𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 stayed true to their promise, especially the boys, who refused to leave Kaci alone for more than two minutes without having to literally be dragged away, which made it almost impossible for her to keep the secret. Fortunately, the huge sleepover only lasted two nights. Unfortunately, that meant her parents were making their comeback.

ʼHe's going to kill me — Lʼ

The carved out note had been a clear image stuck in Kaciʼs mind since she saw it. She knew for a fact that the only people who had access to the key of the storage unit was her family — her parents. Kaci knew it; she knew there was something off about their reactions to his disappearance. And ʼheʼ? Who else could've Luis meant but their dad? The whole situation felt wrong. It made Kaci sick to think of the kind of horrors that could've gone on inside the walls of her own home. To think about her father that way. To think that she could be next.

Over the two nights, her friends gave her plenty of distractions — like repeating the story of John B stealing from The Druthers, how he got fired, Sarah and Topper arguing about it, or Rafe and Kelce coming up with various plans on how to get back at JJ Maybank.

But the thought of the blonde pouge only made Kaci feel worse.

The bump was increasing in size hourly. The baby was coming soon. And she still needed to grow the balls to tell him. She was going to do it, she decided. She was going to do it soon. But she needed the time to be right.

However, she couldn't even think about her pregnancy much anymore. She was so close to telling everyone everything; she felt so ready to do it only days ago. Then she saw Luisʼs note — or, at least, what she thought was a note from him. Then the men in her house. Something was going on. Right in front of her, there was something happening and it involved her family. Her baby was her family. She had to make sure it was a safe place for them to be.

"Jordan?" Kaci said suddenly, voice strangely soft as she rested in the thick sheets of her bed.

The younger boy looked up from the screen of his sisterʼs TV, after having spent the last seven hours in a huge online battle with GTA players and annoying oppressers. Sarah Cameron sat beside him, the PS4 controller feeling like fire after all the time they spent on without at break.

"Yeah?" he asked, greedily stuffing a piece of cold boxed pizza into his mouth, causing Sarah to shove him with a look of disgust.

"What do you think happened to Luis?"

The question caught everybody in the room completely off-guard. Topper and Kelce snapped their heads up from their phones for the first time all morning, Sarahʼs eyes went down to the ground and Jordan just stared at his older sister, mouth still stuffed with pizza — Rafe was out buying snacks, which was code for ʼI'm out of cocaine and on my way to scam a dealer ʼ.

Jordan swallowed down the food left in his mouth and shrugged. "I don't know." The question made his usually hyperactive mood drop to the lowest it could be. Speaking made him sound exhausted. The topic of their older brother wasn't a topic the family dwelled on; business before family was the Flores way.

Kaci looked down, chewing lightly on the inside of her cheeks. "Did you notice anything weird going on before he went missing?" she questioned further. "Like, did you ever see him arguing with Dad?"

The youngest Flores sibling furrowed his brows. Sarah held back her breath. The boys in the corner didn't dare make eye contact. Whatever Kaci was thinking — it wasn't good. She never got like this. She never looked more into enything. She never cared enough to make theories or jump to conclusions. Not even when it was about her boyfriend. Not even when it was about her family. Until now, apparently.

"I mean, they never really spent time together," Jordan shrugged, trying his hardest to sound confident, but the trail of conversation his sister was driving concerned him.

Kaci nodded. What he said was right; it was true. Mikel never spent much time with his kids. They ate a few meals together and went to church services, and that was that. Marie was the same. They were never the kidsʼ parents. They never raised them like a parent should. Like Kaci was going to for her baby.

"Right, yeah," said Kaci, turning around in her covers and going back to absently staring at a wall.

Jordan and Sarah looked back at each other, worry written all over their faces. They knew Kaci better than anyone in the world — that kind of conversation wasn't normal for her. There wasn't a bored tone on her voice, she didn't cuss once, and she didn't get annoyed with anyone. She sounded genuinely curious — genuinely scared — and that was something that rarely ever happened when speaking to her.

"Kace, are you okay?" asked the girl, handing the controller back to Jordan.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired," Kaci excused.

"You've been really tired for weeks. Is it about Luis?"

"No."

"Then what's up?"

Kaci shook her head, burying herself in the covers. "Nothing," she lied, looking down at her stomach. "I'm good."

𖧷

𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 hours later, the sound of a bell rung out through the penthouse, signalling the hometime of the Flores parents. Kaci and Sarah were currently sitting in bed together and watching old Disney movies while eating out the whole fridge. Pregnancy cravings were weird — Kaci found herself obsessed with hot sauce, shortbread and vanilla ice cream. Nobody questioned it anymore, but some of her friends still sent her weird looks.

"Rafe, stop," Kaci said quickly, sitting up straight at the sound.

The boy stopped what he was doing, sitting at her vanity table with a rolled up fifty-dollar bill in his hand, and sent her a confused look. "What?"

"My dadʼs home," she told him, and gestured to the cocaine he messily lined up on her table. "Do you want him to murder you?"

"Can we please stop associating your dad with murder, it's creeping me out?" said Sarah, looking back at her friend in concern.

Kaci rolled her eyes, continuing to stare at Rafe. "Put it away."

The boy scoffed, carelessly brushing the drug off the edge of her vanity, and tucked the money into his jean pocket. "You're so moody lately."

"I'm not moody, you just have no respect," she shot back.

"And you're just a bitch."

"Call me that again."

"You're a bitch."

"I'll fucking kill you."

Sarah watched the two argue, not sure what to say, head spinning back and forth as each one shot another comment at the other. She was used to this — Rafe being annoying and Kaci not taking it. They're relationship fed off their constant bickering, but it had lasted long enough for it to not be a problem. And although she had never witnessed it herself, Sarah was pretty sure they'd had a few fist fights in the past, which wasn't healthy at all, especially since they were only nineteen and sixteen. Sarah never commented on their relationship, though — she was too scared to be caught in the crossfire; Rafe was frightening and Kaci was intimating.

At the end of the day, their fights didn't matter anyway. They'd been together for years, argued for years, and they always worked it out and got back together. They'd have a honeymoon phase that lasted a couple of weeks, then something would kick it all off and they'd argue for months straight. It went on and on and on, and the cycle was seemingly never-ending. Rafe would do something wrong, Kaci would tell him off, Rafe would keep doing it, Kaci would get angry, Rafe would act like a child, and Kaci would kick off. On the worser times, Rafe would get angry, too. When Rafe got angry, things would always be taken to another extreme. But he'd always cry and apologise in the end, and Kaci would always take him back. Because even though she was hard on him, when things got bad for Rafe, Kaci was always there for him. She wouldn't take his shit, but she'd be there if he really needed it.

"Do it then, Kace, I'm waiting."

Thank God the door to Kaciʼs room opened at that exact moment, because if it didn't, she would've been screwed. She was about to stand, her secret was prepared to be exposed, and she wasn't even thinking about it until the door opened and her heart leaped.

Kaci was lucky to have gotten away with her secret for so long. Every day that went by without anybody knowing, she kissed each of her crystals, thanking them and the angels for protecting her and her sins. It was actually unbelievable how still nobody knew — Kaci was already preparing to meet up with Dr. Phil to brag about it. She could probably get a job as an undercover cop after it was over, or maybe a spy; that would be cool. At least bitches like Kiara Carrera couldn't accuse her of not being able to keep a secret now — she especially couldn't wait to shoot that back in her face.

"What the hell are you doing here, pouge?" Rafeʼs voice turned bitter, his hard glare aiming to another direction.

JJ Maybank stood there, in Kaciʼs doorway, arms raised in defence. "Mr Flores wants you downstairs for a meal now," he said, only looking at Kaci, his usual grin lighting up the room.

Kaci smiled back at him with a nod. "Tell him I'll be there in a minute," she said gratefully.

The sight of him made her stomach churn, her heart flutter. She had to tell him soon. Really soon. JJ was the father to the angel she carried in her belly, and he had every right to be aware of it — she knew that now. She had accepted the fact she was going to be a mother, and to be a good mother, she needed to be prepared for anything. If JJ wanted to be a dad, he did, too. She just needed to know thst she could trust him with such a responsibility.

Seeing the way his girlfriend looked at JJ, Rafe glared harder. He walked around the room, going out of his way to shove the pouge back with his shoulder, and finally looped around to Kaciʼs bed — pushing his little sister away to plant a hard kiss on his girlfriendʼs lips. "Dinner with your dad," he said with a nod. "Sounds nice."

Kaci pushed him away, the sudden weight of his drugged-up body hurting her, the smell of him making her sick. "You're not invited, dick," she corrected harshly. "Go drink some water and we'll talk later."

Sarah snorted, hand covering her mouth to contain her humour towards her brotherʼs rejection.

JJ grinned widely, not even trying to hide the face he found it amusing.

Rafe scoffed and rolled his eyes, pushing off the girl with a force that pained her chest. "Whatever," he muttered, storming out the room, purposely barging into JJ on his way of.

"I'll see you in a minute, Princess," said the pouge, sending Kaci a wink before leaving the room himself.

Once both boys were gone and the penthouse was once again empty, Sarah turned to her best friend with two raised brows and a smirk. Kaci cringed, knowing how hyper she was about to get.

"Princess?" echoed the Cameron girl, letting out a squeal and shaking Kaciʼs shoulders. "What do we say, Pineapple?"

Kaci rolled her eyes, taking Sarahʼs hands off her.

"What do we say?" she repeated, smiling widely like she wasn't obsessing over a nickname a pouge had given her brotherʼs girlfriend.

Now that she was seeing Sarah react like this, Kaci was starting to feel a little comfort about the baby situation. Maybe Sarah really wouldn't care as much as she thought she would. Maybe she would stick around, afterall. Now that she thought more about it, Kaci couldn't imagine herself raising a child without the help of Sarah. She couldn't imagine having a baby that didn't call her an aunt.

"ʼIf his name starts with J, that's your cue to stay awayʼ," Kaci recited the childhood chant, her voice in it's usual unbothered tone.

Sarah giggled and nodded her head, repeating it back to her in a sing-song voice.

"Trust me, I'm staying away."

However, that would have to change very soon. Right now, though, Kaci had to come up with a smart way to get downstairs for dinner without her bump being revealed. And a way to figure out the truth behind the disappearance of Luis Flores, no matter how dark it was. Kaci needed to know what happened to her brother.

Authorʼs Note
i kind of really like this chapter because it shows kaci interact with everyone she knows so far, and the way jordan and sarah have a sibling relationship i love. if everything goes to plan, the next chapter should be fun to write — i might be wrong, though, because i honestly have no idea where i am in the show right now, this is just kind of a random chapter i put in to give myself time to work some shit out. kaci is going to be revealing her secret extremely soon, though, so be prepared for DRAMA. but will she tell jj first? or will it be somebody you don't expect? omgomgomg i can't wait. sorry, i'm just rambling to fill up space now lmao.
love, tay </3