CHAPTER NINE
a good friend knows all your best stories
but your best friend has lived
them with you
JOHN B AND BAMBI ROUTLEDGE HAD BEEN through a lot of disappointments growing up. since they weren't the richest and had to find a way to get their own food for most of their life, often things that were said didn't happen.
Bambi had a blurry memory in her mind, one that put her off her dad for life was when he promised to show her how to build a sandcastle and the next morning when she woke up to go do so, he had taken John B out instead.
the twins made their way back to the chateau, the rest of the pogues had gone home since John B needed some time alone and they have done so, without a single complaint.
when they walked through the door, they were met with a voice, making them freeze in place and mutter things to themselves, "hey, you two."
Bambi sighed, rolling her eyes and putting the middle finger up to the woman, earning a clenched jaw from her.
"you know, Cheryl, it's kind of a bad time for a check-in." John B shrugged his shoulders, sitting on the couch beside Bambi.
"it's not a check-in, we're taking you both." she raised her hands.
"out of all the days you chose today?" Bambi ran a hand through her hair.
"it's just for a few weeks until your hearing but you both are going into separate places." she sat forward, ready for their reactions.
"going into separate places? you can shove that idea right up your ass." Bambi scoffed.
"we're not going to foster care, okay? we're not gonna be a part of your little system." John B rolled his eyes, Bambi agreeing.
heavy footsteps were heard behind them and the two turned to see a big fat man with no neck, "John B, Bambi, this is Deputy Thomas. he works with juveniles for the sheriff's department."
the twins stood up and whilst John B walked away from him, Bambi stared at him, promising that she wouldn't go down without a fight.
"look, i know Uncle T is down in Mississippi working at a casino, he hasn't been here in months," Cheryl revealed.
"what?" John B scoffed, looking at Bambi and hoping she had the same idea as him.
just as the pair were about to run, the big fat man blocked their exit, making them turn back, "no, see, that's my nightmare right there. look, i-i want emancipation."
Cheryl looked at the boy, "emancipation from who? there's nobody here but you two."
"asylum then."
Whilst John B spoke to Cheryl, Bambi thought of all the ways she could get out of the house. she knew that John B would rather be put in foster care on his own than let her be there and suffer but she didn't have much time so she had to think, fast.
she couldn't run behind, the big fat guy would block her, and if she ran forward Cheryl would probably try to block her too.
or would she?
what if she was so concentrated on John B that she couldn't react as fast as normal, maybe that was her way out.
Bambi looked at John B and he nodded at her, telling her to take any chance she has even if he's left behind and as soon as he got back into conversation with Cheryl, she bolted.
by the time Cheryl moved forward to try and stop her, Bambi was already near the door and opening it, "Bambi, stop!"
now it was John Bs turn to make sure she got away without getting caught again. he knew that once she found JJ she was safe so he had to keep them occupied in that time.
he bolted the other way, taking everyone's attention away from Bambi and using that to his advantage. Cheryl couldn't chase after her, she was too slow. only mr no neck could and if he was focused on keeping John B in the house, that was Bambi's key to freedom.
BAMBI RAN ALL THE WAY TO HEYWARDS, she knew that Pope would be inside of there, probably working and if it came down to it, she knew that they would let her hide inside until everything cooled off.
just as the seafood shop got into view, so did Pope and although the girl didn't know what he was staring at, she ran up to him.
"Pope, you will not believe what just happened." she panted, running a hand through her hair and when she realised what he was staring at, she furrowed her eyebrows, "what's Topper and Rafe doing here?"
Pope rushed back inside with Bambi following closely behind, "Pope, talk to me, what's going on? why are you panicking?"
"they know," Pope stressed, confusing the girl even more.
"they know what?" Bambi asked, nodding her head when Pope tried to get the words out.
Pope looked at her and stammered before looking away, if he looked at her any longer he would spill everything.
"Pope, tell me what the fuck happened." Bambi grew impatient, lifting his chin up and making him look at her, dead in the eyes.
"JJ told me to sink Toppers boat for jumping me and now that i have, i think they know," he explained, taking deep breaths in.
Bambi's eyes widened and the girl gasped, she knew JJ would do something like that but Pope? he was usually the good kid, the person that kept everyone in check.
"if it makes you feel better, i'm meant to be in foster care and i ran away so i need to get to JJ, and fast." she bit her tongue and Pope nodded.
Once the pair arrived at JJs, they were met with gunshots filling their ears and as they walked further into his property, they found him with noise-cancelling headphones on, a gun and a stuffed animal he was shooting.
Pope walked up to him, shouting his name multiple times and once he finally heard him, he said, "they know."
JJ looked at Bambi who stood behind Pope, a disappointed look on her face and from that, JJ immediately knew that she had found out.
just as JJ opened his mouth to say something to her, she cut him off, "i already know, don't try and get me with the deny, deny, deny."
JJ sighed and walked over to the tree trunk, taking a seat on it, "they don't know shit."
"Topper knows i sunk his boat," Pope ran his hands across his face.
"how do you know they know," JJ asked.
"because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heywards and mad dogged me." Pope walked around on the grass, doing laps.
"that's why you don't sink boats worth more than your whole life." Bambi shrugged, taking off JJ's hat, revealing his messy hair before putting it on herself and sitting on the grass.
JJ ran a hand through his hair, sorting it out, "will you calm down and get a grip, man? they don't know shit."
"they have cameras, they could have seen me!"
"there was no power, Pope, how could they have seen you?" JJ asked.
"it's figure eight, they have backup generators, J." Bambi reminded him.
"they don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats." Pope whimpered, "it's not a good look on my transcript."
Bambi frowned as she looked at the boy worry about his life. Pope was a smart boy and he was going to go places even if sinking the boat was the dumbest thing he'd ever done.
"enough with the regret, bro!" JJ shouted, standing up, "they caved your face in."
Bambi knew she should have told JJ about child services coming but with Pope worrying about something much more important, there was no room for anyone to be worrying about her.
"they hit us, we hit them. it's the law of the jungle." JJ explained, "now if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walk up to 'em', look 'em' right in the eye, and..?"
"deny the living shit out of it."
"that's right, deny, deny, deny." JJ nodded, "but just for safety, we don't go anywhere without protection." he pointed at the gun.
BAMBI WALKED BESIDE JJ AS SHE, HIM, Pope and Kiara arrived at the outdoor cinema their island held every single year.
Kiara had a bag over her shoulder and a huge smile on her face, "I'm so glad they're still doing this. keep calm, carry on, back to obx life, you know? aren't you guys glad that I made you come?"
"ecstatic," Pope grumbled, clear sarcasm in his voice which made Bambi smirk.
JJ cleared his throat and fixed his hat slightly, "my coach was pretty comfy, I'll be honest."
Bambi had never liked when this happened, it was probably one of the worst things the island could ever do and it made her want to throw up.
she didn't understand how many people could be around Kooks and look comfortable whilst a project a projector played a random movie.
"i'm only here so child services don't find me." she shrugged, making JJ and Kiara's heads turn and look straight at her.
"i'll explain later."
"we're out of the green zone, man." pope turned to JJ, lowering his voice to stop Kie from hearing.
"dude, tranquilo, okay?"
"We're in the middle of Kooklandia, this is the last place I wanted to be," Pope complained, taking his backpack off.
"pope, they're not going to hit you in front of a bunch of people," Bambi sighed, looking at Kie who had just walked off to get some drinks, "relax," she told him before following her.
"Hey, can I get two Pepsi', please." the light-skinned girl asked the cashier of the stand, a smile on her face as she pulled out money from her back pocket.
"hey, Bambi, Kie." a voice called from behind them, making them turn around, "hey, what's up?" he stood beside them.
the girls ignored him and grabbed a drink each, "how are you both?"
"I'm fine," Kiara gave in, deciding not to ignore the boy. Bambi on the other hand kept her mouth shut and had a glare on her face.
"Good, good." he smiled and then turned to look at Bambi, "Are you ignoring me? even though the situation is in the past?"
after realising that the girl wouldn't cave in and speak to him, he looked at the floor before looking at them both again, "Tell your boy, we know what he did,"
whilst Bambi knew exactly which boy he was talking about, Kiara had a confused look on her face, "sorry, what boy are you talking about?"
"uh, he'll know," Rafe nodded and since he didn't give Kie a proper answer, she began walking away, "bye,"
just before Bambi walked away, she turned to the boy and glared at him, "you're a horrible person," she scoffed before following after Kie again.
"Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'tell your boy we know what he did," Kiara repeated his words and handed Pope the Pepsi she was holding, Bambi, handing JJ the other one.
"um, where is he?" JJ asked, clearly nervous since his voice was a little shaky.
"right there," Kie pointed behind her, causing the pair to turn and look at Rafe, Topper and Kelce.
"Great, the whole death squad." pope whimpered but was quickly hit on the head by JJ.
"don't stare, bro." he told him, a plan already forming in his head, "just warning you, bro. if they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now."
pope nodded to everything he was saying, clearly agreeing, "If that doesn't work," he held up his bag, "I've got this right here."
"yeah, yeah so we just gotta stay in the group, they can't get us in a group," Pope planned.
"like a school of fish,"
"stay in the school, can't leave the school," Pope agreed, liking JJ's metaphor.
"if you end up getting it out, make sure kids can't see your threatening to shoot someone." Bambi turned to the blonde and looked at him.
"got to learn the kids young." he shrugged.
"i'm never letting you around my kids, ever." Bambi shook her head, leaning back in her chair.
kie looked at the three before reminding them, "Founding principle guys. no secrets amongst pogues. what is Rafe talking about?"
pope looked at her and lowered his voice a little, "Kie, it might go down tonight."
BAMBI WAS BORED OF THE MOVIE, and since she knew that Rafe, Topper and Kelce were watching to make sure they didn't disappear, it made her feel uncomfortable.
she was currently leaning her head on her arm and her eyes were glued to the screen to try and convince her brain to relax and watch what was playing, but no matter how long she looked at it, she couldn't focus.
the girl turned her head to look at the boys, she could tell they were both on edge and even though JJ put on a tough act, he was shaking his leg which he always did when he was nervous as a kid.
"JJ," Pope whispered, pulling the boy's eyes away from the screen, "gotta take a piss,"
"hold it," the blonde told him, not wanting to move in case the kooks followed them.
"I can't hold it, I drank too much soda," Pope informed him.
"it's too exposed, they'll see us," JJ tried to change his mind but no matter what he said, pope was set on going to the toilet.
after realising that the kooks were blocking the bathrooms, JJ had a different idea on where the boy could go empty his bladder, "come here, I know where,"
"hey, where y'all goin'?" Kiara stopped the boys when they got up since she didn't hear the conversation they just had.
"gotta ring it out," JJ said before carrying on his stroll behind the screen.
"you gonna hold it for each other?" the girl grimaced, watching the boys walk away.
even though Bambi knew that the boys could protect themselves, she had a bad feeling about what was about to happen and it didn't help that when she turned around, Rafe had already gotten out of his seat and had begun walking towards their direction.
"fuck." Bambi bit her lip, looking around, "kie, we gotta go." she told her friend, getting out of her seat and following the boys.
Bambi knew that the boys were outnumbered, but when she got closer to them, she didn't expect Rafe, kelce and Topper to begin hitting them.
"let go of his topper! fascist asshole," Kiara yelled, running towards Pope and hitting Topper with the bag.
"Rafe, leave him alone!" Bambi shouted, walking up to him and attempting to push him away from JJ, "Stop hitting him!"
"stay out of this Bambi," Rafe told her, turning to face her for a second before going back to hitting him.
"stop!" the girl called again, but instead of pushing him, she brought up her fist and connected it with his face, sending him back, "I told you to leave him alone."
the boy looked at the girl standing in front of him before walking up to her and grabbing her arm, "And I told you to stay out of it, you don't listen to nobody, do you?"
"Bambi!" JJ shouted, trying to get away from Kelce so he could see if she was okay.
"Rafe, you're hurting me!" she hissed, attempting to get out of his grip which was right around her wrists, "get off off me!"
"you know, you can actually be a decent person when you want to be." he gritted his teeth, tightening his grip.
"don't touch me!" Bambi said once last time, bringing a knee up to his stomach and once he crouched down, holding it, she ran over to JJ's bag to attempt to find something.
her hand gripped the gun and the girl had no idea what to do. she knew how to use them so she knew that she wouldn't shoot anyone but did she want to take the risk?
she looked around at everyone fighting.
yes, for JJ and Pope.
bringing the gun out of the bag, she made sure the safety was on before bringing it up, "leave them alone!" she shouted.
everyone's eyes were averted to her as she held the gun up and whilst Kelce and Topper both raised their hands, Rafe didn't.
"Bambi! put it down!" Kiara told the girl running up to her but the brunette didn't listen.
"get away from them," she ordered, pointing the gun at Topper and then Kelce.
the boys slowly walked away from JJ and Pope whilst Rafe stood there, watching the girl like he had never seen her before.
Bambi took a deep breath in whilst JJ walked towards her slowly, "easy." he said softly, bringing his hands around hers and taking the gun from them.
Kiara acted quickly and managed to find a lighter in JJ's bag and whilst everything was going on, she lit the screen, making it go up in flames.
the pogues ran, using this as their chance to escape and get away from the kooks. Bambi had a shocked expression on her face, she didn't expect to actually have the guts to pull a gun on somebody, especially a kook.
either way, she didn't regret it because she had done it for him.
for JJ.
ELLIE SPEAKS¡
haven't posted in the longest time but i
just realised we hit 500 views.
i am so thankful as i didn't think that when
i started writing this, i would have this many reads so thank you<3
i'm wide awake atm so i'm going to write
a could prewritten chapters for when
i go to Spain and Poland.
don't forget to comment and vote<3