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ACT ONE chapter two
John B knows as much as the next person when it comes to Jo. Nothing.
Sure, he can say she's shy, rarely seen outside of school and always wears a dainty stone around her neck, more often than not it being purple. But now he knows something more.
His dad knew her mom. Knows of Jo.
So much so that he mentioned them, however briefly, in the recorded message he'd left for John B to find should he ever come across a compass with Redfield scratched into the lid. The same compass he found on the wreckage of a Grady White in the marsh, soon after hearing of the body that had washed up to shore that same day. Scooter Grubbs.
He hasn't seen the girl since the beach party he'd brawled with Topper in, and he can't say he blames her after JJ whipped out his gun and threatened to shoot the Kook. If he didn't know JJ like he does, he'd be pretty terrified of it all too.
But now he has to find her out. Get information on what she knows on the gold treasure hunt his dad is so obsessed over.
He's gotten his hands on the underwater drone-camera-thing, gotten Pope to figure out how the shit works and now they just need to wait for the perfect weather to take out the Heyward's boat and go find the damn gold his father may have actually gotten himself killed over.
While his friends have gone off to do their own shit, John B's given himself the task to wait out the hermit.
When no one had answered his knocking on the door and seen not a flash of movement through the windows, checked the yard for a sign of human life and came up empty, John B resorts to his last bet.
"JB?" Bea answers his frantic knocking on her front door, frowning in confusion. The teen boy stands on her porch, hands fidgeting at his side, so entirely out of place against the rich neighbourhood of Figure Eight in his tattered shirt and swim shorts. "What are you doing here?"
"Is Jo with you?"
Her frown deepens, inspecting the slight bruising around his eye, the most damage he got from the beach fight other than a concussion, "No? Hey, how's your eye?"
He waves her question off, "Do you know where she might be – other than her house?"
Bea leans onto the doorframe with her arms crossed, squinting as the sun glares down at her from over his shoulder. "If she's not home than she's probably having lunch at the station with Peterkin."
John B finger guns her, visibly perking, "Of course! Thanks." Before she can say anything more, he's running down the porch stairs and taking off down the road.
She shakes her head, "Weirdo."
. . .
With Susan kicking her out of the police station after overstaying her lunch break, Jo strolls measly down the street, humming quietly under her breathe with a mesh beach bag she's brought their lunch in slung over her shoulder. She's opted out on wearing her glasses like usual when she leaves the premises of home, contacts in place, and has her hair twisted into a claw clip with a couple strands left out to frame her features. It had taken way more time than she would have liked to accomplish such this morning.
She doesn't look up when someone calls her name, too deep in her thoughts to hear them, and only does so when hands are clamping down onto her shoulders from behind, letting out a startled shriek.
"Woah, woah, woah!" John B calls, coming round to her front with his hands raised in surrender, giving a sheepish smile to her glare and finding the flush rising on her cheeks absolutely adorable. "Hey, sorry. That was my bad."
"John B." She sighs his name like he's the last person she wants to see.
He grins, "That's me. Look, I was wondering if we could have a chat?"
Jo eyes him unsurely and he plasters on an innocent puppy-eyed expression, pouting his bottom lip. "Egh,fine just... Stop whatever that is."
Instead of being offended by her tone, John B just laughs, tucking her under his arm and walking her back down the street in the direction of the closet beach with a skip in his step.
"Did you know our parents used to know each other?" He asks randomly, as the sidewalk turns to sand and Jo kicks off her sandals, carrying them in hand instead.
She simply nods, "I did."
"I didn't." John B frowns.
"How?" Jo laughs wryly, "I swear Big John was always poking around when I was a kid, getting on my mom's last nerve."
"Really?" John B blinks in surprise at the news.
"Mhm, tried to get her off her drugs too." She says, lost in thought, "Didn't work out too well though, did it?"
"I'm sorry," John B replies solemnly.
"I am too." She smiles sadly, adding on after, "I'm here for you, y'know? If you ever need to talk." Her eyes widen in panic then and she hurriedly gets out, "Not that I don't think you have other support systems. I know you have friends and everything, I just mean-"
"I get it." John B gives a crooked grin, assuring her with a hand to her arm. "And thank you. Y'know, I'm here too if you ever want to talk about your mom." A beat passes, John B kicking up the sand with his dirty converse as they walk along the shoreline. It's peaceful. With the wind in their hair, the squawks of seagulls and the warmth of the sun. "Do you know about the Royal Merchant?"
"And you're dad's obsession with it?" Jo nods, "Yeah. Half the time mom was sober she would complain about wishing he's just pull his head out of his ass and give you a better life... No offence."
John B chuckles, but it sounds sad, "Nah, she was right. I got into a fight with him about it not long before he went missing. I think about it every day."
She squeezes his bicep, the comforting touch fleeting. "I get it. I think the last thing I told my mom was that I hated her and wished she loved me half as much as she loved her heroin."
John B watches her profile out from underneath his ruffled hair, before stopping short in his languid stroll and watching her do the same, looking up at him curiously, "Listen. I found a tape recorder my dad left me and he mentioned you in it."
"Me?" She frowns. "Why?"
"I don't know." He shakes his head, running a hand through his sun-bleached locks. "Look, I just wanted to... Y'know, ask if... Would you want to find the gold with me and my friends?" He stammers awkwardly, wincing and scratching the back of his head, "We know where it is and I just thought... I don't know, maybe you might feel closer to your mom if you help out?"
She shifts awkwardly on her feet, shrugging, "I'm good but... Thanks for asking anyway."
John B deflates in disappointment but nods nonetheless, "It's fine just... If you ever change your mind, you know where I live."
Jo smiles amusedly, "Definitely not creepy."
"Not at all." He huffs a chuckle.
She gives a small wave, walking backwards up the beach, "Bye, John."
"Bye, JoJo."
AN: ok so cuz Jo isn't really involved in season 1, it made sense to write a jb pov.
also this may seem like a filler chapt but it's actually VERY important to jo's plotline😋 (i'm kidding myself that it's not an overused cliche but wtv)
