Ocean Eyes

Chapter 24

We were walking up the dock,
Pope said" Welcome to the Outer Banks, Cleo."
Cleo said" You're crazy, Pope. Your parents are not going to appreciate me shacking up."
" Of course they will. Are you kidding? Heyward might put you to work, but we could always use the help."
" I don't know, man. You sure?"
" Yeah, look, he might squawk a little bit, but let me talk to him. We'll figure it out." We walked up to Kie's gate,
She said" This is me. Home sweet home."
Cleo said" Damn, Kiara. You live here? This is like the white house, man."
Pope said" How bad you think it's gonna be?"
Kie said" Scale of one to ten? 20."
Cleo said" Do you want us to hold up here?"
" No, I... I gotta take this. Thanks for walking me." She walked up the stairs, we headed to my house, I gulped and stopped.
I said" I-I can't. I'll-I'll go to John B's and wait there."
Pope said" Kai, Kai, you've gotta go home." I shook my head, quickly," Kai, come on, you have to face them, you think I wanna face my parents? Hell no."
" Your parents won't send you to boarding school or military school... I saw them looking at sites once, last fall, I settled down for a few months just to get it off their minds." Pope grabbed my hand and dragged me," Pope, I'm serious, I can't- I can't go home." We stopped at my back gate, I stared at my house,
" Kai, if anything no decisions are going to be made today," He dragged me to the stairs and stopped," We've been gone for longer than a month, they probably thought you were dead."
" Fair point. See ya on the other side." I walked up the stairs, they walked away, I gulped and went to open the door but it was locked, I knocked on the door. I saw Nick walking on the phone,
He said" No, man, I'm not coming back, no one has heard anything from-" He froze as he saw me, I gulped," Mom! Dad!" He ran and opened the door and hugged me, I hugged him back, then I saw mom and dad.
" I'm so sorry." They hugged me, mom held my face and stared at me," I'm so, so sorry."
Mom said" Oh, Kai, you're okay? You're alive?" I nodded my head,
" Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine!"

I was very overwhelmed, and really wanting to check on JJ, I was in my room, fresh from a shower, and in my own clothes. Nick walked in,
He said" Whatcha thinkin' about?" He sat next to me,
I said" Wanting to go check on JJ, because things got awkward... so, so awkward."
" How?"
" Well, first, we really haven't kissed since we left, we were never really together in the first place obviously, and-and-and when we were coming back, he was... something happened when I got split from him, and I don't know if it's a good or bad thing and I'm not bringing it up because I don't want to make things worse."
" You need to take a breathe." I breathed in then out," Good. I'm gonna regret this, sooo much, but here." He dangled my keys in front of me," Mom and dad are in the kitchen, go out your window, and go around to my room, climb down from there, and they won't even know."
" Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you! See you in a bit!" I jumped up, grabbing the keys and climbing out my window.

I walked up to JJ, noticing his house had a sign on it,
I said" Hey. What's with the sign?" He was working on his bike,
JJ said" Eviction notice. For, like, nonpayment or whatever. Doesn't matter. This place sucks anyway. Great to be back in the Outer Banks, right?"
" So, you won't believe this, I had an email waiting for me when I got home. John B actually found Big John. He's alive."
" Seriously?"
" Yeah. He's at the chateau."
" Damn."
" Yeah, he thinks we're close to the same treasure Singh was talking about." He kept doing stuff, I frowned," Hey, so... I snuck out of the house to come check on you."
" Well, it's not me you have to worry about."
" J, what's up? It's kinda like everything that happened before poguelandia doesn't exist now and I'm really confused. What's wrong?"
" It was just weird, what almost happened on the boat with us. It was just weird."
" Yeah, yeah. A lot has definitely changed, but... it was weird, but not a bad weird."
" No. Not bad weird." He stepped closer to me, I looked at him, I went to kiss him," What are we doing? What are we doing? We shouldn't be doing this, nah. We shouldn't do that." He walked away from me,
" Yeah."
" We shouldn't!"
" If you say so."
" I mean, it would all blow up anyway. You know? Like... look at you. You got your new threads on. Look at me. What do I got? This? This piece of shit?" He threw a can onto the porch," Getting kicked out of this place in three weeks anyway. Shit, I don't even got parents right now." He exploded," Why would you care? Why would you care? I'm just some loser that-"
" JJ-"
" You don't care. No, you don't!"
" I do care!"
" No, you got parents that live in Figure Eight, you know? You know..."
" That's not my fault."
" That's your future. You got that."
" Look, if you need us, we're gonna help you. I'll help you."
" It's that right there. Okay? Like- It's so easy for you to say that. You know why? Because you're a kook. You're a kook, Kai." My defensives immediately wanted to defend, but I was freakin' shaking. Panic and anxiety running down my spine.
" Yeah, I'm a kook.... I was such a kook when I was living in a cave with you for a month. Soaking in the kook life."
" That's not what I'm talking about. God!" He got onto his bike,
" J, don't leave." He drove away," JJ, what the hell?! Jay!" I breathed out, and crouched down, sniffling as tears brimmed my eyes. I got up and walked to my atv, the noise made me jump but I quickly composed myself and drove off.

I was with Sarah and Kie,
Sarah said" So I went back to grab clothes and a phone, and you're not gonna believe this. Rafe is back. Yeah. I saw him at the house. I don't think he saw me, but I think the cross is coming back to Wilmington tomorrow night."
Kie and I said" What?"
" Yeah."
Kie said" Does Pope know?"
" No. I was gonna tell him at the chateau."
" He can't. He's on lockdown."
" Okay. Um... then... I'll hit up Pope, and then maybe you or Kai go to the chateau and tell John B. And JJ?" I raised my hand,
I said" Yeah, I gotta talk to him anyway."
" Yeah."
Kie said" Your parents are going to kill you." I nodded my head silently, she hugged my arm then Sarah hugged my other arm, I laughed, she ruffled my hair.
I said" Y'know, between me keeping both your butts safe, when's someone gonna protect me? I'm like severely mentally unstable."
Sarah said" We'll protect you." I grinned,
" Haa, you think I'm gonna let either of you in harms way if I can prevent it?"
" Nope."
" That's what I thought."

I was waiting at the chateau, no one was here, then I heard JJ pulling in,
He yelled" John B!" He whistled," Yo!"
I said" Hey, J."
" John B not here?"
" Nah."
" What up?"
" Uh, Rafe's what's up."
" What do you mean?"
" Rafe's back on the island. Sarah saw him."
" Spectacular."
" It's not just that. She overheard him saying that the cross is coming to Wilmington tomorrow night. Figure he must be trying to sell it."
" Great. Does Pope know?"
" Yeah, Sarah went to tell him. He's locked down, and I guess John B and Big John went and got the Twinkie. They're off to god knows where." I handed him the note John B left,
" Yeah, of course. Just when we need them. Wait. Hold on, though. We know where the cross is gonna be. That means it's still on the field. Okay, alright. So we can come in and swoop. We're still in this, Kai. We gotta get everybody together, then we'll come up with a plan. Get our asses to Wilmington-" He walked away, I quickly followed after him,
" Hey, JJ... Before we come up with some crazy plan, can we talk?"
" Yeah. Yeah, we can talk."
" Something changed after Kie and I got kidnapped, something between you and me. And I know that's got to freak you out. And I know, your whole life, I know you freak when people get close, and I get it. I don't blame you. Just please-please... don't ever say that I don't care about you. And you called me a kook."
" Okay. Well, hold on."
" Which is lame. And so jerk!"
" I know. That was lame."
" It was uncalled for. Yeah, it's a low blow."
" Alright, Kai. Look, Kai. You're right. I flipped. You know how I be. Just, uh... just... Look. We should just... just call it a truce. Just etch a sketch it. Clean slate. Truce?" I smiled and held out my hand,
" Truce." We did the handshake,
" So how we gonna jack this cross?"
" I don't know... I'm not the smart one. Neither are you, by the way." He chuckled sarcastically, rolling his eyes at me,
" I deserve that. I was definitely a jerk, and it was lame."