THIRTY-ONE I PROMISE
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Night had fallen and Norman's stomach was wrenching with the thought of where John B was and what he had gotten himself into. They had sat in his front yard, waiting for him to get back or at least call, but he never did. Eventually, it seemed Kie had enough.
"No more fucking sitting around," Kiara exclaimed in a burst of anger that interrupted the silent worry that had fallen over the group. "Let's get in the boat, we're riding over to Figure Eight. We're gonna find out where John B is, I'm not waiting for him to come back to us. If he had killed someone, I'm pretty sure we would have heard of it by now, right?"
Norman nodded, "Yeah, definitely. I'm on board with your idea, Kie, I'm sick of sitting around waiting. Not when he's out there alone and pissed off like that, he shouldn't be alone right now."
"Especially after thinking his dad was alive this whole time," JJ muttered, his voice sadder than it was angry or worried. It was times like this Norman remembered how close John B and JJ were -- even despite recent events. "I'm down."
Pope nodded, "Me too. Let's go."
Without another word, they piled into the boat as Pope drove them over to the Cameron's dock. The closer they got the more Norman began to remember when things weren't this bad. He was fairly sure that ever since finding the gold, they were cursed. He remembered fondly how he and John B had first gotten into a fight on the docks, leading to both of them falling into the water at five in the morning. Back before they even dared to call themselves friends. It was strange how much could change in such little time. They parked the boat at the dock, next to the Cameron's significantly larger boat. They could see the house from here and its lights were on and Norman was really hoping that was a good sign.
"What now?" JJ asked with a sigh, "We just go up to the front door and ask, "Hey, have you seen John B?""
Kiara, who had kept her anxious gaze on the house, whipped around to face JJ, "Look, he lives at Tannyhill now. It's plausible. Look, we can play dumb."
"Play dumb?" the blond asked, sounding unimpressed with the idea.
Pope sighed, "It's pretty late."
Norman shrugged, trying to stay on Kiara's side, "Look, it's not that outlandish for his friends to stop by where he lives to look for him. Kie has a good point."
"Thanks, Rocky," the girl sighed, sounding exhausted just like the rest of them, "Look, I've never seen John B like that. We should honestly be going to the cops."
"The cop-- and say what, Kie?" JJ challenged, getting increasingly frustrated, "We're worried about our friend because he's on a rampage because Ward Cameron killed Big John?"
"They'd probably call the fucking loony bin on us," Norman sighed, "This is our best bet, the cops can't help us. Ward Cameron practically owns the island, I wouldn't be surprised if that included the cops, too."
They continued arguing, but Pope interrupted them and Norman realized the boy had pulled out binoculars and was looking into the house. Cutting off the argument, he told them, "Hey, I see Ward."
"Alive?" Norman asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Alive," Pope confirmed.
"Let me see," Kie grabbed the binoculars away from Pope, looking into them before saying.
Pope sighed, "Doesn't look dead to me. Let's go home."
"Wait," JJ cut him off, but before he could say anything the dark-skinned boy cut him off.
"Uh... okay, obviously Mr. Cameron is fine, and even if John B was here, he isn't now, okay? Plus, I have the biggest, most important moment of my life in six hours."
The girl didn't seem pleased with this as she shot back, "Well our friend is in trouble."
"I'm in trouble!"
"Guys, can we please just not fight right now?" Norman intruded with a level of anger that was surprising even to him. "I'm worried enough about my idiotic boyfriend as is right now and the last thing we need -- the last thing he needs -- is us totally falling apart about it. Okay?"
"Rocky, you don't get it. None of you get it," Pope sighed, "I haven't been home in three days. My dad's probably put all my shit on the streets by now."
"Okay, so that's it?" Kie asked, her voice strained as though she were trying not to cry. Judging by her expression, Norman could tell that's exactly what she was trying not to do. "In a time of need, you're just gonna bail? You're just gonna walk away?"
"Yo, guys, like Rocky said, can we not do this right now?" JJ interrupted, sounding more stressed than he was before.
Still, Pope ignored him in favor of continuing the argument with Kie, "Hey, I have a scholarship interview in the morning. I can't--"
"Okay, well what about John B?" Kiara cut him off, her voice breaking.
"Why is it always about John B?"
"Here we go," Norman sighed, leaning against the edge of the boat with JJ, the two of them exchanging exasperated looks. By the time Kie and Pope finished arguing, it would probably be time for the stupid interview.
"It's not always about John B!" the girl exclaimed, "You're so stupid! It would be any of you in this situation! Even Rocky!"
"Should I be offended by that?" he whispered to the boy next to him.
JJ shrugged, "Probably?"
Pope rolled his eyes, shouting, "Oh, bullshit!"
"Guys!" JJ tried to get their attention, but the tension was unbreakable.
Kie just kept going, saying, "This is about friendship."
"Bring it down," the blond tried, but the girl was unstoppable.
"This is about Pogues for life!"
"What about forensic pathology, huh? It's my life, everything I worked for! Stop your moral high ground bullshit!" Pope screamed in Kiara's face, the two of them seemingly playing an intimidation game with each other as they got in each other's faces.
JJ yelled again to interrupt them, "Pope, come on."
"No!" the boy called back, "No, no. She has no room to talk. Where were you when Big John went missing? You weren't there. You weren't there for John B. You weren't there for any of us. Remember your Kook year? Yeah, you forgot about us. Now you feel guilty."
"Give me a break!" Kiara exclaimed as she pushed Pope back, clearly not liking when the blame was placed on her. Norman could hardly bear to watch this. "That's what you need! You need a break? Move!"
The two began a game of pushing and shoving where JJ and Norman looked at each other, sighing before they got up to break it off. Norman pushed Pope away, while JJ held onto Kie.
"Guys, guys," JJ sighed, "If I'm the one mediating? We've hit rock bottom. Kie, sit. Pope, Bow. Now. Pope, I'll drop you off. Not a word from you two."
With that, Norman went and sat next to Kie. He didn't want to pick sides, but he always had a soft spot for the girl. Maybe it was because she had a soft spot for him first -- way before anyone else in the group started liking him.
"I don't wanna talk anymore," Kie sighed, giving him a look that told him how exhausted she really was. "It'll just make things worse."
"Then let me talk your ear off," Norman said with a small smile, "Listen, Kie, we know you care about John B. Trust me, we all care about him. I know you're worried about Sarah, too, but the problem with life and friends is that you don't always have the power to help everyone. Right now? We have no way of helping John B. We have no idea where he is or if he's okay and that is the shittiest feeling in the world. You know what we can do, though? We can help get Pope to his interview on time. Just because you and I won't have to worry about paying for college, doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else. I mean, John B is hardly even considering it just because he could never afford to go. Pope has a real opportunity to move past the Cut and get his foot in the door in the academic world and the profession he wants to end up in. What kind of friends are we if we take that away from him?"
The girl sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I know you're right but I really don't want you to be right."
"I know it's hard, Kie, trust me, I feel sick to my stomach right now," the boy wrapped his arms around her shoulders as he spoke, giving her a tight squeeze, "but we're not turning our backs on him. We're just getting our priorities in order and prioritizing what we can do over what we can't. It doesn't make us love John B any less or love Pope any more."
"Do you love him?" the girl asked, her voice faint but he could still make out the question.
He wanted to shrug and act like he wasn't sure, but he was sure. He just wished he could tell the boy the truth, but he was nowhere to be found. Being in love with someone was something Norman never imagined he was going to get to have. He hadn't even fathomed the idea of being in love with a boy a few weeks ago. He smiled thinking of how proud Alisha would be of him if she knew. If she really knew how he felt for John B.
Hesitantly, he nodded, "I do. I love him, I really do."
"Then promise me we won't turn our backs on him," Kie held out her pinky with a resigned sigh, "No matter how bad things get."
With a heavy feeling in his heart, he lifted his hand and wrapped his pinky around hers, confirming, "I promise. Now, let's pick this back up again tomorrow, okay? It's late and cleary us all being tired is making things worse for everybody."
As if on cue, the girl yawned. Nodding, she said, "Tomorrow."
The sick feeling in Norman's stomach didn't go away when they spoke. He had a feeling things were just going to go downhill from here and considering things seemed to be at rock bottom, he didn't wanna find out just how low they could get.
it's been four days since I updated but ahem I don't care! Here's a little chapter and emphasis on little because we're already over halfway through episode eight and I want to try ending this fic on 40 chapters? I have a feeling I'll be able to get nine more chapters out of this bitch but regardless, this story is almost over hehe