ELEVEN| the warrant
EDEN smiled at a customer as he exited the store, bag of items in hand.ย Though he sent a smile back, she could see his gaze set on the bandage that had been stuck on to her nose.ย God did she hate that bandage. Once the customer had left, she turned to look at the girl who'd insisted she have it on, "Are you sure this bandage is necessary? Everyone is giving me a weird look."
Kiara gave her a pointed look, "Well, if it's bruised, like I'm sure it is, it's better that no one sees.ย Then you are sure to get more than just a few looks, especially because of your mom.ย The last thing we need is someone asking what happened."
"Isla's going to ask what happened no matter what." Eden sighed, standing aside so the Carrera could take her place at the register.ย They'd been rotating positions at the register ever since they arrived at Heywards.ย He'd claimed that since they'd kidnapped Pope a few days back, they'd have to make up for his missing work by helping outโnot like any of them truly minded.
Since John B. was still M.I.AโEden had spammed him overnight without having him even see her messagesโeveryone but him had shown up to help Pope at the shop.ย The two girls were at the register, JJ was organizing items and the Heyward boy was collecting cash from exporters.
Kiara gave a shrug, "You lie to your mom all the time."
"Yeah, but I've never had to explain a bruised nose before." the Bexley replied.
"I don't know, just tell her JJ bit your elbowed or something."
JJ's head perked up at the sound of his name, "What did I ever do to you, Kie? Besides, Isla already hates me enough as it is, I don't think hearing that I elbowed her daughter's nose is gonna get me any closer to the good books."
"The day you're in my moms good books is the day hell freezes over." Eden dryly stated, causing Kie to give a nod of agreement.ย At the mention of his friend's nose, Pope's face slightly fell.ย He'd been anxious about the fight that had gone down all night, and was scared of what could happen.ย Fighting with Kooks was enough, but the fact that Eden had pulled a gun was even worse.ย They could get in so much trouble.
JJ noticed his friends falter as he walked past them, money in hand, "Don't let it get to your head, bro. There was three of them and two of us. That's typical Kook shit right there." He tossed a lemon up and down in the air as he spoke.
"Hell yeah," Kie chimed in.
"What was your thought process, using your head?" JJ asked next, slightly amused as he relived the previous night in his mind.ย
Pope wasn't as enthusiastic, "I don't know, man.ย I just kinda acted off instinct, alright?ย I was a cornered animal."
"Self defense," Eden nodded.
Ending the conversation,ย Pope's fatherย walked in, a rather seriousโeven for Heywardโexpression on his face, "Hey, Pope, someone's here to see you."ย All four of the teens looked behind Heyward to see Deputy Shoupe, giving the boy he was here to see a disappointed and down cast look.
Shit.
All four Pogues shared a glance before Pope spoke up, "Evening, Officer."
Shoupe didn't give into any small talk and got to the chase at once, pulling out a sheet of paper and hand it to the boys father as he spoke, "I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property."ย
"What?"
At those words, Pope looked back at the blonde boy whose eyes showed no emotion whatsoever.ย Kie put her hands up, and Eden looked between her friend and the deputy, watching as he crossed towards them. "Keep your hands on the counter where I can see 'em."
"I think you have the wrong kid, Shoupeโ" Eden tried to argue, but knew there was no point.ย Her word againstโwho she only assumed to beโTopper's warrant and his family? He obviously had the upper hand, and Shoupe would obviously side with them.
"Out of my way, Eden." Shoupe pushed past her to get to the Heyward boy, taking a hold of his wrists one at a time to handcuff them together.ย He was really going through with this.
Heyward's brows furrowed as he watched the scene unfold, "Shoupe, what'd he do?"
"Take a look at the warrant."
"You're arresting him?" Kie exclaimed.
"You're just arresting my boy?" Heyward's voice slightly rose in anger.
The commotion continued, but the deputy didn't answer anymore questions as he led the handcuffed boy outside to his cruiser.ย Eden couldn't believe this was really happening.ย Was Pope seriously getting charged? Was he getting put in a jail cell for something the Kooks started, for sinking a boat that Topper could easily buy again?
"How much did they pay you, man?" JJ called out, clearly as pissed as everyone else wasโor more, if that was possible.ย He had been a part of the boat sinking too, and was just as guilty.ย It wasn't fair that Pope was going to jail for it, not when he had a college scholarship inches away from him.
The five who'd been inside the shop surrounded Shoupe and Pope, spitting out their thoughts and opinions on the situation.ย Heyward was holding JJ backโwho'd tried to come up on the deputyโKie was ranting to the officer, holding on to Eden's hand, who stayed silent, trying to figure out a way to get Pope out of the situation.
Maybe she could find a way to involve her mother or father....surely Shoupe would listen to them, right? Though, Isla would never help a Pogue, especially not Heyward's son, who meant less than a penny to her.ย But maybe her father, if she pleaded enough, could try andโ
The sound of JJ's voice caused her thoughts to fall quiet, as well as all the other commotion that had surrounded the area.
"It wasn't him!"
Eden's head snapped in the direction of the blonde, his jaw clenched, lips pulled into a thin line. "It was me."
The Bexley's mouth fell agape. What was he doing?ย They may have always joked of the Maybank being the first of them to enter a jail cell, but never did they expect it to truly occurโno matter how dumb the shit JJ did was.ย ย
"He tried to talk me out of it," JJ walked up towards the deputy and his friend, "but I was mad because he'd just been beaten up.ย I was so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I just lost my shit."
He turned to Pope, eyes searching through his friends,ย silently pleading that he went along with it and didn't try to fight.ย JJ was doing this for Pope's sake; he didn't care what happened to him.ย Pogues backed up Pogues, and he wasn't going to leave his friendโwho had much more to lose than himselfโto lose everything he'd worked so hard for.ย "I can't let you take the blame for somethin' I did. You've got too much to lose."
Pope understood the memo, and stared at his friend with disbelief, "JJ, what are you doing?"
"I'm tellin' the truth.ย For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth.ย I took his old man's boat, too."
Heyward sent a look, "What the hell?"
"JJ, come onโ"
JJ was sure of his decision, "Just shut up, Pope! Just shut up." He turned to look at the deputy, "He's a good kid. You know where I'm from."ย
"Yeah." Shoupe nodded.
Eden let out a scoff of disbelief.ย She couldn't believe that Shoupe had nodded his head in agreement like that. "Are you kidding me? Shoupe, he's not a criminal like his dadโhe's sixteen years old!"
"Eden, please, stop." JJ sent her a quick look, taking in her distraught expression.ย Eden was his sister, and seeing her truly upset was one of his least favorite things to see.ย So, now, seeing her upset because of his actions was almost making him regretful.ย But, he pushed down whatever regret he had and turned back to Shoupe, "This was all me."
Shoupe looked at Pope, "That's the whole truth?"
"Whole truth, swear to God."
"I know what you think, dammit," Shoupe snapped back, slightly annoyed, "I'm asking Pope."
Silence filled the air, and everyone had their eyes on Pope, waiting for his final word.ย He could either accept what was about to happen, or deny, deny, deny to JJ's story and go through with taking the blame.ย
Eden's nails dug into Kie's hand as she watched the two boys share a moment of eye contact. Finally, Pope gave a hesitant nod, finalizing his decision, "Yeah, that about covers it."
With that, Shoupe removed the handcuffs from the boys wrist and placed them on the Maybank's instead.ย Without a chance to even bid a goodbye, he was shoved into the police cruiser and was driven off to the station.
Pope was quick to show his feelings, tossing his hat on to the road and cursing before storming off. "Shit!"
"Pope...."
"Fuck," Eden swore, letting go of her friends hand.ย She placed her head into her hands, her words muffling out because of it, "Fuck, fuck, fuck...."ย The girl knew her friend himself would be okayโJJ always knew how to handle situations like thisโit was his father she was worried about.ย She'd gotten the chance to meet Luke Maybank a few times in her life, and he was not a gentle person, or an understanding one.ย When he found out how much restitution was.....
He was going to kill JJ.
"His dad is going to kill him, Kie." Eden looked at her friend, worried for the sake of the Maybank.ย ย
Kiara bit her lip, unsure of what they should do. "I-I don't know what we can do.ย My parent's aren't vouching for himโdefinitely not after my dad vouched for JBโand your mom sure as hell won't make an attempt either."
Eden knew that her friend was right, and blew a raspberry.ย There really was nothing they could do but hope for the best.ย The two girls fell silentโHeyward had gone back inside to find his sonโbefore Kie pulled her phone from her back pocket, "I need to get home to get ready. Want a ride?"
The Bexley gave a nod, "I forgot tonight was Midsummers."
"Only our favorite night of the year." Kie chimed, putting her phone up to her ear.
Ever since Eden was born, she'd been attending the Midsummersโthe yearly, formal party that only the rich were invited too.ย Originally, she heard it was supposed to recognize all the achievements the community had managed to do throughout the year, but nowadays, it was just a massive Kook fest where everyone tried to out do the other, bragging about how expensive their outfit was, or how much charity work they'd done over the summer months.
When she was youngerโbefore she'd meant the Pogues and became one herselfโEden had seen the night as a time to feel special.ย ย She knew she'd be complimented and respected the entire night, and enjoyed it.
But now, Eden just saw it as a drag.ย It was a time where she'd have to suffer through Kooks and manage a fake smile as she stood next to her parents, acting as if she enjoyed their presence, or their hands on her shoulder.
"Okay, my dad will be here in like, five." Kiara spoke, the girl beside her giving a firm nod.ย ย Kie had also been going to Midsummers since her childhood, and had the same feelings on the matter as her friend; it sucked.
At least Eden would have Kie and Popeโwho'd be serving food and drinks with his fatherโto keep her company, and not just her parents and the other Kooks that would be surrounding her.
As Kie had said, five minutes later, Mike Carrera's truck stopped right in front of them,ย engine running loudly.ย He was in a better mood than the day beforehandโhe wasn't getting them out of the police station this timeโand gave a small, but still tight lipped, smile. "Hey, girls."
"Hi, Mr. Carrera." Eden climbed into the backseat, her friend taking shotgun next to her father.ย Slightly nudging her shoulder in a greeting, he drove off again towards the rich neighborhood the two girls called theirs.ย
Mike noticed the bandaged nose she was sporting and asked, "What happened to your nose? I bet your mom won't be too happy about it."
"Oh, uh, JJ accidentally elbowed it." With Kie eyeing her from the front seat, Eden used the excuse she'd come up with earlier.ย It must have worked, because the older man slightly sighed and shook his head.
"Always that Maybank kid, isn't it?"
Kiara shrugged. Her parents didn't like JJ all that much. "He always finds himself in bad situations." Which wasn't a lie.ย Out of all of them, JJ seemed to have rather bad luck when it came to thingsโbut so did the Pogues as a whole, really.
Since Eden's house was only a few away from the Carrera's, Mike pulled into his own driveway and let her run off from thereโwhich Eden didn't mind.ย Hugging off her friend with the promise to find her at Midsummers, she ran all the way home, eyes scanning to see who was currently home.
Isla's car was parked comfortably in the driveway, signaling she'd probably been home for the past few hours preparing herself for the party.ย Eden had no clue what she was wearingโIsla always kept it a secret until the day off.ย Why she still bothered to do it, Eden wasn't sureโit had been more of a little kid thing, when their relationship was still intact.ย Maybe it was one of the last small things keeping them from losing their relationship completely.ย
"Eden, thank god.ย I thought I was going to have to drag you home for Midsummers," Isla's voice came through, her figure appearing in the kitchen archway.ย Her eyes suddenly widened at the sight of her daughter's nose, "Who hurt you?"
"It was nothing," Eden shrugged. Though she didn't share much with her mother, she would have loved to explain why her nose was all bandaged up.ย She would love to get Rafe, Topper, and Kelce in trouble for the shit they'd pulled the night before, but it was the fact that they had evidence against her too that stopped her.ย If Isla found out she'd been using a gun she'd be done for, not to mention the fact that it was on the Death Squad, the OBX's richest boys.ย So, she used Kie's excuse, "JJ accidentally hit me with his elbow, no biggie.ย He patched it up for me to make up for it."
"Of course it was that Maybank boy," Isla replied, causing her daughter to eye roll, "You know, out of all of those Pogues, I like him the least.ย Always getting himself and others in trouble, reckless behavior, a terrible influence on you.ย I'd hate to see you become that much of a screw-up."
"JJ is not a screw up, Isla." the Bexley girl replied through gritted teeth, walking right past her and up the stairs to her bedroom to figure out what she'd have to suffer in for the next few hours of her life.
mara's misc!
it's been a month.
i'm sorry about that, i've been having a small amount of no motivation for this fic and it sucks, because i really love eden......but i just haven't been able to write for her.ย maybe that has to do with the fact that there's no hype for the show, or maybe it's just me.ย idk....
this chapter was also not that good.ย it's probably my least favorite so far :(
but, on a good note, we're finally to midsummers!ย that episode has to be my favorite, and i've always been excited to write for it, so maybe that will bring my motivation back??
hope you enjoyed <3 see you back, (hopefully soon), with chapter tweleve!
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