xiii. all falls down
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ALL FALLS DOWN
( episode five: midsummers )
✲*'。
"JJ you need to calm down," Haven spoke up in a calm, firm voice. Whatever confidence she had quickly backed down when JJ shot her a dark look. Once he saw no one was going to speak up, he pointedly glared viciously back at Arden who was staring back at him, a blank stare on her face. It was as if she was preparing for the metaphorical punches to start rolling out.
"That kid. That kid is mine!" JJ cried out, hands rooting themselves into his blonde hair, almost like he wanted to rip it out. Kiara couldn't help but want to move in front of Arden who never once moved from the still position she had been rooted to.
John B and Pope shared a concern glance, with the boys slowly edging to each of the recipients of the fight, ready to intervene if they were needed.
"She told me that Rafe Cameron was the fucking father! " JJ cried out, the beginnings of tears shining through in his azure hues. "She lied to me!" He wailed, advancing towards Arden who didn't even flinch as he bore down on her.
Pope harshly stood forward, an arm curling around the girl. JJ scoffed in disbelief. "Are you actually being serious dude?" He growled out in frustration as Pope met JJ's stare full on. "Yes. Yes I am." Pope spoke up, only looking down in surprise as Arden finally moved.
The girl smiled weakly up at Pope, squeezing his arm as she shakily reached up to untie the locket around her neck. She moved forward, ignoring the harsh glare on JJ's face and the slight quiver in his frame as she neared him. It was almost like that he was terrified for her reaction. Despite his anger, despite the way his friends warily watched them, Arden held all the power in this moment.
Arden opened the locket up, dumping if I of JJ's hand, a fire in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time. "For once in my fucking life I decided to try and trust my mother." Arden spoke in a calm voice.
It wasn't enough for JJ who whirled around, hand tightly clenching around Arden's most prized piece of jewellery. "Don't you even try to use—"
"Don't you fucking dare interrupt me!" Arden snarled, her temper suddenly firing to life. "You want answers?" She spat, harshly pointing her index finger into his chest.
"Here's your answer! I did what I had to to protect our daughter!" She snarled.
That was the wrong choice of words as JJ viciously pulled away from Arden. He scoffed, shaking his head deliriously. "You think she needs to be protected from me?"
Arden only rose an eyebrow, finally snatching back the locket and the sonogram into her own hands. "If you think that's what I meant then you can go fuck yourself!" Arden practically screeched, Pope reaching forward to grip her waist so she couldn't do anything she would later regret.
Arden forced herself out of his grip, harshly walking away from the group to the van, trading her sandalled heels in for the converse she left in the there the other day. She ripped on the closest hoodie she could find before jumping out and walk in the other direction. She didn't get very far, JJ coming up behind her, grabbing her waist so he could tightly hold her in place.
Unlike the last time when they fought, this time JJ Maybank refused to be so casually dismissed.
"Just like that you're going to walk away!" He snarled, face inches away from Arden's. Instead of quivering back, Arden only shot JJ a sadistic smirk, ripping her body free.
"Just like that I'm going with my daughter. I'm not doing this! Not when you are so fucking high on your self-destructive thoughts you'll take us down with you!"
And with that Arden took off running as fast as she could, JJ's shouts haunting her every movement....
✲*'。
Arden took off into the forest, putting as much distance as she could from herself and the pogues. She knew that everything she had lied about would come back to haunt her, but she hadn't expected it so soon. Arden Kim was a coward. She had fought back, and not attempt to explain the reasoning behind her actions.
Arden felt her heart clenching even further at the thought of JJ's haunted voice, as he continued to lay into her. The pain in his voice, the accusations that she never told him because of the idiotic fear that he would ever harm their daughter.
Oh she was a fool. Of course it would take her to reveal the gender of her baby when fighting with said child's father. Arden refused to slow down. Haven's voice had eventually died down. She wasn't being followed. She was alone. She was alone for once. Alone with her dark thoughts and memories of the burning hatred in JJ Maybank's azure eyes.
Arden Kim had deserved every single harsh comment delved at her. There was no mistake about that.
She saw the Hawks nest up above and didn't even hesitate to climb up the various steps, intent on finding a spot to just let out her emotions.
Arden blinked in surprise as she came face to face with Sarah's radiant smile which quickly melted into a face of concern as she wrapped her arms around Arden's petite frame.
"Ard, talk to me, what's happened?"
At the question, Arden didn't bother to hide back her emotions, instead letting all of it out in the safety of Sarah Cameron's arms.
Arden wasn't exactly sure how long she had her head buried into Sarah's neck, her friend gently carding her fingers through Arden's short hair. The soothing motion managed to calm both Arden and her baby girl down. Ever since the confrontation, all Arden had felt from her little jelly bean was gut wrenching kicks, her little girl reacting to her mother's distressed emotional state. Arden wasn't too sure if the baby was communicating their own annoyance at whole situation or if it was her own baby of comforting of her mother. Arden liked to think it was both.
"Sarah!" Arden heard a very familiar voice calling out. Immediately she leapt to her feet, hiding behind the wooden wall of the other side of the little tree house on the Hawks nest. She kept her body out of sight, wincing as she heard John B greeting Sarah.
"I got the map!" Sarah exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about her friend as she closely watched the boys reaction.
"Did you tell your crew— holy shit, Arden!" Sarah cried while John B blinked in surprise as he watched Sarah's back disappear behind the other side of the look out, dragging a very reluctant Arden towards him.
John B felt guilt wrack his frame as he caught site of Arden's red swollen eyes and the makeup stains coating her skin. John B hadn't said a word, only watching stupefied as his best friend went up against his close friend and other best friend to protect his little sister from the accusations being hurtled her way.
"Ard..." John B breathed out, extending his arms out, half ashamed and half scared that Arden would reject the offer. Not to his surprise and much to his relief, Arden leapt forward, pressing her face into his chest as he soothingly wrapped an arm around her back, the other reaching out to grasp Sarah's arm. He could only watch in confusion as Arden seemed to calm down somewhat in his arms while Sarah continued to inquisitively look at her friends shivering frame.
"Continue on." Arden muttered after a few moments, trying to extract herself from John B's but not to her surprise he refused to let her go. He shot her one hesitant look before focusing on Sarah and why he was here again.
"Did you tell your crew, your here with me?" Sarah asked prompting Arden to freeze at the question. Her mind began to accelerate with the nerves knowing that she hadn't been successful in running away. They were—
Arden calmed down slowly once again as John B began to stoke her hair in a soothing motion. He decided to evade the question, watching the way Arden tried not to shake at the thought of everyone down below.
"Did you?"
"No." Sarah began, chocolate eyes meet John B's hazel. "I will though. They won't care." She stated as a matter of fact. John B didn't need to know that the only person Sarah considered to be apart of her crew was currently in his arms, seeking comfort from her brother figure. Arden sure didn't seem to care why she was here.
The blonde knew once her friend got out of ... whatever was burdening her she would be filled with a lot of questions.
"I'm going to break up with Topper," She announced startling Arden out of her self-destructive thoughts.
Arden opened her mouth to respond but screeched in surprise at the loud burst of thunder. Her screech quickly turned into a groan of discomfort as Sarah pushed herself into the embrace, squashing Arden right between her and John B.
Arden squirmed away, eyes crinkling in surprise as she caught the tender looks shared between her friends. She certainly never expected .... that Sarah and John B would ever happen. But then again, this time last year, no one would have ever bet thar the friendship between Arden Kim and JJ Maybank would develop into a romantic and sexual connection.
Arden shuddered disgusted as she turned her back away from the kissing couple. She kept her gaze on anywhere but them, focusing it onto the trees, the sky, the thunder, the sky, Topper and the trees—
"I knew it Sarah!" Topper called out. "I knew you were lying to me."
"Oh shit," Arden groaned, wondering what was the quickest way to get herself out of this situation.
"Stupid lying whore!" Topper spat, igniting a spark within Arden Kim, the moment he insulted her friend.
"You bastard! I swear to fuck I'll push you from this fucking ledge!" Arden spat, tumbling forward until John B caught her wrist.
"So first I'm a prude now I'm a whore?" Sarah questioned in disbelief, keeping her hand on Arden's shoulder so she wouldn't blow up. Sarah didn't even want to think about what her friend would do in normal circumstances. But now with Arden in the middle of an emotional break down? Sarah wasn't too sure how predicable the normally erratic Arden Kim could be.
"Lay off man," John B hissed, stepping forward in front of his— girl friend and sister figure protectively.
"You better fuck off man!" Topper snarled.
Arden wriggled herself out of John B's grip, stepping forward protectively in front of her friends, grabbing a rock she found on the ground.
"I'm going to drown you like your old man!" Topper spat, finally drawing the line for Arden Kim.
Surging forward, she trusted the rock right into Toppers eyes——probably not the best move considering Topper pushed her backwards aggressively, prompting John B to lose his footing, pulling him and Arden down to the fast approaching floor....
✲*'。
Whatever way John B cushioned her fall, all Arden could feel was an overwhelming burning sensation in her left hand. She was conscious, something she really wished she wasn't for. Arden harshly bit her lips for the fear if she opened her mouth she wouldn't stop screaming. Whenever she tried to move her hand any little bit all Arden felt was a burning sensation. Her hand felt like it was on fire and there was nothing she could do.
Arden tried to steady her breathing, focusing on the situation at hand to try and calm herself. She had landed on the ground. Her cognitive abilities seemed fine. John B cushioned the impact of the fall for her head and stomach, protecting her from a concussion and any damage to little bean.
The only consolation in this scenario was the fact that little bean hadn't stopped kicking. She was aggressively pounding her tiny little feet into Arden's rib cage. If she really focused on it, Arden could imagine it was her babies way of getting all their various demands out. Arden weakly rolled her head to the side as she heard Sarah's voice.
"———Den! John B! Arden!" Sarah repeated the mantra desperately as she ran to her boyfriend and best friend. Sarah felt the smallest bursts of reliefs as she caught Arden awake and responsive, which immediately disappeared as she caught the awkward angle her friends hand was bent at.
"Sarah! I'm fine. John B, he's not responding. Help now!" Arden barked out in a weak voice, her right hand moving to cup her swollen belly. Sarah skidded down, placing John B's head into her lap, while her arms reached out to grip Arden's shoulders.
"Someone help us please!" Sarah began to scream, her brown eyes focusing intently on John B's still form and Arden's weak, but responsive body. Sarah kept screaming, until she caught sight of the Pogues.
"Sarah what happened?" Pope cried out as they advanced further towards Sarah as she cradled two bodies ... John B and Arden Kim.
✲*'。
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