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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲: 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱, 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿

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Kiara pulled up in front of Cassie's house after leaving the construction site. Cassie looked out the window, seeing that her mother's car had been in the driveway but that hadn't meant anything. Ward was the one that drove them to the construction site, so either Savannah was still with him or he dropped her off.

She hoped it had been the former so she didn't have to face her mother right then. She wasn't sure if she could.

JJ could see the apprehension on her face as she stared out the window, unmoving. "Why don't I come with you? You know, just in case she's home," JJ suggested. Cassie looked back over at him, looking him up and down before she nodded. "Okay, come on," he said as the two got out of the car, heading towards her house.

"Um, if she's here and she asks where we were...just say you found me drunk somewhere. I'd rather get in trouble for that instead of..." She trailed off, shuddering as the image of her mother shooting Gavin played over and over again in her head.

"Okay, yeah. Got it," JJ nodded before Cassie unlocked the door, stepping inside. The lights to the kitchen had been turned off, but Savannah could still have been in her room.

JJ went with Cassie up to her bedroom, but there had been no sign of Savannah anywhere. Once they made it inside, Cassie shut and locked the door behind her before she leaned her head against it and shut her eyes.

JJ watched from behind her, seeing how...meek she looked. This was not the Cassie he knew. "Cassie...do you wanna talk about it?" He slowly inquired, although he wasn't even sure if she wanted to talk with him at all after their last conversation.

Cassie brought her head up from the door and turned around to face JJ. As soon as she met his ocean eyes, that's when she had bursted out into tears and her legs began to collapse from underneath her.

JJ immediately rushed over, catching her body before she had completely fallen and he sank down onto the floor with her. "How could she have — Why did she — How—" she choked out as she sobbed in JJ's arms.

"I know, it's okay," JJ tried to soothe her the best that he could.

"It's-it's not. My mom...she's a murderer. She's a murderer," she cried before she turned her head to cry into JJ's chest, not caring that she was supposed to be mad at him.

There it was. That feeling again. The feeling she had felt when JJ had first hugged her after he told her about Rafe killing Peterkin. It was like everything else in the world hadn't mattered and it was just them, too. Alone.

Alone, but...together.

"Cass, it's gonna be okay. We can figure this out," he assured her as he kept his arm around her, holding her close to his body. It felt weird. Every time he was so close to her it felt weird. It wasn't like when he hugged Pope, Kiara, or John B. It was just...weird. But he didn't know if it was a good weird or a bad weird.

Cassie slowly brought her head up from his chest, looking up at him through her wet eyelashes. "We?"

"Yeah, you know, the Pogues," he clarified with a few nods.

"Oh." Cassie didn't know why, but she had thought he meant just her and JJ. Would she even be opposed if that was the case? "Oh, okay. But...they're-they're still mad at me."

"We're not just gonna leave you stranded with your mom, okay? We wouldn't do that to you," he told her gently and she looked back down, nodding slowly. JJ didn't leave when her mom had trapped her in her room a few weeks ago, so she knew there was some truth to his words. "You think you can get up?"

She nodded again and he started to get up first. JJ took both of her hands and guided her up with him, their bodies close together once they were fully straightened on their legs. JJ studied her face, the way there had still been tears falling and the way her lips had become red and plump from her sobs.

Cassie noticed the way he had been staring. "God, please don't look at me. I look like a mess," she shook her head, turning away from him. She hated when people had seen her cry and yet, she felt like that was all she had been doing lately. She felt so weak.

"No. No, you don't," he denied and she glanced back at him, her forehead crinkled. "I mean, how else are you supposed to look when you see your mother do something like that?" He pointed out, trying to make her feel better.

Cassie wiped at her face, sniffling. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess."

The two stayed looking at one another, not knowing what else to say. Why was it every time she had a mental breakdown, JJ had always been right there with her? Holding her like no one else had ever held her before?

Neither of them knew.

JJ then cleared his throat, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Hey, uh, did you think it was a little weird how Ward touched your mom's face after she..." He changed the subject, not knowing to finish the sentence in fear of triggering the girl.

Cassie thought back to how Ward pushed Gavin's body off of him, going over to Savannah and holding her face in his hands. It was really weird, especially for two friends of the opposite sex to do. "I mean, yeah, but—"

A few knocks sounded at the door. "Cassandra? You in there?" Savannah called out before she tried twisting the knob, but it had been locked. "Cassandra, open this door."

Cassie and JJ's eyes widened, not knowing what to do. Cassie then looked at her open closet. "Closet, closet!" She whisper-shouted and JJ raced over to the closet, shutting himself in.

"Cassandra, open the door!" Savannah demanded.

Cassie panicked since her hair had been wet and her clothes were soaked, knowing that if she opened the door, her mother would know something was up. That's when she spotted her robe hanging on the bathroom door connected to her room.

She swiftly grabbed it and put it around herself, thanking God she chose to wear shorts that day. She stuffed her hoodie in the back of the robe and then she tied the robe around herself. She quickly checked herself in the mirror before she opened the door, seeing her mother.

Cassie felt her stomach drop at the sight of her, rethinking the moment her mom shot the gun off at Gavin. She tried shaking off the memory, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible.

"Cassie, what took you so long?" Savannah questioned.

"Sorry, I was getting changed. I was showering before," Cassie lied.

Savannah looked her up and down, seeing her wet hair and her robe. She then looked back up at her face, her eyes narrowing. "Why does it look like you've been crying?"

"Oh, I was just...watching The Notebook as I was changing. I just got to the end and, yeah..." Cassie came up with, nodding her head.

"Hm," Savannah hummed, seeming to believe it. "Well, don't stay up too late."

Cassie forced a grin. "I won't." Savannah then left and Cassie shut the door behind her, locking it and breathing out in relief. She then walked over to the closet and pulled it open, seeing JJ raise his fists up as if he was getting ready to attack. "Whoa, it's just me. She's gone."

"Oh, thank God," JJ breathed out as he got out of the closet, fixing the cap on his head. "The Notebook, though?" He teased.

"Oh, shut up," she rolled her eyes.

"No, no, it's a good movie. I've seen it...a few times," he admitted casually.

She arched a brow at him. "Are you telling me that JJ Maybank is an undercover hopeless romantic? Who would've thought."

"Hey, no! I just-I just appreciate the art of cinema," he defended himself. "And Rachel McAdams is hot!"

She scoffed. "I'm more of a Ryan Gosling fan myself," she replied, crossing her arms.

"Oh, so you like dudes with blonde hair and blue eyes? Good to know," he joked. She scoffed at him again, but there had been a small smile on her lips. He nodded to himself, knowing his mission was complete: to make her feel a bit better. "But hey, sorry I can't be your blonde haired, blue eyed man tonight 'cause I probably should leave before your mom comes back."

"First of all, you were never my man," she began and JJ felt his heart sink a bit at that for some reason, "and second of all, you're right. You do need to leave. I just don't know how..."

"Oh, I know," JJ said before he snapped his fingers and made his way over to her balcony, opening up the doors that had now been unlocked due to her escape a few weeks ago.

"Uh, it's kind of a far drop. You sure?" She asked hesitantly as she followed him onto the balcony, looking down.

"Aw, you're worried my cute, little ass is gonna get hurt?" He teased and Cassie's cheeks burned in embarrassment, remembering her phone call to him the other night when she was drunk. "Yeah, don't think I forgot about that."

"I was drunk! I swear to God, JJ—" But she stopped herself short when she watched JJ hop over the railing, maneuvering himself down from the balcony before he let go and hopped down onto his feet easily. "Okay, what the fuck? How did you do that?"

JJ just shrugged. "We're picking you up tomorrow to meet by the drains. Don't make us wait," he told her before he saluted her, jogging away. It seemed like Kiara moved her car once she saw Savannah pulling in, so JJ was left to try to find it himself.

Cassie shook her head and rolled her eyes before she turned back to face her room, the small smile on her lips fading once she realized she was now living with a murderer.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The four teens walked up to the north drain, analyzing it. After the events of last night, the three Pogues weren't sure if it was a good idea to bring up Savannah to the Blake girl. They just thought it would be better to find this gun and then go from there.

"This is the north drain. It should have gotten washed into the gully. So, if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to, like..." JJ trailed off, gesturing to the drains and trash that they were standing above.

Cassie looked at him, thinking back to last night and how he held her in his arms despite them both being a bit pissed off at each other. She wondered if things would be different or if they would go back to the way it was, like it had never happened. She wasn't sure which one she wanted.

"Somewhere in this trash," Pope finished for him.

"Correct," JJ confirmed.

Kiara huffed, "Oh, my God. People who use plastic should be shot." Cassie blinked at the last word the girl decided to use. Shot. Just like her mother had shot Gavin.

JJ noticed the way Cassie's demeanor had changed. "Okay, personally, I love plastic. Use it every day. Love the stuff," JJ voiced to lighten the mood as he started picking up the plastic bags to try and find the gun.

"Okay, well, hopefully, you recycle it and don't just let it flush into the ocean," Kiara bit back, tilting her head at the blonde.

"Ah," JJ replied, looking away from her and back at Cassie, who didn't seem to find it funny either. At least he tried.

"I thought you'd say something like that, so...trash bags," Pope said to Kiara, holding up a rolled up trash bag.

Kiara smiled. "Did you just proactively protect the environment?"

The boy hesitated for a moment before he replied, "Maybe." Kiara gave him a grin as they just looked at each other, as if Cassie and JJ had just suddenly disappeared.

"You want me to you two alone, or what's going on?" JJ teased, looking between them.

"Yeah, I feel like we're intruding," Cassie retorted, agreeing with the Maybank boy.

Pope threw the trash bag at JJ in annoyance, making JJ stumble to try and catch it so it didn't fall into the water. "Just pick up the trash," Pope told him with an unamused tone.

The four of them got to working on picking up the trash, filling six trash bags full of it but still unable to find the gun. "Ah. Well, that was fun," JJ commented sarcastically as he threw the last trash bag on land.

"If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be somewhere in the storm drain," Pope pointed out.

"It's in...it's in the drain," JJ agree slowly with the nod of his head.

"Damn it," Pope cursed.

"Of course it is," Kiara said with an annoyed look.

"Fuck this shit," Cassie cursed.

"Good thing I brought the crow," JJ said as he began to look for the crowbar he packed.

"So, are we gonna do, like, rock, paper, scissors?" Kiara asked.

"No," JJ said almost immediately.

"Or alphabetically?"

"Nah." JJ then grabbed the crow bar and placed it on the bars of the drain. "On three, Pope. One, two, three," JJ counted down before the two boys began to pull.

"Or, like, the oldest goes?" Kiara continued.

"In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there. It gets into your blood, and then it...has to come out your pecker," JJ explained after he and Pope opened the drain, and Cassie and Kiara scrunched their faces up in disgust. "So, uh...that would be a hard pass for me."

"Yeah, that's gonna be a no for me," Pope concurred with a nod.

Kiara hummed before she turned to Cassie, placing her hands on her hips. Cassie glanced over at her, realizing she was looking at her. "Why are you looking at me?" Cassie slowly asked.

"Last night, you asked what else you had to do to make it up to us," Kiara reminded her before she gestured to the storm drain. "This is what you can do."

"Kiara," Pope warned, seeing as though the girl had literally just witnessed her mother killing somebody and he wasn't sure if she would be up for a little sewer diving. Kiara just held a hand up to his face and he released a sigh, sharing a look with JJ.

Cassie scoffed at the girl, glancing between her and the drain. "Are you crazy? I'm not going in there."

Kiara shrugged. "Fine. Then we'll just continue to be mad at you."

"We're actually not that m—"

"Sh!" Kiara shushed the Maybank boy and he looked down, pursing his lips together.

Cassie looked back at JJ before back at Kiara, rolling her eyes. "Look, even if I do this, you're still gonna be mad at me. There's no point!"

"What about helping John B?" Kiara pointed out, basically guilt tripping her.

Cassie sucked in a breath as she looked at Kiara and then at the two boys, who weren't meeting her eyes. She then shut her eyes and sighed in defeat. "Fine. Fine. I'll fucking do it. If this is gonna make you realize I've been sorry this whole time and I wanna help John B, then fine. I'll prove it to you."

Kiara crossed her arms. "Good."

"Good," Cassie repeated before she made her way over to the storm drain, looking at Pope and JJ. "You guys are fucking pussies."

"No. No, I'm not scared," JJ argued.

"It's just the pecker thingy," Pope brought up, shaking his head at her.

"I'm not scared," JJ repeated, fixing his cap slightly.

"Making me do all the heavy-lifting. 'Kay, I get it. Pussies," she nodded her at them before they moved out of the way for her to get in the storm drain.

"Okay, just, you know...be careful," Pope said to her. Although he had no interest in going into the drain, he thought it was a bit unfair they Kiara had forced Cassie to go. He didn't want to say anything to Kiara to ruin his chances with her, but she thought she was being a bit extreme with the whole Rafe thing. He was mad about it too when he first found out, but it was clear Cassie wanted nothing to do with Rafe and she was actively trying to prove she cared about them and John B.

"I'll be so careful," Cassie replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"I deserved that," Pope whispered.

JJ cleared his throat, watching as she climbed into the drain as worry bubbled up in his stomach. But he tried not to let it show as he said to her, "Just, uh, holler if you need anything, okay? We'll, uh...We'll holler back."

"Very helpful. Thank you," Cassie responded sardonically as she continued to crawl further into the drain. As she crawled, she could feel the water from the drain dripping onto her and the way her hands felt on the muddy ground, and she scrunched her face up. "Ew."

"Cassie, you find anything yet?" Pope questioned, his voice echoing in the drain.

"Yeah, Cassie, do you see the gun?" JJ added, his voice also echoing.

"Nothing!" Cassie exclaimed in response.

"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin," Pope told her before she crawled out into the catch basin of the drain that led up to a manhole cover via ladder.

She let herself fall into the sewage water, her clothes — which had been jean shorts and a tight pink crop top — basically ruined at this point. "Ew, ew, ew, ew," Cassie repeated as she stood up, the disgusting smell filling her nose.

She then looked back down at the water below her, psyching herself up before she went back down and started to search. There had been loads of soda cans and plastic floating in the water, but no sign of a gun just yet.

She continued her search before her hand touched something, making her pause. "Guys, I think I found something!" She yelled out to them.

"Wait, you found it?!" JJ shouted back.

"Is it the gun?" Pope queried from outside.

Cassie squinted her eyes at it before she saw that whatever she touched looked dead. "Ew! Ew! Oh, my God!" Cassie shrieked. "You guys, there's something dead in here!"

"Like a person?" Pope asked, but Cassie just screamed as she tried to back away from whatever it was.

"Cassie?! What is it?!" Kiara questioned.

"I don't know what it was!" Cassie shouted, waving her hands around crazily. "Oh, my God! There's something dead! I repeat, there's something dead in here!"

"Like a person?" Pope asked again, but louder.

"There's something dead in here!" Cassie reiterated.

"Cassie, don't touch it! That's how you get worms!" JJ warned her.

"Did you find the gun? Is it Gavin?" Pope prodded and Cassie felt her stomach drop.

"What is it? Is it Gavin?" JJ also asked.

"Don't touch it!" Pope told her.

"Cassie, is it a gun? Do you see the gun?" JJ questioned.

"I don't know!" Cassie responded, her voice wavering as she thought back to her mother shooting Gavin.

"Do you see anything?!"

"I don't know, JJ!" Cassie groaned as she tried maneuvering her way around the thing, not wanting to get near it. She ducked in a breath, trying to calm herself down. "I swear to God, I'm gonna kill myself," she muttered to herself as she shuddered, praying that it went away. "You guys owe me for life!" She shouted to them.

Suddenly, the water that Cassie was standing in began to flow rapidly. "What the hell?" She whispered, looking where she had came from to see the water had significantly rose from before. "Oh, shit! Guys! Guys, the water!"

"Cassie!" Pope yelled out to her in a panic.

Cassie watched as the water came flooding in. "I don't have time! Guys! Shit! No!" She screamed before she thought back to the gun and how it would be the only way they could clear John B's name. "Fuck my life!" She exclaimed before she went back down in the water, holding her hand out to try to grab onto anything remotely similar to a gun.

That's when she felt it, the metal hit against her hand. She quickly grasped onto it and tucked it into the waistband of her jean shorts, praying it would stay here. She then grabbed onto the ladder, starting to climb up as she heard the muffled yells from the Pogues outside.

However, her foot had slipped due to the water and she fell back in, her whole body going underneath the sewage water. She gasped without thinking, causing a flood of water to rush into her mouth. She quickly grabbed onto the ladder again, climbing out of the water since it hadn't reached the top yet.

She began to cough and gag, the taste of the water being absolutely disgusting and now she felt as if she was having trouble breathing due to the amount of water she had accidentally inhaled.

Her eyes then widened and she placed her hand behind her, still feeling the gun in her waistband. She didn't have time to celebrate though since the water was rushing fast, so she kept on climbing.

"Help!" She called out as she continued to climb, looking down to see the water had been rising even faster. "Please help! JJ! Kie!" She reached the top and stuck her fingers through the drain, unable to get it open. "I'm over here! The water is coming up! Pope!"

"Cassie!" Pope and Kiara shouted once they made it over.

"Cass!" JJ voiced as he and Pope bent down toward the drain.

"Pull it! Pull it!" She instructed them frantically.

"Pull! Pull!" JJ told Pope and Kiara before the three of them started to pull as hard as they could. However, the manhole cover wouldn't budge at all.

"Hurry! Hurry! Please, please, please!" Cassie begged them before she started to cry, seeing that the water was just at her chin. "JJ, please!"

That's when the water had engulfed her and she accidentally took another breath in since she hadn't been ready for it, causing the water to rush into her lungs. She gagged under the water, trying to hold her breath but it was no use. She had just sucked in so much water through her nose and mouth that she hadn't had any breath left to hold.

Her lungs had burned and she could feel herself slowly drifting away from reality, her hands slipping from the ladder. "Cassie!" Kiara cried out and it had been the last thing she heard before she passed out under the water.

The three continued to pull as the water came through the manhole cover, causing there to be extra pressure up against it. That's when the manhole cover came off and JJ quickly reached down, pulling Cassie's body out.

"No, no, no, no, no!" He yelled once he placed her down onto the ground, kneeling next to her to see that her eyes had been closed and she wasn't moving. "No, Cass, come on! Wake up!"

Kiara gasped and she placed a hand over her mouth, gripping onto Pope fearfully as she watched Cassie lay on the ground motionless.

"Shit!" JJ screamed before he leaned over and placed her nose between his fingers, pressing his lips against her's to start giving her mouth-to-mouth. He then stopped and moved onto giving her chest compressions, counting every one he did.

He had done life guarding once when he was fifteen and they had been forced to learn CPR. He didn't think he would ever need it in his life but here he was, trying to save Cassandra Blake, the girl he supposedly hated.

Once he was done with thirty chest compressions, he'd lifted his hand up and looked down at the girl, seeing that she was still wasn't moving. "Come on!" He begged as Kiara started to cry into Pope's shoulder. JJ placed his lips down to her's again as he squeezed her nose, this time blowing in twice. When he leaned away, that's when Cassie woke up and had started to cough up water. "Cass, oh, my God! Cass!"

"Cassie!" Kiara gasped in relief, sharing a wide-eyed look with Pope.

"Holy shit," the Heyward boy breathed out in relief.

Cassie turned to the side and spit out the water from her mouth, panting heavily as she tried to breathe again. She didn't even know what had happened. One second, she was under the water and the next second...Did I drown?

She continued to spit up water until she couldn't any longer, slowly looking up to see JJ kneeling over her. "What...happened?" She croaked, but JJ just looked down at her as he breathed heavily, a look in his eyes that she had never seen before.

He never realized how much he had cared about this girl until that very moment, watching her motionless body on the ground without any hint of waking up. He felt his heart thumping in his head, his vision beginning to blur as he tried to compose himself.

"Cassie! Cassie! Oh, my God! I'm so sorry!" Kiara quickly apologized as she made her way over to the girl, wrapping her arms around the girl's body despite the stench that radiated off of her because of the sewage water. "I shouldn't have forced you to go! Oh God, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!" She continued to cry.

"It's-it's okay," Cassie replied, continuing to look up at JJ who's lip had been trembling ever so slightly. Wait...did JJ save me? She thought to herself, seeing as though when she woke up, he was right next to her while Kiara and Pope were standing a few feet away.

"Cassie, you good?" Pope asked her gently as Kiara pulled away from her, sniffling.

She finally tore her gaze away from JJ and looked at Pope. "Yeah. I think so," she replied before she reached behind her back, pulling out the gun from her waistband to show them she got it. "Like I said, you guys owe me," she somehow managed to joke.

"Oh, my God!" Kiara exclaimed, her eyes going wide as she looked at the two boys.

"Holy shit," Pope said breathlessly.

JJ snapped out of it and went toward her, grabbing the gun with the towel he had. "We're gonna get this son of a bitch," JJ voiced darkly, still reliving the moment that just occurred in his head.

Kiara got up from the ground and reached her hand to Cassie, which the girl took so she could get up from the ground. Kiara sent her a sad smile and Cassie sent her one back. They were very much in need of finally talking about everything.

"Good job," Pope whispered to Cassie and she nodded at him.

"You did it, Cass. You did it," JJ said to Cassie before he wrapped his arms around her, Kiara and Pope joining to make it a group hug.

"Let's get this to Shoupe," Pope then said before they all pulled away.

"Let's get it to Shoupe, let's get it to Shoupe."

authors note!
this chapter is long as hell but
damn their lips technically touched
yall 😝 this is my way of having a "kiss
scene" without it actually being a kiss
bc i just like my slow burns too much
😃 also yall sorry if the cpr shit is wrong
i just looked it up and did whatever it told
me LMFAOO