EIGHTEEN

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | THE JUNKYARD

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | THE JUNKYARD

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i look at you, and i just love you, and it terrifies me. it terrifies me what i would do for you.

-never fade // alexandra bracken

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The air in the junkyard was still but smelt of rusting metal.

"Oh, yeah." Steve nodded, looking rather pleased with Dustin's choice of rendezvous setting. "This will do." He swiped his Ray Bans off his face and started walking forward. "This will do just fine. Good call, dude."

Jackie looked down and to the left. Dustin had a grin the size of Russia stretched across his face, pure happiness radiating from him. It made her wonder just how often he got validation like that. She smiled at him and threw her arm over his shoulders.

"You did good, bud," Jackie told him, leading him after Steve.

They walked to the middle of the clearing in the junkyard, trailing more meat behind them. Once in the center, they piled the rest of the meat together.

"I said medium-well!" the voice of Lucas Sinclair yelled from a ways away.

Jackie looked in the direction of his voice. He was standing about ten meters away on a small hill, waving, with a red haired girl standing next to him. Steve mumbled something to Dustin, but Jackie was too focused on the prospect of Lucas getting hurt for her to hear what Steve and Dustin were talking about. In the past year, Lucas had become something like a little brother to her, and if he got hurt she would never forgive herself. It would sting a little differently than the sting of anyone else getting hurt would.

"Why are you here?" Lucas asked Jackie. He wasn't being rude, even if his tone was a little too forceful for Jackie's taste. Really, he just looked worried. "Why do you know about this?"

Jackie smiled stiffly. "Vigilant Sentinel, remember?"

"That crap's just make believe," Lucas said.

"Maybe," Jackie agreed. "But I'm still gonna protect you and your friends. Got it?"

Rolling his eyes and hiding a smile, Lucas nodded. "Got it."

With that settled, Jackie turned to the redhead and smiled kindly. "Hey, you must be Max. I'm Jackie."

The girl blinked up at her, probably wondering how Jackie knew her name.

"Uh, yeah." She smiled awkwardly. "Hi."

Before more conversation could occur, Steve clapped his hands together and began to draw up plans. From the way he talked about strategy, Jackie would have thought him better suited for football rather than basketball. Nonetheless, it was nice hearing him take charge and be confident about something.

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