Stowaways [JJ Maybank]

12. Fire

JJ shakes me up.
"Sarah said she needs to talk to us at the Chateau. Come on." He says. I sigh as I sit up.

We walk over there.

"Holy shit, Naomi, what happened?" Kie asks looking at the bruises and cuts.

I don't know what to do. How do I tell her?

"Who did this?" Cleo asks running to my side.
"He didn't die, Cleo. He came for me."
"No." She says shaking her head. I nod.
"He's dead now." JJ says putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"What? Who's dead?" Kie asks completely confused.
"JJ, who did you kill?" Pope asks.
"I'll tell you guys when we're all together." I say just wanting to have to tell the story one last time.

Kie nods still looking at me confused.

Sarah walks out.
"Hey, thanks for waiting. Look who decided to come home." Just as she says that John B walks out.
"Hey."
"Welcome back."
"You gotta be kidding me." JJ laughs. I laugh with him.

"Shit, what happened to you?" John B asks looking at me.
"Oh my god. Are you okay?" Sarah asks running to my side.

"Uh-." I mutter looking up at JJ. He nods. "You all might wanna take a seat."

I tell them the entire story.

"Holy shit." Kie mutters.
"And you didn't think it was important to tell us you killed your dad?" Pope asks.
"What did you want her to say?" JJ asks.
"Oh, hey Pope, just letting you know I killed my crazy, abusive, murderer dad?" I ask. Pope looks away.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asks me. I nod.
"It's not a big deal. Nothing I haven't done before." I say trying to cope with humor.

"He better stay dead, or I kill him." Cleo says. I give her a soft smile.

"Okay, anything else we should probably know?" John B asks looking at me. I shake my head.
"Nope. You guys know my deepest darkest secrets." I say. He nods.
"I would just like to brag about knowing before all of you." JJ says. I look up at him.
"I knew first." Cleo says. JJ points at her and nods.

"Sarah, what did you have to tell us?" I ask.
"I have something I wanna share with you guys." Sarah says. We all wait for her to continue. "I can get us down to the Orinoco."
"Are you serious?" Pope asks.
"Holy shit!" I yell.
"How's that gonna happen?" Cleo asks.
"My dads gonna let us use the plane."
"Wait. Your dad? As in Ward? Like the Ward we don't like?" I ask.
"Yeah."
"Ah."

"We lay low tonight, then wheels up first thing in the morning."
"That's a lot to process. Your dad actually helping us."
"I talked to him. He'll do it."
"So we're trusting Ward now?" Cleo asks.
"Trust Sarah." Kie says.
"With my life." I say. She smiles at me.

"But wait, I have one more thing to say. Since we've gotten back from the island, I've done some things that I regret. A lot." She says looking at John B.
"Yeah, uh.. I feel like we've all done a thing of two that we regret." John B says.

Kie and I share a look.

"And uh Poguelandia, guys. It's all I've been able to think about. We were all together on that island, and it was a good thing, and I don't want to ruin any good thing. I just wanna know, are we still all in? Are we still all together? Because I am."

"Yeah." Kie says hugging her.
"We pon road!" Cleo yells hugging her.
"I'm already in too deep." I say joining the hug.
"Im so glad we found you." She says to me.
"I still can't believe we got that plane." Pope says joining us.
"I know!"
"Let's go get Big John. What do you say there, shit bird?" JJ says John B, while putting his arm around me.
"How long you gonna pretend like you're not coming over here?"
"Come over here, funny man."
"We don't bite." Kie says.
"Get your ass over here." I say laughing. John B walks over closing the group hug.