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— • — • — • — ꧁꧂ — • — • — • —
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐭𝐰𝐨 — 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑐
LEILANI DIDN'T GO home that night. She couldn't. Her car was practically out of gas, and she didn't have her house key, for whatever reason. She and JJ shared the pull-out couch and Kie slept in the spare room. John B had come to the dock in the middle of the night, but they didn't know that. Leilani tied her curly hair into a messy bun atop her head, putting her white bandana back on.
Nobody had any spare clothes, so they just wore the same things as the previous day. Pope was at his scholarship interview, and Leilani, JJ and Kie were down on the end of the dock with John B, the boy having just told them that Ward got all of the gold. Their moods were down, especially John B.
"You sure he got everything?" Kie asked, sitting on a stool overlooking the water.
John B nodded from the ground. "Every bar. The whole enchilada." Leilani had her feet braced against a buoy, her hands pulling at John B's cast, helping him to pull it off.
"Jesus Christ." Leilani muttered, being pushed backwards as she came away with John B's cast, tossing it to the side.
"Look, it's not like I expected some happy ending or some shit." John B said. Leilani stood up and leant against the wooden slabs of the dock beside JJ.
"John B—" Kiara warned.
"What, Kie? It's a hairline fracture. Who cares?"
"You should care. Your arm's gonna be messed up for life." Kie said pointedly.
Leilani didn't care that JJ was smoking, and allowed him to loop an arm loosely around her neck from where he sat on the railing. She held her hand to his arm as John B wiggled his fingers. "It's fine. See?"
All of a sudden, footsteps thundered down the dock. "Guys! Guys! Oh! Oh, God. I ran all the way here." Pope panted, hunched over by John B.
"You all right?" John B looked up at his friend.
"How was the interview, Pope?" JJ asked, fingers rolling over the tender skin of Leilani's neck.
"Don't ask," Pope heaved, and Leilani frowned. "JB... Look, I'm sorry, dude. About everything." Pope stood up, still breathing heavily.
John B shrugged. "It's fine."
"But—but I don't have a lot of time, and—and I have information that is tactically relevant. So, before I had my interview, my dad said he and Mr. Malehona were going down to the private airstrip to cut palms for Cameron's big plane." Leilani perked up at Pope's words.
