Alone Together • JJ Maybank

Thirty.

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Crouching low in the overgrown hedges and bushes, the five of us crept through the gardens of the Crain house as we listened to JJ's true story of the woman who lives here. I didn't believe a word, and I assumed no one else did either, but we stayed quiet to humor him.

"And there, in the outhouse, is her father's head, looking straight back at her." I glanced over my shoulder with a smile on my lips at JJ's over-dramatic story to see John B shoving him away and marching ahead in my direction, clearly not believing any of it.

"Wait, Dude! You sure you wanna do this?" JJ chased after him, with Pope and Kiara also reaching my spot as I stopped to watch. "She's an axe murderer. You got a cast on."

"I don't give a shit if she's an axe murderer, okay? I got nothing to lose, right?" Kiara met my eyes briefly as we all fell silent at the outburst. "You coming or what?" John B carried on as he took the lead, overtaking me. I pulled a face at Pope to acknowledge the awkward moment as he passed me to follow along with Kiara.

Noticing JJ still hesitating, I reached over to graze his bare arm with my hand lightly. "Come on." I said softly, but my breath caught in my throat when he pulled away quickly, avoiding my eyes as he turned to walk ahead. I stood still, processing his cold reaction before following behind to catch everyone up.

Making our way further into the grounds of the house, John B whispered for us all to gather closer. I stood awkwardly beside JJ as we all gathered together closely. "So here's the plan. We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter."

I nodded when he made eye contact with me, grateful that he didn't seem to be avoiding me as much as he was earlier. "Okay, like, what kind of water?" Pope asked. "Like, pond water?"

"Bong water?" JJ chuckled. I glanced briefly at him before looking away before he caught me. He seemed to be acting normal with everyone else but not me. Had I said or done something?

"No, it just said look for water, okay?" John B confirmed, quickly brushing past JJ's jokes.

"That's the shittiest secret message ever." Kiara sighed as she pushed past John B and started walking ahead again.

"Wanna complain a little more, Kie? Nobody said it was gonna be easy." John B groaned as he too started walking away. I sighed as I stood up straight again. What started off as a good morning has somehow quickly become a disastrous day. JJ was ignoring me for a reason I couldn't figure out, John B and I were fighting and Kiara still had the raging hump.

"I'll search the northeast quadrant, you search the northwest." Pope whispered to JJ beside me.

"I'll come with you." I called out, noticing JJ look back towards me as I spoke, but I avoided looking in his direction. Instead I jogged over to Pope, resting my hand on his shoulder once I reached his side.