summer sadness ( jj maybank )

# seventeen

━━━━━━ ☀︎,━━━━━━━...‥・

"DONT LET IT GET IN YOUR HEAD BRO."

the next day / jj, pope, aelia, and kiara were at heywards shop. none of them had heard from john b still, so they were really just hanging around waiting for him to show up.

"don't let it get in your head bro, there was like four of them and three of us." jj started, looking between pope and aelia before he continued, "— that's some typical kook shit right there."

"hell, yeah?" kiara asked, looking up at jj,

"what was your thought process, using your head?" jj asked pope, aelia laughed at the memory / though she knew it hurt like a motherfucker. "i don't know, man, i just kinda acted off instinct alright? i was a cornered animal."

"hey pope, there's someone here to see you." popes dad said, walking into the shop. aelias eyes shifted from mr. heyward to deputy shoupe as he walked in the doorway, looking at all the teens.

"shit." aelia mumbled, as she looked over at jj.

"evening, officer." pope nervously greeted, aelia could literally feel the energy in the room change the second shoupe walked in. "i have an arrest warrant for felony destruction for property. hands where i can see 'em."

pope made eye contact with jj and aelia as shoupe began to handcuff pope.

from then on, it felt like the world was going in slow motion. the pogues, along with mr. heyward all began protesting the cops with questions / though it was no use. they ignored the teens and popes father, and started listing pope with his rights.

"how much did they pay you, man?" jjs voice beamed, as the teens followed shoupe and pope out of the shop.

aelia tried to push her way to pope, though failed when the cop shoved her back into jj / who was walking behind her.

just as pope was about to be shoved in the back of the police car when someone shouted — which completely took not only jj off guard, but every single person in the area.

"it wasn't him!"

"it was me," aelia explained, her voice tried sounding strong and firm, but there was a crack near the end of her sentence. jj looked over at aelia, the very familiar look plastered on his face. "pope tried to talk me out of it, but i was mad because he had just got his ass kicked." aelia continued, looking over at jj.

"i was so sick of those assholes from figure eight i lost my shit—"

"— it wasn't just her." jj announced, looking over at the other blonde he was now standing next to with a sad smile. no way was jj going to let the girl he loved go to jail alone.

"we ain't gonna let you take the blame for somethin' we did." jj told pope. pope looked over at his two best friends who were willing to get arrested for him. "you got too much to lose."

"what are you guys doing?"

"we're telling the truth, for once in my goddamn life im gonna tell the truth." aelia told pope, as she looked over at shoupe who was looking at the blonde pair with a skeptical expression. "we took his old man's boat too."