02.

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          Nadia was not ready for school. she wished she could drop out, go to work and then come home everyday like she did in the summer. however she knew she couldn't drop out, whether or not she was going to college she wanted a high school degree.

thats what her mother and father wanted, for her to at least to have a high school educations at least. but they also wanted for her to be as happy as she could be and right about now she wasn't as happy as she wished.

her alarm clock woke her up early this morning, she wanted a shower and a decent breakfast before her first day of school after summer break. it woke her, JJ and Kiara up from their sleep. it was enough to help Kie get ready and get Pope before coming back to pick them back up again.

she groaned as she jumped out of Kiara jeep. stretching her arms in the air and putting on her backpack. she heard the school bell ring a few feet away from the parking lot as she came around the back of the vechile to catch sight of JJ drinking out of his flask.

"hey, chill out." Kiara warned him in a soft tone. it didn't seem to affect him tho as he rolled his eyes at her "if I black out, just don't remind me." he grumbled, shutting the door behind him as he swing his backpack over his shoulder.

"that's not funny." she deadpanned, turning the opposite way.

Nadia frowned at him, but didn't say anything. she knew how rough this was hitting him and she really wanted to say something to him, but she didn't want to start another argument or stress him out more. so, she just kept a close eye on him incase something happened.

instead of saying anything else she walked towards the school, getting very uncomfortable and slightly irritated by the number of eyes she and the rest of the group had on them. she could hear the whispers but couldn't help but roll her eyes at their awful attempts of keeping quiet.

her attention was focused on something else though as they walked further up to the school. she stopped in front of a surf board that had many pictures of John B on there from when he was his younger self to current self. she sighed sadly, adjusting her book back strap as the other kids continued to stare and whisper.

"i feel like people are staring at us." Kiara stated quietly, looking around at the groups of students. Nadia didn't even have to look up from where she was standing to see that everyone's attention was all on them.

"definitely." she mumbled grabbing a hold of JJs arm making his attention fall off the surfboard for John B that was clearly keeping him in a trance.

"guys, i can't be late." Pope told them, turning away immediately to walk in the direction of the school. Kiara grabbed his arm in a quick motion to stop him. "hey, we gotta stick together."

Nadia and JJ sped up towards them, arms linked into one another's as they watched Kiara's hand hold Pope's.

"stuck together," JJ grumbled under his breath "yeah, whatever."

Kiara and Nadia looked at each other and smiled, tugging the boy towards them in a playful manner having the intention to calm the boys nerves slightly.

❥๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑❥

The pen in Nadia's hand moved rapidly accords the paper trying to get every single note and work Mr. Sunn was saying and writing on the board about the Roman Empire. she was in her own world, trying to focus with every bone in her body until multiple notifications interrupted through the room including her phone also vibrating.

the teacher turned around and glanced at everyone "who's phone was that?" he got no answer "no one's? you will be tested on this!" he warned before going back to the board.

Nadia discreetly turned on her phone to look at a text stating:
INCOMING TEXT.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.

this made her narrow her eyes in confusion. no one besides the group texted her and it was weird they got it all at the same time. Kiara turned slightly to look at Nadia who was seated behind her.

"did you get it?" she whispered, nodding her head to motion to the phone. Nadia looked up from it and nodded towards the group. JJ looked at the teacher before ducking down and coming towards the others.

all four of them put there phones together, opening the message at the same time to see two smiling people who looked all to familiar. John B and Sarah.

they all looked at each other in utter shock, not sure if this was some sick prank and unsure of what to do, until JJ jumped up and ran out of the classroom door without saying word. alerting the teacher in the process.

Nadia looked around then shoved everything into her back pack and got up raving for the door as well, with Pope and Kiara hot on her trail.

they made it successfully to the courtyard but not before JJ had run into the janitors mop bucket causing them all to get scolded from the janitor.

"is that even possible, i mean, should said they didn't make it. he said that." Kiara exclaimed as they all walked out the doors.

Pope shook his head frantically "okay, but..i think we're overreacting cause we can't rule out the possibility that this could all be some kind of weird, cruel hoax."

Kiara waved him off, she needed to know. "im just gonna ask."

JJ sat on the picnic table next to Nadia, who had recently noticed that he had begun rubbing his chest area. she wasn't sure what it was but for the last couple of weeks he had been doing that
whenever he was upset, irritated or panicking.

"what if it's actually him, though?" the blonde asked, taking his phone out once again.

"the i don't know, okay?" Pope sighed "i don't know

Nadia's heart was racing, she didn't know what to think or say about this situation. this could all be some sort of prank, she wouldn't put it past the people in OBX. they were mean and cruel and it was something she could seen any one of them doing just to fuck with them.

or it could be real and things just didn't go as how the police told them it did. or somehow they escaped and was hiding out.

"has he responded yet?" Nadia asked Kiara before she pulled out her phone herself. "he's typing." she informed her, already having it in the headspace that his was John B.

the phone chimed once again, Nadia opened the texts to check for herself only to read a text from the opposite number saying:
'IS JJ THERE?'

she smiled as she watched JJ type something into the keyboard of his phone. her head rested on Kiara's shoulder getting the other girls rested on top of hers in return.

"DID YOU PUMP MY SHORT BOARD?"

the text asked next which made the group start laughing in their tears knowing that the same conversation happened between John B and JJ before he left on the boat.

"it's him." JJ chuckled happily, getting laughs out of everyone else. Nadia exhaled deeply as her and Kiara braced each other in a comforting hug, spinning each other around as the boys done the same.

'LAYING SUPER LOW IN NASSAU'

"how the hell did they get to the Bahamas." Nadia smiled brightly at her phone. Kie laughed "i wanna know that too."

"you can't kill a Pogue, dude." JJ stated with a laugh, Pope nodded in agreement "especially not John B."

'CAN YOU CLEAR MY NAME? WANNA COME HOME.'

Nadia smiled and decided to type back herself.

HELL YEAH WE WILL.
BE IN TOUCH , P4L

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