Stranded Love

The One Who Understands You

"Shut up, Cleo!" He snaps, throwing a hard finger in her direction.

"J..." Kiara starts.

Pope tenses and grows furious. "Stop with this bullshit, JJ!"

"Rude boy acting tough now, huh?" Cleo flips the knife around her fingers, unbothered by his hostility. "All logic out the window wit' you. Open your eyes, chief." She clicks her fingers a few times. "T'is ain't some vacation anymore. You're playing with the lives of people here."

"That's right, JJ. Stop being so fucking selfish!" John B yells at his best friend. The Routledge boy is so close to getting to his feet in anger.

"John B, come on." Kiara words are lost in the argument.

Selfish?! JJ wants to scream. All he wants is them to be together, to stay together, because he's been so close to losing them all! Is there anything so wrong with wanting that?!

"Oh, so I'm selfish. You forget how you threw us all off a cliff because you're as obsessed with treasure as your father?!"

"JJ!" Sarah has now gotten involved.

Everything is beginning to spiral out of control, especially when a seething John B no longer sits.

"JJ, that's uncalled for," Kiara steps a foot into the argument for the first time. The girl doesn't flinch when JJ's fiery blue eyes bore into her.

Something in JJ totally snaps. He doesn't know if it's anger or betrayal or hurt or all of them combined. He just knows that everyone is against him. Even Kiara. Even Kiara... he thought she'd understand, she's the only one that would. But here she is, siding with John B. As per fucking usual. Should it really surprise him? She had a fucking thing for him and probably still does. Of course nothing good fucking comes his way even though he thought he finally did.

"Stay the fuck out of this, Kiara!" He snarls, meeting her hardened gaze with fury. Everyone is standing now.

Kiara just straightens in challenge, eyes burning with deep-rooted passion. "Or what, JJ?"

JJ hesitates for the shortest moment because in all honesty he doesn't know what he'll do. It's only a second worth of hesitation before he goes to fire back but Pope beats him. He's secretly glad because he might've said something he was going to regret. Like calling her a Kook.

"You're such a loose cannon. You need to get it in your thick skull that we won't survive here indefinitely!" Pope propels his words. Cleo ensures that Pope doesn't go in too deep. She can sense a fight brewing.

"You're just thinking about yourself!" John B adds with an enraged glower towards JJ.

JJ glares daggers. "What does it make you, golden boy? You're not selfish, is that it?" His words are lower than before but they're just as provoking and livid.

Sarah presses forward and faces off with JJ, infuriated. "Just drop it, JJ!"

Kiara also forces herself into the stand off and holds her ground in front of John B. She can tell he's about to go off the rails. That they both are.

"What did you say, princess?"

The condescending tone finally sends John B over the edge. He roughly pushes Kiara aside, which just pisses off JJ more, and shoves the Maybank boy, forcing him a few steps back. Usually the two partake in playful wrestling matches but this is something totally different. They've both flipped their shit.

John B swings and his fist connects with JJ's jaw, snapping the boy's head to the side. This pisses JJ off and he punches John B's nose with a direct hit, grunting with mild annoyance that he didn't manage to break it. They continue to go after each other by all means necessary, knocking one another down and throwing their fists wherever they can make contact.