I walked into my room at Thorton Mansion and sighed, flopping on my bed. I was so exhausted from dealing with Topper, then midsummers, then Kiara, and then John B had to stress everyone out by getting himself pushed off a Hawks Nest and almost dying. Me, Sarah, and the Pogues all waited at the hospital till two in the morning waiting for the doctors to say John B was okay. He was. Just a concussion and a broken wrist. I don't know how he didn't die, but hey, he's crazy like that.
But once we got the confirmation that our friend was fine, we all went home beside Sarah, who's staying overnight. She is totally in love with him. She might as well have a huge sign saying 'I'm in love with John Booker Routledge.' But it's not like John B's any better. He's totally, as JJ would say, "pussy whipped." God, my boyfriend is weird. I still love him, though. Wait what? No. I don't love him. Ha, I don't know why I said that. I mean thought that. Ugh, I'm weird too. I'm literally talking to my mind.
My odd thoughts were pulled away when I heard a soft knock on my door. I snapped my head up from laying on my stomach to see JJ crouched low on my balcony. I furrowed my eyebrows and got up from my bed. Letting him into my room.
"Hey, babe, what're you doing?" I asked with a tired chuckle.
"I came to see you. Is this a bad time?" He worried, and I shook my head, a smile falling onto my face.
"No -- no I um," I ran a hand through my hair, "I was just about to fall asleep with a full face of makeup and a dress on, so I'm actually glad you came to kinda wake me up," I rubbed my eyes and walked into my bathroom to take off my makeup. JJ laughed again and followed me into the bathroom.
"Ah, good memories in here," he joked, and I looked at him with an 'are you serious' look. I started removing my makeup, which calmed me down even more than I was.
"You know Kie didn't mean what she said in the van," JJ cut the silence. I had almost forgotten about me and Kie's fight because of all the other drama.
"I know. I just . . . ." I sighed and finished removing my makeup. Once I was done, I threw the makeup wipe into the trash and huffed again, "I don't think I'll ever consider myself a Pogue, J."
He frowned, "why? You clearly are one --"
"Am I?" My lips formed into a straight line. "I mean, come on. I'm Topper Thorton's sister, I'm the popular girl at the Kook academy, and I'm best friends with Sarah Cameron, who is like the Kook princess."
"Yeah, you are all those things. But that still doesn't make you any less Pogue. A true Kook wouldn't hang around the Pogue-is-est of the Pogues. Especially after one of them pulled a gun out on their brother," we both giggled, and I blushed.
"Yeah, but --" he cut me off with a shush and placed his finger to my lips.
"Never think you don't belong with the Pogues. Ignore what Kie says. She's just blinded by her hate for Sarah. She even told me that she doesn't know why she hated you. She had no reason to," he said and removed his finger from my mouth. Instead, they intertwined into my curly black hair. "Who could hate you?" He asked more to himself, and I smiled.
"Thank you," I whispered and leaned my head against his hand.
"Are you kidding? I live for this shit," he said a little louder than me.
"You live to cheer up your girlfriend?" I questioned with a laugh.
"Ugh, I love hearing that word come out of your mouth," he moaned, and I put on a puzzled face to annoy him.
"What word?" I asked innocently.
"Girlfriend," he bit his lip, and I shook my head at him. I pushed him playfully and walked to my dresser to put on some PJs. I was about to grab a pair when JJ picked me up from behind, making me squeal as we landed on my king-sized bed I didn't need at all.
We both broke out into loud laughs as I turned around, so our faces were facing each other, now not caring if we were caught. I rested my chin on his chest, and he played with my hair.
"You look so beautiful today," he muttered to me.
"Aren't I always beautiful?" I pouted, and he ran his thumb along my bottom lip.
"Of course you are," he grabbed my chin lightly and brushed his lips against mine. The kiss quickly turned heated as he flipped us around, so he was on top now. "So beautiful."
~:*:~
"Nora!" I heard someone scream, but I couldn't place who it was. I didn't want to move from JJ's arms, so I didn't. I couldn't care less if Topper or my parents found me in bed with only my underwear on and a shirtless Pogue snuggling with me.
The door burst open, and I cracked one eye open slightly to see Sarah standing there, so close to laughing. "Shut up," I mumbled, and JJ groaned, rubbing his eyes.
"Who's here, babe?" He asked me, not yet opening his eyes.
"I am, Maybank," JJ shot his eyes open but relaxed when he saw Sarah.
"Fuck, Sarah, what do you want? And why are you here?" He snapped and flopped back onto his pillow.
"I came here to see if Nora wanted to go shopping for John B, but she's clearly busy," she smirked, and I rolled my eyes.
"Why for John B?" I asked with a look of slight disgust from her decision.
"Because he needs some new clothes and essentials because he's moving to Tannyhill," she said, and JJ and I raised our eyebrows.
"Excuse me, what?" JJ added to my interrogation.
"Yeah, my dad claimed him as his legal guardian, so he doesn't get set up for adoption. Isn't that great!" She exclaimed, and I sighed.
"Yeah, now get out. I'll talk or text you later," I said.
"So you don't want to go shopping with me? Or would you rather mack JJ?" I threw a pillow at her head, which she dodged by running out and slamming the door behind her. JJ chuckled, and I turned around onto my stomach, so I was facing him.
"Last night was amazing, baby girl," he purred, and I smiled.
"Yeah, it really was," I crawled up him so I could kiss his lips, and he grinned. I ran my finger along his lip, which still had dried blood there, along with some of it being fresher thanks to his dad.
"You're so pretty," I joked and kissed his nose. We both laughed, and his lips met mine again.
~:*:~
"Not the Crain House," John B complained as we pulled up to the house me and Sarah used to play hide and seek at. We all got out of the Twinkie, and JJ grabbed my hand as we walked closer to the house.
"Are you kidding me? Worst-case scenario," JJ groaned, and I squeezed his hand.
"Are you scawed, babe?" I teased, and he glared playfully at me.
"No," he replied with a crack in his voice, which made me laugh.
"Why'd it have to be here of all places?" Pope asked.
"I heard that Mrs. Crain buried her husband's head on the property," JJ stated, and we all looked at him with looks that clearly said he wasn't helping.
~:*:~
"Look, you guys know whose house this is, right?" Kie asked us as we walked through the monstrous weeds sprouting from the ground.
"Oh yeah. No, I do. Honestly, I don't really believe the stories of this place," JJ commented, and Pope shushed him, "what?"
JJ rushed up to me and whispered in my ear, "which stories did you hear?"
"The one where she killed her husband with an axe and that she's been holed up ever since," I shrugged cause that story was a classic. All kids on the island knew that story, "On certain nights when the moon is full . . . . you can see her in the window!" I exclaimed and started wiggling my fingers in front of his face, soon bursting out laughing.
"No, it's not funny, 'cause it's all true. I swear to god, guys, this is all real. I know Hollis. Jeez!" JJ screamed when he saw a statue, and I started laughing again.
"Aw, baby, it's okay. It's just a statue," I said and caressed his cheek, but he rolled his eyes.
"Wait, you know, Hollis Crain?" Pope asked my boyfriend.
"Yeah, dude."
"Dude, how do you know Hollis Crain?" The black boy panicked.
"She was my babysitter, man. She told me all about it. Told me the truth . . . . about her mother and what happened in this house," JJ replied dramatically, "so as a kid, she heard all the stories that her mother killed her father, and . . . . she was a murderer and all. Hollis didn't believe it. Until that night."
"What night?" John B asked impatiently.
"It all came back to her. When Hollis was six years old, she heard her parents arguing downstairs. So she goes downstairs to see her mom washing her hands in a sink . . . . full of blood. Her mother just says that she cut her finger. The next morning, she says her father and her split up. But then, Hollis noticed something. Her mother going into the parlor constantly, in and out and in and out with plastic bags. Weeks pass and Hollis decides to use the outhouse. And as she's using it, she looks down, and there, in the outhouse, is her father's head, looking straight back at her," once he finished, John B groaned.
"God, you are so full of shit," he complained, and I smacked his arm.
"Dude, I swear to God, man."
"Did she call the police?" Pope questioned.
"She didn't have time," JJ said, and John B started walking towards the house.
"We can't do this --" Pope started.
"Wait! Dude!" JJ interrupted him.
"What?" John B snapped once he was whipped around.
"You sure you wanna do this? She's an axe murderer. You got a cast on," JJ gestured to the cast around his broken wrist.
"I don't give a shit if she's an axe murderer, okay? I got nothin' to lose, right? You comin' or what?" John B sniggered, and JJ scratched his arm in defeat.
"Come on," Kie pushed, and we all started walking to the house.
I went on my tiptoes and kissed JJ's cheek as I walked past him, he smiled softly. "Come here," he whispered and grabbed my arm, pulling me over to him, so his arms wrapped around my waist. He brushed his lips against mine, but Pope had to ruin our moment.
"Ay, lovebirds, come on," he whisper-yelled at us, and I grabbed JJ's hand, dragging him after the Pogues.
"Hey, psst! Hey, come on. It's the only place we haven't looked," John B called to us quietly from the outside of some broken boards of wood on the side of the house. A bird squawked, which made JJ jumped and start running towards John B, cursing under his breath as I giggled.
We all crawled through the two falling apart doors and into a crawl space that led to the cellar.
"Down came Mrs. Crain and cut off all our head. Up came the sun and dried up all the blood," JJ sang shakenly and I held in a laugh. Pope turned around, flaring the flashlight at him.
"Can you stop?" He snapped and JJ glanced at me before continuing down to the cellar. When we got there we saw a ton of creepy dolls and cribs.
"You think this lady is trying to get her daughter back with voodoo dolls or some shit?" I whispered to JJ and Pope and JJ chuckled.
"See any water?" Kie asked and John B shook his head, "another dead end?"
"There's not even water on the pipes," JJ stated and ran his hand along a nearby pipe on the ceiling.
"There's no water here. Not a dropamino," I sighed.
"Know why we didn't find it? Bad karama," Kiara said cockily.
"Oh, God. Here we go," I mumbled.
"You know, we had a good thing going. And then you decided to rope in Barbie and Cher, and now the trail's gone dry. Coindicence? Probably not," the brunette spat and I gritted my teeth together.
"Cher? Who the hell is --" John B started.
"Clueless. Have you not seen the movie. She's the main character and Eleanor is an spanish version of her, I'm tellin' you," JJ started taking long struts towards Kiara but I grabbed his shirt and kept him in place.
"This is exactly why I didn't wanna tell you about Sarah," John B cut in.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. What the hell's the deal with you?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing? Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?" John B was cut off by Kiara slapping him across the face causing me and the two boys to gasp.
"Oh!" Pope cried.
"Oh, shit!" JJ yelled, "that echoed, dude!"
"Stop treating me like I'm some girl that's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you," Kiara snarled.
"Did you, uh . . . . hit me?" John B stumbled over his words.
"Skeeter," Kiara lifted her hand to reveal a squashed bug.
"Skeeter?"
"Yeah, you see it?"
"Yeah," John B then hit Kiara back who's jaw dropped.
"Oh, hey!" JJ tried to seeze the tension but failed miserably.
"Okay . . . ." I trailed off.
"Where's your proof?" Kiara questioned and John B held up his hand to show a mosquito.
"Skeeter."
"Yeah? There was probably one right there," Kiara said and hit John B's chest.
"There's one right there," another hit.
"Really? You saw that?" another one.
The mosquitos really started to get crazy as John B and Kiara kept arguing. I slapped my arms probably a hundred times which turned them bright red.
"Why are there so many mosquitoes in a basement?" Pope asked.
"Dude. I know, seriously. Tiny vampire bats, just leave me alone!" JJ groaned and kept hitting his legs, "oh, my gosh! Okay, can we leave? 'Cause I'm already itchin' to leave. Haha punny."
I then noticed a ton of floorboards layed on the ground tightly. I furrowed my eyebrows and grabbed a small rock, kneeling down onto the boards. I knocked on it softly and heard some echoing. My eyebrows shot up and I shoved the rock through a hole in one of the boards. I put my ear to it and that's when I heard a splash and an even louder echo.
My eyes widned and I started taking off the pieced of wood that wasn't on the ground. "Hey, guys," I announced and everyone looked at me.
"Hey, babe!" JJ exclaimed.
"Hey. Help me move this," I ordered and everyone started moving around frantically, removing the boards from the floor. Once we got some of them out the way we all looked down, seeing a well filled with water.
"Well, well, well," Pope smiled.
"That was a good dad joke," John B complimented.
"You're a genius, baby girl," JJ praised me and hugged my side.
"They built this part of the house right over it," Kie said.
"This is where she hid the bodies," JJ joked.
"Oh, dude, come on, stop," Pope nudged him.
"No, I'm dead serious," JJ said.
"Stop it!" Pope snapped at him, "hey, hey. It was never an outhouse."
"She probably doesn't even know it's here," I said and looked at JJ.
"So . . . . we found water," Pope said and we all smiled.
"We're gonna need a really big rope," John B commented.
We all walked out with me and JJ in the back and just as we were hopping out of the cellar he smacked my ass making me shoot around. He smirked.
"Skeeter."