Outer Banks ~ JJ Maybank

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"Look, now is not a good time for this." "I don't care. We are here to take you to foster care." "I would like to question the legality of this." "It's perfectly legal." "Is it perfectly legal for you to just come to our house while we aren't home? I believe that is called breaking and entering." "We didn't break in." "Were we home to let you in?" "No." "Did you come here with out our knowledge and then proceed to enter our home?" "Yes." "Sounds pretty illegal to me." I said walking back to my room. The police officer stepped in front of me. "Hello." I said. He just stared down at me. "Look, we are just doing what's best for you." "Can't we just get emancipated?" "From who?" "I can get emancipated from Uncle T and then have John B become my legal guardian." "Not gonna happen. Now, go pack up your stuff and we'll be on our way." John B and I walked to the back of the house to get our stuff. He stopped before I went in my room. "Get your shit and run. Go to find JJ, Pope, or Kie. Tell them what is going on and that I am gonna find a way out of this." "Aren't they gonna be alerted by the fact that I'm gone?" "Not if I play my cards right. Take the van and go. I'll come up with something." "Promise me I'll see you again after this." "I promise." "Bird." "I promise Flower. There is no way I'm leaving you alone." "Okay. Where should we meet you?" "I don't know. I'll find you. How about that?" "That is not at all reassuring." "Trust me." "Okay." I said. I hugged him and said, "I love you Bird. Be careful." "I love you too. I promise I'll be careful. I'll see you soon."

I got in the van and quickly drove off. I had no idea where to go. I didn't want to go to JJ's house and risk him not being there. Plus, I was not in the place to talk about everything between us. I could have gone to Kie's, but she was at work. I'm the only one of us her parents even remotely like. "Pope it is." I said, turning.

I got to Hayward's and skipped in. "Hello Mr. Hayward." "Hello Gabbie. Looking for Pope?" "Yes sir." I may be a snarky teenager who likes to get high and drink beer and be a dick sometimes, but I will be damned if I am not nice to parents. I need parents to like me so that I can do shit with their children. "He should be outside." "Thank you!" I said skipping out. "Hey Gabbie." Hayward said, stopping me. "Yes?" "Do you know anything about some missing beer from that delivery you made with Pope and JJ the other day? The club called and said they got everything but the beers." "No sir I don't." "I guess I'll have to talk to JJ about it. Pope said he didn't know anything either." "Can I just say sir, I was with JJ the whole time and I don't think he even opened the bags to see what he was carrying. I'm surprised they didn't call about squished bread." "It's nice of you to stick up for him but I'm still gonna ask." "Okay." I said walking away. "So, your dad just asked me about some missing beers. Apparently you don't know anything about them either so now JJ looks like a thief." "What!" "Yeah. Hayward said he is gonna ask him about it. In other words, all signs point to JJ as a beer thief." "But it wasn't him." "I know. It was Rafe and Topper. But your dad doesn't seem to know that." "And he is not gonna know." "Okay, while you basically from JJ fro stealing sit. DCS showed up and said we are going to foster care right now." "How can you go to foster care if you are here?" "John b told me to gtfo and find one of you." "And you picked me?" "Process of elimination." "Still an honor to be nominated." 

Later that day Kie, JJ, Pope, and I all went to a movie night somewhere on Figure 8. It was Kie's idea, trying to get us back to normal. "See look at us. Getting back to normal summer stuff." "We are in the middle of the danger zone." Pope said to me and JJ as we set up our chairs. "Who wants to come with me to get drinks?" "I'll come." I said. Pope at me with a pair of pleading eyes. "Actually, I'm gonna stay. How about you go Pope?" "Okay." He said following Kie. "Great acting." JJ said patting my shoulder. "I know. You know, I have an Oscar." "Who's Oscar?" "My new boyfriend." "You're lying." "Nope." "I can tell." "And what makes you said that?" "If you had a new boyfriend you wouldn't be letting me hold your hand right now." I looked down and saw our fingers laced together. "You are a smooth son of a bitch." I said yanking my hand out of his grip and putting it in my pocket of my hoodie. I sat down in my folding chair. "Ya know, once it get's dark, maybe we could sneak off and finish what we started." He said. "You must be really high." I said as Kie and Pope came back. "They know." Pope said as he passed us. "Deny, deny, deny." JJ said quickly and quietly. "Deny what? What is going on?" Kie said. 

"Nothing Kie." I said. "Come on guys, Pogues don't keep secrets from Pogues." She said, vaguely pissed off. "You don't want to know. Trust me." "Fine." She said sitting down. "So where is John B?" "I have no idea. The last time I saw him was this morning when DCS showed up to take us to foster care. He told me to get my shit, grab the van, and book it. I spent all day chillin with Pope." "And what did John B do?" "I don't know. He wouldn't tell me his plan. I just hope he isn't in jail or some shit. Also, I now have DCS looking out for me and they are probably at my house right now, so can I stay with you?" "Of course you can. Mom wants to take us Midsummer's shopping tomorrow." "I still hate that you dragged me into this." "I hate it too. But we have to push through it with a smile on our faces." "Bullshit." I said rolling my eyes and turning my head to see JJ looking at me. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." "I can't wait to see how good you look in your Midsummer's dress." "Shut up and watch the fucking movie." I said as the movie started.