it's actually reporting back to HQ?" JJ said, pointing towards Banksie, who nodded with a smile.

"Okay, but imagine if vegetables had feelings and screamed every time you chopped them up for a salad. Like, 'Nooo, not the lettuce!',"

Everyone looked at Kiara in silence. All you could hear was the few gushes of wind.

"You just had to have mentioned vegetables," JJ shook his head.

"They're good for you!"

"They taste like shit!"

Kiara huffed and turned away from JJ, who rolled his eyes in return.

Banksie looked between everyone as they sat in silence. "Anyone got gum?" She asked, but everyone shook their head and remained silent.

"Kiara, holding onto your grudge is like drinking poison and thinking Sarah will die," Pope said, grabbing Kiara's attention.

"Exactly," JJ nodded along quietly.

Kiara rolled her eyes and stayed silent.

The night hung heavy around them, like a fog settling over a desolate landscape. Banksie let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping as she leaned against the cold metal wall of the van, its surface cold against her back.

"This night was awful," she muttered, the words weighed down by exhaustion and frustration.

"For reals," JJ chimed in, his voice echoing in the confined space.

"Nate was there," she admitted, her tone tinged with disgust.

"Ew," Kiara recoiled, her nose wrinkling up.

"That kid smells," JJ continued, idly picking at his nails as he spoke.

Pope, sitting nearby, raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Wha'd you mean?" he inquired, his interest piqued.

"I dunno, he just smells... like foust," JJ replied.

Banksie couldn't help but grin at JJ's colourful description. "Like, it's not even a sweaty smell either, it's like... pure shit," JJ added.

Banksie let out a laugh. "No, because I know exactly what you mean," she nodded in amusement. "It's not a natural smell at all," she grinned.

"What did he want?" Pope asked.

"Uh, nothing that I wanted," she shrugged.

"So the usual?" JJ nodded, looking down at his fingers again before speaking. "Ran into Rafe and Kelce," he rolled his eyes.

"Oh," Pope said, his anxiety bubbling, and he leaned forward.

"Nothing happened, really. Banksie was there to stop it-"

"Dicks," she shook her head.

"Rafe and Kelce followed me-"

"Wait, do you guys hear that?" Kiara said suddenly, cutting JJ off.

"What?"

Everyone fell silent.

"Somebody help!"

"Sarah," Banksie said, and was the first one to get up.

JJ and Pope got out first, seeing as they were the closest by the door, then went Kiara and Banksie.

They all ran to the sound of Sarah's calls, that was until a hand covered Banksie's mouth and dragged her away.

She immediately knew who it was as soon as she saw the light blue suit that covered the person's arm. She mentally rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out.

Rafe pulled his hand away quickly to wipe it on his trousers.

"What the fuck, Loey?" He said, "that's disgusting," he said as he let go of her and walked her to Toppers car.

"Hey, you're the one kidnapping me," she shrugged, looking over to see Topper running back.

"We gotta go," he said, opening the driver's side.

"What did you do?" Banksie asked.

"Nothing!"

Banksie looked between them and quickly went to sprint back towards the Pogues, and Sarah, but Rafe caught her too quickly. Unfortunately, he learned from last time.

"Yeah, that's not happening," he tutted and picked her around her lower stomach/waist area and carried her over to the car.

He opened the door and instructed her to get in. She rolled her eyes and got in behind Topper, and Rafe got in next to her, sitting in the middle.

As they sped away from the scene, Banksie's mind raced with worry for her friends.

"What happened back there?" Rafe finally broke the tense silence, turning to Topper with a curious expression.

Topper glanced nervously at Rafe before responding, "Uh, John B fell from the deck and hit the ground," he said, looking towards Banksie in his mirror. "The wood had to have been rotten! I barely-"

Rafe burst into laughter, slapping Topper on the back in congratulations. "Seriously? That's gold!" he exclaimed, the amusement evident in his voice.

Banksie couldn't help but feel a surge of annoyance. She reached over and hit Rafe on the arm. "That's not funny," she scolded, shooting him a stern look.

Rafe's laughter died down as he glanced at Banksie, "Sorry, sorry," he chuckled, raising his hands in mock surrender. "But come on, you have to admit, that's a bit hilarious."

Banksie rolled her eyes, and she leaned back in her seat. She couldn't wait to get home. She just hoped her friends didn't think that she ditched them.

Hi....

Okay, so I was supposed to be writing last week, but I got ill- and could barely lift up an ant, so Uh, whoops.

I have a lot to do today-

I gotta do a couple of edits so I don't have to panick about making them fresh.

BRO MY OUTERBANKS EDITS ALWAYS FLOP. my Harry Potter ones do so good, tho 😔

ANYWAY. just a little tiny chapter, I had to my pull my finger outta my ass for those random conversations.

Can we talk about how this isn't my first book? I have another account with 3 other books and like 130 followers, and those books got between 66k-120k reads. I just didn't wanna post this book on there because I have anxiety LMFAOOO.

ANYWAY ILL SEE YOU ALL LATER INIT.

BUH BAI