─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

kiara had picked up marella from the hotel the next morning. she was suffering from a serious hangover and the shame of what happened at the chateau the night before. when she entered the back seat, pope passed her the hydro flask.

"thanks." she said, pulling her seat belt on. she could feel jj's eyes on her but chose to refrain from eye contact.

the car ride was pretty silent, except for a few mumbles coming from pope and kiara. it was evident that none of the four had wanted to go back to school. finally, they arrived, when jj exited the car, he discreetly took a sip from his hip flask.

but kiara caught him. "hey chill out." she warned.

"if i black out, just don't remind me." jj said.

"that's not funny." she glared at him, slamming the door shut.

as the four walked side by side, they could see everyone's stares and hear their whispers. the whole first day of junior year at kildare high school was making marella extremely anxious. she wished she could muster up the courage to speak to jj and ask go some of his alcohol, just to ease the tension.

"it's them."

"there they are."

"i wasn't sure they'd show up."

kie sighed at their voices as they made their way to the tribute for john b. it had some pictures of him littered around, a surfboard and some flowers. marella frowned as she stared at it.

"heard they got arrested." the voices continued.

"that wouldn't surprise me."

"you know, river got kicked out of kook academy? how embarrassing."

marella glanced up at the mention of her name, her heart began to pound harder in her chest. as a coping mechanism, she began to rapidly tap her chest as she inhaled and exhaled. pope seemed to be the only one to notice her distress and he hesitated to speak to her.

"i feel like people are staring at us." kie stated, glancing around.

"oh yeah." jj sighed.

"guys, i can't be late." pope began to walk away.

"hey. hey." kie called after him. "we've gotta stick together." she said, putting her arm out to him and taking his hand. "come on, girl." she spoke to marella.

marella stepped over, allowing the girl to loop her arm around hers. jj walked beside them, noticing marella's lack of physical touch towards him. "stick together. yeah." he sighed.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

the first period was english. it brought back intense memories for marella. she met john b because he was in her fifth-grade english class, he at on the other side of the room and that didn't strain their friendship. but now he was gone.

"welcome, miss river." mr thompson, their teacher spoke as she entered the classroom. "the school is more than happy to have you back."

"not like she had a choice."

marella ignored the voice as she made her way over to the only desk available in the back corner of the room. she quickly sat in the chair and pulled her notebook and pens out. the boy on the desk beside hers was watching her rather than focusing on the lesson.

one of her pens rolled over from the desk onto the ground, landing right by his feet. the boy picked it up and reached out to her. "here." he spoke softly.

"thanks." she smiled at him. marella paused for a second, trying to figure out how she knew him. "parker, right?" she asked.

"yeah." he nodded, speaking in a hushed tone. "i work down at—"

"the wreck." she cut him off. "sorry, i'm just— i've been having a rough time with my memory, so remembering this is an accomplishment for me. and it's good to see a familiar face."

parker sato chuckled. "no worries. i hope you don't mind me asking but, how come you're back here?"

"the academy was convinced that john b was guilty and when i made my disagreements vocal, they didn't like that." she sighed.

"they kicked you out because of that?" parker questioned. "that's terrible."

"i don't really care anymore." marella shrugged. "they're assholes anyways— fuck em." she said, repeating what jj had told her.

"they sound like assholes." parker agreed with her. "well if it makes you feel any better, it's good to have you back."

"you might be the only one who thinks that." marella sighed before cringing at her own words. "sorry, i should really shut up." she groaned.

"no, don't." parker shook his head. "i've never really liked english."

"really? why's that?"

"it just doesn't really interest me." he shrugged. "i've always preferred maths. why, do you like english?"

"i love english." she chuckled. "i spend most of my free time reading. i mean, i love the literature itself but finding out new philosophies and reading about the authors themselves is equally as intriguing to me."

parker was taken by surprise at her monologue. "wow... you are a total english nerd."

marella's jaw slacked. "no... what? i am not a nerd."

"you so are." parker shook his head with a smile. "you would've gone on about that for hours if i didn't stop you."

"maybe." marella smiled, sheepishly. "you just wait till i find what you love and i'll make fun of you for that."

parker's cheeks began to heat up with embarrassment and he glanced down at the table. "good luck with that."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"and the slave becomes the new ruler. now, diocletian splits the sprawling roman empire into four separate kingdoms." mr randall sunn spoke to his history class.

as marella wrote down the notes from the board, her phone began to vibrate, as well as her three friends' phones.

mr sunn turned around. "who's phone was that? nobody? you will be tested." the four didn't say anything. "now, to recap, who was diocletian? an ex-slave who became the ruler of the roman empire..."

marella picked up her device to see an incoming text from an unknown number. she glanced over to the girl beside her, who was displaying her phone screen. "did you get it?"

"yeah." marella nodded.

pope turned around. "i did too."

jj got up from his chair and crouched down between the three. they all held up their phones to show a picture of john booker poutledge and sarah cameron. marella softly gasped at the sight of them looking well and alive.

"oh my God." kie whispered.

jj didn't hesitate before standing up straight and running out of the classroom. marella and kie shared a look before they grabbed their bags and followed the boy.

pope raised his hand. "um, can i be excused to help them in the bathroom?"

"family emergency." kie spoke. "really sorry for the disruption." marella added, exiting the door.

once they were out of sight, the group began to run down the hallway. "we can go to the courtyard." kie suggested.

as they rushed jj managed to trip over the janitor's mop and tumble to the ground. marella chuckled, quickly helping him up as the janitor noticed them.

"shit!"

"hey! where do you think you're going?!"

"shit!" kie hissed as they ran faster. "come on!" they left the building and moved over to the bright blue tables in the courtyard. "i mean, is that even possible? i mean, shoupe said that they didn't make it. he said that."

"shoupe never knows what he's talking about." marella grumbled, clearly still annoyed with him because of their last interaction. she perched beside kie on the table as pope sat opposite them.

"okay, but i-i think we're overreacting, cause we can't rule out the possibility  that this could all be some kind of weird, cruel hoax." pope said.

"i'm just gonna ask." kie decided.

"what if it's actually him, though?" jj questioned, pacing back and forth.

"then i don't know, okay?" pope shot back. "i don't know."

"it's them." marella said, her voice full of certainty. "it has to be."

"he responded?" pope questioned with anticipation.

"he's typing." kie spoke as marella rested her head on her shoulder as she stared at her phone. "he's typing."

the number sent a message, asking for jj before saying something that only john b would know. jj laughed at the message, tears welling up in his eyes. "it's him."

"that is so typical of him." marella smiled, feeling herself getting emotional. she felt nothing but relief at that moment. and gratitude that john b and sarah were okay.

"it's him."

"it's definitely him." pope agreed as he and jj gave each other a handshake and then a hug. kie pulled marella into an embrace as they sniffled. "i'm so glad they're okay." marella sighed.

"me too." kie nodded as she drew away. "me too."

"yeah!" jj exclaimed with excitement.

"laying super low in nassau." kie read out the next message. "how the hell did they get to the bahamas?"

"don't know. but i'm happy that they did." marella hummed.

"okay."

"you can't kill a pogue, dude." jj shrugged.

pope nodded with agreement. "especially john b."

the next message was john b asking them to clear his name as he wanted to come home. "hell, yeah, we'll clear your name, boy." jj chuckled.

"be in touch. p4l." marella read out the last message as she stood up.

"p4l man! that's what i'm talking about!" jj yelled. "p4l, baby!"

"holy shit, dude!" kiara laughed. the four brought each other in for a group hug, their hearts filled with warmth and joy at the new revelation that their friends were in fact alive.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"just for the record, i never doubted them." jj reminded his friends as they stepped out of the wrecks. after school, they decided to go for a bite to eat and a place to discuss.

kiara laughed. "i owe you five bucks."

"give it to ella, i still owe her for the beers she bought the other day." jj explained, rushing down the staircase. "no, it's fine." marella shook her head at the offer.

"wait, what beers?" kie questioned. "you two weren't there." jj stated, making her roll her eyes.

"hey kiara, i do need those setups done by five!" kiara's mom, anna carrera shouted at her daughter.

"there are other people that work here." kie reminded her. "doesn't paxton start in an hour?"

"but ain't none of 'em my children!"

"i feel that. on a deep, emotional level, i understand that." pope said.

marella nodded in agreement. "yeah, me too." the three took a seat on the wooden benches at the dock. "his is parker, by he way."

jj glanced up at her with interest, even though he knew she wasn't talking to him. "what?"

"kie, you said paxton, but his name is parker." marella kindly corrected her. "oh yeah. no, you're right, thanks." kie nodded.

jj rolled his eyes. "so we going to the bahamas or what?

pope scoffed. "dude there's no way we're getting to the bahamas."

"john b's gonna get nabbed sooner or later." kie informed them. "so if we're gonna clear his name, we need to have done it yesterday."

jj stood up. "i'll tell you how we do it."

"oh so you have it all planned out?" pope questioned.

"as a matter of fact, i do." jj nodded with pride. "we kidnap rafe." the second his idea left his mouth, marella sighed and put her head in her hands.

"i'm sorry, what?"

"we kidnap rafe, tie him up and stick the gun in his mouth and just wait till he starts squawking." jj described as if his plan was completely reasonable.

"that's not even realistic." marella told him. "it would never work."

"you know, torture's a war crime." kie said.

"i thought it was a good idea." jj frowned.

"yeah, so how exactly do you plan on clearing john b's name from a prison cell?" pope asked. "because that's a felony."

"all right, well, what do you got, pope?" jj challenged. "i was just trying to keep it simple."

"simple?" marella laughed.

"you know, one stop, and we're done."

"guys, all we need is a material witness." pope spoke before glancing at marella. he saw the offended look on her face. "it's not that you're not material." he started. "it's just that— you heard what shoupe said... he can't take your statement."

"mhm." marella crossed her arms.

"i still think it's bullshit that they're just discarding you like that." the boy continued to ramble. "i mean, if it were up to me i'd—"

"pope." marella cut him off. "it's fine, i understand."

he sighed out in relief. "okay. we saw ward's plane fly right over our heads  with the gold inside of it. he didn't fly it. if somebody else was flying it, they were there on the tarmac. they saw peterkin get murdered. we just have to find whoever that was and get them to confess on record."

"how do we do that?" kie questioned.

"a little light espionage." pope shrugged.

jj grinned, pulling his red cap back on. "a little ghost recon."

"no need for all of that, his name is gavin." marella informed them as she stood to her feet. "i can give you his address?"

kiara smirked, entirely impressed. "you're perfect. you know that?"

"i've been told." marella joked as she playfully shrugged.

"woogity-woogity?" pope questioned, putting his hands out. "woogity, baby!" jj yelled out as they tickled each other's fingers.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
parker sato, the love of my life!!