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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗲, 𝗻𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗲

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John B drove the Twinkie after they finally left the chicken coop and decided to do some more investigating. Cassie was forced to sit in the back with JJ and Pope since it seemed like Kiara was just John B's "Passenger Princess" all of a sudden.

The blonde girl kept fiddling with her braid, going over everything that had just happened in her head. She had no idea what she was getting into and even though it gave her the rushes of adrenaline she loved, she wasn't sure if she liked the idea of almost being murdered.

Actually, scratch that, she did not like the idea of almost being murdered whatsoever.

"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B spoke up in the driver's seat, making Cassie's head perk up. "A family heirloom. I mean, what better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"

"Yeah. It's possible," Kiara said when no one else said anything.

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know..."

"Pope?" John B cut in.

"...deal with your sad feels," the Heyward boy offered a more plausible answer. Kiara gave Pope a look from the passenger seat, shaking her head.

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels. Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it," JJ voiced to help lighten the mood.

Cassie would have offered up her way of coping, which was turning to alcohol, but she knew it wasn't healthy. And yet, she still did it anyway. That actually reminded her, she really needed a drink to process that they almost got killed...again.

"I'm not concocting, okay?" John B denied defensively. "My dad's trying to give me a message."

Kiara licked her lips. "If it helps you believe, John B."

"Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? Look, I'm not trippin' out," he told them, growing more frustrated by the second.

"It's okay to trip, bro, but—"

"Look, my-my dad is missing, okay? Missing," the Routledge boy cut JJ off, shutting them all up. "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. You just wake up every morning wondering."

Cassie looked back down at that since she had known what it was like. Granted, she knew exactly what had happened to her father: he died in Ward Cameron's private plane on a work trip because of a faulty engine. But that didn't take away the fact that her father, someone she loved, was taken from her without giving her time to say goodbye.

She knew John B hadn't meant to invalidate her feelings. When her father died, she didn't think anyone else could relate to what she had been feeling, so she hid herself from the world and tried to come up with any possibility that he would somehow show up at her front door.

But he never did.

But a part of her, a small part of her, still dreamed of that day that would never come.

She could feel eyes burning into her skin, most likely from Kiara since the girl knew the most about what Cassie had been through during the summer before freshman year and her freshman year.

Kiara tore her gaze from Cassie once it was clear she wasn't going to meet her eyes, and pursed her lips at John B. "It's been almost a year," she pointed out softly.

"Hey, he could've been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility," JJ came up with.

"Yeah, he could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere," Pope added on.

"Absolutely. Uh...or Atlantis."

"Guys, that's not helping," Cassie finally said as she looked up, her tone firm. She knew that they were only trying to comfort John B with the prospect of his father being alive since it was clear the boy believed he was, but she knew all too well that their words would never help. "John B, what do you think the message is?" She asked, going back on topic.

John B didn't show it on his face, but he was relieved the girl had put an end to that conversation. "Redfield. Redfield Lighthouse. That's my dad's favorite place," he replied as he drove into the parking area behind the white fence, allowing them all to hop out. John B examined the lighthouse for a second before he turned to his friends. "Right, here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" He said to JJ.

"Wait...Why me?" JJ questioned.

"Because you're not coming," Pope said it like it was obvious.

"Why?"

"Look, JJ, there are independent variables and dependent variables. And you're an independent variable. We don't know—"

"Shut up! Shut up!" JJ began yelling in Pope's face.

"—what you're gonna do!" Pope finished with wide eyes.

"Shut up!" JJ shouted again.

"Just listen to me for a second! Just listen!" John B stopped them. "Pope and Cassie, you stay and look out with JJ. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."

"Great," Kiara grinned before she began walking over to the fence.

"Okay, hold on..." Cassie trailed off, narrowing her eyes at the Routledge boy. Was he really going to make her stay back with JJ of all people? "Kie?" She tried, but Kiara just shrugged. Choose a man over me, okay, I see how it is, Cassie thought in her head.

She would've said it out loud if the guys weren't around, but she didn't want to expose Kiara like that even though it was obvious something was going on between the two of them. Even someone as dumb as a stump could see it.

Like JJ.

"Oh, no, no. Don't make me stay with them, please," Pope pleaded as he began to shake his head since he really didn't want to deal with their incessant bickering.

"Pope, we need someone to watch over them. Just do it this once," John B explained before he followed Kiara over to the lighthouse.

"Watch over us? What, are we five?" JJ asked, getting offended.

"You definitely have the mental capacity of a five year old," Cassie insulted, shooting a look his way. "Pope, wanna help him learn his ABCs while we're here?"

"You—!"

"Okay, no!" Pope quickly shut JJ up, looking in between the blondes in annoyance. "This is what's gonna happen. I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep felonies down to a minimum," Pope told them.

"I'm not the one who has the gun here," Cassie pointed out, not wanting Pope to lump her in with possible felons like JJ. Sure, she did get into fights, but owning a gun was a different story.

"All right, would you just shut up already?" JJ demanded as he started playing hackey-sack.

"Dipshit," Cassie muttered before she looked over at Pope curiously. "So, what's this scholarship again?"

Pope turned her way, his eyes lighting up a bit that she seemed interested in knowing. "Oh, the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship. I gotta write this essay for it because I'm a finalist and I can't afford to lose out on it if I wanna be a coroner."

"You wanna be a coroner?" Cassie asked and he nodded. "Damn, that's kinda sick."

"Really?" Pope asked with a genuine smile. Usually, when he said that wanted to become a coroner, people would look at him weird. So the fact that Cassie had actually complimented his dream job, he just couldn't believe it.

"Yeah. I wish I knew what I wanted to do, but I have no clue," she admitted.

"Well, you're set for life so it don't matter anyway," JJ pointed out as he continued to play hackey-sack behind her.

She looked over at him. "That's not true. I'm gonna have to provide for myself one day, too," she argued.

"Or you'll just marry another rich Kook so you don't have to do shit," the blonde Pogue countered. Cassie glared at him and marched over to him, catching the ball he had tossed up in the air before he could settle it on his chest. "Hey!"

"That's what you get for being a dick," Cassie deadpanned, wiggling the ball in her hand tauntingly before she turned to the Heyward boy. "Come on, Pope. Let's play."

JJ scoffed. "Seriously? Pope, don't do it. Come on, man."

Pope glanced between the two blondes, not knowing what to do. On the one hand, he should listen to JJ who had been his friend a lot longer. On the other, he should listen to Cassie who had actually just shown interest in his future career.

"Sorry, JJ," Pope apologized as he walked closer to the girl, and Cassie smirked in JJ's direction.

The blonde Pogue scoffed again. "Traitor," he spoke through clenched teeth, watching as the two began to play with his hackey-sack ball. "Can I join at least?" He pouted after a moment as he watched them, getting FOMO.

Cassie and Pope shared a look with one another before the former rolled her eyes. "Fine, blondie. But if the ball ends up flying in your face, it was a total accident, okay?"

"Not if the ball flies in your face first," he countered and she suddenly threw the ball as fast as she could at him, hitting him on the cheek. "Ow!"

"Okay, so accident then," she grinned as Pope laughed. Before she knew it, JJ hurled the ball back at her face. "Hey!"

"Now we're even," JJ smirked, meeting her glaring eyes.

Her glare also turned into a smirk. "Okay, fine. Truce."

"Truce," JJ repeated with a nod, holding her gaze.

"Oh, thank God, I've been dreaming of this day for ages," Pope breathed out, shutting his eyes and tilting his head up to the sky.

JJ ripped his blue eyes away from her's, looking at Pope. "Hey, hey, no, no, no. The truce is only for this game. Right?" JJ quickly said, turning to Cassie for confirmation.

"Duh. You think I'm just done clocking his shit? Hell no," Cassie responded, pointing her thumb in JJ's direction.

Pope opened his eyes, pressing his lips together. "Damn it." But, all of a sudden, they heard sirens blaring behind them. "Oh, shit," Pope cursed before the three of them sprinted over to the Twinkie on instinct. "Go, go, go!" He urged to JJ, who had hopped in the driver's seat.

"What about Kie and John B?!" Cassie exclaimed, looking through the Twinkie's windshield to try to see if the two were coming out of the lighthouse but she hadn't seen them.

"There's cops, we have to go!" JJ shouted as he started the car, quickly pulling out of the lot and driving away before the cops could see they were ever there.

"What happened to never leaving a Pogue behind?" Cassie questioned and Pope pressed his lips together, shaking his head.

"I know, but we're no help if we get arrested, all right?!" JJ reasoned, stepping on the gas harder. Once they had gotten far enough, JJ had slowed down, breathing out heavily. "Shit. I wonder if they got out okay."

"I don't know. Let's hope," Pope replied.

"Drop me off at my place, I have Internet. I can try to text Kie and if she responds, I know she got back to her's all right," Cassie told JJ and he nodded, going in the direction of Figure Eight to drop her off. Once he got there, he pulled in front of her house to let her out. But when she stepped out, he hit the gas pedal to make her stumble. "Hey!"

"JJ!" Pope scolded him.

"The game ended, truce is over," JJ shrugged and she stuck the middle finger up in his direction, making him laugh and drive off.

"Asshole," she breathed out with a laugh before she walked up to her house.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

"So, you're telling me...he kissed you?" Cassie asked Kiara slowly in shock. After Cassie had been dropped off by JJ, she texted Kiara and the girl had told her to come to The Wreck to discuss what had happened. Apparently, John B had kissed her before they got caught by Shoupe, and Kiara's dad had to bail John B out of jail.

"Yeah," Kiara breathed out as she spackled the wall of the restaurant, feeling embarrassed by it all.

"And then what happened? Did you-did you kiss him back?" Cassie questioned, wanting to know all the details because it seemed like Kiara was holding out on her.

"No..."

"No? What do you mean, no? I thought you liked him. I thought you wanted that John D," Cassie pointed out, holding her arms out as she moved them around jokingly.

"Will you stop saying that?" Kiara demanded as she stopped what she was doing and looked down at the fur, who shut her mouth. "And...I don't know. I thought I did, but then he kissed me and it just felt...weird."

"It felt weird?" Cassie repeated, suddenly thinking back to Rafe. Although she had done way more with him, the whole thing had also felt weird to her so she couldn't help but empathize with the girl even though she couldn't tell her she was empathizing.

"Yeah, like...I think I just got my feelings confused. And besides, there's supposed to be no Pogue-on-Pogue macking anyway," Kiara shrugged, going back to spackling.

"That rule is so stupid," Cassie commented, shaking her head.

"Why? You wanna mack on one of 'em? It's gotta be JJ," Kiara teased with a growing smirk.

"As if," Cassie denied, shuddering at the thought which made Kiara chuckle. "And no, I just think it's stupid. Like, if you actually liked him, you wouldn't be allowed to be with him? That's just not fair. You can't choose who like."

"Since when did you become such a romantic?" Kiara pointed out, giving her best friend a look from over her shoulder.

Cassie held her hands up in defense. "I'm not, I'm just pointing out the facts." She then sighed. "So, what's gonna happen between you two? Is it gonna be awkward now?"

"I tried not to make it awkward. If it's awkward, he's the one making it awkward," Kiara told her.

"Well, he's a guy, it's obviously gonna be awkward," Cassie pointed and Kiara nodded with a sigh, knowing she was right. All of a sudden, they heard the beep of the Twinkie outside. "Is that...?"

"Shit, they can't be here. My dad is already pissed that he had to bail out John B and I don't even wanna see him right now anyway," Kiara quickly said, shaking her head.

"I thought you didn't wanna make it awkward," Cassie reminded her, arching a brow.

Kiara groaned. "Just tell them I'm not coming to whatever else they have planned now."

"Fine, fine," Cassie let up, turning around toward the door. She walked outside, seeing the three Pogue boys in the Twinkie. "I don't what y'all have planned now, but...She's not coming," Cassie told the boys, tilting her head at them.

"Why not? What'd you do to her, John B?" JJ questioned from the passenger seat.

"Shit!" John B seethed. "Hang on. I'll deal with it." He then turned the Twinkie off, getting out of it to walk up to The Wreck.

"Good luck," Cassie patted him on the back as he walked by and he sent her a glance over his shoulder at her.

"Good luck? What do you mean, good luck? What happened?" JJ immediately interrogated since John B hadn't told them what happened.

Cassie shrugged innocently. "Everyone needs luck, right?" She replied ominously. "So, I'm guessing you're John B's Passenger Princess now?" JJ scoffed at her, rolling his eyes. "No more truce, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off.

authors note!
i kinda hate this chapter oh well
anyway i just got done with break
and exams and finals r beginning this week
so not sure how much im gonna
be able to update over the next two
weeks. i will try my best, we shall see
thanks for reading!