-5-

Sarah had invited Stella to a Kook party, which would've been fine but Stella couldn't find her anywhere. She pushes through the crowds of people, searching the place until she hears someone yell, Yo, Topper's on the roof !"

Stella heads outside, and looks up. Not only is Topper on the roof but so was Sarah.

"Jump! Jump! Jump!" The crowd cheers, Topper scoops Sarah into his arms. "Jump! Jump! Jump!" The crowd continues. It was clear Sarah didn't want to but he jumped nevertheless.

Fucking Kooks" Stella mumbles.

"Can you believe this girl right here?" Topper yells as they emerge from the surface. "The coolest chick in the OBX! That's what I'm talking about."

"Oh hey, Stella" Sarah finally spots her. "I gotta go change but I'll come find you later!" She runs off leaving her alone again at a Kook party. Stella wanders back into the house, looking through the drinks.

"I thought this was a Kook only party?" Stella hears a voice behind her say.

"What do you want, Rafe?" She sighs, turning to face him.

"I want to be able to enjoy myself without having to be in the presence of a Pogue."

Stella scoffs, "Shame cause I'm not going anywhere. "

Rafe glares at her, about to say something when Kelce comes over "Yo, Rafe, I've got some people who wanna-" He spots Stella and stops mid-sentence. "I'll meet you in the living room."

"Oh my god! You're desperate aren't you." She steps closer. "Daddy no longer giving you money?" She pouts, and he rolls his eyes. "You're almost 20 Rafe, you're a big boy now, you should be responsible with your money. Don't go spending it on silly things like, um Motorcycles" Stella whispers into his ear, hinting that Sarah told her about the conversation between Rafe and Ward.

After teasing him, she goes to move away but he grabs her wrist, keeping her still."You better watch that dirty mouth of yours, could get you in trouble one day" He grits, looking her dead in the eye.

"Dirty?"

"Yeah." He smirks, "You're calling me desperate but I'm not the one flinging myself at the nearest guy I can find."

"Didn't know you were into guys." Stella mumbles as Rafe walks forward, slowly pushing her against the counter. He continues insulting her, not picking up on her comment,

" You're practically begging for attention like a pathetic sl-" Stella slaps him and he shoves her, making her head hit one of the cabinets.

"What the fuck Rafe." She hisses, holding her head.

"What the fuck Ettie." He gestures to his face.

"You deserved it."

"So did you."

"You're so fucking annoying." She pushes him away from her.

"Go home pogue, you don't belong here." He tells her before walking towards the living room. Stella flips him off, heading upstairs to find a bathroom. The house was massive,

She opens a door to find Sarah sitting on the edge of the bed with her head in her hands.

"Sarah? You okay?"

"I told Topper I was ready." She whispers .

"You did?" Stella goes to sit next to her.

"Yeah. But when it came down to it, I don't...I don't know, I - I couldn't do it."

"What happened?"

"He got mad, and stomped."

"Dick."

Sarah chuckles softly, as Stella pulls her into a hug. "I thought it felt right. I mean he was so sweet the entire day but then he went to take off my bikini and i don't know. I panicked."

"Hey, hey, don't blame yourself. It doesn't matter how sweet he was, if you weren't ready then you weren't ready. You don't need any other excuse. Okay?"

Sarah looks at her, "Yeah, Okay. Yeah, you're right."

"I'm always right Sarah" She kisses the top of her head. "Don't overthink it either, you'll know when you're ready, It won't make you feel like this, that's for sure."

"Wanna get out of here and order pizza?" Sarah suggested.

"Absolutely."

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

"Doesn't even look like the storm hit there" Pope complains as the three of them sail past Kook houses. Him, Stella and JJ were out delivering groceries to the Kooks, Stella only came along because Heyward wanted someone to keep an eye on JJ.

"That's because they got generators, bro. Get used to it. And then they say the juice will be out all summer at the cut."

"It's nice to be a kook." Stella mutters as they pull up to the dock.

"Right, I'll take this one, JJ you take these and Stella you look after the boat."

"You sure you don't need help, Pope?" She asks.

"Hey what about me?" JJ whines.

"You're a strong boy JJ, you'll survive." She pats his chest,  "Unless you want to share your earnings."

"Yeah no." He shakes his head before getting off the boat.  Stella laughs at him, as he helps her off.  She watches them both head off before sitting on the dock and reading her book. 

Pope was the first to return, and Stella could tell there was something off, "Hey Pope, how did it go? You okay?" He ignores her, getting into the boat. 

A couple minutes later JJ comes running,  "Whoo! That was the best 100 bucks I've ever made! When I say count me in on all these grocery deliveries Pope, I mean it. What's up with him?" He looks at Stella as they get into the boat. "Bro you good?"

Pope looks away from him which is when Stella notices his face, "Pope, what happened to your face?"

JJ lifts up Pope's cap "Jesus! What happened?"

"Rafe and Topper jumped me. They said no Pogues on their side of the island."

"You've got to be kidding me! Oh Pope." Stella wraps an arm around him

"What are you going to do?" JJ asks, seething. Pope says nothing.

"Im going to kill them that's what." 

"Yeah let's not jump to killing just yet." JJ points at her. 

"Wow I was not expecting that from you JJ." She teases. He goes to say something but Stella interrupts him,  "I think I have an idea..." 

They head to their location as  she tells them her plan. Pope agreed to it so, as they pull up  a few meters from the dock,  he gets ready to jump in.

"2020 Malibu, 24-MXC , right JJ?" Stella asks, looking at the Kook boat.

"The world's finest wake-setter. Number one in quality, luxury and performance." Pope adds.

"This is war guys. They hit us, we hit them. Let's do it."

"Are we sure about this guys?" Stella double checks, despite it being her idea

"Yes." The two boys reply before Pope jumps into the water. JJ and Stella watch as he swims over to Topper's boat, sinking it. 

Stella smiles at him  impressed as he climbs back into the boat.

"Wow you did it! Im so proud of you right now. Holy crap." JJ exclaims, hugging him.

"We can't tell anybody."

"Oh totally."

"I'm serious. Not Kie, not John B, nobody."

"You got it, Pope."

"Yup my lips are sealed."

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

"Welcome to the summer movies series"

"Im so glad that they're still doing this." Kie admits as they walk over to an empty spot in front of the screen. "Keep calm, carry on. Back to OBX life. Aren't you glad I made you come?"

"Ecstatic "

"My couch was pretty comfy, i'll be honest" JJ shrugs.

As Stella helps Kie set up, Pope and JJ whisper to each other both looking on edge. "Right Im going to get drinks, coming Stella?" Kie asks Stella and they leave  the two boys to continue to act nervous.

"Hey. Uh... can I get two pepsis, please?" Kie asks the guy behind the counter.

"Hey Kie, Ettie." Rafe calls out.

"Ettie?" Kie looks at her confused.

She rolls her eye, "Better then Estella I suppose."

"Hey what's up? How are you ?" He asks Kie nicely, while Stella glares at him suspiciously.

"Im fine."

"Good, Good-"

"Im good too Rafe, thanks for asking" She mockingly smiles but he ignores her.

"Tell your boy that we know what he did." Rafe whispers to Kiara.

"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?"

"Uh, he'll know."

Kie takes the drinks, muttering something as she heads back to the boys  off but Stella stays for a minute. "You're a fucking asshole you know that." She whispers to Rafe.

"Oh so you know then? Even better."

"Oh I know what you did, yes. Fucking psycho is what you are." Stella pushes him, before going back to Kie and the boys. Rafe smirks, watching her walk away. 

"Oh try act a little less skittish" She whispers  as she sits down next to Pope.

"Great, the whole death squad" JJ sighs. 

"Don't stare bro!"

" Just warning you bro, if they corner me, Im coming out swinging, okay? If that doesn't work I got this right here." He holds up his bag.

"Don't you dare JJ" Stella warns earning a confused look from Kiara. "It's okay Kie. Promise "

"Oh that's really convincing , thanks guys. Founding principle, no secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?"

"Kie, it might go down tonight" Pope says dramatically and Stella rolls her eyes.

"What does that mean? What did y'all do?"

"Deny, Deny, Deny" JJ whispers.

"JJ No."

"Stell, don't you dare."

She turns to Kie," Promise me you won't react right here." Kiara nods. "Rafe and Topper jumped Pope" She goes to says something but Stella covers her mouth. "So all we did was a little bit of payback, it was nothing really, they're just being dramatic. Okay. Good."

Everyone turned the attention to the movie, dropping to conversation but Stella could feel the tension from the boys. It had gotten dark, when the stand up. "Hey, where are y'all going?"

"We gotta wring it out."

"You gonna hold it for each other?" Kie asks, before turning back to the movie. Stella however checks on the 'death squad', they've noticed the boys have gone.

"Kie we gotta go. Come one" Stella grabs JJ's bag. The girls make there way behind the screen to see that the kooks were beating JJ and Pope up.

"Let go of him Topper! Fascist asshole!" Kie runs over and jumps on him.

Rafe grabs her "Stay out of this, Kiara?" he chucks her to the ground.

"Don't fucking touch her Rafe" Stella threatens..

"Yeah, Yeah, what you going to do about it" He gets up in her face as Stella pulls JJ's gun out from his bag, holding it up against his forehead. He puts his hands up.

"Not so tough now huh?" She smirks.

"You're dead Estella." He growls.

"Nu-uh Rafe, Im the one with the gun." Stella trails it down his body and stop at his chest. "If anything, you're dead." She's about to continue going lower, when the screen goes up in flames.

"Guys! Fire!" Rafe calls out, pushing the gun away from here. "Let's get out of here."

"Get off of him" Kie pushes Kelce.

Rafe goes over to Topper, laughing at something before turning back to Stella, "You better watch out bitch." he points.

Stella holds the gun back up, "Try me." He scoff before running off with the others. Stella turns to Pope, while Kiara checks on JJ, "You okay?"

"You two are freaking idiots." Pope laughs.

"Uh we saved your ass"

"Hell yeah Stella, clearly learnt from the best." JJ cheers.

"Nu-uh." Stella pulls a face as they make their way to Kiara's car.