You Have To Choose |JJ Maybank|Topper Thornton

Chapter 1: He's Never Going To Forgive Me

Evelyn's eyes opened as the bright morning sun warmed her skin. All of the memories for the day before came crashing back to her. John B had gotten away. John B and Sarah were both dead. She had slept with Topper. Evelyn wasn't sure which thought made her more sick to her stomach. She knew that sleeping with Topper wasn't a good idea, but she would have done anything last night to get rid of the hurt in her chest.

She glanced behind her at the boy who was sleeping peacefully. It's not that she regretted sleeping with him, she just knew that this was a one time thing. A buzzing from her phone caught her attention. She grabbed it off of the side table looking at it. There were several messages from her parents telling her that they were trying to get home. The last one said they would arrive tomorrow morning. She checked on the other notifications, her heart dropping when she saw a certain boys name on her phone.

JJ😜🌊
Meet at the Chateua at 11

Though they had never made it official, Evelyn couldn't help but feel guilty about sleeping with Topper behind JJ's back. But last night she wasn't thinking about JJ, just about getting rid of the feeling inside of her. She glance up at the time seeing it was 10:40. Cursing as she got out of bed trying to quietly get her clothes. She didn't want to wake Topper but knew she had to go.

Closing the door quietly behind her Evelyn walked to her car. She was thankful that Topper had gone and picked it up for her the night before. The drive to the cut was silent. Evelyn rolled her windows down and let the warm island air flow through her hair. A sort of almost peace filled her as she drove. Sure, she was still hurting from the loss from her friends. But the Outer Banks was at peace, just like it always was after a storm.

Evelyn pulled up to the chateau to see Kie, Pope, and JJ standing around a tree. As she got out of the car she could see Pope hacking away at the tree with an axe. She walked up beside Kie and grabbed her hand. The girl looked up at Evelyn and gave her a week smile, a tear rolling down her face.

After Pope had chopped away the bark of the tree JJ started burning a memorial sign into it. John B Routledge P4L. Evelyn squeezed Kiara's hand as JJ stepped back to join his friends.

"To John B," JJ said holding up a flask.

"And Sarah," Kiara added.

Kiara walked forward with a box that the two girls had put together of some of John B's stuff. She kneeled down, placing it in a hole that Pope had dug. Evelyn walked forward kneeling down next to her friend. She placed two flowers on top of the box. With JJ kneeled down next to her and Pope on the other side of Kie, the four started pushing the dirty so that the box was completely covered.

The sun was starting to go down and the group was just enjoying each others company. Pope and Kiara were sitting together on the hammock, JJ was carving a stick in the tree, and Evelyn was laying on her back on the ground. Being around her friends made her feel safe, and at peace. It felt like when they were all together nothing could hurt them. Her phone ringing broke the silence. Evelyn reached in her back pocket and saw her moms face light up the screen.

"I gotta take this," she said getting up and starting to walk toward the dock, "Hey mom."

"Honey, how are you?" Allison asked.

"As good as I can be I guess," Evelyn replied.

"Baby we are so sorry we aren't there," Allison said.

"It's fine mom, really. I mean how were you supposed to know that two of my friends would end up dead," Evelyn said.

Dead. John B and Sarah were dead. It was the first time since she'd told Topper that she'd spoke those words out loud, and even then she hadn't used the word dead.