THE MORNING AFTER A HURRICANE WAS ALWAYS TERRIBLE.

however, for one particular brunette, she was having the worst post-hurricane morning ever.

she had woken up on the cut of all places, under the thin blanket of her father's boat boy's guest bedroom. why was she there? how had she gotten herself into quite possibly the shittiest situation imaginable?

she should've known leaving the party was a bad idea, especially right before the surge hit. walking the beach alone, the rain had started, pouring to a point it was almost blinding for the girl. that was, until a volkswagen bus stopped in the road, the driver yelling at her to get in, to which she happily complied, realizing that getting in the van- which appeared to be hardly street legal- was the latter option to freezing to death or being taken out by a piece of flying debris.

yes, kendra cameron, killed by a rogue tree, would've looked absolutely fabulous on a gravestone. the dark haired cameron climbed out of john b routledge's guest bed, hair a mess and the previous nights makeup still slightly visible in lines where it had run down her face via the torrential downpour that had soaked her about ten minutes after she decided to walk the beach.

"morning, sunshine." a voice that made the kook girl sick to her stomach said from the kitchen, kendra rolling her eyes as she saw jj standing in the kitchen in a pair of cargo shorts.

"put a shirt on for once." she said disgustedly, looking the boy up and down with a look of displeasure on her face.

"come on, cameron, you know you love me." he said slyly from behind her, kendra leaning against the doorframe and folding her arms.

"do i really, maybank?" she dragged out mockingly, scoffing at the boy and turning on her heel, giving him one last look before opening the front door. "and your lack of an outfit makes you look like a whore, but i guess that's also common knowledge."

the two had had an ongoing feud since elementary, no one knowing what the source was, but word on the street was that kendra had out-surfed him in front of a group of kids from school. the group included a girl who jj openly had a crush for as well as some boys who he was trying to befriend.

they were also different social classes, which almost guaranteed a lack of friendship between the two. kendra came from the richest family on the island, while jj came from the exact opposite.

all of the pogue boys hated kendra and her two best friends, carter and jolee. they all had different reasons, however. jolee had gone out with girls who john b openly liked. carter was pope's main rival for the scholarships they were both in for. and none of them, with the exception of maybe john b, liked kendra cameron.

"morning, bitch." the brunette girl said to john b as she climbed into his boat, jumping in and immediately helping him clean it out.

"careful there, princess." he cautioned as kendra grabbed a lose tree branch, the girl looking up at john b, who had a smug grin on his face. "wouldn't want your hands to get too dirty, would we?"

"you're such an asshole, and for what?" kendra replied snarkily, tossing a loose branch at him and smirking at his displeased reaction.

"want me to take you back to your daddy this morning? he's probably frantic because you weren't home at exactly ten last night." john b mocked, kendra rolling her eyes at his smartass remarks.

"yes, actually, because i'd rather drown in an oyster bed than spend the day with blondie." she deadpanned bitterly as jj walked out of the porch into john b's front yard, glaring up at the brunette girl in the boat.

"y'know, being a bitch isn't a personality trait?" he asked. "it doesn't make you any more likable."

"a lot more people like me than you, you're really one to talk about likability." she replied condescendingly as she climbed out of the boat.

"you should really be nicer to the people who saved your life." jj spat at the girl, following her into the chateau where she went to john b's spare room to collect her belongings.

"maybe i wanted to be left in the storm." she suggested. "either way, it wasn't your call, it was john b's, because like it or not, he's so whipped for my best friend, it's actually pretty pathetic." kendra added, grabbing a pair of jean shorts, white bandeau bikini set, and a tan and white billabong t-shirt that had been hanging over the back of a chair overnight to dry- she had brought an overnight bag to topper's party, her original intentions being to stay the night with everyone else- and gesturing toward the door. "now get out, creeper."

jj slammed the bedroom door behind him, kendra flipping the closed door off and rolling her eyes with a disgusted look as she changed. sure, she was being harsher than normal to the maybank, but why wouldn't she? he was acting like she was in some sort of debt to him, while the truth of the situation was the only person she owed was john b.

once she was dressed, the cameron girl grabbed her shoes and yesterday's nike tube socks, pulling the stark white converse onto her feet and tying the laces around her ankles, a habit she had picked up from her mother when she was young. reaching into the overnight bag, she pulled out a white bandana, which she used to pull her hair back. she washed her face with a makeup wipe she found in one of the side pockets- probably left over from one of her outings with her friends- and wiped what was left of last night's makeup off her face.

a knock on the door echoed around the room as she applied concealer under her eyes, the girl calling for whoever it was to come in, john b entering the room a second later.

"sorry, just wanted to see if you were almost ready." he explained as the cameron girl blended the makeup into her face with her finger, nodding her head and using her phone camera to check that it looked suitable.

"just let me wash my hands and we can leave." she replied shortly, standing up and putting her belongings into her bag, before going into john b's bathroom and turning the faucet handle, but no water came out.

"john, what the hell's wrong with your sink?" she called to the boy, who yelled back in reply that she had to use cold water, that the hot water bill hadn't been paid in a couple months.

after she was done, she threw her backpack over her shoulder, walking down the dock to where jj and john b had already gotten the boat into the water and were waiting for her.

"i tried to get him to leave you." jj deadpanned, kendra rolling her eyes as she dropped her backpack onto the floor of the boat, sitting in the chair directly behind john b and to the right.

"take me to the back of the house, being seen with you would ruin my social life." the girl said snarkily, jj rolling his eyes.

"calm down, barbie. the only people who are gonna see you are the workers at the outlet when we pick up pope."

"i might as well jump in the ocean and drown while i still have a good word to my name." she replied as the boat slowly cruised through the outlet.

"look at this place, man." john b complained.

"agatha, what'd you do?" jj whined.

"she is a crazy lady." john b dragged out.

"we're gonna be cleaning this all summer." jj added, kendra wrinkling her eyebrows.

"why do you clean it?" she asked, john b shrugging.

"spare cash, and it's just a nice thing to do for someone." he explained. "just helping out the neighbors."

"you have to say it in terms her pompous ass will understand." jj spat, kendra glaring at him.

"i don't know what i did to make you hate me, but if you're going to treat me like shit just because i'm more well off, at least try to hide it."

"oh, but you shouldnt have to hide your hatred of me because i'm below you? got it." jj seethed in reply, kendra rolling her eyes and folding her arms, which of course, jj had a smartass reply for. "if you keep rolling your eyes like that they'll fall in your head and ruin your pretty face."

"oh, you think my face is pretty? can't say the same for you." she replied angrily john b sighing heavily at the two's banter, which hadn't ceased since the previous night when jj realized who was climbing into the van with them.

"well look who we have here." john b said in a strange accent, pope- who want standing on the dock hosing it off- looking straight at kendra.

"yeah, look who we have here." he replied in disbelief that kendra cameron with with his friends.

"that hose really compliments your eyes." the girl replied sarcastically, pope immediately dropping the green object and looking at john b.

"we have a safety meeting, attendance mandatory." the brunette boy said, mimicking speaking into a police radio, followed by a very convincing static effect, that if kendra weren't keeping up her pissed-off demeanor to spite jj she would've complimented.

"i can't, my pops has me on lockdown." pope complained as jj stood on the bow of the boat.

"come on, man!" jj called as heyward himself, pope's father, began walking towards them. "your dad's a pussy, over." he said in the same radio voice, also doing a very good static imitation.

"oh, i heard that, you little bastard." heyward spat.

"hey, did you get so good at that static sound by hearing it play over and over when your hookup girls all leave you?" kendra asked in a condescending tone that was dripping in sickening fake sweetness.

"we need your son!" john b yelled at heyward, attempting to stop another argument between jj and kendra before it started.

"and, island rules, day after hurricane's a free day." jj said, heyward looking at the boy in displeasure.

"who the hell made that up?" he spat, jj shrugging.

"pentagon, i think? we have security clearance, princess over here has a card." jj added, gesturing towards kendra who flipped him off and held her tongue.

"pentagon, y'all think i'm stupid?" heyward yelled, kendra shrugging.

"if the shoe fits." she muttered, but heyward didn't hear her as in that moment, pope spoke up.

"i promise i'll do it tomorrow, dad." the boy pleaded, heyward looking at him, appalled.

"no- hell no! you're doing it right now!" he protested, but john b and jj were both telling pope to get into the boat. before heyward could stop his son, the dark haired boy had thrown himself off the dock and jumped onto the boat, which john b started up again and pulled away from the dock.

"when you get back, you're gonna clean shrimp, you're gonna clean fish, you're gonna clean your dirty ass room!" heyward yelled, john b only shouting taunts at the man as he drove off. "and i don't like your friends!"

the boat cruised out of the outlet and towards figure eight, slowing before the carrera's dock, where kendra perked up at the sight of two brunette girls walking down the dock towards the boat.

"jolee!" she called with a smile, the girl returning the gesture as she climbed onto the boat, hugging her friend.

"what're you doing here?" jolee asked, kendra shaking her head.

"long story, i ditched topper's party last night and ended up at john b's, but he's about to take me home." the cameron girl explained, jolee nodding in response.

"i'll go with you, carter can come over too." she suggested, kendra nodding in reply as she sent a text to carter, jj looking at the girl in confusion.

"how the hell do you have service."

"unlimited data." the girl replied simply as the boat stopped at her dock, kendra and jolee brushing off the outstretched hands offering them help onto the dock.

"okay, i'll see you whenever you come to work." kendra told john b before turning to jj. "and i hope i never see you again."

"trust me, the feeling's mutual."

"good."

kens speaks 🪐

when they fight like cats and dogs >>>

rewriting this book for the millionth time bc every other time the plots been so drug out it's tedious to write