𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 - jj maybank

- 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

"Sure."

"I'm no —"

"There's Ward."

John Bʼs words shut Jordan up, and everybody turned to face him. He held Popeʼs binoculars to his eyes and wore an angry look. Ward murdered his dad, and it was obvious that the boy wanted revenge. He slowly brought the gear away from his face, staring at the scene in shock.

"What?" questioned Kie. When she didn't get a reply, she repeated herself even louder. "What?"

"It's Sarah."

Until the night his father tried to kill him, Jordan Flores had never felt fear. Everything in his life was perfect, and he was the king of his whole world. He did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to, he spent as much money as he pleased, and he never had to care about anybody he loved getting hurt — they had the money to fix them. But then the truth hit Jordan like a slap to the face, and he now lived in a constant state of fear.

When he heard Sarahʼs name, the boy felt his heart drop. Sarah was like his sister. They played games together, talked about girls together, had food eating competitions together — at this point, he was closer to her than he was to Kaci. To think that there was the slightest possibility of her being hurt terrified him.

"She's with him?" asked JJ, confused.

Jordan shook his head. "There's no way."

"Wait a minute," said John B, looking through the binoculars again. "He's hurting her."

"What?" asked Kie.

"What?" JJ panicked.

"They're fighting."

Kie took the binoculars from him to take a look for herself.

Jordan turned around to watch John B run back to the Twinkie. At first, nobody else noticed him, too focused on whatever was happening ahead. So Jordan went with him. However, the moment the Flores boy moved, JJʼs head snapped towards them.

"No, no, no, no — Jordan, no."

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Pope, running back to the two boys in the van.

"Guys, where are you going?" Kie followed after him.

"Yo, are you sure you're coming?" John B turned to Jordan, who was sitting beside him in the passengerʼs seat.

He nodded, eyes straight ahead of them. "That's my sister, bro."

"Jordan, no — please don't," JJ called out to them as the Twinkieʼs engine roared to life.

"Hey! Hey!" Pope and Kie continued to yell at the two boys.

A red sense of fury behind his eye, John B drove straight through the gate and there was no turning back.

"Jordan, no —!" JJ ran a stressful hand through his hair. "Oh, fuck, your sister's gonna kill me," he mumbled once they were gone.

Jordan gripped to the side of the moldy seats as John B drove faster and faster, the wheels of the Twinkie feeling like fire. He stared through the window, racing against the plane beside them. He could see Sarah. She was terrified. Jordan couldn't quite hear what she and John B were saying to each other over the sound of the planeʼs engine.

"GET OFF THE RUNWAY! GET OFF!"

John B went faster. He turned to the boy beside him, his expression going soft, as he could see the clear fear in his eye. "You ready?"

Jordan nodded.

𖧷

𝗞𝗮𝘇 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 screamed and wailed at the sound of the destruction outside. His mom stirred in her sleep, groaning at his cries in the crib beside her bed. Kaci slowly rose up from her covers, eyes hurting from how little sleep she'd had, and scooped her baby boy into her arms, patting his back and rocking him calmly. She made her way to the small kitchen, opening the fridge to get out some formula.