༄ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗐𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗒－𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾 ༄

MIDSUMMERS WAS IN full swing, and Thalia was actually enjoying herself. It was the first year since she had started working for Guffy that she hadn't unloaded things and gone home. She was with Pope, her friend. Maybe her family hated it, but she didn't care. They were friends, and that was enough to put a light smile on her face.

        Thalia filled a cooler of fish with more ice while Pope and his father grilled oysters. Kiara appeared, and Thalia thought she looked beautiful. "Excuse me, sir. Do we have to shuck these ourselves? 'Cause it might mess up my costume." Kiara said to Pope in a horrid accent. Pope's stoic face broke when he saw Kie.

        "We wouldn't want that now, would we?" Pope and Kie did some kind of handshake that Thalia had witnessed the Pogues do from time to time. "That accent was bad." Pope said, Kie now standing with him and Thalia.

        "It was. I was gonna let it go," Kiara agreed, looking out into the sea of Kooks, ignoring Thalia. "You ever seen this many Kooks in one place?" the brunette girl wondered, fixing her lilac dress.

        "Yeah. Last year." Pope looked over at a quiet Thalia, gently taking a spare blade of grass off of her shoulder, flicking it away. When she went to look at him, his eyes were focusing on the Kooks partying outside the country club.

        "We're in the lion's den." Kiara stated the obvious.

        Pope nodded. "Exactly," he affirmed. Topper and Thalia found each other in the distance, and Thalia waved at him, holding no regrets over sinking his boat. Topper inhaled sharply, standing with Kelce. "Have you heard from JJ since earlier, Thalls?" Pope questioned.

        Thalia shook her head. "No, not for a while. He'll be fine." the redhead brushed off, hoping not to get into everything with Kie.

        "Wait, you saw JJ?" Kie questioned, turning to Thalia.

        "Kiara, we were literally arrested together. I saw him this morning at our dad's house." Thalia explained with an eye roll.

        Kie's eyes widened. "Did you just say 'our'?" she asked, looking at Pope, but Pope wouldn't say anything without Thalia's approval.

        Thalia nodded. "We kinda found out today that we're half siblings." before Thalia could explain more, there was sudden applause, and the three looked over to the doors, where Thalia's family was entering the party.

        "Here comes Lord Capital and the Exploiters." Kie commented, hearing people cheer and applaud over Ward, Rose, Rafe, Sarah and Wheezie. No one even cared to notice that Thalia wasn't with them.

        "She's definitely gonna poke somebody's eye out with that." Pope commented towards Rose's elaborate headpiece.

        Thalia rolled her eyes at Rafe. "Lady Liberty, my ass." she muttered, watching Topper approach Sarah from the corner of her eye.

        The redhead went back to her previous tasks with Pope as the party continued and the sun set. "He's so infuriating." Sarah came over to Thalia who was busy trying to fix Heyward's grill with a wrench.

        "So break up with him." Thalia suggested over the noise of the party. She tapped Pope's leg and he gave her the screw she was reattaching. Sarah smiled to herself at the interaction.

        "Okay. Thanks for nothing." Sarah said with a sigh, walking deeper into the Kook chaos, Thalia rolling her eyes at her cousin's dramatics.

        As the night dragged on, Thalia had successfully avoided Rafe, Rose, Wheezie and Ward. When Pope disappeared, Thalia was assigned by Heyward to find him. As she discovered JJ walking away from Pope, Thalia abandoned her mission and changed course to follow her brother. Of course he had somehow made it there.

        Thalia followed JJ, getting stuck in the crowd of people. When she finally got free, JJ was turning away from Sarah, having delivered a note to her. "Oh. Hello, sister." JJ said when he saw the redhead. He had a bowtie around his neck, dress shirt and vest above dress pants. He looked rather spiffy.

        "You look like an idiot." Thalia monotoned, grabbing JJ's wrist, pulling him away from the crowd so they could talk.

        "Been spending your night with Pope, have you?" JJ said knowingly, letting Thalia push him towards a nearby wall.

        She rolled her eyes. "Just because you're my brother doesn't mean anything changes. You don't get to know anything about me and Pope." Thalia tucked some stray wisps of her red hair behind her ears.

        "What's there to know?" JJ asked with a teasing smile, avoiding Thalia as she tried to hit him.

        "Nothing. What are you even doing here?" Thalia said, getting back on topic. She was running out of time until she had to get back to helping Heyward.

        "Had to deliver a message from John B to Sarah. You know they were mackin' that whole time they were together?" JJ said, swiping away Thalia's fingers as she tried to look at the cut their father inflicted upon him.

        Thalia eyed him. "Obviously. She told me, dumbass," the redhead began walking away, back towards where Heyward and Pope were stationed. "You should probably get out of here before Rafe sees you."

        In perfect timing, Thalia turned her head to see where she was walking, coming face to face with Rafe and some of his friends. "I'm wonderin' if you could get me a mai tai, my friend." Rafe grabbed JJ by the shoulders, and Thalia sighed.

        "Yeah, Pogue, how about you make that two?" Kelce taunted, acting as Rafe's sidekick.

        Thalia removed Rafe's hands from JJ's arms. "We're working. Sorry." she said daringly to her cousin.

        JJ nodded. "Yeah, I'm on the clock right now. You guys look spiffy. You know, uh, we got a couple of orders ahead of you, so why don't you guys just go ahead and wait by the bar? Until then, help yourselves to hors d'oeuvres." JJ spoke, both he and Thalia working out a getaway plan.

        "Oh, yeah. Guys, JJ's gonna serve us some hors d'oeuvres. Right?" Rafe summoned some of his other friends over.

        Thalia and JJ started backing up. "Well, here are the hors d'oeuvres. Hope you choke on them while shoving them in your fat faces." Thalia pointed to trays of food with a mock smile.

        Rafe scoffed at Thalia while she and JJ continued to back up. "Okay. We'll be right back, okay?" the two turned away from the Kooks.

        "We're actually gonna follow you in here just to make sure..." Kelce trailed off as JJ tossed open the door to the country club, Thalia closing it tightly as she slipped inside.

        They ran through the dining room, pushing chairs and tables between themselves and the Kooks. "This way!" Thalia said to JJ, struggling to run after him. JJ went in the complete opposite direction. "Or that way, I guess." Thalia muttered to herself, she and JJ sprinting past groups of Kooks. Ones that knew Thalia weren't surprised to see her running around, causing trouble.

        JJ almost knocked a girl over so he apologized quickly, still running through the country club to find a place to hide. "Come here." JJ said, ushering Thalia into a room, closing the door behind her.

        Thalia's eyes widened when she saw they were in the men's bathroom. "Jesus!" Thalia averted her eyes so she didn't have to see male body parts, blindly following her brother as he knocked his fist on closed bathroom stalls, all of them occupied. "You could've picked any other room, JJ!" Thalia said as she walked behind him, avoiding the concerned men in the bathroom.

        "I'm doing my best okay?" JJ retorted. Once they discovered that all of the stalls were locked, Thalia unshielded her eyes and the duo turned a corner.

        Of course, Rafe was there. "Hey, man, what are you doin' in the locker room?" Rafe taunted. JJ grabbed Thalia by the back of the shirt and turned around, only to discover that they were cornered.

        "Oh, fuck." Thalia muttered as JJ was shoved into Rafe.

        "Wow, that's a cute outfit." JJ commented to the guy that had pushed him, now being held by Kelce.

        "Shut up!" Rafe spoke, exasperated. He noticed Thalia trying to escape. "Grab her." Rafe instructed his friends.

        "Don't touch me, pervert." Thalia said as a Kook grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her still with her arms pinned behind her back.

        There were five Kooks for the two Pogues, which was completely unfair. Thalia stood on one leg as JJ struggled, letting her knee relax. There was no way she was getting out of this anytime soon. Kelce had JJ in a headlock. "Hold him still. What... what do you think? A four iron, right? Keep his head still. I'm gonna line this up." Rafe pretended he was holding a golf club.

        "Very Rafe of you, Rafe. Five on two?" JJ struggled to speak due to Kelce's grip, face beet red.

        "Okay, if you could please stop talking? It's very disrespectful. I'm trying to hit a ball. Learn your etiquette, my friend. Come on." Rafe rambled and Thalia rolled her eyes, sick and tired of his antics.

        "Are you just going after all my friends one at a time, Rafe? Who's next? John B?" Thalia spoke, trying to shrug the Kook who was holding her off.

        Rafe scoffed, turning to her. "Friends. That's funny," he chuckled. "They're not your friends, Thalia. They don't care about you. That's what Dad and I keep trying to tell you. They're not your friends." Rafe emphasized.

        Thalia didn't react. "Don't know why you care so much." she said lamely, not expressing any emotion.

        Rafe turned to JJ. "Your face looks really bad. Starting to look like your dad a lot more," he taunted, and Thalia's face fell. JJ, angry, spat in Rafe's face. "Oh, shit. All right." Rafe straightened up with a laugh.

        Thalia glanced once at JJ, their identical blue eyes meeting. "Watch your fuckin' mouth, Rafe." Thalia said, not in control of the anger rising in her.

        The Kook holding Thalia tightened his grip on her as Rafe turned. "Why the hell would I do that? It's true, isn't it? His dad's a junkie."

        "You're talking about my dad, too, Rafe. He's my brother. Our's dad's a junkie." Thalia said with emphasis, and Rafe's face fell, silence ripping through the locker room.

        Before anyone else could speak, a security guard walked in. "Gentlemen! Thalia," he said with a groan. Instantly, Kelce undid his hold on JJ, pushing him into Thalia, who was freed from the Koom holding her. "Is there a problem here, guys?" the security guard knew if Thalia was there, there was trouble.

        "Pardon us, officer. No, there's not an issue. I just..." JJ locked eyes with his sister, and their faces lit up at the same time.

        "Yes. No, there is an issue." Thalia stepped away from the Kooks as JJ ran a hand through his blonde hair, breathing heavily.

        "Uh, we got a criminal trespass in progress here. Beep! Call it in, right?" JJ said awkwardly, glancing at Thalia.

        The redhead straightened her shirt. "Blatant disrespect for private property. Yeah. We'rein violation of all kinds of shit, sir." Thalia said, hands clasped in front of her body.

        JJ nodded. "But these young gentlemen–" JJ attempted to straighten Kelce's bowtie.

        "Don't touch my shit." Kelce aggressively slapped JJ's hands away.

        "...Uh, caught us, sir, and they're about to take us away." JJ made up, Thalia matching his energy.

        "And that's what you should do, escort us out of here. You got us." Thalia said with a small laugh, holding her hands out like she was being cuffed, JJ doing the same.      

        The guard had a hand on each of Thalia and JJ's backs, beginning to lead them out of the locker room. "All right. Fix that tie, son. You're lookin' spiffy, too. You Powerpuff Girls have fun." JJ said over his shoulder to the Kooks as he and Thalia were led away.

        "Tell Kiara she looks pretty hot for a Pogue." Rafe said, and instantly, JJ was ripping himself away from the security guard, going after Rafe.

        "Oh, you idiot." Thalia said with a sigh, watching Kelce, Rafe and JJ go at it, the security guard ripping JJ off of the Kooks.

        "You think I'm afraid of you, man?" JJ said with a scoff, beginning to be forced out of the locker room with Thalia.

        "Hey, safe travels back to the cut. Hope you're close with your dad, Thalls, that's probably where you'll end up." Rafe called after them.

        Thalia rolled her eyes. "Fuck you, psycho. And you can tell Topper I'm so glad I sunk his boat." she turned and mockingly waved at the Kooks before being turned around by the security guard.

        Normal people would've been humiliated by a perk walk through a country club filled with esteemed party-goers, but Thalia and JJ weren't at all fazed. "Look... look, man, I can walk myself. I got legs. Can you see that, brother? Come on." JJ said to the security guard as he pushed him onto the patio of the club.

        Thalia tugged her arm free from the security guard. "We really appreciate what you did back there. Let us just walk out by ourselves." Thalia said, chatter among the party simmering down.

        The pair passed Kiara's parents, and out of the corner of her eye, Thalia could see an angry Ward and a humiliated Rose. "Mr. Dunleavy, I see you got your drink. Good, that's really nice. I'm actually gonna down that." JJ picked up Mr. Dunleavy's drink and swallowed the alcohol in one sip.

        "What the hell's the matter with him?" Mr. Dunleavy said as JJ was dragged away, the security guard apologizing.

        "I really appreciate the discretion, Daryl, you know?" JJ said to the guard, winking at his sister as they reached the center of the club's patio. "It's okay, everybody! Do not panic. Leave it to the men and women in uniform. Let's hear it for them. Rose! You look like Lady Liberty." JJ pointed at Thalia's step-aunt.

        "I said that." Thalia said with a bright smile, seeing Rose inhale sharply, hiding her face in her drink. Ward and Sarah stopped dancing, both not surprised to see Thalia causing trouble.

        The security guard grabbed JJ again, and Kie made her voice heard. "Let go of him! You can't boot him! I invited him here," Kie said, ignoring her parents stopping her and Rafe's commentary. "I'm a member of this club." Thalia wasn't surprised Kie didn't defend her.

        JJ unwound himself from the security guard and shoved him away, Thalia sighing. "Must you?" Thalia said, exasperated as the security guard fell into a table.

        "Sorry about that," JJ turned Thalia around and found Kie. "Hey, mandatory power hour at Rixon's, Kie. Pope, you as well, all right? Rixon's Cove. Let's roll." JJ said to his two best friends.

        Thalia met Pope's eye as she and JJ passed him. She was trying to will him to go with them, and Pope was contemplating his options. Thalia and JJ held up their wrists at the exact same time, mimicking shackles. "Let's go, guys. Workers of the world unite." the redhead spoke.

        "Throw off your chains!" JJ added, and Kie smiled brightly. Thalia saw Pope begin to undo his apron and she and JJ dapped each other up in success.

        "See you later, Kooklandia!" Thalia called to the partiers at the country club as John B appeared, applauding JJ on his successful mission.

        Kie started rushing to the three as Pope evaded his father. John B smiled at seeing Thalia with the crew and embraced Pope, Kie rushing into JJ's arms. As soon as he let John B go, Pope was taking Thalia by the hand, hurrying away with her. "Later, losers!" John B yelled. As Thalia ran with Pope, smiling, she didn't know about the horrors she would soon face because of this decision.

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