[ON HOLD] - Sweet Creature - [Outer Banks] - [JJ]

Dead Bodayyy

Song of the Chapter: Blister in the Sun by The Violent Femmes

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"Well that was fun. Could've warned us sooner." JJ spoke up. They were back on the boat, drifting towards the docks in town. The sun was hanging lower in the sky now, casting a slightly orange glow all around them, causing Remi's hair to appear a thousand times more vibrant.

"Not fun for everyone." Remi scrunched her nose, her lips turning downward, still disgusted. She sat beside Kiara with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I can't help it!" He blurted, the rest of the group confused and not following along.

"Uh- We would have warned you sooner, but Pope was on the math team." Now Remi was the one left confused, wondering how that correlated.

"You were on the math team?" John B spoke, having not known that before now. Pope, wanting to get back on track, only offered a nod before speaking.

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene. Did you guys find anything?" He questioned, looking between the boys and Remi. At his question, Remi felt guilt strike her all over again. She was once again aware of the wad of cash in her back pocket.

"Did we find anything? No I don't think so." JJ drew out theatrically as he stood, pulling both the handgun and his own stack of money out of his pockets. He held them out for everyone to see. "Oh yeah, we did." His smile was wide, he was obviously amused with himself.

"What the hell?" Pope exclaimed, clearly not happy about the gun in JJ's hand. Feeling her guilt weigh her down, Remi grabbed the money from her back pocket. She held the stack up for her friends to see, Kiara's jaw immediately dropping.

"Remi!" The girl whined, thinking her friend to be above stealing from a motel room that they now know to be a crime scene.

"He closed the safe before I could put it back. There was no time." She explained, glancing to the blonde boy. Kiara closed her mouth, not saying anything else but reaching out to pat Remi's arm. The Elliot girl was usually the moral compass of the group. The one most likely to lead a lost child back to their worried parent or to help an elderly lady get her groceries to her car. Though she loved a bit of fun and getting into trouble just as much as the rest of them, she was perhaps the most grounded person they knew.

"Okay, fine. But can we talk about the fact that you took a literal gun?" Pope redirected the focus to JJ.

"Better than the cops having it." JJ tried to defend his actions, earning nothing but scoffs from Pope and Kiara.

"No, he's actually right. They purposely stole money, evidence for themselves. If they got a hold of the gun, they'd probably use it as a throwaway." She shook her head, honestly surprising herself with defending JJ's antics.

But she knew the cops around the area.

They were corrupt, turning a blind eye to the crimes of the Kooks and over-patrolling the Cut. Not once had a Figure Eight rager of a party been shut down, despite the drugs that changed hands and the other crimes that were committed. Remi believed it was because their parents funded the Sheriff's station and had connections, but whatever the reason, it was still wrong.

"Seriously?" Kiara was taken aback by her words and the small smile on John B's face.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope nodded his head, staring out into the horizon as if he was coaching himself through the realization.

"Hey. Shhhh." JJ shushed the boy, holding the gun against his lips for a moment. "At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living the nightmare." Pope nodded, sitting down on the back bench of the boat.