WHEN KALANI WOKE UP, her whole body ached. she rolled over with a groan, looking down and pulling her t-shirt up slightly, revealing her lightly bruised abdomen.

"i told you." arden said from the doorway flatly, kalani rolling her eyes and pushing her hair out of her face, grabbing a scrunchie from her bedside and pulling her brunette hair into a low bun, her shorter layers falling back in front of her eyes naturally. stretching as she walked into the living room, she looked down to the pullout where jj, mara, and maya were all laying on top of each other.

"hey, dogpile." kalani muttered, punching the matress, mara glaring up at her. "you guys been outside?"

"these two dislocated my spine when they jumped on top of me last night, i cant even breathe right now." jj slurred sleepily, mara rolling her eyes while digging her elbow into his shoulder.

"cry me a river, build me a bridge, and get over it." she said, jj wrinkling his eyebrows.

"i have to cry the river and build the bridge?" he asked. "you can't help?"

mara sighed, grabbing her phone from the floor and frowning. "arden, there's no service!" she yelled, maya looking at her confusedly.

"wow. it's almost like there was, like, i don't know, a hurricane." she said sarcastically, mara flipping her off.

"there's no power." john b said tiredly as he walked into the living room.

"again, there was a hurricane." maya enunciated, arden laughing. the front door slammed open, marlee and a dark haired girl kalani had never seen before walked inside.

"your yard is a shitshow." the blonde said, looking back and forth between the routledge triplets, who were scattered around the living room before turning to jj. "and this is the girl you so desperately needed to meet."

jj quickly attempted to stand up, but maya was laid across his legs and mara was still on his back, which lead to his arms falling out from under him as he face planted onto the couch again, groaning. arden and kalani looked at each other, quickly stifling their laughs.

"will you both get off me?" jj said annoyedly, shoving the two blondes away, maya rolling her eyes.

"i'm sorry, there's nowhere else to sleep in this house." she deadpanned, mara nodding.

"yeah, and john b came in last night looking like a drowned rat and i didn't wanna sleep on a moldy mattress." mara added, glaring up at the routledge boy standing in the doorway.

"so, carra, how're you liking mara's friends so far?" marlee said loudly, everyone turning to look at her and the taylor girl standing in the doorway.

"it's nice, actually." carra said. "i've never been around a group as close as you guys before, it's different." she added, arden smiling at her from across the room.

"i literally shared a womb with those two for nine months." she said, pointing between john b and kalani. "the rest of them are relatively normal." maya nodded and pointed at jj.

"i shared one with him, then a room for like twelve years. these people are the least annoying ones i've ever half-lived with."

"oh please, you and jj were literally so annoying when we were kids." mara chimed in, jj looking offended, arden shaking her head.

"no one had it worse than me with these two." she said, pointing between kalani and john b.

"what did we do?" kalani asked.

"lani, you both poured ice water on me, left me all the bad candy on halloween, and there's a marker drawing you guys did on my wall." arden said flatly, john b shaking his head.

"those were all gestures of love, right, lans?"

"i was actually pretty pissed arden got her own room." she said coolly. "and that she got the best name- i mean what is up with that?"

"we're back on the name topic?" jj chimed in from the couch.

"yes, because it's clear mom and dad had a favorite." kalani said, looking at her blonde older sister. "also, none of us look like we're related? like what's up there?"

"there's no way john b and arden have the same dad. not even the same mom. not even cousins. maybe friends." maya said.

"lani and john b are the only ones who look like they share any of the same dna." marlee agreed.

"you're all mean to me, and for what?" arden asked.

"killjoy." jj whispered, a plastic cup hitting him in the head, which everyone knew arden had thrown from the kitchen.

"so, carra, how'd you get conned into spending the day with us?" mara asked, carra shrugging.

"marlee ran into me at heyward's, said she knew you guys and was on her way here."

"you're incredibly willing to get in the car with strangers, by the way." marlee mentioned.

"why would someone my own age kidnap me?" carra asked, marlee shrugging.

"fair point, continue."

"so i got in the car with her and now i'm in the living room of a house that looks like it's built out of lincoln logs but also houses all of you."

"not quite all of us." kalani said. "marlee has her own money, i mean jj, mara, and maya stay here pretty much every night and arden, john b, and i actually live here so yeah, most of us. but marlee, kiara, pope, they all live in their own houses.

"there's more of you?" carra asked, maya nodding.

"same friend group since we were in what, third, fourth grade?" she asked john b, who nodded.

"some of us are a grade above everyone else. maya's a year older than jj and mara, and kalani's like super smart so she got pushed up a grade." john b explained to carra.

"still can't believe it was me and not pope." kalani said casually.

"pope got the scholarship, you get the early graduation, it's a win for everyone." jj mentioned, kalani shrugging.

"is it really though?" arden asked. "like, a whole year she gets to lay around the house while we still have to go to school."

"she has the iq of albert einstein but refuses to go to college." john b added.

"did you forget the part where we're like... poor?" kalani asked, moving towards the front door.

"where are you going?" arden asked, kalani looking around the room and wrinkling her eyebrows.

"to go collect my powerball winnings- what do you think?" kalani replied sarcastically, everyone else in the room following her outside and into the front yard.

"that's not good." john b muttered. "that is... not good."

"guys i think he thinks it's good." mara deadpanned.

"j, maya, come help me clean the boat out." arden said to the twins, who climbed into the hms pogue next to her, beginning to throw brush and debris out of the boat.

"whatcha thinkin' about?" kalani asked john b, who was looking out at the water.

"i'm thinking the storm surge pushed all the crabs out of the marsh. all the drum are gonna chase the crab."

"what about dcs? wasn't that today?" marlee asked, arden shaking her head.

"they'll be as far away from the water as possible for awhile." she said, tossing a stick at john b.

"think about it, guys." the brunette said happily. "we've gotta go fish!"

kens speaks 🪐

hellooo

so much dialogue and character bonding with people who aren't the triplets + maybank siblings