"I SERIOUSLY HATE YOUR FUCKING FRIENDS."

Tatum rolled her eyes at her brother's obvious statement. He'd been repeating that exact sentence ever since he saved her for the first time. And somehow, the more time he spent with them, the more he despised the pouges. Tatum didn't care. She knew they trusted her now, and that was all that mattered. Plus, whether he liked it or not, Thomas was going to have to keep hanging out with them to get the gold. She just hoped he would finally let his guard down and start to like them, because they were all good people at heart. Especially John B, who Thomas hated the most.

As the twins walked up to the château later that day, they found Tatum's friends, and Sarah Cameron, sitting outside. Thomas turned to his sister with raised brows. He drew the line at hanging out with a Cameron. And he was literally risking his life by appearing on this side of the island.

"What the fuck's Bitchy Barbie doin' here?" the boy demanded, jumping up onto the porch with Tatum.

Kiara threw her arms in his direction. "Thank you, Thomas," she said with frustrated expression. She turned to John B with a glare, refusing to acknowledge Sarah personally. "No effing way! You brought her here? So what? She's in on this now?"

John B looked around for support. The twins stood at either side of Kiara, Thomas angry and ready to slit the boy's throat, and Tatum quiet and not wanting any arguments, but prepared to defend Kie against anything.

Pope shrugged, hating the conflict, but also not really sure about having Sarah in the group. "Dunno."

"Look, all I care about is that, like Tate and Tom -"

"Call me that one more fucking time, Maybank!"

"- her cut comes out of your share," he finished, ignoring the murderous glare he was on the receiving end of. Unlike the others, JJ had known the Quinns personally basically all his life. Though he was only ever close with Tatum, he still had regular conversations with the other siblings. And while 'regular' didn't exactly fit the category of those conversations, he knew by now that Thomas Quinn was all bark, no bite, rather than the other siblings, who would actually kill someone without hesitating.

"You know, I don't remember taking a vote," said Kiara furiously. She couldn't believe John B brought Sarah here, to one of the pouge meetings, without any warning. She glared at the blonde girl, finally addressing her. "This is our thing. A pouge thing."

"I gotta say, I'm just a tad uncomfortable with all this," Pope spoke up, earning a light smile from Thomas. Tatum raised a single brow at her brother's reaction. He knocked all the emotion off his face faster than it came.

"Thank you!" said Kiara, throwing her hands out at him.

"When are you not?" John B pointed out.

"He's such a shitty friend," muttered Thomas, earning a slap from his sister, who strongly disagreed. She'd known and loved John B for a long time, and while he was an absolute idiot, he really was a good friend. And almost everything he did was for the pouges.

Pope shrugged. "I dunno. I rode here on the back of JJ's bike pretty comfortably."

"It's true," said JJ, pulling Tatum to sit with him on the small, wrecked, magenta arm chair. Thomas scowled at her for leaving him standing up on his own, with her angry girlfriend. "Most relaxed I've ever seen him."

John B nodded, no argument coming to mind. "That's cute, guys."

"You know we were all extremely comfortable until you brought her," said Kiara bitterly, nodding her head to the blonde she despised.

"Stop talking to me like I'm not here!" Sarah finally snapped.

Tatum's head snapped towards her. Nobody raised their voice at Kie. She was livid. JJ took away the gun from her pocket before she could do anything.

"Then leave," retorted Kiara.

Sarah scoffed and turned to John B, aka, the only person that actually wanted her there. Not even JJ was totally okay with this, and he was usually chill about everything. But she messed up the dynamic between his friends, and that was the one thing in the world he didn't like. "I told you," she said.

"Told him what, exactly?" demanded Kiara furiously, like she couldn't believe the audacity the girl had to talk about them. "That you're a liar?"

"No, that you're a shit-talking bitch." JJ and Pope were back to their amazing commentary. Tatum was off her seat, taking the pocket knife out of her bikini bra. Thomas smirked, like a girly middle-schooler, at the drama. Sarah only decided to make things worse for herself by pointing a finger at the Quinn girl. "And that that psycho pointed a gun in my face!" Now, Thomas was also angry again.

"Don't call her that!" screamed Kiara at the top of her lungs.

"Yeah, and I'll happily pull the trigger next time," hissed Tatum, holding her knife out like a sixth finger.

Sarah threw her hands out at Tatum, but looking directly at Kiara. "See?! Psycho!"

"Don't fucking call her that!"

Everyone was screaming and shouting over the top of each other. JJ and Pope were at the sidelines, betting and commenting over the girls. Thomas was beside them, telling the boys to 'shut the fuck up before I shoot you'. Kiara and Sarah were shouting the loudest. Tatum had her palm wrapped tightly around the kook's throat, the blade of her knife held at her stomach warningly. Nobody spoke about Kiara like that in front of her. Nobody ever dared. Until this little bitch, and Tatum vowed to follow in her long line of ancestors' footsteps and murder a Cameron. And the best part? Nobody was holding her back or trying to stop her.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Nevermind. Apparently John B wanted it all to stop. "Thomas..." He nodded to where the boy's sister was currently ready to stab his girlfriend to death, signalling for him to drag Tatum way before she was arrested for murder. Again.

"I ain't doing shit for you, bro," he spat.

Kiara sighed and lightly pulled Tatum back by the waist. She didn't exactly like Sarah, and wouldn't protest to her being murdered, but she didn't want Tate to get into anymore trouble than she already was.

Just from the single, soft touch of Kiara Carrera, all the tense muscles in Tatum's body collapsed. She put the knife back into her 'boob pouch', and retreated back to sitting on JJ's knee.

Once everyone on the porch calmed down, John B slowly turned to Kie. "Kie, you're my best friend, right?" The girl just gave him a look in return. Obviously, she was his best friend, so he turned to the other girl next. "And, Sarah, you're..." He chuckled. "...You're my..." He shrugged sheepishly.

The corners of the girl's lips curved into a smile. "Say it."

He didn't leave her eyes. "You're my girlfriend."

Tatum scoffed, vaguely remembering the way he assured everyone he was just using the girl for her connections.

"Oh...that's new," commented Pope.

"She's your girlfriend now?" asked Kiara, also remembering the same things the others did. John B and Sarah's smiles dropped as they turned to meet her accusing eyes. "What was all that talk about you were just using her for information?"

Thomas nodded. He could honestly now say he liked a pouge that wasn't his sister - it was the girl his sister was obsessed with. And he could tell why. She was the only honest one of the group, who would say what she was thinking, rather than being fake. This was the kind of person Thomas liked. Someone real. "Get a map, cut her loose," he added, causing the Carrera girl to smile and point in his direction once again.

"You said you were using me?" asked Sarah, turning to her 'boyfriend'.

He played with his hair for a moment, mortified that he'd been caught out. "No."

But his friends, and Thomas, were quick to object.

"Yeah," said Kie and Thomas at the same time.

"You definitely did say that," said Tatum.

"Yeah, you said those things," said JJ and Pope.

"Look, love just walked in, okay?" snapped John B. He couldn't believe they sold him out like that. He expected it from Thomas, and maybe Kie, but the other three? He couldn't believe it.

"Oh, vomit," commented Kiara, earning a laugh from the Quinn boy. Tatum rolled her eyes and leaned her head back on JJ's chest.

"I didn't expect it," John B went on, not only trying to explain himself to his friends, but to Sarah, too. He dug his grave, lied in it for a moment, and decided death was a load of bullshit. "It just - it kind of happened." He switched his eye sight from Kie to Sarah. "I'm not gonna deny it. Right?"

"Oh, that's corny," Pope whispered to JJ and Tatum, who snickered and retched teasingly in agreement.

Kiara crossed her arms stubbornly. "Look, cut the bullshit, John B," she said, looking away from him. Then she met his eyes with a real warning. "If she's in, I'm out."

"We're out, too," Thomas spoke up, his arms crossed, nodding between him and his sister. "Dad already wants me dead; I'm not risking Tate's life by adding 'fraternizing with the enemy' to the mix."

John B turned to Tatum desperately. He knew he hadn't been the best friend to her lately, and he hated himself for it, but he really did love her like a sister. She met his eyes and shook her head. "What Thomas said, and I'm on Kie's 'till the end, JB," she said honestly. "Don't mess all this up for some northside princess." JJ snickered at her irony, earning an elbow to the stomach.

"I'm not doing this -"

"You are gonna decide," Kiara told him harshly.

"- I can't!"

"I'm very interested, actually," she said, her tone angry and full of betrayal. "Us or her?"

"Both," the boy answered softly.

The moment the words came out, Pope and JJ immediately went back to their talkshow commentary. Tatum and Kie's faces dropped. Thomas glared. "Okay, let me get this straight," he said furiously, pointing an accusing finger at the boy he hated so much. "You can't decide between your two best friends - one of them, who has clearly been hurt by this girl, and the other, whose dad would literally kill for hanging out with her - your best friends for years, over a girl you've known for five minutes, and you claim your in love with?"

John B's mouth opened. Then closed. There was nothing more to say.

Shaking her head with betrayal, Kiara stormed off the porch.

A/n: istg im starting to like thomas more than tatum. after ive wrote hers, im writing him his own story