"Does Rafe know you came here?" Kie asked as her and Lila walked side by side, Pope and JJ catching up to them.

Lila pulled her sunglasses off and pushed them up on her head, "No, I didn't tell him."

"Planning on it?" JJ asked, kicking the back of her knee as she stumbled a bit.

"I don't think it's smart right now. I just- I know how I'll get and I really don't want anything to get in my way of helping John B and Sarah first." Lila said honestly with a minor squint from the sun, "Plus, I don't want to fall back to like how I was during summer. I wanna be better now."

"You will be." Pope smiled as her.

"Kiara, I need those setups done by five!" Kie's mom called from inside the restaurant, looking through the screen. Lila gave a hesitant wave but got nothing in return.

"Your parents still don't like me?" the blonde questioned.

"Don't take it personal." Kie mumbled to her before looking her moms way, "There are other people that work here."

"But ain't non of em my children!" she called back as the four sat done on the docks with a sigh. JJ saw Lila shift awkward when she sat down, making sure to not hunch over.

"I feel that. On a deep, emotional level, understand that." Pope agreed with Kie's moms words.

"So we going to the Bahamas of what?" JJ spoke up in questioning.

"Did you know there's a ghost by the name Blackbeard in the Bahamas? People claim go see him all the time." Lila hummed as she crossed her legs under her, "We should definitely go to the Bahamas."

"There's no way we're getting to the bahamas." Pope shook his head as he looked at the pair.

"John B's gonna get nabbed sooner or later. So if we're gonna clear his name, we need to have done it yesterday." Kie spoke up as she looked at each of them with a similar expression.

JJ stood up, "I'll tell you how we do it."

"So you have it all planned out?" Pope asked in disbelief.

"As a matter of fact, I do." JJ hummed as he spun around to them, "We kidnap Rafe."

"Not gonna work. I tried to lock him in my closet once so I could search for spirits in his house and he broke out." Lila shook her head with a sigh at the memory, "Plus what happened to our plan on Rafe not knowing i'm here yet?"

"You hide." JJ hummed.

"I'm sorry, what?" Pope asked in disbelief.

"We kidnap Rafe, tie him up and stick a gun in his mouth and just wait till he starts squawking." JJ pointed out, making a gun with his hands, "Everyone agree?"

Lila shook his head, "I could try and talk to him if you guys think that'll do anything."

"No." JJ shook his head, "My way is better."

"You know, torture is a war crime." Kie pointed out with a bored tone.

"Yeah, so how exactly do you plan on clearing John B's name from a prison cell? Because that's a felony." Pope rubbed his hands together and looked over at JJ in questioning.

"How have non of us ended up in prison for any of this is what we should actually be asking." Lila pointed out, her hair blew in the wind slightly, "It's a logical question."

"One i'll never have the answer to." Kie answered her.

"Well, what do you got, Pope?" JJ asked the Hayward boy as he sat down again, bumping Lila, "I was just trying to keep it simply. Kill two birds with one stone."

"What two birds?" Kie answered in disbelief.

"Confess to killing the sheriff and kick his ass for Lila." he said back with a causal shrug.

"I don't want anyone to kick his ass for me." Lila shook her head and leaned back, "If some summer fling told me to move hours away to a loser ass village, i'd say no too."

"No, you wouldn't." Kie shook her head.

"True but that's not the point." the blonde shook her head back.

"Guys, all we need is a material witness." Pope brought the conversation back to John B's name clearing, "We saw Wards plane fly right over our heads with the gold inside of it. He didn't fly it. If someone else flew, they were there on the tarmac. They saw Peterkin get murdered. We just have to find whoever that was and get them to confess on record."

"How do we do that?" Kie questioned.

"A little light espionage." Pope gave a grin her way, a gaze that Lila noticed hinted at more then friendship.

"A little ghost recon." JJ grinned, taking off his hat.

"Woogity-woogity." Pope held out his palms.

"Woogoity, baby!"

"So, can I just ask..." Kie asked as her and Lila loaded up in the car, "Are you, like, cool with us taking Rafe down?"

"Do I want him to get hurt? Of course not. Do I want him to go to jail? No. Do I think he deserves it? A little. Do I want John B to be framed? Absolutely not." Lila rambled as she threw her bag into the car, looking at Kie from the other side as she leaned on the door, "Look, Rafe has mental issues and he needs help. If Ward isn't gonna get him the help, then maybe the higher authorities can. I've done enough research to know that if Rafe is charged for murder, they'd more then likely be able to plead insanity and he'd go to a psych ward instead of prison. Do I want him to be locked up there? No, but it's the only way he's gonna get any help and my best friend to not be framed for something he didn't do."

Kie stared as she climbed in, "You don't wanna protect him from us? From the police?"

"This is my way of protecting him." Lila spoke, catching JJ's bag as he threw it to her, "From himself, he's gonna snap and I can't always be there to keep him from doing crazy things."

Kie nodded, "Thanks for being on our side."

"She's always been on our side." JJ commented, sitting next to Lila as Kie started the car. JJ leaned over and pushed Lilas head slightly as she grinned and did it back.

"If this guy flew planes for Ward, he's gonna be pretty tight-lipped." Pope spoke as as they spoke of Gavin, the man that had been on the plane when Rafe killed the sheriff.

JJ cocked the gun, "So then direct approach gets my vote."

"JJ, no." Pope scolded him.

"No! What?" Kie asked in disbelief as she looked back.

"Guys! We gotta keep this simple, or we'll never get John B off." JJ pointed out as he looked at the pair, glancing over at Lila in questioning.

"It wouldn't hurt to have it just in case." she admitted, "He could have a weapon too."

"See, someone takes my side. This is why I wanted her back." JJ pointed out.

"Offended." Lila said his way with a fake look of hurt, "Thats the only reason you wanted me home?"

"Nah, you're also nice to look at." JJ nodded as Lila pushed his arm, "And you mom me."

"Or we tickle the wire." Pope pointed out from the front.

"What is that? Code for wanking off?" Lila hummed, kicking the back of his seat.

"What? Lila, no!" Pope looked in embarrassment.

"That's how it sounds." she defended herself.

"I plant my phone in his car, and then we listen on your AirPods." Pope said as he pushed Kie's pods into his ears and held up his phone, "Say something."

"Something." Kie said back. JJ looked over as Lila nudged him, giving a odd look as she held up a tiny shell.

"A baby shell I found in my shoe." Lila said, placing it in JJ's palm, "For you."

JJ grinned as he delicately held it.

"Okay, we have audio." Pope grinned as the sound of Kie's words came through the AirPods, "Okay, I think that's his house over there."

"Want me to go up there and say i'm a Girl Scout?" Lila offered as she leaned over the seats, "Or a prostitute?"

"Lila, no." Kie said quickly and pushed her back in her seat.

"Okay, call or, uh... yell or something if you see anything suspicious." Pope spoke as he opened the door.

"How bout a bird call?" Lila suggested from the back.

"That'll be fine." Pope nodded his head.

"Don't do anything dangerous." Kie warned him.

"Come on. I'm not JJ." Pope cracked a grin her way.

"And i'm not Lila but I still do reckless stuff sometimes." Kie said back.

"The two of you will never be us." Lila shook her head as she pointed between her and JJ, "Never."

"Never." he agreed. Pope walked up toward the house as JJ cleared his throat, "How's it been going, you know, with Pope and all?"

"It's good." Kie said back casually.

"It's good? All right. In the bedroom, is he, like, kinda freaky, cause it's Pope, you know?" JJ asked again as the pair of girls gave him a odd look.

"Probably so." Lila nodded her head, "Then again he seems a little vanilla."

"Why are you asking?" Kie asked in disbelief.

"I don't know. Just kinda curious." JJ said back with a shake of his head, "Just spitballing here."

"You don't need to spitball." Kie shook her head, "Ask Lila stuff, she's been gone a week."

"Yeah, like why she sits so weird and has a purple eye." JJ said as he looked over at the blonde, "Your moms got mad at you?"

"Nah." Lila shook her head, lifting her shirt to show the faint bruises on her ribs and abdomen, "Some group of girls roughed me up pretty bad at school. My eye was different though. I got that one by winning a fight."

"People beat up on you at school?" Kie asked in disbelief as she turned around in her seat, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Lila shrugged, "Because i'm here now and the only beating up I think any of us would do is when I jumped off the boat and bruised the guys up."

JJ smirked, "You won a fight?"

"Hell yeah. Wanna see the other girl?" Lila asked with a grin.

"JJ, don't fuel her." Kie scolded him.

Lila pulled up the photo on the photo of the girl. JJ whistled as he took her phone and zoomed in, "You really laid it on her."

"Her nose was broken too." Lila said back as Kie looked at her in the mirror.

"That's my girl. Hell yes. Kicking ass, taking names." JJ yelled as he high fived Lila. Kie shushed them quickly as Pope came running back to the car and jumping in.

"Okay. Phase one is complete." Pope said, catching his breath from the run.

•

kylie speaks

first chapters is here
and i am very excited yet
kinda sad bc i was really
hopinb for some rafe
development this season but
looks like we didn't get it. my
WHOLE PLAN was to make them toxic in s1 and show them
grow in s2 bc i was so so sooo
sure rafe was gonna have
character development but nooo
ofc not. not to fear though, they
will still have moments together
and all that and a lot of dialogue
about lila talking about rafe but
i am wanting to focus more on
our girls character development
and her way of becoming better
for herself. xx