"Your body next to mine,
it's just a memory."
IT WAS A LONG BOAT RIDE before the teens got even near the marsh, but the boat time was a good time for both sides to share what the others missed.
Pope assisted Red as she climbed off the dock, whipping herself down and muttering a small 'Thank you' to Pope as he moved on to helping Sarah.
The group would eventually settle that they would split up into two groups, sorted by boys and girls since there was an even amount of both.
The girls spend minutes looking for food, and Kiara held up a watermelon, holding it like a trophy. "Jackpot!" She voiced, getting the attention of Bennie, Sarah, and Red who rushed over towards her, splitting two watermelons in half so there would be enough for both of them.
The girls took a comfortable seat at the bench not far from where they had picked their feast, digging into the red and green fruit.
"Okay, So... you got married?" Kie asked, splashing the juice off of her hands.
"It wasn't exactly legal... but..." Sarah looked up at the girls, anxiously waiting for a response. "Yeah."
"Not exactly how I planned to get a sister, but I'm all for it." Bennie grinned, looking down at her sticky hands. "I would give you a high five, but... y'know."
Sarah smiled at the girl before looking back over toward Kie and Red. "Am I crazy or is there something going on between... you and Pope."
"Maybe." Kie shrugged, smiling slightly.
"That's not a no."
Kie gave Sarah an admiring look, "It's not a no."
"Girl-" Sarah whined, directing her attention towards Red. "What about you and JJ? I noticed you weren't holding hands or anything. Trouble in paradise?"
Red shrugged, "It's a long story."
"We have a lot of time." Bennie reminded, almost pleading to hear it.
"Well... We didn't talk at all for like two weeks, which is when you were gone. He just kinda brushed me off. Then..." Red gulped, preparing herself to get into the bad part of the story. "From what I heard... He was- um... Back to being the island's dirty boy if you know what I mean. Then we talked about it and agreed to put the past behind us... but stay friends. It's just confusing because- I just don't know."
"Damn." Kie breathed, taking another bite out of her watermelon. "So no more JJ and Red for now?"
"We'll see."
After the four finished their girl talk, they eventually made their way back to the boat where the other boys sat, probably talking on their own.
"Welcome back." John B greeted, hugging Sarah and helping the four back onto the boat where they took a seat and un-anchored.
"Excited to go home?" Asked Bennie, half-sarcastic.
"Not exactly." John B responded, putting the boat into gear and driving it further through the marsh.
Soon enough, the Chateau was already in sight from where the boat floated.
"There she is." John B reminisced, gazing at the house in front of them.
"Bet it's good to see her old bones, right?" Asked JJ, walking over to the bow where Red sat to tie the boat up. "Welcome home, guys."
"Y'know, I gotta be honest. I'm not exactly looking forward to check-in in at home." Kie voiced, leaning against a post on the dock. "My parents probably already arranged my funeral."
"I also predict unpleasantries at the Heyward household after I left the truck in Charleston..." Pope added.
"I can bet money right about now is when my family finally realizes, 'Hey! Bennie's not here.' Too busy doing her own thing to you know... look after her daughter. Topper's prolly stoned." Bennie sighed, standing beside her brother.
"No one knows we're here, right?" JJ checked. "And you two aren't gonna get into any more trouble for showing up 12 hours later. Am I right, or am I right?"
"You're not wrong..." Pope shrugged.
"So that means we have 12 hours to do whatever we want." JJ looked around, Sarah shaking her head at his antics. "A little pogue fellowship. How does that sound?"
John B looked down at Red, who had an uneasy look on her face. "Let's shit hit the fan tomorrow."
"Yeah!"
"The cops could be looking for us. It could be really stupid." Sarah resonated, bringing logic into the picture.
"Sarah Cameron." JJ chimed, walking towards Sarah who instead of facing him, glared at the water. "You've heard of my philosophy, right?"
"No."
The group looked at eachother, smiles planted on their faces as they mouthed what JJ was saying, "Stupid things have good outcomes all the time." JJ walked further down the dock, "Who's with me? Let's get some beer!"
The group eventually settled on JJ's plan. A very stupid plan, but JJ insisted. JJ and Kie walked into the building, the rest of the group chatting on the boat as they waited for the duo.
Sarah looked down at her wound, unintentionally leaving out why her jeans were stained with blood. "Ah! That bullet went straight through..."
"Wait, wait, wait! Pause. Bullet? You were shot." Bennie rushed, holding her hands out in front of her.
"Yes," Sarah responded, being cut off by John B.
"No." He smiled, his voice laced with sarcasm Bennie could easily pick up. "She was stabbed with a bullet- What do you think, you moron?"
"I'm a moron? She's the one who was shot."
Before the pair could finish their debate, Kie and JJ were already on their way back with a beer, whooping as they showed it off.
The group looked at eachother, soon driving away on the boat and arriving at the Chateau minutes later where they set things up and turned JJ's hot tub on.
Bennie, Kie, and Red sat on the edge of the tub, waiting for the boys to bring out beer.
"Ladies and gentlemen." Pope whooped, carrying out the beer as John B knelt to down one and cheering as they had a beer-drinking contest, the girls just laughing in amusement.
JJ walked over to the hot tub in sunglasses even though it was nighttime now, Pope sat on the edge trying to freestyle. "I never made good grades in school. When I get out I act like a fool. They say I come to a party and cause a commotion. I'm smooth... yeah, call me lotion." Pope chuckled, earning laughs from the rest of the group at his stupid lyrics that somehow cracked everyone up.
"Just like the good Lord intended." JJ voiced, now in the hot tub, holding his sunglasses in one hand.
"The next Tupac." Red chuckled, fist-bumping Pope.
"That was way too genuine," Sarah commented, getting JJ's attention.
"Give me that! C'mon, give me it!" He shouted, egging Sarah on.
"Ahhh!!!" Pope cheered, walking over to JJ in the hot tub before getting out to fight him, mostly just pushing each other's shoulders while the others cheered for them.
Red looked over at Kie, who sat staring at Pope from the lawn chair beside her. "What's on your mind, Kie?" Red tilted her head, sipping the sparking water she had to buy on her own as she didn't drink beer.
Kie looked over at her, "Too much."
Kie got up, following Pope out of the yard and going somewhere else.
Red chuckled, playing with the top of Kie's leftover beer can as JJ approached. "Sure you don't want one?" JJ offered her a beer, to which Red shook her head.
"Thanks, but I'll pass." She smiled, brushing him off before getting into the hot tub and abandoning Kie's beer.
"I leave and this is what happens." John B shrugged.
"Are you blaming me?" JJ pointed at himself, fake offended.
"A little bit." John B looked down at his empty can. "Uh-oh. Your boy's out. Beer time." John B walked over towards his ice chest.
"You guys were the ones that died, okay?" JJ brought up, earning an eye from Sarah.
"One job JJ." Sarah grinned.
"Okay-"
"No pogue-on-pogue macking."
Red felt herself get uncomfortable with the ongoing subject. She shrugged it off, setting her can on the side of the tub and walking out of it.
"Where are you going?" Asked Bennie, coming out from beneath the water.
Red turned back to face Bennie, giving her a half-smile. "Bathroom."
A few minutes later, just as the blonde was about to get out of the bathroom, she heard a car door slam. She peered over the blinds, seeing Rafe and Barry approaching, armed with a gun placed in Rafe's hands.
Red panicked, but it was too late to go warn the others, and she assumed they already got the memo.
There was only one place in the house Red would be safe. It would have been the office, but the door was all messed up after a certain two men broke in just about 3 weeks before Red found herself in a position like this.
But there was one other place. While sleeping over in the guest room, when she found it hard to sleep, she often looked at the ceiling, noticing an attic door that had been very hard to notice unless you paid precise attention to it.
Red rushed out of the room, lightly closing the door as she heard Rafe's voice approaching the house.
She entered the guest room, locking the door before standing on the bed and opening the attached door, climbing into the dusty part of the house just before she heard the rattle of the doorknob now underneath her.
Red's breath hitched as she was barely able to make it into the dusty attic in time before Barry's slurred voice was heard from beneath her.
It wasn't her she was worried about. She was more concerned with the well-being of the pogues she had left outside only minutes prior.
Red wanted to believe that Rafe wouldn't do anything in front of Bennie since she was likely the only person that meant something to him and cared about his general well-being. But in the presence of Barry, Red wasn't quite sure what Rafe was capable of.
Red flinched as she heard two gunshots from outside. She instantly felt her blue eyes glass over with tears as she laid the back of her hand to her mouth, quiet sobs escaping her mouth. She couldn't see what was happening, but the sound of gunshots wasn't the most pleasant thing to hear when you're dealing with a drug dealer and a psychopath-murderer hybrid. A few seconds later, after hearing shouting coming from Barry and Rafe, a car door could be heard closing before the car drove away.
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst, Red slowly climbed out of the attic, still scared to move. She gradually made her way out of the house and into the backyard, where no teens could be seen until John B jumped out of a tree, approaching Red who returned a hug, happy to see that nobody was hurt.
Red pulled away from John B's warmth and looked around at the others who were visibly shaken up. "What the hell just happened?"
"By the looks of it, Rafe and Barry almost just went psycho-killer on all of us," JJ reported, walking over to John B. "That bullet came this close to my head. This close!"
"O-Okay, so what's the game plan?" Asked Red, crossing her arms. "I mean... we can't stay here! What if they come back?"
"I doubt they're coming back." Sarah voiced. "They fired two shots, they wouldn't come back since somebody had to have heard them."
"Either way, it's safe to say I'm not sleeping," Bennie stated. "Where are Pope and Kie by the way?"
"I don't know." John B placed his hands on his hips. "We'll figure it all out tomorrow... but for now, we need to go to bed. I haven't slept in like... two weeks so."
The group eventually came to an agreement, although Bennie was right, and nobody would get any sleep that night, they tried.
Red woke up the next morning, making herself some coffee that she'd found in John B's pantry.
As she stirred her coffee, John B ented the kitchen, standing in front of her split by the counter. "How'd you sleep?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"Oh, y'know. As well as anyone who almost just died yesterday would." Red chuckled sarcastically. "You look like you need some sunscreen."
John B furrowed his eyebrows at the blonde, confused by the random topic.
Red shrugged, walking down the dock with her coffee, "Just sayin'."
Pope and Kie waited down by the dock, beginning to tie the boat up before JJ yelled after them. "Hey! Guys, don't tie up! Stop it!"
"What?" Kie yelled after him, stopping.
"We're dippin'" JJ stated, hopping onto the boat.
"Wait, why?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Where'd you guys go, what happened last night?" Asked John B, holding onto Sarah as they made their way down the dock behind Red.
"We slept on the break, what's up?" Pope explained.
"Slept. Right, yeah." JJ pat Pope's shoulder, Bennie copying his antics behind him. "We were up all night."
"We gotta get the hell out of here." John B added, tossing his backpack into the boat.
"Rafe knows we're here. So we have to leave like... now." Sarah explained.
The teens loaded onto the boat, later arriving at a stretch farther out from both the cut and figure eight, hoping to assemble some sort of plan.
Red threw her backpack down on the grass, sitting beside Pope on a bench.
"Look, if Rafe and Barry know it's only a matter of time-"
"Before everyone knows." Pope finished, his hands grasping the bottom of the bench.
"I told you. We should have just gone south, man." JJ's voice approached John B who paced around with his hands on his head.
"Just stop-" John B raised his voice, "Stop!"
"Why does no one ever listen?" Questioned JJ, matching John B's energy as he tried to calm him down.
"I get it- I get it. I understand."
"I have an idea." Sarah piped up, Red directing her attention towards her with a sigh. "With me back, my dad is going to have to choose between me and Rafe."
The group remained silent, not sure where the blonde was going with her point. Red laid the back of her hand to her head, "Sarah-"
"He's gonna choose me!"
"Just, please listen. Ward keeps lying to you, Sarah." John B reasoned.
"Sarah, he's not going to agree after everything that's happened." Kie agreed.
"Look, I know it sounds crazy."
"Yeah, it does!"
"I know!" Sarah shouted, her tone sounding hopeless and confused. She looked away, gathering herself. "But I know him. And I know he loves me. I'm just asking for two hours."
The group looked at each other in silence. Red felt horrible for Sarah and her situation. It must have been horrible to know that both your dad and brother were murderers and blamed your boyfriend for that.
Sarah got up and walked away from the group, soon followed by John B who lowered his tone to talk to her.
As soon as John B walked back, Sarah immediately walked down to the boat where she drove away, leaving the others sitting in confusion besides John B who tried his best to explain what was going on.
John B had eventually softened when Sarah pleaded to go see her dad, and he let her go, but if she wasn't back in two hours, he would have to handle it himself.
"So." Bennie chimed, gaining the attention of the teens around her. "Do we just... chill here until she comes back?"
"Pretty much." John B breathed.
ahhhhhhhhhh I'm so close to transferring
all of the other book this one, then I'll
do the third, but I got kinda lazy
on this chapter so sorry for bad
quality.
I didn't even notice how much I missed
red and john b's friendship 😭😭😭