𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

forty-five: Phase One.

WHILE WAITING in the car, Kai kept staring out the window, waiting with his hands together between his thighs. "Ranking-wise--" "oh, you're still talking?" Kie glanced back at the blond boy who spoke up again.

"Yeah, I was just curious."

"Oh, you're still curious." Kie says, nodding softly. "Is John B better?" JJ stuttered his words and Kai looked at him right away with a confused look. "What?" Kie says, equally confused before glancing behind her at Kai who just shrugs. Just then, Pope comes running.

"Oh, my God, JJ. Shut up." Kai whispered and hit the boy's leg who just raised his hands defensively. "Okay." Pope now jumps into the car. "Phase one is complete." He says, glancing back at JJ and Kai before looking at Kie.

He noticed the tension and weirdness. "Are we all good?" He asked, looking between them all. "Yep. Totally." Kai simply says, crossing his arms with a slightly annoyed look.

The second phase is set into motion that night, they sat in Kiara's car outside of the house. "Why does she get to tickle?" JJ asked Pope, looking at him. "She's the best tickler." He says and Kai rolls his eyes, glancing out the window.

"Should I do an accent?" Kie now asked him. "Definitely disguise your voice." Pope tells her. "Disguise my voice how? How would you like me to talk like this?" Kie says, in an English accent, glancing back at JJ and Kai for their reaction. "Not like that." JJ shakes his head and Kai just shrugs. "Not like that, no. Batman." Pope tells her. "Batman," she now says in a deep, gruffly voice. "There you go."

"Spot-on. Let's do it."

Kie presses the dial button, waiting and once the man answers, "hello," Kie responds in that deep voice. "Hello." She looked up at the three boys, "I can't." She whispered to them.

"Just talk." Kai tells her. "Hello?" Gavin says again as Kie now clears her throat. "Is Gavin there?" She asked. "This is Gavin. Who's this? Hello?" The man responded back. "I know what happened on the tarmac." She says and Gavin simply chuckled, "um... who's this?" He says, sounding a bit worried.

"It was Rafe Cameron. But you already knew that, and you lied about it." Kie says. "Okay, who is this?" The man sounded even more scared and worried now when he asked. "We're gonna prove it. You're guilty." She says.

"Alright, you're gonna tell me who this is now."

"You could have saved her, Gavin, and you didn't. And you're not getting away with this." Kie tells the man. "Listen to me! Who is this?" Gavin asked as Kie now hangs up on him. "How was that?" She looked up at Pope then JJ. "Yeah. I was scared. Good job." JJ says, glancing away then looking at her again.

"Alright. We tickled the wire. Phase two complete." Pope says and Kie nods. "Now we wait and listen." He added. "Greatest night of my life." Kai muttered quietly, glancing out the window with an annoyed look on his face.

"Hey, here comes. Stay down." Pope whispers so they all lowered in the car, trying not to get seen by the man driving out of his driveway. "He didn't see us. He didn't see us. Hit it." JJ says when the man passed and they all sat up quickly. "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go." Pope repeatedly said under his breath.

"My seat belt." He reached for it. "Are you seriously buckling up right now?" JJ exclaimed. "Yes, I am." Pope argued back. "You don't need it right now!" Kie says as she now drove off, taking a U-turn so they can follow Gavin and Kai just chuckled to himself.

As they're driving, Kai and JJ were in the middle again, watching Pope as they were following Gavin. "It's Ward. He's talking to Ward." The boy says. "Are you serious?" Kie says, glancing at him. "Yes." Pope merely says.

"Clo... get closer. I can't hear." Pope says, trying to focus. "Okay." Kie says, speeding up a bit more to get closer to Gavin's car. "He's talking about negotiating something. Renegotiating." Pope tells them and Kai furrows his brows.

"Gavin's got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin." Pope says and Kai took a deep breath. "Holy shit." Kie says, glancing at Pope then the car. "Oh, shit." Pope says.

"I think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage." Pope tells them as the man went to the side of the road now. "Wait, he's pulling over." Kai pointed out and Kie slows down. "Shit. He's panicking." Pope says. "Do I pull behind him? What do I do?" Kie asked.

"Just go around the block." JJ tells her. "Yeah, yeah, just go." Pope agrees as Kai sighed, covering his face. "We're gonna lose him." Kie says. "Go, go, go!" JJ says. "I'm going!" Kie exclaimed back at him.

"I can't hear anything. Shit. I'm losing it. I'm losing the signal. I can't hear him." Pope says as they come across a detour of a construction site. "What the hell is this?" JJ asked as Kie kept going. "Stop. Just stop and turn around now." Pope says, panicking. "Pull in here and back up." JJ says as he pointed. "Okay, I'm just gonna back up." But when she says that, a loader comes out from a driveway. "Yo! We were about to back up." JJ says, peering out the window, as he shouted at the construction workers, Pope got out of the car. "Wait! Hey, Pope!" JJ shouted at him.

"We gotta know where they're meeting." Pope says, running off and Kai huffs, getting out of the car, rushing with JJ behind him. "We're going after him, right?" JJ asked as Kai looked at Kie. "Yep." The girl says, opening her car door. "Okay." JJ says, running after Pope with Kie and Kai following behind.

"You can't leave that car here!"

"Sorry! We'll get it later!"

 

  

AUTHORS NOTE
the little interactions between jj and kie are ngl a little cute but their dynamic reminds me too much of me and a guy i use to like, and for some reason just like him and i, i don't want them to end up together
+ ngl it feels forced too because yk the writers obviously are just doing fan service and them making jiara happen in s3 will just be obvious they do what fans want