THE HIGH FELT LIKE IT WOULD NEVER END.

but, as emery sat in the back of the twinkie, ainsley, mara, and levi with her, she knew it would. nothing could go well for them for long.

"he said it looks something like this." levi said, showing the drawing in his hands to the girls. "this little cart will go into the gold room-"

no one could stop their laughter after this, all of them laughing at the child-like nature of the drawing. however, it did appear to be one that would work if everything went to plan for them.

"who even drew this?" emery asked with a giggle, taking the drawing from levi, but he immediately snatched it back.

"who do you think?" mara asked, nodding towards where pope and john b were standing. emery glanced down at levi, but he was staring at pope.

"emery!" jj called from across the yard, walking towards her with a frying pan and the three bars of gold john b had grabbed, tossing the items onto the floor of the van. "this had better work, we can't pawn this shit off with a giant wheat symbol on it."

emery grabbed the blowtorch from behind mara, putting the bars into the pan, grabbing a cigarette lighter from the floor and using it to light the torch. mara passed her a pair of dollar store aviator sunglasses with little tint, everyone watching intently as emery melted the gold down into mostly liquid in the bottom of the pan.

after that, everyone loaded up into the twinkie. john b had found a pawn shop in town that accepted gold and paid cash for it. however, as they stepped out of the van, emery couldn't help but notice they were further into the cut than she liked being, and the "good riddance aggie" spray painted onto a piece of plywood in the window wasn't helping the case of the rundown shop.

"hell of a job melting it down, dr. frankenstein." jj said to emery sarcastically as he got out of the van and pulled the piece of metal out of the pan. the wheat symbol was gone, but it was more of a blob than a physical shape.

"you can't do any better." emery retorted.

"i could've done much better, i took a welding class." jj stated, matter-of-factly.

"you never come to school." mara deadpanned, jj glaring at the girl.

"hey!" john b snapped at the boy. "chill out, alright?"

"easy for you to say. you're not the one that has to pawn this price of shit off." jj said, holding the hunk of metal up to show everyone as though they hadn't already seen it. "how did i get this job, anyway?"

"because you're the best liar." pope said flatly, jj walking into the shop first with everyone behind him.

"good day, ma'am!" he called to the woman behind the counter.

"who says good day?" emery whispered to mara, the two pretending to look over a display case full of someone's grandmother's jewelry.

"good day." the woman said in a disapproving tone, as though the massive group of teenagers in her store was an inconvenience.

"i see you buy gold?" jj asked, the woman looking at him like he was stupid.

"that's what the sign say, don't it?" she asked, almost as if she thought he was illiterate- if you ask emery, he pretty much was- and whatever his business was was a waste of her time.

"well i hope you buy a lot of it, because im about to blow your mind." jj said, dropping his bag on the counter, the gold hitting it with a clinking thud.

"well i ain't got much mind left to blow, so have at it." she said, jj pulling the hunk of gold out and dropping it on the counter.

"how 'bout them gold apples?" he asked the woman scoffing.

"that ain't real." she said confidently.

"that ain't real?" jj asked, almost offended.

"it can't be!" the woman exclaimed.

"feel how heavy it is.." jj offered, the woman using both hands to pick up the piece of gold. "let's get some light on that." he added, the woman picking up a magnifying glass and shining it on the gold.

"spray painted tungsten." she proclaimed.

"spray painted tungsten? really, okay." jj scoffed, pretending to be offended again.

"he doesn't even know what tungsten is." mara whispered to emery.

"do you?" she asked, and mara hesitated, shaking her head.

"why don't you see how soft it is?" jj suggested, the woman picking up a small chisel and a hammer.

"you mind?" she asked.

"no, go for it." jj encouraged, the woman hitting the gold just hard enough to make a dent in it, which she used her finger to push down deeper. "wow. would you look at that." jj said quietly in a sassy 'i-told-you-so' tone.

"hold your horses. we ain't got to the acid test yet." the woman proclaimed.

"oh, the acid test. that's my favorite, guys." he announced loudly, making emery and mara hide their faces in their hands to stop from laughing.

the woman pulled a small bottle out of the counter, pouring it onto the gold.

"well it ain't plated and it ain't painted." she said, amazed.

"ma'am, i'm telling you, this is as real as the day is long." jj told her.

"it looks like someone tried to melt it down." she observed, looking at jj skeptically.

"my mom." he said after a moment. "she had all this jewelry lying around the house, she thought it was best to- to melt it down to 'consolidate' it." jj explained, but the woman had picked up the gold and put it on the scale.

"seven pounds?" she asked. "that's a lot of earrings."

"okay, to be honest ma'am, it's really hard to see my mom fall apart with alzheimer's." the boy said, choking and tearing up a little as he did.

"mhm." the woman said, clearly not believing a word he was saying. "give me a minute."

"take your time, ma'am." he told her, and once the woman walked out of the room, emery looked at the boy in disbelief.

"alzheimer's?" she asked, as though she couldn't believe she was repeating jj.

"okay, what would you have said?" he asked, emery shrugging.

"say she's terminally ill, something a little more believable than alzheimer's." she scoffed, mara nodding.

"she has a point." she replied, the pawn shop owner walking back into the room.

"so, i talked to my boss, and this is the best i can do." she said, sliding a piece of paper across the counter, jj picked it up, raising his eyebrows at her.

"thirty thousand?" he asked. "you think i walked in here not knowing the spot price? i know this is worth one-forty at least."

"well, sweetie, you in a pawn shop. this ain't zurich. do i look swiss to you?" she mouthed, jj shaking his head.

"ninety. or i walk." he said flatly.

"how about this." the woman said. "seventy- half price, and i don't ask questions about where you got this."

john b gave jj and thumbs up, the blonde turning back to the counter.

"i'm gonna need that in large denominations, please." jj said, the pogues all smiling at each other.

"well, here's the snag, i don't have that much denominated. i can write you a cashier's check." she said, everyone audibly groaning.

"cashiers- no, ma'am, i want cash. cash for gold, that's what the sign says, i want the cold hard." jj pressed the woman shaking her head.

"i can send you to the warehouse then, i have the money there." she said, emery looking at levi skeptically.

"where's this warehouse?"

"THEY KEEP MONEY OUT HERE?"

pope asked, emery looking around skeptically.

"jj, we're in cousin kisser territory right now, i don't like this shit at all." she said, pointing at an abandoned house on the side of the road. "they're probably making meth in there as we speak."

"that's what she said." jj answered pope, quoting the woman from the pawn shop before laughing. "huh. that's what she said-"

"stop." pope deadpanned, jj's face falling.

"what even is a resurrection drive?" levi asked.

"you just haven't heard of it because you're rich." jj said.

"you've never heard of it either." mara deadpanned.

"there's like, nothing back here." ainsley said. "it's all weeds."

"look, just because it's nothing but weeds doesn't mean-" but jj was cut off by a police siren behind them.

"cops, in the cousin kisser country?" mara asked.

"are you kidding me?" jj yelled.

"we didn't even do anything- you're going the speed limit, aren't you?" emery asked john b, who laughed at her.

"it's funny that you think the speedometer works." he said, slowly pulling to the side of the road.

"jj, stash the gold." ainsley said, jj shoving the gold into the hidden storage compartment under the bench in the back.

"did you bring the gun?" emery snapped, jj shaking his head quickly.

"no, everyone told me to leave it at the place." jj said, emery sighing heavily.

"dude, how much weed do you have on you?" mara asked, quickly shoving the pens into a duffel bag in the trunk. the sound of a shotgun cocking made all of them freeze, their heads snapping to the drivers side window where a man was standing, a gun pointed directly at john b's face.

"why don't you just go ahead and show me all y'all's hands in the air." the man said quietly. "all y'all's hands in the air right now!" he screamed, everyone slowly raising their hands into the air.

john b was instructed to get out of the van and let everyone out. emery climbed out of the front, moving towards john b immediately.

"you better hide, pretty girl." the man taunted. "alright, come on, blondie." he gritted, grabbing mara by the hair and pulling her out of the van, with just enough force to make the girl fall on the ground and let out a yelp of pain as her legs scraped across the pavement.

"don't touch her!" jj screamed, but emery and john b grabbed him before he could do anything stupid.

"listen to your friends, all of you on your hands and knees in the ditch, kiss the ground." he spat, all of them doing so. emery was between mara and john b, the blonde girl next to her crying softly. emery grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly in reassurance.

"it's a setup, guys." kiara said shakily.

"that old bat shanked us." jj gritted, punching the ground, making mara flinch as she kept her head low. mara had been a demonstration that he wasn't afraid to hurt any of them, and that if they tried anything, would be getting off worse than her.

"john b." levi whispered, emery looking up to see the brunette slowly standing.

"john b, no, no, please." she begged shakily, john b putting a finger to his lips and shushing her quietly.

"john b, don't be a hero man." pope instructed, but the boy was already in the back seat of the car, and he had taken the keys out of the ignition.

"alright, yall just stay like that, unless your want your brains blown all over this road." the man threatened, walking back to his car, emery watched him look for his keys for a moment before the boy reached over the seat, putting the man in a headlock.

"guys! i got the gold!" he yelled, everyone but mara getting up and running over to to help john b.

"i got the gun!" someone yelled, levi pulling the man out of his car as he, jj, and pope laid into him, kick after kick.

emery glanced back, mara was trembling, clearly shaken and probably in a great deal of pain. emery could see the blood running down her knees and filling the cracks and gaps in the pavement. she rushed back over, helping her up and into the van.

"i know this piece of shit!" jj yelled as emery grabbed a semi-clean t-shirt to press against mara's knees, making her groan as she leaned back against the bench. "he's a basehead."

"probably a friend of rafe's." levi spat.

"he sells coke to my dad." jj added darkly, a lump forming in emery's throat.

that man was responsible for every bad thing in jj's life. his mom leaving, the countless cuts, bruises, nightmares, and fear of going to his own house. emery just sat there, preparing for the worst while still trying to tend to mara's bleeding knees.

"listen, i couldn't hurt any one of yall-" he started, but jj- emery only knew because of everyone yelling his name right after- hit him.

"do i need to show you the blood on the road?" he screamed. "did you not see it?"

mara was still trembling, her head on emery's shoulder as the girl ran her free hand through her hair.

"jj, we've got the gold, let's go." ainsley said.

"we've got one more stop." jj gritted. "let's go see where this son of a bitch lives."

there was a clink as something was thrown into the woods next to them, the man yelling that they couldn't hide from him, that he knew who they were. john b got in the back this time, jj was already in the driver's seat, he and levi looking incredibly concerned at mara's state.

"hey, hey, mar, you okay?" john b asked quickly.

"lee, look under the seats, there should be a first aid kid." emery instructed, the boy doing so immediately. when he found it, he took over for emery at attempting to stop the bleeding while the
girl searched out alcohol wipes, neosporin, and large bandages. when she found them, levi removed the now red t-shirt from mara's leg, john b taking her hand and letting her squeeze it when it hurt.

"you're okay, you're going great." levi assured her, pushing a few pieces of hair away from the girl's face that were stuck there by tears.

after emery had bandaged mara's legs they were finally able to pay attention to where they were going. jj was driving recklessly- nothing out of the ordinary, of course- but paying attention to the road. his knuckles were white from how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel. he hadn't looked to the backseat or mara once.

when they did stop, it was in front of a run down trailer house, making everyone in the van look at jj like he was insane.

"dude, why are we at barry's?" pope asked, jj shutting the van off and stepping out of the car.

"this'll only take a second." he assured as he walked toward the house.

"y'know someone should probably-" kiara started, but john b cut her off.

"yep, i'm on it." he grunted, climbing out through the front seat as mara looked at emery.

"go with him." she whispered.

"what?" emery asked, not quite sure she heard the girl right.

"you go too. don't let him do anything stupid." the girl practically pleaded, emery taking a second to think before climbing out of the van, following just behind john b as he stepped inside the house.

"alright, what's your plan, slick?" the boy asked jj, who was currently- quite literally- flipping the house upside down.

"yo soy justicia." the boy replied, emery wrinkling her eyebrows.

"we took spanish together and all you could come up with was 'i am justice'?" she asked but jj wasn't in the mood.

"and eye for an eye, emery." he said annoyedly as he stormed further into the house.

"jj, where are you going?" emery yelled, trying to follow him but john b grabbed her arm, making her turn on her heel to look at him like he was crazy.

"let him do his thing." john b whispered, but when jj stormed out of the back with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, both john b and emery's faces dropped.

"jj, stop. this is stupid." emery deadpanned, grabbing the boy's arm, but he shoved her off. john b grabbed him by the front of the shirt.

"look- look at me!" he gritted. "if you keep going down this road, you're gonna end up just like your dad-"

emery's stomach dropped when the words left john b's mouth. jj grabbed the boy by his collar.

"you watch your mouth, man." jj whispered, voice shaking slightly.

"jj, come on, put it back." emery said, she and john b following jj out of the house and into barry's front yard.

"okay, we're looking at about five grand each for reparations for putting us through that bullshit. sorry about that, y'all." jj said as he got to where the pogues were standing.

"so that's what we're doing now?" kiara asked. "we're robbing drug dealers?"

"j, barry knows who we are, he's gonna come after us." ainsley stressed.

"yes he will. this is not the time to start wilin' out!" pope exclaimed.

"how'd you guys like having a gun pulled on you?" jj fired back.

"relax" john b started, but the blonde boy just put his finger right in front of the routledge's face.

"he had it right here on you, man." he said, teeth gritted as though it pained him to admit it. "and he flung mara across the pavement."

"hey! we've gotta go get the gold, okay?" john b yelled. "give me that shit, we're putting it back."

john b tried to grab the duffel bag, but jj shoved him into the side of the twinkie. the whole van shook, and mara, who was still inside, gasped quietly.

"do you feel like a tough guy?" john b asked. "what're you gonna do when he comes after us?"

"we punch him in the throat." jj gritted, emery grabbing his shoulder.

"chill the hell out, dude. you're scaring her." she whispered, nodding towards mara, who jj looked at for the first time since they left barry on the side of the road. his face softened slightly at the look on her face, her eyes wide, practically pleading him to put the money back.

"yeah, good fuckin' idea, jj." john b replied, pouring gasoline on the fire emery had almost put out.

"i'm not putting it back." jj finally replied, climbing into the twinkie so he was sitting next to mara. the girl tensed slightly at his presence next to her, making his heart fall.

"you guys coming or what?" he called, but everyone was still standing outside the twinkie.
jj reluctantly climbed out, looking around. "what?"

"we're sick of your shit." john b deadpanned.

"oh, my shit?" jj asked.

"yes, your shit." levi replied.

"your pulling guns on people shit." kiara started.

"you acting like a freaking maniac-"

"guys!" emery yelled, knowing that telling jj everything he was doing wrong would definitely not help their situation.

"pope, i took the fall for you, man!" jj yelled to the dark haired boy. "y'know how much money i owe because of you?"

"im gonna pay you back, and i didn't even ask you to do that!" pope screamed.

"i just did!" jj yelled. "pay it back. right here, right now, by myself."

jj looked around, seeing his friends disappointed faces. the only ones who looked more concerned than upset were emery and mara.

"y'know what?" jj asked. "that's exactly what i'm gonna do. go off by myself." he said, slinging the duffel bag over his shoulder. mara climbed out of the van.

"jj!" she yelled, but he kept walking. emery grabbed the girl's wrist, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"he'll be okay." she assured, all of them watching jj's figure retreat down the road.

kens speaks 🪐

next chapters going to gut you emotionally (it's also one of my favorites to write so it'll probably be out tonight)