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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲?

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"A plane?" Cassie repeated, her body suddenly feeling energized at the word. She looked up at the sky, seeing the plane flying overhead. She blinked in shock, not sure if she was just imagining things. But if JJ had seen it too, then it had to be real.

"Johnny, wake up. Get up," JJ said to John B before the blonde boy walked off, trying to get a closer look.

John B slowly rose before he spotted the plane in the air. "Sarah? Wake up. There's a plane," he told his girlfriend and the Cameron girl pushed herself up, squinting at the plane.

Sarah then looked over at Cassie, their mouths parted in shock. "Hey, hey, Kie. There's a plane," Sarah said to Kiara, who had awakened.

The girls all got up to follow the boys closer to shore while Pope and Cleo rushed elsewhere to try to alert the pilot.

"Hey! Hey, we're over here!" John B began to shout, waving his arms up and down to try to get the plane's attention. "Over here! Hey! We're right here!"

Cassie made her way over, feeling a mix of different emotions. She was hopeful, scared, worried. This could have been Ward and Savannah, but it also could have just a random person that happened to be flying over them. Sarah shared the same feelings, not wanting to blindly trust this person if they happened to spot them.

"Come on, come on, come on," John B muttered.

"Hey! Hey!" Kiara screamed, trying to get the plane's attention just like John B was doing.

Cassie glanced over at JJ beside her, meeting his eyes. It was safe to say that he didn't look happy or hopeful unlike John B. He flitted his eyes away from her and she pressed her lips in a thin line, looking back up at the plane.

"Hey! We're over here!"

They watched as the plane kept going in the same direction, disappearing behind the thick, white clouds. Cassie felt her stomach drop in disappointment, having a sliver of hope that this person could save them and they weren't with Ward and Savannah.

The disappointment faded, however, when the plane began to turn around.

"He sees us. Guys, guys, he sees us!" Kiara pointed out.

"Hey, he's gonna go to the pond! Come on, come on, come on!" John B urged them all excitedly before they started grabbing their things and racing towards the pond.

Once they made it up there, they saw that the plane had landed in the pond. John B, Sarah, and Kiara jogged over to the plane while JJ and Cassie stayed back for a second.

Cassie looked at him, seeing the reluctance in his expression. She swallowed thickly. She didn't want to express the same delight, although mixed with worry, that they would be leaving this island like John B was doing. She felt like it would be an even bigger punch to the gut for JJ, who had made it explicitly clear this was his dream and he never wanted it to end.

His eyes flicked over to Cassie's, whose eyes were already on him. "Come on," he whispered before he started walking towards the plane. Cassie nodded before she followed after him, watching as Pope and Cleo ran ahead of them.

"Whoo!" Pope whooped.

"We did it!" Cleo cheered.

"Oh, man," Pope chuckled in relief.

The man flying the plane poked his head out of the door. "Hello, hello," John B greeted, a wide smile on his face.

"Oh, hey there," the man replied as Pope and Cleo continued to scream excitedly, running up to John B and Sarah.

"Hey! We're getting out of here! We're finally getting out of here!" Pope spoke, grabbing John B's shoulders and squeezing them.

Cassie and JJ reached everyone and the former shared a look with Sarah once more. They both knew that either this was great news for them or the worst news for them depending on if this man was sent by their parents.

"Well, what do we got here?" The man asked as he got down from the plane.

"Uh...You know, just some castaways," John B answered nonchalantly, shrugging a bit.

"Well, I'll cross that off the grocery list," the man joked. "Uh, hang on. I got just the thing for y'all. Just one second." The man made his way back into the plane, searching for something.

John B grinned before he noticed the look on Sarah's face next to him. "Hey, no. Look at this guy!"

"Two things you need on a deserted island!"

"You think he works for your dad?" John B pointed out. "It's okay."

"First aid and rum!" The man announced, tossing the bottle of rum into the pond next to Sarah and Cassie, causing the water to splash at them. "Hey, here you go," he added as he tossed the first aid kit to Pope.

"Cassie, what do you think?" Sarah whispered as the both of them bent down to pick up the bottle.

"I don't know. I mean, he looks kinda...eccentric. He could just be some random dude, but...we can't be sure," Cassie replied and Sarah nodded before the stood up, the latter holding the rum.

"So, what's the story? You guys sank a boat?" He inquired.

"Uh, jumped off one. Her dad's," John B revealed, making Sarah send him a pointed look.

"In-laws, man. They're tough. Well, have no fear. Jimmy's here," the man voiced as he stretched his arms out. "I got ya."

"Well, all hail Jimmy, guys! Let's go!" Cleo exclaimed before John B, Sarah, Cassie, Pope, and Cleo started to walk towards the plane. Kiara and JJ stayed back a bit, eyeing the plane up.

"Welcome aboard the Flying Fish, y'all. I'm Jimmy Portis. I'll be your captain today. Is this all? Seven of you?"

"Uh, yeah. Is that too heavy?" John B asked.

"Nah. Well, technically maybe, but I think old Fish here'll probably be okay. We could always throw somebody overboard, right?" Portis jested as some of them chuckled awkwardly.

"See ya, island!" Cleo waved.

"You're the dog, man."

"Pleased to have you."

Cassie looked over her shoulder, seeing Kiara and JJ share the same look with one another. Out of everyone, the two of them had been the most open to living on this island due to their familial situations they left back at home, and now they were being forced away from what they considered to be island paradise.

Cassie sucked in a breath as she watched them. She was nervous too, but she had to admit, she felt extremely relieved. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to live on this island. Sure, JJ made it a whole lot more bearable, but she really needed a shower, new clothes, and a real bed.

Cassie turned back around, stepping one foot into the plane before her body froze up and her throat constricted. She realized that she hadn't gotten onto a plane ever since her father's plane crash, and even though she recently found out he actually hadn't died on it, that didn't make the plane any less scarier.

"Cassie, you okay?" John B asked from inside the plane, seeing the way her body had frozen in place.

"Planes," she blurted out and the others shared a concerned look. "I'm-I'm scared of planes."

"Ain't nothin' to be scared about. The thing may look janky, but she runs as good as new," Portis assured.

Cassie shook her head, stepping back out and backing up into somebody who had grabbed her arms. "Hey, it's okay," JJ said and she turned around, meeting his eyes. "You're good, it's okay."

"No, no, you-you don't understand. My dad, he..." She took a breath, shaking her head. "The plane crash, he..."

Before JJ could do anything to comfort her, Kiara stepped in front of him. "Cece, it's gonna be okay. That was different. That plane crash was planned the whole time. We're gonna be okay," she assured the girl.

Cassie swallowed thickly, her breathing still ragged. She looked back over her shoulder, seeing Portis smile welcomingly at her while the Pogues inside watched her.

She then looked back at Kiara, who was giving her a comforting smile. "Okay. No. You're right. It's fine," she nodded.

"Yeah, li-listen to Kie," JJ added from behind the girl and Cassie met his eyes, prompting him to give her a nod.

Cassie released a breath before she turned back around, heading into the plane followed by Kiara and JJ.

"Yeah, just tuck on it. Let's, uh, get this shit going."

Portis started the engine once all them went inside, setting their belongings down. They looked around, taking in the cluttered interior of the plane. Sure didn't look Kooky like Ward and Savannah.

"So, what were you doing all the way out here?" JJ queried.

"Oh, I got a little guide outfit in Saint Vincent. I was spottin' fish," Portis responded.

"What were you spottin'?"

"You know, the usual. Wahoo," Portis stated, causing JJ and John B to send each other a look, the latter subtly shaking his head as he pursed his lips. "I'd hang on to something. Gets a little spicy on takeoff."

They all began to hold onto something as the plane took off and Cassie shut her eyes, unable to look out the window or at anything else out of fear. She hated feeling this way, so vulnerable and petrified. She wanted to throw up, but she shoved it down in her throat.

Once they had been in the air for a little bit, Cassie worked up the courage to open her eyes. When she did, she realized that everyone had already been looking at her. "What?" She breathed out.

"Are you okay?" Pope asked gently.

"I'm-I'm fine. It's just, you know, I thought my dad died in a real plane crash and I guess I didn't realize how much I'm scared of planes," she admitted.

JJ wanted to do nothing more than to reach his hand out and squeeze her own, but he knew he couldn't do that. He assumed that would probably only make her feel worse since she was so hellbent on keeping their relationship a secret from their friends for whatever reason she didn't want to share with him.

JJ decided to direct his eyes to John B, who started shaking his head. JJ looked back at the others, who began to furrow their brows and scoot a bit closer to him.

"Wahoo don't run in September. Ever. All right? So whoever this man is, he's not a fisherman," JJ told all of them quietly, causing them to glance at one another.

"Maybe the run just starts earlier out here," Pope guessed, trying to remain positive.

"Are you sure about that? In the Caribbean?" JJ countered, raising his eyebrows a bit at the Heyward boy.

"No, I know what this is. He's working for my dad, and he's probably been looking for us the entire time," Sarah concluded.

"I'm gonna kill Savannah," Cassie seethed, shaking her head angrily.

"All right, well, we gotta find out. Start looking for some sort of..." He trailed off, noticing the man's satchel slung over his sweet, "...clues." The blonde started making hand gestures to John B that the Routledge boy seemed to understand.

"Hey, Jimmy!" John B spoke up loudly so the man could hear from under his headset, clearing his throat.

"Yeah! What's up?"

"How long you had this bird?"

"Oh, about ten years now," Portis answered as JJ slowly started to reach toward his satchel discreetly.

"How long you been flying?"

"Oh, I've been flying all my life."

JJ took out some pieces of paper and a book while Portis was distracted with John B's questions. "Uh, who's that lovely lady right there?" John B pointed to pictures of the girls on Portis's window.

"Oh-ho-ho, that right there? That's Cynthia. Yeah."

"Cynthia?" John B repeated as JJ spread out the papers for them to sort through. "And what about that beautiful girl right there?"

The rest of the Pogues started to join in, trying to find anything that had related to Sarah's father or Cassie's mother in the slightest. JJ flipped open the book he grabbed that had something to do with a place called El Dorado on it, his eyes setting on a photo that sat in it.

"Huh? Oh, that. Yeah, that's Stacey."

John B laughed. "Oh! Oh, your sister?"

"No, no. No, she's just this girl I met in Saint Lucia. You ever been there?" Portis asked.

JJ showed the photo to Sarah, who immediately took it from him. "The Coastal Venture. Oh my God," she breathed out before she showed them the picture of the boat. Cassie gaped at it, not believing this. "This is the boat we were on. With Eberhimi and the cross."

"So he was looking for us?" Cleo realized.

"Exactly."

"He's working for my dad," Sarah voiced, not believing this.

Cassie's lip curled. "And my mom."

There had been a bit of turbulence, causing them to fall over a bit. Cassie let out a gasp and she grabbed onto the net above her, shutting her eyes for a quick second. Once she opened them, she was met with the color of two oceans staring back at her and she instantly started to feel better.

"Hey, y'all better hold something! We got some unexpected turbulence up here!"

"Guys, whatever it is, it's happening fast. Look," Kiara pointed out the window since they were nearing land, causing them to turn their heads to look outside.

"That looks like Barbados. I've been there with Terrance," Cleo told them.

JJ turned back around, looking at all of them. "Okay, there's seven of us, one of him. You know my vote. We storm the cockpit."

"No, who's gonna fly the plane, dumbass?" John B reminded him.

"I've seen Pope fly simulators," JJ argued.

"Great, Pope's flown simulators, so we're all gonna die," Cassie pessimistically assumed from already being in a bad mood by being on this damn plane.

"We're not gonna die," JJ assured her before he turned to Pope. "Right, Pope?"

"I crop-dusted for my uncle last summer, but this is not the same thing," Pope said to JJ.

"We don't have time to pretend that's a real option," Kiara told JJ through clenched teeth.

"Do you have an idea?" JJ countered.

"Something safe," Kiara replied.

"Why don't we just wait until the plane lands somewhere safe, and then we sneak out. And if
somebody comes to mess with us, we mad-dog them," Pope planned.

"Okay," Kiara and Sarah breathed out, thinking the idea was much safer than JJ's.

"I like the mad-dogging part," JJ shrugged.

"So do I," Cassie agreed.

"Are you even up for mad-dogging right now, Cece?" Kiara pointed out and Cassie glowered at her. Kiara blinked before she looked back at JJ and the belongings they stole from Portis's bag. "Just put that back. Put it back. Be cool."

JJ gathered all of things they had taken out of satchel, trying to put them back without getting caught. "Hey, Jimmy. Is that Burning Man? Right there?" John B piped up, trying to distract him again.

"Yeah! That's Burning Man, all right. That was my first time," Portis spoke excitedly as JJ slowly put the things back in his satchel.

"How many times you been to Burning Man?"

"Oh, I started going when I was eighteen. GT's, baby! GT's!"

"Yeah, I've heard a lot about it. I've never been west," John B said just as Portis glanced over his shoulder, seeing what JJ was doing.

"Hey, man! What the hell are you doing, man?!" Portis questioned angrily as he reached out and shoved JJ away, trying to grab the bag away from him. But as he did so, the plane lurched and they fell backwards.

"That's mine!" Portis screamed as he took his hands away from the wheel and tried ripping the bag back from JJ, who still had his hands on it.

"Who are you really?!" JJ barked.

"Fly the plane!" Sarah shouted as the boys kept on tugging on the bag. Cassie couldn't even shout in protest, her eyes wide in horror as the plane seemed to skyrocket downwards.

"It's my book! Give it back!" Portis screamed.

"Please fly the plane! Please fly the plane!" Pope pleaded as he held onto the net above him.

Portis realized that the controls were beeping behind him and he went back over to the wheel, trying to get the plane back on course. "Come on! Come on, Fish. Come on, Fish!" He begged repeatedly as it kept on going down.

The plane shook from side to side as it kept plummeting down and Cassie felt as if she was going to vomit up the skate from last night. She felt a hand move around her waist, bringing her closer and she didn't even need to look to know who it was.

It was JJ, of course.

In any other circumstance, she would have yelled at him at the fact that he was doing this in front of their friends, but she didn't care. She already felt a smidge better with his touch on her and she wasn't even sure if the others had even noticed since there was other things going on at the moment.

Cassie shut her eyes and suddenly, the plane hit the water and they all flew forward, landing harshly on one another as they screamed. Cassie opened her eyes once she felt the water hit her skin and she blinked, trying to process the fact that she was in a fucking plane crash just like her father was in.

But this time, she could have died in it unlike her father who was already dead before the plane could hit the ground.

She looked next to her, seeing that JJ's eyes had been closed and that he wasn't moving. Her stomach dropped. "JJ? Jay, wake up. You gotta wake up," she immediately said, shaking him awake.

His eyes fluttered and she released a breath of relief as she helped him up with Pope's help. "We gotta get out of here," Pope said to all of them.

John B went over to the door that was half submerged in the water, kicking it open. "We gotta get out before it sinks," JJ advised as they started to get through the water and toward the door John B had opened.

"Oh, no. Oh, no, no. They don't look friendly," John B pointed out, noticing some men with weapons running along the beach.

"No, they look very unfriendly," Pope commented.

"We gotta go. Come on, come on," John B urged before he started helping them all jump out into the water one by one. Cleo jumped out first, then Sarah, then Pope, then JJ, and then Cassie. "Kie, let's go!" John B said since Kiara was the last one behind him.

"I'm coming! Go!" Kiara told him and John B jumped off into the water.

"Kie! Get out before it sinks!" Cassie called out to her best friend who was still in the plane.

"Come on!"

"They're headed this way!"

"Hurry!"

"Hang on!" Kiara yelled back at them and Cassie's eyes widened.

"No, no, no, Kie! Come on!" John B shouted.

"Come over here! Get to the pier!" JJ instructed.

"Kiara, come on, you gotta hurry!" Sarah screamed.

Cassie looked back at all her friends swimming away toward the pier before back at the plane, seeing that Kiara disappeared from view. She didn't know what the hell Kiara was doing, but she wasn't just about to leave her best friend behind.

She cursed to herself and swam back into the plane without the others knowing, peering inside to see Kiara trying to help Portis up who had been knocked unconscious.

"Kie, what are you doing?!" Cassie questioned.

Kiara looked over her shoulder at the girl, not having time to question why Cassie had come back. "Portis, he — We can't leave him!"

"Why not?!" Cassis bellowed with wide eyes.

"Cassie, please!" Kiara begged as she tried getting Portis out through the window.

Cassie huffed, thinking back to her father. If he had been alive after the crash, she would have wanted someone to help him. And even though Portis was definitely a bad guy, he was still a person who may have had a family. Just like her father had been a bad guy, but was still a person who had a family.

"Fine!" Cassie let up as she swam over to them, helping guide Portis's body out the window by grabbing his feet as Kiara held underneath his armpits.

The two girls panted as they got Portis out and Cassie looked at Kiara, seeing that she had been struggling before also seeing the blood that was coming off of her arm. It must have gotten cut open from the crash.

"Kie, get out of here," she told the girl.

"What?" Kiara gaped.

"You're hurt! Get out of here before you end up drowning!" Cassie demanded.

"But Cece—"

"GO!" Cassie barked and Kiara whimpered before she let go of Portis, allowing Cassie to grab onto him fully and bring him ashore.

The others had made it underneath the pier and JJ spun around, seeing that Kiara had been swimming back to them but with no sign of Cassie. "Wait, where's Cassie? Guys, where's Cassie?" He frantically questioned before Kiara made it back to them. "Kiara, where is she?!"

"She-she told me go!" Kiara cried and JJ's eyes widened.

"She went the other way," Sarah realized.

Cassie made it onto land with a grunt as two people ran over to her, helping Portis out of the water. "Take him," Cassie panted before Portis began to cough up some water, waking up.

Cassie crawled onto the sand, trying to catch her breath. She then looked down at Portis, who had a bruise on his head. "Thank you," he said gratefully.

"You lied to us," Cassie seethed as her body shook from the cold water and from what she just experienced. "Who are you?" She questioned angrily before men on ATVs began driving toward them.

"Oh, God," Portis groaned. "You should get out of here."

"Shit," Cassie breathed out before she got up and ran away from Portis, trying to find somewhere to hide along the beach.

More men had been coming from both sides and Cassie looked around frantically, trying to find somewhere to go. She spotted a boat on the sand with barrels propping it and she went toward it, crawling underneath it to hide.

She held a hand up to her mouth to try to muffle the sound of her labored breathing, but it was no use. A man peered through the gap and she immediately punched him in the nose, sending him down onto the sand.

"She's over here!" The man announced in pain.

Cassie crawled out from underneath the boat to try to escape but another man ran ahead of her, blocking her path. She tried to run but the man behind her grabbed her and stopped her.

She tried fighting against him, but he was too strong. "Get off!" Cassie screamed, but they both grabbed onto her and forced her along the beach. "Let me go!"

They were forced her to sit down the back of one of the trucks. She was seething from anger, but also scared out of her mind since she had no idea what these men would do to her.

Were they sent by Savannah and Ward? If so, they were being really extreme about this.

Portis went over to her, a scared look on his face. "I saved your life," Cassie said through clenched teeth.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'm gonna try to help you, okay? I swear, I didn't know it was gonna be like this. Look, if you don't fight, if you just do what they say, these guys will prob-probably won't hurt you," Portis assured her.

"What did Ward and Savannah promise you?" Cassie questioned, breathing shakily.

"Who?" Portis replied, seeming to actually be confused and Cassie scanned him in puzzlement. "Hey, just take my advice, do what they say. Good luck." He walked away from her, leaving her on the back of the truck that had started up.

She looked around, trying to spot her friends but they were nowhere to be found. She chewed on her lip before a guy hopped on the back of it with her and she glowered at him before looking away.

"All right, let's go."

authors note!
jj should have stayed on that damn
island 😣 but yay cassie is kidnapped
again how fun 😃 get ready for more
jj povs of him tweaking out