"Don't ignore me princess"
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Throughout the entire history of the kooks and the pogues there has only been one thing the two groups had in common, their love to party.
Tonight was no different. The pogues brought out a keg to the boneyard and within an hour the place was filled with teenagers eager to get drunk and forget about their problems. The boneyard was one of the few places you could see the kooks and the pogues coexist. Sure they didn't exactly get along while they were there, but they weren't constantly at each other's throats.
By the time the kook royalty showed up the kegger was already in full swing. They all pulled up in Topper's black Jeep making sure that no one would confuse them for pogues. All of them walked together and they were somehow able to move perfectly in sync with each other. That was until Sarah ran ahead of the group so she could climb up an old red tower.
"Sarah! Sarah, be careful, okay?" Topper yelled as he and the other kooks walked to catch up with the kook princess.
From a far John B watched as Sarah pointed to something out in the distance, smiling to herself. Coming up from behind him was one of John B's closest friends, Kiara Carrera. She hung out with the pogues despite the fact that she lived like a kook, something she despised.
"What are they doing here?" Kiara asked angrily. It was clear that if it were up to here the kooks wouldn't be allowed at the boneyard, especially not the two kook princesses.
"What are you doing?" Topper laughed, holding his arms out to try to catch Sarah.
Sarah moved to the edge of the tower then jumped into Topper's arms. Once she was down she quickly moved to her best friend's side as the group of kooks walked towards the rest of their friends and each grabbed a red solo cup filled with beer.
They all held up their cups before taking a sip of the beer. Given how much drinking they did on the daily, none of them had much of a reaction to the bitter taste.
"Lots of pogues out tonight," Kelce commented as he and Topper surveyed the area around them.
"But there won't be any fighting," Emerson reminded him with a pointed finger.
"Right," Kelce laughed while shaking his head at her.
Emerson wasn't stupid, she knew that even if they agreed not to start a fight it wouldn't stop them from joining one. So instead of worrying about what the boys would do Emerson decided to focus on her drinking, because there was no way she'd be leaving the boneyard sober.
From the other side of the beach the pogues stood in a group with the tourons all of them laughing and playing various drinking games. John B was the first to notice when JJ's attention moved off the game they'd been playing, and it took him about 10 seconds to figure out why.
"Bro seriously?" John B asked, finally getting JJ's attention. JJ looked at him with a clueless expression only making John B smack him in the back of the head. "You're staring at Emerson... again."
JJ forced out a laugh, "No I wasn't," he claimed.
"You totally were," Pope laughed, moving to stand in between JJ and John B.
"No I..." JJ started to say as he turned his head back in Emerson's direction. It was clear the girl already had a couple drinks in her since Kelce had to grab her hand to keep her from falling as she laughed at something. JJ noticed the way her eyes lit up and how the smile on her face somehow made him smile too even from the other side of the beach. "...wasn't," he finished making John B and Pope laugh. JJ looked back at his friends, immediately realizing the mistake he'd made. "Oh shut up."
"Funny how you can get any girl but the one you actually want," Pope laughed, giving John B a quick high five. "I guess karma really is a bitch."
"Hey, if I wanted her she'd already be mine," JJ said in his usual cocky tone.
"Please. We all know she only hooks up with kooks," Pope said.
"That and she's on the path to marry Rafe Cameron," John B added smiling when JJ rolled his eyes.
"She may end up with a kook but I know for a fact she doesn't only hook up with kooks," JJ claimed.
"Oh right, we can't forget the time you guys almost hooked up, if that actually happened," John B remembered.
"It did almost happen," JJ claimed, even though John B and Pope didn't believe him, despite the fact that JJ would bring up his and Emerson's almost hook up whenever he could.
"Then prove it," John B suggested. "If she likes you as much as you say she does then prove it. Prove she likes you."
"All right," JJ told them.
"Now's your chance," Pope said as he pointed over to Emerson who had moved away from the group of kooks to get another drink.
"All right. I'm going in," he said before walking over to the keg. "Hey," JJ said as he moved to stand directly behind Emerson. She let out a quiet sigh but didn't say anything back to him, she just continued to fill up her cup. "You're ignoring me," JJ observed.
"I'm trying to," Emerson told him, still keeping her back to him.
"Don't ignore me princess," JJ said with a smirk on his face, not that Emerson could see it since she still had her back to him.
Emerson knew she was being stupid. She couldn't keep doing this. She can't be the girl that does random hookups anymore. She can't be the girl that does random hookups anymore.
"Or what?" she asked him, still not turning around. Emerson could feel those drinks and she knew they were in control right now. She immediately regretted walking away from Topper and Kelce because she knew they'd never let her talk to JJ for this long.
Emerson and JJ often found themselves in conversations similar to these ones. It originally out with a few flirty glances but slowly it grew into more and now it was almost like a game between the two of them to see who would break first. Emerson had no intention of taking their flirting any further but the world had other plans for her.
She hadn't planned on feeling JJ's lips against her own and she definitely hadn't planned on liking it. In the end she chalked it up to a combination of too much alcohol and a lack of good judgement. Of course she never told anyone about the incident, knowing it would be detrimental to her families' reputation and her own image. Emerson Rhodes was not the kind of girl who would actually hook up with a pogue, especially not JJ Maybank. But the alcohol had other plans for her.
"You'll punish me?" she added, finally turning around with a smirk on her face. Her sober self wished she had walked away, but now it was too late. The words already left her mouth.
JJ faltered for a second not expecting those words to leave her lips. "If I have to," JJ told her once he finally regained his composure, the smirk on his face reappearing.
Emerson smiled, knowing she got to him that time. She was about to take a step closer to him, ready to continue their little game but someone caught her eye. From the other side of the beach Topper was watching them, the look on his face was enough to immediately remind of who she was and who JJ was. Despite having a good amount of alcohol in her system she knew that if she wanted to avoid a fight the best thing for her to do is walk back over to Topper so they could go back to thinking the pogues were trash.
JJ quickly picked up on the change in energy and glanced behind him, his eyes meeting Topper's for a moment. The blonde pogue rolled his eyes as he turned back to look at Emerson. She stepped away from him, realizing what she did wrong. She can't keep doing this, she has to be Rafe's girl, no one else's.
"Let me guess, you're embarrassed to be seen with me," JJ assumed when he saw they look on Emerson's face.
She looked at JJ again, shaking her head slowly. "No, I just-" she let out a short breath, "I'm not embarrassed it's just that you-"
"I'm a pogue?" He asked, now starting to get a bit annoyed. "Right? I'm trash from The Cut and you're, well, you're Emerson Rhodes." Emerson looked down, giving JJ the answer he was waiting for. "That's what I thought."
"What did you think was gonna happen? Nothing can happen between us, it's not right-" she started to say only to have JJ cut her off again.
"You can choose to not care what they think," he told her.
Emerson scoffed at his words, "And why would I do that?" She asked him with genuine curiosity. "Why would I choose you over them? We aren't together, we aren't even friends."
This time JJ was the one that scoffed, shaking his head at her. He should've seen this coming. "God you're just like the rest of them," he huffed, making Emerson scoff at his statement. "Go on prove me right," he said.
Just as he predicted Emerson shook her head at him then turned and walked away. JJ watched as she made her way back over to the group of kooks. All of them gave her worried expressions as a few of the guys stared angrily at JJ.
"What were you doing over there?" JJ heard Kelce ask, completely unaware that the pogue could clearly hear them.
"He came up to me," Emerson justified, "why would I willingly be around him? He's trash from the cut." she said confidently, knowing it was the response the kooks wanted to hear from her.
JJ shook his head at them then walked back towards the pogues, wondering what he saw in Emerson in the first place.
--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--
Emerson had yet another beer in her hand. She couldn't stop thinking about her conversation with JJ. She meant everything she said to him, she wouldn't pick him over the kooks, but for some reason she still felt weird about it. But she didn't want to think about that, so she kept drinking, hoping it would make her forget.
Her head was resting on Sarah's shoulder as she lifted her hand to take another sip from her cup. But before it could reach her lips it was taken out of her hand. She looked up, watching as Topper poured the rest of her drink out onto the sand.
"Hey," Emerson whined watching as Topper tossed the now empty cup into a trash bag.
"Let's head back," Topper said as he held his hand out to help Sarah up. Since Topper had been her ride to the boneyard Emerson stood up with them, ready to go home. "Woah steady," Topper put his arm around Emerson's waist when she nearly tripped over her own feet.
"It's okay, I got her," Sarah told him as she let Emerson lean on her instead of Topper.
Emerson smiled as she cuddled into Sarah's side. Emerson knew that the kooks were her true friends. They've always been there for her, since they were little kids. It wouldn't make sense for her to pick a pogue over any of the kooks. But when she saw JJ walking down the beach, she wondered why she wished she hadn't walked away from him.
"Hey John B!" JJ's voice shouted from across the beach.
"What are you doing?" John B laughed at his friend.
"Yo, I got this for you," JJ announced as he held up a red cup, "want it?"
"For me? Yeah, I'll take a sip," John B told him.
"Bye," Sarah and Emerson said to one of the tourons they had met that night. Of course their voices caught JJ's attention and he walked past John B to get to them.
"Oh, wait. Hey, hey. Hey, Sarah!" JJ called out then the kook princesses turned in his direction. "Sarah, can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?" JJ offered to the blonde.
"No thanks," Sarah declined his offer as she looked between JJ and the drink he was holding out to her.
"Come on. Is it not fancy enough for you?" JJ asked, partly serious and partly joking. He tried to push the drink towards her again but Sarah didn't take it.
"She said she didn't want it," Emerson said protectively, finally getting JJ to look at her, only for him to roll his eyes at her. She could feel herself beginning to sober up, especially now that a crowd was gathering around them..
"You know what, I'll take it. I'll take it. Thank you, man. I appreciate it," Topper offered a smug smile present on his face. The tension between the boys was getting stronger by the second and everyone could feel it..
"That's nice, but I didn't ask you. If you said pretty please maybe..."
"Oh pretty please" Topper mocked him, but JJ wasn't done with trying to give the drink to Sarah.
"Yeah, so, Sarah, you can have it," JJ said, going back to ignoring Topper.
"She doesn't want it," Topper said as he pushed the drink into JJ's face. JJ quickly grabbed onto the collar of Topper's shirt and pushed him back.
"No, no, no," John B quickly stepped in and pulled JJ away from the kook.
"You're so funny, man," JJ shouted to Topper.
"Dirty pogues, " Topper shouted, hearing those words was the last straw for John B, he turned around and shoved Topper away from them.
"Hey!"
"John B! We're supposed to be incognito, remember?" Pope said but his words went unheard by his friends.
"Babe, babe," Sarah said when she saw Topper storming towards John B. But before she could stop him. Topper punched John B in the face causing him to fall to the ground. "Guys! Chill!" Sarah shouted.
Topper continued to kick him into the water. "Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, alright?" Topper kicked John B down one more time before turning to the crowd that had formed.
Topper stood up to claim his victory but it was short lived when John B stood up and pushed him to the ground. Topper and John B continued to wrestle, punching each other at any chance they got.
"Give it to him man!" Kelce shouted.
"Stop, you guys!" Kiara shouted.
"Fight! Fight!" Everyone was now circled around the fight, people either cheering them on or begging for them to stop.
"Topper stop!"
"That's what I'm talking about!" JJ shouted when John B punched Topper.
"Come on!" John B yelled, only angering Topper more.
"Yeah, you wanna go?" Topper taunted.
"Guys!" Emerson shouted but her voice only got drowned out by the crowd. "Oh my god," she gasped when Topper sent another punch flying in John B's direction, knocking him down.
"Stop! John B," Kiara pleaded from the sidelines.
Both John B and Topper got a few good punches in, before John B threw Topper towards the water. Both of them were completely soaked in water but that didn't stop them from fighting.
"Come on Topper! Let's go!" John B shouted, edging him on more as Topper began to stand up.
"Topper don't!" Emerson shouted, her eyes meeting Topper's for a moment before he continued to stand up, ready to fight.
"Oh my god," Sarah whispered under her breath, her hand instinctively finding Emerson squeezing her hand it tightly.
"Come on, man!"
John B lunged towards Topper one more time, but this time Topper got the advantage. Everyone watched as John B flipped over Topper and got his face pushed into the water.
"Topper, stop!" Sarah shouted but it was no use. She squeezed Emerson's hand again, not knowing what else to do at the moment.
Topper continued to push John B's face into the water, in an attempt to drown him. Emerson, Kiara, and Sarah all yelled for Topper to stop, they kept screaming his name but it was no use, he couldn't hear them.
"He's drowning him," Pope said, glancing over at Kiara and JJ. A fear for their friend settled over the three of them.
"Topper!"
While everyone was busy watching Topper and John B, JJ took the opportunity to run to his backpack and grab the gun he had found earlier that day. With no one paying attention to him JJ walked behind the Topper and pointed the gun to the back of his head. Topper froze upon hearing the safety click off, a sudden fear taking over him.
"Yeah you know what that is. Your move broski," JJ yelled at him.
"He's got a gun!" People shouted as they ran away from the scene.
"Oh my god," Emerson brought her hand up to her mouth, fear immediately taking over her when she saw the gun pointed at Topper's head. Emerson was immediately sober in that moment, any effects she felt from the alcohol completely disappeared when that gun appeared in JJ's hand.
Sarah let go of Emerson's hand, holding them both up in the air as she tried to get closer to JJ. "Put the gun down!" Sarah shouted.
"JJ put the gun down!" Emerson demanded as she quickly pulled Sarah back to where she was.
"Did you say somethin', princess?" JJ replied as he glanced in her direction for a moment. JJ pulled back slightly allowing Topper to move away from John B, finally letting him get some air back into his lungs, but still kept the gun pointed to Topper's head.
"We're good. We're good" Toper continued to yell, obviously afraid of the gun, especially because it was in JJ's hand.
"JJ put the gun down!" Emerson shouted again.
"Kie! Can you check your psycho friend, please?" Sarah shouted towards Kiara who stood still. JJ moved away from Topper letting him get up back over to Sarah and Emerson
"Oh my god," Emerson gasped as she and Sarah grabbed Topper, pulling him away from JJ.
"Okay, everyone, listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!" JJ shouted then fired two shots into the air causing anyone who hadn't run yet to flee the scene.
"Are you okay?" Emerson asked as she held onto Topper's arm.
"Fine. Let's just get out of here," Topper spoke quietly, hoping not to attract any attention to himself as he and the two girls quickly walked somewhere safe from the pogues.
(edited 2/21/2023)