kiara and meilani arrive at the boneyard. it's empty as usual. the only time you'll ever see the boneyard busy is when there's a kegger, which used to happen very regularly but since last summer you're lucky to get one a month, we blame jj.

the pair spot the boys sitting on a few tree branches. the quickly walk towards them, but being very quiet whilst doing so. they sneak up behind their best friends and scream. "jesus christ" the boys jump out of their skin.

"c'mere you" jj grabs meilani by the waist pulling her onto his lap. she giggles. kiara sits in the sand facing the group. "right, storytime with meilani haywood" kiara claps her hands looking directly at the girl. "storytime?" john b looks over at the girl who's now puffing blunt smoke out of her mouth then passing the blunt to kiara. "she was gone when i went to pick her up this morning, out all night i think" kie gives a playful wink.

"out all night, yes. for the reasons any of you think, no." the group stare at her intently. "it's nothing really, just had a fight with cayman" she sighed. "already?" pope said, kiara knelt up and whacked his arm, "ow" he said under his breath. "what happened?" jj looked down at her. "he....he uhm, he had an outburst. tore the porch to shreds" the girl looked down and fiddling with her hands. "why didn't you call us?" john b looked over. "i thought about it, but then i just packed my bag and left the house at like 2am" she looked up, squinting her eyes in the sun. "so where did you go all night?" kie questioned.

the girl thought about telling her group of friends about the encounter with topper, but she decided it'd be best if she didn't, for toppers sake. "i got caught up with time. i was sitting on the docks all night just thinking" she lied through her teeth.

the group lay in the sand looking up at the stars. meilani lay in between jjs legs, her head resting on his stomach. kiara rested her head on popes chest and john b lay on top of meilanis legs. "guys" meilani spoke. a chorus of yeah's came. "i never want to go home again" she sighed. kiara sat up. "you can stay with my family, we'd love to have you" she smiled over. "or we could run away" jj played with meilanis hair. "should i go home?" meilani questioned. "if being at home makes you unhappy mel, then you shouldn't" john b whispers. "you can stay at mine, i have a spare bedroom, you know that" he continued.

she felt so much love all in one moment.

-

-

"thank you so much" the girl only had a small bag with her but she still struggled carrying it up the stairs. "of course mel, we want you to be safe always" anna smiled at the two girls walking up the steps. "we'll be down soon mom" kiara said helping meilani with her few things.

"kie you have no idea how much this means" kie sighs, "psh it's nothing lani, we want you to be safe and comfortable and if here's where you can be for a little bit, it makes us happy, you heard my mom. besides my dad fucking loves you, he thinks you're the sweetest. you're literally the only one of the group he likes." meilani grabs kiaras hand, tears welling in her eyes. they say nothing more, instead just pulling eachother into a meaningful hug.

the girls set off out of the house yet again. "don't be late home girls! dinners at 8" anna calls after them. "wow is that what it's like to have a loving family?" meilani joked, kiara hit her arm in response, laughing.

meilani had never had a normal 'family' life. after her mom died, mr haywood never really seemed to bother with all the family traditions anymore, the girl tried but it was never any use.

the girls took off running towards john bs porch. in the distance they could hear faint laughter. "hey guys!" kiara smiled, out of breath. the girls joined the group, sarah, john, jj and pope, who were sitting on the porch having beers. meilani made herself comfortable in between jjs legs, grabbing a beer while she did so. "all settled in" jj looked down at the girl in their separate conversation. "yeah i guess so, i just feel bad for invading their family home." jj rubbed the girls arm, "don't be silly, the carreras love you."

after a while the girls headed back home to have a family dinner. halfway through the meal meilanis phone began to ring. she ignored it and put it on silent quickly, she thought it'd be rude to interrupt the meal like that.

the phone continued to buzz but she ignored it yet again. "lani, sweetheart, we're almost done dinner, you can go and take your call" mike smiled. she excused herself and made her way out to the front of the house.

"rafe?" she said, confused. "meilani, hey. sorry to bother you but i have a problem, can you come to tannyhill?" he said through the phone speaker. the girl didn't ask any questions she just grabbed her hoodie and told the carreras she'd be back in an hour.

she arrived at tannyhill to find rafe by the dock. he was with another figure but she couldn't seem to see who. she ran over to the boy who was comforting another teen boy on the ground. "meilani hey!" she approached him. "rafe and........topper?"