𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 22.

━ 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲.

    "𝐋𝐄𝐓'𝐒 𝐆𝐎 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 plan, ladies and gents." John B announced.

    I was sitting in the passenger seat of the van as the sun blazed through the window. Beside me, his turquoise button-down with patterns on it was blowing in the wind, as we drove through the streets with the windows fully open. My loose strands of hair were falling in wisps over my eyes. It gave me a certain sense of déjà-vu from from when we had gone to the RedField lighthouse, but the grave difference this time was that I agreed to come with.

    We had already gone to the country club. I had eaten the rest of my burger on the way, slightly staining the seat due to my lack of manners, while we drove up smoothly to the beautiful club. It didn't even look like the hurricane had hit the hill. The lawn was perfect and beautiful, and the army-green painted manoir was clean and quite exquisite, with expensive cars parked all along the parking lot. Our brown van looked very out of place.

    Apparently, Jj was a busboy in the kitchen, which got us a free pass inside and we had quickly walked in a single file, like idiots, until we made it to the computer room. John B practically shoved me inside the room and shut the door, because I was taking too much time examining all the gorgeous paintings along the walls in the hallway. I had glared at him, and ended up staring out the window on the door the whole time, since they claimed me to be "temporary lookout" while they'd searched the coordinates on the computers.

    I wasn't really listening to what they were talking about, as I wasn't paying attention— rather squinting my eyes to see the paintings through the stained-glass windows. Soon, the had teenagers rushed out of the room, scrambling me along with them, and we ran back to the van.

    That's when I had heard them talking about a drone. I was listening then, as I had strapped in my seatbelt, and my eyes were wide while they conversed about it. I had glared at John B with my eyes, silently giving him an are-you-serious look, but he simply let a cheeky smile play over his lips, as usual, and drove the vehicle away from the country club at an ungodly speed. I didn't want to yell or get angry, because overall, I had agreed to be apart of their group and felt as though I should be willing to go along with them and their things. I was a Pogue now.

    I had tried not to think about the felony we were about to commit, while John B organized a— quite structured, I had to admit— plan on how to steal the underwater drone. I had folded my hands together and bit down on my lip, to refrain from telling them it was a very illegal act. If anything, I knew how to escape for myself if the cops were to come and arrest us, so I tried my best not to worry.

    "Charlie looks uncomfortable," Pope commented, while he sat in the back, diagonal to my seat on the passenger side.

    Everyone looked to me.

    "Thanks, Pope," I said, sarcastically, but feeling surprised that he had somehow noticed my distress.

    "She's just nervous," Jj corrected, seeming distracted by doing something else. I turned my head towards the window and looked behind my seat, seeing him folding up another small paper into a thin roll on the floor. He was leaning his back against my seat.

    "Don't worry about it, Charls," John B removed one hand from the wheel, and I watched as he placed it on my knee softly, looking over at me. "You'll do great," he tapped my bare skin once, before smiling cheekily and then removing his hand.

    "You say that like I'm playing a role in this crime," I scoffed, ignoring the small butterflies in my stomach from his small touch.

    Everyone looked at him, with expressions that held 'you didn't tell her?' written over them.