XXXIV. now that we don't talk

Since he found out that Sarah was still alive, school wasn't as unbearable to attend. Yeah, he was still annoyed by the constant eyes he was getting every time he walked down the hallway but he was getting better at ignoring them. Bridger stood by his locker getting his books when he felt someone walk up to him. "Hey, Bridge."

He looked up to see it was Topper. "Topper." He said back, his voice rough.

It was the first time they talked since the fight that broke out at the restaurant. Their first real conversation since Midsummer. Bridger swallowed harshly, finding it hard to look him in the eye.

Topper looked uncomfortable as well. "Uh," he started to say and then paused, his hand tightening around the strap of his bag. "I, uh, don't really know what to say."

"Then don't say anything. Just leave." Bridger snapped and slammed his locker shut.

Topper flinched. "I-I've been trying to figure out how to talk to you. I'm sorry about the other day—"

"Screw your apology." He sneered and walked away.

"I lost her too."

He stopped. His hands clenched into fists.

"I know you're angry at me. You have every right to be. But you're not the only one hurting, Bridge. I loved her." Topper continued, the words he'd been wanting to say flowing out.

Bridger closed his eyes for the quick second. He sucked in a deep breath then exhaled through his nose. He turned back around and faced him. "You betrayed me."

"I'm sorry."

"We were friends."

"I still want us to be."

"Why?" He questioned and took a step closer to him. "Cause Sarah's dead? She's gone and now you feel guilty so you wanna make amends?" His got angrier as he spoke. "News flash, Top, you're not a good guy. You slut shamed her. You beat the shit out of Pope. You almost killed John B. You turned your back on me when I needed my friends the most."

"I know. I know! I'm sorry." Topper quickly said, his voice going high. "I just. . . I'm sorry."

Bridger and Topper met in ninth grade they were on the golf team at school. He only played for like a year but they were also the only freshman on the team, which meant they were closer than anyone else. Topper was popular. He was funny. A nice guy. Had a good family. Their friendship developed the more times they hung out and by the time they were sixteen, they were pretty much inseparable. It was him, Topper, and Rafe. It was always the three of them.

But things started to change when Rafe's attitude got worse. When his drinking and drug addiction got worse. Suddenly, he was begging the younger boys to do it with him. To get high. Get plastered. They were sixteen years old. Of course they said yes. But Topper's ability to say no was worse than Bridger's. He was easily influenced. Whatever his Kook friends said to do, Topper did it because he thought it made him cooler. And maybe it did. But then Rafe started hurting people. That's when Sarah had enough. When Bridger had enough.

But it felt so strange to think absolutely how they could go from being strangers to best friends to now feeling like he didn't know Topper at all. And yeah, he felt terrible that nobody knew Sarah was actually alive. Terrible that her ex boyfriend thought she was dead. But he'd come too far in life to go back to his old ways now. "I'm sorry too, Top. But let's be real. You lost me and Sarah a long time ago."

He left Topper standing in the middle of the hallway with a frown on his face.

By the time his third period rolled around, Bridger was ready to leave. Inez was doing a good job at keeping his head on straight but the truth was being at the Kook Academy made him miserable. He understood how Kiara felt now, how out of place she must have been feeling when she first came. And he felt guilty for trying to make it hell for her.

He tapped his knuckles on his desk in the science classroom. Mrs. Davison spent her time discussing the work while Bridger copied down notes. He kept getting distracted every few minutes until Inez would pinch his arm to bring him back.

The first thirty minutes dragged on slowly. His cheek was pressed against the palm of his hand and he lazily wrote in his notebook. "Uh, B?" He heard Inez whisper. He looked her way. She looked between him and the window and pointed her finger.

Bridger looked out the classroom window and his eyes went wide when he saw JJ standing outside, waving his arms while Pope and Kiara waved theirs from inside her car. He gritted his teeth and almost cursed but then he remembered he was in class.

JJ mouthed and motioned for him to come outside. Bridger shook his head no, his eyes still wide. He did it again, and they went back forth until JJ got on his knees and locked his hands together. Inez covered her mouth to keep from laughing as she watched. Finally, Bridger huffed frustratingly and he turned to Inez, asking what to do.

She winked at him and turned to the front of three classroom. Before he could blink, Inez fell out of her seat. Everyone in the classroom turned and looked at her and Bridger widened his eyes. "Inez, are you okay?" Mrs. Davison asked quickly went to her.

Inez's eyes fluttered open and she pretended to look confused. "Wha-What happened?" She uttered weakly.

Bridger covered his mouth, feeling a smile come on.

"You fainted honey. Are you feeling okay?" The teacher asked and touched her forehead.

"I-I don't know. I think — I feel so dizzy." Inez kept on.

"We need to get you to the nurse—"

"I-I-I think I should take her, Mrs. Davison. She shouldn't go alone." Bridger stepped in quickly.

"Of course. Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald."

He rushed out of his seat and grabbed their bags. Bridger helped Inez up from the floor and flashed the teacher a quick, nervous smile before he helped the girl out of the room. She pretended to have dead eight to make it seem more believable.

When they were out of the classroom, Bridger let go of Inez. "Holy shit, that was awesome!" He laughed.

She smiled proudly. "Three years of drama are finally paying off." She hit his arm. "Now go! Hurry!"

He took off running down the hall. "Love you!" He shouted over his shoulder and sprinted to the exit door.

When he got outside, the Pogues were waiting in Kiara's car and JJ rolled his window down. "Hurry up, baby. We got business!" He hollered.

"This better be good. I just had Inez fake passing out to get me out of class!" He shouted back and opened the back door. He slammed it close and looked at all of them. "Okay, what the fuck's up?"

Kiara and Pope turned in their seats. "You didn't want to miss this. Trust me." Said Pope and he held out an envelope.

Bridger furrowed his brows and looked at the others. They nodded. He took the envelope from Pope and saw the wheat symbol on the back. "Is that—"

"The wheat symbol." Kiara nodded with a breath.

Now feeling anxious, Bridger took the letter out of the envelope and opened it. His eyes examined the words and he read them out loud. "Dear Mr. Heyward, I am reaching out because I have material evidence that—" his eyes went wide. "What the fuck?"

"That's what I said!" JJ expressed.

"Something, something, something, come meet with me. Something. . . Charleston? Tonight?" Bridger continued and looked at them like they were crazy. "Okay, where the hell did you get this?"

"A guy from the scholarship committee came to school today and gave it to me." Pope explained.

"And we did some research," Kiara added.

"Turns out this C. Limbery person could possibly be related to the captain of the Royal Merchant."

"Which means they know everything we do." JJ put in.

Bridger felt like he could faint. "What—Okay, wait. So this means—"

"We can get em back, B. We can clear John B's name." His partner finished his sentence, his blue eye lighting up with excitement.

"Holy shit. Holy shit!" He shouted and they shouted along with him. Then he remembered something. "Wait, wait, wait, how the fuck are we going to get to Charleston by 8:00 tonight?"

"I have a free period. Pope's gonna take his dad's truck." Kiara quickly explained and Pope nodded.

It went silent. JJ looked at his partner and smiled widely. "What do ya say, good looking? Wanna get our friends back?"

There was an angel and a demon sitting on Bridger's shoulders. One telling him to go and get his friends back while the other told him not to go. That it could be dangerous. They didn't even know the people who went to letter. It could be a trap for all they knew.

But the most important thing to him was getting Sarah back safe and clearing John B's name. He ignored every negative thought in his head. "Hell yeah, let's do it!" He hollered and they shouted along with him.

Not having his dad home felt strange. Which also confused him because Bridger was so used to his father not coming home for days at a time. But he always came back whether he liked it or not. But now he was just gone. Bridger knew where he was this time. A part of him felt empty as he walked around his large home. He felt trapped inside the glass castle.

It was so quiet. An echoey quiet. Any teenager who got to live alone would be ecstatic and he wondered why he didn't. This was a boy who used to lock his doors at night so his dad wouldn't come into his room. Now he found himself thinking about when he would come back.

He felt relief when JJ called him and said that he and Pope were outside. He had changed out of his school uniform into something more breathable. He locked the door behind him and ran to Heyward's truck. "Sup, thief!" He shouted to Pope who was in the driver's seat. He circled around it. "What's your dad gonna say when he realizes his truck's gone?"

"Uhh, ground me for life most likely." Pope answered.

Bridger slid into the truck and smiled at his partner. "Hey, babe." He kissed his cheek quickly.

"You changed?" JJ said and pouted. "I was getting used to the uniform look. Thought it was hot."

"Yeah, you think that until you're adjusting the front of your pants all day." He said and fixed his shorts. "Dude problems."

"Gotta love em." Said Pope and they drove to Kiara's home to pick her up.

Bridger met Mike and Anna Carerra on numerous occasions. They were your typical happy go lucky, trying their hardest to be the best, stereotypical rich couple. Mike was always kind to him but that's because he was a Kook. Now that he was apart of the Pogues, he could only imagine what the pair thought of him now.

When they got to the home, Kiara came barging out of her house with her parents trailing behind her. "Boarding school? What are you talking about?"

"It's just an option. It could broaden your horizons, baby. It could get you out of the OBX!"

"I'm not going to boarding school! They're not my people!"

Bridger raised his eyebrows as he listened to the family's fight. "Boarding school?"

"That's the most rich white person parenting I've ever heard." Pope muttered in response.

"Look at your life right now! Look at your life!" Mike shouted at his daughter.

JJ and Bridger climbed out of the vehicle so she could get in. Kiara looked at her dad challengingly, which only made him more angry.

"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!" Anna threw at her, very clearly upset and angry.

Bridger looked between the daughter parents and he held his breath, waiting for what would come next. Kiara looked hurt. Angry.

Mike looked at him. "And here I thought you were a good influence on my daughter, Bridger." He said out loud.

"Think she's been one on me actually, Mike." Bridger replied and patted the top of the truck before getting back in.

Kiara gave him a soft, sad smile. "This shit would be so much easier without parents." She said out loud.

Both JJ and Bridger looked at each other. "Yeah, you think that." The brunette said to himself and exhaled a sigh.