THE FOLLOWING MORNING Tabitha woke up with a heavy head and bashed up body. Covered in odd scratches and blackened bruises working their way up her exposed legs to her thigh, random purples dots and spots on her shoulders and arms. Tabitha certainly knew that last night, despite her hopes of staying down low, was absolute mayhem. Of course, she could remember bits and pieces to the noisy night — flashing lights unveiling flooded and flushed bodies, blaring music, clammy hands catching onto the clouds in the night sky, the majority of the participants drunken down with a doped up mind, whilst less of the lot observed on the sidelines.

Tabitha unconsciously smiled at the modern memories of her new-found... home? Well, this wasn't home. She'd been barely 78 hours and she had already settled in, but Tabitha knew she could not stay in this single spot for too long.

     Her father was a well-known man with connections all over, by now he surely would've made a call or two in faux-hope for his daughters return.

Tabitha knew, deep down in her twisted gut, that she had over one hundred unread messages waiting to opened. From her poor mother, so ill and frail so her brother most likely had to be tapping away at the keys, random tweets searching for a missing girl in Liverpool area, and then her dearest father. Tabitha assumed there were no worrisome words written within the message, or even a comment of concern, just plain, demanding and dry. It's all she could expect, for her father was a fool for money and that's all okay as left in her cold heart, no ounce of love for his children nor his poorly wife, merely the heaps of hundreds stacked up securely in safe.

     Cyril was sleeping soundly by her feet, loud and heavy he was breathing, but peaceful and sound as a baby he slept.

"Uh—hey," came a voice from the other side of the door. "Your phone... it's going crazy, everything okay?"

Slowly, the battered down door creaked ajar and out popped Pope, grinning awkwardly with pink painted cheeks. With his snap back beaten hat and forest green unbuttoned shirt, he called;

"Can I come in? Like — you all dressed n that...?"

"Yeah, yeah come in." Tabitha answered, racking a hand through her knotted curls.

"I just wanted to—" once again, Pope was interrupted by the beeping and buzzing from her phone. "I just—" Bzzz. "I just wanted to say that last night I was, like—" Beeeep. "I was really, erm, drunk and can't remember anything, so like, sorry if I did anything that, like, made you feel... uncomfortable."

Finally finishing his sentence, after the loud buzzing and irritating beeping, shuffling on his feet out of pure awkwardness and embarrassment, Pope gave Tabitha a lopsided grin.

"Oh," Shit, Tabitha didn't mean to sound so disappointed... Pope couldn't remember anything from last night. This is so unfair.

How could he not remember kissing her in the kitchen? It was out of some stupid 2000s movie, she was propped up on the counter as he held her hips, the crowd behind them, beside them, inside and outside didn't matter — it was only them in this world alone. But fine, if Pope couldn't remember of this ever-lasting memory, then Tabitha could simply forget it too! How hard could it be? Tabitha can't even remember what she ate twelve hours ago, this horrific awkwardness would soon fade and Tabitha wouldn't have to face Pope in such a flustered state.

"No worries... I cant remember anything either," she said cooly, "I was like... goooone!" Tabitha giggled awkwardly, she wanted to rip her hair out to how embarrassing she was being, but it seemed to be that Pope wasn't paying he was in a world of his own.

"Pope?"

Shaking his head hurriedly, Pope snapped out of his daydream. "Oh, sorry," he apologised again, "Do - Do you hear that?" he signalled outside the bedroom, "Oh! I think JJ's calling me, yup, he's calling me - I can hear his whiny voice, ha...ha..." Without a second glance Pope dashed out the room.

"I didn't hear a thing..?" Tabitha mumbled, finally dragging the heavy covers off her legs she clambered out of bed.

Back in the living room, JJ's hair nearly flew off as Pope spun past him. "Err, bro? You good?"

"Did you tell her?" John B interfered, coming to stand next to JJ, "Tabitha I mean," he clarified as he noticed Pope's confused look. "Did you tell her what happened last night?"

"No."

Both JJ and John B groaned, burying their head into their hands.

"What - why not!?" JJ asked.

"She doesn't remember what happened last night, and I'm not just going to bring it up out of nowhere!"

"Ok... recite the conversation, word for word." JJ then said.

"What is this? This isn't some stupid school play-" Pope huffed.

"Just do it!" John B then said, a bit louder then intended.

"Nike," JJ pointed to John B, "zip it - Romeo... unzip it..." the silence was deadly. "Just get on with the stupid conversation!"

"Okay, I walked in, cool and casual, when she was laying down. Her phone was like... going mad! Message after message I could barely speak, but I did... unfortunately. I said like, err: I was really drunk and can't remember anything... sorry if I did anything that, like, made you feel... uncomfortable-"

"WHAT!" Both boys screeched.

"Then!" Pope interrupted again, "she said something like-" clearing his throat, Pope mimicked a high pitched voice, "'I was so drunk I couldn't remember anything either!' And that's it."

"You're so fucking stupid." John B deadpanned.

Groaning, Pope hitched himself up on the kitchen counter and buried his head into the palms of his hands.

"Mornin'," Tabitha's thick scouse accent rang into the room, "See we're all up, eh."

There was still that awkward air lingering between the two of them, they both knew that they remembered the events of last night, but wouldn't dare to mention them again. John B, on the other hand, not being able to handle the suffocating air, spun around to speak to Tabitha.
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"Teddy!" he greeted happily. "Wanna tour around the island? I'll introduce you to some cool people and let you get used to the place, I figured you'd be here for quite some time."

"Oh, yeah, 'course!" Tabitha agreed happily, John B's rosy smile infected onto her cheeks. "I'll go get ready and we can head off."

As soon as Tabitha disappeared out of sight, JJ turned to John B, his humour face completely vanished. "Don't take her to the North side, alright, no Figure 8. They find out that there's a new girl here, a fucking Brit at that, they're gonna go wild, alright? So, stay away from Topper, Sarah, Rafe - everyone from Figure 8 stays out of this."

"They're gonna find out about Teddy one day, she isn't some secret treasure box, okay? We might as well show her who to stay away from, and where not to go, even if that means going to Figure 8." John B bit back, his attitude drastically changing.

"I'm with John B," Pope sided with him. "They're gonna see her at some point, and obviously notice she's new, might as well get it over and done with before the fire burns bigger."

"What does that even fucking mean? 'Fire burns bigger'." JJ mocked.

Pope merely rolled his eyes and hopped off the counter, "I'm gonna go get Kie. See you guys later."

As he left the shack, Tabitha appeared in the door way. There enthusiasm was little enthusiasm on her freckled face, most completely drained from before, and her fists white. The tension had vanquished from before, but something else was clearly plaguing her mind.

"Ready?" she asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, let's go." John B grabbed his keys and headed for the door, sharing one last irritated look with JJ.