CHAPTER TEN
DESIRE FOR SOMETHING NEW

"YOU LOOK MISERABLE,"

Theo turns his head to see Sarah Cameron standing before him, wearing a beautiful white dress with her hair falling down her back. Her smile is bright, a complete contrast to how he's feeling right now, welcoming as well. He manages to return it, not wanting to take his bad mood out on the girl.

"I kind of feel it. You having a good night?" Theo asks, directing the attention away from himself even if it's just briefly.

"Good enough. Dance with me? I can't keep pretending I don't see you being all broody over here," Sarah comments with a teasing smile, holding her hand out for the boy to take. After a few moments of thinking about it, he grabs her hand and lets himself be pulled towards the dance floor.

He feels a little more carefree in this moment, more so than he had with Maisie a little earlier because there is no awkwardness between him and Sarah. From all experiences, she's a nice enough girl, even if he'd heard differently from Kiara several times. It's more so the older Cameron sibling he has an issue with, it's always been that way.

"I saw you talking to with Maisie earlier, did you two figure that whole thing out?" Sarah asks with a slight giggle as Theo twirls her around. "She's been doing the whole 'Theo hates me' thing for days now,"

"Not really but I'm a little less mad than I was before," Theo answers honestly and she nods, understanding seemingly washing over her features.

"That's a start,"

"Yeah,"

To his surprise, and probably everybody else around them, Theo finds that he is actually enjoying himself. For those few minutes, he simply just acts like all his problems don't exist, that he's genuinely happy with his life.

Sarah laughs at his poorly executed dance moves as she copies them, the two chuckling so loudly that they have more than likely drawn in the attention of the crowd. The blonde stumbles forward into his arms and he manages to maneuver them so that he can dip her close to the ground before pulling her back up.

Theo can't see them out of the corner of his eye but Eric and Emmy are watching the scene so fondly, the woman's heart soaring as she watches her step-son be openly himself. His mother, on the other hand, is sipping on her wine as she stands beside Ward Cameron, eyes on the two of them like a hawk. It's almost as if she's trying to get his attention, to show that she cares, yet not once does Theo even glance in her direction.

Sarah opens her mouth to say something when she feels a tap on her shoulder, the blonde turning her head to see a familiar face. "JJ?"

That grabs Theo's attention, eyes on the other boy almost instantly, drawn to him like some sort of magnet. JJ does catch his gaze, even if it's only for the briefest of moments, before looking to Sarah. "Yep,"

He's now trying to look as if he's casually dancing along with them, pulling a piece of paper out and showing it to her. "I've got a note from Vlad,"

Vlad? Theo is asking questions with his eyes, ones that JJ is trying to avoid completely by not looking at him. It's pretty easy for him to realize that Sarah is a part of this 'mission' he had referred to earlier. To be honest, he didn't even know if Sarah was actually aware of who JJ Maybank was — other than as the guy who pointed a gun at her boyfriend.

"Vlad?" Sarah asks the same thing he's thinking but there's an underlying recognition within her tone of voice. She is well aware of who this Vlad guy is.

"Read the note," JJ mumbles quietly before moving away from them quickly.

Sarah looks at the paper in her hand for a few more moments before her eyes lift to catch Theo's. He doesn't want to pry because quietly frankly, it's none of his business. He smiles softly and nods. "Go,"

Sarah reaches over and squeezes his hand before disappearing into the crowd, going to find her mystery man. Theo is then left alone and it doesn't take long for somebody to try and vie for his attention, his mother obviously not above making another scene.

"I'm not doing this right now mum, okay? Please just leave me alone," Theo comments quietly.

"Honey, we really need to talk. I understand you're hurt, I do, but I have something I wish to discuss with you," Sapphire replies, frowning as he flinches away from her hand as it touches his shoulder.

"I have nothing to discuss with you. Dad and Emmy told you to leave me alone, I told you to leave me alone, can't you just do something for somebody else for once?"

"I'm going to challenge for custody,"

Theo's body drains of any remaining happiness so quickly that he almost feels as if he's dying. "Y-you don't get to do that. I don't want to go with you,"

"I'm afraid it'll be out of your control, kiddo. I don't want you living around here anymore. I saw you conversing with one of them before, they'll do nothing but bring you down honey,"

"One of them? Fuck, you're so delusional. There is no us and them, mum. I don't give a fuck whether or not somebody has money. Money doesn't make you a good person, I'm looking at a prime example of that,"

Sapphire is noticeably upset by his words, she's never been good at hiding her emotions. "I married your father so that you could have a good life, honey. I gave up my happiness for you!"

"Your happiness? All your happiness has ever revolved around is whether or not you have money in your bank account. You didn't have to love dad, if your marriage didn't work out then fine, but you were supposed to love me enough to stay — even if I had to bounce between two homes. At least I would've had my mum,"

His voice cracks slightly at the end of his sentence, his eyes stinging as tears threaten to break free. Theo swallows lightly before walking by her, straight towards Emmy who is chatting with another woman. "Em?"

She turns her head to look at him and her face falls instantly, excusing herself from the conversation. "What happened?"

"What do you think?"

Emmy looks over his shoulder and glares at his mother, knowing instantly that she's the cause of it all. Turning her attention back to him, she gently grabs his face with both hands and wipes away his tears with her thumbs. "Do you want to go home?"

Theo nods his head in response, the two of them more than happy to flee this place. She lets go of him and grabs her bag off the table, eyes searching the place for Eric who had gone to mingle a while ago. Instead, they find JJ Maybank who is being pulled out of the place by security. "Isn't that your friend JJ?"

Theo follows her line of sight and watches as Kiara quickly jumps to her friend's defense. The Pogues then retreat from the party, the girl's parents calling out for her to come back. Shaking her head in amusement, Emmy manages to find Eric who is probably one of the only people not outraged by the behavior that had been shown.

"I'll get your dad, okay? Then we'll go home,"

The Pogues sit around a campfire talking out the plan for the gold, Kiara glaring at John B hatefully as he explains that Sarah is now somewhat involved with the plan.

"You let a kook in on our secret?" Kiara hisses at him angrily, her obvious distaste for Sarah evident in her tone of voice. "Why would you do that? You don't tell a kook about pogue business,"

"You lot have been hanging around with Theo Silver days! How is that any different?" John B replies, seemingly now just as fired up as she is.

"Because he isn't a two faced, backstabbing bitch! You don't know her like I do,"

"You hardly know him at all! How do I know you won't go blabbing to him about all of this?"

"This isn't about Theo, this is about Sarah. You can't trust her. She's like a spitting cobra, first she blinds you and then—"

"This is a bad analogy," Pope interjects quietly.

"Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's going to try and take,"

JJ sits there quietly, eyes moving between his two best friends as they argue before he speaks up. "I feel like we could trust Theo,"

The two who had been yelling stop and look at him, one in disbelief and the other startled. "What? Why would we bring somebody we hardly know into this, JJ? He's a kook, he doesn't need this," John B comments.

"You hardly know Sarah," Kiara scoffs.

"I just, he's a bit of a nerd, right? Maybe he'd be good for something like this. Besides, I stayed at his the other night and his dad made the best—"

"You stayed at his house?" Kiara is the one questioning him now. "When did that happen?"

"Oh, after the movie night thing. Said he was tired and that he didn't want to drive to mine so I could stay in his guest room,"

Kiara's face is now similar to John B's, pure disbelief. "JJ, your house isn't that far from Pope's. It's hardly out of the way,"

"So?"

John B is smirking lightly now. "You're such an idiot,"

"What are you talking about?"

Kiara's disbelief has faded into pure amusement. "You know, I didn't know he had it in him, my bet is he didn't even realize,"

"You guys are making no sense," JJ says with furrowed brows.

"Oh JJ, you can be so dense sometimes. He invited you to stay at his house because he likes you,"

"Well yeah, I mean I thought we were sort of friends —"

John B pushes him lightly. "No, likes you. It's like we're in middle school all over again. You were talking about me macking on Sarah Cameron when you're macking on Theo Silver,"

It's then that JJ seems to get it because his mouth falls open and cheeks flush a little red. "Well fuck,"

My mother had ruined what had the chance to be a wonderful night, I'd even found a way to enjoy myself amongst a sea of people I couldn't stand. A girl, somebody who I'd never clicked with previously, had managed to make Midsummers tolerable and I genuinely enjoyed the time we spent together. Hopefully now we can be friends, even if that friendship only involves occasional hellos and exchanged smiles.

Then there was the added issue of a boy one who, for some reason, just seemed to be wherever I was. I've never believed in fate, it's a concept that I could never believe to be real, but now I've begun to. It was as if the world was pushing as towards one another, through brief conversations and mirrored glances — a slow yet powerful exchange of emotion.

Was fate really kind enough to tie me to somebody so carefree and beautiful? Perhaps an invisible string has woven the two of us together, tightly connected and unable to be pulled apart.

Fate is an interesting concept, yet I'll never truly know if it's what brought him crashing into my life.

NOTE!

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