lost at sea - act one 

season one ; episode four (part two)

"I'm so glad that they're still doing this." Kiara says as she and Julianna walk hand in hand through the open quad that is starting to fill with people from all over the island with Pope and JJ following behind them with the lawn chairs cooler they had brought. Every summer since the teens were young the island has held movie nights as a way to bring the island together as one whole group instead of the two separate biomes that money had created. "Keep calm. Carry on." She says in the most carefree tone, not having experienced half of what the three accompanying her had gone through so far that day.

The announcer spoke through the microphone up in the projector stand and it echoed through the graining speakers posted on these large pieces of dock posts scattered around the open space. "Welcome to the summer movie series." He says as Kiara shrugged with elation, "Back to OBX life. You know?" She asks, turning to look at Julianna who was already looking at the girl with a small smile on her face.

"Aren't you glad I made you come?" Julianna nodded at the question, "Definitely! Right boys?"

Pope clears his throat. "Ecstatic."

"Laying on my couch with Julianna was pretty comfy, I'll be honest." JJ says adjusting his baseball cap that covered the blonde mess of hair on the top of his head. After the mess between the trio happened at the Maybank house, Pope decided to go back to his house to clear his head and Julianna and JJ decided to meld themselves into the couch with no plan on moving, that was until Kiara arrived and knocked on the door begging them to go see the movie with her because she didn't want to go alone.

Julianna pointed with her free hand at the small open space in front of them. "How about right there?" She asks and Kiara nodded, "Right there is perfect!"

The boys began setting up the spot with the chairs and cooler while Kiara and Julianna spread out the blanket the Carrera girl had packed in her backpack. As the girls did so Julianna tuned herself into the conversation that was just starting between Pope and JJ because she knew it would be about what had happened earlier.

"We're out of the green zone, man." Pope whispers and JJ shakes his head. "Dude, tranquilo, okay?"

Pope shook his head as he took off his backpack and placed it on the ground. "We're in the middle of Kooklandia. This is the last place I wanted to be." He whines and Julianna quickly turns to look at the boy with raised eyebrows, "Pope, I love you but knock it off! I am running from DCFS, so if anyone shouldn't be here it should be me..."

He looks at the girl with a furrowed brow. "Wait, you're running from DCFS?" He asks and Julianna sighed, "Yeah, don't worry, that's not important..." She says in a raised whisper and Kiara turns towards the three of them. "Did you say something?" She asked Julianna and the girl nodded, pointing at the boys, "Yeah, I was just asking if they wanted anything from the snack shack..."

At the mention of the snack shack Kiara's eyes began to gleam. "Ooo snacks?" She asks and Julianna nodded, "I was going to grab a thing of popcorn and a soda for JJ, Pope, and me. Want to come with me?"

"Yes! Is that even a question?" Kiara asks with a bright smile on her face and Julianna nodded. "Okay lets go before the line gets too long." The girls grab ahold of each other's hands and begin to walk away but before they could get too far from the boys JJ whistled to catch their attention. "What do you want, Maybank?" Julianna asks as she turns to look back at them and the blonde smiled, "Hurry back."

Julianna felt a blush fill her cheeks as she shook her head at him, "Just for that I am going to drag my feet." She says and the blonde shakes his head as he flips her off. Julianna chuckled as she turned back towards Kiara who was watching with a smile on her face, "Sorry about him..."

"Don't apologize, I like seeing you two be happy." Kiara says, giving the Routledge girl's hand a squeeze before motioning towards the snack shack, "You ready?"

With a nod of her head Julianna and Kiara were off to collect snacks for the movie. There wasn't a line when they arrived like they thought there was going to be, which was a plus. "Hey are you okay? You have a little cut on your forehead?" Kiara asks motioning to the brunette's forehead that held the smallest gash from her run in with Luke and Julianna nodded, "Oh yeah, totally okay... Had a run in with my nails this morning."

Kiara gasped. "Damn, Juju... What do you have on those fingers, daggers?" This caused laughter to escape the Routledge girl's lips as she nodded, "I guess so. I trimmed them before going over to JJ's."

"Next!" The woman working the stand called, bringing both girls out of their moment and back into reality. "Hey, uh... can we get four Pepsis and a thing of popcorn, please?" Julianna asked and the woman nodded, "Sure thing kiddos."

"Thank you!" Julianna says with a smile on her face as she grabs a ten dollar bill from her back pocket and gives it to the woman. She nodded at the two and started getting their order together, letting the girls have their own conversation. "Okay... I've waited too long, I have to ask. Is anything ever going to happen between you and JJ?" Kiara asked and Julianna's eyes went wide as she looked at her, "What?"

Kiara chuckled. "Don't be like that, I can see that you two want to be together." She says with a soft smile and Julianna nervously chuckled, "I would really like to be with him but you know the rule 'no pogue on pogue macking'" She says, over exaggerating the last bit of her sentence and before Kiara could respond to her an unfamiliar male voice encapsulated the two of them.

"Hey, Kie. Hey, Julianna." Chills fill Julianna's arms as she and Kiara slowly turn towards where the voice was coming from to find Rafe Cameron- the oldest of the Cameron siblings- looming behind them. "Hey..." Julianna said awkwardly and Rafe smirked, "Hey, How are you guys?"

Julianna sighed. "We're fine..."

"Good, good. Um... Tell your boy that we know what he did." Rafe says in a very nonchalant tone and Julianna felt the color drain from her face as she looked at the Cameron boy as Kiara stared at him with a furrowed brow confused by his comment, "Sorry, what boy are you talking about?" She asked and Julianna shoved a piece of popcorn into her mouth so she wouldn't say anything stupid.

Rafe just shrugged, "Uh, he'll know."

Julianna looked at the Cameron boy with furrowed brows as if she didn't know what that threat held. "Okay..." She said in an unsure tone and Rafe nodded, flashing a smirk at the girls as they walked away, "Bye-bye."

"Douche." Kiara says under her breath and all Julianna could do was shake her head in agreement, "Total douche." That was the only thing either of them said until they reached their spot where JJ and Pope were waiting patiently for their arrival. "Took you long enough!" JJ says with a smirk on his face as Julianna passes the container of popcorn to the blonde, "Guess who we ran into over at the snack shack?" She asks and both boys look at her with furrowed brows.

"Who?" They ask in unison and Kiara sighs as she settles into her spot next to Pope on the blanket. "Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did.' Whatever that's supposed to mean..." She says reaching over to grab a piece of popcorn from the cup and both boys look at each other, then over at Julianna, then begin scanning the surrounding area.

"Um... Where is he?" JJ asked curiously and Julianna pointed towards the tree a few hundred feet behind their spot. "Right over there." She watched as the faces of Pope and JJ turned into stonecold stares, fear marinating in the Heyward boy's eyes as he shook his head, "Great, the whole death squad."

Julianna watched as JJ grabbed ahold of Pope's head and turned it back to face the screen in front of them. "Ah! What was that for?" He asks rubbing the back of his neck and JJ shook his head, "Don't stare, bro." He fusses and Pope sighs as the blonde looks at him. "Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now."

"Yeah, yeah." Pope says with a nod, as the two of them fall into a moment where they believe that it is just the two of them in the world with no one around watching them. "If that doesn't work, I got this right here." He says grabbing hold of his army green backpack and shaking it ever so slightly to bring attention to it which brings Kiara and Julianna's attention to it, knowing what that meant. Pope nods, "So, we just gotta stay in the group. They can't get us in the group."

Nerves began to bubble up within Julianna as she watched the two go back and forth with one another. "Like a school of fish. Stay in the school." Pope says and JJ nods, "Can't leave the school."

"I'm sorry, JJ..." Kiara says rasing her hand to catch the boys attention before she continues to speak, "Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here." When the boy turned to look at her and Julianna they noticed that JJ's face was filled with a sense of hesitation, not knowing wheter to tell them the truth or try his hardest to play off a lie. "J, there are kids here!" Julianna fusses and the blonde shakes his head quickly, shutting down the girls' ideas they had running through their heads.

"No! I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?" He says in a tone that is riddled with hesitation and unease, directing the last bit of his sentence to the brunette who is sitting next to him. Julianna let a chuckle escape her lips as she nodded, "Wow, thank you. That's really convincing. I love that, JJ."

As the announcer's voice filled the surrounding area Kiara looked back at the Kook trio then turned to look at her friend group with worried eyes. "Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?" She asks and Julianna turned to look at her with an unsure face as she lets out a sigh, "They think it might go down tonight."

Kiara scoffed as she looked at the three of her friends with furrowed brows, "What does that mean? "Might go down tonight."" She asks and Pope just sighs as he stares into her soul and leans forward towards the Carerra girl. "It might go down tonight, that's all you need to know..." He says in a whisper and the curly-haired girl shakes her head in disbelief, "What did y'all do?"

"Deny, deny, deny." JJ says in a whisper and Julianna just pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head, "This cannot be happening right now!"

𖤓𖤓𖤓

The sun was now gone from the sky and the four had settled in to watch the movie that had been chosen for the night and it felt like for that small moment in time they had been transported back to the summer the year before when everything was normal- all they were missing was Big John and John B. Julianna and JJ are laying on the blanket they had brought and the brunette was nuzzled into the blonde's side with his arm wrapped around her as the two share the small bucket of popcorn.

"JJ?" Pope loudly whisper as he leans in towards the two and both Julianna and JJ turn their heads to look at the boy with wide eyes. "What?" JJ asks a little irritated that the boy was talking during the movie and Pope motioned towards where the bathrooms were located, "Gotta take a piss."

Julianna sighs as she shoves another piece of popcorn in her mouth, upset that Pope took this moment when they- herself and JJ- were so enthralled by the movie. "Come on Pope, can't you hold it?" She asks and the Heyward boy shook his head, "Sorry Julie but I can't I drank too much soda."

"It's too exposed. They'll totally see us." JJ says taking a sip from his Pepsi and Pope just groaned, "I gotta go." As he says that Julianna and the boys turn to look at the route he would take towards the stalled bathrooms near the back of the park to find that Topper, Rafe, and Kelce were settled in beach chairs right at the edge near where the bathrooms were located. "They're blocking the bathrooms." Julianna says and JJ took a second to scan the surrounding area looking for an alternate route.

It took a second but when he settled on one he nudged Pope's shoulder as he looks towards the screen in front of them. "Come here. I know where." He says and Julianna shakes her head, "You have got to be kidding me right now, J!" She fusses but the blonde places a finger to his lips as a sign for her to lower her voice and just watch. "No one will even know." He reassures as the two of them get up from their spots and start to walk away.

"Hey, where y'all going?" Kiara asks as she leans over towards Julianna and the Routledge girl turned to look at her with a half-cocked smirk on her face. "They're going to the bathroom." She says and Kiara looked at her with furrowed brows, "Together?"

Both boys nodded. "We gotta wring it out." JJ says and Kiara fake gagged which earned a giggle from Julianna as she continued to question the boys, "You gonna hold it for each other?"

Neither of them answered the Carerra girl's question, they just begun weaving through the crowd crouched down so that the people they walked in front of could still see the slightest bit of movie. Kiara scoffed as she reached over to steal a piece of popcorn. "Why are our only friends teenage boys?" She asks with a simple roll of her eyes and Julianna shrugged, smiling at the girl, "I couldn't tell you Kie Kie."

—

Kiara had taken over JJ's spot next to Julianna in the short time it took for JJ and Pope to sneak behind the tree in the far corner of the lot and they have been like that for the last couple of minutes. Julianna sat up a bit and scanned the area, "What the hell is taking them so long? Do we ever take this much time when we go to the bathroom?"

"Never..." Kiara says taking a sip of her soda that she placed in between herself and Julianna, "Maybe they're giving each other blow jobs or something." Her comment came out of left field and made Julianna's head turn so quickly to look at her. "What did you just say?" She asked with a roaring giggle lacing her voice and Kiara just smiled as she shrugged, "You never know..."

As she shoved the Carrera girl away from her playfully Julianna caught moving figures from her peripheral. "Wait..." She says stopping the interaction with Kiara and turned her attention to her surroundings in front of her seeing Topper, Rafe, and Kelce make their way towards the tree that Pope and JJ were still behind.

"Shit..." Kiara says in a whisper and Julianna turned to look at her, "What are we going to do?"

The two stay frozen until they see the subtle shadows of five male figures fighting with one another near the bottom of the screen. Julianna's heart was in her throat as she grabbed ahold of JJ's backpack and then Kiara's hand, still not moving, not until she gets reassurance from the Carrera girl.

"We can't just let them get their asses beat!" Julianna exclaims and Kiara nods, "Let's go then!"

Kiara and Julianna shoot up from their spots and start rushing towards the canvas screen in front of them with their hearts in their throats, not knowing what they were getting themselves into when they get behind it. With JJ's backpack strew over her shoulders she felt that the bottom of the bag was heavier than she expected which only meant one thing; JJ did in fact bring the gun.

"Of fucking course..." She says under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief with a small smirk filling her face as they turned the corner and found JJ and Pope getting their asses handed to them by Topper, Kelce, and Rafe. A gasp escaped Julianna's lips as she watched Topper pull JJ into a chokehold, "Let go of him, Topper! " She shouts but her exclamation did nothing to stop the pompous blonde from hurting the Maybank boy.

"Hey, listen, Pope. All you gotta do is accept personal responsibility." Rafe says taking a step towards the Heyward boy, who had his back against the screen. "Rafe, take a step back!" Pope fussed and Julianna took it upon herself to grab ahold of the Cameron boy's arm, pulling him away from the boy she looks at as a brother. "We're not going to take your shit, Rafe! Back off!!" She shouts but as she pulls against the boy's arm he throws it back and his knuckles rattled against her face, knocking her off balance, making her fall flat on her butt.

A groan escaped her lips as she finds that the force from her fall knocks her from her butt onto her back; falling flat against the backpack. "Oh fuck off!" JJ exclaimed as he tried breaking free from Topper's hold, "Let go of me, you nasty Kook!" He says through gritted teeth which only made Topper chuckle under his breath.

"Is big man sad that we hurt his little girlfriend?" Topper asks and Kiara wasn't going to let the man run his mouth anymore; she hopped onto his back and began trying to fight him off of the blonde. "Watch your mouth, Top!!" Her fist beat against the Thornton boy's back but his hold on JJ didn't budge, instead Rafe grabbed ahold of the Carrera girl and hoisted her off of his best friend's back and held her suspended in the air, her legs flailing about.

"Let go of me, Rafe!" She shouted and the oldest Cameron shook his head, "Stay out of this, Kiara!"

Julianna watched from the ground, not being able to find enough strength to raise back to her feet as the rest of her friends were being targeted. "Guys for the love of God, knock it off!" She shouts, her voice becoming hoarse but no one was listening. She watched as Kiara was thrown onto the earth below her, a thump of her body vibrating it softly as a yelp escaped her lips.

"Kie!" She shouted as she looked at her best friend who was laying on the ground next to her. "You okay?" Julianna asks in an empathetic voice and Kiara just shakes her head, clutching at her side, "Peachy, Juju... Just peachy!!" The two girls are laying helpless and breathless on the cold hard earth as the boys are triple-teamed above them.

"Come on, man. Just admit it! Admit you did it, bitch!" Topper shouted as he finally let his grip around JJ's neck slip and then began going after Pope. Letting a punch make its way into Pope's side, having him keal over in pain as the air escaped his lungs, "Ow!"

As Julianna stared up at the star-riddled sky above her, a thought came fleeting into the back of her mind, the thought of the contents of the back still strapped to her back. "You're a genius, JJ Maybank..." She says in a whisper as she rolls slightly so that her back was exposed and without bringing too much attention to herself she shrugged off the backpack, letting it fall next to her.

"Come on! You don't mess with me, Pogue!" Topper shouted, "You hear me? I'm gonna give you one chance. One chance, Pope!" His voice burnt holes into the girl's skin as she unzipped the bag subtly, letting the contents pour out onto the ground, revealing the handgun and lighter with JJ's name inscribed on the metal. "Bingo..." She says softly as she palmed the lighter, letting the metal cool her hand just for a moment, before flicking the top up.

She nodded as Topper continued to talk. "One chance. Come on! One! Got anything you wanna say, bro?"

"Come on! Got something you wanna say?" Topper said again.

Kiara watched from her spot. "Pope?"

"Finish him off, Top!" Julianna heard someone say as she pressed the flame of the lighter into the white canvas screen, lighting it up. As she watched the screen being engulfed her hands began to shake, she never expected that she could've caused this much damage but when it came to her friends and her family there was nothing she would do that would be enough.

A shaky chuckle escaped her lips as she flipped the lighter closed and stuffed it back into the back pocket of her jean shorts so that there was no evidence of who or what started the fire. She held herself up on her forearms waiting for someone to notice the fire and that was when she heard someone call out from in front of the screen, "The ship's on fire!"

She quickly scrambled back onto her feet and right as she brushed the dirt from her clothing Kiara pointed towards the screen. "Guys! Fire!" She shouted but none of the boys stopped their fighting, leaving Kiara and Julianna to jump into action. "Get off of him, Topper!" Kiara fussed and Julianna turned towards Kelce, "For the love of God, Kelce! Let go of JJ!" She shouted and the Kook listened as the fire caught his eye.

"We gotta get out of here Top!" He exclaimed and both Topper and Rafe nodded in agreement, dropping hold of both JJ and Pope. "Holy shit, you almost killed him, man!" Rafe says ruffling Topper's hair and both of them couldn't help but chuckle, "Hey, let's go, Kelce!" Topper exclaimed and the boy nodded, following the others as they ran away.

"You good?" JJ asks turning to look at Kiara and Julianna who were dusted with loose dirt from the ground all over their clothes. Kiara nodded, "Yeah, we're okay."

JJ closed the space between him and Julianna, wrapping his arms around her protectively, burying his face into her shoulder. "You're a freakin' genius! You know that?" He said tightening his hold on the girl and Julianna nodded, "I thought you would like that!" She says with a giggle lacing her voice.

"Are you a freakin' idiot?!" Pope fussed as Julianna and JJ parted from one another and Julianna shrugged her shoulders with a small smirk on her face, "I saved you guys, now come on... I kind of set this whole thing on fire so we gotta get out of here pretty fast." She says pointing to the screen and everyone nodded.

"Yeah, Jules... That's a good idea, let's do that!" Kiara said with a nod, smiling at her best friend as the four of them ran away from the burning screen that was almost all the way gone. None of them expected this to happen on a night like tonight but one thing about Pogues; nothing ever goes as planned.

𖤓𖤓𖤓

The next afternoon Julianna and Kiara found themselves with a day off from The Wreck, they had begged Mike for a single day off this week and the two were very grateful that he finally gave in after the night they had. But the funny thing about them getting a day off from the restaurant doesn't mean they have an actual day off, they just find themselves working at Heyward's helping with whatever they needed help with. Today it was manning the register, so four out of the five pogues found themselves surrounding the front desk.

"Thank you." The elderly woman standing in front of the register as Julianna pressed the button to print her receipt and the brunette nodded, "You are so welcome! Have a beautiful rest of your day!" As she walked away Julianna heard mumbled voices of Pope and JJ talking about last night as Kiara just sat on the counter eating a bag of sour gummy worms.

"Three of them and two of us. That's typical Kook shit right there." JJ says stealing a gummy worm from the bag in Kiara's lap and Pope nodded, "Hell, yeah." His comment was something that no one expected so Julianna quickly turned her head and look at the Heyward boy with a furrowed brow. "Tell us how you really feel Pope..." She says with a chuckle lacing her voice and Pope just shrugged, "It's the truth."

Kiara raised her hand and slightly adjusted herself on the counter, putting another gummy worm in her mouth, "What was your thought process, using your head?" She asks and JJ shrugged, spinning the little carousel of keychains with different names splayed across them; a major touron attraction. "I don't know, man. I just kind of acted off instinct."

"Ah yes... acting off instinct." Julianna says smiling at the blonde and he just scoffed, "What? I was a cornered animal!" He says in a squeaky voice right as Heyward made his way into the store with a concerned look plastering his face. "Hey, Pope, someone here to see you." He says in weary tone as another set of heavy footsteps followed suite.

The four teenagers were shocked to find Deputy Shoupe standing behind Mr. Heyward with his arms crossed over his chest. Julianna looked at the man with furrowed brows, "Deputy Shoupe... It's nice to see you." She says in a weary tone, knowing that her being here will raise some questions seeing that she was supposed to be on the mainland with a new foster family right about now.

"Julianna... It's nice to see you too, wasn't expecting you to be here." He says and the girl shrugs offering the man a smile, "Well had a day off from The Wreck so thought I would help the Heyward's out for the day." She says sweetly and the man nodded. "Well that is mighty nice of you..." He says as he struggled to get something from his back pocket, a piece of paper that he unfolded and placed on the table, turning to look at Heyward.

"I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property." He says very matter-of-factly and everyone's eyes grew wide. "Excuse me?" Julianna asked and Kiara put the bag of gummy worms down before hopping off the counter, "What?!"

Despite the girls' exclamation Shoupe continued towards the group, directing his next comment to Pope, "Hands where I can see 'em." He took another step towards the African American boy but both Kiara and Julianna stepped in front of where Pope was standing. "Not so fast Shoupe..." Julianna said and the man just looked at her, "Young ladies, this would be a lot easier if you two got out of my way."

"Whoa. Shoupe, what'd he do?" JJ asked and the officer dressed clad in khaki pointed towards the piece of paper on the counter as he forced his way between Julianna and Kiara, "Look at the warrant."

Julianna scoffed. "You're seriously arresting him right now, Shoupe?"

The man nodded as he pulled the handcuffs from the spot on his belt. Without saying another word he pushed Pope towards the counter with the slightest amount of force which caused a switch to flip within Heyward's mind as he watched the deputy lay hands on his son, "You're just arresting my boy?"

"Yes, Heyward I am. Now please, let me do my job." He says as he turns back to Pope and starts to place the handcuffs around his wrist; the clicking of the metal left the group with goosebumps covering their skin and a sour taste in their mouths. They stayed still as the world began to move in slow motion- Shoupe began to make his way outside of the establishment with Pope and the group including Heyward followed suite. 

"Be careful!" Kiara fussed and Julianna felt a fire burning within her chest as she watched one of her childhood friends being carted to a destiny that he was never meant for. Julianna stopped in her tracks right in front of JJ and she felt one of JJ's arms find it's rightful place around her waist. "JJ..." She says in a quivering voice and the blonde tightened his hold around the girl, "I know Jules... I know." 

Neither of them knowing what to do in this moment, scared to say or do anything that would jepordize their friend. "Shoupe, are you even listening to us right now!" Kiara fussed but no one's pleas would stop the man from the action he was already knee deep in. "Pope, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney." Shoupe tells the teen his Miranda Rights as he opens the back door of the Police SUV, starting to shove the boy into the back seat.

Julianna shook her head in disbelief. "This is so messed up, Shoupe! How much did they pay you?" She asks in a raised voice as she feels JJ pull her back into him, making sure she didn't do anything to put herself in danger within this situation. She turned to look at the blonde with pleading eyes, "JJ, let go of me!" She begs and the blonde shook his head. "I can't do that sweetheart, you know that..."

She sighed as she watched innocently, wanting so bad to help Pope out of this sticky situation. She felt JJ's body tense as he watched the moment unfold; he needed to do something, he needed to make it right. JJ unwrapped his arm from it's spot on Julianna's waist and moved her slightly out of his way. "Jay... What are you doing?" She asks with a furrowed brow and the blonde didn't respond as he took a step forward, "It wasn't him!"

Everyone's eyes to dart towards him, staring at him intently, most likely burning holes into his soul as he spoke, "It was me... He tried to talk me out of it, but I was mad because he'd just been beaten up. I was so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I lost my shit. I can't let you take the blame for somethin' I did. You've got too much to lose." He says directing his comment towards Pope and the brunette pulled him back towards her just for a moment, the two locking eyes with one another.

"JJ, what the hell are you doing?" Julianna asked, her voice laced with a mix of confusion and frustration. She felt his hand slip out of hers, the absence startling as though it had been holding her together. JJ sighed, his voice steady and strained. "I'm tellin' the truth, Jules. For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna own up to my mistakes." She shook her head, disbelief flickering in her eyes. "But you-"

Before she could finish her thought, his lips were on hers for the first time, crashing together with a force that she hadn't anticipated. The world around them faded like a dream dissolving at sunrise when you were in the in-between of sleep and wake. It wasn't soft or hesitant- it was raw, filled with years of silenced feelings caused by a stupid no dating rule roaring to life like a freight train barreling towards them.

Fireworks exploded behind her eyelids as they fluttered close in the moment, melting into the touch of his hand on her cheek, a place where she yearned for it to be. Goosebumps raced down her arms, and time seemed to slow, the chaotic moment they were living in blurring into nothingness. It was as if the shouting, the chaos, and fear that fell over the group like a veil had all been leading up to this one electric moment between the two of them.

Julianna froze at first, her breath caught between shock and exhilaration. But then, slowly, she let herself lean into him, her fingers trembling as they found their way to his chest, not caring about the several pairs of eyes staring at them. The steady thrum of his heartbeat matched the wild rhythm of her own, grounding her in the moment that felt anything but real.

JJ's hand cupped her face, his calloused thumb brushing over her cherub like cheek with a tenderness he had been saving only for her in moments where they were alone- finally bringing them to the light where they were supposed to be because if the Maybank boy knew one thing it was that the love he had for Julianna Bay Routledge needed to be out in the open.

This moment, this blip of time, was such a stark contrast to the chaos that had consumed them moments before- a lifeline in the treacherous storm. Yes, Shoupe was still there to take JJ away for a crime that Julianna knew he didn't commit but it still felt like a dream come true; she melted into him in that moment and let the warmth of his touch drown out every doubt, every fear that had been clawing at her since the moment the Kildare County Sheriff's Department arrived at Heyward's.

When the two finally broke apart, it took Julianna a moment to come back to reality, her chest heaved as though she had forgotten how to breathe- grabbing a fist full of the t-shirt JJ was wearing. She knew these next few minutes were going to be the last normal moments they had with one another now that they kissed in front of their entire friend group. She stared at him, her lips tingling and her mind racing to catch up with what just happened.

"Jules..." JJ says, tucking a piece of her hair delicately behind the girl's ear, his voice barely above a whisper as he brings his forehead back to rest against hers. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time." Julianna's heart flutters as his words fill her with this sense of yearning pain, "You- you really picked one hell of a moment," she said with a weak smile, her voice shaky but with a hint of humor as she slyly mentioned the crowd of their friends and local law enforcement surrounding them.

He chuckled, the sound low and warm, as he nodded taking in the sight; knowing he was running out of time before Shoupe would intervene. "Guess I'm not so great at this whole timing thing am I?" He asks and Julianna shakes her head, "No but we can work on that..."

"Okay..." He says, pulling her in by the soft hold he still had on her cheek, to press a kiss to her forehead. "I'll be back, I promise..." His words were wavering as Shoupe approached them, "JJ..." He said in a very stern voice and the blonde just turned to look at the man dressed in khaki with a nod, as if he were already accepting his fate. "Take me in officer." He says and his willingness to give himself up riled up both Kiara and Pope as they make their way up to surround Julianna who was still frozen in place, eyes becoming more and more glossy.

Pope shook his head. "JJ, come on."

"Just shut up, Pope! Just shut up." JJ says before turning to look at the deputy with an empathetic expression painted on his face, "He's a good kid. You know where I'm from. This was all me."

Shoupe nodded. "Yeah." He says turning to look at Pope, "That's the whole truth?"

"Whole truth, swear to God." JJ says with a nod and Shoupe scoffed, his head whipping back towards the blonde, "I know what you think, damn it, I'm asking Pope." He says and JJ held his hands up in the air, taking a step back. "Alright... Sorry." He says chuckling before looking at Pope, "Is that the truth Pope?" JJ asks, trying to convince him to agree and after a moment of consideration the Heyward boy nodded.

"Yeah, that about covers it." He says and Julianna's eyes grow wide, "Pope..."

As the deputy took the handcuffs from the Heyward boy's wrist a sigh of relief washed over his father but the trio watching the cuffs being transferred onto JJ's wrist were all on edge. "Shit!" Kiara exclaimed as she made her way over to the brunette, pulling the emotion-filled Routledge girl into her side, "Come here Juju..."

The girl buried her head into the Carerra girl's shoulder, not wanting to see the boy she had been in love with since she was a young girl being carted away. "Kiki, he didn't do anything wrong..." She says through the start of tears, "He didn't do anything wrong!"

"I know he didn't... I know." She said in a reassuring tone as she ran her hand over the girl's hair while Heyward began questioning his son; no one understood what was happening as JJ was being carted away but it was happening and they couldn't stop it. 

a note from the author <3

did someone say Julianna and JJ's first kiss!?!?

teehee ( i did!!)