𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 23.

━ 𝗸𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆.

"𝐇𝐈, 𝐈'𝐌 𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐇," 𝐒𝐇𝐄 held her hand out in front of Daryl.

We were standing in the entryway of the house, the screen door closed shut behind us, as the soft wind ruffled through the leaves on the trees. I was standing next to Sarah with my hands folded together, as Caroline and Daryl stood hip-to-hip in front of us.

There was something written on their faces. A certain uncomfortableness when they stared at her— that they knew something we didn't. But I was too preoccupied and washed the thought away with a solution that, maybe, they were just uncomfortable because she was the richest on the island. They were smiling, anyway.

"Daryl," he replied, with tight smile. He took her hand in his and shook it firmly, nodding once. "This is Caroline," he motioned to his wife.

Sarah then held out her hand to my grandma, leaning forward a bit.

"It's very nice to see you, Sarah," Caroline grinned, looking happy. Her eyes crinkled as she smiled. They knew who she was.

I stared at both of my grandparents, trying to make out their specific expressions, because they seemed equally as excited for me and at the same time, confused. I think they were just happy to see me making friends. Caroline's eyes were crinkling a little more than usual, though.

"It's a pleasure to meet you guys too," Sarah smiled, her cheeks puffing, and she glanced to me.

I almost laughed, finding the formal introduction a bit unusual, and her glance almost made me burst with laughter, but I held it in.

"What brings you here?" Daryl asked, and I could tell he was trying to be as kind as he possibly could.

"Well," Sarah started, side-eyeing me a little bit, "only if it's alright with you guys— I was wondering if I could, maybe, take Charlotte to a party? It's just a small thing, to meet some new people on the island." She said, her voice sweet.

Caroline and Daryl looked to each other, as if searching for an answer in one another's expressions. Sarah nudged her shoulder into mine lightly, as small smiles rose to their faces.

"I suppose so," Caroline sighed a happy sigh, looking to me. "No drinking, though." She put a finger up firmly, and lowered her eyes.

"Yes— of course," Sarah quickly nodded up and down, a wide grin over her plump lips, "I'll drive her home after, what time would be good?" She nudged her shoulder with mine again, excitedly.

Caroline did her signature wave-hand-through-the-air, nonchalantly. "Just don't come home at five in the morning, please," she let out a laugh.

"No smoking," Daryl added.

"Got it," I nodded once firmly. I couldn't lie and say that I wasn't at least a little bit excited.

"No drugs," Caroline pointed her finger at me again.

"Yes." I understood, nodding again.

"And no boys," he lowered his eyes at me.

Caroline whacked his stomach with the back of her hand.

"Where's this party at?" She asked, ignoring what he'd said.

"Just at my boyfriend's house," Sarah nodded, saying it casually.

"Alright," Caroline responded, folding her hands together again, and grinning warmly. "Have fun, girls."

"Thanks," Sarah beamed at them, wrapping her hand around my wrist, "You guys are cool grandparents." She laughed out loud.

Caroline shrugged, as if proud of herself, "I try."

"Where are we going?" I was asking Sarah, as she began to drag me away from them and towards the hallway.

"I'm getting you ready," she said, her hair flowing behind her as she walked.

She walked me right over to the desk, and lightly pushed me down to sit.

"I love your room," she smiled brightly, looking around at everything. "Yellow is my favourite colour,"

"Me too," my lips departed into an open smile.

"My walls used to be yellow like this," she said, while turning away and stepping towards my closet, "but then my little sister took over my room so I had to switch." She was bending down, looking at my clothes.

Sarah was wearing a light pink sun dress, and I could see the straps of a bathing suit on her shoulders. Her hair was loose, and she wore her necklaces, and white sandals were on her feet.

"Do you wear makeup, Charlotte?" She asked, while flipping through my clothes on the hangers.

"You can call me Charlie, if you want," I watched her, my hands folded on my knees, "and no, not really."

"Lucky," she laughed. "I like that nickname,"

"Yeah," I smiled to myself, remembering how I'd gotten it.

"Do you have a swimsuit?" She asked, still searching my closet.

"Yeah, in that little box," I pointed down below her knees, to my small case of swimsuits that I'd brought.

She bent down, opening the box. Immediately, she pulled out a baby blue ribbed bikini, and her jaw fell open. "You are wearing this." She said confidently, bringing both pieces over to my bed, laying them out.

"Just that?" My eyes widened.

"No, silly," she laughed out loud. "Wear it under a dress or something, like me," she pulled the short sleeve of her own sundress down past her shoulder, which showed the strap of her pink bikini.

"Are we swimming?" I asked.

"Well, normally girls just wear their bathing suits under clothes all the time," she said. "But yeah, Topper has a pool. Can you swim?"

"Yeah," I giggled.

"Is it a big party?" I questioned, sort of quietly.

She shrugged, popping out her bottom lip, "I don't know yet." She said genuinely, quiet as well. "But you can stay with me the whole time. If there's too many people for you I'll drive you home."

My stomach grew warm, a small smile rising to my lips. "Okay." I nodded slowly.

"Alright," she grinned with excitement, "You change and I'll go sit with your grandparents."

"You're gonna sit with them?" I laughed lightly.

"Your grandma seems dope," she giggled, turning away, "I'll tell you if they talk shit." she laughed out loud, opening my door.

I laughed, feeling my cheeks crease from smiling. She walked out, closed the door, and I heard her footsteps walk all the way down the hall.

___

The party certainly wasn't small.

When we got there, pulled up to an enormous beach house, I could already hear the booming music through Sarah's expensive tinted windows. As I gawked at the ginormous house before us, the sound of people yelling and shouting and water splashing filled my ears over the muffled rap music. Sarah had parked in the driveway since it was her boyfriend's home, and with each step we took around the bend of the house, the music increased through my eardrums.

I wasn't dumb. I knew what a party looked like— from watching movies and shows my whole life. But I never thought that that kind of stuff actually happened in real life, and I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was there, surrounded by a bunch of rich teenagers, in which majority of them were too wasted to even function. It was painted how you'd see it in a movie; inground pool outside of a mansion, girls in bikinis, guys holding cans of beer, people sitting with their legs in the water, music blaring, the sun down, and neon lights lighting up the place.

It was all equally as bewildering, baffling, and overwhelming. There I was, a lonely girl from New York City, walking around to the backyard one of the biggest mansions I'd ever seen, with the island's most famous rich girl, Sarah Cameron. Immediately when we turned the bend and were suddenly out in the open, multiple faces lit up at the sight of her. She had her arm interlocked with mine, which kept us side-by-side as people stared and gawked at us. It was like we were movie stars, walking on the red carpet, and all these teenagers were the paparazzi.

Everyone looked at me weirdly. I tried my best to smile, as people approached the two of us, giving Sarah side hugs and then awkwardly shifting their eyes over to me standing there like a deer in headlights. Sarah had tried her best to introduce me to as many people that came up to us, but most of them didn't care, and tried to drag her along towards their groups of friends instead. But, my stomach warmed every time she would deny, keeping her arm locked with mine, as she pulled me through the sweaty teenagers to the next pair of people I'd soon meet.

The guys— stared at both of us as we trotted to and from, their eyes trailing down my body a few times, which, without a doubt, started to make me feel uncomfortable after a while. Half of them were shirtless, and all of them held cans or bottles of alcohol in their hands, trying to flex their muscles while they sat by the pool. It was embarrassing to see how the boys acted, and at one point I nearly laughed at the sight of three of them standing by the back door, their muscles flexing so aggressively that their heads almost popped off right then and there.

The girls— most of them gave me odd looks as I passed, their acrylic nails flipping their long hair over their shoulders as if proud of themselves. Not one of them, not a single girl there, wasn't thin. I tried hard, squinting my eyes past the numbers of people, to try and spot a girl who wasn't skinny, like me. Only minutes into the introductions, I had realized I didn't fit in at all, not even a little bit. They were all drop-dead gorgeous, with their hair highlights and perfect bodies, their long eyelashes and tanned skin. Yeah, I looked like Sarah a little bit, but I sure as hell didn't fit in with the rest of the Kooks whatsoever.

It took me a good while to actually take off my sun dress. About half an hour into the party, my eardrums already dead from the blasting music, Sarah had found her boyfriend, and re-introduced me to him again. He was much nicer than before, when he almost ran me over with his Jeep. He wasn't as bad as I thought him to be, he had actually sat down with Sarah and I on the lawn chairs and talked for a little bit, I stayed silent most of that time, before he got dragged away by some of his friends and said he'd hang out with us later.

A whole hour had passed, and I hadn't talked much. I was far too busy with examining everyone else, watching how the Kooks acted in comparison to the Pogues. Sarah's boyfriend had given her a drink before he left, and I didn't want to ruin her mood by telling her she still had to drive me home. So I was stupid, and let her drink a few.

Now, Sarah was in her pink bikini, sitting next to me on one of the expensive lawn chairs, as people came up to us and tried to drag her away with them, since she was popular. Once it became annoying, she'd taken off her dress, and asked me if I wanted to go in the pool with her.

I felt bad wanting to deny the offer, so I very hesitantly untied the straps of my own sun dress, and looked down at the small rolls of skin on my stomach, which were only a little bit hidden underneath my high-waisted swim bottoms. Then, I had noticed the bruise on my hip, which I had completely forgotten about. It was still visible, only a lighter shade of purple, spread out across the side of my hip-bone, just above the rim of my bathing suit bottoms. When Sarah stood up, I did too, my hand trying to cover the bruise, in hopes of just going straight into the pool without anyone noticing.

But when she looked back at me, she instantly noticed, "Oh my god, Charlie, what happened?" She asked, her voice loud over the music. She sounded genuinely concerned, as she rushed back over to me and softly removed my hand from covering my hip.

"It's just a bruise from falling off my bike," I shrugged, making it sound like it wasn't a big deal.

"When Topper almost hit you?" Her perfectly-shaped eyebrows were sharply narrowed as she slightly bent down to get a better look at the mark, her eyes worried, "Oh my god,"

"It's fine," I laughed, "It doesn't hurt anymore, I'm okay." I reassured her.

Before she could speak, or do anything else, we heard a loud shout of Topper's name, screamed over the booming music. It caused everyone's heads to turn, and I looked over to where the voice came from, eyes quickly landing on a shirtless teenage boy, pointing up to the roof. Then, Sarah and I both shifted our gazes up to the roof, taking notice in her boyfriend, Topper, standing at the edge of the it.

"Topper's on the roof!" Someone shouted, also pointing up.

"Oh my—shit," Sarah breathed out, before quickly leaving me and running towards the back door of the house.

Topper took a swig of beer from his can, and then put his arms out to the side as everyone cheered. I stood by the pool by myself, like an idiot, slightly squeezed between locals who were too drunk to notice me, as Sarah quickly came into view on the roof. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but her mouth was moving as she reluctantly approached Topper at the edge, his hands reaching out for hers. My breathing slightly hitched when he picked her up in both arms, everyone else soon screaming "Jump! Jump!".

And then, before I knew it, they were jumping, and a scream left Sarah's mouth. I scrambled past people as they rose to the surface of the neon blue water, walking closer to where they were. Everyone was cheering, Sarah and Topper were laughing, and Topper shouted out something about his girlfriend. Sarah gripped onto his shoulders tightly, a wide smile on her lips, as she searched for me amongst the people. Once she found me, I crouched down to water level so she would hear me speak.

"I'm going to get water!" I told her loudly, some people around us looking at me oddly, but others still cheering. Topper was cheering too, punching his fist into the air, not paying attention to us.

"Wait, I'll go with you," she shouted back, and quickly let go of her boyfriend's shoulders and swam to the side of the pool. Topper didn't seem to mind as he laughed with some of his friends who were jumping in the pool to high-five him.

Sarah pushed herself out of the pool, water dripping from her body, and girls and guys high-fived her, tapping her back as well, while she simply smiled. She laughed, while she locked her arm with mine again and guided me to the back door. I felt safer, knowing that she was going to stay with me, despite where I was going. She grabbed a towel on the way inside, wrapping it around her whole body.

Inside of the house, the music was just as loud, and there was just as many people. I tried not to look like an idiot while I stared at the inside of the home, that was even more beautiful than the outside. Sarah dragged me into the kitchen, where there was a counter full of alcoholic beverages, red solo cups, and bottles of liquid, all scattered on the sleek white countertop of the humongous kitchen space. I stood by the kitchen island as she went into the fridge and grabbed me a bottle of water.

When she passed it to me, I said thank you, and just before we were about to leave the kitchen and head back outside, she stopped.

"Oh, Rafe," she called out, to a boy approaching the living room, close to us. "This is Charlotte," she introduced me, as the tall boy stopped in front of us. "This is my brother," she looked to me.

"Hi," I said, deciding to put my hand out towards the boy.

"Hey," he said, barely smiling. I looked up at him, at his slicked back hair and button-up pink golf shirt, and his face. He was exactly how I imaged the Kook Prince. He looked stressed, and slightly angry that Sarah had called him over. He didn't look friendly, and I didn't want to talk to him.

"Sarah!" Topper shouted happily, causing our heads to turn, and see him stumbling through the back door. "Come on," he motioned for her to go with him as he began to step up the stairs, which lead to the second floor.

"Is it okay?" She turned to me, and her brother had already left, her eyes looking sad. "I'll only be a minute."

I didn't know what they were doing, but I nodded. "Yeah, go ahead." I smiled kindly at her.

"Okay," she beamed, happy. "Go sit with Rafe, he's over there." She unlocked her arm with mine.

"Okay." I said quietly, smiling back.

I didn't sit with her brother.

When I had turned around the corner, after looking around the house for a bit, I laid eyes on him and a few other people. They were sitting on a couch, with a small bag of substance which looked like powder. I abruptly turned away when I realized what they were doing.

I spent half an hour walking around the home, drinking my water, and trying to avoid as many rich people as I could. When it got boring, I figured I could find a bathroom, and waste some time there. So, I didn't ask anybody, and found myself in a hall, every door open but one. I figured it was the washroom. I knocked on the door, and no one answered.

"Is anyone in here?" I said, leaning close to the crack of the door.

"Charlie?" I heard a soft voice cry out quietly, "is that you?"

I felt my stomach tighten, "Sarah? What's going on, can you open the door," I said, a bit frantic, from hearing the pain in her voice.

After a long moment, I heard the lock click open. I turned the knob, and laid my eyes on Sarah sitting on the floor, her back against the cupboards underneath the sink, and her legs folded up to her chest. She had tear stains all on her cheeks.

"Sarah," I breathed out, and quickly stepped inside, shutting the door behind me, "what happened? Are you okay?" I lowered myself and sat on my knees in front of her.

She wiped her cheeks, "It's Topper," her voice cracked.

I felt a little awkward, but still went on.  "What did he do, did he— did he hurt you— or-"

A tear slipped from her eye, "I told him I was ready," she said, so quietly I could barely hear it.

"Oh," My chest sunk, realizing what she meant, and I placed a hand on her knee. "Sarah,"

"But I wasn't," she cried.

I swallowed the air in my throat and decided to take a leap. I'd seen how it happened in the movies, and I was in that same situation that always happens in the shows, so I went for it. I delicately placed my hands on her shoulders, slowly bringing them towards me. She instantly wrapped her arms around my back, and I could feel her tears on my shoulder as she placed her head in the crook of my neck.

"Do you wanna talk about it," I whispered quietly.

She shook her head.

We sat there, hugging each other, as she cried on the floor in the bathroom of her boyfriend's home. My heart felt warm at the fact that she didn't reject me, even thought we barely knew each other, and the fact that I was able to comfort someone— which was something I thought I was never cut out for. She let go after a while of sobbing.

"Do you want me to get someone to drive us home?" I asked, knowing that she had a few drinks earlier.

She nodded slowly.

So, I let go of her and stood up, slowly stepping over to the bathroom door.

"Hey, Charlie?" She whispered, her voice tired as her eyes puffed up. "Thank you."

I loosened my grip on the doorknob, breathing out sympathetically. I smiled a small closed-lip smile and spoke softly, "Yeah, no problem."

༄

- 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞?

𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 !!