"What the hell are you doing?" JJ yelled in surprise as he sat up and tugged his shirt sleeve down. His eyes were panicked; his breaths came out in quick gasps. "What's going on?"

I'd stepped back and flinched from the loudness of his voice, but Nico wasn't fazed. He smiled and shook his head as he stood. "He's clean."

Faust's shoulders sagged as he breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"Clean?" JJ repeated, narrowing his eyes at the four of us standing in his room. "What the hell is happening?"

Theo, meanwhile, wasn't convinced. "I want to see him shirtless."

"What?" JJ scoffed. "Are you for real—"

My brother rolled his eyes. "C'mon. Do it."

"No," the curly-haired boy snapped, clenching his jaw. "Tell me what the fuck is happening or get out of my room."

"It's our room, too—"

Nico hit his shoulder. "Shut up, Theo, now's not the time—"

Faust rubbed his hand against his forehead, but his mouth was still stretched wide. "Just do it, dude. We'll explain after. Please?"

JJ's hands balled into fists by his sides. His glare was menacing, but none of the boys looked intimidated. My pulse raced as I watched him throw the covers off of himself whilst muttering a curse under his breath.

Swinging his legs over the side of the mattress to stand, he hooked his fingers over the hem and pulled the shirt over his head with an exasperated sigh. "Before you ask any questions, let me gun this down. It's type 1."

Silence. It echoed around the room when JJ's shirt was thrown on the floor. He rubbed the nape of his neck, and my eyes wandered to the muscles of his torso and the strange device attached to it.

"Alright," Faust said, losing the grin as he motioned to JJ's body with his hand. "I'll bite. Type 1 what, exactly?"

"Diabetes," Nico answered quietly before JJ could even open his mouth. "That's an insulin pump, right?"

JJ's nails dug into his palms. "Yes."

Faust furrowed his eyebrows. "This is why you've been covering your body up?"

"No, I've been covering my body up to avoid this," he hissed, pulling his shirt back on to cover the medical device attached to the waistband of his boxers and connected to his lower abdomen. "The look of pity on your faces."

"Who said anything about pity?" Theo countered, raising his hands. "We're confused, JJ, there's a difference."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Nico said, voice low as he locked eyes with the curly-haired boy, who was currently on the verge of looking like he wanted to kick all of us out—and I didn't blame him. "How long have you known? When did this happen?"

"Because, Nico," JJ started, tone rising, "would you run headfirst into a basketball player whose body doesn't work right? Would you have treated an athlete the same, or would you have even allowed me in the team had you known? Captains?"

Faust gritted his teeth. "I'm not talking to you as a captain, JJ. I'm talking to you as my friend."

"Yeah, well." JJ shook his head and laughed once without humor. "You're standing here as both."

"Is it serious?" Nico asked, unable to keep from firing questions in concern.

JJ scoffed again. "About as serious as shit can get when I had a seizure. My blood sugar ran too low. I fell and hit my head—they had to do stitches. Are we done here?"

"Hell no," Nico bit out. "We're not done here. Explain to me how it works."

"None of you are in the position to ask me to explain anything," JJ snarled. "I've done my part. I've given you enough of an explanation—which was none of your business, really, considering I'd been keeping this from all of you for four years now—and I want my own. Tell me why all of you suddenly decided to interrogate me and make it good."

"We're looking for someone," I answered, swallowing the lump in my throat. JJ turned to me with a narrowed gaze. "We're looking for someone dangerous and it's not you." I grabbed my phone from my pocket and scrolled through the screen. "Here's what we saw when we had a lead. We were wrong and we're sorry."

The curly-haired boy took the phone. His eyebrows drew together as he read the texts. "This...this is my conversation with Paula. She's—what, she's your lead?"

"She knows about your secret," Nico interjected, stepping closer to his friend. "That's what you were talking about there, right? Did you tell her?"

"She found out," JJ snapped, throwing my phone on the bed in frustration. "I was changing, and she saw the insulin pump. I didn't want to talk about it but she texted me."

Faust groaned and reached up to rub his forehead. "What about what you were asking her to take care of? You said to make sure no one knows anything. Was that about asking Sutton out?"

A humorless laugh escaped JJ's lips. "Oh, so you know about that too."

"Sutton came to Thea and I," Nico told him calmly, "because she wasn't sure you were serious."

"I asked Paula for help and told her to keep it from all of you because, well, I knew Thea would freak, then you and Faust would laugh at me, and Theo, well, Theo wouldn't care but—"

"What about the James?" Faust asked abruptly, crossing his arms.

JJ blinked. "What the fuck about the James? That's my name."

"I know it's your name, idiot, why does she have you saved as James? No one calls you James—"

"Who the fuck knows!" JJ suddenly shouted, eyes wide in exasperation. "Who the fuck cares! I'm not the guy you're looking for, isn't that what matters?"

Silence.

Faust sighed. "Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry, we were just—we needed to confirm it. The conversation was vague, we know, but we were scared."

"JJ," Nico said, stepping closer to his friend. "I knew it wasn't you, but we had to make sure. We're sorry we made you tell us your secret, but man, we're your friends. Before anything, we're your friends."

JJ shook his head. "Two of my friends are also captains. You would've treated me differently."

"We would've made sure you were okay," Theo corrected sharply.

Faust exhaled heavily. "I can't believe I didn't know."

"I didn't want you to know. I didn't want any of my friends or teammates to know. Don't blame yourself for shit, it's making me feel worse."

"I think this is a conversation you guys should have alone," I interjected quietly with a small smile, jerking my thumb towards the door. "I'm sorry again, JJ. I'll leave you guys to it. Head down for the bonfire in a bit, okay?"

Nico shot me a grateful look. "I'll meet you there, baby."

I nodded and stepped out of the room to head downstairs. Outside, the cold air of the night hit my skin, and I wrapped my arms around myself. There was quiet chatter from the nearby cabins and leaves rustling under the soles of my shoes. Following the orange flames in the distance, I walked towards Sansiro Lodge in small and quiet steps.

Paula met me near the fire. "Hey! Where are the guys?"

"Still sleeping," I answered quickly with a smile. "I woke them up so they'll be here in a while. I'm going to head in and help Sutton."

"Okay, I'm going to stay with my cheer squad for a bit. See you later!"

I waved in goodbye and headed inside the lodge.

Sutton had her head in her hands when I entered the kitchen.

"Hey," I said carefully, eyeing the tray of unfinished s'mores on the counter. "Looks like you've got your hands full."

She ran her hands through her hair. "Yeah. How'd it go with JJ?"

"Fine. What happened? You're stressed."

Defeated, Sutton sighed and lowered her arms. Her shoulders slumped when she looked at me. "They had one job," she muttered. "Before leaving for Roseden, I made sure that the food was enough for all of us during the duration of the week."

"And?"

"And the other officers in the council had one job. They just had to grab and pack all the supplies left at the beach house so we'd have food here because Mr. Finch was sure that the nearest grocery store was about thirty miles away. I was careless, I forgot to check the supplies yesterday—they'd only given me two boxes for all the meals yesterday, today, and for tomorrow. When I asked for the rest of the boxes so I could restock the kitchen, they said they forgot. Forgot."

I clicked my tongue. "Idiots."

"Right? But basically, the point is, we'll starve for the rest of our stay here."

"We're not going to starve, that's a bit of a stretch..."

Sutton groaned. "I'm just busy preparing for this bonfire and planning the rest of the activities, and I have to deal with the food and also deal with the case."

"I'm sorry," I said as sincerely as I could, looking down at my hands. "We never should've involved you."

"No." She shook her head and gave me a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You need my help. I needed to know too so I can be careful."

I placed my palms on the counter. "Let's deal with the case later. Right now, what do you need help with?"

Sutton turned around and motioned to the tray of s'mores on the table. "I have to make two more batches of this. We have about forty-five minutes before the bonfire starts."

"Let's do it."

*

Think I found something.

The other seniors were busy singing and dancing to a song I didn't know, and Paula was sitting with the rest of the cheer squad. Nico sat down next to me and handed me chocolate-coated marshmallows on a stick. "Here. JJ might finish them."

I smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks, babe." I took a bite and typed my reply with one hand. helpful?

this is the only picture in her camera roll that isn't recent. it's scanned. paula doesn't have any siblings, right?

Attached to Sutton's text was a photo—the smudged black ink at the bottom said it was dated ten years ago. Two children sat on a swing set; one a boy, one a girl. The young girl wore a gray sweater with penguins, and her hair was in messy pigtails. There was a lollipop hanging out from her mouth, but she was smiling. Her eyes were big and hopeful. Happy.

The boy was smiling as well. His hair was dark, but his skin looked pale. He wore a blue and white polo shirt and jeans, and his hands gripped the bars by his sides. He wasn't looking at the camera—he was looking at the girl beside him.

Nico was looking at it from over my shoulder. His eyebrows drew together. "That's definitely Paula—I've seen pictures of her when she was younger," he said quietly, zooming in on the photo with two fingers. "No idea who the boy is, and as far as I know, she doesn't have any siblings."

No siblings.

Checked her contacts and e-mails too, but there was nothing suspicious. can't identify who's in the picture with her, but I know someone who can. Killian's a tech genius.

I bit my lip. yeah, but there aren't any computers here.

Sutton's reply was fast. He doesn't need one. his phone and wifi are enough, he can find this person. permission to ask him for help? I won't say anything suspicious, obviously, and you know we can trust him.

I thought back to my conversation with Killian a few days ago. Though there was obvious distaste against the Kirks, Killian was a good friend—I'd known him for years. He was a little strange, yes, but a good friend nonetheless.

I looked at Nico. "What do you say?"

"As long as Sutton can come up with a story as to why she's asking about it, then I'm fine with it," Nico answered, taking the stick of marshmallows from me. "Just...tell her to get back here. She can ask him tomorrow, she needs to enjoy the bonfire, too."

I kept my phone inside my pocket once Sutton assured me she was leaving the cabin. A frown crossed my face. "Don't you think the boy looks a little familiar?"

Nico shook his head. "No. Should he be?"

"No," I murmured. "He just looks like someone we know..."

"We'll know tomorrow, anyway."

"You stole my marshmallows."

"I got this for you."

"Give it to me."

Nico took one whole marshmallow into his mouth.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're insufferable."

"And crude, and amazing, and cheesy all at the same time," he muttered, leaning over to kiss me. He kept the hand holding the stick far away for me to reach. "You should feel lucky you're dating me."

"Thea will feel luckier when she sees you dance," Faust suddenly cut in, grabbing Nico's arm with force. "Come on, man, I'm not the only one embarrassing myself for JJ. This is payback for accusing him."

Nico reached for my wrist with wide eyes. "Thea, help."

I took the marshmallow stick from his fingers and raised my palms in the air before he could touch me. My lips curled in a sweet smile. "Dance, babe."

"I hate you—alright, alright, fuck, my arm's falling off—I'm friends with a bunch of assholes!"

We all cheered when the three basketball players stood near the fire, and the song playing from the speakers changed to a more upbeat sound.

Though the night was cold, it ended in laughter.

I just hoped it wasn't the calm before the storm.

*

so yeah jj is innocent cx and his secret is out!

to all the diabetics out there, y'all are amazing.

thank you for your tremendous support! it means a lot to me.