I was in the grade below the other Pogues, but for some odd reason I was in their History class. While we're learning about how the Roman Empire got split into four kingdoms, Pope's phone vibrates, Kie's dings and JJ's makes another noise. Mr. Sunn stops teaching and spins back around to face the class. "Whose phone was that?" No one says a word."Nobody? You will be tested. Now, to recap, who was Diocletian?"
As he continues to speak, JJ, Kie, and Pope check their phones. They all look at each other and JJ guided me over to them, we crouched the whole way, and once we were there he opened the text. It was a picture of Sarah and John B, in the clothes they were in when they left. Sarah was holding in a laugh while John B was smirking. Of course, I left my phone at home today, I could see I was in the group chat though.
We all looked at each other, confused, suddenly JJ grabs my hand and runs out of the classroom. Pope and Kiara are soon with us, "We can go to the courtyard." Kie tells us, as we run down the hallway. Right after she says that JJ trips over the Janitor's mop bucket, making him and the bucket fall over. I quickly grab his hand to help him up while the Janitor gets mad at us.
We then make it out to the courtyard. There were two other people sitting at one of the tables but we chose to ignore them. "I mean, is that even possible?" Kiara bursts out. "I mean Shoupe said that they didn't make it. He said that."
"Okay, but I think we're overreacting, cause we can't rule out the possibility that this could all be some kind of weird, cruel, hoax." Pope rants as we go to sit at another table. JJ was holding his heart as if it was in pain.
"I'm just gonna ask," Kiara mutters, starting to type.
"What if it's actually him though?" I question.
"Then I don't know, okay? I don't know." Pope sighs. After a hot minute, Pope speaks again, looking at Kiara. "Has he responded?"
"He's typing." Kie focuses in on the screen. I was standing next to JJ, and I watched as the message came in on his phone. 'Is JJ there?'
JJ looks over at me, almost nervous. I just nod him along. He soon starts typing, 'I'm here Bree' Another message comes in fast. 'Did you pimp my short board?' A smile stretches across Jay's face, mine as well. The others start laughing.
"It's him," I confirm, feeling the tears come on. "It's definitely him." JJ gives me a huge hug, picking me up and spinning me.
"Yeah!" He laughs out, not being able to hold in the excitement. Another message comes in, and Kie reads it out to us.
"'Laying super low in Nassau.' How the hell did they get to the Bahamas?" She furrows her brows. I open my mouth in astonishment. P4L.
"Okay," JJ smirks. "You can't kill a Pogue, dude." He laughs again, patting Pope on the back.
"Especially John B." Pope agrees. Another message comes in, and I lean close to JJ to see it. 'Can you clear my name? Wanna come home.'
"Hell yeah, we'll clear your name." JJ smiles.
"Be in touch." I read off of JJ's phone. "P4L." I smile.
"That's what I'm talking about! P4L, man!" This is the happiest I've seen JJ in a while. "P4L baby!" He jumps on the table, screaming at the top of his lungs. We all go in for a group hug after that, this didn't feel real but I'm so glad it is.
"Just for the record, I never doubted them," JJ tells us as we leave the Wreck after school. We were headed to the dock right next to eat, we already had some food inside.
"I owe you five bucks." Kiara laughs.
"Hey, Kiara I do need those setups done by 5!" Her mom calls out to her from the restaurant.
Kie scrunches up her face, "There are other people that work here!" She calls back, not even looking at her mom.
"But none of 'em my children!" I loved Mrs. Anna's sense of humor. I snort at her response as we near the dock benches.
"I feel that." Pope says as we throw our bags onto the benches on the dock, "On a deep emotional level, I understand that."
"So we going to the Bahamas, or what?" JJ couldn't hold it in any longer. I think about it for a second, I mean I'm down. JJ and I are the nothing-to-lose club, Kie and Pope on the other hand....
"Dude, there's no way we're getting to the Bahamas," Pope shakes his head.
"John B's gonna get nabbed sooner or later. So if we're gonna clear his name, we need to have done it yesterday." I tell the group.
"I'll tell you how we do it." JJ stands up, I can already tell his plan will have something illegal involved.
"Oh, so you have it all planned out?" I raised an eyebrow, amused and waiting for his amazing idea.
He turns his body towards mine, "As a matter of fact, I do, princess." He sits back down again. "We kidnap Rafe." I raise my eyebrows and I almost laugh, but I somehow manage to hold it in.
"I'm sorry, what?" Pope is already concerned.
JJ continues, using his hands as he goes, "We kidnap Rafe, tie him up, stick the gun in his mouth, just wait till he starts squawking." JJ says it as if we were planning our capture the flag route as 6th graders.
"Ya know tortures a war crime?" Kiara tells him.
"Yeah, so how exactly do you plan on clearing John B's name from jail?" Pope questions. "Cause that's a felony."
JJ throws his hands up in the air, "All right, well, what do you got, Pope? I was just trying to keep it simple. You know, one-stop, and we're done."
"Guys, all we need is a material witness," Pope tells us. "We saw Ward's plane fly right over our heads with the gold inside of it. He didn't fly it. If somebody else flew, they were there on the tarmac. They saw Peterkin get murdered. We just have to find out whoever that was and get them to confess on record."
"How do we do that?" I ask.
"A little light espionage," Pope answers.
"A little ghost recon." JJ smirks.
"Woogity Woogity?" Pope tickles fingertips with Kie and JJ, JJ doing the same to me.
"Woogity, baby!" JJ laughs.
We were back in Kie's car, the sun was starting to set, and it was beautiful. "If this guy flew planes for Ward, he's gotta be pretty tight-lipped," Pope states from the passengers seat. JJ loads up his gun.
"So then direct approach gets my vote."
"JJ, no," I tell him sternly.
"No!" Kiara adds in.
"Put the gun down, man." Pope shakes his head.
"Guys! We gotta keep this simple or we'll never get John B off."
"Or... We just tickle the wire." Pope smirks, holding up his AirPods.
"What?" Kiara bursts.
"We tickle the wire." He smiles.
YOU ARE READING
JJ and a Routledge
RomanceA couple of months after John B's dad went missing at sea, a girl named Coral shows up at his door claiming to be his sister, whom he never knew he had. They soon begin living together as she exclaims her story and dives into the Pogues and their di...
