CHAPTER TEN: ALL GOES TO SHIT
( episode: four: spy games )

✲*'。

"So .... want to tell me the gender of baby Maybank!" Kiara sang aloud, a wide smile gracing her lips.

It was the next morning, and after a couple of disturbances from jelly-bean, Arden felt relaxed and lighter than she did in weeks. The smallest of weights had been lifted from her shoulders with Kie knowing the basics of the truth, like Haven and Sarah. The circle was already big enough.

Arden did not want to expand it whatsoever. Thank you very much.

"Don't say that so loud!" Arden hissed, a scowl working its way onto her face. "And for the tenth time Nope. That is something I definitely do not plan of disclosing if I don't need to. This gender secret is my little connection to jelly bean that no one else can take away from me ... well uh, other than my mother but that's normal for me so..."

Kiara clenched her wrists to mask the burning anger she felt for Arden's mother.

"I still can't believe it. I should have picked up on it earlier but I still can't believe it. JJ as a .....?" Kiara trailed off in wonder.

A small smirk quirked onto Arden's lips and she shook her head playfully, a glimmer of hope for the supposed impossible shining through. "Hard to believe ... I can hardly believe that in another ..... twenty two weeks, this baby is going to be completely dependent on me..."

"Not completely, I'm sure that you'll a line of babysitters from us to .... Sarah Cameron." At the disgusted look that crept onto Kiara's face, Arden breathed out a small hesitant giggle.

To be honest, Arden didn't even want to think about what would happen when this baby would be out of her. Now that the gold was a bust, her options had once again become severely limited. Arden could already imagine being locked up into the Cameron's house, never leaving for the fear of what would happen to her baby. Arden's jelly bean was currently the safest inside of her belly and that's the way she wanted it.

Arden had twenty-two weeks, four months to still work out how to escape her mother and Rafe Cameron. Every second counted now that the royal merchant seemed to have been a bust.

"Stop that," Kie barked, smacking Arden's arm. "Nothing's going to happen to you or bea- jelly bean, I promise."

"Are you going to Midsommers?" Arden questioned, trying to discreetly change the current subject.

"Unfortunately.... I still need to convince Haven to go, but I am sure as hell am not going without her."

"Thank fuck. I thought I was going to cry if my only company was going to be Topper stuck to Sarah's hip for the night."

Arden winced as she caught sight of the way Kiara's jaw tightened ever so slightly at the mention of the former fourth friend in their group.

"It's a good thing Pope will be here tonight. Between all of us? We can keep you away from your Mom, Rafe and Sarah." Arden opened her mouth to correct Kie on that last name before sighing softly thinking better of it. No point in starting something now.

"And I'll make sure you guys have the best night ever —well as best as Pope can when he's working but us girls? I am a pro at stirring up problems at this event in particular."

"Oh? You'll have to tell me all about after you go for a shower, you stink.!

After Arden had begrudgingly showered and dressed herself into a pair of loose fitting black gym shorts and a loose fitting cropped red T-shirt with white stripes. She shrugged on a pair of black converse and followed Kie outwards her car as she was going to drive them to Heyward's shop to meet up with the others.

"Are you coming over to get ready with Hav and I?" Kiara asked while her eyes were trained on the road.

Arden sighed, leaning her head against the window. "I wish. My mom would definitely not allow that. She's been planning her big fucking entrance to this party for weeks."

Kiara shot her friend a sad smile in response, leaning down to grip her friends hand in comfort. "We can meet you there anyway, don't worry."

Arden felt a small, shy smile gracing her lips at Kiara's warm assurances. "I'm glad we can be friends again."

"But ... we aren't friends..."

At Kiara's words, Arden felt her stomach plummeting, nausea beginning to overwhelm her senses. Fuck had Arden been too forward. Too presum——

"You're one of my best friends dummy!"

At that sentence, the dread that had began to take root began to disappear. Instead of feeling anger, Arden Kim just felt grateful that through out all of this, she had her girls; Haven, Sarah and Kiara, even if all of their friendships with the others was strained. 

Arden Kim was lucky, terribly lucky. It was something she didn't plan to take advantage of but instead be grateful for.

✲*'。

"Why are we at Linda's boutique and not Heywards?" Arden questioned in confusion as Kiara happily parked her green SVU.

"I need to actually buy Haven a dress so she will come with. Plus, I think you deserve a little spoiling after how much money you gave my dad," Kiara pointedly said, prompting Arden to glance away bashfully.

"Kie..." She trailed off awkwardly.

Kiara stubbornly shook her head, a determined glint entering her eyes at the resistance she was facing from Arden.

"I'm spoiling you. End of, Kapiche?"

"Never thought I'd see the day you were mean to me," Arden sighed dramatically, prompting Kiara to shake her head in amusement.

"Go find something. I'll nab a dress for Have."

After quickly scanning through the dresses on the rails, Arden settled on a pretty crimson slip dress. It had a long sweetheart neck line, followed by a slit to the thighs. Before she was pregnant, Arden wouldn't have hesitated in dabbing the dress. She would have felt confident in showing of the slim, lean figure she had before.

As she eyed up the dress, Arden never noticed Kie sliding up behind her, whistling at the dress. "You'd look fantastic in that."

Arden nervously glanced up at Kiara, who finally noticed the insecurity lingering in her eyes.

"Try it on," Kiara encouraged. Her face lit up for a second and she slipped away to pull the same style dress as Arden, just in purple and without the slit. "We can match!" Kiara grinned, shoving Arden into the dressing room.

Once she looked in the mirror, Arden chanced looking the mirror. A watery smile grew on her lips as her palms landed onto her bump.

That was her baby. That was JJ's child growing inside of her.

She never noticed Kiara ducking in under the curtain. She only noticed her when Kiara chanced placing her hands on Arden's shoulder gently.

"See? You look beautiful," Kie exclaimed while wrapping her arms around Arden's shoulders. "Jellybean even looks fantastic." Kie stated, a breathy giggle escaping Arden's lips as he gaze focused on Kie's from the mirror.

"Thank you." Arden smiled. "Thank you for doing this for me."

"You can make it up to me by letting me spoil my niece," Kiara grinned, not noticing the way Arden's eyebrows furrowed in contemplation.

"How about godchild?" Arden chanced, watching the way Kiara's figure froze in place. A beaming smile spread across her lips as she dared to look back at the pregnant teen. "You mean it?" 

"I mean it." Arden declared drawing an even wider smile from Kiara as the girl threw her arms around Arden again. "I'll be the best godmother around, I promise you that!"

That was something could genuinely believe from her friend. 

✲*'。

"Did you miss us Po-Po!" Arden teasingly called as she followed Kie into Heyward's shop, her dress along with Kie and Haven's hidden in the trunk of her car.

"I sure didn't! Actually managed to get some work done." Pope teased, his nose scrunched up at the use of the name nickname Arden refused to let die.

Kie scoffed scandalised while Arden placed her hand over her chest in mock offence.

"We have been betrayed Ard, we have been betrayed Ard."

"Ye—"

"You two!" Heyward called out, prompting Arden to jump up in alarm, turning around to see Pope's father glaring at them.

"Stop bothering my employees!"

Arden scurried away from Haven towards JJ while Kie hopped over the counter, standing behind Pope as he manned the counter.

The morning passed by relatively peacefully with JJ entertaining himself and Arden by stacking and restocking the canned foods before moving onto playing with the fruit. Whenever she felt peckish, Arden attempted to grab a bag of snacks, before it was rudely grabbed away by Pope or Kie, who in turn handed her a healthier alternative.

Whenever Pope and Kie weren't looking, Arden attempted to stuff in some extra cash into the register for the food her and JJ had been pecking on the entire day as Pope shot her looks of confusion and disapproval.

"I really don't want to go and get ready for tonight," Arden whined, burying her head into her knees from her perch on the back counter.

"You and me both." Kiara huffed.

"It's gonna be your worst nightmare, kooks all together in the one place .... I can already feel peoples smug stares as they think 'look at you, you have ruined your life!'" Arden mocked in a pompous accent, one hand stuck out to wave elegantly, for other moving to lay her hand on her belly.

"Fuck them, jellybeans a delight, isn't that right JB?" JJ muttered in a high pitched voice as he spoke directly to her stomach.

Arden felt her cheeks heating up while Kie shot her a knowing smile.

Before either of the trio could speak up, Pope slumped his way over to them, tiredly placing his hands on his face. 

"We are so screwed if Rafe, Kelce and Topper start running their mouth."

"Bro, don't let them get in your head," JJ began. "There's three of them and two of us. Typical kook shit right there."

"Hell yeah." Kiara stated, while JJ asked Pope his reasoning for using his head.

Arden huffed, closing her eyes, only opening them when she heard Pope addressing a police offer. She shot up in alarm to JJ's palm digging itself into her thigh to keep her in place.

"I have an arrest warrant...." Shoupe began his words going over Arden's head as she shared a look with a startled Kie and angry JJ. Shoupe knew ...

The next few moments were a blur, Arden chasing after her friends, her mind trying to wrack up the price of a good lawyer. She'd need to find the money herself, no doubt her mother would be pissed if her mother spent her money on defending a 'lowlife.'  She barely even noticed Haven finally showing up from the Chateau.

Arden forced herself to keep a clear head as she tried to think of all the possible things Pope would need just as he was about to forced into the police car .... until it was finally JJ who broke Arden's carefully crafted form of concentration.

"I wasn't him! It was me!"

✲*'。