Dismissed (1) - JJ Maybank

THE LUCKY COMPASS PT III.

"I mean it's obvious, right?" John B drove the twinkie after exclaiming he knew what to do and again not telling the others where. "A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message. He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?" John B stated his theories.

"Yeah. It's possible." Kie said not wanting to hurt him.

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels," Pope said not sharing the same concern as Kiara.

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels. Dank nugs and the stickest of ickies. That's how I do it." JJ responded. Aria scoffed and rolled her eyes. JJ hasn't spoken to her still being mad at her and she is starting to really get sick of the constant back and forth between them. "Disgusting."

"Ok, don't act like your so high and mighty either. You give boys our phone numbers so they don't talk to you." JJ said glaring at the girl.

"I also don't use my real name. But at least I don't break every girl's heart I come across." She responded smiling innocently at the boy in front of her.

"God. You know you're so hypocritical." JJ said mad at the girl.

"Oh, hypocritical? That's a big word, JJ. Can you even spell that?" Aria didn't like saying that but she was blind in rage at moment.

"Shut up! And it's like you have a death wish or something. Well, news flash some of us are sick of you always trying to be the hero!"

"I don't always want to be the hero! I just don't want any of you shitheads getting hurt! And its heroine."

"Okay! Both of you shut up." John B said interrupting their fight over noting really. "And I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to give me a message."

"If it helps you believe, John B." Kiara said softly.

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

"It's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ spoke trying to calm his built-up anger.

"Look, my-my dad is missing, okay? Missing." John B looked back at the three sitting in the back of the van. "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."

**** (Drug talk)

Aria knew she wasn't in the same circumstances as John B but she felt a very similar pain when she thought about her family. Her mum was the only parent who cared for her, her dad always abused her. But he would never lay a hand on her mum. 

This was why she helped JJ when they first met, why she never needed to ask JJ what happened. Aria had stolen makeup, previously to hide her bruises, which was way too fair for her but it worked. When she saw JJ with a black eye, she thought about how JJ was a nine-year-old boy, how many fights would he get into at that age? 

He did love her. But the pain her felt when he thought about her being the cause of her mother's death, ruined him. He turned to alcohol as a coping strategy, then he brought hard drugs into the mix, along with hurting Aria even more.

Sure Aria smoked Weed and sometimes Cigarettes, but her dad was doing, stuff like cocaine, heroin, and crystal methamphetamine. She stayed quiet just looking out at the passing trees thinking about how much of a disappointment she is.

****

"It's been almost a year." Kie hummed softly trying to get John B to see reason.

"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility." JJ rambled.