chapter sixteen
a barbie dream house but all the dolls are kitchen knives
$$
Here was the deal: Izzy Windsor wanted to be free. It had been all she ever wanted since she was a little girl and first discovered what it felt like to ride a bike down the road with her hands stretched out at her sides and her head tilted back as the wind whistled in her ears. Being free was what she desired. If you asked her to wish upon a shooting star, that would be what she wished for—freedom.
But she didn't know if she could ever truly be free. Maybe she could have some freedom, but there would always be this weight pressing on her chest every time her father's voice chimed in the back of her head. He had this hold over her . . . like he was keeping her on a short leash, and tugging every time she fucked up. And to him, she fucked up a lot.
So, yeah, she wanted to be free and she could dream about it all she liked, but she didn't know if she could ever truly be that. It seemed like a fantasy. Because, you see, she had one foot in the past and one foot in the present, but she couldn't quite seem to take that extra step to move on. It was like she was stuck, and she didn't know how to unglue her feet.
And as she and the group headed closer toward the Crain house, she was reminded of all the things which trapped her in the past. Her mother's death being one of her ghosts.
Izzy tried to remind herself that she was alive; that she wasn't going to die in a car crash just like her mother. Because she wasn't her mother, and she wouldn't die like her either. JJ's hand on her knee helped ground her to reality, and soon she felt herself slowly relax into her seat . . . but not completely. Her mind was still clouded over with irritational scenarios where the van would just suddenly combust or flip over. She tried to silence them, but they wouldn't budge.
When the van finally came to a halt in front of the Crain estate, Izzy felt herself breathe a sigh of relief. She was itching to jump out of that damned death trap. She glanced out the window, narrowing her eyes at the house. She remembered playing there as a kid with the people she used to call her friends. But they weren't anymore. That thought made her feel more sure of her decision to join the so-called Pogues on this hunt. It made her think that maybe the line between the two groups was blurred. People were just people. It should have never mattered how much money the other had. She hated that her father had implemented that idea in her head in the first place.
"All right. Let's do this," John B muttered under his breath as he stared at the house and tightened his grip around the steering wheel. He breathed out a sigh before he slid out of the van and rounded the corner, coming around to open the back door for the others.
JJ glanced at the group, his eyes lingering on Izzy, and he grinned. "Let's go get rich, guys."
"Hell, yeah," Kiara cheered.
A small laugh escaped Sarah's lips. "Let's go boys," she said as she hopped out of the passenger's seat and joined John B by the door. She placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze as she shot him a wink.
"And girls," Kiara added.
The group nodded at her words and began to gather all their items. Pope grabbed the pulley while Kiara reached for the grappling hook. JJ grabbed the rope, hoisting it on his shoulder as he waited for the others to move. And Izzy, well, Izzy was anxious to just get the fuck out of the van and plant her feet on the soil. With that in mind, she attempted to step out of the van, but John B put his hands up and stopped her from following through with her actions.
"Wait, wait. I wanna' say thank you, guys," the Routledge boy began, a small, genuine smile tugging at his lips. He glanced at Sarah, and his smile grew. "Seriously. It means a lot to me that you're all here tonight."
Izzy felt herself smile, and she didn't have to force it. Maybe he wasn't that bad. She wondered if she had been wrong about him, because maybe he was exactly who Sarah said he was. Maybe he was better than all the boys who came before. Either way, she didn't feel so worried about her friend's relationship with the boy anymore. It could have been worse.
After a second, Kiara rolled her eyes and sighed. "Always," she mumbled, as a small smile lifted onto her face.
Pope nodded in agreement. "Of course, man."
JJ glanced at them and rolled his eyes. "All right, we done with the circle jerk?" he asked as he raised his brows. "Can we go do this?" He outstretched his hand, gesturing for the others to climb out of the van.
Izzy turned to him with her brows furrowed. "Circle jerk?" she questioned.
His eyes flicked to meet hers. "Yeah, like," he muttered as he gave a shrug, then motioned with his hand, jerking it back and forth above his crotch.
Izzy put her hand up before he could get carried away. "I didn't need a demonstration," she spat, giving him a disgusted look as she shook her head. "You're like vile. Like actually."
"Uh, okay? JJ . . . shut up," John B cut in, making JJ blink and shoot him a look. "Let's just do this."
"I'm with you on that," Pope said as he hopped out of the van. "Let's get that wheat in the water." He stood out of the way, gesturing with his hands for the girls to jump out of the van. Izzy jumped out first with Kiara following after her. Her heart was now completely steady. She could have kissed the ground . . . but she didn't because . . . gross.
"Weed?" JJ commented, glancing at Pope with a smug grin on his face as he stepped out of the van and slammed the door behind him. "I'm up for weed."
"Wheat," Pope corrected him, enunciating the word. "I said wheat."
"Oh, well that's gross. I prefer weed," JJ said. "Weed."
Izzy rolled her eyes at him, and turned around, finding Sarah already climbing the stone wall leading to the Crains' estate. Kiara sent Izzy a fleeting look before she followed Sarah's lead and pulled herself over the edge, dropping down on the other side. John B climbed over the wall next, with Pope following shortly after him, which left Izzy and JJ the last ones on the other side. For some reason that made an odd feeling spread throughout her chest.
Alone, Izzy thought. Alone with JJ. Being alone with him after what her friends had insisted had begun to take its toll on her. She felt awkward, and Izzy Windsor was not an awkward person. She intimidated others, not the other way around.
Oh, god. Izzy quicked shook her head at her thoughts. Shut up. She glanced over her shoulder and discovered JJ was covering the lower half of his face with a bandana. "Why are you even wearing that?" she asked.
JJ shrugged. "There could be Hephaestus."
"You mean asbestos?" Izzy questioned, raising her brows.
"Yeah, that," JJ muttered. The bandana was covering his mouth, but Izzy could just sense that a smug smirk was etched onto his face. A small laugh escaped his lips, proving her thoughts. "And . . . I look cool."
Izzy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay."
JJ raised his brows. "You don't agree?"
A shrug was his only response. She knew he was joking, but she couldn't handle that right now . . . not when everything about him confused her. She didn't feel like joking, she just wanted to know what he really thought about her. It was quite literally driving her insane. But Izzy wasn't a mind-reader, she was just Izzy. So she did what she knew best, and ignored the questions floating in her brain, as she turned around and approached the wall. She gripped onto the ledge and used all her upper body strength to pull herself up and over the wall. Her grip slipped from the ledge and her feet planted on the ground. She glanced up, finding the others looking at her in confusion. She only shrugged off their wondering eyes. A second later, JJ jumped down beside her, and then the group was off, heading toward the house of horrors awaiting them.
As the group approached the front of the house, Izzy realized one thing. The Crain house was withered with age, the years of neglect seeping through the cracked windows and creaky floorboards. She had been there many times before as a child, but it didn't look anything like it did now. Now, it seemed angry . . . like the years of neglect had eaten away at its edges. And for a second, Izzy wondered if the same fire which coursed through her veins were woven into the wood which built the Crain house. Maybe it was yearning for a living creature to step inside and brush off all the dust and dirt. Clearly Mrs. Crain, if she was still living, hadn't been taking care of it. Or maybe the house was a personification of the Crain woman herself. Either way, the way the house seemed to be staring at her sent chills down her spine.
Izzy pondered over whether or not the rumors were true. It all just seemed like an urban legend, but as she stood amongst the others and gazed at the house, she wondered if there might be some truth to the old sayings. But before she could let herself get wrapped up in all the possibilities, the porch light flashed on, illuminating their figures in the darkness. Their hearts pounded in their ears as they clicked off their flashlights and dropped to the floor, muttering curses under their breaths.
"Okay, so she has motion sensor lights," Pope whispered, his voice coming out panicked as he shut his eyes and shook his head.
"We could . . . uh . . . move really slowly . . . maybe?" JJ suggested as he scratched his chin.
Izzy scrunched her face and shot him a look. Sarah mimicked her response. "What?" the Cameron girl questioned.
Pope turned to the boy and smacked his arm with the back of his hand. "That's not how it works," he muttered.
"Oh, shit," John B cut in, abruptly. He glanced around at the group, his eyes wide in realization as he nodded at his thoughts. "Let's throw a rock at it." His response only made the group more irritated.
"That's a really good idea," Kiara exclaimed, sarcastically. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Let the axe murderer know that we're here."
"Throw a rock at it?" Pope repeated, his voice gaining in volume.
John B shrugged. "You have a better idea?"
"Literally anything but that," Kiara muttered, then pursed her lips.
"What about the breaker?" Sarah suggested as she glanced at Izzy, and steadied herself against a tree. "In the circuit box on the porch. Iz and I and a few others used to play hide-and-seek here as kids. And if we were brave enough, we'd go all the way up to the porch. I've seen it."
Shit. Izzy had almost forgotten. "Yeah, we can get to it. I made it once before," she mumbled, shocking herself with her own words. But really, she knew if Sarah was going in there, so was she. Sure, she didn't believe in the axe murderer bullshit, but if there was even a slight chance that it was true, she wasn't going to let her friend fall victim to it. She had seen too much blood in her lifetime, and lost too many people to even fathom the idea of going through that again. She couldn't. She wouldn't. "That's the only way around this shit."
"No, no," John B protested, putting up his hand. "You're not going in the house." But his eyes were trained on only Sarah.
Sarah glanced between her boyfriend's face at the house glaring at her. A grin twitched at her lips a second later. "Watch me," she murmured as she propped up on her feet, readying herself to make a run for it.
"Crain chops people into pieces," JJ warned. His eyes didn't drift between the girls though, they stayed locked on Izzy.
Izzy rolled her eyes. "Oh, my God, she's practically a carcass," she groaned as she tried to ignore JJ's stare. "Even if that stupid rumor is real, she's way past her expiration date."
"Yeah," Sarah agreed, "she's like what, eighty-five . . . anyway?"
"Yeah, somethin' like that," JJ muttered.
"So, she's probably barely still kicking like Iz said," Sarah exclaimed.
"Here," Kiara cut in before anyone else could protest. "I'll go with you guys."
The three girls shared a look, as small smiles slid onto their faces. These were Izzy's stars, and they would have followed each other to the ends of the earth. Izzy was finally trying to be okay with letting herself need them . . . because it felt good . . . to be wanted by people who cared. Izzy might have felt like she was the sun some days, but these were her stars, and she would have burned out if it meant letting them shine.
"We'll wait for your signal," Pope said after a minute.
The other boys nodded in agreement, although John B still looked hesitant and JJ appeared to be at war with himself. But boys were odd and confusing, so Izzy ignored the expression plaguing his face. He was probably just worried about retrieving the gold in time. That was it. It had to be.
"Okay, cool," Sarah muttered as she rose to her feet, with the other girls following her lead.
"Hey!" John B called out to them, causing them to halt in their tracks. He reached for Sarah and wrapped a hand around her arm, squeezing it. "Be safe."
"Yeah, try not to die," JJ added, causing Izzy to turn and look at him, only to find he was already staring at her. His focused gaze only made her more confused. She knew he didn't like her, but his concern had a way of making her doubt herself. Maybe she was just creating scenarios to nurse her fear of rejection. "I really don't want to have to go fishing for your corpses."
Sarah smiled. "We'll try," she said in a hushed voice before she turned around and began walking to the back of the estate with the other girls following shortly behind her.
The three girls trudged through the tall grass and shoved tree branches out of their way as they walked. Izzy has never been a fan of grass. The blades always cut her skin, irritating it. She tried to ignore the cuts the grass left on her legs as she and the other girls found their way at the bottom of the steps leading to the back porch.
"She must have a generator plugged into the main power supply," Sarah murmured as she glanced at Izzy for confirmation.
Izzy only shrugged in response. She couldn't remember. Life had always been a blur and she definitely didn't remember anything about the Crain house except for the few times she did join the others when they played their stupid games. (Normally, she would have been found shopping online or tanning by the beach.)
They all gave each other one more fleeting look before they stepped up the stairs and approached the circuit box. The floorboards creaked beneath their feet, causing them to cringe and pause for a moment to see if Mrs. Crain had heard them. When they received no sign of life within the house, they continued walking up the steps. Kiara was the first to reach the box, and she opened the cover, revealing only wires without the breaker.
Sarah shined the flashlight on the circuit box, then scoffed. "Where are the breakers?" she spat, her voice slightly panicked.
"What is this?" Kiara questioned as she ran her hand over the wires, then slowly followed where they led. She glanced up, discovering the wires were attached to a pole which disappeared into the house. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Shit. It goes inside."
The other girls followed her gaze and stumbled upon the same predicament, cursing under their breaths at their discovery. That meant only one thing. They would have to travel into the house of horrors and risk Crain catching them in order to turn off the lights. With that in mind, Kiara sent them a fleeting look of concern before she approached the back door and opened it with ease. She disappeared into the house with Sarah and Izzy hesitantly following behind her.
As soon as Izzy stepped into the house, she felt cold. And not just physically cold like when a chilled breeze brushes past you, but rather chilled to the bone. She felt hollow, empty, like the house was watching her and breathing down her neck. She had the urge to scream, but she kept her jaw wired shut and continued walking through the house. But still, she couldn't shake the feeling of someone's eyes on her. It made her skin crawl.
They rounded the corner and followed the pole, discovering that it led to another circuit box with switches. A quiet collective sigh of relief escaped their lips as they glanced at each other and grinned before Kiara stepped up and turned off the switches. She tried to click them off as stealthily and quietly as possible, but each switch snapped loudly, sending echoes throughout the house. The sounds seemed to bounce off the walls as the generator powered down, causing the girls to cringe as their pulses quickened.
Now . . . don't get her wrong. Izzy totally didn't believe in this axe murderer bullshit, but she still had a bad feeling about this. She just couldn't shake it. And she wanted to get the hell out of there before the old woman called the police on them and it got back to her father. (She was trying to ignore what he thought, but his voice was always taunting her in the back of her head, reminding her how to act.)
Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, the tune of a grandfather clock sounded throughout the house, echoing off the walls and ringing in their ears. Izzy's heart pounded in her head as she plastered herself against the wall. The other girls followed in her lead and backed up against the wall. Sarah gripped onto Izzy's arm, pulling her closer to her.
They stood there for a few minutes, listening for any sign of life inside the house when thumping noises sounded from above them. Sarah's grip on Izzy's arm tightened as the three girls shared a concerned look, their eyes wide and ridden with anxiety. The fear in their eyes only increased as the thumping grew closer to their location.
After what seemed like a second later, someone rounded the corner, coming into the girls' view. They all stared at the person, finding it was Mrs. Crain who was slumping down the hall with a fire poker in her hand. "It's—It's late, Leon," she muttered, her voice raspy. "Too late." She hobbled in front of them, pausing in her actions as she tried to catch her breath. She didn't turn to look at them, and for a second Izzy wondered why, until she caught sight of the woman's milky-white eyes. She was blind. "I can hear you, Leon. I've been waiting all night!"
Kiara inhaled sharply. "Go!" she instructed, her voice sharp but barely above a whisper. She shoved her friends, causing them to take off down the hall with their hearts pounding in their ears.
Izzy could hear the old woman's screams as she ran after them, which only made her panic more. Okay, so, maybe old woman Crain actually was an axe murderer. Fuck. Izzy glanced over her shoulder, catching sight of the old woman before she turned back around and sprinted into what appeared to be a kitchen. Although, you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference from the kitchen and the bathroom. Everything appeared to be stuck in time, slowly collecting dust and deteriorating. But Izzy didn't care about getting dirt or dust on her clothes at the moment, she was too worried about getting her head decapitated with a fire poker.
The Windsor girl stuck her head outside of the room, searching for her friends, but she saw no sign of anyone, she only heard the raspy breaths of Mrs. Crain as she hobbled down the hall. Izzy swallowed hard and stepped further into the kitchen, searching for a place to hide, but it was too open. If Mrs. Crain stepped inside, she'd surely find Izy even if she was as blind as a bat.
"Fuck," Izzy swore under her breath as her eyes frantically searched for a place to conceal herself.
A few seconds later, Izzy heard Mrs. Crain call out for someone named Leon, and that was when the Windsor girl gave a groan of irritation and hid behind the door. She clasped a hand over her mouth and peeked through the crack in the door, silently watching as the old woman slumped into a room that appeared to be some kind of study. Izzy breathed a sigh of relief and began to slide out from behind the door when she heard her friends scream.
Shit, Izzy thought. She whipped her head around, scanning the kitchen for some kind of weapon. Her eyes landed on a dirty frying pan that had been discarded on the countertop and probably left there to rot like everything else in the house. She dove for it, clasping it in her hand before she took off down the hall and darted into the room she had seen Mrs. Crain disappear into just seconds before.
When Izzy charged into the room, her eyes landed on the scene before her. Kiara was pressed up against a barricaded door, frozen in shock and fear, while Sarah tried to grip the fire poker out of Mrs. Crain's hands. Izzy briefly made eye contact with Kiara, before she lunged forward, the frying pan gripped tightly in her hands. She brought her hands back to gain momentum then swung forward, whacking the pan against the back of the old woman's head. The impact caused the Crain woman to stumble backward, gripping her head as small mewls escaped her withered lips.
"Holy fuck," Kiara commented under her breath as she glanced between Izzy and the old woman, who was groveling on the ground.
Izzy's eyes were wide in shock. She didn't know she had that in her, but now was so not the time to remark on stupid shit like that. They had to get the fuck out of there before the old woman recovered. "We gotta' go!" she yelped as she glanced between Sarah and Kiara.
The two girls nodded in agreement, and Sarah grabbed onto Kiara's hand, dragging her out of the room. Izzy quickly threw the pan on the ground and ran after them, escaping the room. Once Izzy passed over the threshold, the three girls all slammed the door shut and locked it, sealing the old woman behind the wooden barricade. They breathed out sharply, and for a second they were relieved, but that didn't last long. Mrs. Crain shoved the fire poker through the door, splitting a hole in the wood, which caused the girls to let out small screams as they shot backward.
"Come on. This way!" Sarah yelled, gesturing to another door. "It goes underneath the house!" She darted through the door, and disappeared into the darkness.
Kiara was about to follow her when she caught sight of Izzy, who hadn't moved. Izzy felt frozen as she stared at the old woman trying to break down the door. She didn't know why she felt stuck. Maybe it had to do with her whole death thing.
The thing was: Izzy was horrified of death, and dying scared the shit out of her, but she couldn't bring herself to move. She just stood there, with her hands glued to her sides. But then, she felt someone grab her hand into theirs and tug her toward them, forcing her to unglue her feet. Izzy briefly glanced up to meet Kiara's eyes, before she gave her a nod and let her lead her into the darkness. They ran down the stairs leading to the basement, finding Sarah, who was desperately trying to catch her breath, already down there with the boys.
Pope, who was positioned in front of the large well with a rope in his hands, glanced at the two girls who had just arrived. "What's going on?" he questioned.
Before they had arrived at the Crain house, the boys had briefly explained to Izzy the whole plan about lowering John B into the well with a rope, but looking at them now, the idea seemed a little underdeveloped. But, whatever, axe murderer on their hands, so who the fuck cared? Right? At least that was what Izzy thought as she tried to catch her breath.
"Iz? You okay?" JJ questioned. He had one boot propped up on the ledge of the well as he rested his arm on his leg and stared at the girls standing before him.
"Mrs. Crain! She's up there!" Kiara rushed out, glancing between the boys with her eyes wide and filled with anxiety. "She tried to kill us with a fire poker. We gotta' go."
Izzy nodded in agreement. Her heart was almost pounding out of her chest. She wondered if it'd burst through her chest and smack the ground. "I hit her and we locked her in the parlor, but she's still kicking," she added, her words coming out in spurts. "She's like a goddamn cockroach."
JJ raised his brows. "You hit her?"
Izzy shot him a look. "Does that really matter right now, JJ?"
JJ opened his mouth to retort but he never got the chance.
"Listen, shut up!" Sarah yelled, concluding all conversions in the room. "We gotta' fucking go. Pull him up. Now."
JJ nodded. "Okay, okay, code red," he yelled into the well, his voice echoing throughout the basement. "John B! Get back on, man!" He turned back to the others and nodded toward the rope. "Grab onto the rope. We're pulling him up."
A chorus of agreement passed amongst the group before they all latched onto the rope and began to pull. Izzy steadied her feet on the ground, trying to gain traction as she tightened her grip on the rope and began to tug. But their attempts were useless. The rope slipped out of their hands, causing them all to smack the ground. Izzy's hands burned as she stood to her feet with the others following in her lead. They cursed under their breaths as they hurried to the well, peering over to see if John B was all right. But only darkness stared back at them, with no sign of the Routledge boy.
Izzy felt her heart drop in her chest. She didn't know John B all that well, but he didn't seem that bad. Plus, Sarah really liked him, and it would rip her into pieces if he had just dropped to his death. Not only that, but they'd have to retrieve his body somehow, and the thought of seeing another carcass made her stomach churn. She couldn't stomach seeing all that blood again. And she couldn't watch him become lifeless, his body soon falling victim to rigor mortis as his limbs went stiff and his heart stopped beating. She worried if she witnessed death once more in her lifetime, that she'd become it.
But then, they heard a voice echo throughout the well, signaling that John B was still alive. At least, for now. They had to act fast.
"What's he saying?" JJ asked. His only response was another shout, but this one sounded more muffled, which sparked fear throughout the group. "Yo, he's drowning! We gotta pull him up!"
They all sprung to their feet and grabbed the rope, beginning to pull as hard as they could. Pope tugged on the rope, releasing a groan as he tried to call out to John B. "Hey, John B! Get back on the rope. We're gonna pull you back up, okay, buddy?" he managed to yell, but his voice was strained.
With a few curses and strangled groans, the group tightened their grips around the rope and pulled with everything they had in them. Even when the rope slipped slightly and left burns on the palms of their hands, they didn't stop. Izzy never thought she'd find herself in this situation. Her bubble filled with diamond necklaces and expensive shoes was beginning to seem like a sick joke compared to the horror movie of a night she was currently experiencing. It almost made her laugh, but the prospect of death on the horizon quickly put out that flame. She attempted to tug harder on the rope when a gunshot echoed throughout the room, followed by the sound of a bullet ricocheting off the walls.
"Shit!" Izzy yelped as she dropped to the floor next to Pope and backed up against the wall. She glanced at the Heyward boy, checking to see if he had any bullet wounds. She couldn't handle death. Not right now. Not ever. "Pope . . . you okay?"
Pope frantically turned to her and nodded his head. "Yeah, you?"
"I think," Izzy muttered. She averted her gaze from his face and searched for Kiara and Sarah. She found them hiding in a corner and breathed a sigh of relief, but her peace didn't last long. She began frantically searching for JJ. She couldn't handle death . . . especially not his. Her eyes found him a second later.
JJ was glancing between the old woman with the shotgun in her hands and the rope in his hands. He quickly tied the rope so John B would plummet deeper into the well before he turned around and dove to the ground next to Izzy. His eyes quickly landed on her and he reached forward, gripping her shoulders as he frantically checked her body for any wounds. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He gave her one last fleeting look before he swallowed, hard, then secured his arm around her waist and blocked her body with his to shield her from the old woman's sights.
You know why, the voice in Izzy's head taunted. And for a second she thought she did. But that couldn't be. He was just protecting her like friends did. That had to be it. Otherwise, he would have told her. She had to believe that.
Another gunshot went off, tearing Izzy from her intrusive thoughts as her heart pounded in her ears. She glanced to see Sarah and Kiara take off from their spot, running out of the basement and heading toward the outside. They were safe. That eased Izzy slightly.
"She's blind," Pope remarked under his breath, referring to the old woman. His response was another gunshot, and that was when the three of them screamed and released a slur of swears.
"I don't care if she is, that's buckshot!" JJ yelled as he scrambled off the ground. He pulled Izzy to her feet and ushered her forward, urging her to run out the door leading to the outside.
"Get to the car!" Pope frantically instructed as the three of them darted out of the door.
As they ran, the roaring wind twirled in Izzy's short blonde hair and whistled in her ears. She didn't have time to relish in the way it made her feel, her heart was pounding too loudly in her ears to think of anything else other than getting to the van. She didn't even care if the van was a death trap. Anything was better than getting shot, and bleeding out.
The stone wall came into her view and Izzy picked up her pace. She gripped onto the ledge and pulled herself up, then swung her legs over and dropped down. Her feet were barely planted on the ground before she skidded toward the van and flung open the passenger's side door. She slid in and glued her hands to the dashboard, letting herself catch her breath as the others climbed into the van. She barely caught her breath when JJ swung open the door to the driver's side and hopped in, quickly starting the engine as the others pleaded for him to take off down the road.
"Why are we always getting shot at?" Pope groaned as he slammed his head against the window.
Izzy whipped around in her seat. "This has happened more than once?" she yelled. Jesus. What the fuck did she get herself into?
Before anyone could attempt to answer, John B climbed over the wall and dropped down on the ground. But JJ had already started to drive down the road, leaving the boy behind. The others called out to John B, urging him to get up and run, and he obeyed, sprinting after the van. He groaned out a final huff of frustration and threw himself into the van, collapsing onto the floor. He was covered in mud or maybe . . . shit, either way, the odor exuding from his body made Izzy gag.
JJ slammed his foot down on the accelerator, speeding down the road. He briefly glanced over his shoulder while trying to keep an eye on where he was headed. "Are you okay? Are you shot?" he asked, laughing slightly.
"No," John B huffed as he tried to catch his breath.
Kiara leaned back and breathed out sharply. "I think I'd know if I was shot, right?" she asked as she squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her chest.
Pope only stared at John B in shock. "You look disgusting!" he exclaimed through panicked breaths.
Kiara looked at the Routledge boy again, then plugged her nose. "God, you smell like ass."
"What the hell just happened?" Sarah breathed out as she looked up and shook her head.
JJ ran a hand through his hair and laughed. "All-time Pogue Hall of Fame, baby."
"Hell, yeah," Kiara agreed, clamping a hand down on JJ's shoulder before she turned back to face the others. "That bitch is possessed."
"That bitch can't aim," Sarah exclaimed.
"How does she move that fast?" Pope asked.
Kiara shook her head. "She's possessed."
Their voices faded in Izzy's ears as she glanced up and stared at the open road ahead of her. For a split second, she saw an image of the van flipping over, killing them all in the process, but then it faded. Her senses calmed and her heart rate began to steady. She felt different. She wasn't saying her fear of driving without being behind the wheel was cured, but she felt calmer. Then, she glanced at JJ and a smile found its way onto her face. He must have felt her staring because he tore his eyes from the road, and pretty soon, he was also grinning back at her.
"Oh, God! Is that what I think it is?" Kiara exclaimed, causing Izzy and JJ to look back to see what the commotion was about. Their eyes landed on John B, and they found he was holding up a bar of gold in his hand.
Holy fuck, Izzy thought. They were right. This wasn't a hoax. The four hundred million dollars was really a thing.
"No, you didn't!" JJ yelled, laughing slightly. He slammed his hands against the steering wheel and began thanking the universe, claiming he'd never sin again. That made Izzy laugh.
"We did it, baby!" John B whooped, holding up the gold and waving it in the air.
"JB, I could kiss you right now, man!" JJ yelled as he banged his fist against the roof. The others joined him, laughing slightly as they practically jumped out of their seats.
"Wait! Wait!" Kiara called out, causing the group to fall into silence with the exception of a few laughs. "Guys, we're gonna be rich! Like Kook rich!"
"We're gonna' be Izzy-rich!" JJ screamed, pounding his fist against the roof again as he laughed.
That was all it took before the other teenagers joined him in his excitement, and began chanting 'Full Kook'. Their screams of joy and relief consumed the van, echoing off the walls as they celebrated. But Izzy didn't join them, she only laughed along with a wide grin spread across her face. It didn't feel right to join them. She had all the money in the world, and she had never understood what it would be like to not have cash growing on the cherry blossoms in her backyard.
But as their chants filled her ears, Izzy began to see what it would feel like to finally be free like them. She realized how privileged she really was, and she decided if she could, she'd trade all the money in her father's bank account if it meant she could spend forever with them. And for a second as those thoughts consumed her, she did feel free. It was probably the first time she had felt that way in a long time, and she never wanted it to end.
a/n: UM anyway, the next few chapters are my faves. y'all aren't ready!!
and as always thanks for reading!