chapter one
poguelandia

One month. It had been one month since the pogues were stranded on the random island they had found. It had been one month since Sage Hartman, Athena's old kook friend had been found. And it had been one month since they had seen anyone that wasn't each other.

One month of killing fish, picking mangoes, playing random games and watching the sunset, sunrise and stars in the night sky. They all had their jobs on poguelandia – JJ's name, much to Sarah's annoyance, had stuck – each of them had their respective responsibilities. JJ had to get the fish, to which he enlisted help from Athena, Pope would make bandages out of fig leaves, Kie knew all about herbs and plants and leaves, Cleo would go into the jungle to find other food to eat, Sage had managed, in her time there, figure out a way to distil sea water so they could wash with her hand made products, Sarah and John B came up with the games and Athena was the one to keep people happy and make random things out of twigs they found.

The first thing they'd done the second day in was explore Sage's Cabin house. She stated that it was already there when she turned up hence why it had the surf boards in it that they used. It was a small wooden building, with white walls and green decorating. It had a small coffee table in it made out of wood from on the many trees in the main living area and then it had a bedroom, containing clothes and pictures that Sage had taken from her house the night she ran away, a small bed – also made from wood – with a mattress on it – that Sage had also claimed was already there – and a comforter that Sage had also stolen from her house.

Next to the bedroom was also a shower that Sage had built. It was a jug that filtered, distilled and poured water over your head. The eight of them took turns over the month to share the bed, the other sleeping out on the sand on the shore. It was mainly the girls that used the bed, and most of the time they shared it, the bed being big enough for two to sleep on it comfortably.

Last night it was Athena's turn to sleep on the bed and she graciously told JJ he could join her, which he did happily – and before you ask no they did not do anything. Which brings them to now, the two of them laying contently on Sage's bed, Athena's head on JJ's chest as he gently ran his hands through her hair.

"It's all that we wanted." JJ stated with a happy sigh.

"Dorota isn't here though." Athena smiled sadly.

"I know." JJ looked down at his girlfriend. "I bet she's out there though, living it up, meeting some new guy and getting it on."

"JJ." Athena scolded with a smile, not wanting to think of her friend having sex with anyone.

"It's true." JJ shrugged. "She's all right, though, wherever she is. I just know it."

Athena let out a hum in agreement. The two sat in silence for a few moments, looking out the window Sage had in the bedroom. JJ caught sight of John B and Sarah talking amongst themselves.

"You know," JJ started. Athena looked up at him with a small smile. "John B called it that we'd get together."

"Really?"

"Yeah, at the beginning of summer after I got out of the van to say goodbye to you after we danced at the Wreck." JJ explained. "When I got back in the van he said I should go for it with you and we'd be together by the end of summer because he knew all."

Athena let a smirk grow on her face. "That's what I told Sarah about her and John B."

"I guess, you two are more similar than you thought." JJ commented. "Real sibling goals right there."

"Okay shut up." Athena stopped his teasing before he could even begin. "John B says some silly things when he's mad but he's always been there, y'know. Like sometimes he feels like the brother I was supposed to have."

"I get that." JJ nodded. "What about Rafe?"

"He was a great brother, like my actual best friend for the fifteen years of my life but then he started doing more drugs and beating more people up for no reason and it was like he had flipped a switch." Athena explained with a saddened expression. "And then he murdered Peterkin and everything else happened and I miss him, the old you, y'know? But at the end of the day he's still my brother but I'm kind of at my breaking point and if he does anything else I'm not doing it anymore."

"Hmm." JJ hummed, pulling her closer before getting up a few moments later. "Come on, I've got a flag to draw and we've got fish to spear."

Athena smiled as she took his outstretched hand, allowing him to pull her up. She pulled down the shorts she still had on from a month ago that she had paired with a blue crop top that she'd stolen from Sage's bag of clothing. Her converse were still on her feet, although thoroughly ruined from the amount of water they had been in.

The walked outside, hand in hands and smiles on their faces. JJ grabbed a large bit of fabric off the ground before he made his way to a bit of sand where he could draw the poguelandia flag. Athena watched him before watching over to where Kie and Sage stood. They watched as JJ drew his flag of a chicken on it with a coconut bra, smoking a jay. The three girls cheered as he tied it to a palm tree.

"You did it J." Athena cheered loudly, her arms up in the air.

"It's perfect!" Sage shouted as JJ cheered also.

"Poguelandia!" Kie screamed, picking Athena up and spinning her around.

"Calm Kiki Dee." Athena told her.

"Yeah, Kiki Dee, calm down." Sage spoke, using the nickname in a teasing manner. The two girls shared a look making Athena look between them with raised eyebrows.

"Okay." Athena let out a soft laugh, interrupting their moment as they coughed. They both turned to her with sheepish smiles. "You two are more sickening that JB and Sarah, and just looking at them makes me want to projectile vomit everywhere."

"I heard that, you little shit." John B shouted, running over and picking up Athena. He threw her over his shoulder as she laughed, struggling in his grip.

"John B, let me go!" Athena hit his back but he simply continued walked towards the water, Sarah letting out a laugh as he walked past her. "JB, please don't. Help. J, help me."

"Can't princess, I'm busy." JJ called over to her. He was clearly lying, the boy simply stood watching them in amusement. Athena let out a huff, leaning up with all her strength and looking at her boyfriend before sticking her middle finger up at him, which made him laugh harder.

"Kiki Dee! Please save me!" Athena then looked over to her curly haired friend. "JB, if you drop me, I'll kill you."

"Will you?" Athena could hear the teasing in his tone. "Are you sure?"

"I am a Cameron after all, we're known for murder." Athena threatened. John B laughed at her as she held her arm back out towards the shore. "Kie! Please!"

Kiara let out a small laugh as she watched them, hesitating slightly to see what John B was actually going to do. She watched the boy as he almost dropped her into the water before she rushed towards them, a jokey smile on her face.

"I'm coming Thena baby." Kie called out to them.

"Oh no." John B frowned, trying to run away from Kie with Athena still over his shoulder.

"JB!" Athena shouted as she headbutted his back from where she was bouncing around violently.

And just when he went to drop her in the water, Kie suddenly appeared, catching her in mid-air but ultimately sending them both tumbling into the water. The two laughed as Kie wrapped her arms around the blonde.

"I got you babe." Kie reassured Athena.

"Kie, this is why you're my favourite and ultimate number one always." Athena told her, kissing her cheek playfully.

"Good." Kie smiled. The two stood up, sharing a look before they both jumped on an unsuspecting John B, the boy having started trekking back to shore. The jump had enough power behind it to send him falling into the water head first, him luckily putting his hands out to stop him falling too far.

When he got out of the water with a vengeful look in his eye at the two girls laughing at him, their laughter ceased, them sharing a look before running back to shore as quickly as possible. Athena ran in JJ's direction.

"JJ! Help! He's going to get me again." She frantically looked behind her as she made her way to JJ, who was laughing to himself at his idiotic girlfriend and best friend. She rushed to stand behind the blond, who held an arm in front of her as a way to keep John B away from her.

"Sorry dude, I have boyfriend duties to keep her safe." JJ told his best friend, who glared at them before huffing.

"I'm watching you." John B pointed two fingers at his eyes before turning them to Athena menacingly, although they both he was kidding. "I know where you sleep."

Athena let out a laugh as he walked off. She turned to JJ, holding a hand out. "Come on J, we gotta get some fish."

JJ grabbed her hand, swinging his arm over her shoulder as they walked over to a nearby palm tree. The two sat down as JJ grabbed them two sticks. They sat, sharpening them, as they continued to talk.

"Think we'll ever be rescued?" Athena asked suddenly.

"Rescue." JJ let out a laugh. "From what? From... from paradise. I'm not going back. Ever. I mean, look around. We got everything we need. Right here."

"Just like we talked about." Athena smiled, repeating his words from earlier.

"Exactly." JJ nodded, before gesturing to her spear. "How's yours looking? You ready to provide for the family?"

"Yep." Athena stuck the spear in the group to help her stand.

"Let's go kill something."

"You didn't have to say it like that." Athena told him.

"Yeah, that's exactly what we're going to do." JJ shrugged as they walked towards the water once more.

"It sounds so... I don't know. Like we're cave people—"

"Well, that's the circle of life, Cinderella. Unless you want to eat coconuts forever." JJ explained.

"After the last month, I think I'm good on coconuts." Athena commented with a soft laugh.

"You ready?" JJ asked as they stepped into the water, the boy having rid himself of his shirt.

"Yep." Athena nodded.

"All right. Today's the day." He reassured her. Athena was not the best at catching fish, mainly because she couldn't bring herself to harm an innocent animal herself – which is why she made JJ do it – but the boy was sure she could do it eventually, meaning she wasn't allowed to just stare at him while he did it, she actually had to help. "All right, remember, watch your shadow. They see that, they're gone. All right. Here we go. Just like we practiced, all right?"

Athena looked over at him nodding as they shared a soft smile. The two then got to work, trying to look out for fish to eat. JJ spotted one first, pointing over to it subtly. "Hey. Attie, A. Attie, A, A, it's a skate. It's a skate right there. You see him?"

"All right, I got this. All me." Athena psyched herself up.

"He sees me! He's coming over by you. He's coming towards you."

"Yeah, it's me."

"This is it. This is the time."

"I can't. I'm sorry." Athena stepped back, shaking her head.

JJ hit his stake in the ground. "I missed it! Where'd it go?"

Athena looked around frantically, noticing the fish a few feet away. She took a deep breath, clenching her jaw as she brought all of her pent up anger to the surface before she stabbed the skate harshly. She lifted it out of the water with a shock smile.

"Oh my god." Athena breathed out.

"You did it!" JJ exclaimed, picking the girl up and spinning her around happily. "We're having skate tonight!"

"Holy shit." Athena laughed, pressing a kiss to her boyfriend's cheek in pure joy.

"Full pogue!" JJ cheered. "That's food in our bellies right there."

Later in the day, the group sat around to play a game of truth or dare. It was something they had become accustomed too, John B even making a pretty cool hat to go on the head of the person who was being asked the dreaded question.

"Wow." Pope commented on Sarah's truth.

"All right, John B your turn, truth or dare?" Sarah asked.

"All right, all right. Truth." John B answered, sitting on part of the fallen tree that had claimed. Athena sat next to him, Kie on her other side. Pope and Sarah sat on tree stumps next to each other, opposite John B. Cleo sat on John B's other side, while JJ and Sage sat in between Sarah and Cleo.

"Truth?"

"Truth." John B exclaimed, catching the hat that was thrown at him. He placed it on his head before sitting down once more.

"If you could do it all again... what would you do different?" Sarah questioned.

"Uh, get the gold out before Ward did." JJ piped up.

"Maybe hide the cross a little better." Pope added.

"Not yell 'murderer' at Ward, maybe." Kie stated, pulling a face.

"Um, I wouldn't be born a Cameron, get disowned earlier." Athena shrugged. The entire group went silent, turning to stare at her. They blinked a few times before JJ let out a soft laugh. Athena's mouth dropped, holding her hands up in surrender. "Sorry, I forgot you guys told me that it wasn't socially acceptable, even for a pogue, to joke about their murdering family in a deadpan manner."

"Well done Thena." John B patted her head before answering the question. "Uh, steal a couple bottles of run before we jumped off the boat?"

"Yeah, why didn't you do that, actually?" JJ turned around to ask his best friend.

"I don't know, maybe cause I was in a fight to the death." John B reminded the blond.

"I would look both ways before crossing the street." Cleo piped up, eliciting laughs from the group.

"Yeah, my bad. My bad." John B apologised.

"I would've paid more attention when my dad wanted me to get my boating license at fifteen." Sage told them.

"Your turn, chief." Cleo told John B.

"All right, Kie, truth or dare?" John B turned and placed the hat on Kie's head.

"Truth." Kie answered after a long moment.

"All right. Um, if you could go home to your parents' house on Figure Eight this instant would you do it?" John B asked her.

Kie thought for a few moments, building suspense before she pulled Athena towards her. "No chance."

"That's what we like to hear." Athena laughed, making eye contact with JJ, who almost look relieved to hear her agree with Kie.

"Seconded." Sarah pointed at the two.

"No chance." John B repeated.

"Hear. Hear. To no chance." JJ held up his coconut.

"The shower's tempting though." Kie told them. "Sage you're makeshifts shower is great but I need my water pressure back."

"Ooh, I could use a fat shower right now." John B agreed.

"The water pressure comment is a shout. I miss my shower." Athena let out a small sigh.

"I miss your shower too, Attie." JJ turned and pointed at her in agreement. The other's looked at them in disgust making the couple laugh. "Not like that dipshits. I miss the water pressure and immaculate temperature."

"Immaculate." Pope repeated with a teasing tone. "Where'd you learn that big word?"

JJ simply shrugged. "I guess you're rubbing off on me Pope."

"JJ, truth or dare?" Kie suddenly asked.

"I mean, do you even need to ask?" He raised an eyebrow at them, placing the hat on his head.

"Big jump. Nobody's done it yet." Kie told him, pointing to the cliff at the edge of the island. "Dare."

And with that one word, JJ was off. He rushed up the side of the cliff, making his way to the top while the other's waited to see him. When he appeared they watched carefully.

"There he is."

"There he goes." They all cheered for the boy loudly. Athena watched hesitantly, everything that could go wrong running through her mind.

"He's not gonna do it!" Cleo exclaimed.

"Oh, I won't, huh?" JJ shouted, gesturing to the jump.

"No way." John B laughed.

"He's gonna do it." Pope stated. "It's highly dangerous, uh, zero reward? Yeah, he's doing it."

"Do it." Sarah screamed. They all cheered for him, awaiting for him to finally jump. Athena watched as he took a few steps back, getting a running start for his jump. She held her breath, grabbing onto Sage's wrist as she watched his dive off the edge of the cliff. When he landed in the water, she let go and her breath was released. The group quickly ran into the water, cheering. After Pope, Athena wrapped her arms around the boy, who lifted her up.

"You're an idiot!" She shouted with a laugh.

"You love me!" He replied as they made their way back to the shore. "I actually thought I was gonna die."

"You looked like you were gonna die."

"I thought you were gonna die."

"Hey Mars." Sage called. Athena turned around at the nickname, a soft smile on her face.

It was a stupid Sage had made up when they were friends way back when. Sage was a huge mythology nerd and so she decided that she would call Athena by the name of the roman goddess of war instead of the Greek. It also didn't help that Athena loved the planet Mars. Athena secretly loved the nickname but just like Kie pretending to hate Athena calling her Kiki Dee, Athena did the same to Mars.

But with it being called after nearly two years of not hearing it, Athena was kind of glad, she missed it so much without even realising.

"What's up baby cakes?" Athena slowed down to fall into step with the brunette.

"Are you okay?" Sage asked her with a concerned expression.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Athena retorted, slightly confused.

"I don't know, you looked, more than scared when JJ was on the cliff." Sage commented on her observation. "I mean you haven't squeezed my wrist that hard since you had to have your shoulder popped back into place."

Athena let out a small sigh, grabbing a hold of Sage's hand before guiding her over to sit on a few rocks on the shoreside. She played with the chain around her neck – the paper rings JJ made had disintegrated in the water so he had made her a new one out of paper Sage had in her cabin.

"What's wrong Sunshine?" Sage asked again softly.

Athena looked over at her friend, a sad look on her face. "Um... I've nearly lost everyone I care about. I lost my family emotionally but like I've nearly lost all of these people physically. I mean Pope nearly died from an allergic reaction to wasp stings and John B fell from so high and he was bit by a gator. B-But the others, I watched them nearly drown."

Athena looked up to stop the tears from falling. "Kie and I nearly drowned in the sewers when we were trying to find something. A-And then Rafe held Sarah under the water and he wouldn't let her go, um, and then JJ, like a month ago, was hit with a machete so he fell off the boat and he was unconscious and didn't wake up. A-And I was so scared because I can't do lose anyone else. I can't go through that again. I've lost too much, I can't do it, I can't, not because he's doing something reckless and I'm not like that, I'm careful, I always have been. I can't—"

"Hey, hey." Sage soothed, moving over to hug the blonde. "It's okay, you're not going to lose anyone."

Athena hugged the girl back, holding onto her tightly for a few moments. Sage rubbed a hand up and down the girl's back, calming her breathing and trying to comfort her the best she could. Sage was not good with other people's emotions, she was never one to comfort someone – usually she took the person to a party or drowned her feelings in buckets of ice cream – Athena was always the comforter, Athena was always the shoulder to cry on, the hugger, the one to go to if you need advice or a pick me up.

Athena was the angel and Sage was the devil.

But, even the angel needed a break sometimes.

After multiple minutes, the two girls pulled apart. Sage put a smile on her face as she wiped the tears from Athena's cheeks.

"Chin up, buttercup, we have fish that you caught to eat." Sage told her.

Athena let out a soft laugh, nodding. She pulled herself off of the rock, putting her arm around Sage's waist as they walked back to the others. The group sat around until the sun had set, just like every night before. A bonfire was lit and the fish was cooked.

"Mm-mmm. That's what I'm talking about now." JJ praised the food. "Freshly caught."

No one said anything as they drifted into silence. Everyone doing their own thing. Athena stood behind Kiara, braiding her hair carefully with a soft smile on her face.

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
welcome to season three!!!!!!!!
i'm so excited for this season!
let me know if you have anything you
especially wanna see i'll try and write
it into my plot :)
i thought we deserved a whole chapter
of poguelandia because they got off the
island so enjoy this chaotic athena and
everyone chapter
also welcome Sage Hartman played by
Samantha Logan, Athena's kook friend
who went missing due to the gold who
may or may not be Kie's love interest 🤭