THE BONFIRE;
part two

THE GROUP PICKED RENNA UP to literally drag her to the bonfire, as Pope did to Atticus with a stern knock on his door. They couldn't be the Pogues with Atticus and Renna sitting on opposite sides of the table, they had to be together - it had always been that way. If Renna and Atticus were fighting, the group was fighting, that's just how it was. 

First Pope and Kiara, then John B and Sarah, and then Atticus and Renna, everything was sliding downhill. JJ thought he would have the time of his life, talking to his friends without having to listen to them talk about their girlfriends all the time, but now, it was definitely worse. 

Renna had been easy to convince, Atticus was the one Pope struggled with the most. Sylvia let him in, the teen passing by a sleeping Alexander before he got to the boy's room at the end of the hallway. He knocked on the door. "Go away," Atticus groaned, voice being muffled by the pillow he'd buried his head into.

"Stop acting like a moody eight year-old and get your ass up, man," Pope said as he pushed the door open, his eyes trailing over to the boy laying face down on his bed with another pillow stuffed over his hair. 

"Fuck off, Pope."

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that for the benefit of my mental health, but I can't do that. We're going to the bonfire," the boy smiled, patting his friend's leg with a grin.

"Fuck off," Atticus repeated annoyingly. Pope sighed with a roll of his eyes. 

"I heard about what happened." Atticus slowed his breathing, finally opening his eyes as he stared down at the darkness of his blanket. 

"Did Renna tell you?" And suddenly, his voice was quiet again.

"No, Kiara did." He groaned. Pope set his jaw, eyes flicking down to him. "When did you-"

"God, I didn't do it, okay?" Atticus shouted, pushing himself up and leaning his back against the wall as he stared furiously at Pope sitting beside him. "Why does no one believe me, why would I do that to her?"

"Have you seen the picture, Atticus? What else are we supposed to believe?" Pope mumbled with annoyance as he scrolled through his phone, holding up the picture. Atticus rolled his eyes. 

"I know, I know, I've seen- wait, wait give it here." He snatched the phone from Pope's hands, the boy leaning back with his arms held up by his sides in surrender. "Oh shit, oh god- fucking . . . fuck!" He threw the phone across the room, Pope only being able to watch helplessly as it collided with the wall and fell in a pile of his clothes on the floor. 

"Atticus! What the hell was that?" He shouted as he ran to his phone, letting out a sigh of relief upon seeing only a tiny sliver of a crack at the corner of his screen. "You could have smashed it!"

"That picture- that was last year . . . last fucking year. Do you know what this means?" Atticus stood up, pacing in front of the boy. Pope widened his eyes. 

"No . . . what?"

"Someone framed me!" Atticus shouted incredulously, hands messed in his knotty hair.

"Okay, I don't think that's what-" But his statement was disregarded.

"And now Renna thinks I cheated on her, so she hates me! Pope, man, Renna hates me," Atticus shouted as he moved towards the boy, shaking his shoulders with splayed eyes. 

Pope softly pushed him away. "I think you need to sit down." Atticus sat down, eyes latched onto the boys. He sighed. "Ultimately, the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation."

"What?" Atticus mumbled with confusion, face pulled together.

"It's Oscar Wilde- it doesn't matter. What matters is, you need to talk to her. She's coming to the bonfire, so I'm taking you with me." 

Atticus smiled for the first time since that morning. "Okay, let's go." 

When they finally arrived, the outdoor space was bustling. It wasn't very big, all the area consisting of being a bonfire and a small, bricked deck around it. However, somehow, the two could barely move an inch.

Renna was with JJ and John B at the beginning, until John B went off with a girl, so JJ led Renna over to where he and Pope stood for most of the night. She leant against the wall away from the fire, left foot kicked up against it with crossed arms as she watched them wrestle with their thumbs in front of her, before a familiar mop of curly hair caught her eyes. She sighed. "I'll see you later, guys," she smiled as she patted both their shoulders before she walked away. 

"Renna!" Atticus shouted as he picked up his pace, but she just kept pushing through the crowd. She kept moving and moving, until a hand grabbed her arm. She looked over worriedly, pulling her arm away from their grip, causing the voice it belonged to to laugh. 

"Hey- woah! Calm down there, Renna, I just wanted to say hello," the same boy who'd been nagging her constantly over the past few days said with a grin. 

Renna inwardly rolled her eyes but plastered on a smile nonetheless. "Hey . . . I don't know your name."

"Reed, Reed Sl-"

"That's nice, Reed. But, uh- I'm just gonna-" she pointed away with a strained smile as she started to move away from him, but he shook his head as he reached back out for her shoulder. 

"But I wanna talk to you," he sang. Renna looked from his hand on her shoulder back to his face. She stammered for a response.

"But, uh- your name sounds like weed, which I don't really like, but my friend, JJ, over there, he likes weed. You should try your luck with him," she grinned fakely before moving away once more, only to be pulled back again, but instead, by both his hands on either side of her arms. 

"I said, I wanted to talk to you," he smiled, sickly, as he tilted his head to the side. 

"I'm sorry, but, could you please just step back," she tried, manoeuvring her hand to push against his chest, but all he did was chuckle. 

"What if I don't want to?" He asked, head moving forward as the intense smell of alcohol hit her like a wave at the beach. She immediately groaned, turning her head away from him, as she tried to latch eyes with someone, anyone. No one was looking. "Hey, look at me, ba-"

"Oi!" A voice shouted, a voice Renna knew all too well, as the tight grasp on her arms was suddenly ripped away. "Back off, right freaking now, man." Atticus pushed Reed back, sending him crashing into a couple of other teenagers. Renna let out a heavy breath as she looked to the side, eyes staring at the edge of Atticus' head. Reed started laughing. 

"Oh, now look who's decided to join the party," Reed laughed loudly before his voice narrowed down. "She doesn't want you anymore, Ace. Not after you kissed another-"

"Shut up!" Atticus shouted, moving forward to grab him by his collar. "You know that's not true," he seethed. All Reed did was laugh. 

"Hey, Ren-"

"Don't look at her," Atticus muttered, and after the boy continued to look at the girl, he formed a fist in his left hand and punched him in the face. The crowd around him jumped back with surprise, most immediately pulling out their phones to record the interaction. Renna stood with her hands covering her parted mouth as Reed blinked away his pain and pushed himself up, letting out a breath. Atticus shuffled away with a laugh, tilting his head to the side to crack his neck as he jumped on the spot. 

"C'mon, man. Do somethin', I dare you," Atticus teased, holding his hands up with an imitating chuckle, causing Reed to let out another deep breath. He moved forward with a yell, trying to punch the boy, but he swiftly ducked and moved out of the way with a grin, causing Reed to stumble forward. "Is that all you got?" Atticus shouted, his grin dropping into a straight line as he clapped his hands together loudly. 

Reed turned around angrily, storming towards the boy, lifting his arm up to punch him, therefore leaving his stomach open. Atticus leant forward and punched him in the abdomen, sending him stumbling back crunched over. The curly-haired boy continued to attack him, pushing him back onto the ground before reaching down and dragging him up to sit by his collar. He leant down to his face, a fire in his eye. "Don't you ever go near Renna again, you understand?" He stayed silent, so Atticus shook him by the collar harshly. "Do you understand?" He shouted. 

Reed smiled, blood shining in his teeth. "She's too . . . hot," he slurred, eyes staying shut as a bruise formed on the edge of his left eye. Atticus gritted his teeth, before the fist he'd mindlessly formed once again was thrown back into the side of his head. 

"Atticus!" Renna finally shouted, moving forward to pull him back by the shoulder. He threw his head back, his hair flicking over his forehead, as he sucked in a breath. He stared down at the boy, before he turned his head to the right, meeting Renna's eye. What the fuck, she mouthed with stern brows, before turning back to the crowd. "Have some human decency and put your phones away, assholes!" 

Everyone widened their eyes before tucking their phones back into their pockets, some letting out awkward coughs before dispersing, leaving a groaning Reed alone on the ground. "Renna-"

"We need to talk," she muttered before turning on her heel and walking away. Atticus quickly followed after her, rushing down her path as he struggled to keep up. She walked to the van, which was empty and in a fairly secluded area, as the others continued to party around the bonfire. She turned back around, facing the boy who lent down with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. 

"One second," he muttered, lifting his hand into the air as he sucked in a deep breath. Renna didn't listen, only looking down at her fiddling fingers. 

"Can you just . . . lay it on me, please?" She asked quietly, her voice almost carrying away into the wind and disappearing with a click of his fingers. He frowned, straightening up as he breathed out a long, slow breath, before he gulped. 

"Renna, that photo was taken a year ago. I- I didn't realise it when I first saw it, I'm sorry, I was just . . . I was distracted, I guess." He took a step closer to her, hand held out in front of him sincerely. "Please, Renna Jane, please, just-"

"I believe you," she breathed out, finally looking up at him with a tear in her eye. That was when she realised there was a tear in his eye too. 

He sighed in relief. "Thank god." She frowned as she hurriedly moved forward and threw her arms around him, pushing her head into the crook of his neck. He froze up before letting out a slow breath, allowing himself to hold her just as tightly. He was more careful now, because he felt what it was like to lose her, and he couldn't do it again. 

"Does this mean we're all good?" He asked softly, words tingling the skin beside Renna's ear.

She smiled. "Obviously."

',~☼︎~,'

The rest of their friends had arrived back at the van only minutes later after a fight had broken out between basically everyone except Atticus and Renna - and an already bloody and bruised Reed - resulting in an immediate disappearance of the Pogues. They fled to the Chateau where they stayed, sitting out by the campfire in the backyard under the infamously signed tree. 

Atticus and Renna were laughing over John B and Kiara fighting over the girl's food, as Renna lifted the ice-cream on a stick to her mouth. Just as she was about to take a bite, a pair of hands wrapping around her wrist and pulling her towards the opposite direction threw her off. "Hey!" She shouted, trying to pull her hand back as she wrapped her other set of fingers around the knuckles of his own. "Atticus, please- I'm so hungry!" She pleaded, but he still managed to pull her hand far enough over to take a bite. 

He leant back and gave the control of her arm back, sending her a grin. "Thanks, darling." 

She sighed, but blushed nonetheless. "I didn't have much of a-"

"Shush!" John B whispered from his position crouched on the ground. His friends immediately looked over, falling silent in an instant. "Somebody's here." 

Atticus shared a look with Renna before slowly standing up, walking in front of the blonde while she followed behind him. He held a hand out before her, making sure he was in front of her at all times, before she looked down and took it in her own with a small squeeze. He let out a quiet sigh as his tenseness loosened and he squeezed back. 

"Hey, who's out there?" John B asked, JJ following behind him with a metal stick. Atticus and Renna dropped each other's hands, Rennas moving to fiddle with her own as Atticus bent down and picked up a rock. He stood back up, tossing it in his hand once, before looking towards the darkness before them. Renna stayed right by his side. 

"You kooks better not try something," Kiara shouted. 

"Could it be Reed?" Renna shuddered, eyes flicking to Atticus. 

"Who's Reed?" He asked, chin staying forward while his eyes travelled to meet her own.

"That, uh- the guy at the bonfire." Atticus' jaw clenched, his lips parting to let out a groan as he rolled his eyes. 

"Of course his name's Reed, the fucking loser. He-" 

And then, cutting the curly-haired boy off, was someone walking out of the bushes, and it most definitely wasn't Reed. It was actually the guy who'd been following Pope's trail like a dog sniffing a bone. "How y'all doing?"

"It's this piece of shit," John B mumbled. 

Atticus clicked his tongue, holding up the rock in his fist as he pushed his shoulder back. "I don't know if he's better or worse."

"Definitely worse," Renna muttered, a hint of annoyance present in her tone. 

"Lovely evening we're having," Renfield smiled. "Look, I, uh . . . I don't hold a grudge with any of y'all, all right? But this can go hard, or this can go easy. You know what I'm here for." Everyone turned to look at Pope except Atticus, the boy keeping a tight hold on the rock in his hand. "Let me give you a little demonstration. You see that swing?" He pointed to the swing beside Renna and Atticus, JJ standing behind it. "I got the best bow hunters in the Army Rangers with me."

"Yeah," JJ hummed teasingly, grabbing one of the ropes with a smug smirk. Renna's calm demeanour faltered as soon as the man whistled, an arrow slicing the other rope, closest to the girl, directly in half. Atticus reached out and pulled her back, letting his arm slide down from her arm to her hand as he tightened his grip on the stone, nostrils flaring. He wanted to do something, but he knew they'd be dead as soon as he moved again. 

"Now, they're out there. They'll stick you just as soon as I say so." JJ took a step forward, trying to stop the man from approaching Pope any further, but the man whistled again and an arrow was planted into the ground inches before the blond's foot. "We clear? Now, I'm not gonna give you a countdown or any bullshit like that. I'm just gonna whistle." 

The group shared glances, their breathing forming one, as their hearts beat unsteadily within their panicking bodies. It was only mere seconds before Pope reached into his pocket and pulled out the key - his key. "No."

"Oh," Renfield scoffed. 

"This key belongs to my family," the teen mumbled passionately, every inch of his tone laced with hatred.

"I'm losing my patience with you, Pope." Just as the man was about to whistle into the air, Pope handed him the key, even if it was the last thing he wanted to do. The safety of his friends and himself was more important to him than anything else. "Did the right thing, kid. Knowing when you don't have a choice is an underappreciated talent. You be safe." The man turned around, coming face to face with JJ. 

"Easy there," he mumbled before walking in the other direction, only to almost run into Atticus holding a heavy rock tightly in his fist. He backed up with a laugh. "You too, boy."

"Don't call me boy," Atticus sneered as soon as the man turned away, earning a slight nudge in the hip from Renna's elbow, her eyes darting around the places the bow hunters could possibly be hiding. Luckily, Renfield didn't hear him, only continuing to walk away like he owned the world. Renna looked at Pope, the boy immediately looking back. She knew they would do everything in their power to get his key back - back to who it belonged to. Hopefully.