This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

four

CHAPTER FOUR
[4]
song: sandman by broncho

"Here's what we do, alright? Hear me out." JJ starts, which was never good. "Cassie is the bait, okay? Hold on—" JJ flails his arms out when he sees Pope bury his head in his hands annoyedly.

"You're suggesting we use your sister as bait, right now? JJ?" Kiara looks at him like he was stupid.

"Well her and Rafe are best friends, now, right?" JJ looks at Cassie and shrugs. "Carpool buddies?"

Her face was blank, unamused.

"What are you doing with Rafe?" Pope asks, confused and trying to follow JJ's train of thought.

"See, if you just let me finish..." he mumbles. "We kidnap Rafe. Tie him up, and stick the gun in his mouth and just wait til he starts squawking."

Cassie couldn't help but letting out a loud laugh. "Oh, my god, someone else please please start throwing out other ideas." She says, her hands covering her eyes as she speaks.

"I was just trying to keep it simple, you know?" JJ says, sitting on a nearby wooden bench.

The four sat at the docks near The Wreck, where Kiara was supposed to be working her shift with her parents. Seagulls flew by, attempting to snatch up the plates of fries people were carrying as they walked past the group on their walks.

Cassie looked around, squinting her eyes from the sun as she took in the scenery. Fisherman slapping their fresh catches onto the counters to be cut up and sold, old boats being docked, the sound of the wood creaking beneath them with every crash of the waves.

"All we need is material witness." Pope says. "We saw Ward's plane fly right over our heads. With the gold inside it. He didn't fly it. Somebody else flew it. And they were there on that tarmac. They saw Peterkin get murdered. We just have to find whoever that was, and get them to confess on record."

"And we will do that... how?" Cassie narrows her eyes.

Pope thinks for a long second, looking around at Kiara and JJ, seeing if they have any better suggestions. He scratches the back of his neck. "So," he looks at Cassie. "So it looks like all viable plans start with you being bait and/or distraction."

"What?" Cassie says, she shakes her head. "Wha— why me?"

Pope gestures towards his face, shrugging. "It's the— I don't know. The eyes, you're like—"

"Yeah, like a deer." Kiara adds to the argument. "Like baby deer eyes."

Cassie points at JJ, who'd been quiet. "He has those too."

Pope shrugs, still trying to make his case convincing. "Yeah but you're like, a pretty girl so—"

"You don't think I'm a pretty girl, Pope?" JJ says, looking at him.

"Oh, so you want to be the distraction, then?" Pope turns to JJ with raised eyebrows.

And when the night rolled around, Cassie was indeed, the distraction.

"Hi." She says brightly, as Gavin, Ward Cameron's pilot, opens the front door to his home.

Confused, he glances at Cassie, then behind her, as if he was expecting someone else. The man gives her a slightly confused nod. "Can I help you?"