𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 • 𝐣𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐛 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞

𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜

"john b! dove! sarah! come on!" kiara screamed.

dove and sarah were sitting by the water when they heard kie call them.

dove looked behind her with nervous eyes, then slowly stood up.

"sa—sarah. we can't. we can't go with them. it's my—it's my mom." dove panted.

why was she out of breath? she barely even moved.

she then realized it was due to panic and anxiety.

"we don't know that yet, dove. let's just go see what's going on, okay?" sarah raised her eyebrows.

dove nodded. "okay."

sarah grabbed her hand and the two went running over to their friends.

"what happened?" sarah asked.

"something happened to my dad." pope said.

dove pressed a hand to her heart and exhaled. "oh thank god."

they all gave her a strange look, except for sarah who knew what she meant.

"no, i didn't mean it like that. i just thought it was gonna be about my mom." dove said.

"well, not everything's about that." john b concluded and started walking to the twinkie.

dove sighed and the boys followed after him.

"what was that all about?" kie questioned.

"i'll tell you later." dove replied.

the two girls linked arms and walked to the twinkie.

on the car ride to heyward's jj sat in the front next to john b because dove decided to sit in the back since she was still mad at him for what he said about joey.

he kept looking back at her in his mirror, but she didn't look back, so he eventually stopped doing it.

they arrived at pope's and went to the dock where heyward was.

they saw that heyward was all beat up and pope went to get them a first aid kit.

sarah and dove began fixing him up while the others watched.

"let us know if we're hurting you." sarah said.

"you're doing just fine." heyward replied before groaning as sarah put cream on his forehead and dove put a bandage over it.

"thank you, darlings." he thanked.

"of course, heyward." dove responded and rubbed his back.

the two girls stepped away while pope stepped over to his dad.

john b stared at dove as she leaned against the wood of the dock. she looked over at him and he looked away.

"pop, what happened?" pope asked.

"oh, i should've known better. he came in just as i was about to lock up. caught me by surprise. once he had me down, he put his knee in my chest and asked me about that—that—that key from that—that drawing you showed me. and in case you're wondering, i ain't tell him nothing." heyward explained. "now did you track it down?"

pope then pulled a key out of his pocket.

"i found it in mee-maw's old apartment above the pharmacy just like you said." pope answered and handed his father the key before sitting down.

"shit, boy, you should've gave this to me. i would've have had to take a beating. what's the big deal? it ain't worth anything. why they want it so bad?" heyward asked.