summer sadness ( jj maybank )

# twenty one

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"IM SORRY, YOURE STAYING WHERE?"

aelia stood in between pope and jj as john b and kiara continued to argue for the past 5 minutes. they all met up at the wreck, so john b could share the news that he was alive and well, with only a broken wrist as his injury. and, that he was sort of living with sarah cameron.

"tannyhill." john b replied, leaning on a counter close to where the rest of his friends sat.

"so you're living with sarah cameron." kiara spat, walking away from him, and over to the table, where she handed both jj and aelia their drinks.

"okay, look, the only reason i'm living there is because her dad bailed me out, alright?" john b said, pausing for a few seconds before he continued, "and it's way better then foster care, which, by the way, is where i was about to go if ward didnt—"

"—hey so like, do you have a membership to the clubs now?" pope said sarcastically, cutting john b off.

"i don't know, pope."

"what about those little golf carts they get to drive around? do you get one of them?" jj chimed in.

"do you automatically get one of those douce-bag polo shirts?" aelia smiled, leaning her arms against the table in-front of her.

"yeah!" pope pointed at aelia, before looking back at john b. "and sweater vests to match, or do you have to buy those on your own?"

"look, you promised," kie finally spoke up, and a more serious tension took over the group rather than the previous playful one. "you said you weren't with her."

"bro, just own it," aelia shrugged aimlessly, and jj noticed just how badly the bruises on her face still were, though, his weren't any better. "yeah, she got you, man." jj agreed with the other blonde.

"look, if you wanna hang out with her, that's fine," kie retorted, but her tone of voice still sounded annoyed, there was no fighting that. "but i'm letting you know right now that I'm not doing anything with sarah."

"do you guys see her here?" john b questioned, and aelia pursed her lips, he was right. he wasn't full-forcing sarah into their lives, at least, not yet. "no, right, okay. a little focus would be fantastic. we've got the map, right?"

"it's all out of whack 'cause the guy was ganja'd when he drew it," jj stated, his fingers tracing the map as he studied it. aelia tried not to focus so heavily on his hand, the extremely attractive rings, but it was hard.

"it's 'cause the coast has changed," kie retorted towards her blonde best friend, and aelia snickered a bit under her breath as jj's lips formed an O, suddenly understanding.

"so, we just have to look for landmarks that haven't changed," pope suggested, and he started tapping the eraser side of his pencil on the fragile map.

"what about the old forts?" john b asked, and the group of teenagers all studied the maps as their eyes landed on the old forts, one in particular.

"battery jasper."

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