CHAPTER NINE
IX. READY TO CONFESS
"POPE, WE'RE NOT STEALING THE DRONE, WE'RE BORROWING IT." John B had told his friend as he still tried persuading him that taking the drone was the only way to find the gold. The group were on their way to the salvage yard, Juliet was sitting in the back of the van again with Pope and JJ. She was watching JJ roll up a blunt as John B spoke.
"Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality." Pope quoted. Juliet could tell it was a quote with the way he said it. Pope was often quoting people so she knew now when he was.
"Wait, did you come up with that?" John B asked as he continued to drive.
"No, Albert Bernstein came up with that, but it applies to this whole treasure-hunting thing." Pope said.
"Oh." John B said, realising then what Pope meant. It still wasn't clear if what they were looking for and doing was a fantasy or reality.
"So, which is it?" Pope twisted in his seat to look back at John B. "Fantasy or reality?"
"Why are you so weird, Pope?" JJ spoke up from his seat on the floor of the van. He didn't look up at Pope as he continued to roll the blunt he had in his hand.
Kiara then twisted around in her seat to look at Pope. "It's fantasy but possible reality." She told him.
"Reality." John B then said, confident that it was all reality.
"Virtual reality." JJ had muttered as he used his lighter to light the blunt that was now in his mouth. But before it set alight, Pope took it from his mouth.
"Keep the signal clear." Pope didn't want JJ being high while they were retrieving the drone. They needed him alert and focused.
"You know what your problem is? It's that you need to relax, man. You're always so tense!"
The van had then pulled up beside a car with a boat attached to the back. The plan was that the girls were going to ask the security guard to pump up their flat tire while the boys snuck in, the only problem was that they'd asked Juliet to more or less seduce the guy a little. He wasn't going to help unless she was a little too friendly. Kiara was the one who suggested that Juliet could do it. Kiara knew Juliet would be better at it than she was.
"Do I really have to do this? Can I not just sit this one out, you know, just chill in the van till you guys get back." Juliet asked when they stopped.
"No, you're doing this." Kiara told her as she got out the van. Juliet groaned as she slid the door to the side so she could join Kiara. The girls walked around to the other side of the van and stood by John B's window.
"Hey, don't worry. You got this." John B said to the girls as he lent out the window.
"It's not us that I'm worried about." Kiara said as she looked at the two boys arguing in the back. Juliet laughed as she looked between Kiara and John B. Kiara's next movements were unexpected to Juliet, and to John B, she just thought it would help them a little. Kiara grabbed Juliet's top in her hands and pulled it down a little more than Juliet ever would've had it.
"Kie, what are you doing!" Juliet almost screamed, trying to pull it back up but Kiara stopped her.
"They're gonna help us too." Kiara smirked, looking down at Juliet's cleavage. John B let out a laugh as Kiara then walked away from Juliet and over to the car.
"You owe me for this." Juliet told John B, pointing a finger at him and scowling. He nodded, still laughing, as he watched Juliet then walk over to the car and get in the drivers seat.
Juliet then drove her, Kiara and the boat to the entrance of the salvage yard. Juliet exited the car, having already argued with Kiara about going alone. "Hello?" Juliet called out as she approached the gates. "Excuse me?" Juliet waited on the other side as she watched the security guard make his way out to her. She had to remind herself to smile.
"Can I help you?"
"Hi! Um, I actually have a flat tire. I was wondering if maybe you could help me out?" Juliet made her voice a little bit higher than it usually was as she spoke to the man. She then gave him a smile as she watched him contemplate helping her.
"Yeah. Yeah." The man smiled as he backed up, going to get his tools to help pump the tire back up. Juliet kept the smile on her face till he walked away.
"It's too easy." Juliet mumbled to herself. When he was out of site, Juliet's smile dropped and she turned around to look at Kiara, who was still sitting in the passengers seat. Kiara smiled at her scowl, laughing to herself.
The boys were all watching Juliet from behind a wooden platform, ready to make a run for it when the gate opened. "How's it going with Kiara?" JJ had broken the silence between them as they watched Juliet look back to the car at Kiara. His eyes hadn't left her since she'd gotten out of the car.
"It's not awkward, weird, or anything." John B told him, eyes still focused on the gate.
JJ stifled a laugh. "Honestly, I did not think you were gonna actually listen to me." He said to John B. He didn't usually listen to JJ so the blonde boy had been rather surprised when he'd found out John B had tried making a move on their mutual friend.
"What?" John B looked at JJ confused.
"I was one hundred percent sure she was into you. Pope would agree." JJ said. He was so sure Kiara was into John B, so sure that he would've bet money on it.
"Ehh..." Pope hesitated a little, he wasn't convinced. He didn't think Kiara liked John B but he didn't know if that's because he really didn't see it or because of another reason.
"So, like, Kie, she like definitely gave you the Heisman?" JJ then asked.
"Oh, no question, yup." John B nodded.
"Gotcha." JJ didn't know why he found the situation funny but he did. There was something amusing to him about John B getting friend zoned.
"Maybe she's just into somebody else." Pope then said, making both boys turn to look at him. What did he know that they didn't? Their conversation had ended there as they watched Juliet lead the man to the back of the boat to where the flat tire was. Kiara had since gotten out of the car and joined Juliet.
"It's just this back one right here." Juliet said as she stopped at the tire. "I mean, it must've been a slow leak or something" She said to him as she lent arm against the boat and slightly stuck her chest out. She needed to give the boys as much time as she could. When she knew the security guard wouldn't be able to see the boys making a run for it, she lifted her arm up and discreetly pointed towards the gate.
"Probably just been sitting in the yard too long." He told her and Juliet gave him another fake smile and nodded. The boys had then run around all of the cars parked outside and managed to get through the gate just before it closed. "Yeah. I got this." The man told the two girls as he knelt down on the floor to start pumping the tire up. Juliet thanked him as Kiara looked around to make sure the boys had gone through and were out of sight.
While the man dealt with the tire, Juliet noticed that he kept glancing up at her so she had to make sure she kept the smile on her face. She didn't have much faith in the boys so the longer she could keep the security guard out with her then the better. But then the sound of a dog barking made him stop. "Do you hear that?" He looked up at the girls.
"Hear what?" Kiara answered him before Juliet could.
The security guard stood up. "Tebow's got something."
"It's probably just a raccoon, maybe." Juliet quickly said, smiling at him again. She knew the boys would mess up, that it wouldn't go as smoothly as they had hoped so the girls needed to at least try to help them out. Kiara then made a beeline for the other back tire and started letting out the air. Juliet thought she could keep him at the other tire but she turned her back for a few seconds and he'd found Kiara letting out air from the other one. He must've got suspicious.
"What are you doing?"
"This one looks a little low too." Kiara tried acting like she wasn't just letting the air out herself but the man caught on. The next thing they knew, he was running back over to the gate and opening it. There was nothing more the girls could do now.
"Shit. Hey, we gotta go, now." Juliet said to Kiara before running to the drivers seat and getting into the car. Kiara wasn't too far behind her, getting in the passenger seat and Juliet reversed the car and turned it around as quickly as she could to get back to the van.
When the boys got back, all separate, John B drove them all to The Wreck. The boys explained to the girls on the way that the dog separated them all, John B broke into the warehouse to get the drone and JJ had to lie to the security guard to get himself out.
Kiara told them all she'd get them free food as it was nearing the end of the night and The Wreck would be closing soon after they got there. The boys obviously loved the idea, Juliet wasn't as bothered. She knew she'd have food waiting for her at home, but she knew the boys were different. She thought it was a nice gesture from Kiara to offer. However, Juliet knew Kiara's dad, she knew he didn't like the boys very much. But Kiara managed to persuade him and let them all have the leftovers that would've ended up being thrown away.
After they all sat down and ate, the restaurant had closed so it was empty, apart from the workers and Kiara's dad. There was music playing and Kiara had started dancing. She motioning with her finger at John B for him to join her and none of them expected him to actually stand up and dance with her but he did. Juliet started laughing as she watched them dance, laughing at the fact Kiara had managed to get John B up dancing. She watched them with a loving smile on her face.
Juliet's eyes were only briefly glancing over at the other two boys but when she noticed Pope staring at Kiara and John B dancing with an almost glum expression on his face, she stopped. She watched him look at the two with envy? Jealousy? Was Pope jealous of John B? Juliet didn't know if she was looking too much into it but it would explain a lot to her if he was. He liked Kiara. Juliet's eyes then glanced over at JJ, for less than a second, she didn't want to be caught starting. And the last thing she expected was to see him looking straight at her. But she ignored it.
When Kiara and John B finished dancing, Kiara walked back over to the table to clean up a little. John B obviously wasn't finished so he grabbed a hold of Juliet's hands. "No, no, no. I don't dance." Juliet told him as he got her onto her feet.
"Don't lie. I've seen you busting a move at Keggers. Come on." John B told her, smirking. He just wanted her to have some fun and stop being so uptight. Juliet hadn't been herself in weeks and he just wanted her back, even just for a little while. So Juliet danced with him. He held onto her hand and spun her around, making her dance around him. They were both laughing the whole time but Juliet was having fun, so that was all that had mattered.
And it was like the roles were swapped. Now it was JJ watching John B dance with Juliet, feeling jealousy. Although he couldn't help but smile at seeing the smile on Juliet's face, one no one had seen in weeks, he hated that it was John B who was making her laugh like that. And the only one who seemed to notice was Kiara.
It wasn't long before the boys had decided to go home, it was getting late and Pope needed to get home so the boys all decided to leave. John B offered Juliet a ride home too but she decided to stay with Kiara for a little while longer. "It's fine, I need to talk to Kiara about something anyway. I'll just get my brother to come pick me up." Juliet told John B just before they left.
When Kiara and Juliet were then left alone, Juliet made Kiara sit down with her at a table. Kiara was confused and a little worried. Juliet was acting weird and suspicious. She'd never sat down with Kiara for a chat like that before, it was normally just done over the phone or while they were doing something, it was something that happened naturally.
But Juliet needed to tell Kiara before the guilt ate at her even more. It was consuming Juliet and she despised it, it was the worst feeling in the world. Juliet knew that what she was about to tell Kiara would change things and honestly, Juliet couldn't tell if she wanted that or not but she needed to do it. "Kie, I need to tell you something."
NOTE
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ ﾟ
IM SORRY FOR LEAVING IT LIKE THAT
but i have most of the next chapter written so i can maybe update again later.
y'all will finally find out what happened, even though most of u probably have figured it out already. so look out for the next chapter later today!
so i just wanted to warn people, if anyone is actually reading this, that the next chapter is going to be a lot different than before so i encourage you to actually read it! i'm changing the flashback and what happened between juliet and jj. so please read it again!