I'm here // JJ Maybank

15

"You guys get these groceries over to figure eight. Get straight back here when you're done. No fishing." Heyward says handing us bags of food. Pope grabs bags and puts them into the pile that is forming on the table.
"I promised delivery by this afternoon. Rich folks don't wanna wait for you lazy sons of..." Heyward turns back around to see JJs arms extended out waiting for bags.
"Oh JJ, thank you" Heyward says, switching from his stern man voice to his normal kind one.
"Sons of bitches" Heyward finishes making me laugh. Once all the bags are on the boat the three of us head off to deliver all these bags.
"Doesn't even look like the storm hit there." Pope observes once we finally exit the cut.
"That's because they got generators bro. Get used to it." JJ says.
"And staff to clean up everything. They don't have to lift a finger" i scoff. They can't even be bothered to pick up their own damn groceries.
"And then they say the juice will be out all summer at the cut." JJ adds.
"Figures." I say
"It's nice to be a kook"
Once we reach the country club we all grab some bags. I help with popes order because he has a couple bags where as JJ only had two. JJ threw a fit when he realized he had to walk alone but he will get over it. Me and pope decide to cut through the golf course and head towards the building.
"How's the essay coming along?" I ask pope.
"Good so far. Once I'm done can you proof read it though. With everything going on there are probably errors I'm overlooking." He says.
"Of course pope. Anything for you" I say, I love it when my smarts get recognized. Best compliment ever.
"How are you doing though, you know after all that stuff." He asks cautiously. I sigh and shake my head.
"Im fine. Been through worse." I say trying to make light of it, but pope just looks at me sympathetically.
"No pope really. I'm good. Just glad I left when I did." I say bumping my shoulder with his.
"Hey what's up?" We hear someone call out. I look away from pope and see Rafe and Topper coming from the golf course. I curse under my breath and mentally prepare for the harassment.
"Fuck off Rafe" I say.
"Oh cmon Ames. How much for one of those beers? You kinda owe me for what you did to my boy." He says smirking at me.
"They're not for sale. And she doesn't owe you shit." He says calmly. We both try to keep walking but topper stands in front of me and Rafe is holding his club in front of pope.
"Oh wait wait wait. You can just give us one then, right?" Rafe presses.
"Or you could buy one like everyone else. You have daddy's credit card right?" I mock. He turns his attention to me, his stare making my palms sweaty. We try to walk off again but topper holds his hand out on front of me and Rafe does the same. I smack toppers hand away and look at him with pure hatred.
"Listen, wait wait wait, you're not listening to me. You've got so many bro, and we've got nothing."
"Nothing" topper adds. What a moron.
"They aren't even ours Rafe."
I say stepping in front of pope so that I'm between the guys.
"Their already paid for." Pope adds from behind me. Rafe pushes me to the side, causing me to stumble on the uneven ground and drop one of my bags.
"You probably stole them right" Rafe says and breaks one of Popes bags with his club.
"What the hell!" Pope shouts.
"Rafe what is wrong with you?" I say quickly putting myself between them again. I drop both of my bags ready to defend my friend.
"You owe me for that!" Pope shouts again. Rafe has the crazy look in his eyes and I just know this is going to get messy. I shove Rafe back as he quickly starts to approach us again, he regains his balance and then grabs both of my shoulders and throws me to the ground. I hit the ground hard, feeling rocks go into my shoulder and leg as I hit the ground. I can hear pope shouting at Rafe, followed by the sound of the bag being hit and falling to the ground.
"Cmon man we just want one of these beers" I hear topper say. I look up to see Topper wrestling pope for the pack of beers. I get up, but am quickly met with Rafe.
"Stay down Ames" he says shoving me again. I step towards him and slap him as hard as I can, sending his head to the side. I hear him laugh, then am quickly met with the back of his hand. He backhands me, making me bite the corner of my mouth accidentally. I fall to the ground at the unexpected hit and bring my hand to my mouth. Blood coats the tip of my fingers and the metallic taste fills my mouth. I turn my attention back to where pope is and see topper throw him to the ground also. He rolls over in pain and I can see the side of his head is bleeding. He quickly gets back up and tries to hit Rafe, but Rafe uses his club and starts to hit pope with it.
"STOP!" Is all I muster up. I run over but topper holds me back. He has a tight grip on both of my arms as I try to pry from his hold. Rafe hits pope on the back making him fall to the ground once more.
"Stay down bitch!" Rafe shouts. Topper let's go of me and starts to usher Rafe away. I quickly go to Pope and turn him so that he's on his back. I look at his forehead and see that it's cut pretty bad. Rafes club comes slamming down next to popes head on the opposite side of me and I jump.
"Knock it off!" Topper yells at Rafe.
"You fucking psycho!" I shout as they walk away, the beers in hand. Once they are far enough away I pull pope to his feet.
"Im sorry" I say to him, brushing the dirt off his shirt.
"Don't be. Let's go back" he says coldly.
We walk back to the boat in silence. We bear JJ there, considering we didn't make it that far to begin with.
"What do we tell JJ?" I ask, breaking the silence.
"Don't. He will just freak out. Just lie like you used to" pope says. I try not to take the dig too personally considering the situation. I grab JJs long sleeve that he had on earlier and put in on, covering my scraped up arms. Doesn't help that my lip and knees are bleeding but it's one thing taken care of. I grab the first aid kit and bring it over to pope. I open it up and grab everything I'll need to clean popes wound.
"You don't have to-" pope starts.
"Shut up" I say. I take his cap off and start to clean his head. There aren't any band aids big enough to cover it up so I clean it as best I can. It's still bleeding, but at least there is no more dirt. I leave pope at front of the boat and go and sit in the back, waiting for JJ to come back.
Not minutes later JJ comes running down the dock so excited
"Guys, you are not going to believe what just happened to me! Whoo! That was the best 100 bucks I've ever made! When I say count me in on all these grocery deliveries, pope I mean it" once JJ got onto the boat pope started to drive away. The energy on the boat was extremely more solemn than JJs, which he was quick to notice. He looked between me and pope. I stared off into the ocean, because once JJ sees me all bets were off the table. I may have used to hide a lot of things, but never to JJ.
"What's up with you two? Pope you good?" He says taking a seat next to him. He leans over and sees popes face.
"Yo what happened to your face dude?" JJ says taking popes hat off, revealing the gash on his head. He quickly looks back at me and comes over. I still don't dare to look at him. He grabs my arm, causing me to wince in pain. He immediately notices and moves so that he's in my eye line. His eyes go from sad to angry in seconds.
"Jesus! What happened?" He asks looking back and forth between us.
"Rafe and Topper jumped us. They said no pogues on their side of the island." Pope says. JJ doesn't said anything, he just stares at my scraped up legs.
He looks over at pope and walks back over to him.
"What are you gonna do?" He asks Pope.
—
Soon enough we rerouted and are now sat by toppers brand new Malibu.
"2020 Malibu, 24-MXC" pope says. We all stare at the extremely expensive boat with a plan to sink it.
"Number one in quality, luxury, and performance." I add.
"This is war" JJ says. He grabs my hand not taking his eyes off boat, but I can't help but to look at where our hands are intertwined.
"They hit us, we hit them" he continues. He releases my hand to put on his face covering.
I take off JJs long sleeve ready to jump in the water.
"No I'll go." Pope says holding his hand out for me to stop. I let him take the lead, sending him a nod. He dives in, leaving me and JJ on the boat. JJ looks over at me, now getting to see all of the cuts.
"Jesus Mel." He says examining my body.
"It's fine." I say brushing it off.
"It's not Mel. It's really not." He says quickly. This time I grab his hand, interlacing our fingers. We watch pope get onto the boat, unplug it, and then quickly swim back. Once he gets onto the ladder he holds up the plug, making me smile.
"You did it. I'm so proud of you right now" JJ says also smiling at the boy.
"JJ? Mel?"
"Yeah" we both say.
"You can't tell anybody." He says looking at us.
"Oh no yeah. Totally dude"
"No I'm serious dude. Not kie, not John B. Nobody." He says. I nod at him and then grab the plug from his hands, throwing it as far as possible into the water.
"Our lips are sealed man" JJ confirms, clapping pope on the shoulder.
"Ok let's get out of here" I say
"How about we go hit the break now yeah?" JJ says holding both of my shoulders. I smile big at him and nod. I wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly. This kid always knows how to cheer me up.
—-
A/n

Slowly and steady wins the race.
Going to incorporate more and more about Amelia's past with her family. Let's just say she hasn't had it so easy 🫢