POPE sped through the streets to get back to Freedman's church.

For some reason, while leaving Ricky's, Pope had ended up in the drivers seat. Whether it be because he was so excited he needed to let his adrenaline out in the form of pressing the gas pedal, or the Pogues didn't want to tell the overly excited boy no, it had happened.

And here, Eden sat in the back of the truck, trying to figure out why? She's reminded of the time where Pope was forced to drive a wanted John B. away from public eye, recklessly hitting someone's bumper multiple times and driving straight through a mail box as the boy speeds down roads, trees and the night sky blurring together.

"Uh, Pope, " Sarah pipes up, cautiously—Eden wasn't the only one who noticed his constant increase in speed since they started driving. "You're driving pretty fast." 

The Heyward ignores her words, letting out an obnoxious whoop as he continues to speed. Adrenaline was the only thing running through his system, causing his mind to react as if he was on Cloud 9; an all time high, which he had yet to crash from. 

JJ voices his agreement from the back of the truck, "Pope, last to judge and all, but I think you should slow down just a little—"

"That would definitely delay our arrival to the cross." the Heyward spills in a single breath, JJ refraining from commenting again as he closed his mouth. "We gotta get there." 

"Why did we let him drive again?" Eden hums from the middle seat in the back, brows raised as she listened for an answer. "Given he's acting like he's drank a whole back of my RedBulls right now." 

Pope tilts his head towards Kiara—who sat passenger—informing casually, "Because I said I'd rip her ears off." 

Sarah repeats his words, "Because he said he'd rip our ears off." 

"You did say you would rip my ears off." Kiara confirms with a nod, lips thin.

Pope leans towards her to say, "I was joking about that, by the way."

"That's a really funny joke." the Carrera girl smiles with thin lips, no humor in her expression.  She grips onto the handle bar on the drivers seat cautiously. 

"Hey, how ya feeling, buddy?" John B. cooed from the back, "How ya doing?"

"Uh, fantastic." Pope scoffs, eyes darting between the road and his friends, not seeming to be caring too much about what lay ahead of him. "I don't know what JJ's cousin gave me but I am—" he moves his hand forward to mimic his words, "—moving!"

Kiara deadpans, "We couldn't tell."

"Let's focus on moving the car at a slower pace, and you can let out every single drop of energy when we get out of the car, 'kay?" Eden tries to use a soft and almost motherly tone on the boy, hoping it gets through to him. He could let out his adrenaline zoomies when he was on solid ground, not in a moving vehicle with five other teens. "I'll race you when we get to the church."

John B. used the same tone, as if he were speaking to a child, "Okay, well, um, you're going really fast right now—"

Pope reared his head back, a grin on his face, "Yeah, really fast!"

As he did so, the truck began to swerve back and forth, causing all of the teens to yell at him to put his hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. The truck swerves between the two lanes of the road before falling once more in the center, the Pogues sighing in relief as they steadied.

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but there's these giant oak trees all along the side of the road right now." the Routledge informs the boy, heart pounding quicker in his chest than before at the reckless driving that was currently happening. "They're like six inches off the road."

Eden grips on to the back of Kiara's seat tensely, watching as headlights appeared in the distance, "Okay, Pope. You see those headlights? Slowly just drive into our lane with both hands on the wheel and slow down to stay behind this nice red car ahead of us." 

Sarah interjects as the boy doesn't move, "Dude—"

Kiara's eyes widen as the boy speeds towards the car and her hand tightens around the handle, "You don't need to pass, you don't need to pass, you don't need to pass, you don't need to—Pope! Pope!"

Screams echoed through the truck as Pope swerved at the last second, barely missing the incoming vehicle as he recklessly veered into his lane. The other car comes to a halt on the side of the road, tires skidding against the road.

Pope glances at Kiara, scoffing, "What an asshole, right?"

Kiara leans her head against her seat with a weary sigh, "Pope, he was going the speed limit."

"And he was in his own lane." Eden loosens her hold on the seat, though keeps her hand ready to grip it with any unexpected swerve or speed change. "This isn't GTA, bubs."

John B. looses his nice tone, snapping, "We're not gonna get to the cross if we're dead, Pope!"

"We're not gonna die." Pope turns back to look at the Routledge, dismissing the idea. Not only did he feel utterly invincible right now, they were destined to find the Cross of Santo Domingo. He raises a finger, "It's our divine right to get that cross—"

John B. abruptly screams, "Pope! Look at the road!"

Eden looked through the windshield to see the truck heading straight for the trees and she couldn't help but scream as Pope fumbled his hands against the wheel, swerving the vehicle away. The tires screeched against the concrete as the Heyward tries to spin the car in the other direction, but he fails.

Pope lost control of the vehicle, truck skidding around in circles before colliding with the trees to the side of the road. Eden instinctively squeezes her eyes shut, hovering her hands over her head as the vehicle makes contact with the harsh wood of the tree.  

Shards of glass fly through the car as the windows shatter, the airbags in the front seat deploy to hit Kiara and Pope, and the smell of smoke and burning is heard as fumes of smoke fly up from the truck's engine.

Eden felt all the air pushed from her body at the intensity of the car, and her figure flies side to side, hitting against JJ and Sarah with much force. The car comes to a complete halt and the Bexley lurches forward, hands cradling her head in protection.

All the Pogues let out grunts and groans of pain as everything stops, as well as coughs due to the smoke and debris around them.

 Cringing, Eden slowly opens her eyes, pulling her body back up to a sitting position rather than the hunched over position she'd ended up in. Blinking away the haze of red light in her vision, the Bexley whispers, "Is everyone okay?" 

Sarah wheezes, "I think so."

"Never better." JJ grunts, voice caught in his throat. He throws open the crunched in car door, stating aloud, "That is the last time you drive, Pope."

Eden follows the boy out the door, groaning at the dull throbbing that had returned into her head due to the way she'd been thrown in every which way. She repeats her earlier question, more whiny than before,  "Why did we let him drive high?"

Kiara grabbed her back, shuffling towards the front of the truck to see the damage—if her father wasn't killing her before, he certainly was now. "My dad's truck! No!"

Eden achingly moves towards the front of the vehicle, cringing as she took in the result of their crash—Pope had really done it. The windshield and windows were all cracked, glass shards all over the exterior. The doors that had contacted with the car were dented. Different pieces of the truck were discarded on the road, and the engine was certainly fucked from the fumes that had poured from it.

JJ pulls out his phone, shaking it so the flashlight comes on. Shining the light down on the damage, he ticks, "Kie, one word. Totaled."

"My parents are gonna kill me." Kiara whispered painfully. She's said it multiple times during the past month, but she's sure it's going to happen now. "For real this time."

JJ drawled, "Yeah, well, weren't they already gonna do that, anyway?"

"Helpful, thank you." the Carrera sarcastically replies.

"Okay." Pope breathes out, stepping forwards, "We're gonna have to walk the rest of the way."

The group all turned to him with 'are you serious?' expressions.  Of course the cross meant everything to him, but he'd just crashed the Carrera's truck and showed no sympathy, or any signs of stopping his mission.

Eden raises a brow, chastising, "Pope, you just crashed the truck."

"I'm going to get my cross." 

"Hey, just relax for a second, alright?" John B. agrees with the Bexley, stepping in front of the Heyward, 

Pope grits, "Get off of me."

"No. I'm trying to help—"

"Move—I'm getting my shit."

"We just crashed the car—"

"Get off, man—"

The Heyward boy begins to walk away, John B. limping after him, "I'm trying to watch out for you—"

"Boys!" Eden echoes, eyes catching hold of the pair of headlights growing closer in the distance.  Pope continues to move forward, almost ignoring the Bexley's call—something the group rarely did. "Don't ignore me—there's a truck coming!"

"Pope!" Kie yells, "Pope!"

JJ yells, "Yo! Look out!"

John B. grabs a hold of Pope's shoulders, stopping him from running into the road and pushing him back into the grass as the truck passed, "Look, there's a truck coming—"

"Get off of me!" the Heyward shouts.

"Hey!" the Routledge fully yells, grappling his shoulders, "You're gonna get hit by a car! What are you doing?" He shakes the boys shoulders, "Pope, no! Stop!"

Eden looks at the scene, brows furrowing when she takes in the Heyward boy's expression. It seems as if his entire body had gone numb, face dropping in absolute horror as he stares wide eyed at the two men within the truck.

The Bexley's face hollows and her heart drops as the truck drives past her, Renfield sending her a salute from the passenger seat while Rafe stares her down smugly from the drivers. 

It doesn't take her longer than simply seeing the two men to know what happened. 

The moment the truck passed, Pope ran into the road, staring as it drove away with a new sense of panic in his eyes. Rafe and Renfield were coming in the direction of Freedman's church. They were in a giant truck. 

"We gotta get back to the church!" Pope hollers, beginning to sprint as fast as he can in the direction of the church. "No, no!"

Kiara is quick to follow, "No, no, no, no."

"Shit!" Eden curses before smacking her Converse against the ground, ignoring the aching in her body as she pushes herself after Pope. 

The group ran as fast as they could towards Freedman's church, the fear that they were too late leading the way. Dread and anxiety filled Eden's chest at the thought that they'd lost everything they had been building towards, that they had rightfully found—again. 

After running for a solid ten minutes through the dark, the Pogues end up at the church. Eden tries to stay hopeful that maybe Rafe and Renfield driving by with smug expressions was simply a coincidence as they walk up the stairs—they couldn't have lost the cross so easily.

But, that hope is drained away as Pope opens the church doors to reveal nothing. 

Eden pulls her phone out of JJ's jacket pocket, shaking the flashlight. Shining it down on the cushions they'd used to catch Pope—which JJ had used to cover the cross when they departed to Ricky's—she's met with nothing but the peeled wood flooring, and shining it around the church, it's clear the cross is simply gone.

Kiara walks through the church, phone flashlight shining through the building as she disappointingly mutters, "It's gone." 

"Damn it!" JJ runs forward to kick one of the cushions he'd laid on the floor across the floor, anger getting the best of him. "I knew I didn't hide it well enough! Damn it!" 

Eden wraps her arms around her figure, frown etched upon her face. "J, it's not your fault." 

"What do we do? What do we do?" JJ begins to pace, ignoring the Bexley's comment as his mind wracked for some kind of solution. How did they get the cross back? "What do we do? Okay, think, think, think, think...."

As the boy wracks for a solution, the Pogues each take a moment to process what happened. Kiara sat down in a pew, placing her head in her hands; Sarah runs a tired hand through her hair with an annoyed expression; John B. sternly stares at the floor, angry at the situation; Pope walks away from the others towards the alter; Eden stands in the center, arms still wrapped around her figure. 

"We need a plan—we need a plan. What's the plan?" JJ mutters under his breath before beginning to explain what his mind was piecing together in a messy rush, voice growing loud, "Alright, here's what we do. We'll grab some kerosene tanks from the Chat, then we...we go to my dad's shop and grab some dynamite. And then we drive down to Charleston and tell this lady who she's messing with! 'Cause this is some bullshit, ya'll!"

Sarah crosses her arms, "That's not gonna help."

"Well, what is, Sarah?!" JJ exclaims roughly.

John B. speaks up, "I'm thinking, okay?"

Eden sighs, resting her forehead against her hand, "We can't just blow shit up, J."

JJ turns to face Pope at the alter with a solemn expression, "Pope, I'm sorry."

"Denmark would've stood right here....preaching to everyone he set free." Pope's voice was heavy with thought as he spoke. The Pogues all turned to listen to him. "A slave, the sole survivor of the Royal Merchant—he got the gold and the cross, and he brought them both to shore and used it to free every person who walked through those doors." He firmly pointed to the doors before pacing past the altar, "He made a church, a family, a congregation....a home. And the Limbrey's took everything from him. They sicced dogs on his wife and his kids and when he tried to go get her remains, they hung him."

Eden nodded along with his words. This cross was so much more personal than anything he and the Pogues had ever dipped their noses into.

"Well, I'm done." Pope states firmly, "I'm tired of that shit. That is not how this is gonna end. We need a frickin' win, guys." He starts walking towards the door, "I'm going to get my family's cross." 

The Pogues stand still as the Heyward passes by them to reach the door, smirks toying on their lips at his determination. Pope's hand hovers over the handle and he turns to look at the group, "You guy's coming?"

Eden tilts her head with a smile. They couldn't really drop out now—they'd made it this far already, and it wasn't like the Pogues to simply give up on something; especially when it meant so much to Pope. 

Sarcastically, John B. trails off, "Well, if you put it that way...." 

"Well, maybe we should think about it, you know?" JJ chimes.

"Pros and cons?"

"Pros and cons list." JJ throws his bag over his shoulder, pointing towards Eden beside him, "Eden, get the white board and dry erase marker—hell yeah, we're coming, Pope!"

Eden comes forward, following JJ and John B. out the door—the latter throwing an arm around the former. "Let's get this show on the road. We have a cross to reclaim."

"Preach it, Ed'." JJ wraps his arm around the girl, just as the Routledge did to him.

The Pogues head to the Twinkie, newfound motivation running through their systems.

The Pogues were met with the sound of sirens as the approached they passed by the Carrera's truck. 

Driving down the road that they'd crashed the truck on, Eden is quick to cringe as she see's the blue flashing lights and sirens surrounding the totaled vehicle, cop cruisers parked along the road—not only at the scene of their crash, but blocking any way to pass by them without confrontation. 

"Oh shit!" Kiara whines, already feeling the wrath of her parents—Shoupe was going to take her home without a doubt, where she'd be forced to explain that not only had she stolen the truck, but crashed it. "They found the truck."

Eden leans back in her seat, "We're screwed."

"Chill, chill, chill, chill—" Pope begins to chant, trying to make himself look less tense and more relaxed. 

JJ throws his hat upon his head, "Of course."

"Alright, just relax." John B. slows down the Twinkie as he approaches the cops, making eye contact with the sheriff as he shines a light at their van, "Just relax." 

Shoupe steps towards the van with Deputy Plumb behind him, flashlight raised. The sight of the familiar six teens who'd caused him nothing but trouble for the past two months amuses him as he drawls, "Well, lookee here." 

John B. stiffly looks out the window, "Good evening, Officer."

"Sheriff. Yeah," Shoupe corrects, shining his flashlight in the boy's face with an unamused expression.

"Sheriff. Yeah, that's right." the Routledge boy awkwardly hums. He glances over at the totaled truck, whispering a tense, "Speed kills, huh?"

Shoupe doesn't seem to be in the mood for their bullshit, "I pulled the tags, and I know who's truck that is." He shines the light into the back of the van, shining it to where Kiara was crouched down beside Eden's legs. "Hey! Kie, you drop your weed pen back there?"

Kiara gives a thumbs up, "Found it."

"Sheriff, I just want to say this is all my fault." Pope leans forward to speak with Shoupe, ready to take the blame for the crash. He'd been in the drivers seat, he'd been speeding, he hadn't been paying attention. Not Kie. "She had nothing to do with this. I take one hundred percent responsibility."

"Nothing to do with it? Uh-huh." Shoupe sends a weary expression to the Heyward, clearly not believing him. "Wanna try that again?"

"Maybe you should believe us more often, Shoupe." Eden comments, turning her head away as Shoupe whips his light to hit her face. "Given last time you tried to go off your own judgement, you wrongly accused a sixteen-year-old boy of murder and almost killed him for it."

"Watch your mouth, Bexley." Shoupe snaps, lingering his light against her face for a moment before pointing it downwards towards the Carrera as he continued to speak, "Your parents reported the truck missing four hours ago and the keys missing from the house. I'm taking you home. Or I can pull you all in for leaving the scene of an accident." 

Kiara fights the urge to roll her eyes as she concedes to the man with a wave of her hand, "Okay." She doesn't want to go home, but she can't let the whole group get stopped from finding the cross.

"Good." the Sheriff hums before nodding towards his deputy, "Plumb."

Plumb walks to the door, sliding it open to retrieve the Carrera. She does so glumly, voice low as she mutters, "I gotta deal. Hit me up later and make sure I'm still alive." 

Eden sends the girl a sympathetic expression, the group watching her as Plumb slid the door closed, taking Kiara Carrera away from them.

mara's misc!

i actually don't like this chapter like nothing happened but oh well

this weekend was my dance recital!!! this is my 11th year dancing so like nothing special but it was pretty fun! this year has been a good season for me, and i loved all my classes and teachers. i joined tap after an 8 year gap && got to assist a class of 7-9yos for the first time ever (assisting has been a dream of mine since i was little).  simply a very fun year.

my tap teacher tyrone recommended me for company (which is like the competition group of my studio) and is currently harassing me into auditioning. "hey, maranara, are you auditioning for company?", "note to self, if mara makes it into company give her torture—" BABES JUST ADMIT YOU REQUESTED ME TO AUDITION

me and two of my friends also assaulted him with confetti. like one of the company girls got it in his mouth as we threw it at him (in an unplanned triple whammy) and he said, and i quote, "IT TASTES LIKE SALT AND FOOT" 

how one even gets that flavor, i don't want to know

also yes tyrone calls me maranara (like marinara sauce but mara). it's been a joke since last year and he wasn't even my teacher. 

this year, the rehearsals at the stage were the morning of the recitals which was VERY chaotic. i was in makeup and hair from 8am to 1pm and then had to come back at 6 for the show. tyrone was literally filming me like brother it is too early for this bs. 

i'm sad to leave my 7-9yos tho. like these kids are my 13th reason but their also my babies. gonna miss them and their oddness.

also also me and kensie updating on the same day????? returning to our old pioneer days of ss for dress (not really but yes)

fair warning next chapter shit gets real (take that as you will)

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 58!!