𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗠𝗢𝗞𝗘, obx

05. girl, so confusing.

Season I.                   Ch V.

girl, so confusing.

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Rubys brief freedom is short lived the following morning; apparently that evening was midsummers, the most important event of the summer. ruby only thought of it as yet another lame excuse for kooks to flaunt their riches while poking fun at their lower class employees.

rose finds her in the kitchen. she's been downstairs three minutes and is already disappointed. "you're not dressed?"

"no." ruby rolls her eyes. "i'm not going." she'd rather drown than wear a five hundred dollar dress to act as if her world hadn't entirely flipped on its axis for four hours.

"the hell you're not." rose scoffs. "ward is being coronated as guardian of knights of the rhododendron. you're going."

rue has no idea what the hell this means. "yeah, whatever that is, i don't care. he's not my father and i don't have to be there."

"right." rose sighs, and for a moment ruby thinks she's won. just for a moment. "but i am your mother, and i say you do have to be there. this is important—and who knows, maybe you'll make friends!" she deflates at the bored expression on rubys face. "what if you just paste on a smile, pretend you aren't absolutely miserable for a night, and you go, all right?"

this was phrased as a question, but rue wasn't stupid. there was so getting out of this. "no promises for the first two." she would not be fucking smiling. ruby was not the perfect daughter. that was sarah's title; she could have it.

rose's lips slightly turn upward and if ruby didn't know any better she would've called it a smile. "that's my girl." oh, vomit.

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Midsummers was officially the worst party ruby miller had ever attended. not like she had much to compare it too.

the island club was packed with happy, fancy, upper class white families paying poor teens from the cut minimum wage to shine their shoes and fill their glasses. even worse: sarah was being disgustingly unbearable with her attempts at bonding with ruby, who had finally hidden herself in the boys locker room—the only place sarah would not follow, as she was currently avoiding her boyfriend at all costs. rue did not care enough to ask why. topper was a fucking tool anyway.

suddenly, she is nearly taken out by the bathroom door abruptly slamming open, an out of breath teen rushing through. "uh, hello, you almost just flattened me!" rue steps back, recognizing the boy. "jj? wh—"

she's unable to finish as rafe and his friends barge in, pausing when he notices his step-sister. "you know this is the guys locker room, right?"

"then what are you three powerpuff girls doing in here?"

rafes expression darkens, "shut up." he turns back towards jj as kelce grabs the blonde in a headlock, "keep his head still, i'm gonna line this up."

ruby scoffs, rolling her eyes and slipping back out the door to find daryl, head of the island clubs security. "hey, daryl, there's a situation in the boys locker room. some pogue trespassing, messing with members."

"damnit." daryl curses, nodding once. "thanks, ms. cameron." ruby nearly vomits at this address. never did she want to become a miss cameron. she shakes it off, following daryl back into the locker room. he flicks the lights on and off a few times, "gentlemen! is there a problem here, guys?"

kelce immediately frees jj, who shoves himself away, looking at the security guard with relief. "pardon me, officer. no, there's no issue, i just—" he notices rue behind the man's shoulder, frantically mouthing, "trespass! trespass!"

"oh, actually, yes." jj quickly recovers, "no, there is an issue. uh, we got a criminal trespass in progress here. blatant disrespect for private property..i'm in violation of all kinds of shit, sir. but these young gentleman..." he reaches out to adjust kelces bow tie, only for the teen to immediately smack his hand away. "uh, caught me, sir, and they're about to take me away. and that's what you should do, escort me out of here. you got me." jj holds up both wrists, allowing daryl to lead him out of the room. he winks at rue in passing; the teen only smiles slightly, holding up a hand in a slight wave and heading in the other direction.

this 'kook shit' proved to be far more than ruby had signed up for. she didn't care how pissed rose got—rue was leaving this shit show.

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Ruby returns to the cameron residence to find her stepfathers office door slightly ajar. concerned since she knew for a fact both ward and rose were still at the event, rue slips inside.

"what are you doing?" ruby furrows her eyebrows, catching none other than sarah cameron rustling threw her fathers desk drawers.

sarah looks up, startled. "uh...i just wanted a copy of one of the old plat maps."

"yeah right." rue scoffs, crossing her arms in front of her chest. since when was sarah cameron interested in history? "what are you actually doing?"

"...do you promise to keep a secret?" sarah folds the map in half, slowly crossing the room towards the younger girl.

ruby rolls her eyes. she wasn't seven. "fine, yeah, whatever."

"i'm serious, ruby. you can't tell any—"

rue scoffs, "i'm not the snitch here, sarah."

"what?" the older girl pauses, "wait, you think i'm the one who told ward about john b and the gear?"

"duh, who else would it be? you're the one that told me to stay away and called him crazy."

"well yeah, but that was before..." sarah pauses, shaking her head. "look. him and his friends are on a treasure hunt, and they need this map because they think the gold is here at tannyhill."

ruby breaks out into laughter, stopping when she notices the look on the older blondes face. "wait, what? you can't be serious."

"i know, it's crazy, but i'm serious. you should come! i'm meeting them right now, and—"

"the pogues? you're meeting the pogues?"

ruby is suddenly angry and sarah's unsure why. her moods seem to flip like a coin; you never know what will set her off. "yeah, you know them?"

"stay away from them, sarah. they're the first friends i've ever made here and suddenly you're all buddy-buddy after talking total shit about them!" rues face darkens. "god, you just have to ruin everything good, don't you?"

and as she storms out of the office, slamming the door behind her, ruby knew it wasn't really sarah she was angry with. it was her mother, for loving her more, and her father, for leaving her with a mother who did not want her.