Junie - JJ Maybank

9

I am woken up by the sound of people talking outside my room. I get up, confused for why people would be standing outside my room when they could be in the living room or kitchen.

I walk over to the door and open it to see JJ and Pope, when they see me, they immediately stop talking. JJ leans against the doorframe and Pope folds his arms.

"What are you guys doing?" I ask them, confused.

JJ shrugs and Pope speaks, "we just wanted to tell you that we were heading out."

I nod, "um, okay... is John B up?" I ask as I walk between the two and into the living room.

Pope nods, "yeah, but he's at work right now."

I sit down in the chair and hug my knees to my chest, "okay..." I tell them.

Being at home alone wasn't ever a problem for me before my dad went missing. After he did, whenever I am home alone, I get stuck in my head and make myself believe that whoever left isn't going to come back. But I would never tell anyone that.

"Do you want to come with us?" JJ asks me.

I look at him and see Pope also looking at him, "can I?" I ask.

JJ looks at Pope and Pope looks at me then nods, "we need to leave in five."

I quickly jump up and rush to my bedroom. I change into a oversized band tee then change into some black and white gym shorts. I slip on my blue converse then walk out of my room as I brush out my hair with my fingers.

When I walk into the living room, Pope and JJ stand up and head to the door. We all walk outside and when we get off the porch, JJ drapes his arm over my shoulder.

I look at him as he takes his sunglasses off his head and puts them on his eyes. He looks at me with a big grin and I take his sunglasses and slip them onto my face. I look at him and he lets out a laugh.

"Those don't look too bad on you, Junie," he tells me.

I give him a spunky smile as we set off on our walk to Heyward's.

When we walk out the backdoor of the store, the first thing I see is Heyward standing over some grocery bags that were filled with stuff.

"Hey, Pops," Pope yells to him.

He looks at us and waves, "you're on time... for once."

When we get to the bottom of the doc, Heyward smiles at me and pulls me into a hug.

"Hey Heyward," I tell him as we pull away, "I hope its okay that I'm here."

He nods his head and pats my shoulder, "of course... but I won't be able to pay you."

I quickly shake my head, "I know... I'm just here to tag along."

He nods, "okay," he looks at Pope and JJ, "you get delivering," he tells them.

We all climb onto Heyward's boat and Heyward passes all of us bags of groceries. When we have all of them, Pope goes to the wheel and I untie the boat then we drive off.

I sit down on the only cushioned bench on the boat. JJ plops down next to me and rests his arm on the backrest behind me.

When we get to Figure 8, JJ grabs the rope and ties the boat to the doc.

Pope and JJ grab all of the bags then Pope turns to me, "do you wanna stay here or come with one of us?" He asks me.

I stand up, "I'll come," I tell him.

"I call Emery," JJ blurts out.

I look at him, confused, "what?"

Pope gives JJ an annoyed look then looks back at me, "we have to have all these delivered by a certain time, so we each have to do two deliveries." Pope explains to me.

I nod and say okay as JJ comes towards me. He hands me a couple of the bags, then we break off, Pope walking in the opposite direction as us.

When me and JJ get to our second delivery, we knock on the door and Kelce opens it, "what the hell are you pogues doing here?" He asks us.

JJ holds up the bags, "deliveries," he tells him with a fake smile on his face.

Kelce scoffs and goes to say something but he stops when his dad comes up behind him, "hi, kids," he tells us.

JJ nods to him, "hello sir, we are here to deliver your groceries." He tells him.

Kelce's dad nods and takes the bags from JJ, I am still holding two bags and Kelce's dad tells him to take them from me, so he does.

"Wait here," Kelce's dad tells us.

We nod and stand on their porch for a minute until he comes back with his wallet in his hand. He takes out two fifty dollar bills and hands one to each of us.

"Thank you, sir," me and JJ tell him before he closes the door.

"You are not gonna believe this, Popie!" I shout to Pope as me and JJ race down the doc. "We both got fifty bucks!"

Pope doesn't say anything, he just stands at the steering wheel. JJ starts to untie the boat and I walk to Pope.

"What's wrong Pope?" I ask him and he doesn't say anything.

I move into his eyeshot but he continues to stare straight forward.

When I notice that he has a swollen eye, I cup his cheek, "what the fuck happened, Pope?"

He mutters, "I got jumped."

JJ walks to us and asks us what is going on, then when he sees Pope's eye, he says the same thing I said.

"Who jumped you, Pope?" I ask him.

He starts to drive the boat as he speaks, "Rafe and Topper."

Me and JJ look at each other, a look of surprise on both of our faces.

We ask him why and he shrugs, "they wanted some beers but I wouldn't give them to 'em."

"So they jumped you?" I ask him.

He just nods and I look at JJ again. JJ looks at me then looks away with an angry look on his face.

"We need to get back at them," he tells us.

I shake my head as he continues talking, "they hit us, we hit them back harder."

I speak up, "No, JJ. We can't get revenge on them."

He looks at me with a pissed off and confused face, "why not, Emery?"

He asks then continues talking, "why are kooks allowed to do this type of shit but pogues can't?"

"You know why, JJ."