Can't Stop Smiling • Pope Heyward

Two

"Popes out back." Heyward says as I walk out back.

"Hey." I say smiling.

"Hey." He says smiling looking up at me. "I'm not working a lot today. My friends said they need me so I actually have to go in a bit." He says kinda upset.

"Oh okay." I say as I start washing shrimp.

"My dad said you were really smart. What do you wanna do for a job?" Pope asks curiously.

"Honestly. I don't know. I wanna get into a good college to get off this island. But I wanna travel the world after I get out of college and then I can go into whatever job I want that pays good." I say telling him my plan. "What about you he said you were pretty smart."

"I wanna work with dead bodies." He says hesitantly.

"Awesome." I say fascinated by what he's curious in.

She isn't scared off!

"You aren't freaked out?" He says in shock.

"No, I mean I think it's cool." I say shrugging my shoulders.

"Pope!" Heyward yells as we both look up. "Their here!"

"I gotta go." He says as he uses the hose to spray his hands.

"Yea, uh have fun." I say continuing washing the shrimp.

"Pope!" I hear a guy yell.

"Shit." Pope says to himself as he quickly walks up the dock.

"Can I meet her?" John B says as I run into him.

"Absolutely not." I quickly say grabbing him and bringing him back to the van.

"Plan didn't work?" JJ asks laughing.

"Nope he doesn't want me to meet her." John B says with a shrug as I roll my eyes.

"Maybe she isn't real." JJ suggest as I slap his shoulder.

"She's real." I defend.

"Is she into you?" JJ asks.

"I don't know. Maybe. She thinks the dead body thing is cool." I say smiling to myself.

"And she's pretty?" John B asks not believing me.

"Gorgeous." I correct. "And she's smart and her eyes are a beautiful Hazel. Her blond hair is always down in her natural waves. And she's smart, she wants to travel the world after college."

"Pope sounds in love." Kie jokes. "But he is right. She's gorgeous."

"I barely know her. I'm not in love." I defend myself again.

"What's her name again?" JJ asks.

"Julie. I don't know her last name. Never told me or my dad. She's gonna be a Sophmore." I say giving JJ all the info I know.

•

"Heyward. I think I'm done for the day. I cleaned the shrimp and fish and also cleaned what Pope had to." I say wiping my hands on my clothes and brushing my hair out of my face.

"You really didn't have to do Popes work." He says working at the counter.

"Yea but I wanted to help." I say shrugging.

"We'll thank you Julie." He says nicely. "Now go have fun. Enjoy the rest of your day." He says as I wave good bye.

I walk out and see Pope and JJ.

"Pope." I yell as the two of them look at me. "I cleaned all the shrimp and fish for you."

"Really? Thank you." He says thankfully.

"Julie." JJ says as he hugs me. "Dad said you left, I checked in at home I was so worried." He whispers as his arms are still around me.

"Yea he kicked me out." I say with a shrug.

"You guys know eachother?" Pope questions.

"Yea uh. Last name is Maybank." I say scared he's not gonna like me.

"Siblings." He says realizing.

"Shit heads!" A guy yells out the window as we all look at him.

"John B meet Julie my sister. She's in on it now and is coming with us." JJ introduces as Pope grabs my hand and the two drag me into the van.

"Siblings?" Kie says confused as they shut the door.

"Your the girl at the wreck." I say smiling at her.

"I see similarities." Kie states looking at JJ and I.

They all explain everything to me. The gold, the ship wreck, the people shooting at them, the compass and now were standing in front of a grave.

"Help me with the door." John B says as the three boys try and push a brick door. I stare at Pope as I see his veins on his hands and arms.

Holy shit.

I quickly look away as all the boys back away at the sound of a snake.

My brother starts barking at it as we all shush him. "Shut up!" I yell at him.

"Your gonna wake the dead man." Pope says grabbing JJ.

"Their afraid of dogs everyone knows that." JJ says stopping. "There's one then there's probably dozens." JJ says as he starts barking again.

I push him back as they all try and think of ways to get in.

"My bad." JJ says holding up his hands in surrender.

I turn back around seeing Kie climbing into the small whole in the grave.

"Oh my god." I say freaking out a bit.

Kie stops as we all ask questions to make sure she's okay. She hands John B a package and climbs out.

"You okay?" I ask Kie as I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yea, yea I'm good." She says breathing heavy and giving me a soft smile.

"This whole thing is like, really creepy." I state creeped out as I look around the graveyard. "Shit, JJ." I say freaking out as he looks at what I'm looking at.

"Shit. Code red, square groupers." He panics as we all hide behind the big grave.

"Is that the people that broke into your house?" I ask as I my breathing quickens.

"Yea." I say as I look at the girl beside me. I notice her breathing quickening as she closes her eyes.

I grab her hand and give it a tight squeeze tuning out the others panicked voices. "We're gonna be okay." I whisper as she looks at me.

"Yea." She says agreeing. I hold her hand up to my chest so she can feel my breathing at match it. I notice her breathing calm down as she squeezes my hand lightly before letting go.

I quickly grab it again as I notice Kie run towards the fence. We all break out into a sprint and hop the fence.

JJ boosts me up after helping Kie and I quickly jump over. "Shit guys I'm stuck." Pope says freaking out as we all stop to try and help him.

John B and Kie start pulling as JJ brings out his gun to try and shoot his shorts to rip them. I grab the gun and roll my eyes at JJ.

"It's like a little tootsie roll." I hear JJ says as I look to see Pope running to the van covering his penis in his underwear.

We all get in the van laughing at Pope as he looks down embarrassed.

I like this people.

They make me...

Happy.

1170 words!!

I'll be posting a chapter or two and an edit every weekend!