─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"i just don't understand why we have to submit to the patriarchal ideologies." marella whined. "i don't need to be walked down a flight of stairs by anyone. definitely not a man, and definitely not rafe cameron!"

the girl was wearing a maroon red, flowy, halter-neck dress that stopped right above her ankles. her dark, curly hair was thrown into a bun, with a small rose flower crown wrapped around it.

"marella river!" her mother exclaimed, readjusting the bow on cordelia's cream dress. "you will not disobey direct orders and you will not disgrace this family."

"if i must be escorted and it must be a cameron, why not sarah? or even wheezie?" marella questioned, leaning against the wall.

"because sarah will be with the thorton boy and wheezie is with ethan mcklan. now stop complaining and do as your told!"

the classical music began to play, filling up the air in the island club and initiating that everyone must be walked out. the whole aim of the event was for sarah's father, ward cameron, to be named 'guardian of the knights of the rhododendron'. and since the river family and the cameron family were so close knit, they would be joining the special entrance too.

first it was their parents, rose displaying her gold rose head crown. while marella's mother wore an emerald evening gown and an elegant necklace as an accessory. this was probably the most beautiful marella had ever seen her. but of course, no one looked very beautiful when they were holed up in their bedroom surrounded by bottles of alcohol.

now it was in age order of the children. first was the twins, who so cutely accompanied one another. then wheezie stepped out with the mcklan's son by her side, and sarah unwillingly with topper. finally, marella and rafe.

once sarah had disappeared down the flight of stairs, marella was ready to make a run for it in the opposite direction. but rafe almost immediately caught her.

"not so fast, mouse." he called out to her.

she stopped in her tracks, sighing in disappointment and trudged back over to him, her three-inch golden heels tapping on the floor with every step. without another word, he took her by the hand and led her to the staircase.

"you look amazing." rafe told her, making her chest grow tighter. "a shame you ruin your looks by spending time so much with the pogues."

she didn't look up at him, instead watching her steps.

"oh, and if i see you with any one of them today? i'll be tempted to have a repeat of the golfing fields or even from movie night."

not only did he whisper the last part, but the music managed to drown his voice out from the public. so no one heard him. as they walked hand in hand, athena swooned. she and ward would continually joke that marella and rafe would soon end up together, despite their nearly four-year age gap.

"then i'll be tempted to tell your dad about the illegal substances you spend his money on." marella softly spoke.

"hanging out with them seems to have given you courage." rafe laughed, "for your own good, you should go back to your mouse-like state."

"why do you believe you have any say in who i spend my time with?" marella asked him. and suddenly, the grip on her hand was tighter.

"i'm looking out for you, i'm trying to protect you." rafe seethed. "why can't you understand that?"

"because i didn't ask you to do that!" marella shook her head.

but your father did. is what rafe could've said. it's what rafe wanted to say. but he knew the rules and he knew he had to stay quiet. "you didn't have to." is what he said.

pope heyward watched from the crowd marella walking with rafe. he couldn't help but get irritated by the sight, what was she doing with him? he was very surprised. despite all the time they spent with the girl, she was a kook. she would always be a kook.

the second marella's foot reached the levelled ground, she ripped herself out of rafe's hold. the girl scanned the area for someone she could find comfort in, and she spotted two of the pogues.

"you look beautiful." pope gushed to her, making her smile.

"thank you, you clean up nice." she spoke honestly. she always thought pope was a good-looking guy, but he looked especially good at the party. she then turned to the beauty in the lilac dress. "you are gorgeous."

"says you." kie laughed, a snort escaping from her lips which made pope give her a look of disbelief. "you okay?" she asked. marella turned around to see rafe moving about, an alcoholic drink already in his hold. "yeah, just could not get out of doing that." she sighed.

"i loved the part where he flew you both down the staircase with his super cape." kie joked, referencing to the conversation they shared the night before. "he's such a hero."

marella giggled at her silliness, rolling her eyes. "my saviour." kie joined in on the laughter while pope stood between them in bafflement. "am i missing something?" pope asked.

"no, no." marella shook her head. "just an inside joke."

"yeah, pope." kie nodded. "so stay outside."

marella burst out laughing at that. "that's a good one!" she managed to get out between her chortles.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"and i kissed john b." sarah concluded.

the girls were finally having their catch-up after about two days of no contact. they were leaning behind a thick pillar, whispering to themselves as sarah told marella the events of the previous day.

her jaw dropped at her best friend's statement. "you kissed john b yesterday but you walked with topper down the stairs tonight? wait, are you two still together?"

sarah sighed, she didn't want to answer the question because she knew how her friend would react. "i mean-"

"oh, sarah." marella sighed. "come on. you must break up with him before you pursue anything with john b. i mean, topper can be a such a pain at times. but it's just not right."

sarah winced at her criticism. she yet hadn't told marella what happened with the thornton boy when they went to a party on another island. maybe if she did, her opinion on the situation would change. but right now wasn't the right place to disclose such sensitive information.

"a lot i know, i know." sarah nodded. "and i will."

"promise?" marella asked, putting her pinkie finger out.

"promise." sarah brought hers out and linked them. then the two kissed their thumb to lock it in. "come on. let's go, bubbles."

the nickname caught marella off guard. when they were younger, they were so obsessed with watching the powerpuff girls. they would run around the cameron's house pretending to fight crime and take down monsters. so they allocated themselves as their favourite character. all they were missing was their third girl.

"right behind you, blossom." marella grinned as she reached out for sarah's hand and was led to the dance floor.

they began to dance to the music, their little sisters joining in. the four connected hands and moved around in a circle together, laughing and smiling at one another. sarah turned around and saw jj standing behind her. the boy was wearing one of the server's uniforms, making marella believe he had snagged a job at the event.

"jj?"

"yep." the blonde boy nodded, twirling in line with the music.

"what?"

"i've got a, uh, note from vlad." he quickly placed a folded piece of paper into her hands and shushed her.

"from vlad?" sarah giggled.

vlad and valerie. that was the code name she and john b used on their expedition, marella remembered that.

"yeah, just read the note." he winked at her before shifting to marella.

"hey." she greeted him as sarah stepped away. the two were in close proximity of each other's faces and marella took note of the new bruises on his face.

"hey... you don't look, uh, as bad as usual." jj shrugged. then he saw the dissatisfied look on the girl's face and quickly wished he had said something better.

"thank you." she nodded, choosing to take his statement as a compliment. "and you look... okay."

"gee, thanks." jj grinned.

"and i heard what you did for pope." she gently took his right hand and squeezed it. "that was truly altruistic- i mean... selfless of you."

jj felt his cheeks begin to warm up due to her tender touch. he glanced up into her eyes and was suddenly overcome by the soft expression she wore. "it was nothing. i'd do anything for that kid."

"it wasn't nothing to him. so maybe i was wrong about you." marella smiled, releasing his hand and taking a step back.

"maybe you were." he shrugged, watching as she went after sarah, to read the note over her shoulder. and maybe jj was wrong about marella too.

"meet me at the bag drop - vlad."

a smile formed on sarah's face as she scanned over the note again.

"break up with topper." marella reminded her. "but go, go on. i want to go find pope or kie."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"come on." the security guard sighed at the imposter. while running away from the kooks, jj found himself in the boys' locker room where they were about to jump him one v five, until an actual worker came and interrupted it.

"all right." jj sighed in reassurance as the man held a tight grip on his wrist. he turned around to look at the kooks for a final time, knowing he would escape unharmed. "fix that tie, son. ah you're lookin' spiffy, too. you powerpuff girls have fun."

"tell mouse she looks pretty hot for a wannabe pogue!" rafe called out after the blond. "and then could you tell kiara-"

jj didn't even hear what he said next, he had already rushed out of the older man's grasp, ready to pounce. a but the security pulled him back, making the five boys chuckle.

"hey! stop it. come here! let's go!"

"you think i'm afraid of you bro?" jj asked, trying to break free.

"come on!"

"hey, safe travels back to the cut." rafe ridiculed him.

"this ain't over!" jj exclaimed, being shoved through the door.

"hey, hey, it was really nice seein' you again, jj!"

"look... look, man, i can walk myself." jj was frustrated now as they entered the main area. "i got legs. can you see that, brother?"

"come on." he muttered.

"i really appreciate what you did back there." jj rambled. "let me just walk out by myself. oh mr dunleavy, i see you got your drink. good, that's really nice of you." he grabbed the glass off the table. "i'm actually gonna down that."

"what the hell's the matter with him?" the old man questioned, staring at jj with repulsion "sorry, sir." the security guard mumbled.

"i really appreciate the discretion daryl, you know? it's okay, everybody!" jj exclaimed, grabbing everyone's awareness. "do not panic."

marella looked back from her seat at the table with her family. she was perplexed, she had seen jj less than ten minutes ago and he seemed fine. but now something had changed.

"leave it to the men and women in uniform. huh? let's here it for them!" jj shouted out, clapping his hands. "rose, you look like lady liberty. it's good to see you again. hey, buddy, can i have one of those?"

"what on earth is wrong with him?" athena glared at the teenager.

"let go of him!" kie yelled. "you can't just boot him." "excuse me, ma'am?" the security guard holding jj questioned.

"i invited him here." kie continued, ignoring her dad's mumbling protests. "kiara, stop it." her mother, anna carrera spoke. "i'm a member of this club." kie justified.

jj quickly shoved the man back, causing his body to bump into a tray of glasses and smash on the floor. "sorry about that." he winced over the commotion "hey, mandatory power hour at rixon's, kie." jj pointed at her. "pope, you as well, all right? and river, i do hope to see you there."

marella couldn't help but smile at the mention of her name, she was finally being accepted as one of their friends. her mother detected the smile and pressed the girl's hand down on the table. "you better not." she warned.

"rixon's cove. let's roll." jj ordered. "all right, kie, come on. workers of the world unite. throw off your chains!"

marella watched as kie broke free of her mother's hold, ignoring her parent's yells as she ran forward. she glanced over at pope, who hesitated before throwing his apron off and dashing away from his father. "where the hell do you think you're going?!" heyward shouted at him.

"princess! don't leave your royal servants waiting!" jj's voice bellowed, despite him being nearly a mile away.

"marella, if you step away from this table i swear i will-" athena began.

marella didn't even hear what came next as she sat up and ran to catch up with the other four. seeing her approaching, john b's face formed into a smile and he held his arms open for her to enter. once close enough, she threw herself into his hold and he lifted her up off of the ground.

"whoo!"

the sound of her laughter rang in their ears and she felt so free in john b's hold. he eventually placed her down before taking her hand and rushing off.

"later losers!"

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
thank you smmm for 700 reads!! i loooveee writing this book!!

marella and kie are so cute and happy and girl friendship !!! 😜😜 until kie starts talking shit about her bsf in front of her face next chapter!!