Joey had been staring at the water. She road out on her uncles boat so many times in the last two days that John B and Sarah had been gone. She never even liked going on boats, never liked anything about it. Yet, here she was, only a few inches above the water as she stared down at it. Right here. They had died right here. He died right here.

Joey kneeled down, her hand hovering over the water. Her entire body was shaking, trying to force herself to just touch the stupid water. The seaweed, parasite filled water that her ex boyfriend died in. It was getting worse, it was getting bad again. The fear of germs, the fear of death, the fear of everything was sky rocketing. After her mom died, it had gotten bad, and all Joey wanted to do was prevent it from getting worse with more loss.

"Fuck." Joey mumbled under her breath, shoving her wrist with her free hand so she touched the water. She pulled back, falling over the seats and hitting the floor board. She whipped her hands quickly, grabbing the whips. It wasn't perfect, but it was something. Joey laid there a second longer, staring up at the barley risen sun, just staring. Sometimes, in little moments, she'd forget that John B wasn't dead.

Then it would hit her again.

Joey threw her hands over her face, trying to keep it together before she fell apart. Her heart raced, feeling constantly like she was on edge, worse then she usually felt. She couldn't breath, that part was clear. Joey sat up, placing a hand on her heart as she inhaled. Her body felt like she was set on fire, every time it randomly hit her. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay."

She was there a few moments longer, frozen, paused in time while trying to pull it together. John B was dead. Sarah was dead. Maybe Joey was dead too, maybe she wanted to be.

Her phone went off, an alarm she set. School was gonna start. Her uncle said it would be okay if she wanted to stay home a little bit, for the first two weeks or so. He'd been around a lot more since the accident, he had to be. Despite not being extremely involved, he loved Joey so much. The second he heard about John B, he immediately remembered how she was when her mom died. He couldn't allow that to happen again, he couldn't almost loose her again.

When she got back to the house, Uncle Shane looked over, sighing in relief. He was on the phone. "No, no, it's okay. I've got her."

Joey was planning on ignoring him, but he didn't let that go. "I was terrified, where did you go? I woke up and you were gone."

"Needed air." she mumbled, walking toward her room.

"Joey, please, you can't just leave like that." there was nothing but panic and pain in his voice. Shane and Joey were more alike then they liked to admit, he was all she really had before the pogues, before John B. But, it was certain that she was all he had. "I thought-"

"I'm fine." she turned to him, inhaling. It was shaky, but it was there, and that's all he cared about. "I have to go to school."

"I think you should stay home for this week. The school will understand." Shane tried to reason with her, hoping she's just stay home, safe with him. "Please?"

"I have to go to school, Uncle Shane." she mumbled under her breath, turning around. "I have to stay distracted."

He knew she had to keep her mind off it, because maybe what happened last time would replay.

"Hey, Jojo." JJ mumbled as she walked into class, glad to see her. It was clear that, like the other three, they'd been all gawking and talking about her. "Haven't knocked a bitch out yet?"

"Pretty close to it." she said honestly, sitting behind him as she whipped the desk off. "Here, do yours too."

Any other day he'd make fun of her for it, but the pogues knew that this was gonna be hard on her, so they whipped their desk off with the Clorox whips. JJ looked back at her again, dropping his voice to a whisper to avoid Kie or Pope cutting in. "Scale of one to ten?"

"I don't think I can stay here the full day." she admitted to him.

"Wanna ditch?" he rose an eyebrow, getting a nod. "Let's bolt after this period."

"I wish everyone knew that we clearly know they're talking about us." Joey whispered as she looked around, clearing her throat as her voice rose five levels higher. "And how rude it is to stare at people."

That had the class pulling their eyes away from them. Kie gave her a half grin, thankful for have eyes off her.

"Joey, was there something you wanted to say about the Roman Empire?" their teacher spoke up, pausing his lesson at her outburst. "Do you know who Diocletian is?"

She exhaled, leaning forward some. "Diocletian was an ex-slave who became the ruler of the Roman Empire, sir."

"Very g-" he began, three different phones going off. "Who's phone was that?"

Silence. He glanced around. "No one's? You will be tested."

"Did you get it?" Kie whispered toward Pope.

"Yeah." he said back. Kie looked toward JJ and Joey, nodding them over. JJ got out of his chair, latching onto the back of Joeys shirt and pulling her toward the pair so they came up between the two. Kie and Pope held their phone out, hitting the message.

Sarah and John B staring back at them in a sent photo.

"Holy fuck!" Joey shouted, the lesson being cut short by her out burst again. She stood up, pulling JJ with her as they both hurried out of the classroom. "Holy fuck!"

Kie and Pope were more respectful and careful, excusing themselves as they ran after the pair, who's footing was on sync the entire time. That was, until JJ hit the mop bucket, falling over it with a yell. Kie gapped. "Shit."

"The cleanest way to fall over." Joey confirmed as he got up quickly. "i approve."

"I mean, is that even possible?" Kie asked with wide eyes, pushing the door open immediately as the trio followed close after her. "I mean, Shoupe said that they didn't make it. He said that."

"Yet, no bodies have been found." Joey admitted, bouncing down the stairs as she lead them to the farthest picnic table, not daring to touch it though.

"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 said, Joey and JJ standing side by side as they looked toward the pair.

"I'm just gonna ask." Kie said.

"Oh my god." Joey had to pace slightly, placing a hand on her heart. "Oh my god."

"I know." JJ agreed, watching the way she clutched onto her heart the same way he had been doing recently. "What if it's actually him, though?"

"Then I don't know." Pope blinked.

"Then we bring his ass home and John B is fucking alive." Joey held her curls tightly, exhaling with shaky breaths. Her hopes were so high, and if it back fired, she knew that it would kill her.

"Where's your phone?" JJ asked, holding his at the group text. "Your name is here."

"It's off, I didn't want to talk to people." Joey shook her head, leaning over his shoulder to look down at the text messages.

Is JJ there?

Joey slapped his back quickly. "Answer. Answer."

I'm here Bree.

"You forgot the comma." Joey rolled her eyes. "When using a name you always p-"

Did you pimp my short board?

An immediate weight was lifted, because they knew. Joey threw her hands over her face, shaking her head. JJ laughed through his tears. "It's him."

Joey fell onto JJ, laughing and crying as she hugged him in joy and relief. "Hang on, just in case."

Joey took JJ's phone, the two pushing their faces together to send the pictures. The bubbles appeared.

My favorite fraternal twins.

The commonly used nickname to describe the pair confirmed absolutely everything in those moments.

•

kylie speaks

thank god. i could not
handle sad joey for long.