─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"are you sure you're okay, beautiful?" kiara asked marella, stepping out of the passenger's side of her own car.

"yeah." marella nodded, but her appearance told another story. her eyes were puffy and she had dark circles under them. her hair was thrown into a bun and she was in clothes that looked like they could be pyjamas.

"so we've got to be done before my scholarship interview in the morning." pope told them both. they had already filled marella in on how they planned to retrieve all the gold the next day. "okay, well, we gotta focus." kie stated.

"i know. it's gonna be fine." pope reassured her. "marie, you coming? or do you have to work?"

"i'm pretty certain i'm off tomorrow, should be able to come." she clarified.

"okay great. we got john b and jj inside the well, and me up top." pope illustrated. "you girls will be outside transporting."

"yeah, we got this." kie nodded.

"uh, i got a winch." pope remembered.

"yeah?"

"that tin can hold over like... two hundred, three hundred pounds." he finished. "thanks." kie spoke, out of the blue, as she grinned at the boy.

"uh, what for?" pope asked, a growing smile on his face.

marella began to feel a peculiar tension between them so she took a few steps away, making her way deeper into the garden. as she walked, she suddenly heard the sound of whirling before the lights on all the trees surrounded her.

"who the hell is that?" she heard kie ask as they both walked a few steps behind her. marella was the first one to see their blond friend sitting inside a hot tub. he popped open a bottle of champagne at her presence and smiled widely at her. "is everything okay?" she asked him.

"what did you do, jj?" pope breathed out.

"i got a jet going straight in my butt right now." the boy laughed. the girl could instantly tell something was seriously off about his behaviour, she always had this type of sixth sense. "y'all should get in immediately, you hear me? salud!"

"how much did this cost?" pope questioned, watching the boy pour himself a glass of the bubbly.

"uh... well... with the generator, the petrol, oh, hey, express delivery..." he chuckled. "pretty much all of it, yeah."

"all of it?"

"yeah, all of it." jj confirmed.

"you spent all the money in one day?" pope exclaimed.

"yeah, burned a hole right through my pocket." jj nodded. "but, i mean, like, come on, guys, like, look at this! finest in jet-based massage therapy, at least that's what they told me." jj saw the sympathetic look he was currently receiving from marella. "ella, what?" he shot at her. "can't a man have a little luxury in life? come on, all this scrimpin' and scrapin... i mean, like... guys, we—you only live once, right?"

marie began to nibble on her lip, trying to hold back the tears that were glossing over in her eyes. her gaze met jj's ocean eyes and he sighed. "enough of this emotional shit." he said to her, his own eyes brimming at the sight of hers. "get in the cat's ass. come on."

"in the what?" kie asked, sadly.

"in the cat's ass." he repeated. "that's what i named her. oh, hey, yo, i almost forgot." jj leaned over and clicked a button which made more water shoot out from different areas. "yeah, that's right, i know. disco mode. that's right, baby!"

"are you kidding me?" pope scoffed. "you could have paid for restitution!"

"or literally given it to any charity!" kie shouted.

"you could have helped us buy supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well!" pope added. marella frowned, she thought jj said that they were against him stealing from barry. she was too, but he already knew that.

"okay, well, you know what? i didn't do that!" the boy quickly stood up. "i got a hot tub! for my friends. i got a hot tub for my friends. you know what? no, you know what? screw friends. i got a hot tub for my family!"

"jj what the hell?" kiara asked, a shocked expression on her face. the river girl's heart dropped, her eyes fixated on the boy's body. there were three large bruises littered on his stomach. her mouth hung open in fright. was this his storm?

"i got this for you. guys, look what i did for you! all right?" jj yelled, gesturing to the hot tub and the lights. "look at this! look at this!"

"jj..." kie started.

"no, you stop being emotional." the boy cried. "it's fine, okay? i mean, it's sweet, right? everything..." kie wasted no time in entering the new hot tub, fully clothed, and pulling her friend into her arms. they both began to sob, jj pulling her in close as he cried. "i just couldn't do it." he admitted. "i can't take him anymore! i was gonna kill him."

marella flicked the blue sandals off her feet before carefully stepping into the water. pope mirrored her actions and the two joined the embrace, jj extending his arms and letting them hold him.

"i just wanna do the right thing."

"i know."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"hey." an exhausted voice grumbled, "hey?" they repeated.

marella's body shot up from john b's bed. the girl quickly rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her vision. she saw jj leaning against the doorframe, now dried and clothed from the events at the hot tub. "hey, what's up?" she questioned. "you want to sleep here in here?"

"you wouldn't mind, would you?" jj asked. "i mean, kie and pope fell asleep on the pullout and— i could just find somewhere else if—"

marella quickly shook her head, moving over to one side of the bed. "no, of course not. come, come." she said.

she watched as jj entered the room, closing the door behind him. he climbed onto the closest side of the bed and faced away from her. marella frowned at his hostility, slowly moving closer to him and wrapping one arm under his body and the other over.

"is this okay?" she whispered. the boy groaned. "you're seriously gonna make me the little spoon?"

"shhh." marella grinned. the boy quickly wormed out of her weak grip and pivoted to face her. "you don't have to do this." he said.

"do what?" she questioned.

"be nicer to me now that you know about my shitty dad." jj stated, almost laughing with his words. "we don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to." marella quickly said.

"i don't. not right now." he agreed. "thanks."

they sat in silence, jj watching as her eyes began to flutter and he could tell she was moments away from sleep. she was beautiful. no, she was angelic. and jj was enthralled.

"you're not at all who i thought you were, marella river." jj spoke.

here he was. with the rumoured most mysterious girl in the outer banks. but she wasn't even as mysterious as everyone said. she was gentle, she was funny, she was smart, and she sure as hell knew exactly how and when to put him in his place.

here was the girl he previously couldn't bare being around. the girl who had humiliated him in the fifth grade. the 'know-it-all', privileged kook. jj knew that he wouldn't have gotten so close or attached to the girl if it wasn't for the bet he had initiated with his best friend three months ago.

"what am i then?" she mumbled. for a second, jj didn't speak. he thought about what he was going to say and he knew he had to think quick as the girl was on the verge of sleeping. "you're better." he spoke, truthfully.

"i don't even know who i am." the girl mumbled.

"what do you mean?" jj asked.

"i mean when people bring up my past or who i once was, i feel as if they're talking about a complete different person." marella explained. "i feel like a stranger in my own life. it's exhausting."

"i could help, if you want." jj offered.

"with what?"

"your memories, i could tell you things." jj explained. "just know we didn't have the best track record back then, so if i start insulting the younger you, please try not to be offended." she laughed. "just because i rejected you in fifth grade?"

"what?!"

"kiara told me." she smiled.

"yeah, whatever." jj rolled his eyes.

there was a peaceful silence.

"do you get those a lot?" jj spoke softly. "the panic attacks?"

"i used to." marella explained. "but then for about two years they stopped. thought i was cured." she laughed. "it seems i have this... psychological fear of guns and i don't even know why. i guess today just triggered me."

jj immediately felt bad. he had been waving around his new pistol like it was nothing. that was probably why she got so annoyed after the boneyard, and why sarah had told him not to have it around in her presence.

"i'm sorry."

"it's okay, you didn't know."

there was silence again.

"jj, if you ever need to talk about anything? i'm always here to listen." marella told him, her eyes closed. "and i'm really sorry your dad such an asshole. you don't deserve it, no one does. you deserve to be loved."

"what?" jj frowned, he hadn't heard those words in maybe all his life.

"but then again, they say that we don't have to earn or deserve love. we are love." marella continued. "loving is never about how others treat you. it's is always about how you are treating yourself."

"is that epictetus again?" jj questioned, thinking about the day they went to the junkyard.

"you remembered?"

"uh... yeah."

"but no, it's rhonda britten." marella informed him. "one of her books."

"yeah well, i'm sorry your mom is such an asshole too." jj muttered back, awkwardly. "you deserved to be loved too... i guess." marella's eyes quickly opened. "no, my mom is not an asshole." she shook her head.

so he dropped the subject, not wanting to force her into accepting the truth. "sorry, that was a stupid to say."

"goodnight, maybank." she sighed. "we could try out rubbing alcohol on your wounds in the morning if you want."

"yeah sure. goodnight, river."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

the two had fallen asleep in each other's arms relatively quickly. but when marella woke up, jj was gone. the girl pulled herself out of the bed, momentarily blinded by the sunlight. she trudged over to the bathroom, and scoured the drawer for a new, packaged toothbrush. once it was located, she used it to scrub her teeth with toothpaste.

next, she splashed her face with some cold water before using some more water to smothen down her disheveled hair. marella grabbed some toilet paper and patted her face dry, not wanting to risk using a dirty towel. the girl made her way to the back garden, where she could see three of her friends situated outside. she smiled at them through the ajar window, but they didn't seem to have noticed her.

"i just can't do it anymore, man." jj sighed. marella was ready to back away, not wanting to infiltrate a private conversation.

"it was always your idea, dude." pope reminded him. "i never wanted to do it in the first place, she's my friend." she frowned and leaned over closer, now wanting to know who he was referring to.

"well since you both agree it's such a bad idea, why don't you just call off the bet?" kie questioned, "i mean over the past week of hanging around with her it seemed like you forgotten all about it."

"of course i haven't forgotten about it." jj shook his head and the girl in the window immediately ducked down, not wanting to be seen.

either they were talking about sarah or herself. and pope's "she's my friend" made marella strongly believe this conversation was unfortunately about her. meaning they had made a bet on her.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!

DUN DUN DUN
and this is where everything goes downhill i'm afraid xx