chapter nine, DO YOU NEED HEAD AND SHOULDERS?

KIARA AND EMELIA WERE AT THE LATTER'S HOUSE, chatting. The two girls were in the kitchen, Kiara sitting on the bar stool as Emelia rummaged through the almost empty fridge. "Kie, we need to talk about you and John B more... with that kiss, things are going through my head," Emelia said, shaking her head as she pulled out some cheese.

"Nothing's going on, Em," Kiara shook her head, watching her brunette friend take a bite out of the cheese and immediately gag, spitting it out. "I think that's expired cheese," Kiara giggled, her laughs growing as a dirty look was thrown at her.

"Anyways," Emelia mumbled, throwing the cheese out. "You want something to be going on." Kiara shook her head at Emelia's words, denying any claim she made. Emelia watched her head move, smoothly denying her words and clearly wishing the topic would change.

"Come on Kie. I know you. I've never seen you look at someone that way. Not even the first time that you saw me after my tiny hiatus," Emelia said, her hands going up in a slight shrugging motion and her eyebrows raising exasperatedly. Kiara frowned slightly at the girl's words.

"Emmy, nothing's going on, and I don't want anything to go on. We're just best friends, and he was about to dive into deep water and look at a boat with a quarter full tank of air!" Kiara retorted.

"Oh really? Then where's my kiss on the cheek?" Emelia said, raising an eyebrow at her. "If you're worried about the Pogue on Pogue macking rule, don't!"

"What's your counter-claim to prove that I shouldn't worry about it?" Kiara asked, and Emelia stood there silently. "You guys would be cute together?" She offered, and Kiara shook her head with a small smile.

"Emelia, if me and John B were to ever date, and then break up, it would completely ruin the dynamic of our friend group! And if that dynamic being ruined left the group to break up, it would be my fault because I moved in on John B. And then I'd have literally no one," Kiara rambled, explaining to Emelia why she'd never make a move on John B.

Emelia spoke up, voicing her own opinions. "You shouldn't worry about that! Our bond is too strong to be broken by a silly breakup! Kie, just trust me!"

"You should really take your own advice," Kiara countered. "Besides, if you and Pope were to ever get together, and then break up, wouldn't it ruin the friend group? It would just be too awkward to be around a broken up couple!"

"What?" Emelia asked as she watched Kiara get up and walk to the door leading to the outside world. "Wait, wait, wait. If Pope and I ever got together and then broke up, which would be very unlikely, we would be able to stay as friends because we would end our relationship like that!" Emelia said. "And you and John B could end a relationship like that the same way, as friends, because the only way you wouldn't is if he cheated on you or something and I can say completely confidently that he would never do that because he is a good guy, and if you don't shoot your shot now someone else is going to step in and take that chance."

"If you think so highly of him, why not go date John B, break up with him, and then get back to me," Kiara said as she opened the door and walked out. "Kiara, wait!" Emelia sighed, rolling her eyes at the random outburst from the girl.

She was slightly pissed that the civil gossipy conversation between the two teen girls had turned into a small fight. She was completely confident that if her or Kiara were to ever date one of the other guys, them breaking up would be no problem because the groups' bond was so strong. But Emelia just decided to stand back, sitting in the back row of the audience and only clapping when she had to. She was sure someone else was going to step in and steal the chance that Kiara was tottering on. She'd just have to wait for that moment, and have an 'I told you so moment', when Kiara would inevitably be pissed.

THE GROUP ALL STOOD WARILY ON THE FRONT PORCH, waiting for the void that was silence to be filled in with someones, anyone's, words. JJ and John B had just visited Scooter Grubbs' wife, Lana Grubbs, and had had a rude encounter that left tension in the air.

JJ's pacing had left the other four even more anxious, and Emelia was this close to strangling him to death. "JJ!" She finally shouted, her hand flying off of her head suddenly after the creaking of the floorboards had left her ears ringing and bleeding. JJ looked up and to Emelia. "Sorry," he muttered.

Pope, noticing Emelia's clear anxiousness, stepped closer to her in discreet comfort. She allowed her head to fall on his shoulder as Kiara opened her mouth to speak. "Just tell us what happened, please?"

"Me and John B arrived at Miss Lana's place, right?" JJ said, beginning to retell the story to his friends to quit stressing them out. "And then we were outside against the wall, just like this," JJ said, crouching down against the wall as if it was the wall of Lana Grubbs'. "And then all of a sudden we just hear BAM, BAM, BAM!" JJ said, causing Emelia to slightly jump at the sudden escalation of the blonde's voice.

"Which was knocking paint of the wall," JJ continued. The group listened to the boy intently, watching as he slightly reenacted the previous events. "Right, and I'm just looking at him— hold on look at this shit," JJ said, walking forward quickly to the center of the circle the group had formed around the porch.

He lifted his hand to his head, shaking it through his hair as little specks of white paints fluttered to the ground. Emelia immediately side-stepped, creating space between her and JJ. "Oh my God, do you need head and shoulders?" Emelia asked, her sarcastic comment voicing her disgust as she mistook the paint for dandruff, which Pope and Kiara obviously did too.

"The house— JJ—," Pope muttered, convinced that dead skin was fluttering to the floor. Kiara pulled a face of disgust, staring at the paint. "Is that dandruff? That's disgusting," Kiara said. "No, look! It's paint!" JJ said, pointing at the flakes of paint as the three teenagers nodded suddenly.

"Oh, shit, okay. That's good I'm too broke for head and shoulders," Emelia said as JJ continued his story. "So at that point I was just, like, waiting for death!" The boy said. "So you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Emelia questioned the blonde, who nodded in response.

"Okay... so did you get a good description?" Pope asked. The four teenagers stood in silence, three with curious thoughts running through their heads and a confused look on their faces, one thinking of something to describe the mystery men, also a confused look on his face. The silence was prolonged, partially being interrupted by the three continuing with their interrogating, prying the answer out of him.

"Burly," JJ finally answered, and Emelia rolled her eyes. "Burly?" Pope repeated, glancing at Emelia, his face dropping from hopeful and adopting a slightly discouraged look. JJ nodded at his confusion. "You know—" JJ started. "I know," Pope said.

"That's not very helpful," Kiara said, stating the words on Pope and Emelia's minds. "I'm with Kie," Emelia said. "Like, burly? Really? Do you know how many people on this island are burly?" Emelia finished.

"No, I know, but like— these dudes are square groupers," JJ finally said, his face lighting up at the final word. "Square groupers... like narco square groupers?" Pope asked him as he moved to the couch, Emelia sitting on the arm rest next to him as his arm rested behind her, close to her waist. "What, like Pablo Escobar square groupers?" Emelia asked him as she looked up from Pope, training her eyes on JJ.

"Yeah. Yeah," JJ said, nodding his head at Emelia in agreement, his eyes slightly flickering between her and Pope.

"So what does a square grouper specifically look like?" Pope questioned, not missing JJ's curious eye movements. "You weren't there bro!" JJ responded. "Because apparently you don't know what to look for!" Pope said, his aggression slightly dying down at the feeling of Emelia's hand on his shoulder, her thumb slightly rubbing his neck.

"I wasn't taking mental Polaroids the entire time, dude!" JJ shouted, and Emelia snorted. "Good, because they would not be aesthetic..." the girl muttered, her hand not moving from Pope's body. JJ sent her a glare, but his eyes landed slightly on her hand placed on Pope's shoulder, leaving him to suppress a smirk.

"I was under duress!" JJ countered back loudly. "But I could tell by Miss Lana's screaming, these guys are serious, serious hombres, man," JJ said, shaking his head in slight disbelief at the events of the day.

"You said that the men went to Miss Lana's looking for that compass, correct?" Kiara asked, pointing at the old compass that John B had silently been fiddling with this whole interaction. JJ nodded, at the girl. "Uh-huh," JJ responded.

"Well why would they want that compass?" Kiara asked as she glanced at the group around her. JJ had paused in the middle of the room, answering Kiara's question, John B sitting down, the compass in hand, his mouth unmoving. Emelia sat on the armrest of the couch, her arm on Pope's shoulder still and her head leaned to the side, resting against his head. Pope sat next to her, allowing all of her touch, and sitting calmly on the couch cushion.

"The office," John B said, the two words being the first he had spoken in awhile. JJ, Pope, Kiara, and Emelia looked at him in confusion.

"Office, what office?" JJ asked, turning to look at his best friend. "My dad's office," John b responded, walking into the house as the group followed him in. They all stopped outside of a closed room, John B's hand resting around the door knob. "He used to keep it locked because he was paranoid someone was going to steal all his Royal Merchant research."

"I used to laugh at him, the idea too far-fetched for me to think of it happening," John B sighed. "But now that he's gone," he said, purposefully avoiding the word dead, "I've just left it."

John B unlocked the door, opening it up. "Yeah, for when he gets back," Kiara said softly, her words soothing to John B's racing mind. John B nodded.

"For when he gets back," he repeated.

( NOTES )


im actually so bad at fillers
so imma js add in the pope
and emelia stuff into the
chapters soooo