Kathryn always loved school, in the dorky, annoying way it implied. She'd shush JJ in middle school everytime he tried to talk to her. One time, he was so annoying, tugging at her hair and trying to steal her glasses, that she almost threw a temper tantrum right there in the middle of class.

But today, she doesn't want to go.

"Have you sent your early application to Yale, at least?" Billy asks, watching as Kathryn puts on her make-up.

Kathryn bats her lashes, putting the tube of mascara away. "I did. It's not like it'll be accepted, but I did."

"You had a 4.0 GPA, went to summer school..." Her friend frowns at her, nose wrinkling up the way Max's does. "If you don't get in, I don't know who will."

"Coming from the sixteen year old Cambridge graduate, that means something."

Billy only rolls her eyes at her. It's not like she doesn't like being successful in school, she does. Except well, graduating at sixteen makes it a little harder to get a job quickly, doesn't it? She should just push for a doctorate in the meantime. Maybe somewhere closer to the Outer Banks? Being with her brother and Kathryn doesn't look half as bad as it used to.

Kathryn stands up and dusts her plaid burgundy dress off, the fabric hugging her body. She adjusts the white turtleneck under it, and puts on the old combat boots Billy brought with her.

"These are mine," she remarks.

"And that's my top," Kathryn counters, pointing at the lilac blouse.

Billy shifts a little. When they lived together in London, exchanging clothes became like second nature. The closet had no definite sides, it was just their clothes. When Kathryn left for Kildare, she brought some of Billy's stuff, and left some of hers behind.

Billy hands her a Vivienne Westwood pearl necklace to complete her outfit as Kathryn gathers her curly black hair in a half up-do, tying it with a black bandana she hadn't seen before. "Who's is that?" she asks.

Kathryn rolls her lips in her mouth. She had been tentative about JJ around Billy. Around anyone, really. She doesn't want to delve into it, because if she does, questions will be asked, and Kathryn hates questions.

"JJ's," she says, flatly.

Billy arches an eyebrow. "Aw, it's JJ's. You wear his bandana, that's so cute."

She inhales sharply as she puts on the turquoise bracelet. "I'll strangle you to death."

She responds with a bright smile. "Promise?"

Kathryn snorts, shaking her head before grabbing her bag. "I should probably get going now." She stands in the middle of her room, not moving.

She doesn't want to go to Kildare County High School. Max and Henry made sure she would transfer there, and now, she's not sure she could even face it. The Kook Academy might even have been a better choice, because at least there, no one would be talking about John B. Or at least, less so, but KC high school would be a condensed of dumb arseholes whispering that he deserved what happened, and that his friends should follow in his steps. Kathryn isn't up for that fight, not today.

"You know, it's okay if you don't go," Billy tells her.

Kathryn hesitates, but there's no point in ignoring the problem until it goes away. She's much more of a fan of persevering through it and pretending like everything is okay and no, Pope, she doesn't want to rip everyone's head off.

"I need to do something with myself," she answers, looking for her car keys. "If I wallow in the studio a second more, I'm going to go insane."

Billy watches as she rustles through the clothes on the floor and the brushes on her dressing table. "Well, yeah, but going to the school he used to attend is going to help?"

"Bills, he's already everywhere I go." Kathryn grabs her keys and sighs, her chest constricting. "This whole island is haunted anyway."

The only thing Billy can do is watch as Kathryn leaves, batting her eyelashes and forcing herself to not have a breakdown because her make-up is expensive, and she can't afford that.

Billy had seen this before. In London, Kathryn dove into her studies to keep herself busy and try to ignore everything around her. She thinks it's facing her problems head first, but it's not. Facing her problems head first would be going to therapy, or even just sit down and actually talk to someone. Three weeks ago, in the span of three days, Max was shot, her mother sent to jail, and John B died. And she still hadn't processed it, she'd just let herself go through the motions.

But talking Kathryn out of doing something is pointless. No one is foolish enough to waste their time over it. Except for one, stupid, lovable blonde...

A blonde that's slowly going insane as he walks to class with Kie and Pope, hearing everyone whisper around them. He's already had it. Besides, it's not like school is for him anyway. He's not sure why he's here in the first place.

"I hate school," he tells Kie, head low.

Kie, eyes fixated on a point behind his shoulder, hums. "Not for long."

Kathryn walks out of her car frowning behind her glasses, looking at everyone with bloody murder written in her dark eyes. Everytime she catches eyes with someone, they look away. Yet, their eyes are on her the second she stops looking, watching her every move. Some even trail up her fishnet tights. Blue, in this instance.

"We're losing him," Pope lets out as Kathryn joins them.

"Shut up, I love school," JJ blurts out before she can hear them. "Hi KD."

Kathryn arches an eyebrow at his high pitch. "...Hi?"

It's not like they weren't talking to each other in the groupchat this morning or something. Kie just rolls her eyes at the pair, Pope sending her glances, silently asking for help.

The fact that the Kathryn Elizabeth Darcy is talking to the Pogues seems to ignite something in the other students' conversation. Suddenly, it's the only name they have in their mouth, because what the fuck? Isn't she supposed to like, the Kook queen or something? Rafe's girl?

The only thing Kathryn knows is that she feels completely out of place when she turns around, facing John B's shortboard. It's kind of a little shrine they put up a few weeks ago, when she was still going to the docks. Between here and there, everything changed, and she's not sure who drew that stupid bee in the corner.

She turns around, back to her friends, ignoring the pimped shortboard. Kie looks pained as she shakes her head. "I feel like people are staring at us," Kie remarks, looking around.

Kathryn knows the feeling. Never really left, did it? "That's 'cause they are."

JJ nods. "Oh yeah."

Pope hates it. He hates everyone looking at them like they're just attractions. He grips his bag harder, and storms past them. "Guys, I can't be late."

"Hey, hey," Kie stops him. "We gotta stick together."

Kathryn rolls her lips in her mouth to stop herself from saying anything, like 'this isn't a My Little Pony episode'. Kie offers her hand to Pope, and he takes it, reluctantly. Kathryn and JJ share a knowing look.

Kie and Pope have been beating around the bush for the past weeks. If Kathryn and him know that Kie likes Sarah – or liked her... – they're not going to be the ones to notify Pope, especially in that context. Still, that doesn't make it any less painfully awkward...

Kie tries to deflect the act by holding onto Kathryn's arm after a quick bracelet check. Kathryn lets her, but not without a deep sigh.

When she sees JJ ready to leave and escape this situation, she tugs him back, holding his hand. She's not getting through this alone. "She said together," Kathryn insists.

JJ stares at her, his whole arm feeling like sparks are crackling under the skin, before he readjusts his hand so that they fit better together. Nothing more needs to be said.

Walking inside the building is worse than anticipated, and she hates to admit it, but Kie's initiative does help a little.

"Hey, Kat!"

Kathryn whirls around when she hears the familiar voice, eyebrows cinched. "Josh?"

Josh offers her that dazzling smile he keeps making. It falters a little when his eyes fall on her and JJ's hand. She drops it.

"What are you doing here?" JJ asks, the tiniest bit irritated.

"I... transferred."

Kathryn's jaw drops. "You transferred?"

He just shrugs, as if what he just said wasn't completely insane. "I didn't have the grades for the Kook Academy anyway."

Kie makes a face at him. "So you transferred here to get with Kat?" Kathryn turns to her, eye twitching. "What? Just stating the facts."

Kathryn wants to say that no. This can't be it, because that would just be awful and weird, and she'd probably scream. She's not that self-centred as to think that's the case anyway.

Josh seems a little offended, which, fair enough. "More factors came into play, like the fact that it's expensive as fuck." Thank god, Kathryn wants to say. "But I guess having a friend here helped."

"A friend?" Pope echoes, looking at Kathryn.

Oh she wants to get out of this situation. Josh is very nice, and she might consider him a friend, but the awkwardness is going to make her choke on her own vomit.

"Don't we all have class?" she asks. "You know, priorities and all." She takes a look at her timetable. "Like, I have history, which I can't wait to get to. Bye Josh."

She turns on her heels and walks away, a bit too quickly to not be suspicious. JJ easily catches up to her, laughing.

"I can't believe he transferred for you."

"He didn't."

"He so did."

"What do you want me to say, Jay?" she asks, sighing. "I'm hot. It's a curse."

He snorts. "Yeah, but Joseph transferred–"

"Josh is a nice guy," she defends him half-heartedly. "And apparently a stalker, but I'll move past it because Josh doesn't text me at three AM to ask if I want to rob a McDonald's."

JJ stops laughing, pulling a face. "I was hungry."

"Doesn't make it better, babe."

She leaves him behind, hurrying to their class, not noticing the blush that spreads across his face.

Thank god the day starts with history. It's not for nothing that Kathryn applied for Yale's history course, and it does brighten the morning a little. Besides, she shares it with the other three idiots she loves dearly, so really, it should be a good morning.

When mister Sunn, their teacher, starts the class, she realises that she already took it in summer school. Not that she minds – even if Kathryn is more into the early eighteenth century, but she'll take the fall of the Roman Empire and Diocletian. She lets the class swallow her brain and snuff out any thoughts that might rise about a certain person.

She hears a phone ring, and absent-mindedly looks around, but doesn't pay it much attention. Neither does the teacher, who quickly reprimands whoever had their phones on ring mode, and goes back to it.

Mister Sunn barely lets out three words before JJ, sitting next to her, starts to poke her with his pencil. She doesn't answer. He does it again.

"KD. Psst, Kat. Hey. KD."

Clenching her jaw, she turns to him. "What?"

He's not the only one staring at her. In fact, Kie and Pope both are, eyes wide. Okay. That's not at all concerning.

"Do you have your phone?" he whispers to her.

She frowns, and points to her bag. "Why?"

She yelps quietly as he reaches to get it, and puts it right under her nose. With a glare, she looks at her screen. She has a message from an unknown number, so what?

She sends the others a look. "Seriously? A text?"

"We all got it," Kie whispers to her. "It's a groupchat."

Apprehension tightens its grip around her stomach. Her eyes flit to the screen. Okay, that's weird. Maybe even Royal Merchant weird.

JJ grabs her arm before she can say anything else, and brings her down to his level, practically crawling over to Kie and Pope. She has to bite down her tongue not to scream at him – Mister Sunn has his back turned to them.

"JJ," she quickly whispers.

He puts a hand on her mouth. She bites it. With a glare, he shoves her phone in her hands.

She unlocks it, heart in her throat. It's not a text – it's a picture.

A picture of John B and Sarah, alive, and smiling.

Kathryn debates throwing the whole phone away. The world spins around her as she stares at her best friend's face, her stomach dropping. This can't be real. This can't be an actual text from them, it just can't. Someone has to be pulling some sort of twisted prank on her and she–

Has to get out. Right now.

Kathryn stands up so quickly that she sees stars, rushing out of class, blurting out the first excuse she can think of, which isn't convincing at all.

"Bathroom break. Periods. Bad. Be right back."

In the corridor, she's joined by the three others, walking out one by one like they weren't just in the middle of class.

"We can go to the courtyard," Kie hushers.

They pick up the pace – JJ tumbles in a trash can, rolling before standing up back on his feet. "God! Whoo!"

An actual giggle escapes Kathryn's lips as she helps him up. It almost stuns him.

"Where do you think you're going?" the teacher cries out after them.

It has the benefit of snapping JJ back into reality as they run through the empty corridors and out in the courtyard. Kathyrn almost takes the door out of its hinges when she opens it, storming outside.

"Genuinely, if it's a prank, I'm going to murder someone."

"Shoupe said that they didn't make it," Kie adds. "He said that."

"Okay but I – I think we're overreacting, 'cause we can't rule out the possibility that this could all be some kind of weird, cruel hoax," Pope concludes, inviting them all to take a deep breath.

JJ sits on the ground – almost falls, in fact, hand gripping the spot above his heart. Kathryn covers it with her own hand, trying to get him to breathe with her. Not that her breathing isn't as erratic as his, but...

"I'm just gonna ask," Kie says, sitting on one of the benches.

"What if it's actually him though?" JJ says, looking up at her.

"What if it's not?" Kathryn counters. "Not to be a Debby Downer, but our summer wasn't exactly legal."

WTF is this you??? Kie sends into the groupchat. There's an awful silence. Kathryn wonders if the text was a good idea. If it's a prank, what are they going to say? 'No, LOL'?

"He responded?" Pope asks, too scared to look.

"He's typing," she says, heart hammering in her chest. "He's typing."

Kathryn keeps her phone safely tucked under her leg, too apprehensive to look, too scared to hope. If it's a prank and this was all for nothing, she won't survive it.

All eyes are on her, she realises. She wonders if she said that out loud or not. She takes her hand off of JJ's, and picks up her phone, a heart beating so fast it's dizzying.

Is Kat here?

She feels JJ's hand on her knee as she blinks at the message. Her hands can't help but tremble when she types back, i swear if it's a joke i'll kill you.

The next text takes forever to get to them. It's like the person on the receiving end doesn't know what to say to get them to trust them, and she starts to convince herself that it's actually a joke, and John B is really dead, and she might join him–

Cmon bug
    Arent u ur brothers keeper or smth?

    The laugh she lets out is nothing more than a sob, emotions bubbling up in her. It's like a weight is lifted off her shoulders. The others stare at her, because they have no clue what they're talking about, but she does. She sniffles when she looks back at them.

"It's him," she lets out. A laugh escapes her. "It's really him."

JJ crashes her into a hug, shaking her a little, laughing in disbelief because John B is alive and for once, most of life is right. He helps her up, before making her twirl in the air, giggling and chuckling like kids.

When he sets her down, Kie and Pope join, hugging their friends, as if saying that they got through this. They did, and now, everything would be okay. There would be no more anger, no more grief.

Kie smiles when they part, reading the message on her phone, tears of joy escaping her. "'Laying super low in Nassau.'"

Kathryn's jaw drops as she wipes her tears. "As in, the Bahamas? Isn't that where the gold is?"

The next text comes through, making her phone ding as she looks down to read it.

Can you clear my name? Wanna come home.

Well, of course it wouldn't be easy for them, but she's not sure she cares right this second. Or the next. Or the next week, really.

Kie gulps a little. "'Be in touch. P4L.'"

"P4L man," JJ repeats. "That's what I'm talking about! P4L baby!"

They hug again, laughing and crying. Sure, it wouldn't be easy, but John B was alive. For once, they got a win. Something to get them going. Kathryn closes her eyes tightly, smiling. She drove John B out – she would bring him back home.

He told her that he was his sister's keeper, the last time they talked face to face. It was time for her to honour her part of the deal.

Author's Note: I am absolutely not crying NO UHUH WRONG BITCH NO CRYING HERE

Editor's Note: Well I am because I made a 4mins trailer and it's invaded my brain and it's in the epigraph/trailer part and the brainrot is real