Country Club Living - Rafe Cameron

Chapter Seven - The Boneyard

Ivy cleaned the cut on her leg before dressing it with a bandage and grumbling something to Sarah about her brother. Sarah enjoyed Ivy's company but the constant back and forth between her and Rafe was becoming boring to listen to.

"Let's go out" Sarah chirped

"Where?"

"My friends are having a party at the boneyard, come on let's go" Sarah pleaded

Ivy looked at her friend, she didn't know much about Sarah's friends, but she worried they would be exactly like the ones she used to have in Kildare "I'll pass"

Sarah chewed the skin on the inside of her cheek for a moment "Okay if I tell you this you can't tell anyone, not your parents or anything okay?"

"Um, okay" Ivy said suddenly sitting up straighter

"I'm kinda... dating a boy from the cut. His name is John B, he used to work for my dad. I hang out with him and his friends now"

"You're dating a pogue!" Ivy yelled causing Sarah to cup her hands over the dark-haired girl's mouth and shush her

"Shhh. Someone will hear you" Sarah warned

"Sorry. You're dating a Pogue?" she said quieter this time.

Sarah nodded "He's so amazing and his friends are super cool, you'll love them. Come on we can sneak out and be back here before your parents even suspect anything. Tell them you're crashing here"

Ivy fidgeted with her hands for a moment before finally agreeing after Sarah gave a pleading look "Do I need to change or anything?" she said gesturing down to her jean shorts and shirt that hung off one of her shoulders

Sarah shook her head "Perfect Pogue look"

The two girls grabbed a bottle of vodka that was stashed in Sarah's wardrobe and quietly tiptoed down the hall, checking for any signs of anyone in the house. When the coast was clear the pair dashed to the back door, planning to exit over the wall. Ivy felt the adrenaline rushing through her, she had snuck out before, but this somehow felt more exciting. Going to a place she had never been with people who didn't know her, but a pit in her stomach told her this was wrong. Knowing if her mother found out she would explode, and she'd never be allowed out of the house again. She put this thought to the back of her mind as she and Sarah ran in the direction of the boneyard.

Once they arrived Sarah went to find her friends and boyfriend, dragging Ivy along with her, her feet tripping over the various sticks and pieces of driftwood buried under the sand. When they arrived at a large log Sarah wrapped her arms around a floppy-haired boy who Ivy could only assume was John B. Pulling away Sarah introduced Ivy to the rest of the group.

"Dude. No. No more Kooks, we said no more kooks!" the blonde boy protested spilling his cup on the sand slightly

"JJ relax man if she's with Sarah she's fine" John B reassured "It's nice to meet you, I'm John B. That drunk ass over there is JJ. He's territorial"

"I am not!" JJ grumbled earning a punch on the arm from Kiara

"I'm Pope" said the boy on the other side of John B giving a small wave

"Kiara. Everyone calls me Kie" the girl smiled

"I think I remember you from like way back. Did you ever hang out with Sarah at her house? We played dress-up together" Ivy asked

Sarah and Kiara exchanged an awkward glance with one another before laughing "Uh yeah I do remember you"

The boys made faces at one another putting on high pitched voices and talking about dresses and makeup to irritate the girls.

"So what brings you here Kook. Sorry, Ivy " JJ asked

"Uhh, I come here every summer and I always stay inside because I don't get along with my fellow kooks, so Sarah brought me here" she shrugged

"She hates my brother more than all of you combined" Sarah interjected

JJ smirked into his drink before opening his arms "Well why didn't you lead with that. Any enemy of Rafe Cameron's is a friend of mine" he laughed "Sorry Sarah. No offence"

Sarah rolled her eyes and laughed at her friend before offering Ivy a drink which she kindly accepted, the liquor was strong, and the lack of mixer made the hairs on her arms stand up, but she liked it. The two girls danced around and laughed. Ivy hadn't had a night like this in, well, ever. All of her nights with her friends were always meticulously planned, you knew what club you were going to and when, this was mostly because her friends had memorised what bouncers let you in if you were underage if you had enough cash on you and when their shift started. It was all for show mostly, the Instagram stories, the large bottles of liquor someone had bought using their dads AMEX card. She didn't know if she had truly felt fun like this in quite some time and as the girls danced around the now roaring fire on the beach she realised what she was missing out on the whole time she stayed in her room. There was a whole different part of the island she wasn't aware of, and she certainly knew which one she liked better.

The group were passing around a joint when Ivy couldn't help but notice a pair of eyes on her, she looked through the crowd to find the eyes belonged to a boy around her age, maybe younger. He was tall and muscular, and his dark brown eyes were almost black in the barely-there light of the night sky. His eyes were trained on Ivy, anger behind them but also a softness, they were a pair of eyes she knew.

"Shit" she mumbled

"You okay?" Sarah asked realising her friend's demeanour had changed

"It's my cousin Elijah" she said, her eyes not leaving the boys once "I gotta go" she said scrambling to her feet and composing herself

"It's fine. Your mom doesn't talk to her family, so she'll never know you were here" Sarah assured

"It's not that. I just need to leave" Ivy said beginning to get paranoid, she was crossed and anxious. Never a good mix

"I'll drive you home. I haven't had anything" Pope

"Shit I said I was staying at Sarah's" Ivy panicked out loud

"Chill. Go back to mine, have a nap, sleep in the guest room, you'll be fine by the time I get home. Nobody will know we even went out" Sarah said calmly

Ivy nodded and hugged her friend goodbye while Pope held out an arm for her to hold onto, she bid goodbye to the rest of the group and headed for where a beat-up looking orange van was parked. She gave one glance around for any sign of her distant cousin and hopped into the passenger seat, buckling herself in and taking a few deep breaths as Pope pulled away from the party and took her home, checking now and then to see if she was okay and even stopping at a store for a bottle of water for the very tipsy girl.

By the time they got to Sarah's house she felt pretty much sober again and hugged Pope thanking him for the ride home. She braced herself for the stealth mission she was about to undergo and began tiptoeing into the house when she realised that the car Ward and Rose had taken was nowhere to be seen meaning that they must have not been home yet. This made her feel instantly better as she snuck in through the back door and headed down the hallway toward the stairs. Checking around her one last time before quietly closing the door behind her.