༄ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗈𝗇𝖾 ༄

"THALIA, I SWEAR to God I will break down this door if I catch you smoking!" Rose Cameron shouted from the other side of Thalia's closed door. Thalia rolled her eyes and flicked her joint out of her window, collapsing on her bed with her phone all in the time it took for Rose to manually unlock her door. Her step-aunt pushed herself into the room. "Nice try." she sighed.

Thalia continued scrolling through social media. "You're not my mother or my aunt, so I really don't care if you catch me or not." she responded with an eye roll.

Rose's lips turned up in disgust at the state of Thalia's room and opened another of her windows, pulling the blinds open. "Rafe's driving you to your appointment today." she began to organize things in her step-niece's messy room.

Thalia tossed her phone away. "There's a hurricane, Rose. Rafe can't control the weather, and I hate him." she spoke in disdain of her older cousin, who was eerily similar to Thalia.

"Your appointment's way before the storm. I think you need to go." Rose commented, making a list of things the housekeepers needed to do to Thalia's room.

"Once again, I don't care what you think at all." Thalia swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood up.

Pretty much everything in Thalia's room either came from a thrift store or was found in towns her mother visited and brought back for her. She had plants in every corner of the room, a pristine white chair by her window near a tall bookshelf. Reading was the only thing that kept Thalia going after her accident. Her bohemian bedspread often had clothes laid upon it, her matching throw rug typically dirty from her skateboard, which lived next to her desk. Rose despised the state of Thalia's huge room, and the fact that she didn't act to her Kook social status.

Thalia wasn't a Kook, she didn't have the benefits a Kook had. Just because she was Ward's niece didn't mean he had to coddle her. She wasn't one of the Cameron man's favorites and given nearly none of his money, though he always helped her out when she needed it. Thalia had lived in the huge house on the North side of the island since she was eight years old. She had a half-brother, but they had never lived together. He didn't even know she existed. Thalia didn't know who we was, and she didn't really care to find out. Thalia didn't have a friend in the world anymore. She hated Rafe and didn't like Sarah. Wheezie was fine, but Thalia never really talked to her, especially after her accident. Rose searched through Thalia's room at least once a day for any hidden bottles of alcohol or stashes of weed and drugs. She came up empty handed every time because Thalia was smart enough to not keep her drugs in the house.

Thalia had had a horrible sophmore year. Her season ending ACL tear resulted in her missing out on her varsity soccer championship game. With nothing left to entertain her during her recovery, Thalia fell into a pit of depression and anxiety that turned to an uncontrollable addiction to drugs and alcohol. It was bound to happen at some point. Two rounds of rehab, one for her knee and one for her addiction later, Thalia was being watched incessantly by her aunt and uncle, who had her cousins up to the task as well. Thalia was never at home, so doing what she wanted was easy.

But it was summer, Thalia's favorite season. And without school to hold her down, Thalia was set free to reign hell on Kildare Island. Thalia didn't have a ton of friends. Her soccer team ghosted her when she got hurt, and those were her only peers that she talked to. Thalia knew of the teenage Pogues that caused chaos everywhere they went, but she had never really interacted with them. The Pogues knew of her, very well, though. John B had made it his mission since he started working on the Cameron's yacht to know as much about Thalia as he could, and he had recruited his friends to help.

Thalia barely knew Pope Heyward, but Pope had had a crush on Thalia since he first laid eyes on the redhead in fifth grade. Pope and Thalia were nothing alike. Pope cared so much about school and getting good grades, while Thalia often skipped and never studied. Thalia was big with illegal things, and Pope was as straight-laced as they came. Pope was a hard worker, while Thalia often slacked off and would rather sneak away to fish or skateboard. As summer went on, Pope and Thalia would grow much closer than they ever thought possible.

"What the hell? We have to go," Rafe pushed open his cousin's door, finding her staring at the white ceiling of her room. "You're fucking nuts." Rafe rolled his eyes.

Thalia sat up, checking her watch. "Back at you, douchebag." one of the symptoms of Thalia's depressive medication was a periodic loss of time. She often found herself forgetting things as she stared at a wall in her bedroom.

Rafe ran a hand through his messy hair, putting a hat backwards on it. "Hurry up. I'll be in my truck." the blonde left the room, leaving Thalia to herself.

The redhead pulled on her pale blue converse, her white socks sticking out from the top of them. An array of friendship bracelets were on her wrists, a few necklaces lining her skin. Many of Thalia's clothes were thrifted as well, and she fixed her white, flowly maxi skirt and patterned blue crop top. She had messily braided her red hair down her back, the locks over her shoulders. If Ward hadn't taken away the money Thalia had been given by her mother and put it into an account, she would've been living much more lavishly.

Thalia left her room after grabbing a tote bag, traveling down the stairs and finding Sarah and Wheezie in the kitchen. "Where's Ward?" it wasn't that she cared about where her uncle was, it was that she didn't want to have a conversation with him.

Sarah shrugged. "Working before the storm hits." she answered, nose in her phone.

Wheezie ate a slice of cake. "Have fun at cuckoo land." she said with a small laugh and Thalia rolled her eyes at her cousin's immaturity. Rafe honked his car horn loudly, and Thalia sighed, flipping Rafe off as she tugged open the truck door, settling inside. She looked out the window the entire drive to her therapist's office, set on ignoring Rafe for as long as possible.

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THE RAIN HAD started when Rafe and Thalia drove home from Thalia's counseling apointment and the duo rushed inside. Rafe and Thalia went their separate ways, Thalia shutting herself in her bedroom, flopping onto her bed, looking up at the ceiling fan again. Thalia figured she dozed off again, because when she snapped back to reality, the power was out and the storm was raging outside.

She thought of her brother. She wondered if he would ever find out about her and come looking for her. Thalia was fortunate enough to escape her abusive father and live with her mother, Ward's sister, until her mother had to leave and stuck her with the Cameron's. Thalia and her brother were only a few months apart, sharing different mothers who were both betrayed by their father. Thalia honestly didn't want to know who her little brother was. It would make everything so complicated. It was better that neither of them knew.

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