summertime sadness| jj maybank

❖ six ❖

'i mean it's obvious, right? a family heirloom. what better place to hide a message? he had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?' john b said.

'yea. it's possible.' kie replied.

'it could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels.' pope said.

'bro you know how i process my sad feels. dank nuts and the stickiest of ickies. that's how i do it.' jj said.

'i'm not concocting, ok? my dad's trying to give me a message.' john b said.

'if it helps you believe, john b.' kie said.

'look! i don't need a therapy session, ok? i'm not trippin out.' john b yelled.

'it's ok to trip bro, but-' john b interrupted jj, 'look, my dad is missing, ok? missing. you don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. just wake up every morning wondering.' john b's voice was starting to slowly break with every word he said.

'it's been almost a year.' kie whispered.

'hey, he could have been kidnapped. that's definitely a possibility.' jj said.

'yea, he could be in a soviet sub getting interrogated by the kgb somewhere.' pope added.

'absolutely, uh, or atlantis.' jj said.

'jj. look, what do you think the message is?' kie turned to john b.

'redfield.' john b said bluntly.

liv looked out the window to see the sign for the redfield lighthouse.

'redfield lighthouse. that's my dad's favorite place.' john b said.

everyone got out of the van and walked over to a fence that was bordering the lighthouse.

'alright here's what's gonna happen. you two are gonna post up and look out for bogeys, ok?' john b pointed to liv and jj.

'what, why us?' jj asked.

'because you're not coming, at least not you, jj.' pope said.

'why?' jj asked again.

'look jj, there are independent and dependent variables. you're independent. we don't know what you'll do.' pope explained.

'shut up! that still doesn't explain livvy!' jj yelled.

'listen to me for a second. just listen to me!' john b yelled. 'liv is here to make sure you don't do anything stupid. but pope, you're standing lookout with them too, ok?' john b said. 'if we split up, we meet back at jj's house.'

'great.' kie said.

liv watched john b and kie walk towards the lighthouse. jj pulled a hackey sack out of his pocket and started to toss it around.

'i'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and i'm trying to keep felonies down to a minimum.' pope said.

'alright, would you just shut up already?' jj responded.

jj kicked the hackey sack up and liv grabbed it, then tossed it back to him.

a few minutes went by, and jj threw the hackey sack at pope, who was sitting inside the van.

pope stood up and started to walk over to jj. 'can i please just have some peace-'

'shut up pope!' liv yelled. pope tried to talk again. 'no seriously! shut up!' liv paused for a moment, then looked behind jj.