Sweetheart - JJ Maybank

Chapter fourteen

"This is disgusting," Kiara said, looking at herself in the mirror. She had on a purple silk dress and Aurora thought it looked beautiful on her.

"I know, it's just horrible," Mrs. Carrera said, rolling her eyes. "I'm asking you to relax and go to a fun party with your friend."

Kiara turned around to look at her mom and Aurora who was sitting on her bed. "I look like a bourgeoisie pig."

"Will you please not worry about socioeconomic injustice for one night?" her mom asked, putting in her hoops.

"Mom, people not three miles from here have no power, no running water, and we're going to Midsummers. That's so tone-deaf," she explained.

"Honey, do you know how hard we worked to get into the Island Club?"

"Yeah, mom. How could I forget?" She walked over, sitting next to Aurora. "You have to grovel for, like, ten years—" She leaned into Aurora making a dramatic scene.

"Twelve," her mother interrupted. "And we also had to cough up a huge chunk of money, and do you know why we did that?"

"To keep up with the Joneses?"

"No. So you could have the experiences that I did as a child." Her mom leaned up against the bedpost. "Honey, do you know what the Island Club is?"

"A factory farm for debutantes."

"It is a nice place, with nice people, where you, and your friend Aurora, can do fun stuff." She grabbed Kiara's face with her hands.

"With out of touch rich people, while the island sinks slowly into the ocean," Kiara had her eyebrows in a frown.

"Okay, I want you to put your party face on, Kie, if you wanna live," her mom said walking away from her.

Kiara rolled her eyes once her mom was out of her room. She got up off the bed and pulled Aurora up with her. She tilted her head to the side to make sure her hickey from Rafe was covered up all the way.

Luckily, the dress she had on was long, so they didn't have to worry about covering her legs. They did have to do her arms though.

Aurora was wearing a loose, black dress. Its neckline went straight under her collarbone. The straps on her shoulders were spaghetti straps but there were also hanging off the shoulder straps. She wore a pair of black strappy heels. They made her only two inches taller, but she was loving being five seven.

She had to admit, she looked better in it than she thought she would. Her hair was done up like Kiara's except her flowers were white to contrast her dress.

After making the final touches on everyone's outfits, Aurora, Kiara, and her parents all got into the car and drove to the Island Club. Once they entered the back, they saw Pope cooking some oysters and walked over to him.

"Excuse me, sir," Kiara said in a British accent. "Do we have to shuck these ourselves?"

Pope turned around to see Kiara and Aurora behind him. "Cause it might mess up my costume." They all laughed.

"Well we wouldn't want that now, would we?" Pope said, walking up to Kiara and doing a handshake. Aurora walked up to the side of him and he gave her a hug.

"How are you?" he asked. "I didn't know you would be here."

"Neither did I until yesterday," she laughed. "And I'm okay."

"That's good. But now, I have a serious question." He narrowed his eyes. "Have you ever seen this many Kooks in one place?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No, never."