The Strays ⎈John B Routledge⎈

Payback's a Bitch

Chapter 9: Payback's a Bitch

The next day, John B stayed locked in his father's room where he'd slept the night before. By the time he came out, the house was back to looking normal. The Pogues spent all day cleaning, even taking the trash down to the dump and burning anything that could be. There was no stray glass, all the books were back on shelves, and the house looked even cleaner than it had before it was trashed. He swore they had even mopped the wood floors. 

CJ had been appointed the job of cleaning up the office. They knew anyone else touching the contents would immediately be snapped at, so it wasn't even a question that no one else would go in. Claire was the only one that had ever even seen the inside; albeit only once. Despite this, she could easily tell there were things missing from the empty spots on shelves, and while cleaning discovered it was the only room that had things taken from it. The realization just made her angrier, but the girl let it simmer until they got to town where she told every Pogue she knew to listen for word of someone hitting the Routledge house. She was determined to find who did it and when she did, it wasn't going to end well for them. 

When John B finally appeared from the recesses of the bedroom, the house was empty. Confused, he'd walked through until he slowly pushed the back door open, finding all the teenagers sitting around the fire pit. JJ was ranting about something adamantly, a roguish smile on his face as his sister laughed at his antics. Despite the crap day he'd had, the sight made a soft smile spread on his cheeks. 

The first one to notice him had been JJ, who stopped talking and pointed at him. "Look who rose from the dead." He'd spouted off, gesturing toward the fire. "You want a s'more? Beer?" And just like that, John B rejoined the fold, once again reminded why he surrounded himself with these people. 

The Pogues spent the rest of the night cheering up Johhny, eating fish, and making s'mores with the ingredients CJ had bought. The one time he made his way inside, he noticed there was a bit more food in the kitchen, realizing CJ must have gotten her paycheck. She had, in fact, gotten paid; Kie giving her the check she'd grabbed the day prior. Payday had actually been on Tuesday, the day Peterkin picked them up, but she'd obviously been a little busy. 

That night they all slept where they had the night before. Pope once again fell asleep star gazing in the hammock while Kie and CJ snuggled on the pull-out. John B was feeling better but still wanted to be alone for the night, so he once again went into his father's room, this time with the door unlocked. That left JJ sprawled out on John B's bed, mouth as open as the bedroom door.

The next morning came early for four of them; JJ being left alone when he woke a bit before noon. It was the last day of June, and Kie and CJ were once again at work, this time pulling full eight-hour shifts. Pope was off with his father delivering things to people around the island. And despite just wanting to lounge in bed all day, John B had a job. One which he had been neglecting the last few days. He knew he was in for it and was unsurprised by the stern talking to he got from Ward when he got there. He was just glad he still had a job. 

The male Maybank eventually got bored of being by himself and peeled off on the dirtbike, riding off to 'Heyward's Seafood' in hopes to pick up some menial cash helping Pope. The day was basically spent working, the only outlier coming from none other than Figure Eight. While delivering groceries, Rafe in his undying wisdom decided to go after Pope, having to be pulled off by Topper before he did any more damage. Somehow, despite them constantly calling the Pogues dirty, they'd forgotten they were very good at playing dirty. If they thought they were gonna get away with the beating without consequences, they were sorely mistaken. 

"Pope!" JJ yelled, running down the dock with his sister in tow. The boy had swung around to 'The Wreck' on his way back, picking the blonde up. "Look who I found, man. You proud of your brother? I made seventy bucks!"