PRINCESS [Sarah Cameron] ON HOLD

Eleven

When her brother catches sight of her face, he practically turns red in anger at their father, but Parker catches sight of the look in his eyes and silently tells him that now is not the time. 

JJ helps her to their room, and Luke settles at the table in the main room with his drinks. JJ begins to wipe some of the blood off of Parker's face when Luke turns up his radio to full volume and begins to yell, "How you gonna get that money back? By sittin' around doin' nothin'?"

Parker groans, and JJ begins to pace around with his hands in his hair. Luke continues to scream, adding, "I'm gonna tell you right now, you are a worthless piece of shit!" This is enough to make JJ bang against his bedroom door, shouting, "Shut up! Shut up!"

Parker gets up to pull him back down, but when Luke shouts, "Your mama knew," Parker stand up silently. JJ backs away, knowing that Parker was unpredictable when angry, and when she suddenly swipes all of the stuff off of his nightstand, he sighs. 

Luke continues to scream, demanding that she comes to him. Parker lies down on JJ's bed, and JJ quickly joins her, tears forming in his eyes. The two of them had never been very good at expressing their emotions, but when they are alone together they feel safe enough to cry.

Parker pulls JJ into her, and the two of them fall into a restless and fearful sleep.

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A few hours later, JJ wakes up and finds his bed empty. He looks around, concerned as to where Parker had went, and when he hears rustling from the main room, he knows that this is where she has gone. 

He moves to grab his bag, but it isn't where he left it. When he runs out into the main room, he finds Parker with the gun pointed at Luke's snoring head. She cocks it, and JJ silently watches. Her lip trembles as she continues to point it at her father, and she clenches her hand as if to pull the trigger, but she just can't. 

She turns around and lets out a sob before quietly saying, "I'm going to fucking kill him. I swear, one day." JJ just nods and slowly takes the gun from her, slipping it back into his bag. He leads her outside to their shared dirt bike, and they hop on it and ride away from their house as fast as they can.

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Parker and JJ are waiting around the side of a Château when John B finally walks up. Parker tries to hold her brother back from sneaking up on him, but she is unsuccessful. JJ grabs their best friend's head, and puts his hand over his mouth.

John B immediately starts fighting, knocking both him and JJ onto the ground. Parker rolls her eyes before pulling John B off of her brother and whisper-yelling, "It's us, doofus. Now shut the hell up and look."

The twins drag their friend over towards some canoes and they point out a sedan near the Château. JJ, still panting, quietly exclaims, "See that? They're watching us, okay?" John B pauses for a second before asking, "Who?"

JJ and Parker don't have an answer, so Parker shoves for the two boys to start moving towards the water. JJ supplies, "I don't know." Parker continues to get them to move, saying, "Let's go. Sneak around to the dock." The trio moves down into the marsh, where they quietly slip into the water and put their backpacks on their heads.

As they trek forward through the marshy grasses, JJ pauses for a second. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. You got the keys to the Pogue?" John B quickly nods while keeping his eyes on his house.

The trio jumps into the water before swimming to the HMS Pogue and pulling themselves up and onto it with a dangling rope. JJ struggles to untie the boat from the dock for a second while Parker tries to rush John B along.