MARA WAS AT WORK AT HEYWARDS WITH JJ, POPE, AND KIE.

the day after the movies, heyward had told pope to enlist the help of his friends to work the registers at heyward's, the four who weren't mia- no one had heard from john b and emery since they left the melville house the day before- were all currently working while discussing the previous night's events.

"don't let it get in your head, bro. there's three of them and two of us." jj told pope. "that's some typical kook shit right there."

"hell yeah." kiara said from behind them.

"what was your thought process, using your head?" jj asked.

"i don't know, man. i just kind of acted off instinct." pope replied.

"ainsley's attempt at me was pretty pathetic." mara added.

"i was a cornered animal." pope defended himself, but heyward stepped into the doorway.

"pope!" he called. "there's someone here to see you."

shoupe stepped into the doorway, looking at pope with displeasure written all over his face.

"i've got a warrant here for destruction of private property." shoupe announced, mara's breath hitching in her throat.

shoupe began to read pope's rights to him, jj and heyward shouting in protest as the group followed the man out the door, heyward also shouting that there had to have been a mistake, that shoupe couldn't just arrest his son.

jj looked at mara, who all in truth looked terrified. pope couldn't get arrested, he'd lose his scholarship. that scholarship was his ticket out, how he got to be a coroner, do what he had wanted with his life, and he was about to lose it because topper couldn't handle the consequences of his own actions.

"it wasn't him!" jj yelled. everyone stopped, all eyes suddenly on the blonde boy. "it was me. he tried to talk me out of it, but i was mad because he had just been beaten up. i was so sick of those assholes from figure eight that i lost my shit." jj said, turning to pope and smirking. "i can't let you take the blame for something i did. you've got too much to lose."

"jj, what're you doing?" pope spat.

"i'm telling the truth. for once in my goddamn life, i'm gonna tell the truth." jj replied. "i took his old man's boat, too." he added.

"what the hell?" heyward asked from next to pope.

"jj, come on!" pope pleaded.

"just shut up, pope! just shut up." jj told his friend, voice wavering. "he's a good kid. you know where i'm from."

"yeah, i know." shoupe replied, mara wrinkling her eyebrows in disgust. if shoupe knew, why was jj still allowed to live with luke?

jj nodded, looking back at pope. "this was all me."

shoupe sighed, turning to pope. "that's the whole truth?"

"whole truth, swear." jj replied, shoupe snapping at the maybank impatiently.

"i know what you think, dammit, i'm asking pope." shoupe said, the heyward boy looking at jj, who gave him a small nod.

"i guess that about covers it." he muttered, shoupe removing the cuffs from pope's wrists and putting them on jj, who turned to mara. the girl only stared at him, knowing that it wasn't jj who had done it, that it was pope, that jj only took the blame so pope could still have a good life. it took everything in her not to rat out pope, to make him take responsibility for sinking the boat, there was no reason for jj's reputation to be tarnished even more for something he didn't do.

"pope." heyward called to his son, who tossed his hat on the ground in a fit of rage.

"shit!" the heyward boy yelled, storming back towards the store, heyward motioning for mara and kie to go home, who'd they both did.

"you're home early." leah stevens greeted her daughter, who angrily slammed her keys on the kitchen counter. "what happened, princess?"

"jj got arrested." mara fumed.

"honey, it was only a matter of time, i mean, look at the boy's family. you're better off away from him anyways." leah tried but mara shook her head.

"you don't get it." she said angrily. "you never made an effort to know any of my friends besides emery- mom, jj and john b are good people, you have no idea what they're like!"

"what exactly did the maybank kid get arrested for?" leah shot, mara rolling her eyes.

"it doesn't matter, because he didn't do it!" mara yelled.

"oh, yeah? if it wasn't him who did it, why is he in jail?" leah spat, mara shaking her head.

"because pope did it, mom. but jj knew if pope got arrested his whole life would be ruined, so jj took the blame for him."

"that's a load of bullshit." leah replied. "mara, i don't like what these boys are doing to you, i really don't."

"why of all the days to not take a trip to the caribbean with this week's boyfriend did you pick this one?" mara sassed, leah standing up from her seat in the living room, but the doorbell ringing made both girls stop in their tracks.

"go to your room, we'll talk about this in a moment." leah spat, storming towards the door, but mara didn't go to her room. she stayed at the foot of the stairs.

she was grateful she did, because when leah stevens swung the front door open, a bruised, battered jj was standing outside. the cut on his lip that had started to heal had been opened again, and he was wincing with every movement, suggesting that there was damage under his shirt.

"can i help you?" leah spat.

"i'm here to see mara." jj muttered.

"she's unavailable right now." leah stated flatly. "and will be for the remainder of the summer. i will not have your kind corrupting my daughter anymore."

mara stood up and stormed to the front door, looking at her mother in offended disbelief.

"mom, what is wrong with you?" she yelled, jj stepping back and looking at mara.

"mar, it's okay, i'll just go to emery's." jj explained, speed walking away from the front porch, leah slamming the oak door and glaring at her daughter.

"that is why you shouldn't be friends with pogues. all that boy is is a charity case."

"i wish amelia was my mom." mara spat, pushing past her mother who was standing in awe at the comment her daughter had made, mara storming upstairs and slamming her bedroom door.

she hoped jj did go to emery's, amelia would never turn him down or slam the door in his face.

EMERY WAS LOOKING THROUGH HER PHOTOS.

she and john b had taken a fair share in chapel hill together, on the ferry and at ben silver, pretty much everywhere the two had taken pictures. she had now changed out of the soaking striped dress, and was now wearing a hoodie of levi's and a pair of john b's sweatpants, mentally preparing herself for midsummers that night.

a knock on her door didn't make emery look up. she simply kept scrolling on her phone. "come in!" she called, opening her pinterest board for midsummers, assuming it was amelia at the door. "so i have heels really similar to these and i think they'd look-" emery turned her phone towards who she thought was her mother, but froze when she saw jj.

the maybank boy was leaning heavily against the doorframe. his eye had been blacked, his cheekbone was a sickening shade of yellow and purple, there was blood dried on his lip and another small gash by his eye.

"j, what happened?" emery asked, rushing over to the boy and gently cupping his face to examine it and make sure he wasn't hurt more, but the boy only fell forward into her, burying his face in her neck and snaking his arms around her waist.

emery ran a hand up and down jj's back, trying to comfort him as he cried, jj clinging onto her like a distraught little boy clings to his mother after losing his favorite toy.

"leah wouldn't let mara see me." he mumbled emery fighting any reaction and just nodding. "she says me and my friends have 'corrupted' her."

"i'm so sorry, j." emery muttered, jj beginning to calm down, leaning back against the wall and slowly sliding down it to sit on the floor, emery sitting next to him. "you wanna talk?"

"not much to talk about." jj mumbled. "i owe thirty thousand dollars to topper's family, ems. how the hell am i gonna pay that off?"

"we can help." emery assured, choosing not to ask about why jj owed the thorntons so much money. "just... let's wait until after tonight to ask my mom, she's always so on edge before midsummers."

jj leaned his head back against the wall, sighing heavily, and it was apparent to emery he had forgotten about the night with everything going on.

"just... stay here for a couple weeks, you know my mom won't care." emery added, jj nodding, leaning his head onto emery's shoulder, the blonde next to him putting her arms around his shoulders.

"THIS IS CRIMINAL."

john b whined as emery tied his tie, the boy attempting to wiggle away from his girlfriend, who only pulled it tighter.

"it's a couple of hours, honestly. you act like i'm publicly tar-and-feathering you." she retorted. she and mara's hair had both been pulled into low buns, with pieces of their hair framing their face. both girls were wearing white heels with straps around their ankles.

"jj, if you don't let me run this comb through your hair, i'm going to throw away your taylor swift cd." mara deadpanned from across the room where she was attempting to part jj's hair with a black comb to make it look slightly more put together. the boy had already declined a tie and was currently walking around with his shirt untucked, blazer unbuttoned, and the top three buttons of his dress shirt undone. he had also refused the white dress shoes amelia had gotten him, and was instead wearing a cleaner pair of white high tops he had left at emery's a couple months ago.

"okay, okay." jj eventually complied, more out of fear for his reputation cd than anything, the boy letting mara comb his hair to the side only for her to ruffle it back out a second later.

"it looks better messy, you look like my great-grandfather the other way." she explained, passing the comb to emery who started on john b's hair. "sorry about my mom earlier."

"it's not you fault." jj assured, mara sitting next to him on the couch, emery and john b going upstairs to her bathroom to get a mirror. "besides, ems took care of me, i've been here all afternoon."

"still, she was way out of line." mara said. "she's pretty pissed at me right now, i told her i wished amelia was my mom."

"don't we all?" jj asked, mara laughing as emery and john b came down stairs, emery teasing the boy's hair just a little more in the back until it was to her degree of satisfaction.

"mom and lee are already there, but levi has my car so we have to take his truck." emery explained, reaching into the cabinet above a fridge and pulling out a bottle of tequila, which she passed to mara. "find some way to stash that, and when we get there, put it under the gazebo."

"of course." mara replied, john b grabbing the bottle and taking a sip, which emery slapped him on the shoulder for.

"dude, what the hell?" she asked, mara snatching the bottle and cap back, twisting the lid on and passing it to jj, who shoved it in the inside pocket of his blazer.

"liquid courage, bro!" he exclaimed.

"you did not just call your girlfriend 'bro'." mara said disgustingly.

"you cannot take shots in my kitchen, you know my moms rule. we will lose supervised blackout-drunkness if you abuse it." emery scolded.

"you're hot when you're mad." john b mumbled so only emery could hear, jj and mara already grabbing their things and heading to the front door.

"shut up, let's go." emery said with a roll of her eyes, john b smirking at her.

"yes, ma'am."

kens speaks 🪐

harringtonssss sad jj wasn't enough, i gave you a yes ma'am too.