Joey thought telling JJ would have been relatively easy. She didn't know why, but she figured it would roll off the tongue so naturally. Yet, it didn't. Not even in the slightest. And now she was stuck with a secret, unable to find the right words, standing far away from the gross water.

"Are you gonna help?" Pope looked at her.

"Absolutely not." Joey answered in return. "Pope, do you not know me at all?"

"Joey, we need all hands on deck." Kie looked over at her.

"Sorry, Kie. I'm not going anywhere near." Joey said honestly, pulling a mask from her bag. "Actually, I think i'm too close anyways."

"Jesus christ." Pope mumbled as Joey pulled on gloves and fixed her mask around her nose and mouth.

"People who use plastic should be shot." Kie spoke as she looked down at all the plastic in the water.

"So true!" Joey called from behind her mask, her voice muffled slightly.

"Okay, personally, I love plastic. Use it every day. Love the stuff." JJ spoke honestly with a nod of his head, looking through the nasty water.

"Okay, well, hopefully you recycle it and don't let it flush into the ocean." Kie sassed his way in annoyance.

"I thought you'd say something like that, so..." Pope trailed off, holding the roll of trash bags up. "-trash bags."

"Look at you, Bill Nye!" Joey called his way.

"Did you just proactively protect the environment?" Kie hummed, trying to hold back a smile.

"Maybe." Pope said back with a grin. JJ and Joey shared a knowing look.

"You guys want us to leave you two alone or what's going on?" JJ spoke up as Pope chunked the trash bags at him. "Jo! Get yo ass over here!"

"Get yo ass away from me!" she mocked him. "If you think i'm gonna catch a parasite, end up in the positive, suffer, die, then meet The Lord And Savior Jesus Christ, you're a moron!"

"She can sit this one out." Kie shook her head. "She wasn't there anyways."

"Howd your Rafe Cameron mission go, anyways? He talk?" Pope looked over.

"No, tried to drown me in a barrel." Joey inhaled as they all looked her way.

"What the fuck." Kie gapped.

"When we get this gun, we should shoot him first." JJ nodded his head.

"And be his jail cell buddy? Absolutely not." Pope shook his head, looking around the water. "If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be in the storm drain."

"It's in..it's in the drain." JJ huffed in confirmation.

"Damn it." Pope cursed.

"Fantastic job, guys. Really." Joey slow clapped their way.

"I didn't see you doing anything to help." JJ looked her way in disbelief.

"Oh, sorry, I should have just asked Rafe to stop holding my head under water and went to you guys to stop the gun from swimming away." Joey nodded her head. "Of course. Jesus, what an idiot I am."

"Why you so mean, Jo?" JJ frowned his eyebrows. "You hate the world?"

"Yes." Joey said back bluntly.

"So, are we gonna play, like, rock paper scissors?" Kie suggested with a questionable look toward the boys. "Alphabetically?"

"On three, Pope. One, two, three." JJ spoke, using the crowbar he brought.

"Like, oldest goes?" Kie continued on as the drain popped open.

"In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there." JJ looked her way with a nod. "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's gonna be a no for me." Pope agreed.

"The idea of that happening is deeply concerning to me." Joey voiced her thoughts loudly. "And seems highly unlikely."

"It's true!" JJ yelled her way.

"You've had it happen to you before?" Joey nodded her head in questioning.

"Not me. But I-" JJ began.

"Jesus, could the two of you stop?" Kie cut in with a shake of her head. "I get it. You guys are scared."

"No- No, i'm not scared." JJ tried to defend himself.

"It's kinda cute." Kie hummed as the pair of boys tried to defend themselves. "You should have lead with that. You don't have to be scared. I'll do it."

"Yeah, Kie. Do it." Joey nodded her head. "Even though you definitely have the biggest pecker."

"Right?" Kie agreed.

"Okay, just, you know, be careful." Pope cleared his throat as Kie kneeled infront of the drain.

She gave an odd look. "I'll be so careful."

"Don't bring back any parasites!" Joey called to her. "I'll shoot you in the head to avoid it spreading to us."

"Comforting." Kie's voice echoed within the drain.

"You see the gun?" JJ called after a few moments.

"Nothing!" she called back

"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin." Pope added in, his voice echoing.

"Should have given her a mask." Joey hummed.

JJ passed the crow to Joey, looking at Pope with a knowing look. "All right, bro, I see you vibing with Kie, okay? Give me the details. Are we talking first base, second base, third base?"

"Try not even in the same ballpark." Pope huffed slightly.

"So, full home run?" Joeys eyebrows shot up. "Damn. Good for you, Pope."

"No." he sighed with a shake of his head. "Way before even headed for the ballpark."

"What do you mean by that?" JJ frowned his eyebrows.

"It's like we're not playing the same game." Pope shook his head. "The other night, she was all over me. But, she was wasted, so it doesn't really count. "I tried to be edgy, out-there Pope, and she didn't like that. So I tried to be straitlaced Pope. She didn't like that."

"I understand. I understand!" JJ grabbed his arms quickly to stop his ranting.

"Jesus, we need to get John B back." Joey shook her head with an exhausting exhale.

"Pope, think. I know you can do that, all right?" JJ pointed to the side of his head. "Like, light some candles. Put on some Otis Redding. Yeah. That would work. Or play guitar."

"I can't play guitar." Pope pointed out.

"Sing a song?" Joey suggested.

"Can't sing either." he shook his head.

"Guys, I think I found something." Kie called, her voice echoing down the drain.

"Is it the gun?" Pope called to her.

"Pope! Pope! Oh my god!" Kie started to panic.

"Is it an alligator!" Joey yelled. "Don't look it in the eye!"

"There's something dead in here!" Kie yelled back in a panic.

"Oh, god. Kie, you are gonna have to scrub your body so hard." Joey gagged. "Ain't no way i'm going near her."

"Not helping." JJ gave her a look.

"Like a person?" Pope yelled, only getting a scream in return. "Joey, you have to go save her."

"What?" Joey gapped.

"We'll get the pecker worm!" he argued.

"Pope, I-I can't go in there." Joey shook her head in a panic. "I'll pass out!"

"Jo, you'll be perfectly fine. You wash off after and no parasites will get ya." JJ encouraged her quickly. "Let this germ fear go."

"What the fuck?" she gapped. "No!"

"You want Kie to die?" Pope added in. "She needs help in there!"

Joeys heart was racing. "I want to help. But I can't- there's no way i'm gonna go into that. I'm sorry."

"Joey." JJ grabbed her arms. "We can't leave her in there alone."

No matter how bad she didn't want to do it, no matter how painful her chest was pounding, she went. Not because she felt like it would help Kie, not because she felt guilty, but because she knew no matter how hard she tried to explain it, no one would ever understand what she was feeling. And she wasn't about to be judged by two boys.

•

kylie speaks

joeys friends not
bothering to understand
her part 26272929.