A Chapter| Chapter Eighteen

"In all honesty... I don't think she wants to talk to me." John B sighed as they stood outside of the country club, getting a small sight of Lila who was dancing around the grass.

"Well... who's fault was that?" Pope spoke up as Kie and Sarah laughed, their newly fixed friendship nothing without Lila.

"Listen... this is gonna work, I know Lila more then any of you d-" JJ began before he was cut off.

"Excuse you? Lila is my best friend, I know her way better then any of you." Sarah said knowingly as Kie looked around her.

"Are all of you stupid? I clearly know Lila more." Kie said as Pope cleared his throat.

"Theoretically speaking Lila and I bonded over her boyfriend hitting me with a g-" Pope began before John B jumped in from where he leaned on the van.

"Guys! Guys! Guys! Okay, just, JJ, explain to me please." John B sighed loudly as JJ pulled the apple from inside the van.

"Listen, that first night after Lila doctored you up, I walked her back home, right? We bonded, all right? We bonded, John B." JJ said, slapping the boys shoulder.

"Okay, JJ, we got it, moving on." John B rolled his eyes, already hearing about how Lila and JJ bonded on the walk home.

"So we're laughing, we're talking, we're like talking talking, you know? And then she tells me she thought romance back in the eighteen hundreds was kinda cute. She said cute, John B. So I'm like 'Lila, what the heck are you talking about' and she's all like giggly and telling me all these stories about how love was back there, completely different then it is now, not the point." JJ rambled on, remembering the night as Kie groaned.

"JJ, get to the point." she said annoyed as he threw his hands up.

"One thing she said was that when guys decided to propose they'd throw apples at their chosen wife and wait for them to say yes or no. See, I thought it was dumb at first, but not Lila, she likes that stuff, you know? So... go throw this apple at her." JJ spoke, holding up the bright red apple as John B gave a odd look.

"JJ.... i'm not wanting to marry Lila." John B said with a dumb look as he took the apple.

"Why not? I would!" JJ announced loudly as a few Kooks looks over, Sarah waving them off.

"I've got Sarah, i'm just gonna say sorry." John B explained, giving the apple back to JJ as the blonde rolled his eyes.

"No... you're not listening. You gotta make her feel good man, you hurt her feelings." JJ said, slapping his shoulder as he pushed the apple to his chest.

"I know, you slapped me for it." John B said, pushing the apple back.

"You deserved it." Pope pointed out as Kie and Sarah laughed.

"Okay, bad idea." Pope said suddenly as he looked over in Lilas direction.

"Why- whats-" John B began, turning as seeing Rafe handing Lila a purple flower as she grinned widely and wrapped her arms around him.

"My god... what does she see in that guy?" JJ asked confused as he turned to Sarah.

"No offense." he said as she shook her head and put her hands up.

"I'm not scared of Rafe, okay? I have a right to talk to my best friend." John B pointed out with a roll of his eye, shutting the van door.

"Topper too?" Pope asked as they could see the blonde boy attempt to talk to Lila before she flipped him off and danced away.

"Good mindset." Sarah spoke with a nod as John B sighed.

"He tried to kill you twice now." Kie pointed out as John B groaned loudly.

"Look, i'll just stop by her house tonight, all right? I'll bring her those wine coolers she likes and we'll just talk it out." John B said with a shrug, knowing it wasn't a good idea to go over there.

"We're not doing this without her." Kie said with a glare his way.

"She's in Kook infested waters, Kie." Pope pointed out as Sarah sighed.

"Look, i'll just go get her." Sarah announced as JJ stopped her from walking off.

"Nah, I have a better idea." he said, giving the group a wink as he took the apple from John B and headed off.

"Three nights at the motel under streetlights in the city palms!" Lila sung terribly to herself, jumping around as she danced in the grass.

"Babe, listen, you're great, but you sound like a dying cat." Rafe said as he waved the drink in his hand at her as Lila laughed.

"A dying cat? I was aiming for the second Beyoncé." Lila said as she waved him off, turning her back away as she danced around, Rafe looking away as he got into a conversation with Topper again, drinks in their hands. Lila hummed to the music before she felt something hard collide with her arm. Falling to the ground, she yelped, groaning as she saw the apple by her side.

"Lila! You okay?" Rafe called out, standing up worried. Lila looked in the direction the apple came from, seeing JJ kneeling behind a bush as he held a finger to his lips.

"I'm fine, I just have to go pee." Lila said as she stood up, holding the apple in her hands as she headed toward the bush. Rafe shrugged as he sat back down, not thinking anything of it.

"JJ." Lila grinned as she got to his side, kneeling next to him with a bright smile.

"Miss me?" he asked as Lila threw her arms around him, knocking the two on the ground.

"It's been over twenty four hours, that's a new record." Lila joked as JJ laughed as the two pulled apart, kneeling down so no one saw them.

"Are you proposing to me?" Lila asked, holding the apple in her hand as she looked at him.

"I'm proposing you follow me right over there." he said, pointing toward the van as Lila frowned her eyebrows.

"Where are we going?" she asked excited, taking his hand as he lead them over.

"Well you see-" he began before leading her behind the van, seeing the rest of the pogues there. Lila sighed as she looked at John B, guilt in his eyes as he looked at her.

"Im marrying JJ." Lila said with a sigh, holding up the apple.

"You were suppose to be marrying me but you see it just- " John B stumbled off his words, stopping once he saw the odd look on her face.

"The point is i'm really sorry for what I said. I was worried and I was trying to push everyone's anger onto you and that's not your fault. I don't get a say in who you date, even though i'm completely on board if you wanna marry JJ." John B joked as Lila giggled, a small smile on her face.

"Of course you get a say in it, all of you do, because y'all are my friends and I care what you think. It's okay, I just don't want us to never fight again." Lila said as John B smiled, holding his arms out for her to wrap around him in a hug.

"How'd the boat trip go?" Lila asked, climbing into the van with Sarah and Kie.

"She knew about it?" Kie asked confused, looking to JJ who's eyes widened.

"I mean... yeah." he said as Lila laughed while sitting between the two girls as Kie rolled her eyes, putting a arm around the girl anyways as she ate her marriage apple.

"You guys got rope?"

"Got it."

"Grappling hook?"

"No grappling hook, we're not batman."

"I wish I was batman, listen to my impression." Lila said with a clear of her throat, getting everyone's attention.

"Sometimes its only madness that makes us what we are." Lila said, dropping her voice really deep as Kie and Sarah cheered for her.

"That was great, Lila." Pope said sarcastically as the group all laughed.

"Completely, now come a little closer and say it again." JJ teased as he curled his fingers her way.

"Pulley?" John B questioned as they pulled up.

"Check." Kie nodded with a sigh.

"Dark clothes?"

"Got it."

"Flashlights?"

"Check."

"All right, good."

"Can we get out? I need to catch my ghost." Lila said as she held her camera in her hands.

"Again?" JJ questioned, helping her out the van.

"Yes, again, hopefully this time they speak to me." Lila said as she waved her hands around, flipping on her video camera as she held a hand out to Sarah.

"Let's go get rich, guys." JJ said in a accent as Lila flipped the camera on Sarah.

"This is also my best friend Sarah Cameron. She's kinda my girlfriend but her brother is my boyfriend, and her boyfriend, John B, tried to get with me when we met, but instead JJ married me and Kie and I have a unspoken connection that's kinda secret, while Pope tried to flirt with me once but it ended with him falling into the water... in conclusion this is Sarah who I love." Lila grinned as she held the camera on the blonde, giving her a twirl as Sarah giggled.

"Tell them something." Lila said, motioning toward the camera as Sarah blushed.

"I think Lila picked the wrong Cameron." Sarah joked as the group ouued.

"So not funny." John B protested as they walked toward the house.

"Yeah, so not funny." Lila mocked with a laugh as she shoved the dark haired boy.

"Wait, wait, wait." John B said, stopping all of them before they could get too close. The five all looked at him oddly, waiting for him to go on.

"I wanna say thank you guys, seriously. It means a lot to me that you're here tonight." John B said softly as he looked at each of them, Kie grinned as she shook her head flustered.

"Always." she said with a grin.

"Cheesy son of a bitch, I love you." Lila said, punching John B's shoulder as he laughed and held it in pain.

"Oh course, man, my man." Pope said, holding out his hand as him and John B did the small handshake they usually did.

"All right, we done with this circle jerk? Can we do this?" JJ questioned, holding his soft side back as he looked at John B with a flushed face.

"What a romantic honeymoon." Lila rolled her eyes as her and JJ began to walk off.

"Anything for you, wifey." he teased, matching her energy with a arm around her.

"Lets go get that wheat in the water." Pope announced, trailing after the married couple.

"Weed? I'm up for weed." JJ said, looking back at Pope with wide eyes.

"Wheat, I said wheat." Pope corrected as Lila hummed.

"What if we do wheat and weed?" she suggested as JJ snapped his fingers at her.

"A genius in disguise." he said with a fake gasp.

"Yes, I know." Lila nodded in agreement as they all climbed the fence.

"Radar is going off, I feel a ghost." Lila said as she put a hand on her heart, looking around the darkness with the flashlight in her hand.

"Ghost?" Sarah asked oddly before the sensor lights on the house came on making them all curse and hid behind a bush really quick.

"Flashlights, flashlights." Kie scolded as they all struggled to get the lights off.

"Okay, so, she has motion sensor lights." Pope said with a sigh, looking at each of them.

"I didn't notice, Pope, thank you for telling me." Lila said sarcastically to the boy with a crazy look.

"We could, uh, move really slowly... maybe?" JJ suggested as he looked around at the five.

"What?" Sarah asked him with a dumb look.

"Yeah that's not really how it works." Pope scolded him as Lila snapped her fingers.

"Remember when we were goofing off and we threw the baseball and broken the lights on my house? Those were motion sensor lights." Lila said, trying to understand it for him better.

"That was you guys?" Sarah asked, remembering seeing the shards of glass outside the guest house.

"Um... no, nope, definitely not us, what are you talking about? Wrong bitch." Lila lied quickly with a shake of her head.

"Oh, shit, Lilas right, lets throw a rock at it." JJ said as the idea struck his mind.

"What?" Pope questioned with a crazy look.

"Good idea." Lila nodded while nudging JJ.

"Not you too." Pope sighed as he looked at the duo.

"That's a really good ideas actually, let the axe murderer know we're here." Kie said toward the two as Lila sighed.

"How else will the ghost know to come for me?" Lila asked as Kies eyes widened.

"You can't hunt ghost if you're dead." the  girl scolded her blonde friend as Lila waved her off.

"Throw a rock at it?" Pope asked in disbelief.

"Okay, you guys have a better idea?"

"Literally anything but that."

"Hey, maybe I can pretend to be a girl scout and distract her." Lila suggested as Sarah looked at her crazy.

"And you get murdered? No way." she shook her head.

"What about the breaker? In the circuit box on the porch." Sarah suggested with a shake of her head at the dumb questioned and suggestion that were thrown around.

"We use 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." Sarah nodded her head as Lilas thoughts swarmed her head.

"Did Rafe?" she asked out of curiously, his loud feet sure to not be sneaky enough.

"No, no, you're not going in the house alone." John B shook his head at her words, looking at his girlfriend.

"Watch me." Sarah defended herself as Lila stiffed a laugh.

"Crain chops people into pieces." JJ defended John B with a look Sarah's way.

"If you believe that, but she's like, what? Eighty five?" Sarah asked with a frown of her dark eyebrows.

"Yeah, something like that." JJ nodded in agreement.

"She's probably barely still kicking." Sarah pointed out as Kie sighed.

"I'll go with you." she said as the two girls shared a small. Lila looked at them with slight jealously in her eyes, not sure where it was coming from and why but she felt it.

"Me too." she spoke up as they looked her way.

"No, Lila, you stay with us, we're gonna need you." JJ pointed out as Lila gave him a crazy look.

"For what?" she asked defensively, knowing if she went with the girls she wouldn't be so jealous.

"That beautiful brain of yours, you and Pope can help us." JJ said in a attempt to make her feel better, Lila just sighed as she twirled her flashlight in her hands.

"We'll wait for your signal." Pope nodded as the two stood.

"Hey, be safe." John B said, stopping Sarah as she nodded.

"We will." she spoke before they hurried off, Pope chuckling.

"Be safe." JJ said dramatically, grabbing the sides of Popes face.

"I'll be so safe." Pope nodded back, a serious look.

"Can you guys stop? Stop. I'm gonna kill you." John B spoke embarrassed toward the two as Lila watched the girls leave, making sure to keep a eye on their every move.

"But how would that keep us safe?" Pope spoke again as JJ laughed. John B looked at Lila, who hadn't said much, her usual words bouncing off JJ's and Popes not coming.

"Hey... you good?" he asked with a small elbow to her side.

"You don't think they're gonna stop being close with me now that they're friends again.. right?" Lila asked worried as she looked at John B, knowing Lila was Kies only girlfriend.

"Course not."

•••••••
stan jila for clear skin.

i'm so sorry this took a while to get up, i've been kinda going through it recently but i'm gonna start updating more!

hope you all liked this, comment your thoughts on the chapter!<3