CONTROL, JJ MAYBANK

CHAPTER 8

So there's a moment in every kid's life when you feel like anything's possible. When you feel like you've got the total mojo. You could, I don't know, free-climb El Capitan, land on Mars, or, uh...get elected president. The whole world's there for the taking if you've got the sack to go for it. And then, when you least expect it, some Kook shows up and tells you there's no eternal mystery. And then all that talk about free-climbing and Mars and the president...bullshit. Magic gets cancer and dies.

John B sighed, "It's not there." Joslyn shook her head in frustration. "It has to be there. Dad wouldn't have told us to look here if it wasn't there, okay?" John B looked sadly at his sister, "Look, just–just pull the drone up." "Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery. We can–we can go back down." Pope suggested.

John B walked to the edge of the boat as Joslyn groaned and placed her head in her hands. "Guys, we've been through it three times. There's nothing there. " JJ announced. "Shut up!" Kie yelled while she watched Joslyn tighten her hand into a fist. "What? It's true!" JJ turned to look back at them.

"The gold could be buried. We don't know." Kiara threw her hands up in the air. "If it were there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it." John B spoke loudly so the teens could hear him over the sound of the waves. Tears started to form in Joslyn's eyes, "So dad risked his life for nothing." She whispered softly as a tear fell down her cheek.

...

Joslyn groaned as she open her eyes. The light coming in through the window scattered around the room, one pocket of light shining directly in her eyes. She slowly sat up and she took a minute to examine the room. Clothes were messily thrown around, and posters hanging from one corner of the walls. A can crushed loudly as Joslyn stood from the bed. She walked over to the door opening it slowly and closing it before she made her way to the backyard.

She froze for a moment when she heard a gunshot. "JJ!" Joslyn screamed as she ran out the door searching for him. She continued to yell for him as she made her way around the yard. Once she found him her eyes widened at the sight, "Bruno!" Her jaw dropped as she watched JJ put a hole right through Bruno's head.

JJ saw a wave of brown hair out of the corner of his eye and dropped the arm that was holding the gun. He turned to look at the now very traumatized girl. Her shocked expression quickly turned to an upset one. "What the fuck are you doing? I thought you just got shot! You fucking asshole you scared me!" Joslyn glared at the blonde.

JJ's expression quickly softened, "I'm sorry. I was just practicing in case I need to use it." Joslyn sighed as she walked up to him, she looked at his hand and hesitated before taking the weapon out of his hands and into her own, "No more, okay? We don't need this. Everything's going to be fine." She offered him a smile but even as she did so she didn't quite believe it herself.

"JJ! Joslyn!" The two teens turned their heads at the sound of their names. Pope ran up to his friends, "They know." Joslyn and JJ looked at each other then back at Pope, "What?" "They know," Pope repeated. Joslyn sighed, "Fuck."

"All right, chill, bro. All right? They don't know shit." JJ huffed as he sat down. "Topper knows I sunk his boat." Pope placed his head in his hands. "How do you know they know?" JJ questioned as he watched his friend nervously pace. Joslyn watched the interaction, her anxiety growing heavier by the minute.

"Because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heyward's and mad dogged me." Pope rushed. "Will you calm down and get a grip, man? They don't know shit." JJ tried to ease Pope's worries. Joslyn stepped towards the boys, "And even if they did, nothing would happen. We wouldn't let anything happen." "They have cameras. They could've seen me."  Pope continued to stress and ignored Joslyn's words.