THE CARRERA family argument went on for a while, their shouts could be heard from around the block. Aurora, Pope and JJ waited in the car whilst Kie tried to convince her parents to let them go to Charleston. Obviously, it wasn't going to plan. Rory admired their house for a while, before the shouting got too much so she closed the car window so their shouts were muffled.

"They're taking it really well." JJ said sarcastically, as he watched the family argue. He turned to Pope, "How'd you get the truck? I know your old man didn't let you have it."

Pope replied, "I undid the intake valves on the carburetto. Made it start pinging..."

"And now you're just gonna take it to your cousin Jeff's house." JJ finished, "Just gonna get it fixed. Crash overnight.... I think I'm rubbing off on you, Pope."

"Lying to your old man, stealing his truck." Aurora listed sarcastically, "That sounds like a JJ thing to do." She paused, "I estimate about 18 hours before your dad finds out and loses his shit."

Pope turned around to look at her, "My dad's gonna lose his shit even more because you're smoking out the truck. Can you open the window?"

JJ glanced around at Rory, who's hand hesitated above the button to open the window. He cleared his throat, "Leave the window closed, Rory- Oh, look...here comes Kie."

Kiara stormed towards the truck, as JJ got out and opened the back door seats for her. He waved to her parents, who did not return the same smile, "It's good to see y'all, Mr and Mrs Carrera."

Pope stuck his head out of the window, "Hi, uh, I promise to have her back at a reasonable and safe hour."

"Kiara, listen to me." Mrs Carrera raised her voice, "If you wanna go, you can go. But if you don't come back at a proper time, then don't come back at all!"

Aurora flinched at the sound of Kiara slamming the car door shut, as she rested her head in her hands. Luke haunted the girl's mind, every second of every day. She wished she could forget him, but every argument was just a reminder of her deadbeat father.

"Y'all have a good day." JJ waved, as he got into the passenger seat of the truck. Pope reversed out of the drive-way, as Aurora watched Mr and Mrs Carrera who were stood on the doorstep. They were both angry and worried, Aurora could see the emotions in their eyes. She quickly looked away.

"This shit would be so much easier without parents." Kiara sighed, as she looked at Aurora, "You okay?"

"Yeah." Rory replied, as she avoided contact. She could feel JJ's eyes on her from the passenger seat.

The car drive to the ferry went by quickly, due to Aurora smoking weed in the backseats. Pope complained repeatedly about the stench of weed which lingered in his dad's truck, but after a while, Rory was too high to understand anything anyone was saying.

Kiara sat on the back of the truck with the group, as she complained about her family, "My parents are so worried of me becoming a Pogue like it's the worst thing that could ever happen."

"I heard they got good weed at boarding school." Aurora reassured, as she exhaled smoke into the air, "Maybe you could, uh, ship some over to us."

"I'm not going to boarding school." Kiara replied stubbornly, "They're gonna have to kidnap me, tie me up, and throw me in a van."

"Well, I just say we crumble some herb right now." JJ suggested, as he passed his joint to Kiara.

Pope put his phone in his pocket, "Rory, have you tried calling John B and Sarah on that number yet?"

"I've tried 20 million times." Aurora explained, "But each time, a lady in a hotel keeps answering. I even called Wheezie, but she claims she doesn't know anything."

JJ smirked to himself, as he watched his sister fall head over heels for the same girl Rory swore she 'hated'. Aurora caught a glimpse of her brother chuckling to himself, as she exaggeratedly itched her forehead with her middle finger.

Kiara passed Pope the joint, "What Pope are you gonna be today?"

He hesitated, "I'm good. I need to focus on clearing John B's name."

"Good Pope." Kiara mumbled, as she sat down next to JJ, "Boring Pope."

Feeling bad for the boy, Aurora held the cigarette between her fingers and climbed out of the truck to stand next to Pope. She didn't say anything, she didn't know what to say. But Rory knew that Pope enjoyed her company, especially when he was the 'odd one out' for not getting high.

They got off the ferry, after what seemed like hours, and Pope drove them to the location of C.Limbrey. Kiara held the letter in the middle of herself and Aurora, as they both read it over and over again. Kie sighed,

"We've read this a thousand times and it makes zero sense." She explained, "I mean, the Limbrey's own half of Charleston. What are the Kook kings of Charleston know about a murder on Kildare Island?"

"Yeah, and why Pope specifically?" Aurora questioned, "That's the other creepy thing."

"I was thinking the same thing." Pope replied, "I think it's because-"

Unexpectedly, grey smoke hissed out of the car bonnet as it covered the view of Charleston. Pope immediately stopped the van, as the truck jolted forward.

"No. No. No." Pope laughed in disbelief, "Shit!"

"That's a-lot of smoke, even for your dad's truck." Kiara worried, as she opened the car door, "It's gonna blow up, get out. Get out."

"I got sensitive lungs, man." JJ coughed, as he climbed out of the truck, "You probably unhooked the radiator, Pope. I haven't seen this before. You knocked the entire hubcap off!" JJ clapped sarcastically, "Whoo! You might wanna reschedule your meeting tonight, Pope."

Aurora opened the car bonnet, as she wafted the suffocating smoke from around her face. She looked at the messed up wires in front of her, before she slammed it shut. She sighed, "Right, it looks like the truck's fucked. But Plan B? We could use public transport, we could hitchhike... rent bikes."

Pope stared blankly at the car, "My dad's gonna kill me."

"He might." JJ nodded, "He might."

After hours of pushing the Truck to the nearest Mechanic, Pope and Rory tried their best to help the Mechanic fix the vehicle. Luckily for Aurora, her father fixed motors for a living (but he soon got fired from that job for stealing money and drugs) so she learnt a thing or two about cars.

"It could be anything." The Mechanic wiped the sweat from his forehead, "But my best bet is that it's the intake valve. I can put a rush on it, but it's gonna cost you a little extra."

"Okay." Pope nodded hesitantly, as he began walking over to Kie and JJ. He turned around, noticing the absence of Rory, "You coming?"

"I'll be there in a sec." She replied, as she turned to the Mechanic, "Excuse me, do you have a restroom?" 

The man nodded, "Uh, there's a bathroom out the back, to your left."

Whilst the man fixed the truck, Aurora made her way inside of the small store. Of course, she lied- she didn't actually want to find the bathroom, she just needed an excuse to be alone and shoplift. Shoplifting was one of Aurora's gifts, passed down from many generations. Rory searched around the empty store, putting as much cigarette packets and lighters in her pockets as it could fit. However, despite her satisfaction for the cigarettes, the girl's mind was forcing that she'd look for something else. Something that she hadn't done in quite a while. Aurora pushed the temptation away.

After the Mechanic had fixed the truck, he man passed Aurora the receipt for the vehicle, and her eyes widened as she saw the price. Her eyes widened, "370? Are you serious?"

"Sure am." The man replied.

Pope sighed, "Kie, are you sure your parents are okay with letting you pay for this?"

"No, hell no." Kiara replied, "But im already a day late home, and they can only kill me once, right?"

The back of Heyward's truck was much comfier than the girl imagined, as she awoke to the sunrise blinding her eyes. Aurora sat up, noticing Pope and Kie were already up and awake, looking at the letter that Limbrey had sent. She looked at JJ, who was already looking at her,

"Morning." He croaked, then hesitated, "You're lucky no one saw you yesterday, because I certainly did."

Rory frowned, tying her hair in ponytail, "Saw me doing what, Stalker?"

"Going to the restroom." JJ emphasised his words, "Ring any bells?"

Aurora rolled her eyes, "It was only cigarettes and-."

"Lighters. I know." The comforting words escaped her brother's mouth, as he got up and climbed to the front seat of the van. It left Rory speechless as she noticed how her brother understood. He got her, like nobody else ever would. JJ didn't judge Aurora, nor let her feel guilty, he made her feel okay about not being okay.