FIFTY-EIGHT

❝ We aren't just some fucking things Kie found on the street one day. ❞

*ೃ༄

AFTER AVA FINALLY got home and was able to have one of the nicest showers ever, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep on JJ's bare chest in his room. And only a few moments after hearing her light snores while her hand rested on his abs, he too ended up drifting to sleep.

The next morning, which sadly ending up being a school day, Ava had to escape JJ's tight grip on her to get herself a drink before she eventually had to return and drag him from bed too so they could meet Kiara and Pope at the front of the shack to be taken to school. JJ had groaned and grunted the whole time, his hair messy and in front of his face while he took every opportunity to keep his hands on Ava and to drift back to sleep. He claimed the only way he would get out of bed was if she kissed him, and ignoring his morning breath, she did as he wished and it quickly turned into a full-blown make out session. Which is when Pope barged in and interrupted before gagging and telling them to hurry the fuck up.

Now that they're all at school and in Mr Sunn's History lesson, the class are doing a test. JJ's hands are running through his hair in frustration, while Ava's just doodling on the margins of the sheet due to boredom while Kiara and Pope have their heads down and are scribbling paragraphs upon paragraphs on the paper.

"Mr Sunn, can I borrow Pope for a minute?" A man dressed in a neat black suit steps through the door, one foot holding it open behind him.

"We're in the middle of a test right now," Mr Sunn's whispers, standing from behind his desk to have a conversation with the unknown man without the kids listening in.

Ava's brows furrow and she leans back in her seat slightly to see Pope, who's now staring at Mr Sunn's back in confusion.

"Mr Heyward," Mr Sunn turns, "It's for you."

Pope is quick to slip from his seat and rush out of the classroom, following the well-dressed man, leaving his three friends in complete confusion.

Ava peers over her shoulder at JJ, who's staring right back at her with his forehead crinkled.

"What do you think it's about?" She begins to whisper as quiet as her voice can possibly go.

JJ shrugs, leaning forward slightly so there faces are a few centimetres apart and his eyes drift out of the door in search for Pope, "I don't know. Maybe his sch—"

"Routledge and Maybank!" Mr Sunn's voice booms harshly across the classroom, causing Ava to spin around in her seat as a small shout escapes her mouth in shock and her eyes are wide and JJ snorts quietly, "Be quiet! And do your test!"

"Yea— yeah, sir," JJ raises a hand in apology, ducking his head to hide his smile.

Suddenly, Pope comes charging back into the classroom with an envelope in his hand and his alarmed eyes glued to Kiara before he drops quickly down into his seat in front of her.

"Okay, what was that?" Kiara hisses.

Pope looks over his shoulder and raises the envelope to show all his friends. Ava and JJ lean forward with their eyes narrowing until they finally noticing the familiar symbol pressed into the gold envelope seal.

"Is that the wheat symbol?" Kie breathes.

"Yep," Pope affirms.

"What the f—" JJ begins loudly, a slap on his arm from Ava making him quickly realise his mistake, "Fu. . . fu. . . fudge."

*ೃ༄

          "IS THIS A GAME OF TAG?" JJ mutters while he rushes behind his girlfriend into the school library with the dismissal bell ringing loudly around then.

"Well, we would know if Pope opened his mouth and told us what's happening!" Ava hisses, trying to keep her tone soft and voice low but she's still shushed by the librarian behind the desk, and JJ apologises for his girlfriend as he passes the counter.

Coming to a stop by a computer, JJ leans towards his friend, "Pope, am I gonna have to beat you with your protractor? What's going on?"

Hushed again. This time Ava and JJ just scowl at the woman. The library is empty, for fucks sake.

When Kiara lowers herself down into a seat in front of the computer, Pope begins, "Okay, so that guy was from the scholarship committee. Take a look at this," He holds a letter towards his friends, and JJ is quick to snatch it away, "Read it."

JJ rips the envelope open and his quick movements slow as eyes begin to scan the words scribbled along the paper.

Kie stares up at him, "Out loud."

JJ looks up over Ava desperately before glancing back down at the paper, his teeth biting at his lips anxiously, "I can't read cursive," He finally reveals, meeting his  girlfriend's gentle gaze to avoid his friend's astonished glares.

Ava sighs, patting his arm with a smile before taking the sheet from his grip and JJ rests his chin on her shoulder to look at the letter as she reads, "Dear Mr Heyward, I am reaching out because I have material evidence that can exonerate John B. Routledge," She pauses, head snapping up to Pope before he motions for her to continue, "It is of vital importance that you come and meet me in person at my offices at 27 King Street, Charleston at 8:00 p.m sharp tonight," She clicks her tongue, "Please come alone. Regards, C. Limberly."

JJ straightens up, his head moving from his girlfriend's shoulder as he looks at Pope in shock, "Charleston?"

Pope shrugs, continuing his pacing in front of them, "I know. It's like an eight hour drive plus the ferry. How will we get there tonight?"

"Yeah, we'd have to leave, like, right now," JJ hisses, "Material evidence. What does that even mean, material evidence?"

Ava drops the letter down onto the table in front of Kiara before turning to the blonde boy beside her, "It means he can clear John. Holy fuck, J. This is—"

"Huge," He finishes with a wide smile, "Yeah, holy shit. We're going to Charleston."

"I need to tell my mum," Kiara sighs, "Look, if we get it this time, we are not giving it to Shoupe."

"Yeah," Ava nods, "Fairly sure that's an unspoken rule now."

Kiara peers up at her, eyebrows furrowing on questioning, "JJ said Shoupe kept you back for a few minutes, what'd he say to you?"

"Literally nothing," Ava shrugs, "I didn't really give him chance to speak, but it made me even more certain that Ward has him on some sorta hook to keep his lips zipped."

Pope's fingers press frantically on the keyboard while his friends talk and once he's made his search, he grabs the letter from Kiara's grasp to read over it once more. As his eyes scan over the bright computer screen, he lets out a sigh, quickly grabbing his friend's attention.

"What?" Kiara asks, leaning closer towards him.

"I'm not sure, but I think whoever this Limbrey person is. . . they might be related to the captain of the Royal Merchant," He breathes out, pointing at the large black and white image of the sailor on the screen.

Ava sticks her neck out in shock before turning on her heel and raising her hands to her head. Everything always leads back to that stupid ship that her father spent his life drooling over.

*ೃ༄

        AVA IS LEANT against a supporting beam of the Carrera's back porch with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes staring into the ground while she listens to Kiara argues with her parents directly in front of her. Leaving the boys in the truck, Kiara had believed it was a good idea to drag Ava up the steps as Mike and Anna seemed to actually quite liked her, but so far no one's even battered an eyelid in her direction at all.

"Baby, no, you can't go to Charleston on a school night," Anna sighs from her place in one of the outside chairs.

"But this is our chance to finally clear John B's name!" Kiara shouts.

Anna sighs as she sits forward slightly, "Baby—"

"What does it mean now to clear John B's name?" Mike Carrera finally speaks up, his tone stern and harsh towards his own daughter, "He's gone."

"Mike! Ava is right—" Anna stands up, motioning towards the other Routledge child, "Michael!"

"He's gone!" Mike's eyes whip between the two girls, "You have to accept it."

Ava clenches her jaw and continues to let her gaze burn into the floorboards while her fists tighten around the handrail behind her. The last thing she needed was someone else's parents tell her something. Especially something she couldn't do and had nothing to do with them.

"Listen to me," Anna breathes, stepping beside her own daughter and using a much softer tone compared to her husband, "I understand that what you are going through right now is incredibly difficult."

Kiara rolls her eyes, "Do you?"

"I do, baby," Anna persists, "All we're trying to say is that we're worried 'cause you're spending all of your time with these boys."

Throwing her head back, Ava laughs out loud, earning a harsh glare from Mike but it's easily ignored. She steps away from the railing, turning fully to Anna before Kiara has a chance to lash out agian.

"They're the same as me, Anna," Ava snaps, "Come from the same place, an' all. You have no reason to dislike them and like me. We're aren't just some fucking things Kie found out on the street one day."

"Ava—" Anna attempts to push in, but Ava shakes her head simply, not wanting to hear any more of the woman's excuses.

"They're my best friends!" Kiara yells, pulling her backpack strap over one of her shoulders, "Since kindergarten. My only friends!"

"I understand that! I understand both of you!" Anna's voice now begins to raise to be heard over her daughter, "But, Kiara, you're not a little girl anymore!"

"Jesus christ," Ava grumbles, turning on heel and trudging around the corner of the house and along the side porch to the front where the boy's are waiting. She hears Kiara following after her, with her parents soon on her heels.

"I'm a Pogue, Mum! Sorry!"

"No, actually you're not. 'Cause you live on Figure Eight!" Anna argues, "Hey, don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you!"

"I'm still one of them! You're so worried about me being a Pogue because you got pregnant with a Pogue, and then you had me," Kiara snaps, "It was a tragedy."

Ava's eyes grow wide and a sly smirk works it's way onto her face as she hears Kiara's mother tone get higher the angrier she gets.

"Kiara, seriously? This is not fair. Stop it! Turn and look at me right now!" She demands, and Kiara comes to a stop just before the stairs, and Ava comes to a halt at the bottom, turning to hear the conversation, "I am so sick of this shit! Every single time that you get in trouble, you try and stir up the pot between us, and I am not having it anymore!" She takes a deep breath, managing to calm herself down as she crosses her arms over her chest, "I'm gonna tell her."

Mike nods firmly in agreement, "Tell her."

"Tell me what?" Kiara's face screws up in confusion.

But before her mother has a chance to reveal the information, Mike's hand raises to point at the brown haired girl at the bottom of the porch steps.

"Ava, go wait in the truck," He states, causing her to tilt her head, "You ain't listening in for this."

"I'm sorry, what?" Ava scoffs, "What the hell are you talking about? She's just going to tell us anyway."

Kiara gawks at her father, "Are you being serious? Oh my god," She notices her parent's expressions, "You seriously think Ava's like them, don't you? You hate her just as much."

"Sure I do, but I have every reason to now," Mike snarls, "Kiara, she beat Rafe Cameron up, before her twin brother murdered the Sheriff."

Kiara's face drops, "Oh my god! He didn't do that. Why don't you believe anything I tell you?"

Ava rolls her tongue over her teeth before sharply nodding towards the man. Her gaze flows to Kiara, who's eyes are full of guilt, "I'll be in the truck," She whirls around her heel and begins towards Heyward's borrowed truck.

"Oh, shit," JJ mumbles, noticing the pure distaste over Ava's face as she approaches and he's quick to jump out of the truck to hold the door open for her.

She breezes past him and slides into a seat before JJ jumps back inside next to her, slamming the door shut behind him. Kiara will be able to hop in from Pope's side whenever she's ready to leave.

"What'd they say?" JJ questions, brows furrowing as he leans slightly forward to look properly at Ava's face.

"Nothing important," Ava mutters, keeping her eyes on Kiara as she continues to argue with her parents.

"They say some stupid shit about us?" JJ sits back in his seat again and cross his arms over his chest while his eyes also float over to the Carrera family.

Ava nods, "A whole lot of stupid shit."

"Fucking Kooks, man," JJ grinds his jaw.

Pope's fingers tap on the steering wheel anxiously, his gaze also now burning int Kiara's stressing form, "Is she okay?" He questions Ava.

Ava turns her head to him, eyebrows shooting up, "Yeah, don't worry, Pope. Your girlfriend is more or less okay. She's been having arguments like this with her parents since the dawn of fucking time."

Pope's head snaps her way, and it begins to shake in denial, "Yeah, I know but. . . but she's not— Kie isn't my girlfriend."

JJ snorts from beside Ava, leaning forward to look around his girlfriend and teasingly smirk at his friend, "Just admit it already, dude. You're basically together."

"Yeah, well no. I haven't asked her, yet," Pope sighs, head turning back to Kiara so he can avoid JJ and Ava's giddy smiles.

"It took us ages to be official, Pope," Ava shrugs, pointing between her herself and the blonde, "But before that we were basically already a couple."

"Just an unspoken time thing, y'know," JJ agrees with a nod, "Just ask her today, Pope. While we're out of town and you could, like, distract her from her annoying ass parents."

"Boarding school?" Kiara screeches, grabbing her friend's attention once more while she begins to rush down the porch steps, "What are you talking about?"

Watching her approach, Pope quickly throws his door open and holds it for her, biting his lip anxiously as he attempts to ignore the glares from her parents.

"Look at your life right now!" Mike roars, descending the stairs slowly, "Look at your life!"

Kiara stops by the open car door and shrugs carelessly at her parents, while Ava and JJ lean forward in their seats so Mike and Anna are able to see them through the windscreen as they smile and wave at the Kook adults. Immediately the both of them are scowled at, and they lean back in triumph.

"Hi, uh, ma'am, sir. I— I promise to have her back at a reasonable hour and safe," Pope raises a hand to send them a wave while he leans on the door.

"What are you doing?" Kiara hisses and his head snaps to her in surprise and he sends her an unsure shrug, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Kiara, listen to me!" Anna shouts, taking refuge on the bottom step, "You wanna go, then you can go. But if you don't come back at the proper time, then don't come back at all."

"She's bluffing," JJ mumbles, eyes narrowing slightly.

Ava shakes her head softly, "No, she really isn't."

Finally, Kiara sends them one last nod before she slides into the truck seat beside Ava, pushing her backpack between her legs. JJ sticks his head out of his window and offers them a thumbs up, "Y'all have a good day."

Pope clambers in next, trying not to apologise to the adults for the teenagers reckless attitude to the whole situation. It's just in his blood to be apologetic and responsible, the opposite can be said for the rest of his friendship group. Someone has to be the one who gets them outta the deep shit, most of the time.

Kiara sighs, dropping her eyes to her lap, "This shit would be so much easier without parents."

At her words, Ava grinds her jaw and tilts her head away from her friend and towards JJ, who rolls his shoulders back and clicks his tongue, clearly feeling the same effects of her seemingly harmless words. He drops his hand to Ava's thigh, tapping gently before squeezing and she sends him a weak smile.

Having no parents seemed like a dream come true to those with parents. But to the poor people who have to go through life without any kind of adult influence, they feel completely opposite on the subject. Ava and JJ understand that frustration better than anyone.

. . .

i cannot express my dislike for s3 enough 😐

word count,
2856