─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"if this guy was flying planes for ward, he's gotta be pretty tight-lipped." pope explained to his friends. marella had managed to persuade pope to let her sit in the passenger's seat while he sat in the back with jj. she knew he would agree since part of his atonement phase seemed to be doing whatever she asked of him.

jj held up his pistol, reloading it. "so then direct approach gets my vote." marella's head flicked back at the sound and even kie, who was driving, glanced back to look at him in shock.

"jj, no!" pope exclaimed.

"no, what?"

"put the gun down, man."

"guys! we gotta keep this simple, or we'll never get john b off." he turned to see the distraught look on marella's face. immediately jj felt stupid, "sorry, i forgot." he mumbled.

"yeah. it's fine." she nodded, watching as he tucked the weapon back into his bag and shoved it down onto the ground.

"or we just tickle the wire." pope held up kie's airpods.

"what?" kie asked.

"we tickle the wire. i plant my phone in his car, and then we listen in on your airpods." he leaned forward and placed his phone by her lips. "say something."

"something." she spoke. he heard her voice echo in the airpods and nodded. "okay, we have audio." pope confirmed.

marella pointed at the house they were pulling up to. "that's his house over there. um pope, can i come with?"

the boy was surprised at her request. "uh, yeah. yeah, sure." he nodded. "all right, honk or, uh... or yell or something if you see anything suspicious."

"don't do anything dangerous." kie warned, staring back at the boy.

"come on. i'm not jj." pope joked, exiting the vehicle.

"funny, pope. love third-wheeling. it's my favorite thing, isn't it ella?" jj questioned. it was clear he had been taking any opportunity he could to speak to her.

"yeah, sure." she nodded as she pushed the door open.

"be careful." kie looked over at her.

marella smiled. "i'll be so careful." she joked, making kiara chuckle.

once she had exited and shut the door, jj leaned forward to kie. "how's it been going, you know, with pope and all?"

"it's good." kie stated.

"it's good? all right." jj nodded. he paused for a second. "in the bedroom, is he, like, kinda freaky, 'cause it's pope, you know?"

kiara looked disgusted. "why are you asking?"

"i don't know." jj shrugged. "just kinda curious. just spitballing here."

"you don't need to spitball. we could sit in silence." kiara suggested. "or better yet, we talk about you and marella."

jj looked up at her with surprise. "wha-what about me and her?"

"yeah, interrogation doesn't feel too good now does it?" kie challenged.

"there's nothing going on." jj shrugged. "nothing at all." he muttered.

"doesn't seem like nothing." kie shrugged.

jj had a feeling that marella told her friend that he tried to kiss her the other night. she hadn't, but he didn't know that. so he now desperately wanted to change the conversation. "ranking wise—" he used his hands to indicate an estimated size.

"oh, you're still asking?" kie groaned, glancing out the window to try and spot the two.

they were currently hiding behind a wall, waiting for gavin to leave their eye-line. they watched as he worked on a barbecue in his back garden. "are you avoiding me?" marella whispered, tired of the unmentioned tension between them.

"avoiding you? no." pope shook his head, as his eyes remained on gavin.

"pope, you can't even look at me." marella pointed out.

he looked at her for a second before gazing back at his target. "we're on a very important mission right now, marie." pope reminded her.

"if you think i still want space from you and time apart, you're wrong. i don't. i miss you." marella explained. "i don't care about the stupid bet right now, i just want my best friend back."

pope's heart ached at her words. he shut his eyes tightly and took a deep breath. but marella had chosen the wrong time to pour out her feelings because when pope opened his eyes to reply, gavin was gone.

"i'm sorry." he said. the boy wasted no time in getting to his feet and rushing over to gavin's car. marella watched him leave so quickly that she didn't have enough time to process it and follow after him. she leaned her back against the wall in despair, wondering what the hell was going wrong in her life.

she sighed before getting to her feet and returning to the car. "where's pope? everything okay?" kie asked her.

marella bit the inside of her cheek, repeatedly tapping the interior car door. "yeah i was weighing him down, too slow. told him to go on without me."

"okay." kie nodded before she and jj went back to their conversation.

but marella had managed to drown them out, her thoughts consuming her mind. everything was going wrong. john b and sarah were gone, pope seemed to hate her, kie barely spent any time with her and jj tried to kiss her the night before. there were so many things happening at once and her mind was overworking trying to handle them.

her heart began to pound in her chest and she could feel herself getting hotter. marella's anxiety was best described as a parrot on her shoulder, always nagging at her and weighing her down. it would constantly repeat her thoughts and remind her of every little detail of events that had occurred. the recurring noise in her ear often made it hard for her to concentrate.

the only thing that was effective in pacifying the bird was her zoloft medication. but marella couldn't remember the last time she had taken it ever since john b and sarah 'passed'.

a hand was now resting on her knee, pulling her out of the dangerous sea that was her mind. "hey, are you okay?" kiara asked for the second time, having noticed the loud tapping she was doing. "what?" marella looked up at her. "yeah. i'm okay. are you?"

"mhm." kie nodded. "you just seemed... lost for a second."

marella nervously chuckled. "well, now you've found me."

"now i've found you." kie smiled. "that's cute."

"okay. phase one is complete." pope announced, entering the backseat. he could feel the uneasy feeling from everyone. "everything- are we all good?" marella sighed, leaning her head against the window.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"hold on why does she get to tickle?" jj complained, childishly stropping in the backseat. but pope just shrugged. "she's the best tickler." pope told him.

"should i do an accent?" kie suggested. pope shrugged at the question, "definitely disguise your voice." he advised her.

"disguise my voice how? like how would you like me to talk? like this?" she questioned, putting on an english accent. marella began to chuckle, which made kie smile as that was her goal. "kie, that was terrible."

"not like that." jj shook his head in disbelief. "not like that, no." pope agreed with him. "batman." he suggested.

"batman." kie echoed in a deeper voice.

pops nodded, pointing at her in satisfaction. "there you go." jj seemed to have approved of her impression too. "spot on, there you go."

"gavin is likely to already be on edge." marella told the girl. "so you've got to induce more fear in him, really push him over the edge."

"i'll shove him over the edge if i have to." kie scoffed.

marella raised her hand and the two high-fived. "that's my girl." the pair of boys in the back shared a look at their tight-knit relationship.

"my girl! here we go." kie took a deep breath before clicking the call button and placing the phone on speaker.

"hello?" his voice spoke out.

"hello—" kie started in her deep voice before realising how unserious it sounded. "i can't." she shook her head.

"just talk!" pope hissed.

"hello?"

kie cleared her throat. "is gavin there?"

"this is gavin. who's this? hello?"

"i know what happened on the tarmac." kie stated.

"um... who's this?

"it was rafe cameron." she continued. "but you already knew that, and you lied about it."

"okay. who is this?"

"we're gonna prove it." kie continued to torment him.

"you're gonna tell me who this is now."

"you could have saved her, gavin, and you didn't." kie said. she looked up at marella for confirmation that she was being scary enough. marella nodded, gesturing that she should keep on going. "and you're not getting away with this."

"listen to me! who is this?"

instead of listening to him, kiara swiftly ended the phone call. "how was that?"

"yeah. yeah, i was scared. good job." jj praised her. "he's falling off of the edge as we speak." marella told her.

"all right. we tickled the wire." pope commented. "phase two complete. now we wait and listen."

"okay."

they watched as gavin rushed into his car and began to drive out of his driveway. "all right. hey, here he comes. stay down." pope ordered. marella quickly leaned forward, her chest resting against her lap.

"he didn't see us." jj said once he had driven past. "he didn't see us. hit it."

"go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go." pope ordered as kie started the engine of her car. "wait, my seat belt." marella turned around to see him struggling to pull the belt out.

"are you seriously buckling up now?" jj complained as pope continued to yank on the seatbelt. "yes, i am." pope told him. kie was growing frustrated. "you don't need it right now!" she yelled, driving after gavin.

⎯ ❃ Janine speaks!
Sorry for the short chapter, I've started volunteering at a food shelter to fill up some of my summer.

Missing Pope and Marella sooo much and I love the girls friendship they're too cute