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THE DAY COMPLETELY turned around once the Pogues were out of school. Which, given their excitement and very clear lack of interest in learning, happened as soon as they calmed down from John B's secret message. The decision wasn't even spoken aloud; all four of the friends immediately raced off the school grounds and piled back into the Twinkie. Not even Pope argued, still too stupefied to voice his objections.
Emerson found herself in the back of the van again with only JJ to accompany her. Kie sped down the road with Pope riding shotgun, the windows down and music blaring. The friends all cheered as the Twinkie hummed along the bumpy road.
"How do you think they did it?" Emerson asked suddenly. She pulled her gaze away from the grimy window — something she'd learned to get used to once she realized riding in the trusty old van was becoming a routine for her — and looked between the Pogues inside.
"Survived?" Kie queried. Emerson nodded to confirm Kie was correct in guessing what she insinuated and the curly haired girl hummed. "I have absolutely no clue."
"Like I said, you can't kill a pogue!" JJ whooped.
"You cried like a baby when we found out Shoupe thought they were dead," Emerson pointed out blandly. "And tried to burn down the whole island."
JJ snapped his head over to look at her, the smile dropping off his face. His eyes darkened ever so slightly and they narrowed at Emerson, a growing familiar stormy blue staring back at her. When her and JJ first broke up (if that's what it would even be called since they were never technically together), he was still in denial. At least, in Emerson's mind he was. He still followed her around like a lost puppy and was trying to be overly sweet to her, but Emerson wasn't having it. Her bitter and cold attitude eventually wore him down, and now they rarely spoke or interacted with each other. When they did, it usually went like this. Emerson was still getting used to the icy stares he gave her.
It was almost funny to her how easily she could act cold towards JJ but when he did it back, it felt like a stab directly to the heart.
"It was definitely luck," Pope deadpanned. Emerson was broken out of her thoughts by his words and all of the Pogues turned to look at him. JJ and Emerson finally ended their silent staring contest as he continued. "Come on. You heard Shoupe. They took an open boat into a tropical depression. There's no way it didn't turtle."
"They should have drowned," Kie agreed quietly.
A heavy beat of silence fell over the group as they mulled the words over. Of course they had mourned their friends, but none of them had really thought too much about how exactly John B and Sarah died. Emerson was thankful for that now that she was thinking about it, because that much detail a few months ago would have driven her completely over the edge.
Debatably, she'd already lost her mind. But it depended on who you asked.
"Yeah, but they didn't," JJ stated. He shut Emerson a look just as Kie pulled into the Wreck parking lot. They'd spent the last few periods of the school day driving around aimlessly and smoking and now Kie had to help her parents at the restaurant. The boys and Emerson followed her inside, knowing that Kie would probably sneak them some food and a nice, cold beverage.
