Under pressure

20: Home, "sweet" home

Betty's POV  

"K-K-Kev s dead," I say between sobs.

Jug pulls me against his chest and I hide my face into his shirt. He kisses my head.

I hear from behind my sobs that someone cries. I look up and see that Chic is sitting on the bed, face hidden in his hands. He is sniffling softly, but I know that he's crying.

Me, Kevin, Ronnie and Cheryl were always together. Since we were little. Chic and Jason hanged out with us sometimes. But Chic and Kev were also close. Not as close as me or Kev, but still. Really close.

I put my hand on his hair. He looks up at me with red eyes. I look at Jug for a moment. He releases his hands after he kisses my wet cheek. I sit between him and Chic on the bed and hug Chic tightly. He wraps his arms around me and his one hand starts going up and down on my back.

I hear FP calling someone. "Yes, 4 hours. Is everything okay?"

"Crap. Yeah, we'll start driving. Bye. Love you," I hear. So he was talking to my mom.

"Guys," he says softly and we all look up at him. I can't breathe normally. "We have to start going. Some of the houses are burning. Not only on the Southside," he says, seeing so fucking mad and sad.

"Whose house?" I sob.

He sighs, "Let's just go home," he says.

"Dad. Whose house?" Jug asks.

He sighs and looks at me and Chic and Jordan, "Your cousins'."

My eyes go wide. I start sobbing even more.

"Are they okay?" I cry.

"They are okay, they're in your house. But no one knows where their parents are and their nana-" he sighs, lookinf at me. Mom has told him about how much Nana Rose loves when me and Cheryl are with her.

A/N! Nana Rose is Clifford's and Hal's mom in this fanfic. So Betty's grandma.

"No," I whisper.

"She couldn't get out of the house," he says sadly.

I hide my face in Chic's shoulder. Now I feel him crying and see tears in Jordan's eyes.

"We have to get home as soon as possible, okay?" he asks.

I look up and we all nod. "Jug get her stuff," he says. Jug nods and gets my surfboard from the corner and my bag.

Chic gets up, but I won't. I hide my face into my hands and cry. Just cry.

Jordan comes to me and frames my face with his hands, "Hey," he says quietly.

I sniffle and look at him. He kisses my forehead and squats down in front of me.

"No the cameras will see me," I cry.

He gets up a little more. I wrap my arms around his neck and he grabs my thighs and takes me onto his back.

"Breathe," he tells me, hearing me choking a little.

I rest my chin onto his shoulder and try to do it.

We get out of the beach hut. They start walking towards the car, but we get stopped by a bunch of cameras.

"Betty! What's wrong?!"

"Elizabeth, did you hurt yourself?"

"Ms. Cooper! Ms. Cooper!? Ms. Cooper! Can you still compete on Nationals?"