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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡
𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒏

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Later that day, as Kiara drove the car to where John B directed her to go from the backseat, they all sat in silence other than John B's few directions. No one wanted to say anything after what Kyla and John B had told them. Or rather, they didn't know what to say. Kyla was thankful for that, though, because she really didn't feel like answering any questions.

She had also told them about the fact that Rafe and Tara had been sleeping together, which explained why Tara wanted to...kill her. Well, it wasn't exactly a good explanation since murdering someone because you were jealous isn't a good reason to kill someone, but...Kyla just didn't want any questions.

"John B, what are we doing at the police station?" JJ asked once the Twinkie neared the station.

"Somebody's gotta tell them what happened," John B told him before Pope started coughing like crazy, the blunt still in his hand.

"Easy there, chief. Damn," JJ said. Once Pope had calmed down, JJ sat up in his chair and placed a hand on John B's shoulder. "All right. I'm just gonna be real with you right now. You might end up in the lion's den, but you don't go there on purpose. It's fundamental. Just like my old man always told me, you should never ever trust cops, no matter what the circumstance is."

"Your old man's an abusive liar," Kiara pointed out bluntly. Kyla stayed quiet in the seat next to JJ, looking at her hands in her lap.

"I agree with JJ. Fuck the police," Pope said in a deep voice.

"Oh, you goin' to the dark side now?" Kiara asked.

"When's the last time the police ever helped us?" Pope questioned quickly.

"Peterkin looked out for me, all right? Tried to, at least," John B said and everyone shut up, looking at him. "They need to know."

"I agree with John B," Kyla spoke up, making everyone look at her with wide eyes since she was barely speaking that night. "If it means...putting Rafe away to a place where he can't hurt anyone anymore then...I say we do it," she explained softly and slowly, looking up from her hands.

John B slowly nodded before he opened the car door and got out, walking over to building before he entered.

Once Kyla saw that John B had entered the station, she muttered, "This is all my fault."

"Ky, don't say that, all right? There was nothing you could have done to stop Ward or Rafe," JJ told her quickly.

She shook her head. "If I had just waited a little bit longer to break up with Rafe...he would have never spiraled like this," she said, licking her lips. She couldn't cry anymore, but now her throat and mouth had just been dry.

"Kyla, he was already spiraling, okay? Something like this was bound to happen soon enough. You can't blame yourself for putting yourself first for once. You did the right thing," Kiara explained, looking back at her sister.

"I gave up on him, Kie," Kyla replied. "We were together for almost a year and I just...gave up," she murmured, looking down once again. She didn't know if she still loved Rafe after what he had just done, but she knew she couldn't just forget about her relationship with him before things went down hill.

"No, Kyla, he gave up on you," Kiara told her. "He should have never slept with Tara and if he actually did love you like you...loved him, then he would have never done any of this. He doesn't deserve you."

Kyla slowly looked up at her sister while the two boys stayed silent, not knowing what to say since they didn't want to interrupt the "sister talk".

"I just wanted to be enough," Kyla admitted. "I wanted to be enough for him. I wanted to be enough for you. I wanted to be enough for Tara," she listed. "I wanted to be enough for everyone!" she exclaimed, letting out a mock laugh. "I did everything to please everyone and it just...backfired on me."

"Life isn't fair, Ky," Pope said, taking another puff of the joint.

"Pope," Kiara said warningly.

"No, he's right, Kie," Kyla said quickly, not getting mad at Pope. "I just...have to get used to that truth now, I guess."

"Hey, it'll be easier now that you're a Pogue," JJ said as he softly nudged her arm, trying to cheer up even though they were all in a bad mood. Kyla gave him a brief grin at the informal invitation to become a "real" Pogue, before she looked out the window.

When she did, she saw John B run out of the station, screaming, "Kie! Start the car!" Her eyes widened and she jumped slightly when John B started banging on the door. "Start the car, Kie!"

"What? John B?" Kiara asked as John B quickly got inside. "John B, what did you do?"

"The cops! The cops!" John B shouted and Kyla looked out the window again to see two cops running straight towards the Twinkie.

"Shit!" JJ yelled.

"Go, go, go!"

"Kie, drive! Go!"

"I'm going! I'm sorry!" Kiara yelled as she quickly pressed the gas pedal, making the car drive forward.

"Go, Kie! Go!" John B shouted as the cops ran after the car, one of them grabbing onto the door handle from the outside.

"Stop the car! Stop the car! Right now!" the cops yelled after them.

"John B, what happened?" Kyla questioned loudly, gripping JJ's arm fearfully.

"What did you do?" Kiara screamed.

"Open it," Pope advised and John B open the car door, making the cop let go and fall over. The Routledge boy then quickly shut the door again.

They all breathed heavily, in shock at what just happened. They didn't think that this could get any worse, but it did; Kyla didn't even know what exactly happened in there.

"John B, what happened in there, dude?" JJ asked after a moment, reminding Kyla to let go of his arm that she probably bruised from holding it so hard.

"I'm wanted for shooting Peterkin."

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

The next morning, the Pogues hid in the car that Kyla and Kiara shared a lot since if they hid in the Twinkie, John B would be easily found. "Good news for residents of Outer Banks," the broadcaster said on the radio. "Dominion Power says their underwater transmission line, which will restore power for 90% of the area..." JJ started to sit up when they heard police sirens, checking to make sure it wasn't coming for them. "...should be functional within 24 hours."

Kyla let out a quiet sigh of relief when the police cars drove right past them. "And still, no arrest in the shooting death or Sheriff Susan Peterkin. The state police have issued a statement regarding a local person of interest, a juvenile from—" Kiara quickly turned off the radio, not wanting to hear their friend's name.

"Let's game this out. Maybe you guys can help, being the smart ones and all, but...who are the cops going to believe? Ward Cameron or us?" JJ asked as he held his blunt up in his hand. "So the accuser is a bigshot developer, kind of lord of the island, got the governor on speed dial kind of person, and the accused...is John B, who is...pretty much a homeless 16-year-old boy at the moment."

"Thanks," John B said, unamused.

"I can go to the station and tell them what really happened, okay? I'm a witness!" Kyla explained even though John B denied it the last time she brought it up.

"Ky, I already said no," John B told her and she sighed. "They won't believe you over Ward, especially because the police probably saw you drive away with me. And I'm also not dragging you down with me. It's not worth it," John B clarified for the second time, and Kyla knew that he was right.

"Yeah, and Ward might have dropped your name to the cops, too, Ky. It's too risky," Kiara added, not wanting her sister to go to jail for trying to do the right thing.

"Shit," Pope whispered to himself.

"Okay, man. Yucatán, all right? I'm saying that's the only option. What other option do you have?" JJ said to the brunette.

"JJ, no. Enough with the Mexico bullshit, all right? Sarah's gonna bail me out," John B told him.

"She did also witness the whole thing. And they would believe her over Ky," Kiara pointed out and Kyla shrugged and nodded.

"Thank you."

"And she's gonna snitch on her brother?" Pope questioned and Kyla sighed, rubbing her temples at the mention of Rafe.

JJ took the blunt out of his mouth, letting the smoke out as he sat up. "Not happening, bro. Okay? We've gotta get you off the island."

"The ferry. It's the only way," Pope said.

"Yeah. Exit stage left while you still can, man, okay? Before the entire island is on lockdown," JJ told the Routledge boy.

"Guys, just get down," Kiara said and Kyla slid down further in her seat as another police car drove by.

"Sarah's not a Pogue, John B," Pope said after the police car flew past them.

"Yeah. You can't stay here, man."

"If I can be a Pogue, then Sarah can be one, too," Kyla said. "I trust her."

"I do, too," John B whispered before he closed his eyes.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

The group waited for Pope in the car to come back with either the ferry schedules, or a ferry ticket for John B so that he was able to get out of OBX as quick as he could. "Okay," Pope said breathlessly as he made his way back over to the car. "Okay. All right, no."

"Pope, can you act normal?" Kiara asked quickly with wide eyes. Kyla rubbed her face worriedly, not liking that they were out in the open with Pope acting anything but normal. She accidentally hit her bandages forehead with her hand, making her wince since it still hurt.

"So, um...okay, so, bad news. The ferry's closed, and there is this," Pope said as he handed Kiara a paper before he got inside the car.

"What is that? What is this? What is this?" John B quickly asked as Kiara handed the paper to JJ.

"Shit," Kiara muttered.

JJ quickly showed Kyla the WANTED with a $25,000 reward flier of John B, making her mouth drop. He then showed it to John B and said, "Well, John B, uh...this is a good framer of you."

"JJ, that's not funny," Kyla scolded and he just shrugged, not caring anymore.

"Okay, so...the whole island's lookin' for John B right now," Pope pointed out.

"That's a lot of money," Kiara stated the obvious.

"Congratulations, John B. You're now famous," JJ said before John B took the flier out of his hand.

"Seriously, JJ?" Kyla whispered, leaning her head back against the seat since his little comments weren't making her feel better.

"What? I'm sorry, I make jokes when I'm under duress!" JJ explained in a high voice, but she just sighed.

"Guys, we got to get to the HMS. We need small, no running lights—"

"It's at the Château, Kie," John B cut her off.

"And I wonder if the cops got the entire place staked out. Let me think. Oh, yeah. No, they definitely have that — that placed locked down," JJ said mockingly, rubbing his eyebrow.

"Yeah, copy that," Kiara replied in annoyance.

"Okay, let me think, let me think. Just give me a second, just give me a second," Pope said quickly with his eyes shut, before he opened them. "JJ."

"What?"

Pope looked over his shoulder at JJ. "Does your dad still have that boat? The — the cigarette boat, the Phantom?" he asked. "The one we used to race."

"Maybe," JJ replied.

"You could get right up the coast, no problem."

"Okay, look—"

"It's not gonna be easy, Pope," JJ said as Kiara was speaking, "Okay, look, the surf's running from like three to four..."

"Pope, I don't know where the keys are," JJ told him.

"Well, find them!" Pope said.

"Okay, I'm thinking!"

"Why is nobody moving forward? What's going on here?" Pope said angrily.

"Can you relax?" Kiara questioned. "JJ, how much weed did you give him?"

"Too much, apparently," Kyla said as she lifted her head up from the seat, shaking it in disappointment.

"Guys, guys. Your car's on here. It's on the poster," John B whispered through clenched teeth.

"Wait, what?" Kyla asked as she gripped the poster, reading that, in fact, her car was on the poster. "Oh, my God," she breathed out, swallowing hard since she did not want to go to jail.

Pope started to honk the car and Kiara yelled at him, making a kid start pointing at their car. "Shit!" Kiara and Kyla said at the same time once they realized that they were found.

"We got a snitch. Pope, turn the car on," JJ urged.

More people started realizing that John B was in the car, making some people walk closer to it and bang on it. The Pogues yelled at Pope to get the van moving, and he accidentally drove the van into another car, causing the lights to break. He then was able to drive away before the police were able to hop in their cars and catch him.

"What are you doing?" Kiara asked loudly.

"We'll bump out!" JJ told her.

Pope continued to drive crazily down the road. "Watch out! Pope, watch out! Watch out! Pope, Pope, Pope, watch out, watch out!" Kiara screamed before Pope rammed into a mailbox with the car. Kyla yelped, falling into JJ's lap since Pope had swerved.

Pope started to laugh. "Oh, my God! I'm livin' my best life now!" he exclaimed as Kyla pushed up from JJ's lap, scoffing at Pope's irresponsibility.

"What the fuck? Mom's gonna kill me," Kiara said worriedly.

"She's gonna kill us!" Kyla corrected her.

"She likes you better than me, so you should be fine!" Kiara argued, making Kyla scoff again.

"I should be the last one to tell you this, but you are not okay to drive, dude. Stop!" JJ said and Pope quickly slammed on the breaks. "Oh, jeez."

"John B, get out," Pope told him.

"He's right. We'll draw the cops, you run, all right?"JJ said quickly. "I'll get the rig, and I'll meet you in the dump tomorrow, okay? Three o'clock, okay?"

"Yeah," John B said as he hopped out of the car.

"Three tomorrow at the dump!" JJ repeated before John B slammed the door and ran away, making Pope start the car and drive away again.