༄  𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗂𝖿𝗍𝖾𝖾𝗇 ༄

BOTH THALIA AND JJ were bored, and Pope had deliveries to make for his father, so the pair decided to spend an afternoon helping out. Thalia pulled off her sweatshirt because it smelled of weed and ditched it at John B's house. She didn't want Pope's father to be upset, so she made sure her hair was neat and she looked presentable. JJ thought it was hilarious, but he didn't comment on it.

        Heyward smiled when he saw Thalia. "Hello, Miss Thalia." the man said, and Thalia smiled too.

        "How are you, sir?" she asked respectfully. Pope gazed down at her, finding it strange that she was awful and rude to everyone except his father.

        "I'm just fine," Heyward said, starting to load his boat with the groceries the three would be delivering. "You kids get these groceries over to Figure Eight. Get straight back here when you're done. No fishin'. I promised delivery by this afternoon," Heyward instructed, passing the bags to the three on the boat. "Rich folks don't wanna wait for you lazy sons of... Oh, JJ, thank you," Heyward placed the bags on an annoyed JJ's arms. "...sons of bitches."

        Thalia saluted Pope's father and he rolled his eyes at her. Pope started driving the boat away from the cut with Thalia and JJ beside him. "Doesn't even look like the storm hit there." Pope said, looking at the lavish and untouched houses on Figure Eight.

        JJ played with his knife and Thalia took it away from him because it was too close to her face. "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." the blonde said. Thalia remained quiet because she felt awful and didn't know what she could say.

        "It's nice to be a Kook." Pope said without thinking.

        "Lucky bastards," JJ took his knife back from Thalia who was overheating from the summer air. "Sorry, are you not used to having no air conditioning, Princess?" JJ asked with a scoff. In his eyes Thalia was still a Kook, and he was resentful over the things she had.

        Thalia rolled her eyes. "You forget I lived in an abandoned motel for four years. Just because I live on Figure Eight doesn't mean I don't remember where I come from, JJ." Thalia said, sick and tired of the Kook accusations always thrown her way.

        JJ didn't say anything more, and Pope just looked at Thalia until she met his eyes, and he looked away quickly. Thalia wasn't sure why he was always looking at her. The three split up, JJ going one way, Thalia and Pope carrying bags through the country club. "You really used to live in that motel?" Pope asked as they walked through the golf course.

        Thalia nodded. "Before my mom started running drugs, it's all she could afford, because it would've been so awful to accept Ward's help." she said sarcastically, still holding negative feelings over the way her mother forced them to live.

        Pope didn't really know what to say, so he changed topics. "I think my dad likes you." he spoke, hat low on his head.

        "I like him. He's cool." Thalia said, and Pope smiled.

        Before the conversation could continue, Rafe showed up, enraged to find his little cousin walking with a Pogue. "Hey, what's up? Hey, how much for one of those beers?" Rafe asked Pope, glaring at Thalia, Topper at his side. He pushed his golf club into the carton of beers Pope was holding.

        "Can you relax?" Thalia said with an eye roll, knowing how easily Rafe was fired up.

        "What the hell are you doing with a Pogue, Thalia?" Rafe said sharply, his voice dark towards the redhead.

        Pope straightened up. "They're not for sale." he said, stepping away from Rafe's club.

        The pair tried to walk away, but Rafe stopped them. "Oh, wait, wait, wait. You can just give us one, then, right?" Rafe said.

        "Or you can order one, like everybody else." Pope remarked.

        Thalia never looked away from her cousin, trying to will him into leaving Pope alone. "Listen. Wait, wait, wait. You're not listening to me. Um... You've got so many, bro, and we've got nothing." Rafe gestured to himself and Topper.

        "Nothin'." Topper added unnecessarily

        "Will you shut the fuck up? Sarah's not around, you don't need to impress anyone, fuckhead." Thalia snapped, Topper's voice alone aggravating her.

        Pope, eyes wide, glanced at Thalia once. "They're not mine. They're already paid for." he said, hoping the altercation would be over with soon.

        "Already paid for? What the hell? You probably stole 'em, right?" Rafe looked at the bags Pope was carrying before he slashed them with his golf club, tearing the bag and destroying the products inside.

        "What the hell? You owe me for that." Pope shouted as Rafe destroyed another one of his bags and Thalia's the redhead growing nervous.

        "Dude, I don't owe you shit, Pogue." Rafe sneered, stepping closer to Pope.

        "Rafe, back off. Get a life, and leave us alone." Thalia said, throwing sand at her cousin's chest, unsure of what else to do.

        Rafe scoffed. "This your boyfriend of the month? Huh? This piece of shit?" Rafe taunted, getting into Thalia's face.

        Something snapped in Pope, and he aggressively shoved Rafe. "Come on, man! We just want one of these beers! Just give us one of these–" Topper said, trying to pull the box of beer from Pope's grip, but Pope wasn't letting go.

        "You guys are freaking crazy!" Pope grunted, Thalia standing off to the side, unsure of what she could do to help the situation.

        "Give us a beer, man!" Topper yelled, pushing Pope into the ground. As the beers tumbled free, Pope hit his head on a rock, shouting in pain as he held his temple.

        Thalia's eyes widened. "What the hell, Topper? First John B, now Pope? You on a Pogue killing spree now?" she shoved Topper's chest before walking past Rafe and kneeling beside Pope, removing his hand to get a look at his bleeding head.

        Rafe was fuming, and as Pope stood up, swinging his fist at him, Rafe punched him in the stomach, and slashed his golf club over his back. "Hey! Rafe, Rafe! Come on, man!" Topper shouted as Pope groaned in pain, face down in the sand.

        "Rafe, are you kidding me?" Thalia yelled, standing near Topper.

        "Stay down, bitch!" Rafe screamed at Pope, and Thalia marched over to him, ripping his golf club from his hands and throwing it on the ground. "Really? You're protecting him? You care about him?" the blonde asked with a laugh, Pope still on the sand.

        Thalia didn't know what to say. "I just think you're a shitty person for attacking him." Thalia settled on saying, pushing Rafe's chest back with her pointer finger.

        "You didn't answer my question." Rafe pushed his cousin back, grabbing his golf club.

        "I don't intend to." Thalia retorted. Suddenly, Rafe raised his golf club and threw it down beside Pope, Topper shouting at him, telling him to stop.

        Breathing heavily, Rafe knelt down beside Pope, hitting his cheeks. "We don't want you here. Got that?" Rafe taunted, Pope's mouth bloody.

        "Rafe, just stop." Thalia sighed. She hated fighting, and yelling, and Rafe was always fighting and yelling.

        "Stay off Figure Eight, Pogue." Rafe grabbed his golf club and stood up, Thalia glaring at him as she took his spot beside Pope, turning his head to get a better look at his wounds.

       "Thals, let's go." Topper said, standing warily above the scene.

        Thalia scoffed. "I'm not going anywhere with you, Topper." she said, her eyes remaining on Pope. It was the closet they had ever been, and Pope would've been thrilled, if her cousin didn't just beat the shit out of him.

        Rafe inhaled sharply as he grabbed the beers he had been after the whole time. He marched over to Thalia and lifted her up by the arm. "Aunt Whitney hates Pogues, Thalia. How do you think she and my dad would feel if they heard you were hanging out with a Pogue? One that put a gun to Top's head." Rafe said, his grip strong on Thalia's forearm.

        Thalia looked down at Pope, finding him looking at her. "He's different. He's a good person, Rafe. Pogue or not, it doesn't matter." Thalia said quietly, feeling terrible this had happened to Pope.

        "It does matter. You can either stay here and be a piece of shit Pogue, just like your dad, or you can come home and be a Kook. Choice is yours." Rafe said, and Thalia looked down at Pope once more.

        She was hurting him by being friends with him. That couldn't happen, ever again. "Don't touch me." Thalia pushed Rafe off and started walking further into the country club behind Topper, Rafe catching up with them. I'm sorry, Pope. Thalia wished she couldn't said those words, but maybe Pope would understand.

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