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────020, the stars watch us too.
"SO WHAT DID KIARA SAY EXACTLY?"
It's early afternoon the next day when Cleo finds herself alone with Pope at the marina. She was certain John B had lost his mind, sending one cryptic text message to JJ's phone asking for him, Cleo, and Pope to meet at Heyward's. In the morning when she had woken with JJ by her side on the dock of Blue Shell Cottage, Cleo would have been nothing short of content to spend the entire day with the Maybank boy in the safe calmness of her home━━but John B was steadfastly confident in his scheme he conjured up overnight in order to make Kiara and Sarah come to terms with one another. As if that could be so easily done.
"Nothing really," Cleo answers finally, the squall of a seagull crying overhead punctuating her words. It's a pleasant evening, for once not too terribly hot and without the typical sticky humidity asphyxiating the air; instead, it's just the pure unadulterated fervor of the sun's rays beating down on them, cooled only by the occasional breeze riddled with seasalt strolling off the ocean in the horizon. Admittedly, JJ and Cleo had spent some hours of the early morning alone together, venturing back into the cottage once Lorelei had left for work if only to freshen up in the shower and grab something to eat for breakfast. It almost felt normal. Mundane. As if a year hadn't passed between the two of them, and as if they weren't spending their summer risking their lives for the thrill of adventure (which was fun, if Cleo was being honest, minus the near-death parts). "Seemed pretty confused though."
Cleo doesn't blame her. It was a sort of foolish plan, tricking both Kiara and Sarah into meeting up with one another. John B had insisted it would work, dragging Sarah out with him and JJ on Heyward's boat only to fake being stranded. The idea was to ask Sarah for help with maintenance somewhere with the engine down below the deck━━or something like that━━and lock her down there ("She won't be mad," John B had insisted. "It's only for a few minutes."), then do the same with Kiara only to leave her alone on the boat with only Sarah's company overnight, because surely that would be enough time to have them make amends.
Or murder each other, Cleo had thought dismally to herself upon hearing the scheme. Considering how enraged both Sarah and Kiara had been the day before, Cleo found it hard to believe that simply putting the two girls in a time-out together would suffice or mend their friendship. Naturally, it didn't sit well with her to have to lie to both Sarah and Kiara, but she had unfortunately been involuntarily involved with the plan, and any other sort of ludicrous idea they create, the moment she agreed to befriend the Pogues all those years ago. And, so, that's where it left Cleo and Pope now, awaiting Kiara's arrival after Cleo had sent her a text asking for her to meet them outside Heyward's.
