Down

Chapter 4

JJ said" We've been through it three times! There's nothing there."
Kie said" Shut up!"
" What? It's true!"
" The gold could be buried. We don't know."
John B said" If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it."
JJ said" Or it was never there."

I was playing with Turtle, Jj was playing with the gun, I saw Pope, I smiled at him, then got up, walking to him. JJ finally saw him, I saw JJ take off the headphones, I took the ones he taped up more off.
Pope said" They know."
JJ aaid" Alright, chill, bro. Alright? They don't know shit."
" Topper knows I sunk his boat."
" How do you know they know?"
" Because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heyward's and mad dogged me."
" Will you calm down and get a grip, man? They don't know shit."
" They have cameras. They could've seen me."
" There was no power, Pope. How could they have seen you?"
" It's Figure Eight. They got generators. They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript."
" Enough with the regret, bro! They caved your face in. They hit us, we hit them. Its the law of the jungle. Now, if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walk up to 'em, look 'em right in the eye, and..."
" Deny the living shit out of it."
" That's right. Deny, deny, deny. But just for safety, we don't go anywhere without protection. Right?"

Kie said" I'm so glad that they're still doing this. Keep calm. Carry on. Back to OBX life. You know? Aren't you guys glad that I made you come?"
Pope said" Ecstatic."
JJ said" My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest."
" We're out of the green zone, man."
" Dude, tranquilo, okay?"
" We're in the middle of Kooklandia. This is the last place I wanted to be." Kie grabbed my hand and we walked away from JJ and Pope.

Kie said" Hey, uh... can I get two pepsis, please?" I wrapped my arms around Kie's tummy, I saw the mean Kook,
He said" Hey, Kie. Hey, what's up? How are you?"
" I'm fine." I hid my face against her side, I gulped,
" Good, good. Um... Tell your boy that we know what he did."
" Sorry, what boy are you talking about?"
" Uh, he'll know." Kie walked away, I followed her," Bye."
" Douche." We got back to JJ and Pope, I went to JJ," Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, tell your boy that we know what he did. What is that?"
JJ said" Um... Where is he?"
" Right there." They turned around to look,
Pope said" Great, the whole death squad."
JJ said" Don't stare, bro. Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now."
" Yeah, yeah."
" If that doesn't work, I got this right here."
" Yeah, yeah. So, we just gotta stay in the group. They can't get us if we're in the group."
" Like a school of fish."
" Stay in the school. Can't leave the school."
Kie said" I'm sorry, JJ... please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids."
JJ said" No! Kie, I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?"
" Wow, thank you. That's really convincing. I love that, JJ. Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst pogues. What is Rafe talking about?"
Pope said" Kie, it might go down tonight."
" What does that mean? Might go down tonight. What did ya'll do?"
JJ whispered" Deny, deny, deny." I climbed onto his lap, he wrapped an arm around me and gave me a sip of pepsi.

I was half on Kie's lap, watching the weird movie, then I saw JJ and Pope get up,
Kie whispered" Hey, where y'all going?"
JJ said" We gotta wring it out."
" You gonna hold it for each other?" They walked away, I looked at Kie, she smiled at me," You got any idea what they're up to, Skye?"
I said" Nope." She ruffled my hair then I whined as her fingers got stuck in the gnarly knot.
" Oh, I'm sorry, sorry... did JJ not brush out your hair for you?"
" He named it gnarly knot."
" And I will brush it out before I allow you to go home, okay?"
" Okay." I looked up and saw the Kooks going towards where JJ and Pope went, I gulped." Kie, scary kooks." I pointed to them,
" Oh, okay. Stay here." She got up, and walked away, I gulped but got up and followed her.

I saw them fighting, they threw Kie down, I ran to her, I saw JJ getting hit,
I said" JJ!" I went to run to him but Kie grabbed me, she wrapped her arm around my stomach and picked up JJ's lighter. I saw them choking Pope and JJ, I started crying, Kie crawled to the screen and caught it on fire. He threw Pope down,
Kie yelled" Kelce, let go of JJ!" He let him go, JJ was coughing, Kie ran to Pope, JJ ran to me and lifted me up. They ran away, I held onto his sweatshirt, tears slid down my face.
JJ said" You okay, Munchie? Shh, I'm okay, see? I'm fine!" He bounced me in his arms," Sh, sh, sh, sh."
———
We were at Heyward's,
JJ said" Don't let it get in your head, bro. Three of them and two of us. That's some typical Kook shit right there."
Kie said" Hell yeah."
" What was your thought process, using your head?"
Pope said" I don't know, man. I just kind of acted off instinct. Alright, I was a cornered animal."
Mr. Pope said" Hey, Pope, someone here to see you." A police man came in,
" Evening, Officer."
Police man said" I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property. Keep your hands on the counter, where I can see them. Young lady, get out of my way."
Mr. Pope said" Whoa. Shoupe, what'd he do?"
" Take a look at the warrant."
Kie said" You're arresting him?"
Mr. Pope said" You're just arresting my boy?"
" Be careful!"
" Shoupe, are you listening?" JJ lifted me up onto his hip,
JJ said" How much did they pay you, man? How much did they pay you?"

We got outside,
JJ said" It wasn't him! It was me." JJ put me down," He tried to talk me out of it, but I was mad because he'd just been beaten up. I was so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I lost my shit." JJ walked up to them, I followed him, holding onto his hand." I can't let you take the blame for somethin' I did. You've got too much to lose."
Pope said" JJ, what are you doing?"
" I'm tellin' the truth. For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth. I took his old man's boat, too."
Mr. Pope said" What the hell?"
Pope said" JJ, come on."
JJ said" Just shut up, Pope! Just shut up. He's a good kid. You know where I'm from."
Police man said" Yeah."
" This was all me."
" That's the whole truth?"
" Whole truth, swear to god."
" I know what you think, damn it, I'm asking Pope here."
Pope said" Yeah, that about covers it." Police man undid the cuffs on Pope and JJ put me in the truck, getting in after me. I looked at him, scared, they're gonna call daddy and daddy's gonna be really mad and he's gonna hurt JJ. He smiled at me, winking, I smiled a little back.

We got to the police station, I was sat in a chair while Shoupe took JJ away from me, I pouted and slumped down.