𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇, 𝐣𝐣 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤.

FOUR, bad news stas

❝ I'M A PERFECT ALL AMERICAN BITCH ! ❞

CHAPTER FOUR
BAD NEWS STAS

agatha had completely wrecked the outer banks. the telephone lines were down, trees had crashed onto cars, and entire neighborhoods were left waterlogged and reeling.

but luckily anastasia was a kook and she didn't need to worry about any of that.

by the time she woke up, her house was already a flurry of activity. staff were scrambling to restore order, cleaning up the debris and repairing what could be salvaged. the estate's generators hummed, bringing light and warmth even as many of the neighbors struggled without electricity. shattered branches and wind-torn hedges were being cleared, while workmen shouted orders. the only thing that anastasia could hear the whole morning was mrs. aldrige in the hallway, directing the clean up crew.

the only thing that anastasia needed to worry about was her outfit for the party. some kids had invited them to the boneyard, something about a free day after the hurricane so that they could relax— it didn't matter because the kooks always wanted to party.

so here she was staring up at her best friend climbing onto a red marina buoy that had washed up onto the shore.

"sarah!" topper called out, immediately rushing over to his girlfriend's side.

"the storm.." sarah trailed off, pointing at the ocean, her baby blue floral dress floating in the breeze.

"shit," he cursed, jogging towards his girlfriend, "sarah! be careful!"

anastasia ran after him, her sneakers slipping slightly on the wet sand. the salt air burned her lungs as she reached them. "sarah, get down!" she shouted, more annoyance than fear coloring her tone. this was classic sarah—drawn to whatever reckless act might make her feel alive.

sarah only turned her head slightly, a hint of defiance glinting in her eyes. "it's fine," she insisted, her smile bright. "i'm fine."

she giggled as topper reached for her and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off the buoy and spinning her around before placing her down onto the sand.

"that is absolutely disgusting," anastasia grimaced as soon as the couple shared a kiss.

"i don't know what the fuck this is!" kelce came running over to them with a bottle of something. "but this is some good shit"

"should you be drinking that?" anastasia raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the drink, undoubtedly he got it from some pogues.

kelce grinned, waving the bottle around like it was the holy grail. "who cares? live a little stas, this is your first party since you came back."

the second anastasia arrived at the boneyard she got flooded with questions on where she had been, and she gave them all the same answer— she was visiting her grandparents in miami.

he shrugged, taking a swig from the bottle. "life's short, stas. you should try it. might loosen you up."

anastasia rolled her eyes as she extended her hand. "pass me the bottle."

kelce raised an eyebrow but handed it over without hesitation. "atta girl."

anastasia took the bottle and studied it for a second before taking a long swig, the harsh burn spreading down her throat. she coughed slightly but quickly masked it with a sharp smirk. "not bad, actually," she said, though she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or just the wild atmosphere of the boneyard that was starting to get to her.

kelce laughed, clearly pleased with her reaction. "told you," he said, watching as she handed the bottle back. "see? you just need to get out of your pretty head for a second."

topper and sarah finally stopped to breathe. "stas tonight is your welcome back party." the boy spoke, finally letting go of sarah. "you're gonna have a fucking blast."

"if kiara stops giving us a death stare." sarah spoke up, her eyes narrowed at the brunette girl. "if looks could kill we'd be six feet under the ground."

kiara carrera, anastasia and sarah's best friend in ninth grade, worst enemy in tenth grade. once upon a time the three were inseparable until kiara had completely and utterly fucked things up between them, at least that's what anastasia believed.

she glanced over at the girl, kie was sitting beside john b, anastasia had ran into him a few times while he was working the druthers. but he was mostly known for his dad, everybody in outer banks knew about big john. some say he's dead while others say he's just missing— anastasia's dad was one of the people that assumed he was dead, he told her not to worry about the subject and that she shouldn't go digging around it, it was simply just a tragic accident.

anastasia rolled her eyes. "stop glaring slut!" she flipped her off.

"stasi," sarah quickly hit her shoulder, she hated when anastasia would do this— especially when they weren't looking for any trouble. "that was not necessary, especially after you made her life living hell for what, a year?"

"i'm just being honest," anastasia shrugged as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "she hangs out with three guys alone, god knows what kind of shit they do— she probably fucked all of them."

"oh my god," sarah rubber her temples with her fingers. "just please do not get into any kind of drama tonight." sarah pleaded, lacing their fingers together. "i just wanna have a good time and forget about the whole scooter thing."

"what scooter thing?" anastasia asked, averting her gaze over to sarah.

"lana came by today, she said that scooter's missing." sarah began explaining, a frown appearing on her face. "and i was the last one to see him alive."

"it's probably nothing," anastasia shrugged it off, sarah would probably get worked up over this but quite frankly this had nothing do with them. "doesn't sound like our problem."

sarah frowned, clearly not convinced by anastasia's response. "you're really not going to care? he's missing, stas. and i swear, if something happened to him—"

"sarah, stop." anastasia interrupted, her tone a little sharper than she meant. she softened a moment later, sighing. "look, if something happened to him, someone will deal with it. we don't need to get tangled up in it, especially tonight."

sarah just stared at her, still uneasy. "i can't help but feel like we should do something."

"you should relax," anastasia said, flashing a flirtatious grin as she glanced around the boneyard. "enjoy the party. that's why we're here, remember?" she reached out to tug sarah toward the crowd. "no more worrying about scooter or kiara or whatever nonsense you've been dragging around. plus it's not like we can really do anything about it so toughen up, sunshine."

"but there was something seriously wrong i don't think—" sarah begun but was interrupted by kelce groaning and pulling anastasia with him.

"sarah have a good time with top— not too much though." he sent a wink over to topper who just smirked in response. "we will be doing our own stuff and i'll keep an eye on this one."

author's note, next chapter is a long one but finally she'll meet jj and everyone else— honestly at first stasi might get on your nerves but i promise you that you will love her as the story goes on