✧*̥˚ITS ALWAYS YOU! *̥˚✧ J.M 2

059

CHAPTER FIFTY NINE
we gotta go. i know.

THE TWO RUSHED BACK to the sinking Twinkie, the four Pogues clinging to the half sunken vehicle.

"Where the hell were you guys?" Pope yelled frantically, raising his hand in disbelief as they exited the stolen truck.

"Paternal complication. Luke was at the Chateau." JJ sighed, gathering all of the tools needed to surface the Twinkie once again.

The dark skinned boy rolled his eyes at his excuse, "Oh, great! While you were having family time with your pops, John B got bit by a gator."

Aria chuckled, her laugher soon dying down as she noticed the stern looks on her friends faces, "you're serious? What happened?"

"What happened? I got bit by a gator!" John B yelled, holding a bloody towel over the bite marks in his leg.

The friends began to shout loudly at the returning two, making Aria glance at a confused JJ as they listened to the friends scold them.

"I put my ass on line for y'all! God, my parents are gonna send me to boarding school if I keep it up and yet again you even take anything into consideration!" Aria fought back, the yelling only growing more.

"Shut up!" JJ snapped, making the Pogues go silent as they sat around, "seriously, guys, I can't take it anymore, all right? Everyone just cut it out for a second. Look, I just helped my dad leave the island for good. Like, he's not ever coming back. He's straight up like the spanish. Just, "bon voyage."

Aria snorted, "you've got the wrong language, JJ."

"Look, all I've got is you guys. You're it. And I've come too close to loosing you, all of you." JJ flickered his eyes to the dark haired girl standing before him, "I mean, shit, you and Kie almost drowned. Pope you were kidnapped. Sarah you were shot. And John B, you were almost dinner to a freaking gator, bro. So, this blaming each other is some Kook-ass bullshit, all right."

The friends ultimately went quite after JJ's long rant, everyone knew he was right. Perhaps, that's why they all became speechless.

"Sorry, that was a lot right now. I didn't mean to..." JJ suddenly began to apologize for his breakdown, pausing when the group applauded him.

Claps, laughter, and whistles were thrown at the boy at his moving speech, leaving him dumbfounded as he stood there.

"Well-done. I gotta be honest. That was the best freaking speech I've ever heard." Pope chuckled, beaming brightly as he smacked his hands together.

"Also, you should think about, like, a Rosetta Stone because your Spanish and French are flip-flopped." Aria suggested, earning a mug look from the blonde boy.

A limping JB stood with the help of Pope, "we should bon voyage out of here."

"All right, let's get the damn Twinkie out of here." JJ yelled, hurrying to the front seat as the keys jingled in his hands.

Sarah got into the drivers seat while Aria and JJ went into her fathers vehicle, the remainder of the Pogues scattered around the beat-down van.

JJ pressed his foot roughly against the gas petal, the thick wire connecting the two vehicles immediately sprung into the action as the pickup truck went flying forwards.

The bottom of the Twinkie was soon visible again, the wheels rolling against the dirt bath as everyone screeched.

"The Twinkie lives! Let's go, baby!" JJ threw his hands up into the air, knocking Aria's shoulder as they laughed.

Once the rescue mission was finally over, they headed towards their destination, the church where the supposed cross would be resting.

Chills broke out on Aria's arms as she looked at the rundown church, glancing at the blonde boy with hesitation.

"Would you hide a cross here?" JJ asked, nudging her forearm as the two approached the building.

"Definitely would." Aria hummed sarcastically, crinkling her nose.

Pope placed his hands on the large framed doors, the rattling noise echoing from them had all six of them taking cautious steps back.

The church was anything but modern, paint chipping off the walls, wood sticking out, everything smothered in dust.

"Okay, you're telling me Denmark Tanny decided to hide the cross in here?" Aria furrowed her brows, dancing her fingertips along the chipping paint.

Pope nodded, his eyes darting at every small detail around him, "mm-hmm."

"Just spread out." Kie breathed, the group breaking off into different spots.

Aria walked towards the back of the church, a standing alter renaming there, she cringed at the dust turning the brown wood grey.

She blew air on the surface of the alter, absolutely nothing but regular wood.

"Like, are we at the right church?"

Sarah stood beside her, she shrugged nonchalantly at her best-friends comment, looking like a lost puppy as she searched for the item.

Pope was frantically looking around, every nook and corner was sniffed out by the overly determined boy, all of them knowing he wouldn't give up until he found something.

"Look, Pope, we've literally searched everywhere. It's not here. Maybe it was just another figure of speech, or maybe we misread it." Aria placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, he sighed.

He slumped down on the rotting benches, holding up the historic object JJ had found just an hour again, he gazed at the wood carvings hung through the lens.

That's when he saw it.

Everyone followed his eyes, their jaws dropping as they mumbled things in disbelief.

The cross was right above them the entire time, literally. It was on a angle, acting a support beam, there was a total of four, but only one cross.

Pope stood, placing a hand on the wall as his fingers curved in one of the many holes, helping himself up as he began to climb the wall.

"Pope, careful!"

AUTHORS NOTE <3

i missed y'all sm!!