THE PRINCE'S QUEEN | J.MAYBANK

[3]

"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 asked the Pogues and me. We were all in the Twinkie on our way to the Redfield Lighthouse. I felt kind of awkward after what Kiara said to me and what I said to JJ at the Chateau, but they wanted me to come to see if I could help, so I went. I was sitting by myself on a separate seat from JJ and Pope while Kiara and John B were in the front.

"Yeah. It's possible," Kiara said softly.

"It could also be possible, that you're concocting wild theories to help -- you know, deal with your sad feels," Pope added strictly.

"Pope?" John B said, and Kiara shot him a grimace.

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels. Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies -- that's how I do it," JJ joked and winked at me, but I just put my head down while fiddling with my fingers, losing all my dignity in just a couple seconds.

"I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to give me a message," John B cut him off.

"If it helps you belive, John B," Kiara said.

"Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? Look, I'm not trippin' out-"

"It's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ started.

"Look, my -- my dad is missing, okay? 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 said, and I looked up, seeing everyone had frowns on their faces.

"It's been almost a year," Kiara whispered, and John B had tears in his eyes.

"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility," JJ predicted as if that's an improvement, making me shake my head and look out the window.

"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere," Pope added to JJ's crazy inference.

"Absolutely. Uh . . . . or Atlantis," JJ shrugged.

"JJ," Kiara scolded him, "look, what do you think the message is?"

"Redfield," John B answered as we drove past a sign that said 'Redfield Lighthouse.' Once John B parked, we all got out to look up at the thin lighthouse.

"Right. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" John B said to JJ, who furrowed his eyebrows.

"Wait . . . . why me?" He asked.

"Because you're not coming," Pope answered.

"Why?"

"There are independent and dependent variables. You're independent. We don't know what you'll do-"

"Shut up!"

"Listen to me for a second," John B cut the boy's argument off, "Pope, Eleanor, you stand lookout with JJ. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."

"Great," Kiara agreed, and her and John B started walking to the lighthouse. I, JJ, and Pope sighed.

"I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to felonies to a minimum," Pope said as JJ pulled out a hackysack and started playing with it. I went over to the Twinkie and sat down in the doorway with a huff.

"All right, would you just shut up already?" JJ asked the black boy. JJ turned around and saw how bummed I was. He walked over to me and sat down next to me.

"What's wrong? You've looked sad the whole way here," he said and edged closer to me.

"What the hell am I even doing here?" I asked harshly, and he furrowed his eyebrows.