─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"baby, i know you're scared." roman river spoke to his nine-year-old daughter, kneeling at her level. "i'm scared too."

"really?" marella river questioned, a frown on her face.

"of course." roman chuckled. "this is my first time meeting my new partner."

the river family had their hotel open for about a year now, but their business was extremely slow. roman still had a job working with his good friend, ward cameron, but he needed a supplier for the hotel's kitchen and he found just the man for it.

"what if he doesn't like me?" marella asked.

"there is not one person on this earth that doesn't like you, beloved." roman told her, using his special nickname for her. it was actually just the latin translation of her name, but she didn't have to know that. "and if things get overwhelming for you, just give me the signal and we'll run out as fast as we can okay?"

"okay." marella nodded. she took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

someone came to open it relatively quickly. and the second she heard the door unlock, the girl ran behind her father, cowering behind his body. roman chuckled at his daughter's shyness before greeting his new friend at the door.

"hey man. oh, i thought your baby girl was coming with." bobby heyward frowned.

"she did." roman nodded, taking a step to the left and revealing the young girl.

"hey, kid." heyward chucked. "come on in. my boy's excited to meet you."

and he was. perching on the ground by the television in the main room. he quickly stood up at the sight of her and stood behind his father, mirroring marella's actions.

"seems like we've got a pair of shy kids." roman chuckled.

"cmom, son. welcome our guests." heyward encouraged the boy.

hesitantly, pope heyward stepped to the side. "i'm pope." he said. his words gave marella the confidence to reveal herself.

the girl put her hand out and pope took it. "i'm marella." she stated, shaking his hands. "do you like to color?"

her mother had noticed how stressed out and tense she was becoming, even in normal situations. so she bought the girl a coloring book and a packet of color pencils to use when she felt anxious.

"erm... not really." pope said, honestly, "but i would like to do it with you. come in."

marella nodded, her face full of gratitude as she followed him into his home. "thank you for being honest. i believe honesty is a very important factor that makes a good friendship."

"i agree." pope hummed, watching her remove all of the color pencils from the packet and place them on the floor.

"you have the choice of a butterfly or a star." marella explained, pointing at the two open pages.

pope thought for a second. "a star." he affirmed.

marella smiled to herself, that was the nickname her parents used for her. "good choice." she turned the book around so he was facing the star page and she the butterfly page.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"i think i want to join a sports club." ten-year-old marella told her best friend. "maybe the running team? i've always been good at running."

"have you told your mom?" pope questioned, placing a slice of his apple in his mouth.

"yeah, she thinks it's really exciting." marella smiled. "she said she's always wanted me to do some type of sport. hopes that the twins will grow up wanting to do a specific one too."

"well i agree. i think the sports teams could use some more girls." pope nodded.

"who said anything about it being about me being a girl?" marella asked him.

"uh... i—i just thought that... i don't—" the boy stuttered.

marella laughed. "i'm just joking. you're right, i'm really only joining so that blond boy learns that i'm just as good as him."

"what blond boy?"

marella's blue water bottle, with star stickers littered all over it, crashed onto the ground. standing beside it was jj maybank, holding a slice of cheese pizza in his mouth. "sorry." he muffled out.

the brunette boy next to him quickly dropped onto the floor and picked up the bottle. "here." he placed it back onto the table. "he wasn't watching where he was going."

"it's okay, thank you john." marella gave him a nod, bringing the bottle to her chest and holding it tightly. the boy was in her english class. but he sat on the opposite side of the class. "s'john b." the blond boy spoke up, somehow still disgustingly chewing on the pizza.

"well thank you, john b." marella corrected herself.

"you guys wouldn't want to... sit with us, would you?" pope offered, making marella boot him underneath the table. he yelped out in pain.

"that's him." she mouthed, her neck gesturing to jj. he was in her gym class and seemed to believe he was ten steps ahead of her. but it was too late for pope to retract his offer as the two boys had quickly agreed. jj even took the seat beside her, and she knew it was out of spite. "what y'all got for lunch?" he asked her.

"would you like an apple slice?" pope offered.

"would i!" the boy grinned, putting out his hand. it was stained with grease and tomato sauce, making marella groan.

she quickly reached into her backpack and brought out a packet of antibacterial wipes. the girl pulled one out and immediately used it to clean jj's dirty hands. john b placed his hand on his mouth to suppress his laughter and pope just grinned.

jj was mortified that this girl was cleaning his hand in front of them, and they were laughing at him. he quickly turned red. "miss!" he shouted. "marella is invading my personal bubble!"

marella's jaw slacked in utter shock, quickly dropping the wipe. but it was far too late, their teacher had already begun marching over to them. marella glared at the boy, she knew from that moment she could never like him.

which was going to be difficult because, from that moment, their friendship group solidified.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"ella, will you be my girlfriend?" jj asked his fifth-grade crush. the boy had been completely head over heels since the day he had knocked her water bottle off the floor. john b and pope were tired of hearing about it, so they encouraged him to just tell her.

"uh.... no thanks?" marella shook her head in confusion. she wondered where this was coming from— the two had hated each other since the first day they met. "are you forgetting what happened last year?" the girl asked him, her hands on her hips.

jj groaned in annoyance. "why are you still talking about that?"

"i will never stop talking about it. trust me james—" marella started.

"you know that's not my name." jj cut her off.

"i won't forget it." marella finalised. "you completely embarrassed me and you got me in trouble!"

"you embarrassed me first!" jj exclaimed. "and what's wrong with getting in trouble? trouble's fun."

"fun to you maybe, but i like to follow the rules." marella explained. "and that is why i cannot be your girlfriend."

"because you're boring?"

"because we're too different." marella said. "don't you agree?"

"i think you're just playing hard to get." jj shrugged.

"and i think you're just an idiot." marella concluded. "thanks, jj. but i'm good." she walked off to go and help some other student in the class and as she was gone, both of jj's other friends rushed over.

"so... what happened?" john b questioned.

"she gave me the..." jj spoke, grumbling the last word.

"what?"

"she like gave me the heisman." jj mumbled. pope and john b began to snicker, making him even more upset. "it's not funny, okay? this feels bad. i feel terrible." he thought for a second.

"that's why you should never date your friends." john b shrugged.

"dude! you were all for this." jj frowned.

john b shrugged. "that was before she rejected you."

"no this isn't right." jj shook his head, pacing back and forth between the hallway. "let's uh... let's make a rule."

"a rule of what?" pope questioned.

"a rule that states we can't date each other." jj explained.

"you're the only one who wanted to date her." john b pointed out. "so, i think the rule should state you shouldn't try to date her again."

"what should we call it?" pope grinned with an odd sense of excitement.

"well... since we're all pogues." jj thought for a second. "i don't know. let's just say we're not allowed to date or kiss each other."

"so... no pogue on pogue macking?"

"exactly."

"anything to save you from heartbreak, jj." pope smiled.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"roman, you cannot run from this!" ward cameron shook his head. "your debts must be paid."

thirteen-year-old marella was woken up in the middle of the night and forced to follow her father. the girl was so tired and barely conscious during the ride that she didn't know when they arrived at this abandoned car park. the sound of yelling from the men was enough to wake her completely.

she rubbed her eyes, clearing her vision before stepping out of the vehicle. a volkswagen t-roc in the color black. roman river loved cars and therefore so did his eldest daughter. she could see her father packing things into the boot of their car as ward screamed at him from feet away.

"uncle ward?" marella croaked out.

"baby, get back into the car." roman shook his head, not taking his eyes off of his task.

"is everything okay, dad?" she questioned.

"yeah."

"no, everything is not okay!" ward bellowed, making marella flinch. "see, your father is in real big trouble—"

"stop that ward."

"and i want to help." ward continued. "but you have to help me. can you help me convince your dad to let me help, beloved?"

"don't talk to her!" roman yelled out.

marella frowned, she had never seen her father so angry, especially not with ward. if he was in trouble, she wanted to help. roman noticed her hands over her ears the frightened look on her face.

he rushed over to her and crouched down at her level. "hey, come on. it's okay, uncle ward and i are just in a disagreement. i love you so much, and i am so sorry."

"what are you sorry for?" marella frowned, "i love you."

"for never being around. for always having to work." roman said. "get back into the car, please."

marella nodded, making her way over to the car door. as she pulled it open, the sound of a gunshot rang through the space. the shot was so close to her that it made her ears start to ring. the girl was in agony as she turned back around, only to see her father lying on the cold, hard ground. a sharp scream escaped from her lips as she rushed over to him.

"daddy? dad?!" she sobbed out. "uncle—uncle ward? w-what did you do?!"

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
9-1-1 reference!!! i'm so excited to start act two i'm loving it already
expect more flashbacks!!

check out my marella playlist on spotify and new tiktok of jjrella!!