Denial || An OBX Story

Chapter Twenty-Six

"I'm so glad they're still doing this." Kiara tells JJ, Maddie, and Pope as they approach the outdoor movie showing with a couple towels and chairs in their hands. "Keep calm. Carry on. Back to OBX life. You know? Aren't you guys glad I made you come?"

"Ecstatic." Pope replies, clearing his throat.

JJ lowers the rim of his hat and mumbles under his breath. "My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest."

"You're both ungrateful." Maddie tells them.

Pope grabs Maddie's arm and pulls her closer to him and JJ as Kiara sets up her chair. "We're out of the green zone, man."

"Dude, tranquilo, okay?" JJ whispers back.

"We're in the middle of Kooklandia." Pope explains again as Maddie takes JJ's chair and sets it out for him. "This is the last place I wanted to be."

"Shut up, Pope." Maddie finally gets involved. She turns her head to see that Kiara was approaching the snack stand to buy a few drinks. "Keep your mouth shut and lay low. Kiara's gonna pick up if you don't calm the hell down."

Maddie takes her spot between Pope and Kiara, this way Pope had both her and JJ on either of his sides. Finally, Kiara comes back and gives Pope his drink. "I just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did.' What is that?"

Maddie sees JJ gulp. His eyes flicker to her's, then back to Kiara. "Where is he?"

"Right there." Kiara says, turning and looking towards the back of the lot.

Everyone looks and then turns back around except Pope. He clearly didn't take JJ's whole speech too well. "Great. The whole death squad."

JJ doesn't even hesitate to grab Pope's head and spin it back around to face forward. His idiocy was going to be the only thing that got the Pogues, more specifically JJ and Maddie caught. "Don't stare, bro. Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now."

"Will you both shut up." Maddie tries to get them to quiet down, but she looks at Kie who was looking at the boys in utter confusion.

JJ ignores her entirely. He picks up his brown backpack and shakes it in the air. "If that doesn't work, I got this right here."

"Yeah, yeah. So, we just gotta stay in the group." Pope agrees with him. "They can't come get us if we're in the group."

"Like a school of fish."

"Stay in the school." JJ nods. "Can't leave the school."

Kiara shakes her head and Maddie can hear her sigh. "I'm sorry, JJ... Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids."

"I told you." Maddie chirps.

JJ flashes his blue eyes at Maddie as he tries to come up with any excuse to get him and Pope out of a lecture from Kiara. "Kie, I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?"

"Oh, wow, thank you, JJ." Kiara smiles sarcastically as she attempts to keep herself calm. She didn't want to cause a scene but it was hard for her not to. "That's really convincing. I love that, JJ."

There was an awkward silence when JJ realized he was at a loss of words. A rare occasion. He turns his head away from Kiara and looks up at the movie screen. Maddie decides to try and speak up. "Look, all they're saying is..."

"Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?" Kiara asks them. Now her tone was harsh and it was clear that she figured out something was up.