NIGHT HAD FALLEN.

jj had insisted on going somewhere on his own, dropping emery and mara off at the melville house before wordlessly driving off, leaving the two girls in confusion.

currently, the blonde duo was laying in emery's bed, a large glass bowl of popcorn between the two of them while 'grease' played on emery's tv.

"smash or pass, josh hucherson." mara asked, emery thinking for a minute.

"i'd let him take me to dinner." she said bluntly. "he's not my type, but everyone's into what they're into."

"really?" mara asked with her eyebrows raised, grabbing more popcorn from the bowl and tossing it into the air, catching it in her mouth.

"yeah, really." emery replied. "smash or pass... blonde heath ledger."

"honestly, jj kinda looks like him when he was blonde." mara replied, emery immediately gagging.

"thanks for ruining that for me." she replied bitterly as though someone had wiped lemon across her tongue.

"i'm not wrong." mara replied with a small smile, emery shaking her head and wrinkling her face in disgust.

"that's the worst part." the melville breathed, grabbing her can of cherry coke from the bedside table and taking a drink from it.

her phone buzzed next to her, jj's contact appearing in her notifications repeatedly.

unfortunately we're related: Emery

unfortunately we're related: Ems

unfortunately we're related: Emery Harper

unfortunately we're related: Emery please answer

unfortunately we're related: Are you with Mara

"who's texting you?" mara asked in confusion.

"do you have your phone?" emery asked as another message popped up that mara wasn't answering his texts.

"no, i haven't had a phone since nassau." mara said bluntly, emery quickly typing out a reply to jj asking what was going on.

unfortunately we're related: I'm being chased by the cops rn in the back of an ambulance

unfortunately we're related: SOS 4th and seneca

unfortunately we're related: Emery please hurry

"shit." emery mumbled. "get your shoes on."

"why, what's going on?" mara asked, sliding her feet into a pair of flip flops that were laying next to the bed.

"jj's in the back of an ambulance being chased by the cops right now." emery replied, grabbing the wallet off her desk.

"what?" mara asked in confusion.

"keep your voice down." emery whispered, the two practically bolting down the stairs past amelia, who was sitting in the living room.

"where are you two going?" she asked.

"gas station!" emery called back, pushing the front door open and walking out with mara right behind her.

"okay, what the hell is going on?" mara asked as emery practically flew out of the driveway.

"i have no idea." she deadpanned. "i just know jj's talking with proper capitalization right now so whatever it is can't be good."

emery could hear the sirens as her car got closer to the intersection jj had told her to go to. the flashing red and blue lights around the corner indicated where the ambulance was.

"put your seatbelt on." emery instructed mara as she turned onto seneca, taking a second to think about how bad of an idea this was before spending up, watching the needle on her speedometer rise steadily.

"emery, what're you doing?" mara asked.

"put your seatbelt on!" emery repeated, mara doing so.

"emery, this is a bad idea." mara said, glancing between the approaching ambulance and emery's still rising speedometer. "you're going like, way over the speed limit."

"yeah, i've got one chance to do this- hold on to something!" she added, reaching next to her and placing her and on the emergency brake.

"holy shit." mara breathed, clamping her eyes shut as emery pulled out in front of the ambulance, pulling the brake so her car jolted to a stop directly in front of the ambulance, almost immediately disabling it.

"sorry!" emery yelled to the driver, mara slowly opening her eyes and glancing over at the man who was motioning them across the road, a man in a sheriff's department uniform with dark hair and beard.

"it wasn't jj."

"so sorry!" emery called again.

"she literally just got her license yesterday!" mara added.

"move your car out of the road!" the driver shouted, emery glancing in her rear view mirror to see the blonde head of hair running across the empty lot behind them. she waved to the ambulance driver, doing a quick lap around the block before being able to go in the direction jj had run to.

"he's right there!" mara said, rolling down her window and motioning for jj to come over to the car while emery unlocked the doors, the maybank practically throwing himself in the back seat while demanding that emery start driving again.

"dude, what the hell did you do?" emery asked, jj panting heavily as he sprawled out across the backseat.

"look, i busted the wrong guy out of jail. sue me." he said bluntly.

"what?" mara exclaimed in confusion, emery looking up at her brother in the rear-view mirror with eyebrows folded together in confusion.

"your plan to bust john b out of jail was to sneak him out in an ambulance?" the melville confirmed.

"i'm gonna end up in jail anyways, ems, what difference does it make?" jj suddenly shouted, the two blonde girl in the front seat glancing at each other in concern.

"no you aren't." mara mumbled.

"is this about plumb?" emery asked as she turned back towards figure eight.

"is she wrong?" jj asked, letting a dry laugh out as he did. "emery, i stop ricky's ambulance today."

"you did what now?" mara asked, turning her whole body around the face the boy in the backseat and unclipping her seatbelt.

"how do you think i got it in the first place? he definitely didn't give it to me." jj told her sarcastically as emery turned onto her street.

"the point is," the melville interjected. "your intentions were different than that of- i don't know, luke's."

"she has a point." mara replied as emery's car pulled to a stop in the driveway.

"how are we explaining your get-up to my mom when we told her we were going to the gas station?" emery asked jj, who shrugged.

"i didn't tell you to lie." he replied dryly, emery rolling her eyes and climbing out of the car.

"emery, it's amelia- she literally gave birth to jj." mara added bluntly. "i don't think she's even gonna care."

emery hoped her friend was right, but when she pulled the front door open and was greeted with a somber-faced amelia, her mouth dried.

"who died?" she attempted to joke, mara and jj following slowly behind the girl.

"sarah cameron just showed up." amelia said quietly.

"sarah cam- why?" emery asked, that name being the last one she expected for amelia to give her.

"why is sarah here?" jj asked, his tone harsh.

"jj, shut up." emery told him sharply, glaring at her brother before turning back to her mom. "okay, but actually, why is sarah here?"

"why don't you go ask her yourself?" amelia asked. "she's up in your room, but she's scared and she's tired."

"mom, what happened?" mara asked.

"topper thornton dropped her off, he claims that he found her being drowned by her brother." amelia explained quietly, jj's previously harsh demeanor at the cameron girl's presence dissolving almost immediately.

"is he trying to hit a serial killer status?" mara asked further, walking around the island amelia was sitting at to get a bottle of water.

"jj, bring her down here- don't say anything about rafe." emery added immediately, jj nodding and running up the stairs, amelia noticing his outfit for the first time since the trio entered her house.

"do i even wanna know?" she mumbled, both girls immediately shaking their heads no as amelia sighed heavily.

"don't sigh, you're the one who had him." emery said bluntly. "damn, my cherry coke from upstairs is probably flat now."

"the popcorns almost definitely stale now." mara added, the sound of footsteps coming back down the stairs making the trio around the island look up.

sarah was wearing one of emery's hoodies and a pair of her sweatpants. her hair was still wet, so the neck and shoulder area of her shirt was slightly damp. someone had wrapped a blanket around the shoulders of the blonde girl, and she had a large mug clutched in her hands.

"hot cocoa?" mara asked, the girl nodding slowly.

"figures, mom makes the best." emery added, giving the cameron a smile and nodding towards amelia. sarah returned the smile, sitting down next to amelia and drumming her fingertips on the marble countertop.

"sarah?" mara asked, the girl glancing up at her. "did rafe find out you're gonna testify?"

sarah didn't reply for a moment, but nodded.

"i was trying to text wheezie." she whispered. rafe had her phone- she doesn't have a passcode on it for some reason- i needed to get her out of the house to talk to her because dad and rose are practically breathing down her back so she won't tell me anything."

no one said anything, jj's eyes trained on his shoes, his eyes flooded with guilt. sarah was trying to help them and he was so against her being involved at all.

"are you going back to tannyhill?" amelia asked quietly. "are you gonna try and tell ward what happened?"

"no." sarah said abruptly, shaking her head quickly. "he won't let me testify if i go back."

"even after rafe tried to do this?" jj asked, sarah nodding.

"he's told me over and over again that he'd choose me over rafe if it came down to it, but i don't believe him anymore." sarah replied.

"can i testify?" mara asked suddenly, amelia, jj, emery, and sarah all turning to her in confusion.

"testify to what?" emery asked.

"that rafe shot me." she explained. "oh, yeah, rafe shot me, by the way." she added, looking between amelia and sarah who were both looking at her with wide eyes.

"some creepy old man gave her surgery and then i gave her cpr while having a mental breakdown- nassau was really fun, we should do it again sometime." emery added, looking at mara, who nodded quickly.

"would she be able to testify- we did steal ward's truck full of gold almost immediately after, though." emery added.

"you think he's gonna leave that detail out of his testimony?" amelia asked. "he and jackson are gonna drag up every nitty gritty detail to throw john b under the bus, i say whatever we have, use it."

"you can't even testify." emery shot back. "i honestly thought you were smarter than that, mom. like really, why didn't you get divorced?"

"i'm sorry, did you know he was a murderer? because i sure didn't?" amelia fired, making jj, mara, and even sarah laugh.

"im starving." jj grumbled from behind emery.

"you're not poor now, go eat." she said bluntly, jj rolling his eyes and opening the door to the pantry, immediately grabbing a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips.

"i want some!" mara exclaimed as the maybank walked out with the blue bag, tearing the top open and holding it out for his girlfriend, who immediately grabbed a handful.

"i hear you yelled at jackson outside of the courthouse?" amelia asked emery.

"mara did it too, it wasn't just me!" the melville defended herself.

"i'm so proud of you guys." amelia told the two with a smile.

"so since my mom abandoned me can you actually be my mom now?" mara asked.

"your mom never abandoned you, you died." emery corrected, mara mimicking a set of scales with her hands.

"pretty much the same thing." she told her friend, grabbing another chip from the bag.

"do they always talk about traumatic experiences with so much nonchalance?" sarah asked jj in a whisper, the blonde boy nodding at her quickly.

"they always have, isn't that right, sweet thing?" jj asked, hitting mara gently on the shoulder. he was greeted with blank stares from everyone in the kitchen. "what?"

"what demon possessed you to just call me that?" mara asked, taking a step away from jj.

"isn't that from a justin bieber video from like twenty-fifteen?" emery added, furrowing her brows at her twin. "literally how are we related?"

"i almost threw up." sarah continued.

"and she dated topper, so that was bad. like, really bad." emery continued.

"you all suck." jj said defeatedly. "my own mom can't even defend me right now."

"yeah, she's too busy regretting having you." mara fired back. "if you call me that again i'm breaking up with you and getting a restraining order."

"whatever you say, sweet thing." jj replied, and was again met with less than happy responses from all the girls, sarah actually physically gagging while emery and mara cringed back so far they actually ran into the counter behind them.

"you're no longer my kid." amelia told the boy flatly.

"get disowned!" emery exclaimed, pointing at the maybank mockingly. "sarah, come on. you're having a sleepover with us tonight."

"okay!" the cameron girl replied happily, following after emery and mara up the stairs, jj behind them, but he veered off into his room.

"where's levi?" mara asked as she flopped down onto emery's bed, kicking her flip flops off again as the melville went into the bathroom and began digging around her drawers to look for the sheet masks she had purchased a couple months before.

"sleeping with pope, dead, i don't know." emery replied with a shrug, finally finding the plastic sleeves she was looking for. "i'll have mom make us some cocktails and then we can really party."

"your mom'll give us booze?" sarah asked, taking the mask from emery.

"only if you want, she can make it virgin." emery assured, already taking out her phone. "mar, you want a strawberry margarita?"

"yes please." she said, ripping open her own face mask.

"sarah, do you want one?" emery asked, sarah nodding slowly.

"yeah, i'll just have whatever you're having." she told emery, still processing the fact that amelia melville gave alcohol to her kids and their friends.

"mom lets us drink but she has rules." emery explained. "we just have to hand over our keys and stay in the house and she doesn't care."

sarah hummed in response, ripping her own face mask open, the three girls putting the cold material on their faces. amelia walked in with their drinks not long after, and emery hooked her phone up to the soundbar on the tv, much to jj's dismay.

"can you guys turn that down?" jj asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he leaned on the doorway.

"go sleep in the guest room, sweet thing!" emery yelled back, voice slightly slurred in her tipsy state, taking another drink from the tall can in her hand.

the three girls got to be teenagers again. sarah could feel the memory of what rafe had done that night slowly slipping to the back of her head as the three laughed and played truth or dare, threw back shots like it was the last night they'd ever drink, and all sat in the bathroom together after their separate showers and gawked over the smoothness of their freshly shaved legs in their drunken state.

they felt like normal girls again.

THE TRIO DIDN'T SLEEP UNTIL THREE IN THE MORNING.

they didn't wake up until three in the afternoon. even then, emery was the first to do so, the feeling of the cold tile bathroom floor under her face bringing the girl to the reality of how horrible she felt. her whole body ached, and when the bright white lights of her bathroom mirror hit her irises once she peeled her eyes open, the pain continued upwards to her head.

"this is officially the worst hangover i've ever had." she groaned, sitting up next to mara, who was slumped against the wall with her head on her own shoulder. the sound of a horn beeping outside woke up mara, but also made emery's brows knit together in confusion.

"do you hear that?" emery asked, the beeping of the horn continuing as a loud engine rumbled closer to the house before stopping.

"i'm gonna kill whoever that is." mara deadpanned. "where's your bat from the two weeks you played little league before crying and quitting?" the stevens girl grabbed the countertop in front of her, using it to pull herself up, emery standing next to her and grabbing her friend by the shoulders.

"mar- mara- that was the twinkie." emery breathed.

"but the cops have the twinkie." mara replied in confusion.

"not if john b got out." emery added, mara pausing for a moment as though she was replaying the sound in her head.

"that was the twinkie- holy shit- emery!" she exclaimed, waking up sarah who had previously been curled up on a pile of bath towels she had gotten out at some point the previous night. "that's the twinkie!"

the two girls ran out of the room, emery's bare feet sliding across the carpet as she hit the wall across from her door, immediately running towards the stairs again, both of the girls forgetting about their throbbing heads and the other effects of their hangovers. as they bolted down the spiral staircase, emery could see the mop of brown hair leaned against the kitchen island. she could hear his voice, followed by a laugh from amelia. she stopped about three steps from the bottom of the staircase, mara right behind her.

the brunette boy turned to the staircase, smiling at the sight of smudged makeup and messy the messy bed-headed girl staring at him like he was a picasso piece, like she had waited hours in a line just to get a glimpse of him.

"sup?" john b asked, setting the coffee cup he previously had clutched in his hand as he talked to amelia on the counter, emery immediately jumping over the rest of the steps and throwing herself at the routledge. john b twirled her around a couple of times, her legs winding themselves tightly around the boy's torso while her arms found their way to his neck.

"i missed you so much." emery mumbled into her boyfriend's shoulder.

"you smell like vanilla." john b whispered, burying his face in emery's neck.

"good thing you love vanilla, right?" emery asked, john b pulling his head away from her neck as emery grabbed the sides of his face, pressing her lips onto his for a moment.

"however, you taste like margaritas and vodka." he added. "someone had fun last night."

"we got absolutely hammered with sarah cameron." mara explained, emery prying herself off of john b so he could hug the stevens girl.

"sarah cameron?" he asked in confusion, pulling away from his friend and looking between the two girls in confusion.

"rafe tried to drown her last night and she came here. he didn't like the fact that she's gonna testify against him and ward." emery explained. "she's still here, actually."

"sarah's testifying against rafe and ward?" john b confirmed, emery nodding.

"mara's testifying about what happened in nassau, levi and i are testifying against jackson, and i'm testifying about nassau and the tarmac." emery explained. "we have enough to get those assholes locked up for life."

john b smiled, picking emery up again and twirling her around.

"have i ever told you how much i love you?" he asked, emery nodding and smiling at him.

"just a couple times." she replied with a smile.

"get a room." mara grumbled, grabbing a bottle of gatorade from the fridge and tossing one to emery. "here's your favorite hangover helper."

"you know me so well." emery replied, opening the bottle of yellow gatorade and taking a drink, john b waiting for her to get the cap back on before grabbing the melville girl by the waist and tossing her over his shoulders fireman style to carry over to the couch.

"go get sarah so we can play cards!" emery told mara the girl running upstairs as emery reached into the drawer of the coffee table a grabbed a deck of cards, passing them to john b to shuffle.

"she'll be down in a minute." mara called as she walked back into the living room, john b placing the now shuffled cards onto the table and rolling onto his back, pulling emery onto his chest.

"get in here!" she called to mara, motioning the girl over, who laid halfway on top of emery and halfway on top of john b.

"what's going on here?" sarah asked, smiling at the sight. "want me to take a picture of your little cycle circle?"

"nassau gang's back together." mara pointed out, emery passing the cameron girl her phone, john b put one of his arms around mara's shoulders while the other remained on emery's waist.

"now are we gonna play pitch or not?" emery asked, sitting up as john b and mara moved to be around the table.

"how do you play pitch?" sarah asked, emery dealing out the cards.

"you can be my partner, john b's awful anyways." she said. "mara, call the joker."

"red's high." the stevens girl said immediately.

"can't we play rummy?" john b asked. "pitch hurts my head."

"yeah, because you can't do math." emery deadpanned. "i was teaching you the rules of rummy and you asked if the ten card ward worth ten."

"it usually is!" john b exclaimed.

"is it a face card or an ace?" emery asked, mara and sarah now laughing at the two's bickering. "no, it isn't, so it's worth five!"

"well maybe it should be worth ten." john b retorted. "can we please just play rummy?"

emery sighed heavily, everyone passing their cards back to john b to shuffle again.

"gimme the notepad." she told mara, who opened the drawer in front of her, emery finally finding a clean page as mara handed her a pen.

"i've never played rummy, but now i know a ten is worth five." sarah told the trio, emery nodding.

"ignore john b, he's stupid sometimes." she mumbled, scrawling the first initial of all her friends on the notepad with a line under them.

as the four of them laughed, argued, told stories, and cracked jokes while filling at least three sheets of paper throughout their card games, emery felt like everything was going back to the way it was before the treasure hunt. when her, mara, john b, and jj would have their sleepovers where amelia taught them card games and how to gamble.

the pogues were pogues once more.

kens speaks 🪐

what's crack-a-lackin

this chapter was pretty chill tbh. i wanted to have a bonding moment with sarah + the pogues in some way and after what she told emery at court i thought it would make sense for her to go to the melville's after what happened with rafe so

also mara is a furry confirmed??

you heard it here first folks

anywho shit gets real next chapter so see you there!!