𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟸 𝚎𝚙.𝟻 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚠𝚘-

"we were portals."

~

Tate sank onto the couch again and buried her face in her hands. John B was in jail. Her mother was gone and her father was basically MIA at this point, her friends were nowhere to be found, and now JJ was off to get himself killed or worse. The situation could get more dire.

At least the crying was over, Tate thought thankfully. She wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and took a shaky breath. There was no use sitting here and crying while there was work to be done. Just as she was getting ready to call Pope and ask what she could do, the door of the Chateau opened again.

For a second, Tate thought JJ was back, but it was Kiara. She was hysterical. She flew into the room, tears streaming down her cheeks, and forgot to close the door after her. Tate hurried over to her and pushed the door shut to keep the wind out. "What's going on?" she asked, putting an awkward hand on Kiara's back.

"We- we don't have- a place to live anymore," she sniffled. "I thought you should know."

"What?"

Kiara couldn't say anything else. She buried her face in Tate's shoulder and sobbed. Tate wrapped her arms around her. "Shh, it's okay," she said. Comforting had never been her strong suit. "It's okay."

"It's not," said Kiara.

Tate and Kiara's friendship had always been rocky, but Tate knew that now wasn't the time to snap at her. She held her at arms' length, wishing she'd pull it together. "Hey, look at me," she said as gently as possible. "We've just had a really fucked up day. If something else happened, I need to know."

Part of her was afraid Rafe had attacked her too. Kiara wiped at her eyes. "My parents kicked me out. And said you can't stay there anymore... Tate, what're we gonna do..."

She dissolved into a fresh wave of tears, but Tate screwed up her face in confusion. "Dude, that's all?"

"What?" Now it was Kiara's turn to step back. "What the hell do you mean, 'that's all?"

Tate shrugged. "I've been kicked out of the house more times than I've spent a night in either of my parents' houses. Plus, it's not like we're on the street, we'll just camp out here. That's what I've been doing anyway."

Kiara finally stopped crying and ran a shaking hand over her face. "You really got thrown out that much?"

Tate chuckled. "Man, you have no idea. Trust me, I'm the best person to get kicked out with. Kie, it's okay," she said, and really meant it this time. "Just think of it as a big, long-term sleepover where you're mildly stressed about where you're gonna get food everyday."

"Okay," Kiara said slowly. "Okay. We're gonna be fine. I mean, this is the least of our problems, right?"

"Right," said Tate.