ᴀᴜɢᴜsᴛ | ᴊᴊ ᴍᴀʏʙᴀɴᴋ

Dᴇᴀᴅ Cᴀʟᴍ (2)

"I'm gonna pay you back, and I didn't ask you to do that !"

Estrella look to Pope in disbelief. Why would he say that ? He knows exactly why JJ took the fall for him.

"I just did ! Pay it back. Right here, right now, by myself." JJ spits as he gets in Pope's face. "You know what ? That's exactly what I'm gonna do." He says. He goes to the van and snatches his bag. "Go off by myself."

They watch as he walks off. Pope goes to follow after him.

"JJ." Pope says before John B pulls him back. "Hey, wait, man."

"Just let him go." Sarah says

"What ?" Estrella scoffs as she looks between them. She turns and tries to follow him.

Kie tries to pull her back, "Estrella-"

"Let go of me." She says snatching her arm back. She jogs off to where JJ went.

"Jay." She calls out, but his steps don't slow

"Jay." She calls again.

"Leave me alone, Estrella."

The girl stops abruptly. "JJ."

JJ stops, but doesn't turn to her. "What ?"

She walks up and goes around him to see his face. "I'm sorry for what Pope said, okay ?"

JJ sighs deeply as he looks away.

"And trust me, I don't agree with them at all. I know you're just looking out for everybody-"

"I just wanna be myself, alright ?"

"JJ-"

"Just go."

Estrella takes a shaky breath as JJ brushes past her. Not giving her a second glance.

Pope looks up as he hears leaves crunching. "Estrella."

The girl doesn't say anything as she walks over to them.

"Is he coming back ?" Kie asks

"You wanted him to go off by his self, right ?" She snaps, "That's what he's doing."

She pushes past them and gets into the back seat.

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John B brought everyone back to The Wreck. They were waiting for some kind of word from JJ, but no one had heard anything. Sarah, Kie, and John B sat together as Pope stood by window. Estrella sat at a table by herself.

"Look, he'll come around, all right ? It's..." John B sighs, "He's doing a JJ thing."

Estrella scoffs to herself, "A JJ thing."

"You think he'll go home ?"

"There's about a zero percent chance that JJ goes home."

"You know we wouldn't even have to worry about him going home if you guys weren't such assholes to him." Estrella says

Pope looks to Estrella who has yet to look up from her lap. He hadn't seen her this upset at him since fifth grade.

"You okay ?" John B whispers

"Yeah." Sarah nods, "Are you ?"

"I mean, I'm in one piece, so..."

Pope sighs "Okay. It's too dangerous to pawn this thing off piecemeal. So our best bet is to go down there and get the rest of it. Bring it all up at once. Put it in- in a safe or a vault or something. I... I don't know. Just until we can find someone who won't rip us off. I can figure it out tonight, get it done, and we can be out there tomorrow morning."

"All right, let's do it." John B says

"Easy."

"Let's go."

"What about that thing with my dad ?" Sarah says

"Shit."

"What thing ?" Pope says

"I have to go fishing with Ward."

"You can't get 400 mil 'cause you're gonna go kill fish ?" Kie says bewildered

"Look, I have to go."

"Blow it off." Pope shrugs with a sigh. "It's 400 million in gold !"

"Make something up !" Kie exclaims

"Look, I have to, okay ? He saved me, all right ? If it weren't for Ward, I'd be in foster care. So... I have to go. Plus, it'll be better to do it at night. Right ?"

"Fine. Fine, go fishing." Pope says

"And at least JJ will probably have washed up by then." Kie says rolling her eyes.

"God." Estrella chuckles humorlessly as she stands up and walks toward the door.

"Where are you going ?" Pope says

They get no response as the door slams shut behind her.

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