My Purpose || John B

017

MY PURPOSE - JOHN B ROUTLEDGE

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - GUN PRACTICE

There's always that moment in every kid's life when you feel like anything's possible. When you feel like you've got the total mojo. You could free climb El Capitan, land on mars or even get elected president.

The whole world's there for the taking if you've got the sack to go for it. And then, when you least expect it, some Kook shows up and tells you there's no eternal mystery.

And then all that talk about free climbing and Mars and the president was all bullshit. Magic gets cancer and dies "It's not there" John B whispered "Look, just pull the drone up. Shit"

"Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery and we can go back down" Pope suggested but even he knew it was hopeless. The gold just wasn't there.

"Guys, we've done it three times. There's nothing there" JJ decided to add in.

"Shut up!" Kiara yelled since the thunder had gotten even louder.

"What? It's true!"

"The gold could be buried. We don't know" Kiara argued.

"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it" John B finished.

"Or it was never fucking there" Eleanor mumbled in realisation that maybe the gold didn't go down with the ship like everyone thought it did. Sighing, she went over to John B and took a seat next to him. Her head resting on his shoulder as he smiled and placed his arm around her shoulder. The two teens didn't say anything and they didn't need to, just sitting in comfortable silence and knowing they were there for each other was enough.

-----

Later that day, Eleanor had drove John B home where he then insisted to be left alone and when she knew he wouldn't do anything stupid, she left the chateau and went over to JJ's after he texted her he had an emergency.

"This was the emergency?" Eleanor looked at him, her eyebrows raised as she walked into the Maybank backyard to see JJ with earmuffs around her neck and the same gun from the hotel crime scene in his hands.

"Hey, you said you were skilled in this department so come on teach me" He smiled at her "Please?"

She groaned but nodded reluctantly "Fine" Walking over to the boy she then took her gun out of her jacket pocket and pointed it down range "Well first step is that you always assume a gun is loaded okay? Always point it it in a safe direction even if there is no magazine in the gun. Then you make sure the gun is clear-"

"How do I do that?" JJ cut her off before she could even finish.

"I was just about to get to that. Okay, so you remove the magazine and then point the gun down range, rack the slide a couple of times so you know there's no round in the chamber. Now lock the slide back so the ejection port is open and you can see the light through the magazine well to show that's it empty"

She watched JJ do as she said and nodded when he got it right "Not bad JJ now remove all rounds from the magazine and re insert the magazine in the gun like this. Send the slide forward and then your handgun is ready to dry fire"

She then pointed her gun at the teddy bear JJ put on a log for the target "When you hold a gun, it should always be with two hands because it's always more accurate and always your dominant hand. You left or right handed JJ?"

"Right el"

"Okay so hold the gun in your right hand and keep your index finger extended and against the frame of the gun while wrapping your other three fingers around the base of the grip which is just underneath the trigger guard. Then the thumb of your left hand goes right underneath your right hands thumb. Your four other fingers go firmly around the base of the grip and around your right hand. Make sure you grip very tightly"

The blonde nodded and followed every instruction Eleanor gave him "Now the way you're stood, your feet need to be shoulder width apart and your knees slightly bent. Square your shoulders and lean forward just a bit with your torso" She finished her lengthy explanation and looked back at JJ "That's all you need to know now you ready to shoot?"

JJ nodded "El I've been waiting for you to say that since you started talking. No offence"

Eleanor chuckled "No offence taken JJ now focus on your target and press the trigger with direct pressure and there you have it"

JJ placed the earmuffs over his ears before pressing the trigger many times, the bullets hitting the teddy bear on the log. During this, Pope came running into the backyard calling out her and JJ's name in a panic.

"Woah, woah calm down Pope" She stopped him in his tracks, her hands resting on his shoulders "What's up?"

"They know" Pope stated.

"What?" JJ asked, coming over when the blonde finally noticed him.

"They know" Pope repeated but more firmly this time.

"Chill bro. They don't know shit alright?" JJ said too calm for Pope's liking.

"Topper knows I sunk his boat!" Pope panicked once again.

"Pope calm down okay? How do they know?" She asked, her hand running through her curled hair.

"Because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heyward's and mad dogged me!"

"Will you calm down and get a grip, man? They don't know shit" JJ was about to go back to shooting but Pope wasn't finished yet.

"They have cameras. They could've seen me" Pope argued.

JJ frowned "There was no power, Pope. How could they have seen you?"

"It's Figure Eight" Pope said like it was obvious before he started to pace "They got generators. They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully sink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript"

"Enough with the regret, bro!" JJ spoke over him "They would've caved your faces in if Eleanor wasn't there. We're just standing up for ourselves. It's the law of the jungle. Now, if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walk up to them, look them right in the eye and. . ."

"Deny the living shit out of it"

JJ nodded in agreement "That's right. Deny, deny, deny. But just for safety, we don't go anywhere without protection. Right? Or El for that matter" The blonde shrugged making Eleanor shake her head and smile slightly.

"You'll be fine Pope don't worry about it" She reassured him but Pope knew this was just the beginning.