I'm here // JJ Maybank

20

The next day everyone met up at Heywards shop, Minus John B who was still MIA.
"Don't let it get in your head. Three of them and two of us." JJ said.
"And you were caught with your dicks out, very vulnerable" Amelia said pouting her lips at the boys.
"What was the though process using your head?" JJ asked pope, ignoring mels comment, but after he sent her a glare.
"I don't know man. I just kind of acted off instinct. I was a cornered animal" Pope said. Mel walked passed JJ and whispered in his ear,
"With his ween out" making the boy chuckle.
"hey pope, someone here to see you" Heyward announces walking into the room. All heads turn to where he entered and behind him walks in shout. Instinctively Amelia goes to stand in front JJ, shielding him from Shoupes direct point of view.
"Evening, officer" Pope says, looking at the cop nervously.
"I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property." Shoupe says. Mel and JJ look at each other with wide eyes, JJ shakes his head at the girl, telling her to not speak.
"What?" Heyward says looking over the warrant
"Hands where I can see them." Pope looks back at JJ and Mel and they both mouth 'deny deny deny'.
"Young lady out of my way" shoupe says lightly pushing kie out of the way.
"Whoa Shoupe, what'd he do?"
"Take a look at the warrant" Shoupe says, grabbing Popes hands and cuffing them behind his back, Mel takes a step forward , feeling like she has to help but JJ grabs her forearm and pulls her back to him.
"You're arresting him?" Kie questions.
"You're just arresting my boy" Heyward says.
"What's the proof?" JJ speaks
"Be careful!" Kie scolds as shoupe starts to push him outside.
"JJ what do we do?" Mel whispers to the boy, he looks at her and then back at pope but doesn't say anything.
"Cmon shoupe pope didn't do anything!" Mel shouts at the cop.
"Amelia" Shoupe warns. Shoupe reads over Popes rights ignoring everyone shouting at him. Pope stares forward in disbelief, its never him getting put into cuffs, its always either John B, JJ, or even Amelia. Everyone follows shoupe and the boy outside, still shouting and questioning what's going on. JJ approaches Shoupe, who just pushes him back. Amelia grabs the blonde boy and puts herself in between, knowing that JJ is a lose cannon and she does not need two of her friends in jail right now. JJ looks at Amelia with sorry eyes.
"I'm sorry" JJ says to the girl. Before she could speak JJ shouts,
"It wasn't him! It was me" Everyone turns their attention to the boy. Amelia grabs the back of JJs shirt a tugs on it.
"JJ no" she pleads. He looks back at her and shakes his head. He steps forward, releasing himself from her grasp.
"he tried to talk me out of it, but I was mad because he'd just been beaten up. I was so sick of those assholes from figure eight that I lost my shit. I can't let you take the blame for something that I did." He says standing in front of them now.
"You've got too much to lose."
"JJ what are you doing?"
"I'm telling the truth. For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth. I took his old mans boat too." He says. Amelia feels like her lungs have been ripped from her chest as she watches JJ basically commit suicide.
"JJ what the hell?" Heyward says
"JJ cmon" Pope tries.
"Just shut up pope! Just shut up. He's a good kid. You know where I'm from." He says. Mel now is standing next to kie, grasping her hand and trying not to break down and humiliate herself.
"This was all me" JJ finishes.
"That's the whole truth?" SHoupe asks pope.
"Whole truth swear to god." JJ confirms.
"I know what you think, damn it, I'm asking pope." Shoupe says, with too much attitude for Amelias liking. Pope nods his head,
"Yeah, that about covers it." Pope says, Amelia let's out a shakey breath and kie looks over at her. Amelia lets go of Kies hand and walks to JJ. Shoupe works on taking the cuffs off Pope and Amelia places her hand on JJs shoulder, He turns around and immediately hugs her.
"I have to" JJ whispers into her neck.
"Please be careful" She says releasing him as Shoupe comes around to cuff him.
"Ill see you later okay?" JJ says putting his hands behind his back.
"Amelia please step back" Shoupe asks the girl, she glares at him but listens. She watches helplessly as JJ gets put into the back of the cop car and as they drive off. She can hear Pope freaking out behind her, but she cant tear her eyes away from the cop car driving off.
"You okay?" Kie says grabbing her hand, making her jump.
"Yeah, I'm just worried about him." She says letting Kie pull her back inside her shop.
—
Hours later Amelia found herself sitting at Kies vanity getting ready to go to midsummers. She went last year as Kies plus one and earned an invitation from the family again this year. Mel applied a little makeup, covering any remnants of bruises as best as she could. She let her hair fall down naturally and put some of Kies fancy oil on her ends. Anna bought Amelia a dress that probably costed more than her mortgage and utility bills combined which made her cringe. She pulled her dress on and looked in the mirror at her appearance. She didn't get to play dress up often, but she absolutely loved it. Raiding Kies closet for summer dresses that Anna bought her was her favorite pass time.
"Are you ever going to tell me what's going on with you and JJ?" Kie asked shimming her dress on.
"He got arrested kie, so yeah I'm a little worries. That's all" Amelia said looking at kie in the reflection of the mirror.
"I don't believe that. It's not just today, you guys have been extra touchy and weird lately." Kie eyed the girl.
"We've always been close" Amelia defends, to kie and herself.
"Not like this though. You look amazing by the way." Kie said coming and hugging Amelia from behind.
"As do you" She smiled at the girl. Kie rolled her eyes and looked at them in the mirror. Anna walked in as happy as could be and the girls turned around to show off their dresses, well Amelia showed off her dress, Kie just stood their like there was a gun being pointed at her head. Anna places flower crowns on both of the girls heads and they looked at each other holding back a laugh.
"You girls look so beautiful." She said cupping both of their cheeks.
"This is disgusting" kie said
"Thank you Mrs. Carrera for inviting me again and for the dress. Its beautiful." She said sweetly smiling at the woman.
"Thank you for coming, now maybe my daughter will stop complaining so much." She said looking over to kie who had an annoyed look on her face.
"I know its just horrible. I'm asking you to relax and go to a fun party." Anna said to her daughter.
"I look like a bourgeoisie pig." Kie groans.
"Will you please not worry about socioeconomics for one night?" Anna says throwing her hands up. Amelia shifts awkwardly on her feet.
"Mom, People three miles from here have no power, Amelia has no power, no running water. And we are going to midsummers. That's so tone-deaf."
"Amelia you know you can always stay with us. Kiara do you know how hard we had to work to get into the island club?" Anna said putting on her earings. Amelia sent her a tight lip smile at her offer, feeling extremely out of place.
"Yeah mom. How could I forget? You had to grovel for like 10 years." It's moments like this that Amelia can't stand, Kie loses sight of everything that she has.
"Twelve, and we also had to cough up a hue chunks of dough. Now can you stop complaining in front of your friend." Anna said gesturing towards Amelia who still awkwardly stood there.
"But we did that so that you could have all the same experiences that I had as a child. Honey, do you know what the island club is?"
"A factory farm for debutantes" Kie said. Amelia turned away trying to not laugh.
"It is a nice place, with nice people, where you can do fun stuff."
"With out-of-touch rich people while the island sinks slowly into the ocean."
"Okay, I want you to put on your party face, kie, if you wanna live." Anna said fed up with this conversation and exited the room.
"I find nodding and smiling is the best way to go about these things." Amelia said to kie who just looked at her and rolled her eyes.
"My parents are unbearable." She said grabbing her stuff off the counter and made her way out of her room.
"right." Amelia said following her out.
—
The girls finally arrived to midsummers and immediately went on a mission to find where Pope and Heyward were. They spotted the boy off to the side near a table working away and made their way over.
"Excuse me sir, do we have to shuck these ourselves?" Amelia said in a British accent. Pope slowly turned around annoyed.
"Cause it may mess up my costume." Kie said also in an accent. Popes face lit up in a smile once he saw the girls.
"We wouldn't want that now, wouldnt we" kie and pope did the pogue handshake and Amelia gave him a side hug.
"Those accents were bad."
"Yeah it was. I was gonna let it go" Kie said.
"I thought mine was good." Amelia defended.
"it wasn't" Pope shook his head at the girl.
"Ever seen this many kooks in one place?" Kie asked.
"Yeah. Last year." Pope said
"We're in the lions den" Kie said staring off into the crowd. Pope and Amelia shared a look.
"Exactly." Pope responded.
"Mel have you heard from JJ?" Pope looked at the girl worried. Being reminded of the events earlier today immediately squashed her mood.
"No. I'm sure he's okay though." Amelia said, half lying to the boy because she knows that pope feels guilty. If JJ's dad picked him up he is in fact not okay.
"he's alright. He's got the survival instincts of a cockroach." Kie added. Amelia nodded to her statement but couldn't help to wonder where the boy was now.
"It's all my fault." Pope groaned.
"Stop that. It's not your fault. He's the one who decided to take the blame. Okay and don't forget what they did." Amelia said looking at Pope. The group was pulled out of their conversation by the entire party clapping. In walked the Camerons, looking so proud of themselves.
"here come lord capital and the exploiters." Kie said.
"She's looks like lady liberty." Amelia commented on Roses head piece.
"She's definitely gonna poke someone's eye out" Pope added.  They stood and people watched for a bit until Kie pulled Amelia back into the party because if she didn't mingle her parents would kill her. Amelia followed Kie like a lost puppy and tried to make conversation with random people. Eventually the sunset and Amelia managed to steal multiple glasses of champagne so she was feeling slightly tipsy. She's managed to avoid Rafe and his squad somehow and was now wandering around the party because she lost kie. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and she went into fight mode. She turned around and shoved her person who was touching her, but gasped when she saw who it was.
"Now that is not a friendly way to greet the man bringing you a glass of champagne." JJ said smiling. She smiled widely at him and pulled him into a tight hug. She pulled back slightly and looked at all the marks on his face. She cupped his face with one hand and examined the damage, knowing the cause.
"I'm fine." JJ said softly, Amelia just shook her head, letting him know that she didn't need him to explain.  
"You look amazing." He said peering down at her. A blush coated her cheeks as she looked over his attire.
"I don't think I've ever seen you this dressed up" she said fixing his bow tie.
"Well I knew I'd be seeing you here, had to dress to impress." He said, his grip on her waist getting tighter.
"I would say you succeeded. But why are you here?" She said with raised eyebrows, knowing that something was at play here.
"I have to deliver a letter to Val." He said playfully. Amelia looked at him confused
"Who's Val?" Amelia questioned.
"To be announced. I have a mission to finish though, but you save me a dance okay?" He said pulling away.
"You don't dance J" she said laughing.
"I would do anything for you though." He said with a wink and handed her the glass of champagne. He took off into the crowd, leaving Amelia standing there with a goofy grin on her face. Amelia set off to find kie again and managed to bump into her on the porch area.
"I just saw JJ, he's on a mission apparently." She said giving kie a sip of her drink.
"What? What mission?" She said equally confused as Amelia was.
"No clue, but it probably isn't good. He said 'to be announced'. Whatever that means." She said laughing. The girls stayed with Kies parents for little bit just chatting away. They were both in much better spirits now that alcohol was in their system. Out of the corner of her eye she saw JJ rush into the building with a trail of Kooks rushing after him.
"I'll be right back" Amelia announced to the family. They all nodded and amelia took off in the direction of the group. She entered the boys locker room and was met with a herd of kooks and JJ who was in a headlock by Kielce.
"Now this is just pathetic." Amelia said crossing her arms and looking at Rafe specifically.
"Ames the woman's bathroom is a couple doors down. Unless you came in here for some other kinds of fun." Rafe said with a wink. Amelia rolled her eyes at the comment.
"Let him go. We're leaving" She said sternly.
"Oh cmon Ames we were just about to get started" Rafe said turning his attention towards JJ. Amelia took a step forward to lunge at Kelce, but some guy in a blue suit grabbed both of her arms and held her back.
"Hey hey leave her out of this!" JJ shouted and struggled in Kelces grip.
"Don't fucking touch me" She said trying to get out of his hold. The lights flickered and the security guard came into the locker room. The boy let go of Amelia and she sent a kick back into his groin making him bend over in pain.
"Gentlemen! Is there a problem in here?" He said looking at the guys. His gaze went to Amelia and he looked at her confused.
"Miss this is the men's locker room" he said awkwardly.
"I'm aware" she stated.
"Pardon me, officer. no, there's not an issue. I just- Actually yes. No, there is an issue. Uh we got a criminal trespass in progress here. Beep! Call it in, right? Blatant dishes that for private property. I'm in violation of all kinds of shit, sir. But these young gentlemen" JJ said going to fix kelces tux. Amelia watched amused.
"Don't touch my shit" Kelce said swatting JJs hands away.
"Uh, caught me sire, and they're about to take me away. And that's what you should do, escort me out of here. You got me" he said holding his wrist up. he looked and Amelia and gestured with his head for her to go ahead of him. She sent a glare back to Rafe and the group and made her way out. The security guard grabbed JJs arm and lead him out behind her.
"Hey tell Ames that she's pretty hot for a pogue" Rafe called out from behind them. JJ broke free from the guards grip and went to hit Rafe, but the guard stopped him before he could
"Hey stop it! Come here!" The guard shouted at him. Amelia was already outside and standing back with Kie. She was about to explain everything that happened but was interrupted by JJ being escorted out. JJ was rambling to the security guard and kie looked at him and then back to Amelia.
"I was just about to explain i swear." Amelia said holding her hands up. JJ downs Mr.Dunleavys drink, only making more people turn their attention to the scene.
"It's okay everybody! Do not panic. leave it to the men and women in uniform. Let's hear it for them. Rose! You look like lady liberty!" JJ said still being pushed out of the party.
"I said that" Amelia commented laughing.
"Amelia" Kie said with a straight face.
"Let go of him!" Kie shouted out, Amelia looked at the girl shocked, as did her parents.
"You can't boot him!" Rafe walked up beside Amelia, but she was to busy looking at kie with wide eyes to notice.
"I invited him here! I'm a member of this club" She continued. Her parents pleaded for her to stop. At this point the whole party was silent, even amelia felt a little embarrassed. JJ took this as an opportunity and shoved the guard away.
"Hey mandatory power hour at Rixon's baby." JJ said pointing to Amelia. She smiled, but then noticed the Carreras staring daggers at her.
"Pope, kie, you both as well, all right? Rixons cove, lets roll." He said backing away from the party.
"All right, Mel, come on. Workers of the world unite Throw off your chains!"  Amelia looked over at kie who sent her a nod. Amelia took off running towards JJ who stood outside the party with his arms wide waiting for Amelia. She could hear both Kie's parents and Popes dad call after them, but not her, she was free to go. She ran into JJ's arms and he picked her up and spun her around. She then went to JB who magically appeared after being MIA and gave him a big hug. Pope and Kie finally caught up and the group of 5 made their exit.