𝐑𝐮𝐧 ✯JJ Maybank

𝐓𝐰𝐨 || 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐤𝐢

✯♛✯

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧 was finally set, which left the Outer Banks in darkness. Other than the light from the generators on Figure Eight and the lanterns from the Cut, there was no form of lighting. Francine had walked all the way to the Boneyard, hoping that Sarah would give her a ride home afterward. It was almost completely dark on her way there, the place being closer to the Cut so not many people had electricity. She finally got to the beach after that felt like an hour. When in reality it was only twenty minutes. The party was already in full swing, around one hundred people already there, dancing and just having a good time.

     Francine felt a little uneasy about the whole situation, her stomach churning with anxiety. She almost turned around to walk back to her house but she remembered that she was trying to avoid her mother at the moment. She was so set on staying away from the woman, that she went to an actual party, something she hasn't done in over a year. The girl made her way past all the dancing people in search of her small blonde friend. She hoped that she was there and didn't leave already with Topper.

She looked around smiling at all the carefree teenagers, wishing she could be like that. Her mother restricted her to do many things, but surprisingly, parties weren't one of them. It was probably because she doesn't go to very many. The reason she didn't, was that, firstly, the only person who invited her was Sarah and most of those parties were filled with kooks. Secondly, most of those kook-filled parties, everyone was doing some form of hard drug. It wasn't anything like weed, which the girl had no problem with, they were doing stuff like cocaine. She couldn't deal with that, seeing young people basically throw away their lives for a high.

     Francine stood away from the large crowds who were either sitting around a fire or dancing. She managed to spot the group of people she used to call family. She felt a flash of guilt coming over herself as she saw them, the feeling she had yesterday resurfacing to haunt her thoughts. Francine frowned, thinking about all the ignored texts, calls, and visits she received from them after her mother told her the new rule she 'had' to follow.

  Her mother even went as far as almost calling the cops when JJ showed up one night with nowhere to go after his father kicked him out of the house. That was a night the girl couldn't get out of her mind for weeks, how her mother was able to just shut the door on the broken boy standing on their doorstep. Francine tried to go find him but Katerina just told her to leave him be, saying how he'll be fine and probably just go to John B's. No matter how much the fourteen-year-old wanted to help, she knew not to make her mother angry. She just wished that her stepfather was there, he would surely help the boy, he was a doctor, so it was his job. But he wasn't, so the boy was left on his own.

Francine swallowed all the bad feelings and memories. Trying to keep her mind set on having a good time at the party, but she couldn't help but sneak glances at her old friends every now and then. They all looked so different than they did three years ago, the boys got taller and a lot more attractive. John B finally grew into his body, him being short and chubby when he was younger. JJ and Pope basically looked the same, just taller than they were when they were thirteen. Francine also didn't fail to notice how hot JJ got over the past few years, she didn't know if it was his long hair or his clearly muscular body. She knew she shouldn't be thinking about that, of all things, but she couldn't help it.

Francine also didn't fail to notice how she wasn't the only one who thought JJ was attractive. A horde of girls was surrounding him as he was telling a story of some sort, all of them giggling at something he said. Francine could never understand how girls could be so confident and transparent when it came to boys. If she was one of them, she'd probably be too shy to talk to him, she wasn't one to be all confident about her feelings.