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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡
the pawnshop

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

"He said it looked something like this," Kiara said to Sarah and Kyla in the Twinkie as they looked at a drawing of the well.

"So..." Sarah trailed off as Kyla reached out her finger and traced it down the rope.

"That's 50 feet down, and they're using a 100-feet rope," Kyla told them.

Kiara nodded. "So I guess this little wagon will go...straight to the gold room," she said as she pointed at the drawing, all three girls chuckling at it.

"Who drew this?" Sarah questioned through her laughter.

"Who do you think?" Kiara replied before they all looked over at Pope, who was already looking at them. Well, looking at Kiara.

"So, when do you think he'll confess his feelings for you?" Kyla teasingly asked her sister.

Kiara scoffed. "Are you kidding? Pope doesn't like me like that," she denied, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I don't know," Sarah said in a singsong voice. "I think he does," she continued, agreeing with the older Carrera girl.

"See!" Kyla exclaimed, lightly shoving her sister.

Kiara rolled her eyes. "Just because you two think he likes me, doesn't mean it's true," Kiara told them and the two girls shrugged at the same time.

"Kie! This better work," JJ said as he came over to the three girls and dropped the gold in front of them. "We can't pawn this if there's a giant wheat symbol on it."

Kiara picked up the blowtorch next to her and told him, "It's gonna work."

"Be careful with that," Kyla warned.

"Yeah, yeah."

After Kiara melted down the gold piece, the crew drove over to a pawnshop to pawn it off for the money. "Hell of a job melting it down, Dr. Frankenstein," JJ said sarcastically as he stepped out of the Twinkie with the gold in his hand.

"Like you could've done any better," Kiara argued as Kyla stepped out of the car after her.

"I could have done much better. I took a welding class," JJ told her, and the two sisters have gave him the same look.

"When?" they both asked at the same time, before sending each other the same exact glance. Even though they were total opposites, they did seem to have the same reactions to things sometimes.

"Whoa, whoa. Hey. Sh, sh!" John B said, stepping towards them. "Chill out, okay?"

JJ sent the sisters a look before he looked at John B. "It's easy for you to say that. You're not the one that has to pawn this piece of shit off," JJ replied as he held up the horribly melted gold. "How did I get this job anyway?" he asked as he placed the gold in his backpack.

"'Cause you're the best liar," Pope told him before they stepped inside the pawn shop.

"Afternoon, ma'am," JJ greeted once he stepped inside and noticed an older lady, the pawnbroker, standing behind the counter.

"Afternoon," the pawnbroker said with a nod. The rest of the group walked away from JJ, pretending to be interested in something else while JJ tried to work his magic.

"I see you buy gold," the blonde said.

"That's what the sign say, don't it?"

"Well, I sure hope you buy a lot of it, because I'm about to blow your mind," JJ told her as he placed his backpack on the counter. Kyla walked over to the shelf of knickknacks, pretending to look to buy one as she glanced over her shoulder a few times.

"I ain't got much mind left to blow, so have at it."

JJ took the gold out of his backpack and placed it in front of her. "How 'bout them gold apples?" he asked and Kyla grinned to herself.

The pawnbroker chuckled. "That ain't real." Kyla's grin dropped and she made eye contact with her sister, who sent her a worried look.

"That ain't real?"

"It can't be."

"Feel how heavy it is," JJ directed and when the lady tried picking it up, she had trouble since it was so heavy. "Mhm. Mhm!" JJ hummed. "Yeah, let's get some light on that."

The pawnbroker grabbed the magnifying glass and turned on the light that was installed in it, and pointed it at the gold as she examined it. "Spray-painted tungsten," she said.

"Spray-painted tungsten? Really? Okay. Why don't you see how, uh, soft it is?" JJ told her.

"You mind?" she asked.

"No, go for it," he said and the pawnbroker banged the sharp, metal object down on it. Nothing happened. "Wow. Would you look at that?"

"Hold your horses. We ain't got to the acid test yet," she told him as she reached for the small bottle of acid she had on the shelf next tot her.

"Ooh! The acid test. My favorite, guys," JJ said as he glanced back at all of them. Kyla shook her head at him, her eyebrows raised at his mocking tone.

The pawnbroker squeezed the bottle and a tiny drop of acid fell onto the gold. "Well, it ain't plated, and it ain't painted," she observed.

"Ma'am, I'm telling ya, this is as real as the day is long," JJ said truthfully.

"It looks like somebody tried to melt it down," the pawnbroker pointed out.

"My mom," he told her, and the lady gave him a weird look. "She had all this jewelry laying around the house, and she thought it was best to — to melt it down. To 'consolidate' it," JJ explained as he made air quotations. Kyla and Sarah glanced at each other, fighting down their laughter.

The lady then put it on the scale. "7 pounds? That's a lot of earrings," the pawnbroker said, not believing him. "Especially for a guy wearing an outfit like that," she added, pointing her finger up and down at him.

"Wait, did I say my mom?" JJ asked and the pawnbroker nodded. "Oh, no, no, no. I meant my girlfriend's mom," JJ corrected and Kyla furrowed her brows.

"Girlfriend?"

"Yes. Girlfriend." JJ then looked over his shoulder and waved over to Kyla. "Ky, come here!" he called over to her and she pointed to herself in confusion, her brows still furrowed. "Yes, you, sweetie," he said before he turned back to the pawnbroker. "She can be shy."

Kyla then made her way over to JJ and the pawnbroker, giving the lady a awkward smile as JJ wrapped his arm around her waist. "Your mom melted her earrings down?" the pawnbroker asked, seeming to believe it a little better since Kyla's clothes looked, and were, more expensive than JJ's.

"That's right," she confirmed, giving JJ a forced grin before she looked back at the pawnbroker.

"Why?" the pawnbroker asked, arching a brow.

Kyla glanced at JJ for help, not knowing what to say. "Okay, to be honest, ma'am." He quickly cleared his throat. "Uh, it's really hard to see her mom fall apart with Alzheimer's. She," JJ said, glancing at Kyla, who faked a sad look, "doesn't like to talk about it." Kyla nodded and JJ rubbed her back comfortingly.

The pawnbroker hummed. "Give me a minute," she told them before she walked away from the counter.

"Take your time, ma'am," Kyla said with fake sadness in her voice before she looked over at JJ in annoyance once the pawnbroker fully walked away. "Seriously?" she whispered, pushing his arm away from her waist.

"What? You have the most expensive looking clothes, so it would be the most realistic," JJ whispered back, and she rolled her eyes.

"Do you think she's gonna give us the money?" Pope asked as he came up to them with Kiara next to him.

"She has to. It's real," JJ told them.

"But what if she doesn't?" Kiara said, raising her eyebrows.

"She has to," JJ repeated. "If she doesn't, then we would report her to the authorities or something," he added with a shrug.

"Really? And tell them what? We have seven pounds of gold that we want money for? How are supposed to explain where it came from?" she asked as she gave him a look.

"Right..." JJ trailed off.

"Look — Oh, she's coming out," Pope whispered them before he backed away with Kiara as the pawnbroker came back out. JJ and Kyla quickly looked down, pretending to be sad again.

"So, I, uh..." she trailed off, clearing her throat. "I talked to my boss."

"And?" JJ said.

"And, uh, this is what I can do," she said as she walked behind the counter and placed a piece of paper down.

Kyla looked down at it. Only fifty thousand dollars? What the hell? she thought, fighting back her offended expression.

JJ, however, did not fight off the expression. "Fifty thousand?" he questioned before he scoffed. "You think I walked in here not knowin' the spot price? Ma'am, I know for a fact that is worth 140, at least," he told her, pressing his finger to the gold.

Kyla cleared her throat. "Yeah, my mom didn't waste her expensive jewelry just for it to be only 50 thousand dollars," she added, making JJ scratch his nose in disbelief at her.

"Well, sweeties, you're in a pawn shop. This ain't Zurich. Do I look Swiss to you?" she asked with attitude.

"Ninety, or we walk," JJ negotiated.

"Seventy. Half price...and, um...I don't ask questions about where you both got this," she told them quietly, leaning in closer to them.

Kyla and JJ glanced to each other, before JJ looked at John B, who was listening in on the conversation. The blonde then looked back at the pawnbroker. "We're gonna need that in large denominations, please," he told her, and the others behind them started to laugh quietly.

The pawnbroker glanced around at them with an arched brow before she looked back at the fake couple. "Well, here's the snag. I don't have that much denominated, not here anyway. I can write you a cashier's check."

"Cashi — No, ma'am. We want the cold hard. That's what that sign says," JJ said, pointing at the sign to his left. "'Cash for gold'. And that's what I — we expect. We're gonna get it in cold hard."

"Well, I have to send you to the warehouse. Is that all right?" the pawnbroker asked.

Kyla and JJ glanced at each other again before Kyla nodded. JJ looked back at the pawnbroker. "Where's this warehouse?"

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

John B drove the Twinkie to where the pawnbroker said the warehouse was. It seemed a little out of the way from where the pawn shop was, but if they were going to get their money at the end of the day, Kyla didn't care.

"So...they keep money out here?" Pope asked slowly as they drove past an abandoned looking house.

"That's what she said," JJ told him before he laughed. "That's what she said," he repeated, but with a new meaning.

"Stop," Pope said as Kyla shoved the blonde softly.

"I've never even heard of Resurrection Drive," Sarah pointed out from the front seat.

"Me, either," Kyla said with furrowed brows.

"That's 'cause you're both rich," JJ pointed out and Kyla gave him a weird look.

Kiara gave him almost the same look. "You've never heard of it either," she said.

"Thank you," Sarah said.

Kiara then furrowed her brows when she looked out the window of the car. "There's nothing but weeds back here," she said.

"Yeah, that's kind of weird," Kyla said as she also looked out the window to observe everything.

"All right, just 'cause it's just weeds, doesn't mean it's...like..." JJ trailed off before a siren whooped behind them, making Kyla perk her head up to see through the back window.

Kiara and Pope looked over their shoulders to look out the back window as well. "Cops? Out here?" Kiara questioned.

"God! Are you kidding me?" JJ exclaimed angrily.

"What did we do?" Sarah asked as she looked over her shoulder as well.

"Why are we getting pulled over?" JJ muttered to himself as he started to grab his backpack.

"Stash that," John B whispered to JJ about the gold.

"Chill, guys."

"Put it—"

"I hate cops," JJ said as he placed the gold in his backpack.

"Did you bring the gun?" John B asked as he slapped his hand.

Kyla's eyes widened. "Oh, my God, did you?" she questioned, her voice growing higher.

"No, okay? Everybody told me to leave it back at the place," JJ assured them and Kyla released a breath of relief.

"Thank God. Please, everything else in your bag," Kiara told the blonde as JJ sifted through the bag.

"I am! I am, all right?" JJ told them as Pope crouched down to help him.

"How much do you have on you, bro?" Kiara asked as Pope urged JJ to go faster, before the blonde stuffed the bag underneath one of the seat cushions.

"Oh, so you just have that there just in case something like this happens? Wow, you are so prepared to not get caught with drugs," Kyla said in a mocking tone, which made JJ send her a glare.

Kyla's eyes then widened when she heard a gun cock and she looked over her shoulder to see a guy, wearing a skeleton mask over his mouth and nose, pointing a shotgun at John B. She gulped.

"Why don't I just go ahead and see them hands up in the air right now?" the man asked John B and they all hesitated, not knowing what to do. "All y'all's hands up in air right now!" he yelled, making them all quickly raise their hands. "You, out of the car! Let's go!"

John B slowly opened the door and walked out as the man backed up, the gun still pointed at the Routledge boy. "Out of the car! Let's go! Hurry! Let them out!" he shouted, pointing at the car. John B slowly shuffled over, keeping his gaze locked on the man. "What are you waitin' on? What are you waitin' on? Let them out! All y'all! Go on! Go on! Let's get out of the car! Let's go!" the man continued and John B opened the door to let Sarah out. "There you go, pretty girl. Here we go! Get out of the car, let's go! Hurry up! There you go!"

Kyla then made her way out of the car with her sister, holding her hands up with a fearful look on her face. "Come on, pretty girls!" he drawled before JJ and Pope made their way out of the car.

"We're broke—"

"Shut the hell up!" the man cut JJ off, pointing the gun at him.

"All right! Okay!" JJ yelled at him, and Kyla's eyes widened even more.

"Shut the hell up! Shut the hell up!"

"Just relax!" JJ continued to scream.

"JJ, stop!" Kyla said, her voice cracking at the end out of anxiousness.

"Shut up! I'll blow your damn head off!" the man threatened. "Lay down in the ditch! Lay down in the ditch! On your goddamn hands and knees! Down!" he shouted and Kyla slowly brought her knees down to the ground, her hands still up. "Put your face on the ground!"

He then hit JJ's back to make him lower even more. "Stay here just like that! Put your head down! Don't let me see you look up! All right?" he said and Kyla looked face down, closing her eyes to fight back her tears and to focus on her breathing. "That's all y'all gotta do."

The man then climbed into the Twinkie, searching through the dashboard to look for something. "It's a setup, guys," Kiara told them, also fighting back tears.

"That old bat shanked us," JJ sat before he started hitting the ground. "Fuck! Goddamn it!"

"Guys, what do we do?" Kyla asked quietly, but no one answered before John B started to get up from the found. Kyla looked over at him and her mouth parted in shock.

"Wait. No, no, no, no, no, no. John B...No," Sarah whimpered, trying to get him to stop, but he kept on backing up.

"John B. Don't be a hero, man," Pope whispered to him, but John B quickly shushed him before he made his way over to the man's car.

"What the hell is he doing?" Kyla questioned breathlessly.

"I don't know, I don't know," Kiara cried, shaking her head.

"All right, y'all stay just like that," the man said he came out of the car, holding the blue wrap where the gold was held. "Unless you want your brains blown out all over this road, don't move your goddamn heads, okay?" he threatened as he pointed to them before he walked over to his car and got inside.

"Shit," Kyla said under her breath since John B was also inside of it. She looked over and then saw John B fighting with the guy, and the others saw too, so they all started to get up to go help their friend.

"Guys, I got the gun!" John B yelled and JJ came running over and punched the guy once he came out of the car. But, the guy quickly turned around and punched the blonde in the face, sending him down.

Kiara quickly came over and punched the man in the face before he pushed her down. "Kie!" Kyla yelled before she impulsively ran towards the man and tackled him to the ground, using her adrenaline to knock him down right next to the car door. It seemed like her years of play-fighting with Rafe payed off.

"I got the gold!" Pope exclaimed before Kyla rolled out of the way to let Sarah slam the car door into the guys face, making him groan in pain. She then did it a second time before Kiara came over and kicked him; then John B.

Kyla then got up, dusting herself off quickly as she watched the guy grunt in pain. "You son of a bitch!" Sarah yelled at him.

He then leaned against the car, panting heavily. JJ then bent down and tore the mask down, revealing the guy's face. "I know this piece of shit! He's a basehead!" JJ said angrily.

"Probably knows my brother," Sarah said as she ran a hand through her hair, and Kyla narrowed her eyes.

"He sells coke to my dad," JJ told them.

"Wait. Barry?" Kyla said out loud, her mouth parting in shock.

"Wha — How — How do you know that?" he stammered.

"That doesn't matter!" JJ yelled at him, raising his fist threateningly.

"Hey, listen! I couldn't hurt any single one of y'all—" Barry was cut off by JJ punching him in the face with the blunt end of the gun.

"JJ!" Kyla and Kiara shouted at him at the same time as Pope and John B tried to pull him away from the drug dealer.

"Dude, chill man. Come on," Pope told him before the blonde pushed away from the two boys, searching for something in Barry's pocket. "Come on, let's get outta here."

JJ pulled out the guy's wallet and grabbed his drivers license. "We got one last stop," JJ told them, as he pushed John B away and started walking towards the Twinkie.

"Hey!" John B yelled at him.

"Let's go see where this son of a bitch lives."

The crew glanced at each other before they hesitantly followed JJ to the car. "I'm gonna remember this shit! You can't hide from me!" Barry shouted angrily as JJ started the car. "I know exactly who y'all are! Huh? You're gonna see me again! You hear me?"

John B then threw Barry's keys into the trees. "Come on!" JJ called out.

"You hear me? I'mma see you again!"

Sorry for two long chapters in a row, ahhhhh. But at least I updated twice today!!!
And what are your thoughts about Kyla and JJ pretending to be a couple at the pawn shop 😏