CHAPTER SIX
"did you bring a fugitive in my car?"

( episode four ━━ spy games )

BEING AROUND SARAH WAS BEYOND awkward right now, and that's a sentence Scarlett Hall never thought she would ever say.

"Topper is seriously freaking out. He says that his mom completely blamed him without even giving him a chance to explain."

Sarah rambles on about how upset her boyfriend was after his boat sank. Scarlett tries her best not to let the guilt show on her face. She didn't feel bad for Topper, but she did feel bad about lying to Sarah.

For as long as Scarlett could remember, there have been no secrets between them, it was just an unspoken rule that they'd tell each other almost everything. As bad as it was killing her to keep this from her best friend, she made a promise to JJ and Pope, one that she vowed to keep.

"Uh—" Scarlett starts, trying not to let the fear show in her voice. "Did he say what happened?"

"No, he doesn't even know how the boat sank. It's crazy." Sarah sighs, not understanding how this happened.

"Yeah. Crazy." Scarlett takes a sip of the drink in her hand, trying to keep herself from talking.

"Now his mom is talking about pressing charges?"

She chokes on her drink, continuously coughing as Sarah watches her, curious as to why she was acting so strange. "Pressing charges?" Scarlett asks after she regains her composure.

Before Sarah could reply, she was distracted witnessing John B drive a bike over a chain, or rather right though it. He launches himself off the bike and right onto the ground, groaning in pain.

"Oh god!" Sarah quickly runs over to make sure he was alright. Scarlett follows, but walks instead.

"Did you just yeet over that chain?"

Scarlett scrunches up her face at Sarah's words. "Did you just say yeet?" She glances over to see the boy on the ground, recognizing him as the boy who her friend has the hots for. "Oh hey, it's the guy you have a crush on."

"Scarlett!"

Okay... perhaps not this was not the time to say that, but hey it was the truth.

John B looks between the two of them, not fully understanding what was going on. "What?"

"Nothing." Sarah bends down as she notices John B was injured. "Oh my God. Holy shit, your shirt."

"Whoa, you're bleeding." Scarlett comments, not wanting to get a closer look.

Blood was gross, seeing people bleeding was gross, and that's a thought Scarlett had that would never change. She was perfectly fine standing and doing nothing while Sarah played doctor.

Sarah lifts up his shirt and gasps at his wound. "Okay. That's not good at all."

"Yeah, that's not ideal." John B takes a look at the cut, seeing how gross it looks and cringed. "Take me to the hospital."

"Right now?" Sarah questions.

"Yeah, right now. That'd be fantastic."

Sarah looks up at Scarlett for permission, since the two did drive here in her car. She hesitates for a second but decides to agree once seeing how much Sarah cared. "Fine, let's go get in the car."

"Okay, well, you have to get up." Sarah grabs John B's arm and helps him walk over to Scarlett's car, opening the door for him as climbs into the back seat.

"Bleed out on my seats, and I'll kill you." Scarlett tells him, making sure he knew she was serious. "Sarah, you sit in the back with him, just in case."

Sarah nods in agreement to her friend and buckles her seatbelt. John B looks out the window and quickly ducks his head back down. "Hey, do you... do either of you see a car?"

Scarlett looks around where John B was starring. "I see many cars."

"Like a... like a cop SUV?" He explains. "Blue and white, maybe?"

Right as Jonn B asks, the same SUV he was talking about drives past them, two cops exiting and glancing around the surroundings. It made Scarlett wonder what in the world he was up to and why he was hiding from these people. At least half a million questions were running through her brain right now and she wanted answers to all of them.

Yeah... so what if she's nosey. Sue her.

"Yes, there is a blue and white cop SUV." Sarah tells him, finding his behaviour amusing.

"Shit." John B tries to duck down more so they wouldn't catch him. "Do you see a guy with no neck?"

"There is a guy. He, in fact, does not have a neck." Scarlett replies.

"There's a woman with him." Sarah adds.

"What are— what are they doing?"

"They're just..." Sarah pauses, not really sure how to answer his question as the two cops weren't really doing anything.

"Can you..." He gestures to Scarlett to drive. "Can you just go, please?"

"That's literally what I'm doing." She sasses.

"Thank you. Thank you."

"They are stopped at the dead bike." Scarlett reassures him, continuing to pull out of the parking space and drive off. "You're fine."

"Why are the cops after you?" Sarah asks. "What, did you rob a bank?"

John B cringes, not able to think of a good enough lie to tell her. "It's probably better if you don't know."

Oh hell no.

Scarlett glares at Sarah through the rearview mirror. "Oh my god. Sarah, did you bring a fugitive in my car?"

Sarah rolls her eyes at her friend's dramatics and looks over to John B. "Are you a fugitive?"

"I don't know, more like a refugee or something." He leans back in the car seat, continuously looking out the window to make sure no one was following them. "Hey, you know what? Don't take me to the hospital."

Scarlett raises her eyebrows in confusion. "You were begging to go to the hospital two minute ago and now you don't want to go?"

"Just take a left, please." He leans forward from the back seat. "I gotta do something."

"All right."

Following John B's wishes, Scarlett turns left and he immediately hops out of the car, grabbing a photo from off the ground and quickly running back before anyone could spot him.

"Come on. Whew." He buckles his seatbelt and gestures over to Scarlett. "Hit it."

"Don't tell me how to drive."

☆

Scarlett pulls up to the Cameron house, parking in their driveway and praying that Rafe wasn't home. He was the number one person Scarlett did not want to see today. After the whole situation the other day, he had thankfully taken the hint and never attempted to contact her, but that still didn't mean she was in the mood for an awkward run in.

Sarah exits the car, thanking her friend as she waits for John B. The boy had his eyes closed and hadn't been paying attention.

If this boy had died in her car she was seriously gonna lose it.

Scarlett gently smacks his leg, unsure if he was awake or not. "Hey, are you dead?"

"No." He replies, eyes still closed.

"Then why are you still in the back?"

John B opens his eyes, and starts internally freaking out seeing where they were. "Why are we stopped here?"

"I gotta clean that wound since you don't want to go to a hospital." Sarah explains.

"No. Sarah, I... I cannot be here."

"Okay, well, you have to trust me."

"Yeah, I did that one time already."

"Holy shit." Scarlett was beyond tired of listening to the two of them arguing. "Suck it up buttercup and get out of my car."

"John B, we've already been through this. I didn't rat you out, okay?" Sarah looks him in the eyes, wanting him to know that she was trustworthy and never did anything to hurt him, still upset that he thought she would.

"See, even Sarah says so in that nice reassuring voice." Scarlett exits the driver's seat and opens the back door for John B, gesturing for him to leave. "So have fun playing doctor."

John B sighs, knowing that he has no other option right now than to listen to the two girls. "Alright, thanks for the ride and not leaving me on the road to die."

"Heh. That rhymed." She chuckles at his words. "Hey Cameron, don't forget to text me so I can know what time you are going to the movie thingy."

"Of course, see you then!"

☆

The doorbell to the Hall house had been ringing constantly for the past three minutes. Out of spite, she almost didn't want to answer it (clearly whoever it was had never learned patience) but Scarlett booked it to the door, ready to yell at whoever was standing on the other side.

"Hey Scar. How you been?"

Shit. Maybe she shouldn't have answered.

She froze after seeing Rafe, but quickly pulled herself together. He was leaning on the door frame, smirking down at her and was acting surprisingly calm. That scared her even more, and she refused to let him know it.

"Since I kicked your psychotic ass out of my life? Great." She places her hand on her hip, hand still on the doorknob so she could close it anytime.

He chuckles and as he moves off the door frame, standing up straight. "Your parents still away?"

"That's none of your business anymore. Now get off my property."

Scarlett goes to slam the door, but Rafe's foot stops it. There's nothing she could do as she stands by, watching him enter her house.

"I just came by to talk with you, since I didn't really get a chance to answer back to you." He explains, glancing around the girls house, acting like he had never been here before.

She rolls her eyes, deciding to just entertain him for a bit in hopes he would leave faster. "And what do you need to say so badly?"

Rafe hovers over her, leaning down to look her in the eye. "If you tell my dad about my little habit, I'll be the one to tell yours that you regularly participated."

She scoffs, almost laughing at the fact that this was his idea of a threat. "Like he'd actually believe you."

Though she said her words with confidence, she didn't know if it was actually true. Since, her and William never had a close relationship, maybe there was a chance he would believe Rafe's words over his. That thought almost pissed her off even more than Rafe being in her presence at the moment.

Almost.

"He probably would. Considering they have been gone majority of the time, it wouldn't take much to convince them, would it?"

Not wanting to admit that he had a good point, Scarlett kept up the act that she didn't care. "You came all the way over to my house just to threaten me? Cute."

"Not threaten, just to issue you a warning." He explains, moving a strand of hair out of her face. "Stay out of my business with the Pogues. It doesn't concern you."

"It concerned me the second you decided to violently beat someone right in front of me."

Rafe throws his arms up in frustration. "They put a gun to Topper's head, what did you want me to do?"

"Topper was also drowning John B that night, but I'm sure he left that detail out in his version of the story, right?" Scarlett informs him, feeling like Rafe never got the whole truth.

With Rafe, that wouldn't have mattered, in his mind, all Pogues were trash and a danger to society. There was no convincing him otherwise.

"You seem quite defensive of these scum all of a sudden. Which one's your new little play toy?"

"You are such an asshole." She shoves him towards the front door. "Get out of my house, or I will call security."

Deciding he's had enough fun irritating Scarlett, he obeys her wishes for once and walks out the door. He stops after remembering why he originally came here in the first place, spinning around dramatically.

"One last thing, Topper's boat sunk."

"How sad." Scarlett pouts sarcastically.

"Yeah, it is." He places his hand on her shoulder, faking compassion before all the emotion leaves his face and voice. "If I find out that you, or either of your Pogue boyfriends had anything to do with it, you'll all be very sorry."

She quickly shoves his hand away from her, feeling disgusted. "We had nothing to do with it."

"Good, that's what I like to hear. I really hope you aren't lying to me Scar, cause I don't know how I'm gonna act if I find out you are."

"I'm not."

"Have a nice day." Rafe waves as he finally starts to leave, turning back around one last time. "You look beautiful, by the way."

Scarlett ignores him, watching as Rafe walks away and waits by the door until he is out of sight. Wasting no time at all, she slams the door shut and double checks that it was locked before leaning up against it. She runs her hands through her hair, processing the interaction she just had.

Her first thought was Pope and JJ. She witnessed how badly Pope got hurt when Rafe was angry, she didn't want that to happen again. No correction... she wouldn't let that happen again.

"Shit." Scarlett mutters, closing her eyes.

"Miss Scarlett, are you okay?"

Scarlett jumps, feeling frightened but relaxing after seeing it was only Lisa checking on her. "I'm fine Lisa," she lies, "Thank you."

The woman can see right through it. Walking closer to the blonde girl so she could get a better look. "You look shaken up. What did that boy say to you?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Scarlett waves her off, not wanting her to worry.

Lisa decides to drop it for now. She didn't want to push the girl any further and make her uncomfortable. "Okay, what should I prepare for dinner?"

"Uh." Scarlett starts as she runs over to the table, grabbing her sunglasses. "I actually have to run out and don't think I'll be back for dinner, but thank you so much."

☆

The moment Scarlett left her house, she ran. She ran and kept running, refusing to stop until she made it to Heyward's Seafood. She anxiously looked around, hoping and praying Pope was there working a shift as she didn't have any other way of getting in contact with him.

She wanders around the store, continuing to look like a lost child until finally finding a sort of familiar face, Heyward.

Scarlett marches up to Pope's Dad and starts rambling. "Hi Mr. Heyward. You don't know me, but I know your son."

Heyward throws a towel over her shoulder, confused as to who this girl was. "Okay?"

"Is he around?" She questions. "I really need to talk to him, urgently."

"No. He went to that movie screening."

"Alone?" Scarlett's eyes go wide, praying that he took JJ or someone with him. "Or did he go with anyone else?"

He shrugs his shoulders, unsure of the answer. "I'm not too sure, sorry kid."

"It's okay. Thank you, Mr. Heyward."

She takes off again, leaving the seafood stop and on a mission to make it over to the OBX movie screening before something goes wrong.

author's note.
guess who is gonna finally make an appearance next chapter hehehehe