"I THINK WE HAD ENOUGH" Topper suddenly announced, he starts to stand up from the log and pull up Sarah along with him. They've been at the beach for hours and the sun already fully set in. It's already dark out there and most of them already a little tipsy and half of them already waste.
Hope still sitting on the log, she doesn't want to leave yet, and she was having fun. Everything went so smooth without any problems, she didn't break any rules. Well, accept when she was talking to JJ earlier but what Topper didn't know won't hurt him.
She wants to ask Topper if she could stay any longer, she can just ask her newfound friends to drop her by when she's done. But she almost can see the answer to it, he won't let that happen. Not when he barely knows these people that she wants to hitch the ride with.
"Can we stay just for a little more? I kinda have fun and don't want it to end yet" but Hope still trying. Maybe he would make an excuse for tonight since she's behaving really well.
"No, it's long enough. Come on" Topper disagree, urging for her to get up. She gives a look to Kelce, hoping if he can say something to support her but the boy just shrugged. Enough to tell her that he's not on her side, not this time.
"Okay. Can I just stay here?" she try again, putting up her best pleading look for him.
"Then how are you gonna come home?" Topper asked, he looks merely annoyed but there's still concern.
"I can just hitch a ride from anyone here, I made a couple of friends" Hope said "Or I can call the uber or something. That's not really a big deal, you don't have to worry"
"You are not hitching ride from anyone here, you don't know them" Topper quickly disagree, he doesn't trust these people here to bring his sister home safely. They could be anything and be knows they could and would.
"Then I'll call the uber" Hope states it. Really hoping that Topper would let her this time without making it hard. She's been listening to him, right? She should earn something from it.
"We'll doing this again next time, okay? I promised. Now we need to head out, come on" Topper hold out his hand for her, urging her to get up so they can leave this party.
Hope wants to protest, she wants to keep convincing him to let her stay. She's having fun, real fun. But she knows if she misbehaving now, she probably won't get any chances like this again.
"Fine" Hope agreed. She takes her brother's hand and let him pull her up from the log. Topper gives her a smile and she returns it back, though it's the unpleasant one. Maybe she'll get her chance next time, she convinced herself.
They continue to walk, ready to leave the party and the beach.
Hope glances up and saw JJ and John B were talking, they look a little tipsy. She smiles at them though they don't see her. She wonders if she ever can be like them, free and allow to do everything they want.
Until JJ turns around and his eyes locked with her. It feels like a slow motion for a second, until he starts walking toward her. That's when Hope starts to panic, she shook her head telling him to stop but JJ still keeps going.
"Hey, Red--" JJ said, stumbling his way and that's enough to tell her that's he's drunk. Her eyes widened when he's getting closer, Topper already stops walking and glances at the blonde boy at the called for her.
"Hey, JJ" Instead of telling him to go, she greets him back politely.
Giving him a tight smile, worry about what is going to happen. But she hopes that JJ would just take off. She's more afraid of what her brother would do. He might say something that can pull the both of them into a fight.
"Can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?" JJ held up the cup in his hand, looking at her with drunkenly smile. Hope almost chuckled at how cute he looks, his blonde hair messily stuck out around his eyes.
"No thanks" Hope politely refused. She just told him that she doesn't drink just hours ago, but he might forget about it because of the alcohol that messing with his head.
"Come on, just a sip" JJ tried again, shoving the cup towards her.
"Back off, Pogue. She said she didn't want it" Topper pushes the cup away from keep shoving at her, he starts to stand in between JJ and Hope.
"Topper don't, just let's go" Hope said, pulling her brother. She even gives a look to Sarah, hoping for her to step up and pull Topper away before he can start any fight. She's totally doesn't want to end this night in a bad way.
"Hey, you know what? I'll take it. Thank you, man. I appreciate it" Topper said again, grabbing the cup from JJ's hand but JJ pulls away before he can reach it.
"That's nice, but I didn't ask you" JJ states. "If you said pretty please, maybe. But you didn't" JJ told him.
"Oh, pretty please" Topper said, dragging his words a little, faking his smile.
"Nah dude, I'm still offering at your sister. Here, Red" JJ played him, he keeps shoving the cup at Hope making Topper getting irritated at how he doesn't take any hints that she doesn't drink and he doesn't want the Pogue any closer to her.
Hope is about to politely decline the offer again but her brother already did the move.
Topper smacks the cup away causing it to spill all over the place "She doesn't want it, you---" and JJ launching himself at the boy, they end up pushing each other away ready to start the brawl but Hope quickly pulled Topper behind by his arm while John B did the same thing with JJ. Holding him down.
"Okay, that's enough. We leave now, come on" Hope states it firmly, dragging her brother away with the help from Sarah.
She heard JJ yelling at Topper, saying he's been funny and shit. She keeps pulling her brother away, knowing John B still gets a hold on JJ trying to calm him.
Not until Topper decides to throw his insult by calling them 'Dirty Pogues'. That's when John B runs at him and shoves him hardly causing both Topper and Hope almost stumble because she's still tugging on him.
"Enough, okay? Do not do----"
But before she can finish her words, Topper pulls his arm from her and punches John B right on his face causing the boy to fall right on the sand. Hope gasp loudly at the sudden action, the crowd also start to focus on them. She's on a trance for a quick second, not knowing what to do until Topper shoves him again at the water
"Hey, enough both of you. Topper, let's go, we're going home" Hope yells at the boys and she feels Sarah tugging on her arm, also calling out for Topper so he can stop and drops everything.
She saw Pope holding JJ from getting any near to the other boys, he looks furious. She bites her lips, this isn't how she wants her night to end.
"Hey, John B. Don't make me drown your ass like your father, okay?" Topper harshly said after shoving John B to the water, the boy remains down and Topper starts to walk away. But he barely moves inches until John B gets up and lurching at Topper, bringing him down. The both of them now brawling at the water.
"Holy shit" Hope mutters it to herself, running her fingers through her hair in desperation. Not knowing what to do. She knows she can't do much to stop the fight that clearly going to happen and already happened, no matter how loud she's screaming at them they're not going to stop at all and that would be a waste of time and energy.
The crowd already chanting the 'fight, fight, fight' encourage the scene, and that didn't help at all. She's glancing at Sarah, she looks terrified and keep calling out for Topper, urging him to stop it. Kelce cheering for Topper, telling him to get it. Hope shakes her head at the support from him, he should be the one who stops it not encourage it.
"We need to do something!" Sarah said, grabbing her arm "They're going to kill each other if we're not stopping them" she continues, yanking her a little. Hope remains silence, she has no idea how to stop it. And it seems like it's getting worse.
Without her knowing, JJ seems like he can't keep his eyes away from her and he can see the worried written all over her face. He was sitting at the side, watching the fight and he likes it when it happened. To show the Kook boy that he can't keep messing with them especially when he's on their side of the island.
But looking at the expression from Hope and how she looks like she has no idea what to do, he feels bad. He wants to jump at the fight and break them away, he knows he would make Hope feels better by doing that. She's going to thank him and seeing him as a good person. But the part of him still wants Topper to get his face shattered.
The yelling and screaming still keep going along with the cheers from the crowd, Topper diving down John B and flipped him on the water. He starts to hold his head under the water, keeping him there. Hope starts to breathe heavily.
"No, no, Topper! Stop it! Topper!" She yells this time, wanting to grab Topper from drowning the poor boy but Kelce pulls her back "No, let go of me, Kelce" she snaps, swatting him away from keeping her from moving
"You're going to get hurt" Kelce said.
"And Topper is going to kill that boy" Hope scolds him. She knows Topper won't kill anyone, he's not that type of person for as long as she knows him. But under situation like this, when the rage got the better of himself, he probably would. She knows he would and he seems like he has no idea what he's doing now.
"Topper!" Sarah yells once again when it's clearly that Topper would drown John B right there. And the fact no one actually man up and brave enough to stop them really disturbing.
JJ thinks he has enough, he's going to take an action. Especially when he saw how Topper holding his friend's head under the water like that and if he let him do it any seconds, John B would be dead. And he saw the panic from Hope's eyes, she's scared. That's enough for him to run for his bag.
Hope saw JJ running towards them and she feels relief for a second, until she caught him holding a gun and point it at Topper's head. Her heart drops, she can feel it on her stomach. She blinks her eyes, hoping she is just seeing things, but when she looks at him again, it's all true.
She saw the gun, JJ points it at Topper.
The crowds started to fade away, people running to the other side of the beach as soon as they saw the gun getting involved. Leaving only them there. The Pogues start yelling to JJ, also can't believe he pulled that move, telling him to stop.
Hope pushed Kelce away and immediately running towards the boys, Sarah following right behind her. She only stops when she close enough with them, she looks at JJ. Topper already let go of John B.
"JJ, stop" Hope said. She was meant to yell at him but she can't bring herself to, part of her still shock of what she had just witnessed. She knows she barely knows him, they only talked like twice and she can't assume how exactly his behaviour would be.
But this? Owning a gun and pointing it at her brother? This totally never crossed her mind.
"Put the gun down!" Hope urges him.
"Did you say something, princess?" JJ said, keep shoving the gun at Topper before he looks up to meet up with Hope standing there. He thought it was Sarah, but it's Hope. She looks at him with the scared flicker behind her eyes. JJ starts to falter, he almost pulled the gun away.
"We're good, man. We're good" Topper said, holding up both of his hands. JJ still looking at Hope with a guilt and she's only worry about her brother and John B. She wants to make sure the poor boy is fine but also needs to look out for Topper, afraid his brain got blow by JJ.
JJ finally break away from Topper, shoving him away. Breaking the eye contacts from Hope, turning back to the almost empty beach and shouting something at them about staying away from his side of the island before he releases two shots in the air. Hope flinching at the loud sounds, she starts to feel unsafe.
He could kill her brother here, that's mean he can kill her and the rest of them.
Hope swallow hard and instead of looking out for Topper and even John B who is still sitting in the water, she looks away and starts to run to the car. Leaving the rest of the people back at the beach.