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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝘅: 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗼𝘁

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JJ and Cassie zoomed after Topper's truck that had the huge crate in the back they presumed to be the cross. Cassie gripped tightly onto the boy's torso as the wind whipped at the loose strands of hair from her braid.

They heard sirens wailing behind them and Cassie looked over her shoulder, seeing the cop car making its way up to them. "Jay!" Cassie warned him.

"I know, I know!" he replied, not bothering to correct the usage of his nickname as he revved the motorbike even more.

Cassie watched as JJ sped the motorbike up, swerving into the other lane. "Jay, what are you doing?" she shouted over the sounds of the oncoming sirens and harsh wind created by the speed they were going at.

"You just gotta trust me!" he replied and Cassie swallowed hard, seeing that JJ had been driving right next to Topper's truck now.

"What are you doing?" Pope called out from the back of the truck with Cleo and Kiara next to him looking concerned.

"Top, keep going straight!" JJ told the Thornton boy as he carefully inched his motorbike closer to the truck.

"Hey, y'all be careful, all right?!" Topper yelled out his window as he continued to drive to get away from the police.

"Topper, hold it steady!" Sarah advised from next to him in the passenger seat.

"I'm trying!"

"Get ready to jump," JJ suddenly instructed the Blake girl.

"You want me to do, what?!" Cassie exclaimed, gaping at the boy as if he were crazy. Sure, in any other circumstance — preferably a drunk circumstance — it would have been kind of fun to try to jump from motorbike to car but not when they were speeding away from the cops whilst stealing a seven foot, one of a kind cross.

"What?!" Pope repeated.

"Is there something wrong with your brain?!" Cassie interrogated frantically.

"Probably! Get ready to jump!" was all JJ said in response and Cassie let out a frustrated groan, turning to look at Pope who was holding his arms out for her.

"Come on! Come on! Okay, I've got you, I've got you! Come on!" Pope urged.

"Cece, what are you doing?!" Kiara cried out and Cassie didn't answer as she slowly stood up on the bike seat, placing her hand on JJ's shoulder to steady herself. She then brought her leg up, planting her foot on the rim of the truck.

"Easy, easy now. Be careful," Pope said before Cassie grabbed onto Pope's arm and hopped onto the crate in the back of the truck. Pope, Cleo, and Kiara reached for her, making sure she didn't slide off.

"Are you okay?" they chorused as she steadied herself on the crate.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" Cassie assured them.

"Are you good? Did she make it?" she heard Topper question and she sent him a thumbs up so he could see in his rear view mirror.

Cassie looked over her shoulder, seeing JJ had created a distance between himself and the truck. "Jay...?" she breathlessly whispered, not knowing what the hell he was planning.

He suddenly braked and stopped in the middle of the street, tires screeching. "What's he gonna do?" Cleo asked.

"I don't know. I don't think he knows either," Pope admitted as JJ turned toward the cop cars, his back now facing Topper's truck.

"He's trying to get killed," Kiara realized when she saw that he picked up a rock from the ground.

"Okay, maybe he's just trying to get rid of the cops," Topper butt in, trying to think of the positive.

JJ revved up his motorbike, going straight towards the cops before he threw the rock at their windshield. Cassie's eyes widened at the action as JJ kept driving past the cop car, causing the car to turn and start chasing after the Maybank boy instead of them.

"He did it! They're chasing him!" Pope yelled.

"Holy fuck," Cassie gasped.

"Oh, shit," Kiara cursed.

"Oh, God," Topper breathed out.

"Topper, stop! Stop the truck!" Sarah demanded.

"Oh, my God. No, I'm not stopping the truck, Sarah!"

"Hey!" Pope banged on the back window. "Stop the truck!"

"Stop the truck!" Cleo raged.

"We're going to get JJ!" Sarah urged.

"Stop the fucking truck, dickwad!" Cassie hollered.

"Come on, man!" Pope seethed.

"I'm not going to jail for y'all. No chance!"

"We're not going to jail so stop the truck! Please!" Sarah pleaded.

"Topper, if you don't stop this goddamn truck right now, I'll make sure you'll end up somewhere worse than jail," Cassie threatened as she stared daggers at the boy.

Topper glanced at Sarah and then Cassie in the back before he let up, "All right! All right, damn it! All right, all right!" He slowed the truck to a stop in the middle of the road.

"Turn around!" Pope immediately said.

"Turn around!" Cleo added more forcefully.

"I'm not going-I'm not going to jail, man," Topper panted anxiously.

Sarah reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Topper, look at me," she began and Topper looked over at her. "They're gonna arrest him! We can't leave him behind."

Topper licked his lips. "Damn it. Damn," he muttered before he turned the car around, going back to find JJ.

"Told you. He's a fucking bottom, will do anything Sarah tells him to do," Cassie mumbled angrily and the Pogues in the back of the truck all gave her a weird look. She just ignored their looks, squinting her eyes to try to find where JJ may have gone.

"Ugh, where is he?" Kiara complained, biting her nails nervously. Cassie glanced over at the girl, sucking in a pissed off breath.

No, I can't be mad at her. She doesn't know about us and she's only worried about him like the rest of us. Just get over it, Cassie.

Topper continued to drive his truck down the road, but it apparently wasn't fast enough for the Pogues who were desperately trying to search for where JJ had went.

"Go faster!" Sarah directed.

"I'm trying!"

"You need to go faster!"

"Let's go!" Pope egged on.

"Move it!" Kiara screamed.

"Or lose it!" Cassie added menacingly.

"I'm risking my whole life for this shit," Topper laughed ironically.

"Your life? What about JJ's life?" Cassie pointed out.

"I mean, he was probably gonna go to jail like his dad anyway—"

"Topper!" Sarah cut him off as Cassie's eyes widened, a fire burning behind them. If only she wasn't on the outside of the truck right now because she would have reached over and started strangling the boy to death.

"Sarah, come on! This is too risky!" Topper went on and Cassie fumed at just the sound of his voice after what he had just said about JJ.

She was tired of people saying JJ was going to end up like his father because she knew JJ. She knew how much how he resented his father, but also wanted to make him proud at the same time because of the way his father manipulated him.

Sure, JJ could get violent when it came to him getting angry but he would never lay a hand on his friends. And he especially would never lay a hand on Cassie.

She felt safe with him, protected. Even when they were in a fight, she still felt safe. Which was the total opposite about how people would talk about JJ's father, so how could he be just like him?

"It's gonna be fine," Sarah assured the Thornton boy and Topper groaned.

Pope reached over the side of the truck and pointed, "Turn left!"

"No, I'm not turning—"

"Go! Yes!"

"No, I'm going— I'm getting out of here!"

"Yes, Topper!" Sarah roared and Topper turned left, the tires screeching along the pavement.

They suddenly saw JJ being chased by the cop car on another road next to them that led up to the overpass. "There he is!" Pope pointed out.

"What is he doing?" Topper thought aloud.

"Turn right!"

"Okay!" Topper skidded the truck right as they tried to keep JJ in their sights.

"No way, he's up on the overpass," Sarah realized after a moment before something crashed down from the overpass right as they were about to drive underneath it, causing Topper to stomp on the brakes and swerve the truck to the side so they wouldn't be hit.

Pieces of rubble and cement flew off of the overpass, causing them to gasp and cover their faces as the truck skidded to a stop.

"Pope, go!" Kiara immediately demanded and Pope hopped out of the truck followed by everybody else.

They all looked down, seeing the damaged motorbike on the concrete with no sign of Cassie's Mr. Blonde Bad Boy.

Cassie froze as soon as she saw the damaged motorbike with no sign of JJ anywhere, her heart dropping into her stomach. No. No, this can't be happening, she began to think. If the bike looks like that, then...

Her vision blurred as her breathing started to become ragged, slowly searching the area with just her eyes to see if JJ maybe landed a few feet away. But he wasn't there.

Where is he?

"Jayj," Kiara panted before she started to run where the rubble had fallen from the overpass. "Jayj! Jayj?! Where is he?!" she screamed and Cassie slowly turned to look at her, seeing the amount of distress she was in.

"Shit," Pope cursed.

"No, no, no, no," Kiara kept repeating.

"JJ?" Sarah called out.

"Jayj!" Kiara yelled again before she stopped running, running both of her hands through her hair worriedly. "Where is he?" she breathed out shakily.

"Maybe he's up on the bridge," Pope said even though he wasn't sure if he even believed it himself. And even if he was on the bridge, would he even be alive?

"No, no, no." Kiara crouched down as she began to sob, her head in her hands.

Cassie began to shake her head, feeling bile rise in the back of her throat. She was going to throw up. She was sure of it. She was going to throw up all over the ground without even having an ounce of alcohol in her system.

Because that's what losing someone you love does to someone.

You don't need alcohol or drugs in your system to react in ways you never would without it when love is brought into the picture.

Love has made people to crazy things all throughout history and now that Cassie had lost the boy she couldn't even admit she loved out loud, she was done for.

Because JJ was dead.

He had died without her telling him she loved him back.

All of the memories she shared with the boy flashed before her eyes at lightning speed. From when he saved her from a bullet, when she saved him from a bullet, when they first hugged, when they first kissed, when they decided to become exclusive, secret partners...

Oh, my God. I'm such an idiot.

She was so hellbent on not accepting how much she liked him and not allowing anyone else to know about it that she could have experienced so much more with him than just being exclusive, secret partners.

She could have been his girlfriend for the whole world to know.

And that would have been the first time she ever was a girlfriend.

Now she wasn't sure if she would ever be capable of reaching that point again.

She could feel herself starting to grow dizzy and she stumbled to the side. Cleo caught her arm, looking at the girl in concern. "Cassie, girl? You okay?" she asked, although she didn't know why. It was clear she wasn't okay, but Cleo had also been internally freaking about what had happened to JJ.

She had only known the boy for a little over a month and in that span of time, he had come too close to death too many times. It was like he had nine lives. But was now finally his ninth life?

Cassie started to frantically shake her head in response to Cleo's question, unable to speak. Because if she did, she would probably throw up and faint right afterwards.

However, before she could faint or throw up, a voice spoke up behind them saying, "I wish I could say I did that on purpose."

They all spun around, seeing none other than JJ Maybank standing there, alive and well. Not even a scratch on him from what they could see.

Cassie carefully pushed away from Cleo at the sight of the boy in front of her, her chest still heaving since she wasn't sure if she was just dreaming about him like she always did.

"But...that was the gnarliest power slide I've ever done."

Pope was the first one to rush toward him, his eyes wide. "You're alive!" He exclaimed happily before he hugged him aggressively. "Dude!"

"I know, I know, I'm surprised too," JJ admitted as he hugged his friend, patting him on the back.

"You scared us all, rude boy!" Cleo called out, shaking her head at him.

"My bad!"

"Oh, shit, that was gnarly!" Topper complimented.

"That was trucking, dude!" JJ told him before Sarah went over to him and pushed him. "Oh, Jesus." She then wrapped her arms around him. "Oh God."

"We really thought you did it this time, Jayj," Sarah told him weakly.

Sarah pulled away, causing JJ to may eye contact with Kiara. She slowly walked over to him, shaking her head. "Don't...don't ever do that again," she breathlessly said before she enveloped him in a hug.

"I'm sorry, Kie," he apologized once she pulled away, unable to look her in the eyes.

"The pleasantries are nice, but we should really get outta here," Pope voiced and they all started to make their way back to Topper's truck.

"Yeah, yeah, let's roll," Topper agreed, rushing over to his truck as well.

However, the reason why JJ couldn't look at Kie all had to do with how busy he was staring past her, at the one girl who hadn't said anything yet. Kiara looked over her shoulder and moved away, looking in between the two of them.

This allowed JJ to take a step toward the blonde girl, who had started to breathe even heavier. "Cass?"

"I thought you—" she stopped herself short, trying to catch her breath but she seemed to be hyperventilating. "You-you died. I thought— It looked like— How could you-you do that to me?" she questioned through her pants.

"Cassie, baby, I'm sorry," he expressed as he took another step toward her, placing his cap back on his head.

Kiara and the others furrowed their brows. Baby?

Pope pursed his lips together, looking around at the others who looked just as confused as Kiara was. Including Topper, who knew how much the two hated each other at the start of the summer.

"No, you— You can't apologize. I saw you-I saw you— You died," she stammered in a weak voice before she held a hand up to her face. "Oh, God, I-I can't breathe."

JJ knitted his brows together in concern. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. I'm okay."

She moved her hand down to her chest, rubbing it to try to calm herself but it hadn't been working. JJ glanced down, noticing the action immediately since it hadn't been exactly what he did when he was having a panic attack.

She was trying to signal that to him.

And he was going to help her in the same way she helped him.

He reached out and took her hand that was on her chest, placing it on his heart. He then put his hand on her heart, which caused her to stare him straight in his gorgeous eyes. "It's okay. Just breathe. I'm here. I'm alive," he soothed her and her face scrunched up, knowing everyone was staring but at this point, she didn't care anymore.

JJ being alive was important than keeping their relationship, or whatever they were now, a secret.

But the fact that he made her think he died...Oh, now she was actually going to kill him.

Once her breathing calmed down and her heart rate slowed, she hit his chest with her hand he had pressed on it. "Hey, wha—?"

"You asshole! You're such an idiot! You made me think you were dead!" she screeched, hitting him again. "I mean, what was your plan?!"

His eyes widened at her behavior. "My plan was to get the cops off your ass! I didn't mean to almost die! I was just—"

"You were just what?" she cut him off. "Being fucking stupid? God, I hate you!"

JJ reeled his head back. "Oh, you hate me now?"

Her nostrils flared. "Yeah. I hate you."

JJ looked down, letting out an ironic laugh. She can say she hates me, but not even tell me she loves me. Okay, I get it.

"Hey!" the officer called out from the overpass, making them look up to see him staring down at them. "Hey, you kids, don't move!"

"Go!" JJ said and the two of them sprinted back over to Topper's truck along with the others who had yet to get in.

"Stay right there! I said, stay right there!" the officer tried halting them, but it didn't work as they were able to get in the car and make Topper drive away.

"Go, go, go!" they all bellowed at the Thornton boy as he sped down the road, trying to get away from the cops as fast as he could. Although he really didn't want to be doing this, he didn't want the cops to catch them either. That would only make things worse.

As Topper drove the truck, slowing down a bit to appear normal once he thought he got far away enough from the cops, Cassie could feel pairs of eyes on her.

Pope was the only one who knew about the two of them so watching what down between them just before wasn't all that shocking. But to everyone else, it felt like they were in the Twilight Zone.

Sure, they've seen Cassie and JJ both freak out over each other thinking that the other was dead, but this was different.

First of all, JJ had called her "baby." Weird, right?

And second of all, he had placed her hand on his heart while he placed his on her heart. Double weird.

The one who was tripping out the most over it had been Kiara, who had no idea what had just went on and if it meant something more than just two Pogues helping each other.

She had been staring at Cassie, trying to decipher what just happened before. She had basically spent a whole year of hearing Cassie complain about being forced to hang out with JJ. And JJ had done the same. There was no way that they could like each other. Could they?

All the frantic worrying from JJ, the private conversations between the two of them, the way they both had been so quick to claim hating each other when someone asked...

Did she miss it this whole time?

"Ah, shit, they definitely called in," Topper spoke up worriedly, distracting Kiara and everyone else from their thoughts about what just happened before.

"Top, Top! Turn here, turn here!" JJ quickly instructed, touching his shoulder to urge him to turn faster.

"Don't touch-don't touch the driver, man," Topper snapped, shoving JJ's hand away from him.

"Topper, just turn around," JJ tried again, reaching his hand out to touch him again.

Sarah slapped JJ's hand away. "Stop! He said don't touch the driver!"

"I'm trying—!"

"It's a liability!" Topper argued.

"Then go faster!" Cleo cut in frustratedly.

"If I go faster, that's gonna draw attention, you know?" Topper reasoned.

"Yeah, I feel like that ship has sailed at this point," JJ pointed out sardonically.

"You guys are a nightmare. Do you argue about absolutely everything?" Topper questioned in annoyance.

"Yes!" Pope confirmed at the same time Cassie exclaimed, "No shit!"

"Every rasshole thing, now put the pedal to the metal, boy!" Cleo demanded.

"Maybe put it a little bit! You're going sixty five!" JJ shouted at him.

"All right, all right, screw it!" Topper gave up.

"Let's just go faster," Sarah told him.

"Oh, here we go!" Topper exclaimed as he pressed on the gas pedal, the truck immediately going faster.

"There you go! That's what I'm talking about!" JJ said excitedly right before the truck jerked up and down, making them rock back and forth and hit into each other inside the truck.

Topper slammed on his brakes. "Stop, stop! We lost the cross!" Pope realized before he immediately got out of the car to get the cross back.

"Really great, Topper," JJ said sarcastically as he followed after Pope.

"You guys told me to go faster!" Topper pointed out, completely done with their bullshit.

"Yeah, going faster doesn't mean becoming a shit driver!" Cassie insulted.

"You wanna drive?!"

"Uh, yeah, gladly!"

"Oh...Walked right into that one."

"Sure did, Bottom."

The Pogues followed Pope as he removed the top part of the crate that had broken off, looking inside to make sure the cross was okay only for all of them to see that...it wasn't the cross.

It was just some old tires.

"What the hell?" Kiara questioned.

"Shit," Cleo seethed.

"Is this a joke?" Cassie blinked.

"It's fake," Pope breathed out before he bent down, getting a closer look. "It's all freakin' fake."

"Of course, we did. Of course, we stole a fake," JJ expressed through clenched teeth, shaking his head.

"Pope, I'm so sorry," Sarah apologized.

Pope continued to look down in the crate, not believing that they had went through all of this for nothing. This was his family's cross and it was being stolen from him just for money. No one would know about the importance of it and history was just going to be erased.

JJ pursed his lips together and went over to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder to comfort him before sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Y'all hear that? Okay, I can't be here. My grandfather's a judge," Topper said to all of them.

"Dawg, would you relax? They're not gonna think some dude in flip-flops is a part of a robbery, okay?" JJ insulted once he turned away from Pope.

"Oh yeah, with the crate sitting right next to my truck. I'm sure we'll be fine," Topper sarcastically replied as the others started to make their way back towards the truck.

"Pope, we gotta go," Kiara said before she turned back to the truck.

They all went back to the truck, but Pope had still been staring down the crate, his eyes watering. Cleo rushed over and forced him over to the truck, and Topper drove them away from the scene.

authors note!
yall r actually gonna hate me so bad
for next chapter but im used to it atp 😅
i just feel like if there is no sadness
or angst then where's the fun? (maybe
i need therapy and so does cassie)