PARTNERS IN CRIME || JJ MAYBANK

6 - a very lucky compass

      A bloody compass. I can't believe it, Samantha thought to herself. She spat the remaining toothpaste out, urged by her brother who was insistently knocking at the door. "C'mon! You're taking an eternity".

      "If you don't stop, I swear I'm gonna stay in this bathroom for the next two hours" she said out loud, trying to overwhelm Caleb's complaints.

       The pressing knocks stopped, and a loud snort came from the other side of the door. Samantha stifled a winning chuckle, leaning towards the mirror and looking at her herself.

       The rings under her eyes had gotten worse as she passed another sleepless night, with gunshots ringing in her ears every time she closed her eyes. She signed and tried to fixe her black hair, tidying up some unruly locks.

       When she unlocked the door with a click and opened it, she faced her brother. He was taller than her, so she had to lift her gaze slightly. "Finished" she said, with a teasing smirk. She loved getting on the nerves of her  big brother; it was a sort of revenge for her little-child traumas.

       Caleb replied with an annoyed grunt, then he entered the bathroom and slammed the door.
"Rude" Samantha rolled her eyes, although she knew she had occupied the bathroom for a very long time.

       From the moment she returned home the evening before, her thoughts whirled around the events of that day. If she could go back, she surely wouldn't have risked her life for that compass, John B's father's or not. But, if her friend was right, what link could there be between his father and that whole situation? And why were those men ready to kill a bunch of kids in cold blood just to take it?

       "I'm going out!" she shouted, even though she knew that Caleb, in the shower, probably wouldn't hear her.
She turned the handle of the front door and when it opened, letting the hot air of the outside in, she let out a little shriek, jumping up for the surprise.

"Morning, Sammy" JJ's smile greeted her.

       "Geez" she gasped, "knocking is outmoded?". He was standing in front of the door, his hands sunk in his pockets, his eyes darting around beyond her. Doubt creeped inside her. "How long have you been here?" she frowned.

      "A little, actually" JJ rocked on his feet, his eyes still focused inside the house. "I was waitin' for you, but I would've knocked in a little while".

      The truth hit Samantha. She let out a chuckle, while leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms and her eyebrow raised. "You were afraid that my brother would've opened the door".

       "What?" he scoffed, as if he had heard the greatest absurdity of all the times. "I wasn't".

       "Yes, you were," Samantha replied, arching her eyebrow even more, chuckles shaking her chest. "It's for that that you are inspecting my house, JJ. You're scared that he's going to show up".

      JJ snorted, rolling his eyes. "Okay Sherlock, you're right" he spread his arms in surrender, "I'm not fond of him. But saying that he scares me is overstating".

      Samantha bursted in laughter. "I knew it!" she put a hand on her belly, as it started to hurt from laughing too much. "You're totally afraid of him".

       Long story short, JJ's fear of Samantha's brother started in third grade. It was lunch break, and Samantha and her friends - JJ, John B and a pair of girls she used to speak to - were eating their meal. A little squabble arose between Samantha and JJ, about something she couldn't even remember why.

       It happened that JJ pulled her hair, making her shriek and cry, gaining the attention of the entire cafeteria. Suddenly, a fifth-grade Caleb appeared, towering over JJ, and hit him straight in the face, making his noise bleed.