[rosemary] .jj maybank.

chapter forty

the stuffy silence in the dark garage was broken abruptly when a thumping and rattling sound was heard just outside the door. "all units, reports of a white male and mixed female running through backyards in the 100 block of church street," a police radio was heard from outside as the sirens continued to blare in the neighbourhood.

"repeat, all units, neighbors reported white male and mixed female running through backyards in the 100 block of church street." hearing the radio clearer, john b and rosie realized they had to move now or they would be caught. once the two teens located the door, they rushed inside, seeing no other way of exiting this house without being caught. closing the door, john b paused, letting his head fall. things were royally fucked up right now.

however, their hopes of not getting caught were ruined when they stumbled upon kelce eating at the kitchen island. the older kook looked up after hearing the two pairs of shoes against the hardwood floors, doing a double take when he saw the last two people he would ever expect to be in his house. "john b? rosie?"

rosie put her hands up quickly, elbowing john b to do the same as kelce stood up slowly. "hey, man–" john b started but rosie shook her head. "hey, kelce," the freckled-girl said gently, hoping that kelce wouldn't run off right away. "please, please, just listen to me for a second."

kelce looked at her with wide eyes, shifting to look at rosie then john b, "no, man. what are you guys doing here?" rosie shook her head, "we– we're sorry. we didn't mean to–"

kelce backed up slowly, "man, i know what you two did!" rosie kept her hands up, "no, no, please! please just listen to us, we didn't do anything." by now, john b had chimed in, "just listen. we didn't do it! please just listen!"

"no, no, no! you two need to get out of my house!" kelce persisted. "no, kelce, we didn't do it, okay!" rosie cried, tears spilling past the water lines of her eyes all over again. she had no faith that anyone was gonna believe her and john b didn't do it, and it was mentally and physically tiring.

kelce hesitated, seeing rosie's tears but ignored them, raising his voice at them. "don't talk to me. i know what you guys did, alright? get outta my house!" rosie rubbed her dried blood-stained hands over her eyes. "just listen to us. we didn't do it," both cousins continued.

"woah, wait. put the knife down, man," rosie said, backing away from the teen in front of her, who had just grabbed a knife. "you two just invaded the homeland. i'm warnin' you," kelce warned, stepping closer to the two, his hand gripping the knife tightly.

"kelce! we're not in a stupid video game. we're telling you, we didn't do it! please! just put it down," rosie stressed, pulling on her hair as her heart pounded against her chest. kelce only shook his head, ignoring what he thought was just an act. "you two need to get the hell outta my house right now."

john b stared at kelce with wide eyes, pulling on rosie's hand and running the opposite way. "hey!" kelce yelled, running after them.

rosie and john b ran quickly, entering one of the first rooms around the corner. john b shut the door quickly, holding it closed as kelce rattled the doorknob. rosie's heart pounded– both cousins looked at each other with wide eyes when kelce went silent. "kelce?" john b asked, putting his ear up against the door.

when the kook didn't respond, rosie furrowed her brows before coming to the conclusion that kelce was holding the door shut. now we're even more screwed, rosie thought, cynically, as she tried rattling the doorknob. "fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," rosie muttered, stepping away from the door after kicking it. absolutely fucking nothing was going in their favour recently. but that was an understatement.

rosie brought her hands up to her hair, pacing in her spot. "we're screwed, we're screwed, we're screwed," rosie mumbled repeatedly. john b sighed, "can you shut up, please. you're making it worse. for yourself and me."

rosie dragged her hands down her face, rubbing her eyes in the process. "i-i'm sorry but i'm freaking out. we need to get out of here."

"no shit, sherlock," john b quipped back. rosie looked at him, "you sound like me right now. what's going on? is this a freaky friday moment?"

"wait, rosie, shut up for a sec," john b said quickly, pressing his pointer finger against his lips after hearing something scrape against the hardwood floors. rosie furrowed her brows again, catching onto what her cousin was insinuating and realizing the continued silence of the kook on the other side of the door. rosie gave john b a look of understanding, putting her ear up against the door as kelce put a door underneath the door handle.

"fuck. kelce?" rosie asked, rattling the doorknob once again. a second later, john b pulled her away from the door, rattling the door as well and receiving the same outcome as rosie. "hey, man. hey, hey, hey."

"you're in the house of pain now, bro. you hear that?" kelce yelled. rosie gave a look of disgust, "what the hell? kelce, let us out!"

"shut the fuck up, rosie! i got you two. i got you guys, man!"

rosie stepped away from the door, staring straight at it hopelessly. "well, shit."

"and– and i look up, and bam, intruder alert, bro," rosie heard from outside the door, a sparse five minutes since their last encounter. "knock, knock!" kelce yelled loudly, grabbing john b's full attention, causing him to stand up straighter.

"hey! hey, kelce. hey, buddy. um. please just– just let me out," john b pleaded, desperately. "i don't think so, bitch. word on the street is that you two got bounties on your head–"

rosie rolled her eyes, kicking the door to interrupt him, "it's not– no. it's not what you think. please." but unfortunately, kelce continued to talk, bulldozing over rosie's attempts, "25k cash money, dead or alive... isn't that right, rosie?"

"if you would just fucking listen to us, you would know that we're telling the truth! we didn't do anything!" rosie yelled tiredly. she had pretty much lost all hope and she had always hated kelce... so things were pretty shitty right now. "shut up, bitch. we know you're lying!"

rosie only rolled her eyes, stepping away from the door and looking over at john b. this was absolutely useless. a quiet whisper, from who rosie could only assume was topper, sounded, "hey. what the hell's goin' on?"

"i'm– i'm gonna go get the cops, alright? alright? ...bro.. don't let those dogs out."

hearing this, rosie's heart stopped in her chest. it appeared that tonight would be their last night that was not spent in a jail cell.

⤛ ∴ ∗ ∵☾ ❀ ☽ ∵ ∗ ∴ ⤜

like john b and rosie; jj, pope and kie were also on kook territory, sneaking their way passed the notorious tannyhill gates. once kie made her way up to sarah's window, she knocked lightly, quickly catching the attention of the kook princess. kie smiled once sarah's face lit up, "kie!"

but the two girls were disappointed once they found the window wouldn't budge. slightly changing the plan, kie took out the wanted sign of her two best friends, flashing the light at it so sarah could read the crumpled paper. sarah's face visibly dropped, a deep pang of betrayal pulsing through her chest– finally understanding why she was locked in her room.

"are you in on it?" kie asked sadly. the feeling of betrayal in sarah's chest worsened– but only for a moment, "did you think i was?"

kie's frantic shrug turned into her shaking her head rapidly, "no... but, your dad lied, sarah. we're trying to get john b and rosie off the island."

placing her hand on the window, sarah nodded, "i know. i'll try to get out as soon as i can but i'm locked in right now." kie repeated the action, but before she could respond, ward's booming voice was heard nearby. "shit. go!" sarah whispered harshly, running back to her spot on her bed.

yet, even with their confirmation that sarah was not involved, the three pogues were worried there were flaws in their plan. it was up to them to help the two cousins escape and they were terrified of what might unfold.

•∗•∗•∗•∗•∗•∗•∗•∗•∗•∗•∗•∗•
i got an eyebrow piercing😁🕺