𝙴𝚄𝙿𝙷𝙾𝚁𝙸𝙰 - 𝙾𝚄𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙱𝙰𝙽𝙺𝚂

- t h i r t e e n

third person.

the pogues and morgan climbed into the twinkie, john b claiming he had figured out the secret behind his father's compass during their time in the chicken coop.

"i mean, he had to know it'd come back to us, right, sage?" john b tried. he was currently attempting to convince the group that big john was trying to send a message to his kids.

"john b, maybe he was trying to talk to you, but he sure as hell wasn't trying to talk to me." she deadpanned.

"sage, come on, are you serious? can you let it go? yeah, he didn't show up for you a couple times, so what?" john b spat, suddenly angry, sage scoffing and rolling her eyes.

"the only thing dad taught me was what a parent shouldn't look like. it was his fault mom left, not mine, but guess who took all the blame for that." sage replied, turning to the back where everyone was looking at her, eyes slightly widened.

"he loved you." john b said quietly after everyone sat in silence for a moment. "he loved you, he just didn't know how to show it."

"i can tell." sage deadpanned, crossing her arms and looking out the window.

"this is tense." jj commented, leaning back in his seat.

"everyone climb aboard the daddy issues bandwagon." sage said shortly, morgan raising her hand.

"i've been waiting twelve years for the cigarettes and chinese food, can i join?" she questioned, sage nodding.

"everyone in this van besides pope is eligible at this point." the blonde replied, leaning back in her seat.

"john b, it is possible you're concocting wild theories to help... process your sad feels." pope explained.

"you know how i process my sad feels." jj started, sage turning around.

"weed, weed, and weed, we know." she deadpanned, the twinkie stopping short in front of redfield lighthouse. "i hate this place more than anything else in this world."

"can you stop being a bitch for five seconds and give this a shot?" john b said shortly, not even waiting for an answer before climbing out of the van, the rest of the group following.

"if no one's gonna say it, i will." sage said flatly, turning to jj. "you should sit this one out."

"no- absolutely not!" jj tried, but was quickly shot down by everyone around him, pope spewing some nonsense about independent and dependent variables.

"how about this." sage interjected, pointing at john b and kiara. "you, you, go inside. the rest of us will babysit jj because we all know i'm not equipped to do it myself." she pitched, jj opening his mouth in protest but sage clamped her hand over it before he could say anything. "kapeesh?"

"kapeesh." john b breathed, he and kiara turning to walk toward the lighthouse, jj grabbing sage's wrist and pulling her hand away from his face.

"you're a real asshole, y'know?"

"i thrive on asshole-ery." the blonde girl replied with a smile, adjusting the white bandana that was holding her hair back.

"can we get on the roof of the van?" morgan asked as jj and pope walked away from the girls to bicker about something.

"yeah, i go up there all the time to tan." sage explained, grabbing the surfboard rack and using it to pull herself up, grabbing morgan's hand, lacing their fingers together and pulling her onto the roof with her.

"my dad used to take me and john b here all the time when we were kids." sage explained. "i hated everything about it, walking up the stairs to the top, hearing the same thing every time, about how he thought it was somewhere over there, or there, whatever he was feeling that day was where the boat was."