LATER THAT DAY.
"so I went back to tanny hill to grab some clothes and a phone, and your not gonna believe this. Rafe is back." Sarah explains.
"What?!" I sigh.
"Yeah. I saw him at the house. I don't think he saw me, but I think the cross is coming back to Wilmington tomorrow night." Sarah goes on to say.
"What? Does pope know?" I ask.
"No. I was gonna tell him at the chateau." Sarah states.
"He can't. He's on lockdown." I groan.
"Then... I'll hit up pope, and then maybe you go to the chateau and tell John b. And...jj?" She asks.
"Yeah... gotta talk to him anyways." I sigh.
"yeah. Thanks." She says.
I get up and make my way to the chateau... and no one was home.
So I waited until I suddenly heard a motorcycle engine revving.
I look over and see jj pull up.
"John b!" Jj shouts.
"jj." I say.
He turns around and looks at me.
"John b not here?" He asks as he walks away over.
"nope. Neither is my dad." I sigh.
I clear my throat.
"What's up?" He asks.
"Uh, rafes what's up." I say.
His head shoots straight up.
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"Rafes back on the insland." I sigh.
"Great." Jj scoffs.
"It's not just that. Sarah overheard him saying that the cross is coming to Wilmington tomorrow night. Figure he must be trying to sell it." I explain.
"Does pope know?" Jj asks.
"Yeah, Sarah went to tell him. He's locked down, and I guess John b and my dad went and got the Twinkie." I smile.
"and where have you been?" He asks.
"Just... around." I sigh.
"Right." He says.
The silence was awkward for a second.
"Hold on, though. We know where the cross is gonna be. That means it's still on the field. So we can come in and swoop. We're still in this, vi. We gotta get everybody together, then we'll come up with a plan. Get our asses to Wilmington as soon as." Jj explains as he starts to walk off.
"Hey, jayj. Before we formulate some crazy plan, can we talk?" I ask.
"Yeah. Yeah, we can talk." He says.
"So much has happened with us this year. And I know that's got to freak you out. Because I know what your like. I know how you feel about relationships. I know you freak when people get close, and I get it. I don't blame you. Just please don't ever say that I don't care about you. And you called me a kook." I groan.
"Okay. Well, hold on." He smiles.
"Which is lame." I point.
"That was lame." He smiles even more.
He takes a big breath before holding my shoulders and looking at me.
"You're right. I flipped. You know how I be. Just, uh... just... look. We should just... just call it a truce. Just etch sketch it. Clean skate. Truce?" He asks.
He holds out his hand for a handshake.
I do the handshake as tears form in my eyes.
"So how we gonna jack this cross?" He asks.
"Oh god." I sigh.
THE NEXT DAY.
"when I went back to tanny hill, rafe was on the phone with ward, and he just kept saying, 'my thing, this is my thing.' He has to be talking about the cross." Sarah explains.
"Absolutely." Pope scoffs.
"And he's coming into Wilmington tonight at eight o'clock. It's being shipped by train to raleigh from there, but this is our chance to get it back." Sarah goes on to explain.
"You get any other information?" Pope asks.
"Uh, Sarah for the cargo number." I say as I hold up a piece of paper.
"They're definitely fencing that shut off as we speak so we should probably get a move on." Jj sighs.
"First of all... where is my family? My dad, John b. We need them for this... well atleast John b anyways." I scoff.
"I haven't heard from him, I mean, he's probably off somewhere with his dad, it's okay." Sarah sighs.
"But the problem is... they have the Twinkie. Our transport." I groan.
"I could ask heyward for the truck." Pope spits out.
"Uh, what? Yeah, that's not gonna go well." Jj says sarcastically.
"I know, but we have no other options." Pope states.
Later that day me and jj head to shoupe to tell them about ward being alive.
"We found it, and rafe and ward stole it from us." I explain.
"Do you know how insane you sound?" Shoupe laughs.
"Ward is dead." Shoupe says again.
"Ward is not dead! We've been over this part a million times! I get how it sounds but he's alive. I wish he wasn't, but he is. Why would I lie about that? He's alive." I explain.
"Jj? A little help?" I ask.
"Wards alive in the Caribbean, he's living off of the loot he stole from us, and, uh, yeah, he's flying across to Wilmington." Jj sighs.
"Give me a break, man." Shoupe says.
"Yeah, you're right. What do I know, though? Just saw with my own two eyes. So did Vienna, but whatever." Jj smiles.
"I'm skeptical, okay? I am skeptical, jj, as in 'I think it's all bullshit.' I think you've been led astray, Vienna. And you, jj, let's get this out in the open. You need to understand I do get it." Shoupe begins to point at jj.
"Sure you do. Sure, yeah." Jj scoffs.
"Do you hear me? I do. I like you, jj, and I bet you're fricking fun to hang with, ditch school with, go down to the break, because I was once just like you, bro. I didn't think that anything mattered. Thought I could make up any bullshit story and these stupid looks would believe it. But then I learned about hard work and about what really mattered. All I care about, all that I care about is the safety of you kids. That's it. And all that I know is that... she... haha... she was a lot better off before she met you." Shoupe states.
"Hey." I say, wanting them to stop.
"I'm enjoying this show, to be honest." Jj laughs.
"Yall have a good day, though." Jj says before he walks out.
I follow him out and sigh.
"I'm sorry." I say.
"When your dad disappeared... why did you have to pick shoupe to be your basically guardian?" Jj laughs.
"He's nice when he wants to be." I smile.
It's true. When my dad first disappeared, shoupe was the only person there for me, I even crashed at his sometimes. He's basically like a second father to me.
I get on the back of jjs bike and wrap my arms around him and he starts driving off.
