ii. lightning storm

There was a storm coming. Raindrops fell against the glass windows, racing down with every huff of the prickling cold wind. Nova's body had started to ache. Her ankles blistered. Lip stained red with blood, and the bright pink scratch running the length of her thigh burned. And her thoughts were taken with each new boom of thunder that sounded from the sky over them.

A storm was coming.

Sitting in the backseat with her, JJ had noticed the dried blood running down Nova's thigh. The scratch was not one easily hidden when wearing a skirt as short as Nova is. He'd seen it as soon as she raised her leg to step back inside the vehicle. He looked at it, noting the blood, then his eyes lifted to meet hers. He was worried.

"It doesn't hurt much," said Nova, noticing his lingering stare. But she was lying, the broken skin burned like a bitch.

JJ nodded; his lips pressed into a tight line. It was just a scratch, he'd tell himself. He'd seen a lot worse. So, why was he so worried?

Perhaps it was because he'd come to feel responsible for Nova. In the absence of his best friend, he'd taken on the promise of watching over her - not that he needed to. There was a lot that JJ had learned about Nova in the small months that they'd been spending together. One thing he learned was that Nova Scott was more than capable of being her own guardian. She was strong. She was independent. And smart. All with a dash of mischievousness.

JJ almost scoffed aloud at his own thoughts just then. So easily lying to himself. He was no saint. His intentions were not entirely pure. JJ knew why he was worried about her. He's known from the moment she stood inside a hot tub with him, letting him cry on her shoulder.

And no matter how hard he tried; JJ couldn't shake that feeling.

The area they parked was eerily empty. Quiet, dark roads. Silent sidewalks. The streetlights flickered a low, orange glow through the darkened alleyways. The wind had started to howl as it quickened its pace. The thunder became closer and more frequent. Dark clouds covered the shine of any star. The scene was practically picked from a horror movie.

In leaving the safety of Kiara's car, Nova followed close behind Pope, who'd decided to take the lead. Leading them through the quiet streets. Nova stayed on his heels the entire time, fearing that he might once again want to become a flight risk and run off from them. Then he stopped. Looking high over the fence that stood as a barrier. A newly built wooden fence that Nova couldn't see over without stepping onto an empty crate sitting alone in the alley.

"Nice camera," JJ scoffed, making fun of the large piece of equipment Pope carried with him. "Where'd you dig up that relic?" he asked, and Pope rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just use your phone?"

"First of all, I like my antique electronics," said Pope, matter-of-factly. "Second, this is a telephoto. It allows me to get a close image from far away."

"Doesn't your phone zoom in?" asked Nova.

JJ pointed to Nova, "Exactly my point!"

"I am using my telephoto," Pope told them, ending the discussion.

Kiara rolled her eyes, "Lord of the dorks..."

"For definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass," Pope said, now turning to Kiara.

Quickly Kiara raised her hands to him in surrender.

"Shit. Shit. Shit..." hissed Nova, quickly stepping off the crate that had been lifting her over the fence.

While they'd all been arguing over Pope's choice in technology usage, Ward appeared on the other side of the street, thankfully, seeming oblivious to having been followed, "It's Ward... Get down."

They all followed Nova's lead in leaning behind the wooden planks. Pope though kept his head slightly above, barely looking over the darkened wood with his camera raised, "Gavin's here too," he told them.

Curious, Nova too turned to look, copying Pope in keeping the majority of her head down. She watched Ward run ahead of Gavin and into a boarded up, darkened, barely built house. A more than suspicious setting. Nova noticed this was becoming more and more like a horror movie.

And being the air-headed heiress of the group, her chances of survival were slim.

"Where are you going, you son of a bitch?" Pope whispered, still watching them. "No... no, wait... I'm losing him...." he began to panic. "Shit! Where's he going?"

This time the next to turn around was JJ, he quickly looked over the fence as watched the two men disappear, "Hold on."

Then he was gone.

No one paid too much attention or cared enough to ask where he was running off to. The three left standing behind the fence were too busy peering over it, hoping to catch another glimpse of Ward or Gavin. But it seemed like no use. The two men had completely disappeared out of sight.

Whistling at the end of the alley, JJ reappeared. Nova turned, his thumb jutted in another direction, having found another way through. She started for him, leaving the other two at the fence before they too noticed that they were being left.

JJ led them through another alley that took them into the construction site. From there they squeezed through tight cracks and stepped over high stacked wooden planks. They had to walk through on their toes, not wanting to make even the slightest of sounds.

They stopped, looking up at a tall, brick building, "We have to go to the top," he told them, and just then Nova noticed the steel ladder attached.

JJ took the first steps. Nova a few behind him. And then Kiara and Pope behind her. While climbing up the seemingly never-ending ladder, Nova thanked any God that was listening for not putting the fear of heights inside her. Once they reached the roof they didn't risk standing. Copying JJ, they all crawled on their hands and knees. Knees scraping the rough concrete and pressing into stranded pebbled. Their hands pressed into puddles and dirt. It didn't matter much anymore though as they were all completely soaked from the pouring rain.

If Nova's Lovey was here to see her in this state, she'd lecture her about the risks of pneumonia.

They lay flat on their stomachs behind the roof's ledge. They had a perfect view of the house across the street. They could see right where Ward and Gavin stood talking.

"What's happening," whispered Nova.

She tired but she wasn't able to make out what was being said. All she could see through the sheet of rain was that their conversation didn't seem friendly.

"Ward just handed Gavin something," Pope watched through his camera. "I think it's a duffel bag."

"Full of money, no doubt," Nova rolled her eyes.

"This has to be a payoff," JJ agreed with her.

The four of them watched for a few moments longer. Each of them tried to make out a word that was said but failed to do so. They could assume all they wanted. But just because they thought it didn't mean they were right.

"Uh-oh... Gavin doesn't look happy," said Pope, still watching through his hundred-year-old camera. "It looks like Gavin is yelling."

Kiara moved closer to Pope, squinting to try and see through the sheet of rain and to the scene just across the street. But it was no use, they were too far away, and the rain was too heavy.

"Why's he yelling?" she asked Pope.

"Because he's being paid off to cover up a murder and now, he knows that someone knows about it," Nova only guessed.

Pope went quiet which was annoying. He was their only source to relay what was happening. The rain only poured down harder on them, and the winds became colder, making Nova shiver while squished between JJ and Kiara. She was sure that she was going to end up with pneumonia.

And after a few minutes Pope jerked upward, "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said excitedly, holding his camera steady.

Nova turned her head, "What? What is it?" she bombarded Pope with questions, as she couldn't see all the excitement herself.

"They're fighting," he told her, his voice rushed.

Nova turned to look at the house across the street. No walls, only covered with old, blue tarp. It was a long shot of her seeing anything, but she had to know what was happening, and Pope was exactly being the reliable source he was supposed to be.

She could see shadows. Figures. A little bit of color. There were two men in the house across the street. The second floor. And they were definitely fighting. Their bodies would collide. One would stagger backward and come running back for the other. Pushing, and hitting. But Nova couldn't hear anything. She was watching a silent movie.

"Ward is kicking the shit out of Gavin," said Pope.

And it seemed to be a little more than that from the limited view that Nova had.

"Why are they fighting?" asked JJ.

Pope shrugged, "I don't know," he said. Though he had a better view of the scene across the street, he still was only able to hear what they all did. "I'm just trying to see."

Nova watched the fight through the glass-like rain that pierced her skin. She chewed the inside of her lip until the warm sensation of blood coated her tongue. The rain helped in washing away some of the iron taste. Her heart was still for a moment as a body fell to the ground. She didn't know who it was. And then her heart rate picked back up, nearly beating out of her chest.

And then it all stopped. Except for the beating of Nova's heart. Everything else stilled around her. Even the rain seemed to go mute. Because even though her view was compromised, even though she was relying on shadows, Nova knew when someone was holding a gun to another person. She'd seen enough movies. And the glint of the shiny silver glistened off the one working streetlight.

"Ward has a gun," Pope had stopped moving.

JJ looked up, "Is it the murder weapon?"

No one needed to answer. They all knew. Ward was holding the gun that killed Peterkin to Gavin now. And when a man like Ward Cameron held a gun to you, you wouldn't be walking out alive. The power goes to his head every time. Just like Rafe. They needed that power. They thrived on it. The power of knowing that with the gun in their hand it makes him like a god. He made the rules now. He gets to decide who lives and who dies.

And Ward Cameron did decide to play God that night in the pouring rain.

It sounded like fireworks. One. Two. Three. Fireworks, maybe. Except it wasn't the Fourth of July.

Nova's ears rang. The entire world around her had been drowned. It was like she was stuck underwater, listening to the world continue moving on above her. She wished it was thunder. Nova closed her eyes, wishing that it'd been thunder. That someone maybe was letting off leftover fireworks nearby. But the crack that had echoed along the small, empty street was unmistakable. And like when she heard it just a few months before it sent her entire body shaking.

She couldn't think right. Her head was racing. She was somewhere else. Nova didn't know what was happening. But the feeling of a heartbeat, not her own, brought her back. It brought her home.

JJ was on top of Nova. Having thrown himself onto her. Shielding her from seeing the suddenly viewable sight of Gavin's lifeless body that was likely bleeding out on unfinished wood flooring. She was still shaking under his hold on her. And she clutched the loose fabric of his shirt, so tight that her knuckles turned a shade of white. And JJ could see the fear in her tightly closed eyes. He could feel it in her shakes. And he wiped the tears that already streaked her cheeks. JJ pulled Nova back upright and held her close to his chest, making sure she didn't try to catch any sight of the view across the street. And for that Nova was thankful.

"Pope..." said JJ, his voice a whisper, slightly shaken. He's backed up against the ledge of the roof, keeping Nova's eyes on the opposite end of the street. She still hadn't been able to move on her own. She could hear now though. And she heard Kiara crying. "Please tell me you got that."

Nova hoped he did. She hoped that Pope got something. Something that would put Ward Cameron away for a long time. Because if he hadn't. If Pope somehow missed the murder, then they came out here, they witnessed yet another horror, for nothing.

"Oh no," he whispered, turning around suddenly, shushing everyone, and motioning for them to duck their heads. "Get down, get down."

"Shit..." Pope whispered, in a panic, suddenly falling close to the ground. He motioned for everyone to follow him to the ground. "Get down. Get down."

And they did. All of them fell back down onto the wet puddling roof, JJ's arm still around Nova's back, "Guys," JJ said... barely looking over the ledge. "I think that we should get the hell out of here now."

Pope held up a hand, keeping anyone from moving, "Hold on," warns them. "Ward's walking out. Yeah, there he goes. I think he might be looking for the gun."

"He lost the gun?" was the first thing Nova said since the three shots. Her voice cracked and was pushing on the edge of being hoarse.

They sat up. All of them, as if on cue, Nova too, to watch down below. Ward Cameron roamed the dark streets. Stepping through the waters rushing down the sides of the sidewalks. The gun must've washed down into the drain, being carried by the heavy waters. Soon the gun would be the ocean's property.

And they all knew the ocean couldn't keep a secret.

Kiara shook her head, angrily scoffing as she watched Ward desperately fish for his gun. Bent down, reaching inside the drain on the side of the road, catching the running waters. A pathetic sight, really. Nova understood and agreed with Kiara's anger. Except she didn't expect Kiara to stand up from the safety of their ledge and start to yell down into the dark streets.

"Kiara!" Nova hissed, pulling on the leg of her pants. "Kiara what - what the fuck are you doing?" she pulled harder. "Get down, now!"

Kiara didn't listen. Kiara didn't like to follow the rules. She wasn't one to be silenced. She wouldn't hide or tape or mouth shut. When someone did something wrong, she was going to let them know. And that really annoyed Nova, especially now.

"What is wrong with you?!" she yelled suddenly, sending her friends on the ground into a panic. "Murderer!"

Pope's eyes widened so much they were bound to roll out of their sockets. And he and JJ reached up, trying to will her back to the ground.

But she only jerked out of the attempted grasps at her, "I don't care if he hears me," she told them. "He's a murderer!"

"Yeah, exactly," said Nova from her spot on the roof floor. "Ward Cameron is a murderer. So, what's stopping him from killing all of us?"

This time her attempt worked. Thinking about her livelihood and the safety of her friends, Kiara sat back down. But it was too late. Ward had heard Kiara's loud accusations. And he was headed in the direction of their hiding spot.

"Shit! Guys, he sees us," Pope rolled over, warning everyone. "Come on," he said moving. "We gotta go. He's coming."

The four of them pulled their rain-soaked bodies off the wet ground and began to run for the ladder that had taken them up. Nova was there first, climbing down so fast that her foot nearly slipped out from beneath her. But she brought herself back, holding tightly onto the bars, keeping her body close to them, and taking herself back down to earth one step at a time.

When she was standing steadily again, she looked up, watching her friends follow her down. Pope had stepped behind her, hurrying, but holding his camera, slowing himself down. Kiara was next, rushing Pope, and JJ stood on the roof still, rushing them both.

"Come on!" she heard JJ. "God, Pope, hurry!"

"I'm trying! I'm going!" Pope yelled back up the ladder.

But it wasn't fast enough. JJ yelped, somehow having stepped on the ladder before Kiara. She quickly started to apologize for stepping on his hands, and then, not even a second later, three bodies crashed on the floor in front of Nova. All of them groaning and rolling onto their sides. Except Pope, who ignored his contact with a concrete ground, and scrambled to collect the pieces of the camera that had fallen out of his hands.

"Oh no," he cried. "Oh no, no, no!"

JJ rushed up behind Pope, watching him try and fit the broken pieces back together, "You're kidding?" he sounded annoyed. "You fumbled the camera?"

"You kicked me in the face!" Pope accused him.

"Okay, and she..." he turned to point at Kiara. "Stepped on my hand."

"I was trying to hurry," Kiara defended herself.

And then they turned to Nova. Completely unscathed.

"Well, I did scratch myself on the fence a while back," she said, reminding all of them of the red mark that ran down her thigh. "It stings pretty bad."

JJ rolled his eyes. None of this mattered, they had to get out of there. He motioned for the stone wall. Nova sighed. More scaling, and in a skirt. Luckily she had his help this time. He offered her his hand for a boost which she accepted gratefully.

JJ rolled his eyes. None of that mattered now. They had to keep moving. And he knew that, motioning for them to follow him over the stone wall. And Nova sighed, unhappy, more climbing in her skirt. But JJ stayed back this time. Offering his help by standing beside her, hands on her waist. He whispered, telling her to jump, she did with a deep sigh, and he helped lift her to the top of the fence. From there she easily jumped down.

She waited for JJ to land on the other side with them and then they took off running for Kiara's vehicle. All of them panting. Stressed, tired, and cold. None of them yet have processed the height of what they just witnessed. None of them had digested the fact that they'd witnessed a murder. A murder that they might've helped cause.

And the guilt was eating at her again. It was different than her normal guilt though. It didn't feel like the guilt that buried itself in her heart when she was with JJ. No, this time Nova felt it deep in her gut. She'd felt this when Sarah made her run from the scene at the airport. She felt it when she had to leave her best friend. It was the guilt of not being able to help save someone.

"Could someone fill me in what the frick just happened?" once the doors of the car were closed, JJ yelled, his adrenaline finally coming to a head. "Holy crap!" he said loudly. "I can't believe it. Wait... wait - what were they even fighting over?"

"It was - it was the gun - the one Rafe used..." Pope panted tiredly; his head tilted back on the rest. "He must've kept it."

JJ was so hopped on adrenaline that he couldn't sit still in the backseat. None of them were able to keep still. Shaking or running their hand through their hair over and over. They couldn't accept what just happened.

"Pick up! Pick up!" Kiara screamed into her phone.

"Pick up... pick up... pick up..." Kiara yelled at her phone.

She'd dialed a number into her phone and none of them had noticed. None of them had even heard the ringing.

Pope turned, "Who are you calling?"

Kiara turned, looking at Pope like he was crazy, "Who do you think?"

"The cops?" Pope guessed

Leaning up, JJ's eyes focused on Kiara, "Why would you call the police?" he yelled. "That is Ward freakin' Cameron."

But of course, Kiara hadn't thought to think of that. She'd just witnessed a murder. She was freaking out. And like every other kook, Kiara had been taught to call the police in the case of an emergency. And watching someone be killed - that's an emergency.

If Nova still wasn't in a state of shaken shock, she would've made the same instinctual move to call the police as Kiara.

Nova hadn't even chimed in though. And concerned, noticing her silence, JJ turned. She was sat straight, her back barely touching the covered seats. She was shivering - or shaking - or both.

"Hey...Nova..." he whispered, his hand lightly moving to touch her cold shoulder. "You alright over there?"

She shook her head. Not moving. Though her stoic expression faltered and her bottom lip trembled, "That is the second time someone has been murdered right in front of me," she whispered. "That is the third body that I have seen lying lifeless on the ground." Nova shook her head, "No. No, I'm not alright."

This wasn't supposed to have happened. This wasn't a part of the plan. This wasn't normal. Two murders in less than three months. Three bodies lying before her, life taken from their eyes. From thirteen to now. It wasn't normal. It couldn't be. Nova was sure at this point she was part of some crazy statistic in the number of deaths someone should witness in their lifetime. She was now an exception, not the rule.

"We gotta go," JJ argued with Kiara who had just hung up the phone with the police. "We're sitting ducks. We can't stay here."

"We have to go," JJ told Kiara, while she was still talking with the woman on the phone that was supposed to dispatch an officer to the scene. "We're sitting ducks. We can't just stay here."

"What do you want me to do, JJ?" Kiara cried, running a hand over her face.

"Just drive!" Pope yelled at her.

So, Kiara took a breath and started her car, and she drove.

It was late into the night, but the streets came to life. In the dark and lonely streets, police lights of red and blue lit up the black sky. The rain poured onto the metal cars. Ticking and tattering. Dripping down the glass windows and the tired police officers' faces. But they paid no mind. Pushing and shoving around to get a glimpse of the supposed murder scene.

But there was nothing to see. There was no scene. There was nothing. They'd been given an empty room. Clean. No blood. No dead body. No gun. Just nothing. It led Nova to believe that she'd imagined the entire thing.

There was no way though. It couldn't be right. Nova had watched it. She'd heard the gunshot. It was real. Wasn't it?

"It was right here," Kiara pointed to the exact spot on the ground where Gavin fell, a spot that had once - had to have been covered in blood. "This is where that maniac claimed his next victim!"

"Oh yeah? His next victim, huh" Officer Shoupe, well now Sheriff Shoupe, nodded disbelievingly as he wrote into the little pad he pulled out of his pocket. "How long ago did you say this happened?"

JJ finally stood up. He'd been on the ground, running his hands along the clean wooden boards, checking - hoping for a remnant of blood.

"About forty-five minutes ago, Shoupe," he said.

"So, Ward Cameron just popped one-off and shot him?" asked Shoupe, furrowing his bushy, grey eyebrows curiously.

"Yes!" said Nova, exhausted. "That's exactly what we've been telling you!"

Nova was tired. Tired, hungry, and traumatized. And still a little in shock. So, she wasn't too concerned with the tone she was using with the officers.

"Execution style?" Shoupe asked. "And then he cleaned it all up? In forty-five minutes?"

It sounded crazy. But that's exactly what seemed to have happened.

Pope shrugged, "Obviously!"

"And we filmed the entire thing," said Kiara.

Now they had Shoupe's attention, and he looked up from his small piece of paper and toward the four teenagers standing in front of him, all soaking wet.

"You filmed it?" he asked.

Rolling her eyes, Nova sighed, "Yes, but we can't show you because Kiara stepped on JJ's hand, and then JJ kicked Pope's head..."

Just then Pope pulled the very broken piece of ancient equipment out from behind his back, "It's a telephoto... and we needed to get a long-distance image, and - and..." Pope had just then started to realize how crazy this all sounded. "And I fell, and it broke... so the video is basically unusable."

"But we were there and we witnessed-"

Shoupe held up his hand, cutting Nova off, "So, the dog ate your homework?"

It became clear that no matter what they say they saw no one was going to believe them.

"Please," Nova pleaded. "Please, Shoupe... we know this sounds-"

But again, he stopped her mid-sentence.

"I really don't know what you kids expect me to do with this..." Shoupe yelled at them, becoming angry and annoyed. "You drag me here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing!"

"It's not nothing!" Kiara cried.

But it was. All they had was a whole lot of nothing. No scene. No body. No proof.

"Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's out on some random killing spree," he told them.

"Dude, we're not making this up!" JJ yelled.

Pope shook his head, he moved closer to Shoupe, "It's not a random killing spree," he told the new Sherriff, "Gavin was Ward's pilot, okay? He was paying him hush money because he was on the tarmac the day that everything happened."

"Gavin was blackmailing Ward because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin," Kiara told him.

"And then Ward called him here and tried to pay him off, but I guess it wasn't enough, and then Ward shot him... with the murder weapon," added JJ.

Nova watched Shoupe closely. His demeanor didn't change. But he was quiet - listening now. He wasn't talking over them or interrupting them anymore. He really seemed to be listening.

"It's true," Nova told him. "All of it."

"How do you know?" Shoupe asked Nova and the rest of them. "How do all of you know any of this?"

"Well, because Pope did this thing with his phone," Kiara started. "He like - he put it in Gavin's car and-"

"And I heard everything, sir," Pope finished.

Shoupe's eyes went wide.

"You wiretapped the man?" he asked, seeming surprised - horrified maybe.

"What like it's illegal, or something?" Nova shrugged.

"Okay! Stop! Just stop!" Shoupe yelled over them as they all began to shout things at him or one another. "I have had enough of this."

Quickly, they all fell silent. And Shoupe turned and began walking away from them, with not another word. And they chased after him, still yelling.

"What? JJ called. "Shoupe," he was first on his heels. "Are you going to look the other way again? Why can't you just believe us for once?"

He wouldn't turn around and instead went for the staircase that led to the front door on the bottom floor, "Waste of my goddamn time..." he whispered to himself.

"Why would we make this up?" Kiara cried, hot on Shoupe's tail, following him outside and into the road where several other officers had parked, waiting to hear work from him. "I know it sounds crazy... I know that!"

Shoupe ignored Kiara's pleas and instead signaled his officers, "Alright, there is nothing here," He announced. "False alarm. Let's all go home."

"No, don't send them home," Nova ran up behind Kiara. "Please," she pleaded. "Can't you just do your job for once?"

That made Shoupe turn to her. Apparently, he wasn't a fan of being criticized.

"Look," he said, taking a long, deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. "I know that you're upset," Shoupe told them. "And I know that you think your friend is innocent..."

"Because he is," said Nova quickly.

And taking her hand, Kiara pulled her back, they consoled one another.

"Except none of you were there!" Shoupe snapped, yelling.

"I was there! I told you! I told you a million times that I was there," Nova continued yelling at the older officer. "I watched it all happen. Just like tonight. I witnessed everything," she told him. "Jesus, Shoupe, we're telling you the truth!"

"And yet every other witness on that tarmac, all the witnesses still here, say opposite of you," Shoupe looked hard at Nova. "And all of them have a hell of a lot more credibility than you or your friends right now."

Then his gaze turned to Kiara, she flinched, and Nova tightened the hold she had on her, "I saw your little are project on Ward's wall," he said. "Do not do that again! It's only going to make things a lot harder for the both of us!"

Shoupe turned from them. He opened the door to his police car and then shut it in their faces. Not bothering even glancing back at them. It was clear that they were on their own in this. No one was on their side.

And then he turned around. He got into his own police car. This time no one tried to stop or yell after him when he sped down the once again empty street. A bunch of nobodies. That's all they were. They weren't the people you believe.

"Dammit! I told you this would happen!" JJ yelled, looking at Kiara, and then his gaze moved to land on Pope, an angry look in his eyes. "Like, you're the one who had to drop the camera!"

"JJ," Nova whispered.

But he didn't listen. No one did. They all needed someone to blame.

"It was literally your fault," Kiara yelled at JJ.

"Oh, that was my fault?" he laughed. "Why are you always taking his side, Kiara?"

"Jesus! No one is taking sides," yelled Nova standing in the middle of them all, hands tangled in her wet, tangled hair. "And it was no one's fault, okay? So, just drop it. All of you."

They all quieted but the tension in the air was thick. Everyone blew a breath of steam out before turning away from one another.

"Hey!" Pope called suddenly, having taken a few steps down the road, behind Nova. "Guys, I don't think we're out of this yet."

Curious, Nova turned and followed to where he stood on the side of the road, "What do you mean?"

He pointed at the drain and then the moving water rushed into it, "We can still go get the gun."

And then she heard it. The very thing that told Pope what he needed to know. The water had not rushed out into the ocean. At least not yet. It was slowly filling the drain beneath the very road that they stood on. The water was trapped.

Then Nova realized just what it was they'd have to do to get that gun.

"Well, that doesn't seem very sanitary."

Beads of sweat began to form on Nova's forehead. The afternoon sun had not been kind to them. Beating down on that at an exhaustingly hot temperature. And the hike that JJ led them on to take them to find the end of the drain did not help with the heat and exhaustion.

They'd met up just a few hours ago. Kiara had texted Nova. And Nova had spent most of her night telling Nolan about the events of the evening. All from getting to school that morning. Finding out John B. and Sarah were alive and on the same island. Finally, witnessing yet another murder committed by a Cameron. And before she was able to walk upstairs and cry in the shower just as she's been doing for months, Nova promised Nolan that she would attempt to stay out of trouble.

Of course, the promise was an empty one. Because here she stood, likely about to get herself into more trouble.

"This is the north drain," said JJ as he led them through a patch of trees and into an open ditch littered with trash. "It should've gotten washed into the gully," he told them as though they'd know what that would mean. "So, if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to like-"

"Like somewhere in all this trash?" Pope finished.

Like Nova, Pope wasn't happy about spending his day in sewage. Now they find out they get to dig through trash.

"Oh my god," Kiara shook her head, looking down the hill at the piles of trash. "People who use this much plastic should be shot."

"Do we really want to joke about being shot right now, Kie?" asked Nova.

Was it not just hours ago that they witnessed someone being shot?

Kiara though did not think she was out of line. Not the girl who'd spent three hours lecturing Nova on the unethical purchase and waste of plastic.

"I love plastic," JJ admitted with a chuckle. "I use it every day," he told Kiara, already standing below in the hoard of trash, seeming unaffected. "Love the stuff."

"Really, JJ?" Nova scolded, slowly making her way down the steep drop off that led right into the wasteland of trash. "Do you have a death wish?"

Stepping forward to hold out a hand for Nova to help her down the hill, JJ continued to laugh. He completely ignored the glare that was shot right at him from Kiara.

"Hopefully you recycle and don't flush all your plastic into the ocean," said Kiara, still angry at JJ's comments.

"Okay, I though you would say something like that," Pope sighed, unzipping the bookbag that had once been resting on his shoulders and pulling out a roll of black trash bags. "Look what I brought."

Nova smiled. She looked up at Pope and shook her head. Always the romantic, he was. Always thinking about everyone except for himself. It was admirable.

"Did you just proactively protect the environment?" Kiara grinned.

He shrugged, "Maybe."

And his cheeks turned a dark shade of red.

Nova sighed and rested her head against JJ's shoulder, "Collecting trash," she laughed, "how romantic."

"Yeah, Pope, do you and Kiara want me and Nova to leave you guys alone, or...." JJ asked, playing along with Nova's teasing.

Nova and JJ continued laughing and poking fun. But to shut them up Pope threw an entire roll of trash bags in their directions. It nearly hit Nova on the head, and when she looked up, offended, they were now laughing, and motioning to all the trash surrounding them, telling her and JJ to start cleaning.

"Oh, no thank you," Nova laughed, handing the roll of trash bags to JJ. "I will not be touching..." she motioned her hands over all the trash, "Any of this."

And for a while, Nova did not touch anything. The smell was bad enough. But she'd been yelled at relentlessly by Kiara and Pope, and so finally, to shut them up Nova picked up a bag and angrily began throwing trash inside. A few times she had to suppress a gag when flies would swarm something she picked up.

It was many hours and dozens of trash bags later when they finished. All of them were covered in sweat and reeking of trash juice. And they found absolutely nothing. Hours wasted sifting through smelly, wet trash. Not even a hint of the gun was there.

"Well," JJ wiped the sweat running down his forehead with the back of his hand just after he threw the last bag of trash over the hillside. "That was fun."

Pope sighed, "If it's not in the trash, then it's got to be in the storm drain..."

"Yeah," sighed JJ. "It's in - it's in the storm drain."

Oh, of course - of course, it's in the drain. Nova thought as she rolled her eyes. At this point, they should've expected it to be there, and if she were being honest, she knew they weren't going to find the gun in the trash. Never in her time of knowing these particular pogues did things come easy to them. And finding the gun in the trash - too easy.

"I'm not even surprised," Nova shrugged.

Nova met Kiara's gaze and she nodded, agreeing.

"Well, it's a good thing I brow the crow," said JJ, just excited that he gets to break something open using his crowbar.

"So..." Kiara hummed.

Nova looked over, and she was rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Are we going to like rock, paper, scissors?" she asked.

JJ shook his head.

Alphabetically?" she tried again?

Pope shook his head, "No."

She looked at Nova, eyebrows raised, "Oldest goes?"

No answer.

"Maybe the boys should go in?" said Nova, batting her eyelashes innocently. "It would be the gentlemanly thing to do."

Kiara seemed to like that idea. Their gazes went from one another to the boys straining to open the drain below them. But when they looked up at the girls they didn't seem to agree on Nova's suggestion.

"Let me tell you something..." said JJ, and Nova rolled her eyes, knowing that whatever he was going to say was going to be ridiculous. "In the sewer, there's this work that you get when you're in there," he told them. "It gets into your blood and then it has to come out your pecker. So, uh... that would be a hard pass for me."

"That will also be a no for me," Pope agreed.

"Except, here's the thing," said Nova. "I just - I just don't feel like that's true."

"Exactly," said Kiara.

"And if it is... I don't want the sewer worm either," she pouted.

"Oh, only duded can get it..." JJ shrugged.

Nova furrowed her eyebrows, "See... I also feel like that's a lie."

"Oh no," JJ shook his head, his expression completely sure. "It's a fact."

Nova nodded, though she didn't believe a word from him.

"It's alright, Nova," Kiara sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "They're afraid."

Pope and JJ both shook their head, "No," said Pope. "I'm not scared, okay?"

Nova smiled knowingly, nodding her head.

"Awh, how cute," she gushed, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

Kiara walked past Nova laughing.

"You guys should've just said something," Kiara sighed, walking to stand beside Pope and JJ, so that she could hold their shoulders. "Don't worry, we'll go in for you."

Pope rolled his eyes, "Just be careful."

He was annoyed but didn't try to fight Kiara's decision to go into the drain.

"Oh, I'll be so careful," Kiara's tone dripped with sarcasm, making Pope roll his eyes at her again. Then she turned to Nova, "You coming?"

With wide, scared eyes, Nova gulped, "Do you think there'll be rats?"

She gone from playful to horrified in less than a second. Nova didn't do rats. Nova didn't do rodents in general. She looked to JJ for an answer.

He shrugged, looking over everyone else and nodding, "I mean..." he sighed. "Probably."

And Nova gagged. Her throat tightening and eyes watering. She tried but failed at holding it back. She didn't end up puking, thankfully, but for the few seconds she spent bent over heaving, she felt as though she was going to.

Watching her, Kiara spoke, "Nova," she said softly and genuinely. "You don't have to go in there."

Nova shook her head, "No... yes I do," she said, sighing as she stood upright again, hands resting on her hips, and she sucked in a deep breath. "Girl power, or whatever, right?"

"Yeah," Kiara smiled. "Or whatever."

Never in her life would Nova had guessed this would be happening to her. Having to army-crawl through a sewage drain never, not once, crossed her mind. Though granted there were a lot of things this summer she'd done that she never imagined she would ever do. Like fall in love, with the island's delinquent, John B. Routledge.

And because she loved the suspected murderer, Nova was just now realizing that she might be a little bit claustrophobic. But the fear and disgust coursing through Nova's body could also be caused by her constant envisioning of tiny nests of bugs surrounding her or the burrowing rats that could run over her hand at any second.

All of this, because she fell in love.

"Yo!" JJ's carefree voice echoed down the metal drain walls. "You guys find anything yet?"

"Do either of you see the gun?" Pope's voice followed.

Nova sighed, stopping behind Kiara to look back at the end of the tunnel where she could faintly see the shape of their heads peeking into the entrance. She braced her elbows in the cold, foggy water.

"If we found the gun do either of you big brains think I would still be in here, laying in sewage water?" she was angry at her current circumstances; Nova couldn't help the tone she spoke to them with.

"I take that as a no?" JJ yelled.

And from there she heard the echo of Pope slapping the back of his friend's head. Nova grinned.

Kiara sighed, "No..." she said, her tone a lot more controlled than Nova's. "There's nothing yet."

"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin," Pope told them.

Nova's head dropped and she contemplated on starting to cry as she whined, "Of course," she crawled further into the drain, following Kiara. "Of course, it's going to be at the bottom of the catch basin."

There was a steep but fairly short drop at the end of the tunnel that dropped in the catch basin. It'd filled with rainwater, still waiting to be flushed out by the city. This was good and bad. Good because it bettered the chances of them being able to find the gun. It was bad because this meant that Nova would now have to practically dive into murky rainwater that'd sit above her waist.

Being in front, Kiara went into the water first. Nova followed right after, gagging, of course. The water was slimier than she was anticipating and already brown with a smell wafting upward that was far from pleasant. It was dark and there were corners of the basin that Nova couldn't see through the water which scared and disgusted her even more. The light they did have was rays of sun that was able to peak through the cracks from the drain lid above them.

As they took in their surroundings, Nova and Kiara's face masked the same looks of disgust.

Kiara though wasted no time in dwelling on their shitty circumstances. After taking a moment to breathe in the murky air Kiara fell to her knees, her hair dipping into the brown water, hands below, scraping the bottom of the basin, rummaging through floating trash that had started to pool around their bodies.

She sighed, throwing a pop can aside, it landed beside Nova, grazing her arm before floating to another corner of the basin, "People are so shitty."

Nova was little to no help at all. Any time she attempted to move to try and help a gag would heave its was up her throat. Her vision blurred as water coated her eyes and from the stench of the basin. She stoon on her tiptoes, arms hugging herself, only using the tips of her fingers to move past the floating trash.

"Nova, I swear to god if you throw up," Kiara looked up at her just as Nova let out another involuntary gag. "Please... please don't throw up."

Accidently she touched an old, floating hamburger bun, and she gagged, loudly, "Nova," Kiara snapped her head around, "Please, for the love of everything do not puke."

She gagged again, "I won't..." Nova shook her head, holding in a deep breath that she feared if she let out another gag would accompany it. "I promise."

Nova couldn't keep her breath held and another heaving gag burned her throat. Thankfully, it was just a gag, and none of her breakfast decided to spill out. She wanted out of that drain basin. And she hated Pope and JJ for making her go in there. And she hated herself for not refusing.

Kiara fell deeper into the water, her eyes widening, "Wait a minute..." A wide smile broke across her face, "Guys!" she yelled, her high-pitched tone echoing all through the drain. "Guys, I think I found something!"

Nova stepped forward, "Is it the gun?"

"You got it?"

"Kiara, did you find the gun?"

Pope and JJ's echoes overlapped one another.

Kiara further searched for whatever it was she had felt. Nova watched as she stood straight, the water falling to her hips, her hands broke the surface, but whatever she'd found down there was no gun and Kiara's eyes widened in horror and she dropped whatever she'd had in her hand back into the water.

"Oh - oh my god!" Kiara screamed loudly, splashed the water away from her and up against the concrete wall that encased them. "You guys..." she cried. "There is something dead in here!"

Nova gagged, "Oh god-" she gagged again. "Was it a rat?" she asked, barely getting the words out before gagging for the third time in a row. "Please don't tell me it's a rat!"

Kiara and Nova wouldn't stop screaming long enough to listen to shouts of concern and direction coming from JJ and Pope, who still refused to come in after them. Kiara refused to dig into the water anymore as she and Nova remained huddled together and moved further and further away from whatever it was floating near them in the water.

"I am going to kill the two of you when I get out of here!" Nova yelled over JJ and Pope, who still offered them no help. "I swear to God!"

"Seriously! You owe us so much for this!" Kiara yelled at them.

Then Nova stopped screaming. It was sudden. She could feel something, it felt like the ground had suddenly come to life as he started to shake beneath her and Kiara, a low rumbling following. At first, Nova thought it was rain, but the sun still shone over them, she could see the sky, there was no rain. And rain didn't cause the ground to grumble and shake.

She looked over, meeting Kiara's eyes just as water began to rush into the drain, heading right for them.

"Shit..." she said, trying to move back to the drain where they'd crawled in from, "Guys! The water...!"

Nova and Kiara both tried to move to scurry back through the tunnel, desperate to escape, but it was too late. The water rushed toward them too hard. The current that it made was too strong for them to try and fight. Either they'd drown trying or the water would push them right back into the basin they stood in now.

Their only option was to get out on top, and hopefully faster than the water could fill the not so roomy basin.

"Guys you have to get out of there, now!" Pope's loud, worried voice yelled over the rushing waters.

"We don't have time!" Kiara yelled, and Nova hoped that her cries was loud enough to carry over the water.

Together they stepped up onto a steel ladder, holding tightly, trying not to be pulled out by the current.

The water was coming in too fast. The basin filled too quick. And the ladder was narrow, having only been built for one person. But the two girls managed to fit, squeezing together, only one of each of their foots, resting on the steel bars. They'd climbed to the top, and both pushed at the heavy, cast-iron manhole cover with all they had in them.

It served as no use. It didn't even budge. They either weren't strong enough or the lid had been sealed shut. Either way, they were stuck, and the water was still rising.

Over the flowing water, Kiara's screams, and her own racing heart, Nova could hear rushed, panicked voices above them. She looked through the cracks of the manhole and found Pope and JJ sitting there, pulling at the sealed iron. But they weren't working fast enough. The cold water had already begun to pool around Nova's chest. And she or Kiara couldn't climb any higher.

"Please, hurry!" begged Nova, as she moved to help them, pushing on the lid as they pulled, but still, not even a squeak of a budge. "Guys, I can't drown in here... not in sewer water."

"You're not going to drown in any water, Nova," JJ grunted, he didn't laugh at Nova's last attempt at a joke, he looked too worried.

The water was at her neck. Nova hated the feeling like it was choking her. Slowly and threateningly draining the life out of her, torturing her. Nova tilted her head upward as the water splashed at her chin, trying to find herself a little more time before they were completely taken.

"Pope!" Kiara hit the lid with the palm of her hand. "Pope! Please! Pope..."

"We're going to get you out of there," said Pope, he was agitated, whatever they were doing wasn't working and he knew it. "I promise, okay?"

And slowly it took her ears and then her mouth. She was taken. And just before she closed her eyes, she saw it take Kiara too.

Is this it? Is this how she was going to go out? Nova, even while drowning almost laughed. What a sad way to go, if so. Her hands had been gripping the iron bars, she was able to pull herself up for the last breath. She turned, Kiara had the same thought, while crying. Was she crying? Nova couldn't tell. She reached out for her friend's hand and Kiara took it, looking at her, and then there was no more room for breath and the basin began to overflow onto the streets, and they, together, were stuck underneath.

Drowning was a hard thing to do. Because even when you've accepted your fate. Even when you're ready to die, your body is not. When you've accepted that you've already breathed your last breath, your body still tries to fight for at least one more. Every bodily instinct is to keep you alive. Even when you've already accepted that you might be ready to die.

Nova might not be alive if not for her body needing to breathe. If not for her lungs aching, she might have been able to rest. Instead, her body pushed toward the light reflecting off the water above her. And if not for her body she wouldn't have made it through the unsealed iron lid.

She felt the warm sun scorching her back. It reflected off her droplet-covered skin. She closed her eyes, hiding from the bright sun that had broken through the shadows of heavy water. She sucked in a long, shaky breath, expanding her lungs as fat as she could.

Her body was exhausted and collapsed onto the pavement. But before her skin was met with pebbles and concrete, a body grabbed her, and she fell onto dry cotton. Barely, she looked through her eyelashes. It was JJ. The person who'd caught her. He'd been the one who pulled her out of the water. And now he sat, soaking wet in the middle of a road, holding Nova who was coughing all the water out of her lungs.

"Hey, it's okay..." JJ whispered, attempting to sit Nova up so that he could look at her, so that he could see that she was going to be fine. "You're fine... it's fine..."

"I don't know..." Nova coughed, managing to find her voice, though hoarse. "I definitely swallowed some of that water."

JJ nodded, laughing, and he pulled her cool body into his warm chest. He was hugging her, "Okay..." he said into the top of her head. "You'll live then."

Nova nodded still lingering on JJ's chest, and he made no attempt to try and move away from her. She turned her head, seeing Kiara, coughing water onto the road, "Kiara?" she asked. "Are you alright?"

Without looking Kiara gave Nova a thumbs up and continued to cough the murky water out of her lungs, "Never better," she managed weakly. "Thanks."

Kiara sat on the road. Her chest rose and fell with every painful breath that she took, matching Nova. Sighing, she reached behind her back and took ahold of something that had been tucked into the waistband of her shorts.

Immediately Nova knew.

"That isn't..." she sat up, eyes wide.

"What?" Kiara asked, an amusing glint in her brown eyes, and from behind her, she pulled out a large, silver gun. A gun that Nova had seen used too many times. "Is this what you're looking for?"

Nova laughed. She couldn't help it. They nearly drowned, believing that there was no gun, and if there had been then it was washed away by the water currents in the drain. JJ copied Nova, grinning at the shining silver in Kiara's hand, and falling backward, Pope breathed a heavy, relieved sigh.

Kiara slid the gun across the rough pavement and hit JJ in the foot. Using an old, not wet t-shirt from the back of his pocket, JJ picked up the gun and shoved it into the back of his shorts.

"Wait..." said Nova suddenly. "Does this mean-"

"We're gonna get this son of a bitch," said Pope, jumping up from the road, offering a hand to Kiara that she accepted to help pull her off the warming pavement.

JJ had a hold of Nova's hand the entire time they'd been sitting and kept it to help pull her off the road. When she was standing, JJ slung a lazy arm around her shoulders, and she'd been so tired she nearly collapsed under the weight. He was still laughing, still reeling over having found the gun. He reached out, pulling Pope and Kiara into his other side before wrapping them into a group hug.

But Kiara and Nova pushed their way out, far too exhausted to be celebrating.

"Okay," nodded Kiara. "Let's get this to Shoupe."

And for a small moment, a fleeting moment, this small misfit group of teenagers turned investigators had hope.

But the moment was just that - fleeting. They were not allowed to be happy for too long. The universe never intended for them to be hopeful for too long, snatching the rug out from under them. Because why offer hope when suffering is much easier to cause? Nova hated the universe, fate, and whoever else chose why things happen.

She hated whoever decided that she didn't deserve to be happy.

Looking and smelling like actual shit, the four of them stepped inside of Officer Shoupe's office, and he closed the door behind them. He didn't seem excited at all to be seeing them again. But he also didn't seem too surprised to be seeing them again, either.

The grey-headed man sat down across from them, behind his wooden desk and in his leather office chair, and in doing so he let out a long and tired sigh, already looking annoyed with them all.

When the room grew silent and no one said anything Nova nudged JJ's arm, urging him to show Shoupe the gun. To show him how they've been out doing the job he should've been doing.

Nodding JJ stood up, stepping for Shoupe. From his back pocket, he pulled the wrapped gun and put it on the wooden desk before stepping backward. Hesitantly, Shoupe reached to the desk and unwrapped the soggy shirt.

"So," Shoupe looked up at them skeptically. "Ya'll are telling this is the firearm Rafe Cameron killed Peterkin with?"

They all nodded.

"That's exactly what we're telling you, Shoupe," JJ said.

"And the exact same firearm that Ward just used to kill Gavin," added Pope.

One Cameron wasn't going down without the other.

Kiara and Nova let the guys take the lead on arguing with Shoupe. Meanwhile, they slouched deep into the leather chairs across the desk from him. Both tired from almost dying only hours earlier.

"And where is the corpse, again?" Shoupe sighed heavily.

Kiara furrowed her eyebrows, "Didn't you look?"

Nova too raised her neatly plucked eyebrows at the officer, "That is your job, isn't it?"

"I checked the hospital. I went by his house. He was out," shrugged Shoupe as if this was all that could be done.

As if what he did was enough.

"Oh, he was out?" Nova asked, nodding her head with Shoupe as sarcasm laced her tone. "How convenient."

"No shit he was out, Shoupe," laughed JJ. "The man is dead. He's gonna be out for a long while."

The raise in Shoupe's tone made them all jerk backward, "Just because he is not in his damn home does not mean he was a victim of a homicide!"

Scoffing, Nova shook her head, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't believe what was happening. This wasn't just poor policing. This was intentional. Every piece of evidence or every lead they gave to him he dismissed without a second thought. Either this man really wanted John B. to be guilty, or there was something else changing his mind.

"Maybe not," said Nova, her tone sharp. "But being murdered by Ward Cameron sure as hell makes him a victim of a homicide."

"Are you at least planning to send it in for ballistics and shit?" Kiara cursed at him, a slight whine to her tone. "Or do you just plan to sit on your ass?"

It wasn't just Nova that was angry. And it wasn't just her starting to realize the blind eye that Shoupe had continuously turned. But they all showed it in different ways. Kiara and Nova had taken to questioning how Shoupe chooses to do his job. Pope was quiet, arms crossed over his chest, not wanting to cause a scene, or get himself into trouble. JJ had become erratic. Throwing his hat across the room and pacing the open space beside Shoupe's desk.

"He'll sit there and wax that mustache!" JJ said angrily, pointing at the grey hairs under the officer's nose. "Tell me, is that even real?"

Nova furrowed her eyebrows, "JJ, what?" she whispered, as his outburst had nothing to do with what they'd come here to talk about. "That doesn't make any sense."

They began yelling at JJ, pleading with him to sit down, Nova even patting the open chair beside her. But when he finally did agree to sit, Shoupe stood up and passed by them wordlessly to open the door to his office.

He was showing them out.

JJ leaned into Nova, "Did I hurt his feelings?"

Nova sighed, shaking her head at him.

"Get out."

They all turned to face him, and he wasn't joking as he motioned toward the door with his hands, glaring at them all, "Ya'll are smelling up my office."

They each stood up and in a single-file line, the four of them made their way to the door, each of them offering some not too kind parting words as they passed the new Sherriff. Nova was last in line, and she stopped beside him, glaring, tears brimming her eyes.

"Tell me, how much is Ward Cameron paying you?" she tried to sound sure and strong but her voice was shaky and cracked at the end of the question. "Tell me and I promise that I'll double it - triple it."

Shoupe rolled his eyes, but Nova was serious, "Just tell me, does my dad have to line your pockets to make you do something?"

"Get out of my office, Nova," he said, face hard and voice low.

"Thanks for all your help, officer..."

Nova mocked Shoupe by saluting him on her way out. She had to refrain from turning around and flipping him off as she made her way through the familiar carpeted floors of the small police station. It hasn't been upgraded in years. Or cleaned it seems. As the gum stuck to the ceiling was still there from the last time she was here, being interrogated.

It felt similar to now. All the eyes watched her as she passed by them. The uniformed officers burned a hole in her back with their gazes and whispers. She was aware of it all. Nova knew what they said about her. She knew that they thought she was delusional. She passed by all the officers who had made a promise to protect and serve, and yet, they've done nothing like that for her or her friends.

The glass was cold on the palm of her hands when she went to push the heavy doors open. She stepped outside, smacked in the face by the cool, evening air, meeting her friends. And once she was standing on the concrete sidewalk lit up by street lamps and the flickering lights of the police station, her boiling nerves begin to cool with the breeze. She stepped fully outside, letting the doors close behind her, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

Their faces were sullen. Her friends loitered the town's sidewalk, all of them defeated, sighing, and losing hope on ever bringing their friends home.

"We brought him the murder weapon," whispered Pope, shaking his head, staring up at the sky as so to curse the gods. "There is no logical reason for him not to at least send it in."

But there was a reason. Nova didn't want it to be true, but she had to consider the idea. Because money talks. And it talks loud.

"There are a few reasons..." she sighed, moving past Pope to lean on the hood of her car. "He's being paid."

It wasn't a crazy kind of accusation. And everyone one of the four of them knew Ward would do it. Especially after Gavin. Of course, he'd stuff the police station full of money. If not by secret he'd call them private donations. Do with the money what you will, just keep him from behind the iron bars.

But that meant, if Ward had paid off the police, they were completely alone. No one on this island was protecting them.

Running her hands over her face with a long, tired sigh, Kiara stood from her place on the edge of the sidewalk, "Well, I'm beat," she announced, and she looked it too. With heavy eyelids and body lagging and tired. Nova felt it too.

Slowly, Kiara turned to Pope, tilting her head to the side, "Drive me home?"

Pope nodded, no hesitation, "Uh okay - yeah, yeah, I mean... okay," he stammered nervously, and Nova smiled. He started for his truck, stopping before he opened the driver's side door and turned back around, "JJ?" he asked. "You want a ride?"

"I'll drive him home," Nova offered.

She spoke before JJ could even open his mouth to give Pope an answer.

He didn't fight her on it though. And neither did Pope, though he did offer her a confused look, knowing that JJ's house was nowhere near on the way to Nova's. She was going out of her way.

Before getting into his truck, Kiara said goodnight to JJ and Nova, surprising her by pulling her into a hug. Kiara wasn't a hugger. Well, she didn't hug Nova. Until today. And now she stood, arms thrown around Nova's neck, squeezing her tight. It took Nova a second to respond to the act, but she did eventually hug Kiara back.

"You nearly died with me today," Kiara whispered before pulling back and stepping away from the hug, scooting her feet awkwardly. "You get a hug for that."

And then Nova smiled and said goodnight to Kiara. She watched her climb into Pope's truck, and with one final wave from them both, the trucked pulled out of the parking spot and drove down the quiet town road.

She felt content, surprising herself. Not content with the situation she was in, but with Kiara. For a while now Nova was feeling lost. She was so used to navigating life with her best friend - her person. But Sarah wasn't here, and life had become more confusing than ever. She sometimes felt like she couldn't make it because she didn't have her person. But Kiara had really surprised her. She'd really become someone that Nova could lean and count on. Nova wasn't replacing Sarah, but she was finding strength in her newfound friendship with Kiara.

Nova turned to JJ, looking at him was a time when she really became confused, and she began to wish Sarah was here to talk to. He caught her gaze, tilting his head questioningly.

She threw him her car keys, "You're driving."

"Wait," JJ smiled. "Really?"

He'd ask to do so all the time, but Nova had never let him, not until now.

"I need someone to drive while I change into something not covered in sewage," Nova grimaced as she looked down at her ruined clothes. "Think you can handle it?"

JJ grinned, nodding, "Oh yeah," he seemed sure, "I can handle it."

It didn't surprise her that JJ was first inside the newer model vehicle. Following, Nova slid into the back, cold air blasted through the small vents, chilling her skin. JJ began carefully backing away from the station, and Nova found the bag of spare clothes tucked under her seats. She'd kept it there for emergency situations. She'd been doing this since she had a car of her own. It had been a piece of advice from her mom. Even though she hadn't been there when Nova got her first car.

Nova slid off her jacket, sitting cold in only a tank top and pair of shorts. She scooted up in her seat, rounding her head to the front of the car. JJ glanced at her, eyebrows raised, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"Just keep your eyes on the road, Casanova."

The middle of nowhere was quiet. Crickets chirped and she could hear the frogs and rushing waters of the ocean nearby. Their windows sat open when the car turned off, allowing for the evening chill to hit them. The stars had come out, lighting up the blanket of darkness in the sky. A luminescent orange glow flickered outside the old home from the summertime fireflies that they'd soon have to say goodbye to. And the house sat lonesome. Hidden from road and humanity.

There was no waiting porch light to offer the boy who lived her home.

"I don't want to go inside yet,"

Nova wasn't sure if she'd been meant to hear that, but she did. Barely. He'd whispered it so low that she almost didn't, and it could've been written off as the wind or her sleep deprivation getting to her.

They'd been sitting there together for a few minutes now, neither of them making any move to break the nighttime silence, except for JJ's light tapping on the steering wheel with his finger.

Nova yawned, leaned her head into her hand as her elbow sit, resting on the car's armrest, "That's okay," she told him. "We can sit here for a little while longer."

JJ sighed, he sounded annoyed, "Are you sure you're fine to be driving tonight?"

Nova opened her eyes. He was annoyed, and worried.

She nodded, deciding to ignore his annoyance, she was too tired to address it, "I'll be fine."

"Jesus, you almost did today," his voice was louder and tense, and Nova could hear JJ shift in his seat so that he was looking at her. "You nearly died, and it scared the shit out of me, Nova."

Nova opened her eyes again, and this time she sat up. She figured there was no getting out of addressing JJ's sudden attitude now. She turned her body to him, staring. His jaw tightened and his eyes were dead set on her. And his hands were shaking.

"I was scared too, JJ," she told him with a sigh. "It was a scary situation for all of us. But we're okay now."

Her heart quickened beneath her chest and once again the inside of her lip found its way between her teeth, and she chewed, suddenly and unexplainably nervous. She didn't understand why she felt this way. She and JJ were only talking. JJ had been scared earlier, watching her drown, as any normal person would be. He was her friend and friends worried about one another.

But it was more than a friend being worried. They both just refused to see it that way.

"No!" he yelled, making Nova jump as he threw his hat behind the steering wheel, hitting the windshield. He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up, and he shook his head. "That isn't -- that isn't what-"

He couldn't even talk. He was so angry at himself - at Nova that he couldn't speak. And even if he could, he knew he wouldn't say what he meant. Not when he refused to even admit to himself. Because how could he be so selfish?

Nova stayed quiet watching this war take place in JJ's head. She feared that it might be the same argument she has with herself every time she's near him. She jumped again when JJ's fists slammed into the steering wheel, and she watched in stunned silence as he tore the car door open and stormed out of it, slamming it shut behind him. Leaving Nova to bask alone in the silent vehicle.

She blinked and after a second of registering what had just happened, she followed him outside.

"Hey! JJ!"

He wouldn't even turn around the look at her. His silhouette shone gold from the car lights that lit up the lawn.

"JJ!" she stopped behind him, hand thrown up in exasperation. "What the hell is the matter with you? What was that back there?"

She heard him sigh and he finally turned around, but he kept a safe distance between the two of them, "Go home, Princess." JJ whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He gave Nova his crooked smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Nova scoffed, "You know... that nickname is starting to sound a little bit condescending," she told him, stepping toward him, and he didn't move. "JJ, please, just tell me what the hell is going on, please."

JJ laughed. There was no humor in it. And then he started walking to her, closing the distance he'd intentionally put between them. He stopped only when he stood right in front of her. So close that the tips of their noses nearly brushed one another. So close that she could smell the remnants of his cheap cologne. And suddenly her heart was beating hard under her chest again and she began to feel self-conscious because she couldn't imagine how she smelt right now.

Like sewage and Chanel No 5 perfume.

His chest rose and fell with each heavy breath he took. She felt his breath blow through her hair and tickle her cheeks and neck. His jaw remained clenched and so were the fists at his sides. Nova's hands were shaking as their gazes locked and no one said anything.

"Don't," he whispered, and she smelled the mint gum that he was chewing earlier on his breath. "Don't make me say it, Nova."

He was desperate, pleading with her. Nova gulped. There it was again, that guilty feeling she'd get when she was near JJ. She'd been wondering when that feeling would return. And Nova has been playing dumb, pretending that it didn't exist or not knowing why it was there. She was lying to herself. She was lying to try and keep innocent. But she was guilty, already. Nova already knew she was a terrible - horrible person for feeling the things she did.

And she was especially guilty right now.

Nova was ignoring that pit of guilt that had so comfortably nestled itself in the pit of her stomach. She muted the shouts of concern from her conscience. Nova pushed it all away. She didn't want to feel guilty. Not here. Not right now.

Nova looked at JJ, and in a whisper, asked, "Why not?"

Surprised by her words, JJ stepped back, scoffing. The ends of his lips twitched upward into a humorless smirk. Another dry laugh escaped him, and he ran another hand through his already messy hair. He took in a deep breath and released it slowly as he raised his head toward the starry sky above.

He was secretly praying for some kind of forgiveness.

JJ needed to be forgiven. Forgiven for what he felt. For what he's been feeling for months. For what he's been thinking about since the day he met Nova Scott. And finally, forgiveness for what he was about to unapologetically do.

Looking back down, his eyes locked on Nova once again, he shook his head wearing a shadow of a grin.

"Fuck it."

And the last thing Nova remembered was JJ's body colliding into her own.

Then suddenly, bliss. Longing, beautiful, and guilty bliss.

The taste of peppermint painted her lips and danced across her tongue. Her body was on fire. Every inch of her burned. Burned with passion and want. She'd wanted this. Nova had wanted JJ to kiss her. She'd wanted to feel his lips on hers and the way his knuckles grazed carefully along her jawline, just barely lifting her chin. The way his hand clutched onto her waist, squeezing as if he was afraid to let go of her.

The taste of peppermint painted her lips and twirled across her tongue.

She was stuck in a storm. Lightning striking down every second. The world lit up before her very eyes. She'd been shocked back to life. Every inch of her burned for more. She wanted this - she wanted him. She'd wanted to know the taste of his lips and she'd imagined a hundred different times the way his bruised knuckles would feel grazing the bottom of her jaw, his hands moving to rest at her throat, his thumbs at the nape of her neck.

His touch was a lightning storm and she walked in so willingly. Forgetting the woes and troubles. Forgetting the threat of being electrocuted. And she was his sunshine. His escape to paradise. The blue sky under his grey clouds. And he sunk into her, every bit of himself he surrendered to this one moment.

He groaned into her lips when her hands tangled in his hair, when they ran down the back of his neck, cupping his face to pull him closer if that was even possible. He walked into her, backing her against the hood of her car, all without breaking away, not wanting to lose a second of this moment that would burn into them both like a scar when it was over.

Nova didn't know how she'd ended up here. So selfishly absorbed into someone she should never want. For him, she willingly walked into the danger that would come of this. Together they were a storm, a storm that would destroy and burn everyone and everything in its wake. It wouldn't be good for them or anyone. It's just, right now, as they clung to one another, their hands roaming over each other's bodies, their mouth devouring the other, they didn't care.

Then the storm calmed, and the lightning softened to nothing, and the fire went out. Reality called to them, willing them apart, to meet the guilt that so eagerly awaited to embed itself into them. And they parted.

Chests rising up and down with every ragged breath their lungs ached for. JJ looked at her, his calloused thumbs circling the soft skin on her cheek. His lips are swollen and pink. Her own matching.

And JJ swallowed, his eyes looking down at the girl he'd sat on the hood of the car and couldn't bring himself to let go of. Nova Scott. His best friend's girl. Sitting here, clutching his shirt until her knuckles turned white.

They'd never be able to walk away from this.

"That's why."

☼

author's note://

It happened. Did any of you see this coming?

Thoughts on the chapter?

edited: 03/15/2022