⸝⸝₊ ┊run for the hills
── all bark, no bite ♰ ‧₊˚ ⋅⩩

────── ♰ ──────

⁰︎⁰︎ °. "WHAT THE FUCK?"

Barron Sterling was always one for the dramatics. He claimed it was in his blood, their father claimed it was inherited from him; business mogul who constantly flaunted off their wealth in the most dramatic of ways. Valentina claimed it was just because he was an idiot.

"Val!" Her name got shouted through the kitchen as she sat at the marbled island.

Valentina and their mother looked towards the back door to see the other three all working on cleaning up the back yard. Post Hurricane work was reserved solely for the boys and that's how it'd always been. Cecelia got breakfast duty and Valentina got the pleasure to sit there and look pretty. Her favorite activity.

Barron tracked mud into the house from his shoes, ignoring the scolding their mother gave him when she had hit him on the arm with the dish towel over her shoulder.

"This yours?" Val looked as he lifted up a small towel. Her brows furrowed and a fork halfway to her mouth before she shook her head.

"No," she muttered, letting the fork reach its destination finally as Barron scoffed and threw the ruined towel onto the counter beside her. Valentina grimaced, scooting away from the towel that was caked with mud and threatening to drip onto the tiled floor. "Get that off the counter."

"Barron," their mother finally chimed it, pointing at the towel shortly as the older man grumbled something under his breath.

"Hope you enjoyed your WiFi while it lasted," he muttered to Val. "Cause this was wrapped around the dish." Val made a short face at him, watching as he rolled his eyes and made it back outside before he was yelling at someone else. "Ford! Put that down!"

Val rolled her eyes in distaste, moving her chair away from the dirtied counter now as Cecelia watched Barron grab something from Ford in the backyard. Their dad at the edge of the yard by the water and rightfully ignoring the two bickering boys.

Barron always acted like the man of the house. Being the oldest of the three, he seemed to think he earned that right, but their father had always quickly put that attitude away. They all had their duties to follow. Barron would follow in their fathers footsteps, earn his way to the top of Sterling Industries and take over the family business. Valentina would be an attorney, the best in Kildare - second best to her own mother. Ford was all about his Boy Scouts now, a 16 year old only had so much to do around the island. He still had a few weeks before he left for his scouts trip they take every year. Living out in the woods for a few weeks before he had to leave off for boarding school.

It meant Val usually had the house to herself because everyone else was too busy.

"You doing anything today?" Cecelia broke Valentina out of the short silence she put herself into. Val looked up at her mother as she plated the assortment of food she had made, moving the plates to the otherside before she ventured to the fridge. "'Cause we gotta go help out at the club later -"

"What?" Val was quick to shut down, ignoring her mother's slight glare when the fridge door shut. "Why?"

"We do it every year," Cecelia shrugged, nonchalant as the container of orange juice got forgotten on the counter before she rested her hands against the cool marbled material. "So don't try to come up with some stupid excuse to get out of it."

Val went to complain again, getting interrupted as her father sided with Cecelia when he walked into the kitchen.

"Listen to your mother," he told her shortly, kissing Val shortly against the crown of her hairline.

Val deflated in her seat slightly, the grip on her fork tightening a little with the smallest shake of her head. That was the only thing she hated about her parents actually loving each other. Whatever Cecelia had said, Keller was quick to side with her. It didn't matter what the kids were trying to argue, they would never win.

"The sooner you get done, the quicker you can get down to the Boneyard," Keller advised, looking through the fridge for the orange juice that Cecelia had already placed on the counter. "Isn't Cameron going?"

"No," Val stabbed her pancake.

Cecelia pushed the orange juice over to Keller as the man thanked her quietly, pouring a glass before downing it in one go - the heat in the Outer Banks was no joke, especially in the middle of summer - Keller looked back at Val as he poured another glass.

"No? Don't you two always go?" He bit into a too hot piece of bacon. "Fuck-" he cursed quietly. "Fuckin' hot. Jesus Christ," he dropped the bacon back onto the plate before waving out his hand where the bacon had just sizzled into his dirtied fingers. Hurricane cleanup was anything but clean. "You want the car later?"

"Really?" She perked up.

"No," he shot down. Smiling in amusement when Val deflated again before begrudgingly bit into her food, grumbling something under her breath. "You'll be driving that car well after I'm long gone."

"Yeah, never."

He thought about it for a second, his glass clinking against the counter as he nodded. "Yeah."

He grabbed his plate, leaving the kitchen and back outside where Barron and Ford were still arguing with each other about where Val's lounge chair was supposed to go. Something powered on, the generators Valentina could only assume - cause the lights were on not even a second later.

"Took them long enough." Val snorted quietly to herself at her mother's disdain towards the generator's ability to work when they're needed. "You gotta get ready," Cecelia advised, motioning to Val's clothing. Val looked down at her clothes, jean shorts and an unbuttoned polo covering her. "Can't wear that to the club."

"Why not?" Val looked up at her mother, confusion riddled her face as Cecelia pointed to the pocket on the polo.

"'Cause of that." It was a sewn in patch in the hem of the pocket that read Cameron. Val hadn't even noticed that patch if she was being honest, but Rafe had it on all his shirts somewhere. It was some sort of power trip. The Cameron's ran the island, and they had to let everyone know. "Go."

Valentina's empty plate got taken away when Cecelia grabbed it, dropping it into the sink before Val groaned quietly at her mother's insistence. Val never did anything at the club, not more than passing out a few care packages. She could be at home yelling at her brothers to be careful with useless items that didn't even belong to the family. That's what they paid people for. She never understood why they had to be the ones to go out and hand stuff out.

Her mother always claimed it was to keep up their reputation, a friendly face after the hurricanes makes the community feel better. Val claimed it was a load of crap.

"Valentina!"

"I'm going!"

♰

Driving through the Figure 8 had always been one of Valentina's favorite things, especially after a hurricane. Yeah, the roads were covered in shit, trees blocking half their paths, and water flooding just about everything - but it was always calm. The town was never the same when it came out the other end of a hurricane, but neither were the people in the town.

Cecelia Sterling had seen it first hand. The Country Club always held a few days of donations. Extra help for those down in The Cut that may have lost more than those in the Figure 8. It was her way of showing she cared; that she wanted the people on the Island to all feel wanted or included. There were no Kooks vs. Pogue's in her mother's eyes for the week after a hurricane. There never was and she had always pushed it onto Valentina to get over whatever petty grudge she was holding that month.

It never worked, no matter how hard she tried.

Val didn't have a grudge against the Pogue's. They knew to stay away from her and she'd stay away from them. It was the other Kook's she had grudges with. Mostly because they were trying to take what was hers.

The Queen had all the riches, and the lesser fortunate would just try to take it if they got close enough.

So, she simply never gave them the chance.

It was easier that way.

"Can you at least try to seem a little friendly today," Cecelia had interrupted the CD that Valentina had put into the radio. An old No Doubt CD that she had gotten for her birthday forever ago. "We can't really afford to have another fight to break out."

Val rolled her eyes slightly, picking her head up from the window where she was resting it. "That was not my fault."

"Just because you weren't the one fighting doesn't mean there wasn't a fight," Cecelia chuckled shortly. "You're already on thin ice with Raz. Cause you let that happen again be said he's gonna make you start working there-"

"Working?" Val's head whipped around to her mother so fast, Cecelia was almost scared it would've spun off. "I can't work there -"

"You can," her mother interrupted. "Working over the summer would be good for your school application anyway. I think it's a good idea for you anyway."

"I already got into school. They don't need to know that I worked at a stupid Country Club for a few weeks," she rolled her eyes again. Fingers combing through her hair, she let her palm hold her head up as the wind whipped her hair through the opened window.

"Just keep the arguing to a minimum, okay?"

Val reluctantly agreed, not giving a verbal answer but that was confirmation enough for her mother.

The Country Club was already half packed by the time Cecelia pulled into the parking lot. It was ridiculous in Val's opinion how everyone had claimed to have a mutual hatred for each other. The Kook's hated the Pogue's just as much as the Pogue's hated the Kook's, and yet...the Pogue's always came running to the Kook's when they had things to hand out.

If you say you hate someone, you're supposed to mean it. Everyone on this island was all bark and no bite, it was starting to wear her out just how pathetic everyone really was.

Val had a lot more bark in her than she let on, but most of the time she had Rafe to tell people off who felt the need to make a comment about her body in a bikini. She knew she was nice to look at, but she didn't need the creepy comments that always seemed to find their way to her. Men seem to have lost any sense of dignity these days.

"Here," Cecelia handed over a tray to Valentina when the girl had made it to the back side of the suv. The shiny white material was still without a scratch or a blemish. Brand new and barely a month's use out of it. "You can bring those inside."

Val huffed slightly when Cecelia placed another tray on top of the other one, getting a better grip on the bottom before sighing harshly. She was seriously getting stuck at the Country Club for the day when everyone else was out enjoying their free day off.

Great.

Cecelia followed, greeting people when she walked in, promising to come back to talk to them before she led Val over to the dining hall. Val could only imagine what people had said about her mother. The nicest things. Her mother truly was a person the people in the neighborhood looked up to; it was that good reputation she's always pruning on about. A good reputation, and people will treat you better. Val sees it first hand with how people bring her mother gift baskets.

But it's the criminal defense attorney - Cecelia Clemonte-Sterling - that everyone's afraid of.

Valentina had tried to tell her mother that people were just trying to get on her good side so if the time came, she'd go easy on them if the time came where they were ever against each other in the courtroom. Cecelia always reassured that that never happened, she never showed bias in the courtroom and she didn't let the way people treat her affect who she had sent away to prison.

Cecelia Clemonte-Sterling was all bark and all bite. She wasn't afraid to tell you what was what, and you'd be damn sure to sit there and listen to it.

Valentina had always praised her for that.

Everyone on the Island left them alone. She got the privacy that she needed; the Cameron's gave her the attention she wanted.

With Rafe, she got the attention and the jealous looks and the respect she'd thought she deserved. It was her way of living. There was no Valentina Sterling if there was no hoarde's of jealous girls following them. It truly did bring a smile to her face. She loved it. Valentina Sterling was born to be a Kook.

Downside of being a Kook...

...was the Kook's

"Valentina Sterling," her name had rung out throughout the dining room. The smug tone in their voice was enough for her to roll her eyes and a grumble of something's to her mother beside her under her breath. "Long time no see."

Of course her hours of peace had to be ruined.

"Topper Thornton," she faked a smile, her voice eerily calm as he walked up to the table where they handed out the hurricane recovery lunches. "Not long enough," she handed a pack to an older woman who was still waiting at the table, oblivious to the two teenagers and the sudden tension that was in the room. Another Kook was behind him, Kelce - another one of Topper and Rafe's goonies. The three of them together were some of the most irritable people on the island.

Cecelia watched the two converse quietly, her eyes flicking between the two before she had thanked someone else when they had grabbed a lunch pack. Just because Val was with Rafe, Topper always thought that she must've liked him and Kelce too. It became pretty abundantly clear early on that Val and Topper would never be on the same page. Not even if he was dating Sarah Cameron.

Don't get her wrong, Val liked Sarah. She was nice - sometimes a little too nice for her own good - but she hadn't ever caused an issue with Val so they had rarely spoke to each other. But there was only so much room on the island for Cameron royalty.

"We get some of these?" Topper pointed around to the table, looking down to the dozens of lunches packed.

"No," Val smiled sweetly again, ignoring the look her mother gave her at her answer.

"Why's that?"

"You got a kitchen full of fresh food, Thornton," Val reiterated. "You're fine."

"How would you know that?" Kelce input. "His fridge could've broke."

"And you saying it could've broke is enough reason for me to believe that his fridge is perfectly fine," her smile grew, grabbing the pack from Topper without looking at it as the blonde rolled his eyes. "Beat it."

"Who exactly are you saving these for then?" Topper asked, the same smug, annoying tone he always had was really starting to get under Val's skin. She wouldn't admit it to his face, but Topper pissed her off to a new level. "Pogue's?" He'd asked in such disgust that it even had Cecelia scoffing at his attitude.

"Yes, Topper," Cecelia finally butt in. Always dignified, always respectful, but not up for dealing with anyone's shit. "It's for people who don't have the resources to help themselves. Maybe you should try it some time, it might do you some good to be a little kinder," she advised, smiling at a kid who had grabbed a pack from her. Kelce chuckled under his breath, patting Topper on the back at Cecelia's advice as Topper just gave the two girls a short smile.

"I didn't mean any disrespect, Mrs. Sterling -" he'd tried to apologize, to backtrack to make himself seem at least a little nicer.

"I'm sure you didn't," Cecelia had handed him a lunch pack anyway, all with a smile on her face as Topper reluctantly took it. Val knew he wouldn't even open it, the food in it wasn't like the fancy shrimp or the steak's he'd eat at a night out to the Country Club, it was easily accessible food that the Kook's wouldn't dare touch. "Have a good day, Topper. You too, Kelce," she sent them on their way.

Val watched as Topper stood there for a second, looking at her before Val had waved her fingers with another smile. Kelce finally pulled Topper away, saving him from any more embarrassment while Val's smile dropped when they finally turned away. They didn't even have the dignity to mutter a thanks to the woman who had given them the food they'd wanted to eat.

Cecelia kept with the lunch packs, being a friend and an ear to listen to anything the people had had to say. Val was stuck on Topper and Kelce walking away, brows furrowed in utter annoyance as Kelce shook Topper's shoulders, clearly laughing about something. Topper never found it amusing, not if it was something against him. Only if he was bringing someone else down was it amusing.

"They always like that?" Cecelia had asked Val quietly, eyeing her daughter who had stopped trying to hand out lunch packs. The line finally slowed down enough where the two could have a conversation without getting interrupted.

"Unfortunately," Val mumbled. Topper had shoved the pack Cecelia had given to him straight into the trash, not even trying to be courteous about it. Box crumbled and deformed and straight to its trashy demise.

Cecelia smiled a little at her daughter's distaste for the Kooks. She'd been a Kook her whole life, always acted higher and mightier than everyone else on the island. She had the biggest house, went to the best high school, had the 'boyfriend' that everyone on the island wanted - Valentina was set for life.

There were just certain Kooks who had a stick so far up their ass, Val wouldn't even attempt to pull it out.

Topper and Kelce for example. And yes, occasionally Valentina...

Cecelia seemed to have to remind her of that every time.

"Didn't I tell you to keep the arguing down today?" Cecelia had reprimanded suddenly, the hint of playfulness lined her tone.

"I wasn't arguing with anyone -" she defended a little harsher than she intended.

"Ah!"

Valentina stopped and looked over at her mother, seeing she was being serious before she scoffed quietly.

"That was a set up. You set me up for that."

"And you walked right into it," Cecelia smiled, kissing the top of Valentina's head before she was roundin the table to leave. "Stay here until these are gone, I gotta help them up front."

"Mom," Val shook her head, mouth dropping slightly as her mother left her alone. "Mom! No -"

"It shouldn't take long!"

And she was gone.

"Are you kidding me?" Val groaned to herself quietly.

If there was one thing Valentina hated more than Topper Thornton, it was hurricanes for ruining her perfectly good weekend.

────── ♰ ──────

gracie's getaway //
first chapterrrrr. and it's ass. like
most of my first chapters. but alas.
it's done and i won't have to stare at
it anymore! 😁 yay!

3k words and nothing happened.
noice. but next is the bonfire 😼

anywho
val you prissy bitch ilyyy

- gracie xx