WHEN KIE AND POPE CAME BACK, SARAH WASN'T WITH THEM. They climbed into the car, and the other two teenagers that were already in there looked up at them expectantly.

"What happened?" Bree asked them, sitting from where her and JJ were lying on the seat and tilting their heads back to look at the stars through the window. "Where is she?"

"She's gonna help," the Carrera girl assured them as she started the truck, and the brunette girl could tell that something happened. She wasn't even looking at Pope, and he was just sitting there silently, picking at a scab on his hand.

JJ furrowed his eyebrows. "How?"

"I don't know. Her windows were locked, and I didn't want to be out there for too long," Kie explained while pulling out of their spot and heading down the road. Bree assumed that Ward had his daughter on lock down, and that's why the windows were locked.

Pope sighed, turning around to look at the two in the back, mostly the Callaway girl. "We need a backup plan just in case hers doesn't work.

"Okay, well, the suggestion box is open," the raven-haired girl snapped back to him, and they shared a quick look before moving her eyes back to the road, causing Bree to raise her eyebrows at her in the mirror. She just shook her head slightly.

They all went silent for a moment as they thought about plans. JJ was the one that spoke up first. "Maybe—"

"And no kidnapping," the brunette girl added before he could finish his sentence, resulting in him slumping down in his seat.

"Y'all are no fun," he mumbled as he looked down at the ground of the vehicle disappointedly. Then, his voice raised as he argued. "That honestly our best option here. Literally kidnapping anyone would help."

Kie shook her head, quickly shutting his hides down. That was probably the worst idea they had ever heard from him the last week. "I really don't think that's a good idea."

"I agree," Bree told them, nodding her head.

Pope said, rolling his eyes at the idiotic blonde boy in the seat behind him. "Yeah, that's actually a horrible idea."

"Just hear me out," the Maybank boy pleaded, trying to explain his thought process even though they didn't want to hear it. "If we could just draw the police's attention away from—"

"We're not kidnapping anyone. End of sorry," the Callaway girl cut him off. How would kidnapping someone help then in any way, shape, or form? Like, was he actually crazy?

JJ put his hands up in surrender, giving in finally. "Okay, but don't come running to me when you realize that I'm right, and it's too late because I'm telling you right now that it's gonna happen."

"I seriously doubt that you will ever be right," the Heyward boy told him.

The Maybank boy scoffed, throwing his hands up in the air before pointing at him. "Hey, I have been right before."

"This is not helping anyone!" Kie yelled at them, stopping the argument between the three other teenagers that were in the car with her since they were about to make her crash into a mailbox like Pope.

They fell silent for a moment before JJ spoke up again, "But what if—" The rest of them cut him off almost immediately, and they all shouted at him at the same time.

"No kidnapping!"

《✵》

THEY PULLED UP TO HEYWARD'S TO GET SUPPLIES. They knew that John B would need some sustenance on his way to wherever he was going, so they were getting him some food, money, water, and of course, beer. This also meant that Pope was going to have to steal from his dad.

Kie and Bree stayed in the car that was parked across the street, ready to be the getaway car in case it was needed for whatever reason. Who knows when it came to the Pogues?

After the boys left, JJ ninja-rolling across the street, Kie turned to her friend in the passenger's seat. "Is it, like, insensitive if I talk to you about something that has nothing to do with the problem right now?"

"Please do," the Callaway girl sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I could use a break from thinking about this shit mess that we're in."

"Pope said he was in love with me," the Carrera girl announced as soon as she said that like she couldn't hold it in any longer. She didn't say it like it was a good thing either.

Bree's jaw dropped. Of course, she figured that the Heyward boy had feeling for Kie, but she never thought that he would act on it. She exclaimed, "What?"

"It didn't mean anything," the raven-haired girl told her, but she didn't seem too convinced of that herself. It was more like she was hoping it didn't mean anything. "He was high out of his mind."

"Of course it meant something. That boy had been in love with you for as long as I have known y'all," Bree informed her, and it was true. She had seen the way that Pope looked at Kie.

The Carrera girl sighed, leaning her head back on the seat. She covered her eyes with her hands, and Bree could tell that she didn't know what to do about the situation. "I know. Well, I always suspected, you know?"

"Yeah," her friend replied, and after a moment, she asked, "What did you say when he told you?"

"I told him that it wasn't the time or place for that because we have everything with John B and we were trying to rescue Sarah," Kie explained, listing reasons why she broke the boy's heart. The Callaway girl knew that she regretted her words though.

Bree muttered, "Poor guy."

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side," the curly-haired girl told her, hitting her lightly and playfully on the shoulder.

"I am," she answered with a smile, and when Kie gave her an unconvinced look, she repeated it. "I am, I swear. I'm always on your side."

The Carrera girl shot her a grateful smile before groaning when she realized that the problem still had not been solved. "What am I gonna do, Bree? I don't know how we're still gonna be friends after this?"

"Well, do you love him back?" Bree questioned, but she was pretty sure that she knew the answer already.

Kie made a face as an answer before replying aloud, "Well, 'love' is a really strong word."

"Do you like him at least? Even just a little bit?" the brunette girl asked with raised eyebrows. She needed to know all the facts before she could help come up with a decent solution to the problem.

"I don't know. I mean, it's Pope," the raven-haired girl answered with another sigh, and Bree could see that she was conflicted on what her feeling were. "He's...weird and awkward..."

Bree smiled when she realized that the girl was trying to talk herself out of it. She added, "And smart and funny."

"Yeah," Kie muttered, and she looked away as a blush crept up in her cheeks, causing Bree to giggle a little bit. The boys came back a second after that, and they heard her laughing.

Pope furrowed his eyebrows as they climbed into the car. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," the Callaway girl responded, but the smug smile was still on her face as Kie shot her a glare and not-so-subtly elbowed her in the ribs.

"Hey," JJ called to them, completely missing the interaction as he stared down at the bag he was rooting through. "Do y'all think that yogurt that expired a week ago is still okay to eat?" Bree rolled her eyes at him.

"Yes, because the expiration date is just a suggestion."