Dying Summer | JJ Maybank

(14)

They ran until they found an abandoned hanger. They sat there until they started hearing a plane's engine.

They walked out of their hiding spot and looked up at the familiar plane flying over, "There goes the gold." Pope says, sounding exhausted.

Val's stomach flips as he watches their hard work fly away, "Shit!" He shouts, he walks over to a flipped over chair and kicks it, breaking it into multiple pieces.

JJ does a similar thing, picking up another lawn chair and throwing it at a pile of crap.

"Fuck!" Pope yells as he continues throwing things.

Kiara yells his name, trying to get him to calm down, but stops as Pope keeps throwing things and swearing.

"God dammit! Shit! Fuck!" He grabs a bat and starts smashing a broken TV next to him, glass goes flying as he moves onto the next object.

They all slightly flinch every time Pope shouts and hits something. Kiara and Val look at eachother and she decides that it's enough.

"Pope–" He continues to yell, Val backs up from the scene in front of him, not wanting to get hit with a flying object.

Pope drops the bat when Kiara yells his name again, he breathes heavily as he sits down on an old outdoor couch, he begins to cry slightly as Kiara and JJ slowly walk towards him.

"Pope." Kiara repeats gently once again.

JJ walks towards him and says, "Yeah, dude." He runs a hand through his hair as he stands in front of Pope, "I was wondering when this was going to happen." He takes a cart out of his pocket, and offers it to him. "Here you go chief."

Val furrows his brows at this, Pope never smokes with them, so the fact that he took the pen from JJ speaks volumes on how low he's feeling. JJ sits down next to him.

Kiara scoffs slightly, "JJ–"

He looks over at Kiara, "What? A little weed never hurts no one."

"Yeah, and what is that gonna help?" She asks, her voice saddened.

The defeated boy looks up at Kiara, "I lost my scholarship. Walked out in the middle of the interview. Every– It's gone, it's not gonna happen."

"You did that for us?" Kiara asks.

"No, not for us," He stands up and steps in front of Kiara, "for nothing."

JJ stands up and grabs onto him, "I'm here for you Pope. Welcome to my world, okay?"

Kiara sighs, "JJ–"

"What Kie? He's right." Pope walks away from JJ and towards Val as they keep having the conversation.

Val just opens his arms and Pope falls into them. "It's gonna be fine." Val mutters at him.

"I lost everything." He repeats.

He leaves Val's arms and rests against the wooden pole next to him, taking the pen up to his lips and inhaling.

"You don't have to do that." Kiara states.

"Why would you care?" He responds, slightly coughing afterwards, looking behind the group.

They all turn and see John B standing there. JJ looks surprised but snaps out of it quickly, "Dude! Dude you good?"

Val follows him, "John B, what happened?" He runs up in front of JJ and looks down at John B's hands. Covered in blood. He grabs it. "Is this yours?" He asks seriously.