Chapter Seven

After releasing that the gold wasn't on the Royal Merchant, we had departed the ocean before we got blown away by the storm. Someone had beat us to it.

I had gone home for the first time in a few days.

"Oh, my God, your face." I had entered my room, not knowing Sarah would be here. "Fuck, Stormy, what the hell happened?"

She walked over to me and grabbed ahold of my face, examining it properly. I pulled out from her grasp, shaking my head.

"Rafe hit me," I mumbled. She didn't miss it and her jaw clenched.

"I'm gonna kill him." Sarah had announced. She had dashed towards the door but I stopped her.

"S, no, it's okay. I hit him back. We're even." I pleaded. "I don't want any more violence."

"Have you told Dad?" Sarah questioned, turning to me. I shake my head. "We should tell Dad."

"Sarah, no!" I had shouted. "I'm fine! I've had my revenge. I just want the violence to stop, please."

Sarah sighed and nodded. She finally dropped the subject. "So. Did ya have fun on your wee adventure?" I shrugged. "Come on, Storm, you've been gone for three days. You haven't slept at home for three days. You gotta tell me something."

"I've been... Hanging out with some guy," I responded, I felt a blush rise to my cheeks as I think about JJ and all our flirty moments.

Sarah's eyes widen and she squealed. "Oh, my God! No way! Who is he? What does he look like? Is he a Kook—"

"Sarah." I glared. "One at a time, Jesus." She's not going to like who it is. "I'm not saying his name. But... He might be a... Pogue..."

She stares at me with wide eyes. "You've been hanging out with pogues this entire time?"

"And for good reason, too." I had stammered across my words. "Sarah, you can't tell anyone that I might like a Pogue. Topper, Rafe, Dad, Rose—They'll all kill me."

"Hey, I promise," Sarah told me in a calm voice. "I won't tell. As long as you keep me updated on your hang out sessions."

"Deal." I nodded. "Does this mean you'll cover for me every time I leave?"

Sarah nods. "Of course, sissy. I've got your back, always. Now I know what you're doing, it makes me feel a lot better."

I gave her a smile. "Love you, Sarah. I'm gonna have a shower."

✫✫✫

I had climbed out of the shower after an hour of soaking up the heat. I came out in my towel and my eyes wide frantically when I saw John B sitting on my bed with a bleeding t-shirt.

"Agh!" I screamed and turned around. "John B, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Okay, so I got—Stormy! Shit!" The sound of my twin's voice was heard. "Sorry, Storm... I didn't think you'd be in the shower still."

"Sarah, would you just hand me some clothes?" I pleaded, holding out a hand.

"Yep," Sarah responded and quickly shuffled around our room, finding me some clothes. She handed me some clothes and I rushed into the bathroom. I locked the door behind me and I quickly changed and left my wet hair to dry as I walked back into the room. I wore some jeans and a crop top.

John B and Sarah were gone by the time I had exited. I sighed and exited the room and walked down the hallway. I bumped into Sarah.

"Since when did you hang out with John B?" I questioned.

"Since I ran into him on the street running from the police," Sarah responded. "He's in the study room. I'm just grabbing some supplies."

"Okay." I made my way towards the study and John B turns around quickly and sighed at the sight of me. "Jesus, John B."

"Nice place." John B comments and I gave him a half-smile.

"I leave for a few hours and you already got yourself into trouble." I teased him and he gave me a small smile.

He shrugged. "No biggie, really,"

"It must be a big deal if you show up to your ex-bosses house," I smirked and he glared at me. "Too soon? My bad."

The door opened and Sarah appeared. "Okay." Sarah sighed. She holds a first aid kit and a bottle of liquid. "Lift up your shirt." John B takes a seat in the study, and he does. "This is got to be disinfected."

"Oh..." John B groaned, revealing a deep red wound on his side. "Wait, is that rubbing alcohol?"

"Yes," Sarah responded, putting some of it on a pad. "It's the only way to be safe. Close your eyes. On the count of three." John B leans his head back and Sarah turned to him. "Ready? One, two, three..." She placed the cotton pad and he lets out a scream but Sarah quickly placed a hand on his mouth. "Shh! Are you kidding me? My God."

"Sorry." John B apologized.

"Never heard anyone whine like that before." Sarah rolled her eyes, removing her hand and attending his wound. John B smacks Sarah's hand.

"Stop." John B hisses.

"Excuse you." Sarah snapped.

"Sorry, sorry," John B mumbled out and I watched in amusement.

"Hey, John B, I'm gonna see..." My eyes travelled down to Sarah and John B nodded knowingly. "Where are they?"

"Heywards Seafood."

I nodded. "Thanks!"

✫✫✫

In my Jeep Wrangler, I had pulled up to Heyward's Seafood. I had pulled right up beside Topper and Rafe unknowingly and I glanced at them nervously. Fuck, they knew about Pope.

I had climbed out of my Jeep and locked it. Topper was quick to approach me.

"I have nothing to say to you, Topper." I had snapped, turning to him. "You disgust me right now."

"Would you just please—"

"No." I shoved my finger at his chest, stopping him. "You can just the fuck up and leave your fake as apology behind. I don't want any of it. And leave Pope alone!"

I turned on my heel and walked towards the Heyward's Seafood. I might as well get lunch here. Pope had turned around quickly and ran back inside. I had quickly followed him, catching up with him.

We had gone around the back, JJ was there shooting at a teddy bear with bullets we don't even have.

"JJ, JJ, JJ!" Pope had yelled. "They know."

"What?" JJ had removed his earplugs.

"They know." Pope had strongly said.

"All right, chill, bro," JJ told him. "All right? They don't know shit."

"Topper knows I sunk his boat." Pope panicked.

"How do you know they know?" JJ questioned.

"Because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heyward's and mad dogged me right before Stormy showed up." Pope had explained and JJ wrapped his arms around me. I leant into him.

"Will you calm down and get a grip, man?" JJ asked. "They don't know shit."

"They have cameras." Pope pointed out. "They could've seen me."

"There was no power." JJ said. "How could they have seen you?"

"It's Figure Eight." Pope snapped as he paced around on the lawn. "They got generators. They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript."

JJ had pulled away from me and turned to Pope. "Enough with the regret, bro! They caved your face in. They punched Stormy's fucking eye! They hit us, we hit them. It's the law of the jungle. Now, if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you have anything to do with it,  you walk up to 'em, look 'em right in the eye, and..." JJ placed a hand on Pope's shoulder.

"Deny the living shit out of it." Pope finished.

"That's right. Deny, deny, deny." JJ nods his head. "But, just for safety, we don't go anywhere without protection." JJ points to the gun on the stump. "Right?"

Pope nods and leaves back to the Heyward Seafood. JJ walked up to me.

"Deny, deny, deny," I mocked the same tone, grinning. "That was kind of hot."

"Yeah?" JJ smirked widely and wrapped his arms around me, pressing our foreheads together. "How about that gun lesson?"

I smiled. "With the bullets, we don't even have? Yeah, no."

I kissed his cheek and left him behind.

"Wait, wait, wait." JJ had taken my hand, pulling us extremely close. "Do you maybe wanna... Go to the movie thing that's on tonight."

"With the gang?" I asked. "Sure."

I went to turn to leave again but he pulled back to him. "I meant as a date. With me."

My heart beats widely and I felt myself blushing. "I—Uh—yeah. Yes. I'd love to." I paused. "But still with the gang?"

JJ grinned and brushed some hair out of my face. "Yes, with the gang."

✫✫✫

Hand in hand, JJ and I approached a projector screen with Pope and Kie on either side of us. OBX Summer movie series. This is going to be great.

"I'm so glad they're still doing this." Kie had said. "Keep calm. Carry on. Back to OBX life. You know? Aren't you guys glad I made you come?"

"Ecstatic," Pope says sarcastically as we find our spot and sat down.

"My couch is pretty comfy, I'll be honest." JJ had said and I smiled. 

"We're out of the green zone, man," Pope had lowly said to JJ and I. I had let go of JJ's hand and set down the blanket.

"Dude, Tranquilo, okay?" JJ mumbled to Pope.

"We're in the middle of Kooklandia." Pope had reminded JJ. "This is the last place I want to be."

"Shut up, Pope." JJ hisses.

"I'm gonna get Pepsi!" Kie had announced. 

"Can you get me one?" I requested and she nodded and left.

I had sat down on the blanket and JJ sat in front of me. He had spread out his legs and I sat between them and snuggled up to him. He was leaning on his arms, supporting both me and him.

I smiled at him and he smiled back at me.

"Can I try braiding your hair?" JJ had randomly requested. "I wanna learn for my daughter someday."

Butterflies filled in my stomach. Chill out, Stormy, he didn't even say 'our' daughter. He just said his.

"Yeah, of course. You been going on YouTube to watch?" I teased him and he rolled his eyes. I had two hairbands on my wrist. I had shuffled for so he had enough room and he began to braid my hair.

Kie had come back a few minutes later. "Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote 'tell your boy we know what he did." She hands us our drinks. "What does that mean?"

The boys shot each other with panicked looks. "Where is he?" JJ asked.

"Right there." They had turned around, but I couldn't see—not that I cared about that asshole anyway, but I'm guessing they're right behind us. 

"Great, the whole death squad is here," Pope commented.

"Don't stare, bro." JJ had told him and JJ continued to braid my hair. "Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay?" I felt him tie up one side of my hair and he starts the other side. "Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now. If that doesn't work, I got this right here."

He holds up a green bag with his spare hand before goes back to my hair. He's got the gun. "Yeah, yeah. So we just gotta stay as a group." Pope suggested. "They can't get us if we stay as a group."

"Like a school of fish." JJ had tied the hairband around my hair.

"Stay in school. Can't leave the school." Pope nods his head.

JJ takes a sip of his soda and leans forward to me and whispers in my ear. "All done, beautiful."

I checked my hair with my phone, he had taken some photos of it and gave me the phone. We examined the photos together. "Wow, you actually did pretty well." I complimented him, snuggling up to him. "Good job." I kissed his cheek.

"I'm sorry, JJ... Please tell me you did not bring a gun here." Kie had said. "JJ, there are kids."

"No!" JJ lied. "Kie, I did not bring the gun, alright? Everything's fine. Okay?"

"Oh, wow, thank you. That's convincing, I love that, JJ." Kie had snapped. "Founding principal, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?"

"Kie, it might go down tonight." Pope had admitted.

"What does that mean?" Kie speaks, clueless. "Might go down tonight? What did y'all do? Stormy?"

"I don't know, Kie." I shrugged, lying my ass off. JJ squeezed my hand.

"Deny, deny, deny," JJ had muttered.

It had soon fallen dark and I could hear the movie as I closed my eyes, snuggled up to JJ.

"JJ." I stir awake, it was Pope.

"What?" JJ whispered, tracing small circles on my arm.

"Gotta take a piss." Pope had said.

"Hold it," JJ muttered unhappily. He kept holding on to me.

"I can't hold it." Pope had hissed. "I drank too much soda."

"It's too exposed, they'll see us," JJ whispered back and this time. I flutter my eyes opened and looked up at JJ.

"I gotta go," Pope whined. Pope looks towards Rafe, Topper, and Kelce who were at the back of the crowd. "They're blocking the bathroom."

JJ purses his lips and looks to his right. "Come here. I know where." I had moved from JJ's arms. "Sorry, Hollywood, but I gotta go take care of some business."

I smiled. "It's okay. Be safe."

He kisses my forehead and sat up. "Hey, where are y'all going?" Kie whispers.

JJ and Pope turned to her. "We gotta wring it out."

"What are you gonna do, hold it for each other?" Kie retorts and I giggled, pulling my knees close to me. JJ and Pope ignored her and left. Kie glances over at me. "So, how's you and JJ?"

I shrugged, staring at the projector screen. "We're alright."

"Okay, listen, Stormy," Kie had fully turned me and I fully turned to her. "I'm only saying this because I care about JJ. Don't break his heart. For some fucked up reason, he likes you. Like, really likes you. He has since the 8th grade. And I don't want to see JJ broken. That's not his persona."

I nodded, taking it all in on what she had said to me. "Wait, since the 8th grade?" I questioned, a blush spreading my cheeks. Kie rolled her eyes.

"Ever since I became friends with them in the 10th grade—literally the first thing he asked me 'can I get Stormy Cameron's number?'." She quotes and my stomach turn with butterflies. "I told him to get it himself."

I giggled. "Well, I don't know what it's about him, but he's different from all the boys at Kook's academy."

"No shit," Kie commented. "Kook's academy is full of shitheads who always gets their way. JJ has to literally fight to get what he wants."

"I know that," I replied softly. "And he's a complete mystery to me, which is what I like about. And for the first time in forever, I see him in my future. And I get butterflies in my stomach every time I'm around him. I do like him, Kie. The only thing is, if I do end up dating him, I'm gonna have to introduce him to my family at one point. And I'm not sure how that will go down."

"If you really like him, you'll have to sacrifice that. And you're image." Kie told me.

"I guess..." My eyes wandered over to my brother, Kelce, and Topper. Funny, they were no longer there. "Oh, fuck."

"What? What's wrong?" Kie instantly asks afterwards as I rushed to my feet.

"Topper, Kelce, Rafe—They're gone." I pointed out.

"And why is that relevant?" Kie questioned.

"Cause shit might go down tonight." Kie nods at my words and decided to follow me. We went looking for them but managed to find them behind the projector.

I gasped at the sight. They were all fighting each other, Topper had Pope. "Let go of him, Topper! Rafe!"

Kie had grabbed the bag and swings the bag at Topper.

I had jumped on my brothers back, gripping onto him and he throws me around. "Get off me, Stormy!" Rafe had snapped.

"Stop hurting them!" I had snapped back, to get a grip around his neck. He had thrown me to the ground and I let out a huff as I landed on my ass.

Rafe had stormed over to me and grabbed my t-shirt, gripping onto it tightly. "Get the fuck out of my way, Storm. You shouldn't be hanging around these Pogues."

"No, you get out of my way," I spat and punched him in the face, he staggered back, surprise. "That was for yesterday!" I kicked him in the stomach. "And that was for JJ." I tried to kick him again but he was quick to grab my leg.

"You shouldn't have done that, Stormy," Rafe glowers and tossed me to the side. I rolled over a few times before landing face-first into the ground, letting out a huff. I turned around.

"Fuck you, Rafe!" I had yelled, standing back up. I noticed Topper had flung the bag away. Kie had jumped on Topper's back. I had made a dash for the bag, knowing full well that the gun was here. Rafe had made his way towards JJ again, throwing him another punch that boils my blood.

I had gotten the gun out of the bag and I turned on its safety before storming over to Rafe and pointing the gun at its head. Everyone froze.

"Step away, Rafe." I lowered my voice, pressing the end of the gun to the side of his head.

He lets out a gulp. Topper had stopped fighting Pope and Kie jumped off his back. "Stormy, why don't you put the gun down?" Topper had suggested. I knew I wasn't going to kill him, but I needed something to threaten Rafe with.

Rafe and Kelce had slowly stepped away from JJ and I got close and personal with Rafe. "If you ever touch my fucking friends again, next time, I will shoot this straight through your thick fucking skull."

Rafe was glaring at me heavily, breathing hard. He clenched his jaw. He doesn't agree, as someone—more like Kie, had set the projector on fire.

"Let's go, bro!" Topper had said, grabbing Rafe and pulling him and Kelce away. Everyone had gone into a frenzy and I stand there, breathing heavily. Did I just do that? Did I threaten my own brother? To be fair, he's threatened me countless times.

JJ had quickly run up to me and picked me up, twirling me around. "Holy shit, Hollywood!" JJ had cheered. "Fucking hell that was hot!" I ignored that comment and Kie had stormed over to me and held out the bag. I had placed the gun in the bag.

"We need to go," I had told them. They all nodded in agreement, immediately leaving the place.

✫✫✫

"Don't let it get into your head, brother, there's three of them and two of us." JJ had told Pope as Kie, Pope, JJ, and I stand in Heyward's Seafood. "That's some typical Kook shit right there."

"Hell, yeah." I agreed.

"What was your thought process, using your head?" JJ asked.

"I don't know, man." Pope had continued. "I just kind of acted off instinct. I was a cornered animal."

"Hey, Pope, someone here to see you." Pope's father, Mr. Heyward, had called Pope over. Shoupe entered the store and my heart dropped. Oh, no. Pope's eyes widen.

"Evening, Officer." Pope had greeted.

"I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property," Shoupe had informed, walking over to Pope.

"What?" Mr. Heyward questioned, his eyes widening. Pope shoots JJ a look.

"Keep your hands where I can see 'em." Shoupe told Pope. I stepped in front of Shoupe. "Stormy, please get out of my way,"

"Pope didn't do it." I insisted. "He didn't do anything my brother and his friend are crazy, Shoupe."

"Shoupe, what did he do?" Heyward had questioned.

"He didn't do anything." I continued to press. "It was me! I did it." Shoupe eyes me suspiciously.

"Are you lyin' to me, Stormy?" Shoupe questioned.

I shake my head. "No, I'm not. I swear, I did it."

"No, she didn't do it," Pope and JJ speak over each other, protesting as Shoupe began to grab my hands.

"No, guys! I did it." I glanced over at Pope and JJ. I can easily get out, my Dad would bail me out, no problem. "Remember? I was angry. I'm the one that wanted revenge on Topper for hitting my friend." I felt the cuffs go around my wrist.

"Stormy, what are you talking about?" Kie questioned, frowning.

"Anything you say can and will be held against you, in the court of law," Shoupe had told me and I nodded, biting my lower lip.

"Stormy—"

"Stormy—"

My friends were calling for me. JJ looked like he wanted to say something, anything, but I glared at him. "Guys! I'll be fine. My Dad will bail me out, like always." I had tried to reassure them. "I'll be fine. JJ, I'll be fine."

"How much did they pay you, man?" JJ had snapped.

I stayed silent as my friends tried to protest against Shoupe, but nothing was working. I didn't want them to fight for me. I knew my Dad would get me out of this situation and I would be grounded, but I didn't care. I know none of these guys can afford what I can.

Shoupe escorts me to the police car.

A/N

Okay so like I've season 1 entirely and I've made a start on season 2 and im still very excited to write it!!