𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

thirty-eight: Goodbye.

THE group of four were now at the dock, waiting for John B as the Phantom was already in the water as well. "Dude, where is he?" Kie looked over at Pope as JJ and Kai load up the food in the boat. "Give him a second. He'll be here." Pope says and Kai looks over. "He's coming. He'll be fine." He said and got off the boat, standing by Kie.

A cop car arrives with the sirens on making them look over quickly. "JJ." Kai looks over. "Hey, yeah. Get back on the boat. Get back on the boat. Untie it." JJ said but the person who got out of the car was John B. "Wait..." Pope says.

John B walks over. "No way..." JJ says as they now noticed it was their friend and not a cop. "No effing way." Pope says. "You've gotta be kidding me." JJ smiled widely. "I'm sorry. Uh..." Kie says and chuckled. "Shoupe let me take it for a spin." John B
says as he pushed his hair back.

"Okay. That's believable. I'll buy that for now."

Kie embraced John B into a hug. "It wasn't easy, bro, but I got the Phantom for you, and she runs like she was made yesterday." JJ tossed the keys and John B catched them quickly. "You ready to go?" JJ asked him and John B stares st the boat. "Where's Sarah?" He asked, clearly expecting that she would be here by now. "She's not with you?" Kie asked as she looked over at the boy.

"No, no, we got separated in the swamp. She said she's meet me here." John B says. "Oh, no, we haven't seen her, man..." Kai says as he shakes his head. "Okay, well, I'm not leaving without her." He says and JJ walks over to him.

"John B, look at me. I know you feel bad for leaving, but there's no time, man. You've got plenty of gas, plenty of food." JJ gestured before looking back at the other teenage boy. "Once you get around that point, it's a straight shot across the sound to Dismal Swamp. Okay? Once you get there, lay low, alright? Hang out for a couple of weeks, and then go overland. cross the border at Brownsville, you got that?" JJ asked the boy.

"Brownsville. You— hey! You got that?" The blond says, noticing the other was distracted clearly by the thought Sarah might show up any minute now. "Yeah, yeah. Brownsville." John B nods. "Alright. Saddle her up, saltwater cowboy. Let's do this. Yeah." JJ said and got off the boat, adjusting his cap as John B got onto the boat.

"Hey, hey." He says before JJ and Pope could push the boat off. He looked at them in tears, "I'm sorry for basically... throwing us off a cliff with this whole treasure hunt thing." He apologized. "Hey, John B, yo... we were bound to run off a cliff at some point, right?" JJ says, and they all chuckle but clearly had tears welling up as well.

"Yeah." John B nods. "At least we did it together, though." JJ says, a hand around Kai's waist as he pulled Pope on the other side of him closer. Kai pulled Kie closer by her shoulders and she reached up to his back. "Pogue style."

"Pogue style." John B repeated, staring at his four best friends. "Get out of here! Please." Kie said and Kai nods. "Yeah. We'll see you in two months, down in Mexico." Pope pointed. "Love you." JJ said as the boy went down to the wheel.

Hey, wait a second. Tell Sarah I said goodbye, okay?" He looked at them and they didn't really say anything but JJ nodded anyway. "Don't forget. Cross the border at Brownsville. Okay?" JJ said and John B nodded. "Got it." He says.

The four push the boat off before they stand together there on the dock, Kai wrapping his arms around JJ's arm, putting his cheek on the boy's shoulder before leading him off to the car.

Kai looked over to see what was taking Pope and Kie so long to see Kie lean in to kiss Pope. "Ooh..." He looked at JJ who looks behind him, smirking and raising an eyebrow when he saw Pope and Kie were kissing. He looks back at Kai who gave a surprised look. "Hey guys, I'm sorry to ruin the moment, but we gotta go right now. Come on!" Kai said when he noticed the cop cars coming.

But it was too late so Kie raised her arms and Pope was walking forward. "Move. Hands up! Hands up!" A man in a black FBI jacket says. "Pope, hands." Kie said worriedly and the boys do the same. "We're too late. He's gone. Goddamn it! Bratcher, have your guys stand down. Let me talk to these kids. Alright, where the hell is he? Where the hell is he?" Shoupe shouted at the three boys.

"JJ? I see you're living up to your name." He said to the blond and Kai glared at the deputy. "Kai, I'm not even ever surprised, you're always with JJ." He says and Kai looks away. "Jeez, sorry we're a couple..." He muttered and the deputy turned away, over to Pope on the other side of Kai.

"Pope, how about you? This isn't a fucking game! You can do the right thing now! Where'd he go?" Shoupe asked and Kai tried to keep in his laughter because all he could think about was when Pope literally said "fuck the police."

"Suspect has just left Station 26 in a small boat. Need marine patrol to respond." The boys and Kie were taken to where the FBI had set up their tents and search mission for John B. "Follow Plumb to that tent. Hold on, wait for your friends." Shoupe said as he let Pope out the back of the police car, having to use two since there was four of them. Kie, Kai and JJ follow behind the deputy into a tent. "Right to your left here."

"Right here." Plumb pointed at the chairs and the four sat down. "Sit down. Don't move. We got a lot to talk about. Keep an eye on these kids." The deputy told the man standing in front of the four sittinf down. Kai grabs JJ's hand, leaning closer to the blond boy as he frowned.

authors note lowkey can't wait for this book to be over but i'm rlly gonna miss kai and jj