They stayed like that for quite some time, until Maggie checked the time and cursed herself for forgetting it. JJ pulled her back in the hammock, but Maggie urged him that she really needed to leave.

            She had an appointment to meet with Kiara and her mother Anna for the Midsummers dresses. She was supposed to be there five minutes ago. Maggie ran to the other side of the island and arrived surprisingly fast.

            She sprinted upstairs. "I'm so sorry," Maggie breathed out as she knocked the door open. "Am I really late?"

            "No, you're fine, dear," Anna urged her inside. "Come, come look at your dress. It's gorgeous."

            Kiara turned to her, "Where were you? I've been looking all over for you."

            "Blondie problems." Maggie replied.

            Kiara nodded. "Tell me later?" And Maggie nodded to that as well.

            She watched how Anna took a red, silky dress from the closet and held it in front of Maggie. "It's— red!" Maggie exclaimed, trying her best to fake the excitement.

            Red's the academy's colour.

            "Yeah!" Anna said excitedly. "Do you not like it? Oh, I know I should've asked you before."

            "Anna," Maggie stopped the middle–aged women. "It's perfect. Thank you." She forced a smile. "I don't get to wear dresses like this ever."

            She got changed into the dress. It was a beautiful dress, it was just the colour that bothered her. It was an off–sleeve dress, showing Maggie's collarbones. Maggie's hair went half up, half down, her head filled with flowers. The dress was long, the ends of the dress would surely be muddy at the end of the evening. The golden jewellery finished the look. Maggie hated wearing heels, but she could do a great job walking in them due to her training.

            She came back inside Kiara's bedroom, Kiara stood all done in front of the mirror with a displeased expression on her face. "This is disgusting." She complained.

            "I know, it's just horrible," Anna replied sarcastically. "I'm asking you to relax and go to a fun party."

            Maggie walked into the room to sit on Kiara's bed. Kiara turned around to face her mother. "I look like a bourgeoisie pig."

            Maggie laughed at her best friend's comment. "I think Adriana would think otherwise." Maggie wiggled her eyebrows.

            "Oh, you should be the one to talk," Kiara rolled her eyes playfully. "No, but, seriously, do you think so? It's not too 'I spend a thousand dollars a day'?"

            "Will you two please not worry about socioeconomic injustice for one night?" Anna pleaded as she put her own earrings in.

            Maggie sighed as Kiara disagreed with her mother. "Mom, people not three miles from here have no power, no running water, and we're going to Midsummers."

            "She does have a point, Anna," Maggie agreed with the girl. "It's kind of tone–deaf."

            "Do you know how hard we had to work to get into the Island Club?" Anna asked, getting irritated.

            Kiara sighed harshly. "Yeah, Mom. How could I forget? You had to grovel for, like, ten years—"

            "Twelve," Anna corrected. She walked out of the room, but continued talking. "And we also had to cough up a huge chunk of dough, and do you know why we did that?"

            "To keep up with the Joneses?"

            "No. So you could have the same experiences that I had as a child," Anna replied, she looked at Maggie. "Ask Maggie. Honey, do you know what the Island Club is?"

            Anna neared Maggie, forcing her to stand up and cupped her cheeks. "Sounds like a club for rich people." She answered doubtfully.

            "It is a nice place, with nice people, where you can do fun stuff." Anna explained.

            But Kiara didn't agree, she added. "With out–of–touch rich people, while the island sinks slowly into the ocean."

            "Woah there, Kia, you're rich too, and you're not out of touch," Maggie joked. When nobody laughed, she awkwardly cleared her throat. "Sorry. Please, continue."

            "Okay, I want you to put on your party face, Kie, if you wanna live." Anna finalised and walked away.

            Pope stood behind the barbecue, grilling the meat for Midsummers. "Excuse me, sir. Do we have to shuck these ourselves?" A familiar female voice asked, however in an English accent. "'Cause it might mess up my costume."

            "Now that's just mockery," another voice added, in a more real–sounding English accent. "I do not sound like that."

            Pope turned around, seeing Kiara and Maggie all dressed up in dresses. "We wouldn't want that now, would we?" He joked.

            "Terrible accent, by the way." Maggie referred to Kiara's accent.

            "Yeah, it was. I was gonna let it go," Kiara agreed. "You ever seen this many Kooks in one place?"

            "Yeah," Pope replied shortly. "Last year."

            Kiara looked at Maggie, raising her eyebrows. "We're in the lion's den."

            "Exactly. You should be happy you're not a permanent resident here, Maggie," Pope joked, but it didn't make Maggie laugh. She stared forward, drinking from her cup. Pope changed the subject. "Hey, have you heard from JJ?"

            "No. But Maggie has," Kiara replied. "He'll be alright. He's got the survival instincts of a cockroach."

            Maggie scoffed, she gulped her drink down. She took a step forward. "When are you going to realise that he acts like he's invincible just so he won't seem like a burden to you? To us? His friends," She grabbed her glass from the tablecloth. "I'm getting another drink."

            Maggie walked to one of the waiters and switched her empty glass for one of the full ones. It was some sort of mix of champagne with something Maggie didn't recognise.

            When she walked on, people suddenly started clapping, so she turned around to see the what the commotion was about. Ward Cameron and his wife walked out of the grand doors like the royalty they are. Behind them were their oldest children Rafe and Sarah, arm in arm — not that they looked pleased to do so. Lastly, Wheezie walked out on Berger's arm.

            Maggie turned on her heel at the sight of the German man. This was the last thing she needed right now. She walked away, but soon enough he stood next to her beside a table. "If I knew you'd be coming, I'd dressed up better."

            Maggie turned her body towards the tall man. "What do you want, Berger?" She asked uninterested.

            "You," He replied. "And for the last time, it's pronounced B–e–rger. I'm German, not some American junk."

            "Right," Maggie replied slowly. "Berger."

            She looked behind Berger, seeing JJ run inside, and then Rafe, Topper and Kelce after him. She tried to run inside, but Berger grabbed her arm. Maggie flinched. "Let go of me, Daniel. People are watching."

            "You can't keep running from me, you know that," He threatened. "One day you'll be back with me, and we'll pick up where we started."

            Maggie pulled her arm back, and ran inside. At the door, she looked back to the man who was now walking towards Ward. She tried to push back the tears forming in her eyes. One single tear fled, but she swiped it away instantly.

            No one had to see her cry. Not today, not ever.

            Maggie searched all the rooms for the four teenage boys. She sneaked behind the doors to stay hidden. That's when she heard Rafe's voice speak mockingly. "Your face looks really bad. Starting to look like your dad more."

            As JJ spit in Rafe's face, Maggie turned around the corner. "I would let him go if I were you."

            She stared at Kelce, but her eyes kept flickering to JJ. This was so not the right timing, but, God, did he look good in the waiter costume.

            JJ stared at Rafe, but his eyes kept flickering to Maggie. He should be focusing on the fact that he was about to be beaten up, but, God, did she look good in that dress.

            "Oh, shit. It's the crazy bitch from the movies." Kelce exclaimed.

            "That's right, the crazy bitch from the movies who beat your ass," Maggie replied, she shared a look with JJ, who shook his head. "And I really don't want to go for round two. I don't want this dress to get ruined by your blood. So make this easier on all of us and just let him go."

            Behind Kelce and JJ, Maggie could see a guard running inside. Maggie walked back into the shadows, using her training to make herself disappear. She went out the back, unseen by any of of the boys nor the guard.

            Not long after joining Kiara again, back at the party, JJ — as Maggie expected would happen — was escorted outside. The guard held him by his arm. JJ put his hands up. "It's okay, everybody! Do not panic! Just leave it to the men and women in uniform, huh!" He started clapping. "Let's hear it for them! Rose! You look like Lady Liberty."

            "Let go of him!" Kiara yelled. Maggie stood next to her, unusually calm, Kiara thought. "You can't just boot him! I invited him here. I'm a member of this club."

            JJ pushed the guard off of him. "Sorry about that! Hey, mandatory powerhouse at Rixon's, Kie, Mags. Pope, you as well, all right? Rixon's Cove. Let's roll!" Kie immediately reacted, running to the other side. Maggie, on the other side, stood still. "All right, Maggie, come on!" JJ urged. "Workers of the world unite! Throw off your chains!"

            Maggie looked around, seeing everyone's eyes on her. Her smile grew slowly. Adriana and John B stood outside the party, waiting for the rest to come. Kiara wrapped her arm around Adriana and ran away beside her.

            Maggie walked slowly to where the Pogues were. Her pace became quicker and quicker until a point where she was sprinting. She jumped into JJ's arms and he spun her around, kissing the side of her forehead.

so ika reminded me of something i hadnt mentioned before. daniel berger is german so it's not pronounced as burger. try searching in a translation app for the dutch word for mountain. hear how it's pronounced and add –er. thats how you pronounce it

second, i had this really cute head canon of midsummers where maggie started asking jj about the drinks on his plate, pretending not to know him. she would start talking about the drinks in a language in which jj knew it wasn't about the drinks but about him

i really wanted to put it in, but i couldn't find a right place in which it also flowed smoothly. just imagine it as a sort of AU ig