𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 ⇝ 𝙆𝙞𝙖𝙧𝙖 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙧𝙖

𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙔 𝙊𝙉𝙀 {𝙄𝙎 𝙎𝙊𝙈𝙀𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘾𝙐𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙊𝙉𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎 }

𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣'𝙨 𝙋𝙊𝙑

"I never doubted them" JJ declares as we walk towards the Wreck.

"I owe you five bucks" Kiara replies.

"Me too" Makoa adds.

"Kiara, I need those setups done by five!" Anna shouts.

"There are other people that work here" Kiara retorts.

"None of 'em are my children" Anna quips.

"I feel that. On a deep, emotional level, I understand that" Pope groans.

"Hi, Anna" I chirp happily and the woman grins at me warmly.

"Hi, honey!" She replies and I stop to speak to her while the others keep walking "How have you been? Kiara hasn't brought you over in a while"

"I've been okay" I shrug with a small smile "I assumed that you and Mike had been working a lot because of the amount Kiara has been at my house"

Anna frowns slightly and I quickly realise that my assumption is wrong, causing my stomach to turn in a terrible way.

"No, we've still got the same shifts as always" Anna assures me and my frown matches hers "I don't know what's gotten into her"

I suddenly feel at fault for the woman not seeing her daughter recently and I wonder if maybe the reason Kiara isn't taking me home to her parents is because she's ashamed of me. The reason she's only with me at my house is because she's embarrassed to be with me.

"Mom, stop bothering my friends" Kiara's voice breaks my thoughts and her words feel like a stab to the chest.

The fact she called me her friend only feeds into my insecurities and the bad thoughts spiral into worse ones.

"She's not bothering me" I blurt out and my tone seems to surprise both of them, even Anna looking at me in surprise "It was really nice speaking to you, Anna"

"You too, honey" She nods in agreement.

I hold my head up high and refuse to be sorry as I strut away from the duo, heading straight for the trio of boys sat at the dock. My legs pick up speed when I feel Kiara following me but she manages to grab me before I can reach the other Pogues, spinning me around,

"What's wrong?" Kiara questions me with a confused expression.

"Oh, nothing" I paste on a sarcastic smile "Don't you worry, friend"

Her face pales in realisation and she tries to reach up to grab my face but I pull out of her hold, frowning at her as I walk away.

"So we going to the Bahamas or what?" JJ asks as I sit down between him and Pope, leaving no room for Kiara near me.

"There's no way we're getting to the Bahamas" Pope scoffs.

"John B will get nabbed sooner or later. So if we're gonna clear his name, we need to have done it, like, yesterday" Makoa states and Kiara's gaze burns into my head but I refuse to look at her.