SWEET NICOTINE | pope heyward

15, the group of stranded teenagers

"My brother who I thought was dead, and isn't is on the boat with Ward. And Ward killed my mom" She froze when the words escaped, her hand even shooting to her face to cover her mouth. JJ's eyes widened and the two blondes stared at each other for a few seconds.

"oh yeah, I have a brother" She finished before turning away from him. "and my name's Amelia" She breathed out, all of her secrets flying full force off of her chest. She didn't notice she had started to shake. "and the only person who knows my name is Pope. And Sarah and John B are the only ones who know about Logan"

"And, I didn't think I'd stick around this long. and I'm not even sure I belong with you guys but I am going crazy keeping this all in" She turned back to the boy and his face was soft.

"AJ, as much as you might hate it, you are a freaking pogue." JJ laughed and she smiled, a genuine smile. "are you okay?" He asked and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay, well then enough of this sappy shit."

"Good, you might not believe me now but I am not a fan of sappy shit" The two laughed until AJ's face fell.

"do you think if we buried the Juul in the sand it would dry up enough for us to use it?" JJ took a second to recover from the whiplash of a convo change before questioning it himself.

AJ pushed herself towards the shore, her mission set. Try to revive the Juul. "but won't it die anyways?" JJ reminded her.

"Shhh, don't wake the others." She shushed the boy, looking over the group of still-sleeping teenagers. "It will die eventually. Which is why-" AJ dug through the pocket of her flannel as she spoke to JJ with a hushed voice. "-we don't tell the others we have it so we can get the most from it" She let out and JJ shot a look at her.

"AJ, I like the way you think"

"I know you do" She laughed and started to put some dry sand around the Juul. Digging a small hole for it far enough from the shore to keep it dry. "give me that stick" AJ pointed a few feet from them and JJ nodded before retrieving it for her.

She stuck the stick into the sand to mark their treasure before standing and brushing the sand off of her wet skin. "We should try to find some more food to eat, we might be here a while" AJ reminded the boy and she didn't miss the way his eyes sparked with content. She didn't know just how much of a dream this was to him.

DAY SEVEN

The pogues had been stranded for a week at that point. A week since everything went down. The first few days they hadn't quite swallowed the pill they chose. They hadn't quite excepted all that they had to endure now.

On the fourth day something changed, they were still eating lots of fruits, Pope and Cleo venturing off to collect some berries. JJ and AJ collected water in coconut shells for Kiara to boil over the fire. Sarah and John B in charge of trying to create some shelter.

Pope got back from collecting berries and brought over a handful for AJ. She smiled, thanking him as she tossed a few in her mouth. Savouring their sweetness.

"we should try to build something on the cliff over there, so we can light it and send a smoke signal if ya know" Pope started, his suggestion falling short before he said it. The seven pogues swore off talking about rescue. In case it didn't come, in case it did.

"I'll help, come on" AJ signalled with her head for the boy to follow and they went off for a walk. "we should see what's up there first" Sarah stopped the pair, running over with a coconut filled with water.

"hydration" She reminded them and AJ smiled.

The pair hiked up the small cliff. The view meeting AJ's eyes as she stared out in awe. It was beautiful. Like John B said the first night, their own slice of paradise.