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𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 thing Francine Castle despised more than anything in the world, fake people. She couldn't stand it when people acted passive-aggressive and talked behind your back was something she couldn't take. The fact that some people were so bitter towards people who they call their 'friends' made her sick to her stomach. She preferred that people tell her how they feel about her, not tell her she looks nice, then two seconds later tell their other friends that she looks like a fat pig when she isn't around. She was always one to think that people should say what they're thinking to her face. Her father used to always tell her to speak her mind, and at a young age, Francine was the only one in her class to stand up to the bullies. That's how she met John B, in second grade the boy was being picked on by Chase Miller, the bully of the school, and Francine jumped in. She told him a few words second graders shouldn't be throwing around, grabbed John B's arm and asked him if he was okay. Thus a friendship was born.
She hated fake people, bullies, and wannabes. That's probably why she didn't get along with many kooks. Most of them act nice to her face, putting on fake smiles but when she leaves they're spitting insults back and forth between about her. Some were real enough to show her how they feel, like Kelce and Topper, but she was still sure they talked even worse about her behind her back.
She thought that the kook adults were the worst, they acted like stereotypical rich people. Example, Rose Cameron and her mother, Katerina Gold. They would pretend their life is perfect but secretly they're just as fucked up as the pogues, except they're better at hiding it. Covering up their sad, messed up lives with giant houses, cocktail parties and luxury items.
The fact that most kooks lacked any emotions made her come to the conclusion that she'd much rather spend time with pogues. All her life living on the Cut she wanted to be a kook, have a big house and have gatherings with rich people who were her friends. But now that she had all that, she wanted to go back to the way everything was before. The kook life was nothing like she thought, even though she was grateful for everything she had, material wise. She lacked in the sentimental and emotional bonds. That's probably why Francine was trying so hard to befriend the pogues again, to feel like she had someone to turn to, some form or support in her life. Sure, she had Sarah, but the girl seemed really distant lately, which was confusing the dark haired girl.
Despite the events that had just occurred just a few minutes ago, Francine couldn't feel any happier to be arguing with Pope about cleaning up the giant gash located on his forehead.
"Can I at least put something over it? It's gonna get infected," Francine pleaded as Pope shook his head for the fifth time in the past five minutes. Once they got onto the boat, Francine immediately asked the boy about his face. Of course, he said it never hurt, but she could see that even if he raised his eyebrows a little bit, he would flinch. The gash looked painful, so she didn't believe a word he said. After begging the boy for around five minutes, he finally let her clean it off but that was all he allowed her to do. "Why though?"
"I'll be fine, Baby," Pope muttered as he kept his eyes on the water in front of him. He was driving the boat to a dock to go pick up someone, he wouldn't tell Francine who it was She was confused, but let it slide, thinking that is was someone she didn't really know.
The girl smiled at the nickname he used, it was the first time in three years she heard someone call her that, and it wasn't said in a bad way. "You know, that's the first time someone called me 'Baby' since I moved to Figure Eight. Well, other than when JJ tried to make me feel like crap."
"Why did you stop using the nickname anyways?" Pope asked, curiosity was in both his face and voice. He glanced at the girl quickly, seeing her smile drop, he shifted in his seat. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
She shook her head, taking a deep breath. She knew the question would pop up sometime, so with a small frown she began to speak, "Well, you guys gave me the name and it just made me think of everything I did to you guys whenever I heard it."
"You really feel bad, don't you?" Pope gave her a sad smile, Francine returning it with a nod. She was happy that she had one quarter of the group forgive her. Even though it wasn't much, it was still one of the pogues, which would make her happy even if the rest still hated her. She was grateful for Pope.
The two teens sat in silence for a while, both lost in their thoughts. Francine moved away from the captains chair, where Pope was sitting, to the small fold out chair in the corner of the room. She began fiddling with her hands quietly, until Pope spoke up again. "I always thought there was something more to the story, everyone else said you just moved on and got richer, better friends. That you were embarrassed of us. I knew you wouldn't do something like that, Kiara and John B didn't believe me. JJ thought that it was just a phase for the first year, he always thought you were going to come back to us."
"How is JJ?" Francine asked, wanting to know how the boy was doing. The only interactions she's had with him were short and most of the time he was shooting her glares, making snarky comments about how she was a kook, or he was ignoring her presence completely.
Pope bit his lip, contemplating if he should share the details of his friend's life to the girl. It's not like he didn't trust her, he did. He just didn't think that JJ trusted her, so if Pope were to tell the girl about all the shitty things the boy has gone through the past three years, he didn't know how JJ would react. So instead of spilling everything to Francine Pope just sent her a small smile, "He's good, hates your guts though."
"I expected that," Francine chuckled with a knowing grin, hiding the fact that she was worried about how JJ would take her apology. She wouldn't tell anyone, but she missed JJ the most out of the group, when they were younger, he would never fail to make the girl laugh. He was there with her when her dad left, and did everything in his power to cheer her up. He'd tell her that her father was almost as much a deadbeat as his and how he left the best thing he had going for him, those comments made her laugh. She didn't know what would happen to her if it wasn't for him, she was grateful for that.
But what did she do to repay him? Leave him and the rest of her friends in the dirt.
It hurt Francine to think that the boy probably won't forgive her, but in her opinion, she deserved it. She turned her back on him when he was beaten and bloody, standing on her doorstep two years ago. Well it wasn't really her, it was her mother, but she needed to stop blaming the woman for some things she clearly could've snuck around to do. She was just too stubborn to disobey the woman, trying to keep up the perfect daughter image. She just wished she could take everything back, but she can't, so she just had to deal with what she had.
"Don't beat yourself up over it though," Pope's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She turned her head to the boy, seeing him adjust his hat on his head to cover up the gash, as he stopped the boat at a dock on Figure Eight. He stood from the chair, shrugging, "I bet he'll come around when you tell him what really happened."
"I can only hope," Francine laughed, also standing up and following the boy outside onto the deck of the boat. She stood beside him and looked at the nice view in front of her. It was on the more run down side of Figure Eight, near the Cut, but the houses were still huge and the property still looked like hurricane Agatha never happened. But that's what kooks do, cover it up to make pretend things didn't happen.
She caught sight of a person coming from one of the houses in front of the dock, running down the boardwalk towards the boat. Francine assumed that it was the person Pope was picking up. She looked to her left, seeing the boy shift nervously as he gave her a forced, tight lipped smile.
The girl furrowed her brows, shooting Pope a confused glance, "Who are you picking up anyways?"
"Uh-"
"Pope!" The person running down the bridge shouted, cutting off whatever answer the boy was about to shout out. Francine put her hand over her eyes, blocking out the sun as she squinted to see who was on their way to the boat. The figure got closer and closer to the vehicle, until the girl could finally figure out who it was.
JJ
She sent Pope a panicked look, looking at him with wide eyes, not believing that he wouldn't tell her that the blonde boy was going to accompany them. She thought that it was a key detail, too important to leave out, knowing that her former friend probably wouldn't hesitate to push her off the boat if he wanted to.
JJ laughed, oblivious to the fact that Francine was also on the boat with Pope, "Dude, you are not gonna believe what just happened to me, man!"
Francine ran into the wheelhouse, leaving Pope outside to stall the blonde while she looked for something to cover herself up with. After a few seconds of searching the room for anything to cover her face, she found a hoodie hanging on the back of a chair. She didn't know whose it was but the piece of clothing was the only thing she had at the moment to keep her from being recognized. So, without further hesitation, she pulled the hoodie over her head and put the hood up to cover her hair and face. Francine ran to the chair in the corner and looked to her lap, hoping to go unnoticed by the blonde boy.
The two boys stepped into the room, Pope snuck a nervous glance in Francine's direction, almost sighing in relief to see her face hidden from JJ's view. The blonde stepped into the boat and patted his friend on the shoulder, sitting on the chair that Francine took the hoodie from. "Woo, that was the best one hundred bucks I've ever made. When I say, count me in on all these grocery deliveries, Pope, I mean it."
Pope didn't crack a smile, or even laugh at JJ's words, he just looked ahead, a blank look on his face. He drove the boat away from the dock, trying to not give away anything that happened around an hour before or the fact that the girl JJ hated the most was sitting right behind him.
Francine bit her lip nervously, staying silent and keeping her head down. She silently played with the black strings on the grey hoodie she was wearing. It was kind of baggy on her but the sleeves were only a little longer than her arms, meaning that the person who owned the sweater wasn't that much bigger than her. They were definitely taller than her though because the length went a quarter way down her thigh. She also didn't fail to notice that the sweater smelled like Axe with a small hint of weed, that's how she knew it didn't belong to Pope. She was almost one hundred percent positive that Pope doesn't do any kind of drug, legal or not. So it made her question herself about who it really belonged to, she just prayed that it wasn't JJ's.
JJ seemed to notice Pope's odd behavior, surprisingly Francine hasn't caught his eye yet. "What's up with you?"
Pope didn't answer him, keeping the same expression, not moving his attention from the water. "Bro, you good? JJ furrowed his brows, analyzing his friend's face for anything weird. His eyes caught something though, the cut on Pope's forehead that was most likely bleeding because he wouldn't let Francine cover it up. The blonde stood from his seat quickly, "Yo, what happened to your face, dude?"
Pope tried to look away but JJ grabbed the peak of his hat and lifted it to see the gash better, making sure he wasn't seeing things. "Jesus!"
JJ turned his head to look away from his friend, trying to figure out what might have happened to him. His eyes immediately landed on the person sitting in the corner, right behind him. To say he was shocked that he didn't notice them before would be an understatement. "Who the holy hell are you?"
Francine's breath caught in her throat.
This is how I die she thought worriedly, keeping her head down, praying that Pope would think quickly and make something up. She searched her brain for things she could do to avoid being yelled at by JJ. She could run outside, but they were on a boat so she was bound to get caught somehow. She could also jump off the boat but then it would be hard to get back to shore and the girl didn't think she had enough energy to swim all that way. She didn't even know where Pope was headed, which also kind of scared her. What if he was going to meet up with the rest of the group?
Pope glanced back at Francine with wide eyes, thinking of things to say before JJ got more suspicious than he already was. The boy stuttered for a while before blurting out the one sentence he could think of, "I- uh, I don't think you want to know."
By the time Pope was finished talking, JJ was already up from his chair and stalking over to the girl. His eyes were narrowed, suspicious about who was inside the hoodie, he shot a glance at Pope who was chewing his lip nervously.
Francine kept her head down, frozen, as she heard footsteps approach her. She knew it wasn't Pope, and that fact made her more scared than she already was. She shut her eyes tightly as the footsteps suddenly came to a halt in front of her. The blonde pulled the hood down quickly and roughly, revealing the girl who wouldn't dare open her eyes.
JJ's once curious expression fell into anger as he glanced between Francine and Pope. The girl finally opened her eyes and was met with JJ's stormy blue ones, glaring daggers at her. She looked back down to her lap, causing the blonde to turn his attention back to Pope who gave him a tight lipped smile, "What the fuck is going on?"
The girl didn't speak, neither did Pope, too nervous that the boy in front of them would blow up. Francine didn't trust her voice, scared that it might break. Her stomach churned as she bit her lip, thinking of things to say that won't make JJ even more angry than he already was. Her brain seemed to be completely blank while she began to panic about the situation she was in. Francine was literally speechless, almost as bad as Pope who was only looking between the other two teens with wide eyes.
She finally worked up the courage to speak, clearing her throat while she rubbed her hands together, "Well, you see-"
"I didn't ask you, princess," JJ's lip turned up while he sneered at Francine. She closed her mouth, cutting off the rest of her sentence that probably would sound like a stuttering mess anyways. He moved his gaze back to the other boy, "I asked Pope."
Both JJ and Francine turned to Pope, who still hadn't spoken a word, keeping his eyes on the sea. He adjusted his hat back onto his head after noticing the stares of his two friends, "Rafe and Topper jumped us."
"Us?" JJ asked incredulously, looking between the two other teens, not believing that Rafe and Topper would jump Francine. Firstly, she was a girl, and secondly, he thought she was dating Rafe. JJ also couldn't get over the fact that one of his best friends was with the girl the whole group swore to never talk to again, he thought it would be easy to ignore her but lately she seemed less distant and more eager to talk to the group. "What?- You mean, you guys were together at the time?"
Francine noticed the look of betrayal on JJ's face while he asked Pope the question, so she decided to speak up again. She wanted to defend herself but knew that she deserved every bit of hate JJ gave her, even though sometimes the boy was being ridiculous. "I was talking to Pope-"
"You guys friends now?" JJ cut her off again with a scowl, looking between the two with anger swarming in his eyes.
Francine rolled her eyes at the fact that JJ couldn't let her finish a sentence, and at the fact that Pope hadn't said a word about anything. She couldn't blame him though, he did just get beaten up by the two biggest douchebags on the island. The girl huffed, "God damn just let me speak!" The blonde boy snapped his head in her direction, surprised at the sudden raise in her voice. He shut his mouth and narrowed his eyes at the girl, but didn't say anything. "Jesus. I was talking to Pope, then Rafe and Topper came out and started nagging at me about being seen with a pogue. He grabbed me-" Francine stopped mid sentence and pointed to the tender spot on her jaw, that was most likely beginning to bruise, to prove her point. "-and started calling me names, so Pope jumped in and Rafe started beating him with a golf club. I tried to stop him but he just shoved me."
JJ pursed his lips, not believing her story and looked to Pope for confirmation, "Is that true?" Pope nodded at the question, not meeting his blonde friend's curious gaze. JJ squinted his eyes in thought as he tapped his chin, "What were you two doin' talking in the first place?"
"Can we not focus on that right now?" Francine asked JJ, trying to change the subject, not ready to drop everything on the boy. She was hoping to talk to Pope about it first, before she said anything.
"Nah, because I really want to know why you'd suddenly start talking to us. After three years, why now?"
"JJ, leave it be," Pope mumbled, finally speaking up, he didn't want to put the pressure on the girl to apologize to JJ right away. He wouldn't blame her if she wanted to wait a little longer, the blonde was very intimidating when he wanted to be.
JJ sighed, glancing at Francine once more, the two making eye contact for a moment until she looked down to her lap. He rolled his eyes at the fact that the two other people in the boat with him weren't telling him something, but he listened to Pope and dropped the subject.
"So, what're you gonna do?" JJ asked Pope, referring back to the beating that the boy received.
Pope looked back up at his friend, "I'm gonna sink his boat."
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"𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐮, 𝟐𝟒 𝐌𝐗𝐂. World's finest wakesetter. Number one in quality, luxury and performance." Pope mumbled, staring out at the docked boat.
All three teens were currently standing at the edge of Pope's father's boat, looking at Topper's new boat. Francine was nervous about the plan, she knew how happy Topper was when he got the boat, but she couldn't see past the fact that the boy didn't really help them when Rafe was beating Pope. He just helped his friend, she also didn't understand why they were sinking the topper's boat. Shouldn't they be destroying something of Rafe's? Like his golf cart. She didn't say anything though, knowing that both boys definitely deserved something, just maybe nothing as extreme as sinking a boat that probably costs more than a house.
But they did deserve something.
"This is war, Pope," JJ stated as he stared at the boat. Francine gave him a confused look, wondering why he was using those specific words. "They hit us, we hit them."
"Can I remind you guys about how bad this plan is?" Francine spoke up from Pope's left, leaning over the boy so she could see both their faces. Pope had an angry look as he unbuttoned his shirt and JJ was putting a mask over his face. When she saw neither of them were paying attention to her, she sighed, "LIke this is a really bad-"
JJ got the mask on over his face then looked at Francine, narrowing his eyes, "No one asked for your opinion, Baby."
The girl rolled her eyes at the blonde, already growing tired of his bitter attitude towards her. She didn't know if she'd be able to take it much longer. Sure, she was the one who ignored him and the rest of their friends for three years but he could at least act civil if she was trying to. She kind of expected this behaviour from JJ, he was always the stubborn one who wouldn't let up on the littlest things but it was still irritating.
JJ turned to Pope shooting him a confused look, "Why is she even here?"
I can hear you, you know? Francine thought to herself as she shot a glare towards JJ.
"We'll deal with that later," Pope muttered, before taking off his hat and shirt, and threw it on the ground. He dove into the water and began swimming towards Toppers boat.
Francine chewed on her nails nervously, not liking the idea of sinking Topper's boat, at all. There were so many things that could go wrong, someone could see them, there could be cameras, either way, Pope would be busted and probably fined or taken to jail. She knew that the boy wouldn't survive a day in jail so that made her even more worried, glancing around every ten seconds, looking for anyone around the area who could possibly see them.
An uncomfortable silence washed over Francine and JJ, she didn't want to speak up, knowing that JJ would probably say something snarky in response. The boy had his face covered completely with the mask and a pair of sunglasses. He looked completely unrecognizable while Francine just had her hair down, her face on full display. Her arms were crossed, a worried look on her face as she waited nervously for Pope to return.
JJ suddenly scoffed, looking at the girl, "You're not very good at this whole 'breaking the law' thing. Put your hood up." Francine rolled her eyes at the boy but put the hood up anyways, her hair peeking out through the sides of the material. Her hair was very thick and curly, which was why she usually put it up in a bun, but of some strange reason she left it down that day. JJ looked her up and down with a judgmental glare, "And don't get anything on my sweater, some of us don't have endless bank accounts."
Francine's face tinted pink as she looked down, embarrassed by the fact that she was wearing his sweater. She should've known that it was his and she was surprised that he hadn't told her to take it off, but guessed that she might get caught if she didn't have it on. Francine rolled her eyes at the boy, hoping that her face wasn't beet red as she looked him dead in the eyes. Both teens glaring at each other, "I swear to god JJ, if you don't shut up-."
"You'll do what?" JJ asked, a mocking tone to his voice, he let out a bitter laugh. "You gonna ignore me again?" Francine rolled her eyes but maintained eye contact with the boy as he spoke again. "I don't know what kind of kook brainwash you did to Pope, but it ain't gonna work with me."
"I didn't 'kook brainwash' Pope, JJ." Francine sighed at the boy's dramatics, breaking eye contact to look at Topper's boat, searching for her friend while also trying to block out JJ's voice. Her eyes finally caught Pope as he jumped out of the kook's boat, she assumed he either wimped out or the damage was already done.
JJ scoffed again, not paying attention to Pope at all, still focusing on Francine, "Well yesterday, he hated your guts, and today, you're all buddy buddy. Something must be going on."
She ignored JJ's comment, seeing Pope near the boat. She lifted the ladder for Pope to use so he could climb onto the boat and put it off the side for when he got there.
JJ rolled his eyes at the fact that she didn't answer him or acknowledge what he just said, "Doing what you do best, ignoring people."
Right after he said that, leaving Francine to stare at him wide eyed, Pope came up from the water, a grin on his face. He lifted his hand from the water showing the plug for Topper's boat as he began climbing the ladder. Francine looked at the small object in his hand and glanced at the dock where the boat was, seeing it already beginning to sink.
"Wow, you did it," JJ beamed at his friend, pulling the mask down from his face and taking his sunglasses off. Francine took that as a sign she could take down the hood she had up and did it, finding the piece of clothing uncomfortable on her head. "I'm so proud of you right now, holy crap."
Pope got out of the water, looking straight at the blonde with pleading eyes. "JJ?"
"Yeah?" The boy responded with a grin on his face, still shocked that Pope finally did something illegal. The boy was usually the one to stop John B and JJ from doing stupid things, but now he was sinking an unbelivably expensive boat.
"You can't tell anybody," Pope told him, his face serious, as the adrenaline from the stunt he just did wore off.
"Oh, no, yeah. Totally, dude." JJ nodded. Everyone was silent for a little bit until JJ pointed his thumb in Francine's direction. "I would worry about the kook, Franny, over here."
"No, I'm serious, dude. Not Kie, not John B, nobody," He looked between both the girl and JJ, hoping that they wouldn't tell anyone about the crime he just committed.
JJ put his hands up in surrender as he nodded, "Yup, my lips are sealed."
"I won't tell a soul, Pope." Francine nodded with a small, reassuring smile that the boy returned releasing a breath of relief.
JJ pointed to the plug in Pope's hands, "Give me that. Give me that." The blonde took it from his friend, throwing it into the water as the two other teens ran into the wheelhouse of the boat. "Okay! Let's get outta here."
Pope started the motor and began to drive away from the dock, all three teens hoping that no one saw what they just did.
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Word Count: 4675