Anchor // JJ Maybank

5.

"Here goes nothing"

Cassidy lifted her leg over the window sill and grabbed onto JJ's hand before pulling the rest of herself out onto the ledge. John B quickly closed the window behind her, the blinds swinging against the window from the impact. Cassidy still hadn't moved from in front of the window and she knew if she didn't move soon, she and her friends were toast. She took a deep breath and slowly shuffled away from the window and towards JJ on her left. One small shuffle at a time, she inched towards him until he was holding onto her hand again, and then so close that their shoulders were pressed up against each other. 

"Cassidy, you're going to have to move further away from the window," John B whispered, looking at the panicking girl with a pitiful glance at her shaking body.

"Hey, do you trust me?" JJ asked the girl seriously, pulling her chin up to look him in the eyes. She slowly nodded and allowed him to grab her waist. She repositioned her feet on the ledge, with her back pressed up against JJ's chest and his arms wrapped around her small frame, holding her steady. "Now, all you have to do is not look down," he whispered into the girl's ear, still managing to joke around. The girl, unfortunately, didn't take his advice and looked down to the unforgiving ground. She immediately felt queasy and began to shake violently. Her breathing became shallow as a panic attack came on quickly. JJ attempted to comfort the girl by rubbing small circles on her stomach and kissing the top of her head.

"Cassidy, look at me. You're going to be okay," he said, forcing the girl to look in his eyes and not the ground but she quickly turned away from him.

"Why do you care? You'd obviously rather be up here with Kiara right now. After all, she's a super hot girl and you've never been one to complain," she replied coldly, refusing to look at the boy.

JJ threw his head back in annoyance, and with this movement, the gun slipped out from his pocket and clanged onto the roof and then the ground below them. Cassidy tensed and JJ's arms tightened around her as he quickly attempted to shield her from view from the window with his body. Cassidy could hear the blinds from the window ruffling but kept her eyes squeezed shut, praying that this would all be over soon. 

Once they heard the cops leave the motel room, they slowly slipped back inside the room one by one and down the stairs towards the safety of the HMS Pogue. Cassidy's heart was beating out of her chest at the prospect of almost being arrested but also because of the anger she was feeling for the blond boy walking in front of her. 

"Well, that was fun," JJ remarked sarcastically once they had reached the boat. 

"Could've warned us a bit sooner," John B added looking accusingly at Kie and Pope.

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team," Kiera responded, throwing the boy under the bus. 

Cassidy sat down on the bench next to Kiara instead of her regular spot on JJ's lap. 

"You okay," Kiara whispered quietly to the glum brunette. Cassidy gave her a look that she would tell her later and turned her attention to the boy's conversation where JJ was showing off the gun and money that he had stolen from the motel room, despite her complaints. 

"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope asked frustrated.

"It's better than the police having it," JJ responded.

"Ya, because its totally better that an impulsive stoner teenager has a gun rather than the trained police," Cassidy snaped back at the boy sending him a glare that sent his blood running cold.

"I'm going to lose my merit scholarship," Pope said, starting to freak out. 

"No, you won't. I promise," Cassidy smiled at the boy and stood up to give him a reassuring embrace. Out of everyone, Pope was the one who deserved to go to college and live out all of his dreams and if people wanted to get in the way of his success, they would have to go through Cassidy first.