ᴀᴜɢᴜsᴛ | ᴊᴊ ᴍᴀʏʙᴀɴᴋ

Tʜᴇ Hᴇɪsᴛ (2)

"Because-" Estrella tries, but Kie cut her off

"Pope did this thing with his phone. He, like, put it in his car and-"

"I heard their whole conversation." Pope says

"You wiretapped him ?" Shoupe says with raised brows

"Is that bad ?" Kie says as Estrella closes her eyes with a sigh

"Stop. Just stop." Shoupe says, "I've had enough."

"What are you talking about Shoupe ?" JJ yells as Shoupe starts to make his way out the door, "Are you gonna look the other way again ?"

"You ever heard about the boy who cried wolf ?" Shoupe says as the teens start to follow him down the stairs

"Why would we make this up ?" Kie says

"Why can't you believe us for once ?" JJ says

"Waste of my goddamn time." Shoupe says

"Why would we lie ?" Estrella says as they make it outside

"I know it sounds crazy. I know that !" Kie says

"All right, there's nothing up there. False alarm. Let's all go home." Shoupe says to the other officers

"No, no, please don't go home." Kie tries, "No. Why would we make this up ?"

"Can you just do your job for like 20 minutes ?" Estrella says

"Hey. I... I know..." Shoupe starts

"Just listen. It makes sense !" Kie says

"I know you're upset. And I know you think your friend was innocent."

"He is !"

"But you weren't there. The only actual witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite. All right ? And both of them have a hell of a lot more credibility than any of you right now." Shoupe says before he points to Kie, "I saw your little art project on Ward's wall."

Kie rolls her eyes as she looks away. "Oh, come on."

"Do not do that again. All right ?" He says, "Gonna make things a lot harder for the both of us." He opens his door before turning to the other officers, "Go home."

"At least... at least look for him !" Kie says. Estrella looks over as Pope starts to walk away, "Someone died tonight !"

"Get on home to your parents now." Shoupe says

"I told you this would happen." JJ says as they start to follow Pope, "Like, you're the one that had to drop the camera."

"It was your fault !" Kie yells

"Oh, that was my fault ?"

"Yeah, it was your fault !"

"Why do you always take his side ? Why do you never take mine ?"

"Shut up !" Estrella yells

"Hey ! We're not out of this yet." Pope turns, "We can still go get the gun."

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The next day, the four teens made their way to a drain that they thought the gun would have come out of. Estrella frowning as she looked down at all the trash in the water.

"This is the north drain. It should've gotten washed into the gully." JJ explains, "So, if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to, like-"

"Somewhere in this trash." Pope finishes 

"Correct."

Kie sighs, "Oh my God. People who use plastic should be shot."

"Okay, personally, I love plastic. Use it every day. Love the stuff." JJ says

"Okay, well, hopefully, you recycle it and don't let it flush into the ocean."

"I thought you'd say something like that, so..." Pope says holding up bags, "trash bags."

"Did you just proactively protect the environment ?" Kie smiles

"Maybe."

Estrella frowns playfully, "I'm not really enjoying watching you guys flirt."

"You want us to leave you two alone, or what's going on ?" JJ says, but groans as Pope throws the bags at him.

"Just pick up the trash."

_______________________________________

After maybe 30 minutes of picking up trash, the teens came up short.

"Well, that was fun." JJ says as Kie wipes her forehead.

"If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be in the storm drain." Pope says

"It's in... it's in the drain." JJ nods

"Damn it."

"Of course it is." Estrella sighs

"Good thing I brought the crow." JJ says before digging in his bag

"So, are we gonna do, like, rock, paper, scissors ?" Kie suggests

"No."

"Or alphabetically ?"

"Nah. On three, Pope." JJ says as he and Pope set up to pull the drain gate open, "One, two, three."

JJ grunts as Kie furrows her brows, "Or, like, the oldest goes ?"

"In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there. It gets into your blood, and then it has to come out your pecker." He says looking at the two girls, "So, uh... that would be a hard pass for me."

"Yeah, that's gonna be a no for me." Pope nods

"No, I get it. I get it. You guys are scared." Kie chuckles

"I'm not scared." JJ says

"It's kind of cute." Kie says

"It's the pecker thing." Pope says

"I'm not scared." JJ says as Estrella raises her brows

"You should've just led with that. You don't have to be scared." Kie says

"So, what does that mean ? We have to decide who's going ?" Estrella says pointing between herself and Kie.

"We're both going." Kie says

Estrella head jerks back slightly, "I'm sorry ?"

"Two sets of eyes are better than one." Kie shrugs. She smiles sheepishly at the face Estrella pulls.

"You don't have to, Estrella." Pope says

She looks between her friends before he eyes land on JJ. The blonde boy already having his eyes on her. She clears her throat, "I'll do it."

Kie nods as Estrella walks over by her rolling up her sleeves. She had forgotten the bandaid she had on her wrist. Unfortunately, it seemed like JJ caught it.

Pope turns to Kie, "Okay, just, you know, be careful."

Estrella groans as she gets down first, "God, you guys make me sick."

"I'll be so careful." Kie mocks as she follows Estrella

"I deserve that." Pope nods

As the girls crawl into the drain, Estrella can already feel herself becoming sick. It disgusted her not knowing what her hands could be or were touching.

"Just, uh, holler if you need anything, okay ?" JJ says, "We'll, uh... we'll holler back."

"Very helpful. Thank you." Kie says as her voice echos throughout the drain.

As the girls crawl further, Estrella turns to Kie, "They so owe us."

"Big time." Kie smiles as Estrella shakes her head.

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