THE POGUE CODE ❤︎ JJ MAYBANK

Chapter Ten

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING⚠️

• near the end of the chapter is a huge fight i went somewhat into detail with
• i'll put the ⚠️ emoji before it starts.

When they arrived back at the docks, Mackenzie was quick to get off and head on her way. "Zie wait!" Kiara called after her, jogging to catch up. "You wanna hang out for a bit?" she asked the red-haired girl. "Just us, don't worry, I know you don't exactly wanna be with JJ right now," she added in a quieter tone so the others wouldn't hear. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Kie." Mackenzie smiled softly.

As they began walking away JJ called after them. "Hey, where you guys going?" he wondered, him and Pope beginning to move closer. Kiara looked at her best friend then back to the boys, "we're going to have some girl time, fuck off!" the dark-haired girl said back, grabbing Mackenzie's hand and leaving the two boys on the dock.

The pair walked back to Mackenzie's house, sitting out on the dock with her dog Archie. He was a good boy, sitting next to Kiara letting the girl just pet him the whole time. "Hey can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Mackenzie nodded, waiting for her friend to speak again, "when did you know? That you love him?" Kiara asked. "I don't know I... I mean it was eighth grade I know that. I mean I had this massive crush on him and I thought it would just go away after a while but it didn't."

"Then I remember there was this one day, that time JJ got suspended for a week because he punched Carson Heisner in the nose." both girls began laughing at the memory, shocked it took that long for JJ to get his first ever suspension. "He never told anyone the real reason why he did it, but I know why." the red-haired girl added. "What? Thought it was because Carson was taunting about JJ's family." Kiara furrowed her brow.

She watched as the other shook her head, waiting for the real reason, "he did it because of what Carson said to me. JJ overheard him saying that a Kook like me shouldn't be in their school and that I was the least good-looking girl in the school." Mackenzie swallowed hard.

"JJ clearly didn't like that so he punched Carson in the face." Kiara's facial features formed a grin, knowing full well JJ was in love with Mackenzie. "I never actually had anyone other than Kasen defend me in any way before. And after JJ punched Carson he just always seemed so protective of me."

"When he came back after his suspension, in gym he saw these guys staring at me while we were running laps and I remember having to pull him back from punching them too."

Mackenzie sighed, thinking back to those times. When everything was so much more simple, no issues at all. "That's when you fell in love with him." Kiara smiled, "y-yeah, I think so yeah. But he just, he just hooks up with whoever he wants when he wants." the redhead sighed again.

"Okay come on Zie, this is JJ we're talking about. He's never hooked up with the same girl more than once, except for you. That's gotta mean something." Kiara chuckled lightly. "I don't know Kie, I just... I don't know." It fell silent for a moment before the dark-haired girl spoke up again. "Hey can I ask you something else?"

Mackenzie turned to her best friend, letting out a deep breath, "shoot." she was not at all expecting the question she got. "What did Rafe say about you?" Kiara wondered. "I'm sorry, I know it's a difficult topic for you I just... I wanna know so I can look out for you too." the other just shook her head, "it's okay, Kie, I get it."

So she told her. The whole story. There were parts that were hard to say, parts she had never said out loud before. But as she told them, there was a part of her that felt better. Like something was lifted off of her. "And that's why you get uncomfortable whenever a Cameron is around." Kiara sighed.