"i can't believe that you didn't tell me it all sooner," kie sighed. i had slept over her house the night of jj's arrest. it wasn't because of him getting arrested, but more so because of midsummers the next day. just what i was looking forward to.
midsummers is just a fancy term for this big fancy kook party. kie's parents are members of the club or whatever, so kie is invited, naturally. her parents liked me more than the boys, so i was her guest every year. it wasn't the best experience, but it wasn't bad either. her parents bought me a new dress every year, so at least there was that. they were great to me.
"pope begged jj and i to not tell anybody, and he specifically mentioned you and john b," i told her as she looked at me with a confused expression, "i should've told you sooner, but i didn't want the two of them on my bad side. i got on jj's bad side while trying to persuade them to not sink topper's boat."
"hey, it's all good now, don't worry about it," kiara patted my shoulder reassuringly, "i think we need to start getting ready."
"ughh, my mindset on this thing never changes as the years go by, you know that?" i said truthfully.
"you got a cute ass dress this year though! look," kie smiled widely as she took the protector off of the dress. it was a long, pink dress. something i knew i could never afford. the two of us got our dresses on, and did our hair and makeup. i wouldn't call myself a girly girl, but getting ready for the event was always more fun than the actual thing.
(here's the dress hehe)
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"this is disgusting," kie looked at herself in the mirror, realizing how much of a kook she looked like.
"i know. it's horrible. i'm asking you to relax and go to a fun party with your best friend, kiara," mrs. carrera walked into the room to check on us.
"thank you for the dress, mrs. c. you really outdid yourself," i thanked her for the generosity, despite how much i hated the goddamn party.
"of course sweetie."
"i look like a bourgeoisie pig," kiara scoffed.
"will you please not worry about socioeconomic injustice for one night?" inquired kie's mom as she put a hoop in her ear.
"mom, people not three miles from here have no power, no running water, and we're going to midsummers. that's so tone-deaf," kie whined and i mentally agreed with her entirely. i didn't want to say that out loud though; that would be rude.
"do you know how hard we had to work to get into the island club?" kie's mom looked her dead in the eye.
"yeah mom, how could i forget? you had to grovel for like, ten years-"
"twelve. and we also had to cough up a huge chunk of cookie dough, and do you know why we did that?"
"to keep up with the joneses?" kie blurted.
"no, so you can have the same experiences i had as a child." because that's exactly what kie wants, i thought in my head. "honey, do you know what the island club is?"
"a factory farm for debutantes?"
"it is a nice place, with nice people, you can do fun stuff!" mrs c grabbed her daughter's face and gave a loving look.
"with out-of-touch rich people while the island sinks slowly into the ocean," kie retorted.
"okay, i want you to put your party face on, kie, if you wanna live," kie's mom walked out of the room.
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"look, there's pope," i pointed to him as i looked at kie, "let's go."
kie put on a fake british accent, "excuse me sir. do we have to shuck these ourselves?" this caused him to look up from the grill, only to be met with his two girl best friends.
"cause i'm afraid it might mess up our costumes," i added on, using the same horrible accent as she did. pope's face twisted from aggravation to excitement to see that it was just us as opposed to some stuck-up kooks.
"we wouldn't want that now, would we?" pope did a handshake with kie and pulled me in for a hug. "your accents were bad."
"they were," kie admitted as i giggled, "you ever see this many kooks in one place?"
"yeah. last year," pope replied, tending to his food on the grill.
"we're in the lions den."
"exactly. hey, have either of you heard from jj?" he asked, mainly referring to me, knowing i'd probably be the first one he would contact.
"no. he'll be all right though. he's got the survival instincts of a cockroach."
"you got that right," i complied.
"it's all my fault," pope started.
"you didn't do this pope, topper almost killed you. remember?" i tried to make him feel better.
"here come lord capital and the exploiters," kie griped, looking at the rafe family.
"she's gonna poke somebody's eye out with that thing," pope observed, talking about the hideous crown that rose was wearing.
the party continued on, and it was rather dull. we couldn't talk to pope much because heyward was keeping him busy. kie and i had a few drinks though which lightened the mood.
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"it's okay everybody," i heard an all-too-familiar voice amongst the many that stuck out. jj. "do not panic. leave it to the men and women in uniform. let's hear it for them. rose! you look like lady liberty. it's good to see you again. hey buddy, can i have one of those?" the man escorted him out. what kind of trouble did he get himself into now? shoupe let him go?
"let go of him!" kiara screamed. you can't just boot him," jj looked in kiara's direction, and then saw me standing next to her. his eyes sparkled as a small smile appeared on my face.
"excuse me ma'am?"
"he was invited here. i'm a member of this club-" kiara explained as her parents tried stopping her.
just then, jj pushed the security guard back and ran loose. "sorry about that. hey, mandatory power hour at rixon's kie, elsie. pope, you as well, all right? rixon's cove, let's roll. all right, kie. elsie. come on. workers of the world unite! throw off your chains!"
the two of us glanced back at kiara's parents, who attempted to stop us, but failed. we all ran to jj, me struggling a bit with the fucked up foot and collapsing into jj's arms. he spun me around in the air and kissed me passionately, forgetting about everyone else in the world.
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{1150 words}
was planning on writing a couple chapters today, but i've had a headache all day :/ but luckily, i have up to chapter 32 written (hellaaaa prewritten)
