𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋'𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 || 𝐣. 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨

Then, they all started laughing in relief because they knew what that meant. Only one person would say that, so JJ went over to hug Pope as Kie and Bree giggled and embraced each other. "It's him."

"It's definitely him," the Heyward boy agreed with a laugh. He patted JJ's back hard, causing both of them to grunt before the Maybank boy made his way over to Kie and gave her a hug.

He pulled back and yelled up at the sky, "Yeah!" Then, he ran over to the Callaway girl and wrapped his arms around her, picking her up off the ground and spinning her as she smiled down at him, butterflies erupting in her stomach as their eyes met, lingering on each other for more than a moment. Her arms were on his shoulders to keep her from falling. Their friends were alive, and the weeks of depression and grieving were over.

"'Laying super low in Nassau,'" Kie read out, holding her phone up so that she could see the messages as she chuckled. "How the hell did they get to the Bahamas?"

As the blonde boy brought Bree's feet back to the ground, and their laughing paused for just a moment. Their faces were inches apart as he said, "You can't kill a Pogue, dude." Despite the news they just got, all she could focus on was his hands on his waist as her shirt rode up just a little bit. It was enough that his fingers were brushing against the skin of her hips. She felt like electric shocks were going all over her body at the sensation.

"Damn right," the brunette girl told him with a nod as she took a deep breath and used all of her strength to pull away, moving to sit by Kie so that she could read the messages off her phone even though she had her own that she could use. She leaned forward just a little bit so that she could give the Heyward boy a high five.

Pope added, "Especially John B." Happy tears began to roll down the Carrera girl's face as their phones dinged again. 'Can you clear my name? Wanna come home.'

"Hell yeah, we'll clear your name, boy," JJ told him, even though he could not hear him since he was all the way in Nassau.

"'Be in touch,'" the raven-haired girl said to them as the Callaway girl read the words from the message over her shoulder with a huge grin on her face. "'P4L.'"

They all just looked at each other for a second, and Bree was pretty sure that she had never been that happy to get a text from John Booker Routledge in her life. But here she was. JJ shouted, "P4L, man. That's what I'm talking about!" He climbed up onto the table and looked up at the sky. "P4L, baby!"

"Oh, my God. P4L!" the brunette girl yelled with him, laughing as tears welled up in her eyes. John B was alive. Sarah was alive. All they had to do was clear the Routledge boy's name, and everything would be back to normal.

《✵》

"I NEVER DOUBTED THEM," JJ SAID AS THEY WALKED OUT OF THE WRECK. He was talking about how he had always been the one to tell the others that their friends were alive and to not give up, which was different from his usual pessimistic behavior.

Kie laughed out, "I owe you five bucks." Yes, they betted on whether or not John B and Sarah were alive, and yes, they only bet five dollars.

"Kiara, I do need those setups done by five!" Anna Carrera informed her daughter, yelling from the porch of the restaurant. Bree knew that she was going to need to help too. She had not been the best employee lately, and she was surprised that she had not been fired yet.

The raven-haired girl shouted back, "You know, there are other people that work here."

"You're taking one of them," the woman told her, gesturing to the Callaway girl that was walking with them. "That's, like, half our employees, and ain't none of them my children."