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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. 𝗶 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻, 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗲

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After Cassie had found JJ's shark tooth necklace in the room that John B had granted him years ago, she had given it back to him and had not spoken to him the rest of the night.

She didn't know what the hell had just happened, and she wasn't sure she even wanted to know.

Okay, maybe she did want to know.

They had both apologized to each other for being complete dickwads and then all of a sudden, JJ was looking down at her lips as if he wanted to...kiss her.

Oh God, no, that can't right.

No, it couldn't have been right. He had probably just accidentally glanced down since they were so close anyway. He hadn't meant anything by it.

Cassie knew JJ. He knew that he was a fuckboy who wanted to make a move on every girl that breathed. But Cassie had never been one of those girls. Sure, he had made a few sly comments here and there when they had first met but that had quickly turned into insults once their personalities had clashed.

She knew her mind had to be tricking her. It was the adrenaline again, like Pope had explained to her. It had to be.

To distract herself, she joined Pope and Kiara in trying to set up everything for tomorrow. It would have been better to have a jump start on it so they didn't have to rush.

They had asked about how JJ was, but Cassie had been very brief in answering. They hadn't seemed to pick up on it, though, since they were just glad JJ had calmed down.

The trio decided to leave the work they had yet to finish until tomorrow so they could all get much needed rest. When they had traveled back inside, JJ had seemed to be in his room and Cassie breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Her and Kiara shared the pullout couch once again and Pope went to John B's room, deciding that he wouldn't mind if he crashed there. Which he wouldn't have since they crashed at his place all the time anyway and he was now staying at Tannyhill.

Although Cassie had tried to get a good night's rest to prepare for the long day they had tomorrow, she had kept tossing and turning with one thing on her mind.

Well, one person: JJ Maybank.

Cassie had been sitting down on the couch next to the blonde boy, cleaning the wound on his lip like she had been doing previously. Her hand was, once again, placed on his chin so she could steady herself as she dabbed the cotton round on his lip.

Her eyes had darted up to meet his, which had already been studying her face. She caught him glance down at her lips and then back up at her eyes, but this time...she didn't back away.

She slowly lowered the cotton round from his lip and used her other hand to cup his cheek. JJ had immediately taken that as a sign to bring his hand up to her own cheek, pulling her closer to his face so they were just millimeters apart.

"JJ..." She breathed out, glancing up between his lips and his eyes and then back down to his lips. She then shut her eyes, doubt growing. "Maybe we shouldn't..."

JJ started to smirk a bit. "Stop denying your feelings, princess. You know you want to," he whispered back, but he didn't move as to let her decide her fate.

"Do I?" She replied, but she was asking herself more than asking him. Her eyes then slowly started to reopen again, seeing the way that JJ had been looking hungrily at her lips. Her stomach had dropped and she swear she could have felt her heart rate pick up.

"I do," she murmured after a moment

That's when JJ's lips had come crashing into her's, like he didn't want to waste a second; like he had been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. It was clear she had felt the same since her lips had began to move in sync with his, feeling herself lean back onto the couch as he went with her.

Once her head had hit the pillow, she had felt JJ's hand start to fall from her cheek and begin to travel down her body to her waist and she couldn't help but release a sigh as she kissed him.

She then felt him pull away and her eyes fluttered open, seeing the way his shark tooth necklace had dangled over her with his piercing ocean blue eyes staring down at her. "You don't know how long I've been wanting to do that," he admitted breathlessly.

She began to smile coyly. "Then let's keep going," she replied, grabbing his necklace and pulling him back down onto her lips.

Cassie shot up from the pullout couch again, holding her fingers up to her lips in shock. Her fingers then traveled down her chest, feeling the way she had been breathing heavily before she realized she had just been dreaming.

Again.

Why the fuck did she just have another dream about JJ? But this time...this time it had went farther than her just being on top of him. She thought she had been going mad.

Did Barry hit her with the gun to the head and she had just forgotten about it? She so wished that was the answer because she didn't know what else could have been going on.

She was so busy thinking about her dream, that she didn't even notice Pope had been standing in the room until he cleared his throat. She gasped loudly before she covered her mouth, not wanting to wake up Kiara next to her who had been sleeping soundly.

"Pope," Cassie hissed as she slowly got up from the pullout couch, making her way over to him and pulling him to the kitchen so they wouldn't be wake up the sleeping Carrera girl. "What the hell? How long were you standing there?"

Why was it every time Cassie had woke up from a dream, or rather, a nightmare, one of the Pogues had been there afterwards? First John B and now Pope. Soon it was going to JJ, which she really prayed against.

"Uh..." Pope trailed off as he started to run the back of his neck.

She narrowed her eyes. "Were you watching us?" She questioned.

"W-Watching you? No, I-I wasn't watching you. No, that would be s-so weird," he stammered, but Cassie looked him up and down, not believing him. Pope released a sigh of defeat. "Okay, I came in here to get a water but then I stopped and watched for a second. That's all."

She tilted her head at him. "Why?" She watched as Pope's eyes subconsciously looked past her and onto Kiara sleeping on the couch, making her look over her shoulder and see what he had been staring at. "Oh."

Pope quickly looked back at Cassie, his eyes widening. "What?"

"Kie. You were looking at Kie," she realized and Pope had felt his cheeks grow warm in embarrassment. This had been the perfect way to distract herself about the dream—

No, it was a nightmare, Cassie.

—she had just had.

Pope began to shake his head. "No. No, I wasn't."

She crossed her arms and gave him a look. "Pope, come on. I know you like her."

Pope swallowed hard. "Is it that obvious? Does she know? Oh, my God, if you know, she knows," he rambled.

"Sh, sh, sh," Cassie quickly shushed him and he closed his mouth, blinking. "No, Pope, she doesn't know. Well, she didn't tell me she knows at least," she assured him and Pope breathed out a sigh of relief. "Did everyone in this damn friend group like her at some point?"

Pope pursed his lips. "Yeah, pretty much. But we don't really count JJ since he tries to go after every pretty girl he see. Well, apart from you," Pope answered and Cassie's face involuntarily twisted a bit at that. "No, wait, that doesn't mean you're not pretty. You-you are pretty. You're very pretty. It's just that JJ, he's—"

"Pope, I know what you meant," she cut him off, letting out a short laugh. "Are you scared of me or something?"

Pope's eyes darted away. "No."

She frowned. "You totally are. You're scared of me."

"Well...you did kinda scare me today with Barry and stuff. I've seen you get mad before, but that was..." He trailed off.

"Pope, I only did that to protect you guys. I would never do that to you. Ever," she assured him which made his eyes meet back at her's. "Pope, you're my friend. I don't try to beat up my friends, not unless they've wronged me. And I can tell you right now, Pope, you never have. And honestly, I don't think you ever will. You're easily the most sensible person in this friend group."

Pope felt his cheeks warm again, not used to any of these compliments. Sure, he had loved the Pogues with all of his heart, but sometimes he couldn't help but feel forgotten. Especially when everything had been about John B lately. And it wasn't like he had been jealous, he just wished to have the same recognition.

He smiled a bit. "Thanks, Cassie. That makes me a feel a bit better."

"Oh, and seriously, good luck on your interview. I know you're gonna nail it," she added, patting him on the shoulder.

He sucked in a breath. "I hope so. I've been so distracted lately with the gold that I feel like I've barely prepared."

"Oh, come on, you're Pope freaking Heyward. You got this."

He started to nod, growing confident from her words. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I do got this."

She grinned at him. "That's what I like to hear," she gushed before she looked back over her shoulder at Kiara, who still had been sleeping. "Now, back onto the topic of Kie..."

"Nope. I don't want to talk about this."

"Oh, come on. Please?"

"No"

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Damn it."

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The next morning, the remaining Pogues continued to work on the contraption they had been building in order to get down in the well in a safer, more efficient manner.

Cassie had purposely taken extra long getting ready, borrowing some more of Kiara's clothes that she had thankfully left at John B's from however long ago. She pulled on some black jean shorts with a beige, cropped Henley top that had short sleeves.

She also did a French braid, taking her time although she had done them so much it usually hadn't taken her that long. She had just wanted to prolong facing the Pogues.

Or rather, a certain Pogue with blonde hair and blue eyes that were as mesmerizing as the ocean.

Not that she had thought that.

She didn't know why the hell she had that dream of him, and she really didn't know how to go about the situation of him looking at her lips while she was cleaning his wound. She just didn't need any of this on her plate.

Once again, she thought she was losing it. All she wanted to do was throw her life to the ocean rocks since it seemed like her mind hadn't been on her side lately.

She finally stepped outside, seeing Pope and Kiara near the large tree where they were trying to test out the tin can that would be used to lower themselves into the well.

"Hey, Cassie! You're finally up. Having sweet dreams or something?"

Cassie froze in her position as her eyes traveled over to JJ, who had been sitting at the edge of the hot tub. wearing a red cap on his head and a wife beater.

Could he read her fucking mind?

"Uh..." She hesitated, which made JJ furrow his brows a bit. She never hesitated when it came to his teasing comments. "No dreams. Just needed the sleep."

JJ hummed as he watched her walk over, avoiding his gaze when she stood next to him as he sat on the hot tub and peered at Kiara and Pope. "Everything good?" JJ slowly asked. He wasn't sure what the dynamic between them had been now after last night. They seemed to have had a good conversation that didn't result in any fights or arguments, but now Cassie had just been acting...off.

He wondered if it had to do with the fact that he had accidentally looked down at her lips when she was cleaning his face. He didn't want her to think he had liked her. That would've been horrible, given the fact that he definitely didn't.

"Hm?" Cassie said as she looked back over at the boy, trying to maintain eye contact like normal. "Oh, yeah. Fine."

"You sure? You don't have to lie to me, princess," he teased her, wiggling his eyebrows. She felt her body tense at the nickname and went to go shove him before she stopped herself, thinking back to his father. She slowly lowered her hand down, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the boy. He frowned a bit. "You don't have to do that, you know. I'm not, like, triggered by that shit."

Cassie felt embarrassed that he noticed, although she didn't really know why. "Oh, okay. Well, I'm sorry."

He shook his head at her, finding her whole demeanor to be not...Cassie-like. "Don't apologize. It's not you. And since when do you ever apologize?"

She cursed at herself. What the fuck is wrong with you Cassie? It was just a stupid dream, it wasn't like it was real. Pull. Yourself. Together.

"Since I want to make sure I get a fair cut of this gold. Don't need you shanking me," she manage to shoot back at him.

JJ grinned at that. "Fair."

When she looked away at JJ and back at Kiara and Pope, the former had somehow managed to get herself into the tin can without Cassie even noticing. "How's it feeling?" Pope asked Kiara as he brought her up into the air.

"Feels good," Kiara told him.

"All right, I'm taking you down."

"Okay."

"John B pullin' a Houdini," JJ voiced to all of them after moment.

"Yeah, where is he?" Pope inquired as he lowered Kiara and got her out of the tin can. "I got my scholarship interview tomorrow morning. We gotta get this done!"

"Speak of the devil. Hey!" JJ called out once John B seemed to appear at the Château suddenly. "Dude, I set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything."

"No, he did not. I did that," Pope corrected him swiftly.

"Hey, John B," Kiara said once they noticed that he was walking right into his house, just ignoring them entirely.

"John B?" Cassie questioned, furrowing her brows at him.

"Okay, that's it?" JJ spoke in offense, holding his hand out.

"Uh...what's that all about?" Pope asked JJ and Cassie as he and Kiara made it over to them.

"I was gonna ask you the same question," JJ replied before he hopped off of the hot tub.

"Let's go see," Cassie breathed out as the four of them headed inside, seeing the way that John B had been rummaging through different cabinets.

"You all right, man? What-what's up?" Pope quizzed in concern.

"What are you looking for?" Kiara interrogated as he went over to the pullout couch, but he still hadn't been answering any of his questions.

"Bro, what's going on, man?" JJ asked, growing more concerned by the second since he had never seen his best friend act like this.

"JB, you good?" Cassie said before she watched John B lift up a pillow, pulling out the gun from underneath. Her eyes widened. "Was that there the whole time? When we were sleeping?" She said, sharing a look with Kiara whose mouth had parted.

"John B, what do you need the gun for?" JJ stepped towards him.

"Just — No!" Kiara exclaimed after she processed her grabbed the gun.

"Talk to us!" JJ shouted in John B's face before the Routledge boy shoved him down onto the pullout.

"John B!" Cassie screamed, looking at him in bewilderment as he passed by her.

"John B, chill! What are you doing?" Kiara yelled at the same time.

Pope held his arms out, trying to block him from leaving. "What, are you JJ now?" He pressed, but John B had just grabbed him and pushed him into the table.

"Shi — Are you okay?" Kiara asked Pope, who was just stared after him in shock.

Cassie looked over her shoulder, seeing JJ push himself up from the pullout. She looked down to see his red cap on the floor so she picked it up, handing it to him. "You good?"

He looked down at the cap in her hand and slowly took it from her, their fingers lightly brushing. He cleared his throat. "Yeah. Don't know what the hell his problem is."

"John B, what the hell are you doing?!" Kiara called out as she followed John B out of the house. The three others quickly followed her, seeing John B get on JJ's motorbike. "John B, what the hell?" Kiara cried out.

"Ward knows about the gold! He killed my dad."

Cassie stopped in her tracks, as did the others, at his announcement. Ward? As in Ward Cameron? Ward Cameron killed his father? No, there was no way. Ward had helped Cassie and her mother after her father had died and had been so generous to them, there was no way he capable of murder.

"John B!" Kiara called out as she started to run after the boy, snapping Cassie back to reality.

"Shit!" Pope exclaimed as he ran with her.

Cassie just watched as John B drove off, unable to comprehend what she had just learned.

authors note!
yall sorry if that dream sequence
was cringe as hell im actually so
bad at writing scenes like that 😐