john b honestly couldn't remember the last time his sister slept in her own bed

sure, if he really tried hard he could imagine the last time lucky mumbled a sleepy 'goodnight' from across the hall before kicking her door shut. he could picture their dad locked away in his office or asleep at the table. or he could picture the first few nights after dad left when uncle teddy would sleep in the shitty old armchair in the living room, or the few nights nat would be passed out on the floor in front of the tv with her notebook clutched weakly in one hand

but now it seemed like the only current memory of lucky he had is the nights she's spent burrowed against his side when her arms and legs sprawled over him

it's not that he minded, john b loves lucky, she's his baby sister, but he'd also like to not have to sleep on the very edge of the bed with his arms tucked tightly against his sides

he'd also like to be able to get up early again, or early enough that he could slip out into the hall and clutch his phone to his ear as his listened to natalie's stupid sing - songy voicemail a million times and leave her a million, desperate voicemails begging her to come down to the banks for just one day, just so her can get cps off his back

sure, he could've tried to do it in bed while lucky's sleeping right next to him, but she could also wake up in the middle of his call and then he'd have to face reality and admit that he doesn't have anything under control and that they're about two hairs away from losing their house and that the only person who could possibly help them pretend that everything was fine hadn't answered any texts or calls in months

lucky didn't know how bad things were getting, she didn't go with him to any meetings with the 'counsellors', she didn't even he went as often as he did, and honestly john b wanted to keep it that way. lucky was his responsibility now, even if she always kinda had been. no one really knew how bad things are getting, not jj, not pope, not kie, not val. sure, they all knew there's the slightly impending threat of cps taking the house and tossing him and lucky in the back of some shitty van and shipping them off them to the mainland without a second thought, but they didn't know just how soon and real that future was getting

so john b had resigned himself to taking mysteriously long bathroom breaks when there's the rare moment of just him and lucky in the chateau and the weird looks his sister gives him when he gets out

"hey, lucks" john b nudged his sister in the stomach, or as best as he could without moving too much and sending himself tumbling off the bed "c'mon dude, get up"

"fuck . . . off" lucky groaned, eyes squeezing shut as she pressed her face firmly into the patch of her brother's skin just between his collar bone and his armpit "m'alseep"

"yeah, with your face right in my armpit. c'mon, move" lucky makes a weak gagging sound, but she relents and rolls away just enough to john b to finally wiggle out from underneath her without falling off and hop off the bed

"let's go sleepy head, got a big day ahead of us" sun kissed strands of brown hair tumble into john b's eyes as he leaned forward, clapping his hands just above lucky's ear in a weak attempt to try and startle her awake

the only response he manages to get from lucky is another groan and the weak wave of her hand, trying to hit her brother's hands away "said . . . 'm sleeping"

"come on lucky! jj said he saw some unfinished house on the beach and there's been no security or workers there for -" any last words of persuasion died on john b's tongue with a weak groan when lucky's palm finally managed to connect with his face. fingers digging into the still soft, baby faced skin of his cheeks and daring to force their way between his lips

one, bleary with sleepy, baby blue eye peaked open at him, eyebrows knitting together in a sleepy scowl. it's met with a pair of less than enthused golden brown ones and a single raised eyebrow, locked in a long, silent, staring match. for a moment, it seems like neither of them will ever move again, until john b's eyes suddenly break away and his hand wraps tightly around lucky's ankle and in an instant he's trying his best to tug her off the bed while lucky's hands frantically clawed and gripped at the sheets

"bee!" lucky kicked desperately at her brother with her foot that wasn't caught in a death grip "dude what the fuck? get off me!"

"not! until! you! get! up!" with one final, very determined tug, lucky tumbled off the bed, landing in a disgruntled heap on top of her brother

"asshole!" lucky tried to scramble to her feet quick enough to grab onto john b, but by the time she's upright again and her arm shoots out, he'd already hopped to his feet and was dancing backwards towards the door

"got you up, yeah?" the routledge boy bounced from foot to foot before darting quickly out into the hallway the moment lucky had pulled herself to her feet

the two raced down the hall and around the living room in a whirl of brown curls and tanned skin, lucky's hands darting out in a desperate attempt to grab her brother and john b's shooting out behind him to occasionally slap his sister's away

"just wanted you up! you'll thank me later!" eventually john b ended up on one side on the kitchen table, opposite to lucky

"i hate you" lucky whispered, chest heaving as she finally halted to a stop, eyes half lidded in a weak attempt at a scowl "i hate you so much"

"but you'll love my again later when i get you crappy beer and an afternoon in a super nice empty house" john b flashed what could only be described as the most shit eating grin known to man, one he knew pissed lucky off, but one she also never managed to stay mad at. and so, with a little wiggle of his eyebrows and the bling-a-ding-ding of natalie used to call 'the routledge boy grin', a weak snort, but a snort none the less tumbles from his sister's lips

"see? you're already falling into my irresistible trap of charm and brotherly love"

"you can keep telling yourself that! doesn't make it anymore true!" lucky called as she stalked back towards the hallway and the bedrooms

"you love me! i'm your favourite person in the whole world! you're gonna have to admit it one day!"

she gave him the finger before kicking the bathroom door shut

☀️

lucky heard val before she saw her, heard the grinding of her shitty skateboard's wheels against the uneven gravel of the street, heard her yelling something along the lines of 'stop the van!' and 'it's me! me! val!', heard her bagging one of her hands against the back windows

"bee!" kie perked up in the backseat, they'd picked her up first, mostly cause she'd already been loitering in their driveway, she said she'd had another fight with her mom "val -"

"yeah, yeah i know" the van came to a quick halt, quick enough that lucky felt the seatbelt tighten against her chest, quick enough that lucky heard a surprised shout and the clatter of val tumbling off her skateboard

"shit!" john b hissed under his breath, his shoulders tensing up towards his ears "sorry val!"

the passenger's side door suddenly flew open and before lucky even had a chance to yelp in surprise or say anything, val was clambering inside the car and right on top to her

"s'cuse me!" a tanned hand pressed against the side of lucky's face as valerie's sing songy voice rang in her ears "s'cuse me please!"

"dude! get off!" lucky squirmed underneath the other girl, trying to jab her in the stomach or the ribs, though she couldn't hold back the surprised giggles that tumbled from her lips

"well you're in my seat" lucky found herself with a face and mouthful of val's dark curls as the other girl reached over to unbuckle the seatbelt

"fuck off!" lucky just barely managed to wiggle out from underneath val and onto the centre console, though it's really only because the other girl's hip bumped into her side "was my seat first. . ."

"aww poor baby" kie coos at her, arms outstretched as lucky scrambles into the backseat and into her lap

"she's fine" john b rolled his eyes as he started the van back up again "she just gets super grouchy when she doesn't get enough sleep"

"she's super grouchy when she doesn't get enough nyeah nyeah nyeah" lucky burrowed her face against kie's the space between kie's shoulder and her armpit, feeling the other girl's hands tangled into her hair

"wow" val whispered, eyes widening as they flicked to the side to meet john b's, hands nervously drumming against her skateboard

"dude, s'not my fault you were out to like two am with tommy fester again last night" lucky rolled her eyes at her brother's words, burrowing her face further into kie's tanned skin

"you were hooking up with tommy?" lucky could feel kie's gaze on her, but she avoided it like her life depended on it, keeping her attention focused instead on the shitty rug lain across the van floor, trying to count all the little holes and rips she can spot

tommy fester, tommy f, other tommy, tall tommy, tommy; a man of, surprisingly, many names. he worked with john b at the dock, went to the public school with them during the year, and was lucky's on and off again, sort-of but also not really, boyfriend. tommy was a mess of feelings, a clash of teeth and tongue, a boy who used to make lucky's heart flutter and make her twirl her hair around her finger, but she'd also been ten, and now all tommy made her feel was . . . less empty? lucky honestly wasn't sure what tommy made her feel anymore, or if he even made her feel anything. tommy was safe, tommy was reliable, a little bit boring, but reliable. he was always going to be there, at parties, late at night, at school, anywhere lucky wanted to be there, there was tommy, following her around 'like a dumb, lost little puppy' as jj would describe it. and even if kissing him certainly didn't set off any fireworks in lucky's mind anymore ( not that it ever really did ) it was a lot better than spending the whole summer moping around by herself

"really lucks? again? tommy?" lucky doesn't have to lift her head or move her gaze away from the shitty carpet to picture the way val's nose scrunches up, how she sticks out her tongue

"oh shut up" the routledge girl scoffed "at least i'm not spending all my free time making goo goo eyes at jazzy cameron"

valerie's crush on the kook princess was anything but a secret, it had been one of the few constants about val that remained persistent in all the years lucky had known her. back when they were nine and sitting in the kitchen of kie's restaurant while val cried about the gum, back when they were thirteen and jazzy broke jj's nose, back when they were twelve and val insisted on cutting off at least of foot of her hair into what could only be described as the shittiest bob known to man. valerie delaney had always been in love with jazzy cameron, for as long as lucky routledge had known her, but she'd also never done anything about it or had a conversation with the kook that didn't end in val turning into a red faced, stuttering mess and embarrassing herself so bad she threw up ( which was only a slight exaggeration, it had happened once )

"she has you there val" kie teased, narrowing her eyes playfully at the now bright red girl in the front seat, still combing through lucky's mess of curls

val's mouth hung open for an embarrassingly long amount of time, her gaze constantly flicking between the two girls in the backseat and john b beside her, before it finally snapped shut, her gaze casting downwards "screw you guys"

☀️

"are you gonna surf the hurricane waves when it hits?" sunny flopped down across jazzy's leg, kicking her legs as her arms draped over the edge of the bed

"uhhh, duh!" golden locks tumbled forward, tickling sunny's back as jazzy leans over to tickle and poke at the little redhead's sides, earning several soft giggles out of sunny "don't you know me at all?"

"can i come with you?" big blue eyes light up excitedly as sunny peeked up at her, beaming wide enough that lucky could see the gap where one of her bottom teeth used to be

"are you in the double digits yet?" jazzy mockingly raised an eyebrow before poking the little redhead in the ribs

sunny pouted, the freckles on her forehead bunching up into a blob of soft brown as her eyebrows knitted together "no. . ."

"then no" with one swift motion jazzy bent her legs and bumped her knees into sunny's stomach and roll her sister off her knees

sunny whined, rocking back and forth on the foot of the bed "why noooot?" two wide, doll - like eyes that look like they belong on a cartoon animal peek at her from behind strands of red, and make jazzy felt a shit ton more guilty than she normally would've "i've been practicing!"

"really? well i'll believe that when i see it" jazzy barely has time to react before sunny's leaping to her feet, rocking and bouncing the too soft, too expensive mattress on the bed

"yeah! yeah i have! see!" sunny jumps her feet out wide, arms shooting straight out at her sides "s'exactly like you!"

"oh that's a right on surfer stance isn't it?" jazzy teased, reaching forward and grabbing onto sunny's hips "but what's this?"

"what's what?"

soft hazel eyes going wide in mock surprise, jazzy's mouth hanging open as she gasped softly "earthquake!" she suddenly began to shake sunny back and forth, earning surprised squeals and giggles from her sister

"there's - there's - there's no earthquakes on the ocean!" sunny struggled to get words out in between trying to wiggle out of jazzy's hold and the excited squeaks that continued to tumble from her lips

"uh they're totally are!" jazzy narrowed her eyes at the redhead, stopping the insistent shaking just for a moment "and if you're gonna surf the hurricane waves one day you gotta be ready for anything! like . . ."

she paused, just for a moment, just long enough for sunny to try and raise her one of eyebrows expectantly ( she'd been trying to teach herself a o to do it for weeks, though she hadn't gotten any better ) before leaping to her feet and taking sunny with her, lifting her up and swinging her about before tossing her over her shoulder "a tidal wave!"

"jazzy! put me down!" sunny hit her fists against the older girl's back half heartedly, squirming about

"what're you guys doing?" both girls heads snap towards the door at the sound of sarah's voice, finding the sun kissed girl leaning against the doorframe, a confused smile spreading across her face

"surfing practice" jazzy said simply, shrugging nonchalantly as if sunny wasn't draped over her shoulder

"jazzy says i can't surf the hurricane with her!" sunny whined, squirming around even more desperately than before as she reached her arms out to sarah, making grabby hands at her sister

"well, are you ten yet?" tanned hands came to rest just below sunny's armpits before lifting her off of jazzy's shoulder and setting her back down on the ground. her question earned her a scowl and a furious pout as sunny's hands clenched into fists so tight and so angry the skin around her knuckles got paler than it already was

"it's not fair!" sunny whined "you guys all - all get to go out and do fun stuff and 'm stuck here with rafe and dad and rose! it's bullshit!"

sarah winced at the swearing, eyebrows furrowing in concern "who - who taught you that word?"

she said it like the swearing was the biggest concern in the world, like the fact that sunny knows the word 'bullshit' will cause the tannyhill to spontaneously combust around them, but jazzy knows it's not her fault, she knows that sarah doesn't really understand what 'stuck with rafe and dad and rose' really means

how could she? sarah was ward's perfect little angel, his perfect carbon copy of her mother, except without the burning resentment and constant lying and cheating, without the crazed look in her eyes that he sees everyday in rafe and in jazzy. when sarah's around they're a shiny, happy family, when sarah's around they all pretend, they hold hands at dinner and ward says grace ( even though none of them have even been to church for actual church and god related reasons in their lives ) they smile and pose for pictures, they don't yell, the don't argue, they don't ignore sunny or call her 'bastard child' to her face, when sarah's around ward doesn't grab jazzy's arm so hard it bruises and spits in her face how he wishes she were more like her sister. when sarah's around there's peace.

when sarah's gone everything goes to shit, rose drinks glass after glass of wine and gets touchy with the pool boy when she thinks wards not looking, rafe does lines in the bathroom because he can lock the door from

the inside, ward yells and breaks things, sunny hides in jazzy's closet and cries quietly because rafe won't stop looking at her with his crazy, bloodshot eyes and telling her that she's the reason moms dead

"rafe did" sunny mumbled, shifting to lean against jazzy's legs, eyes downcast, shoulders curled in and hunched up, waiting for the moment she's yelled at for saying such a dirty word

before sarah can say anything else, before she can make it any more painfully obvious just how oblivious she is to how much of a broken family they are, jazzy pats sunny on the head before crouching down to her level

"hey, y'know what? i think wheezie was telling rose about how she just got a bunch of new nail polish colours, but that she has no one to try them on" in an instant, big blues are filled with the joy and light a six year old's eyes should be filled with

"really? does she have yellow?"

"oh i bet you she has like three different shades!" the squeal that falls from sunny's lips as her feet dance excitedly in place make jazzy question everything about reality, because how could rafe hate someone this small and this pure?

"imgonnagohelpherrightnow!" in a flurry of freckles and red hair and in a jumble of excited words, sunny had raced out of the room and down the hall, calling wheezie's name all the way

jazzy watched her girl, pulling herself back to her full height, finding a place next to sarah in the doorframe, watching as sunny disappeared around the corner

"wheezie didn't get any new polish, did she?" sarah's shoulder bumped against her sister's, her head tilting slightly as she tried to get jazzy to meet her eyes

"no, but she'll pretend she did" wheezie would pretend the moon was made of cheese if it meant keeping sunny happy, jazzy knows she will, knows they both would. she's known ever since wheezie was eleven and ward had all but refused to put sunny's finger painting of tannyhill ( though a more brightly coloured one ) up on the fridge and wheezie had insisted that her and jazzy buy a frame and hang it up in the hall. 'we're the disregarded daughters' she'd said simply, and much more mature than a little kid should be 'we have to stick together'. the three of them had lived by the code ever since, outcasted cameron girls live together, and they'll die together

☀️

"see? told you guys this place was sick" jj was the first out of the car, tumbling out the back door before the car had even come to a full stop

lucky peered out the window, the half finished home was already three times the size of the chateau and lucky wouldn't be surprised if at least two more floors would be added before it was finished "yeah, nice find jj"

"nice find jj?!" val demanded as she hopped out of the car "i found this place! i saw it yesterday when i was doing a coastline tour!"

"yeah but like, i told everyone about it. so it kinda makes it my find" jj shrugged, reaching forward to grab the whole shitty six pack from pope

"no the fuck it doesn't!" val lunged forward, grabbing a hold of the other side of plastic ring holding the beers together, trying to pull it away from jj like they were two kids fighting over a toy

"finders keepe - hey stop that! this was really cheap, really stolen beer!"

"you stole that?" pope's eyes darted frantically between the maybank boy and the six pack

"from my dad's private stash, relax" jj shot pope a grin, taking his eyes off the prize just long enough for val to rip the beers from his hands, the plastic rings coming apart as she did. beers tumbled across the dried up grass just outside the van, some rolling down towards the front deck of the house, which meant jj squealed like a little girl before chasing after them, val on his tail

"and here, as promised, your shitty beer" john b bent over slightly, one leg tucking behind the other, in the world's shittiest bow, as he scooped up one of the disregarded cans before outstretching his arm towards lucky

"ah thank you, my good lad" the routledge girl snatched up the beer and cracked it open in the blink of an eye. she kinda hated shitty beer, but it's not like any of them but kie could afford anything else, and lucky really doubted mister and missus carrera were gonna go out of their way to get nice vodka for their daughter's dirtbag friends

they spilt off from there, kie darted into the house, off to scope out all the evil and socially unjust things about the house, val and jj had booked it onto the deck, pope had rushed off them, presumably to try and pull them apart, but had become preoccupied looting through a discarded tool bag

"race you to the top" lucky nudged john b in the ribs the moment the were alone, she barley gave him to react or even agree before she was darting off into the house, scrambling to reach the roof before her brother

"wha - lucky! shit! not fair!" john b was less than graceful as he pulled himself up onto the makeshift balcony next to the house, but he was fast, just not as fast as lucky. he did manage to not spill any of his beer though

"it's karma" lucky had positioned herself along the very edge of the roof, bouncing back and forth between balancing on one leg, and balancing on the other

"for what?" the routledge boy huffed as he pulled himself up onto the roof, taking a seat against the shingles

"waking me up early" lucky said simply and took another swing of the shitty beer

"hey! you should do a flip!" jj called, pulling himself up onto the scaffolding just below john b "like a backflip, into the ocean!"

"please don't!" pope called, eyes squinting against the sun as he craned his neck to look up at lucky "s'like a three story fall, i'd give you like a one in three chance of survival"

"dude relax" lucky switched feet again, and she didn't miss the way john b tensed up nervously when she did "i'm lucky, 'member?"

"yeah she's lucky! she'll make it" val had taken up a spot next to pope on the deck, bumping her hip against his

"so unanimously agreed upon answer is, yes, i should do a flip off the roof?" lucky raised an eyebrow expectantly, balancing wavering just slightly as she craned her neck to try and look back at jj and john b

"yeah, you should jump" pope's tone dripped with sarcasm, which only made the shit eating grin on lucky's face grow "i'll shoot you on the way down" he lifted up a screw guy he'd stolen from one of the work bags, mimicking firing it off like it was a pistol

"like that'll do anything" jj scoffed before taking another swing of his beer "she's like . . . made of rubber, it's bounce right off her"

"they're gonna have japanese toilets and towel warmers!" lucky could picture exactly what kie's face looked like without having to even look down at her. her eyebrows would be knit together, her lips scrunched up into an angry pout as she stormed out onto the deck

"of course they are, why wouldn't they?" jj retorted

"this used to be a turtle habitat" kie grumbled, ignoring him as she snatched up a beer from

val's armful she had pressed against her chest "but who cares about the turtles, i guess"

"i can't have cold towels" jj's lower lip shot out in a fake pout, his head shaking "we need warm towels"

"yeah, can't get out of my shower with three heads and have only the bathroom tiles be heated! my towels need to be warm and fluffed up too!" val nodded her head along with jj, batting her eyelashes as she bumped her shoulder against kie's over and over again

kie rolled her eyes, a playful scoff falling from her lips as she shoved val away, her gaze casting upwards to lucky up in the roof. "can you please not kill yourself?" she called, eyes squinted so tight lucky was surprised she could still see

"relax kie" pope leaned over the girl's shoulder to mockingly whisper in her ear before quickly pulling away, before she could slap him, to lean over the edge of the deck "she's lucky remember?"

"don't spill that beer" jj took one final swing from his own, playing around with the can before tossing it down onto the deck "i'm not giving you another one"

"relax jayje, 'm almost done" lucky's eyes fell closed as she leaned her head back and pressed the can to her lips, trying to get out what little was left in the can

"hey, uh, security's here. let's wrap it up" pope taps his hands against the banister before darting into the house

"all right, the boys are early" john b chuckled as he shimmied down the roof before hopping onto the scaffolding with jj "hurry it up lucks"

lucky slurps up the last of her beer and puts the can off the roof, quickly half - sliding half - scampering down the roof and off the scaffolding after jj and her brother

"gary? is that you? good to see you man!" jj laughs as he hops onto the deck, john b and lucky right behind him

"oh fuck, jj, go easy on him. he's fat and old" val nudged the blonde boy quickly in the ribs before racing into the house after pope

"bet i can beat you to the van" kie pokes lucky in the side before sprinting after pope and val, whooping as she did and earning excited cheers from the rest as they tailed excitedly after her

the six of them scrambled into the house and down the unfinished, unstable stairs into the concrete basement, jj darting off in one direction, towards security, as a distraction, as the rest of them raced for the yard. lucky only lost her footing and almost fell once or twice, though she blamed it on her shitty sneakers and the way the bottoms were peeling off, she really did need to buy new ones

kie and john b jumped the the fence first, but val jumped it the fastest, she always did, claimed it was the skills she picked up in gymnastics back when she was six and her mom won three free kids classes, though lucky guessed it was because she had long legs and gangly arms

pope was much less graceful, always had been, which was probably why he'd been on the math team when they were kids and not any sports ones. he barley made it over the fence, and when he did, he landed flat on his stomach and lucky had to half - leap, half - fall to avoid landing on him

"get up pope! fatso's coming!" jj tumbled over the fence right after lucky in a blur, smacking the other boy on the leg before grabbing lucky's arm and tugging her towards the van with him

"bus is leaving!" john b called, honking the horn over and over as kie slid the back door open, waving as the three remaining pouges

"hurry up slow pokes!"

jj tumbled into the van, tugging lucky in with him, the both of them landing in a jumble of tanned skin and sun kissed freckles

"pope my boy! you're going to miss your ride!" val reached out a calloused palm to the dark skinned boy as he scrambled to reach the door in time, locking her fingers around his wrist and barley managing to tug him inside before john b speeds up and kie tugs the door shut

lucky huffed and tried to untangle herself from jj, peeking her head up far enough to see gary still chasing after the van. "no way! check it out! he's still after us!"

"check at gary! gunnin' for a raise" pope cackles mixed in with val's obviously buzzed giggles

"come on gary!" jj called, pulling himself our from underneath lucky and clambering over top of her and kie to get to the door, pulling it back open again "wait, wait, slow down!"

"guys, you're gonna give him a heart attack" kie whined, but there was no real malice of effort behind her winds, and she surely didn't do anything when jj cooed and called at the security guard like he was some kind of lost puppy

"come here boy! you're so close! you can do it!" the maybank boy was now dangling out of the van, the only thing keeping him from tumbling out into the road and right to gary's feet was his single sweaty hand clutching the edge of the doorframe

"there you go!" with one final tease jj tossed gary what's left of their beers, the guard fumbled to catch one as the rest tumbled out onto the tarmac as the van raced away "they don't pay you enough bro"

"jj, stop! stop" kie whacked jj in the back before tugging him back into the van, shoving the door shut again as the van raced off

"oh c'mon" he barely manages to get the words out between giggles as he flops back down next to lucky "that kind of initiative is just begging to be punished!"

"at least he's got something to drink now, keep him tided over until we can bring him some more" lucky grinned and nudged jj in the side, before the both of them burst into a furious fit of giggles, which val tumbled into with them. then pope, then john b, and finally kie

lucky felt tears spring into her eyes, her sides hurt and her stomach felt like it was gonna explode, but it didn't really matter, because she was in the back of her brother's van laughing her ass off with friends, her family, and for a moment it seemed like they were the only people in the world. for a single moment they were all infinite

authors note

and it's finally here!! chapter one!! i had so much fun writing this actually, lucky, val, jazzy, and sunny have my whole heart, they're my babies and i'm so ready to put them through hell and back!! :D

i'm trying a different format with this fic, 'shorter' chapters that span over a single episode instead of writing a single consecutive episode, just to see if it makes me more motivated to work

also im lowkey considering adding a background fem oc ( kinda like tommy ) to be kie's love interest later on because i don't care what anyone says that's a freaking lesbian!!

lots of luv, harley!