𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

nineteen: Midsummers.

KAI had been invited to Midsummers. An event for the Kooks that happens every year. He was invited by Sterling to go as his date. When the party began, he arrived with Sterling and his parents, his hand in Sterling's. "Hey, I'm gonna go say hi really quick to, uh, Pope, is that okay?" He asked Sterling who looks over at him.

"Oh, talk later then?" He smiles and Kai nods before he walks away, pulling his hand away from Sterling's. He got closer to the area the same time as Kie. "Oh, hey, looking pretty." Kai smiled widely as he put an arm around Kie who chuckles.

"You look handsome." She says as they got closer to where Pope and his dad were. "Excuse me, sir. Do we have to shuck these ourselves?" Kie said in an English accent and Pope turns towards them. "Cause it might mess up my costume." Kie said and Pope smiles widely right away as the three of them all chuckle together at her.

"We wouldn't want that now, would we?" Pope says as he did their handshake with both Kie and Kai who go to stand on the right side of him. "That accent was bad..." Kai says as he shakes his head and Kie smiles. "Yeah, it was. I was gonna let it go." She says and Kai chuckled. "You ever seen this many Kooks in one place?" She then asked them.

"Yeah. Last year." Pope says and Kai sighs. "Not me. It's s nightmare come true..." He joked. "We're in the lion's den." Kie said, looking at Topper and Kelce as Kai sighs. "Exactly." Pope says.

"Hey, have either of you heard from JJ?" Pope says and Kai looks at him right away. "No? Why would I? I-I haven't..." He rambled and Pope stared at him. "He's your best friend..." He says.

"Right... but I haven't, so..." Kai said and shrugged making Pope look away as Kie side-eyed Kai. "He'll be alright. He's got the survival instincts of a cockroach." Kie says, rolling her eyes and Kai chuckles as he looks back over to the party. "It's all my fault." Pope blames himself.

"You didn't do this, Pope. Topper almost killed you. Remember?" Kie says as Pope looks at her and Kai sighed. "I better get back to, uh, Sterling before, um... I don't know but I'm gonna go." He said and waved at the two, walking off.

Kai isn't gonna lie, he felt uncomfortable with how many people gave him lingering looks and didn't really talk to him. "Hi." He said as he put a hand to Sterling's back. "Hey... Have you guys met Kai?" Sterling gestured to the boy.

"No... Hi, I'm Ryan." It was the boy from the other day who was staring at Sterling. "Hi... Nice to meet you." Kai smiled and shook hands with the boy. "Hey, aren't you a Pogue?" The other boy standing with them says. "Jace, stop..." Sterling whispered and turned towards Kai.

"Hey, you wanna go grab some drinks?" He asked and Kai nods. "Nice to meet you... Jace and Ryan." He said and then the two walked off. "Don't think your friends liked me. Meanwhile my friends welcomed you with open arms." He said as he shrugged, grabbing a cup of some sort of drink. "Well... they are Kooks." Sterling shrugged and Kai looked over at the boy.

"So, how'd you convince your parents to invite a Pogue?" He asked and Sterling looks over at him. "Took them a while... I guess." He said and then looked behind Kai. Probably at Ryan. Kai looked away and downed the drink in his hands.

After a while, it got dark and Kai was mostly talking with Pope for a while when he looked away, spotting JJ walking around the party when he rushed over to the boy and threw his arms around him. "Woah, Kai, hi..." JJ said, hugging back.

"Why are you here?" Kai said suddenly as he pulled back. "I could ask you the same thing..." JJ said, raising an eyebrow. "Uh... right, um, I'm here with, um, Sterling..." He says and then lightly shoved JJ. "What about you? You look like you got some mischievous shit planned. Can I join?" He asked and JJ just shakes his head.