The Knight

Five

When the three teens got back to the boat, Pandora sat as far from JJ as she could. She tried to get rid of the feeling of his body pressed against hers, what was pressed against her, but she couldn't do it.

"Well, that was fun." JJ chuckled as he came to sit in front of Pandora who had pulled her backpack into her hands and was currently grabbing another joint.

"Could have warned us sooner, though."

Pandora ignored JJ's eyes trying to catch hers and focused on lighting her joint. She put the end to her lips and inhaled lightly before letting it bellow back out of her mouth.

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team." Kie explained, making Pope look down a little.

"You were on the math team?"

"So was I JJ." Pandora spoke up, sending Pope a smile. He gave her one back, grateful to have someone here who understands him.

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." John B interrupted.

"Did you guys find anything?"

JJ faked a pondering face before standing back up. "Did we find anything? No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did." He pulled out a wad of cash and the gun that had fallen from his pants earlier.

"What the hell?"

"Dude, what?"

Pope and Kie both spoke up, each with a face of concern.

"Dude, chill."

"Why take that from a crime scene?" Pope asked, his voice laced with annoyance and worry for his scholarship.

"Better than the cops having it!"

JJ tried to stay focused on the conversation at hand, but his eyes kept finding their way back to Pandora whose head was tipped back, and smoke was floating out of her mouth. She looked like she didn't have a care in the world.

Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and when her eyes fluttered open and met his, JJ swore his heart stopped dead.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope's eyes darted between JJ and the gun.

JJ just hushed the boy and put the gun up to his lips. "At least you have us, right?"

Pandora ignored the boys and walked up to John B. She handed him the joint, letting him take a hit before taking it back.

"Can you drop me off at home?"

John B gave the girl in front of him a concerned look. He knew this was too much for her, and being around JJ with a loaded weapon probably wasn't helping.

"Yeah, of course P."

☸

Pandora was completely silent on the way back to her house. She smoked another joint with Kie and picked her book back up.

And twenty minutes later they were pulling up to her dock.

Getting out of the boat with the help of Pope, she didn't look back as she walked off, bookbag on shoulders.

"Bye." She mumbled.

"Hey Pan!" JJ jumped off of the boat and ran to catch up to her before she could get too far.

Stopping in her tracks, she let out a sigh before turning back to him.

"Yeah?"

"You, okay?"

There was concern is JJ's eyes as he took in her bloodshot ones. She was hunched over, mind foggy and she was exhausted but all she said was, "Yeah, Maybank. I'm okay."