Slater had never visited a pawn shop. That was probably because the Cut's only pawn shop was a sketchy place where people sold stolen jewelry and guns they weren't legally supposed to have. Slater was also fairly certain that they sold coke and meth out of a back room.

She was fairly certain, because her father had told her as much, and he'd also told her never to go in there.

Kiara had melted down a bar of Denmark Tanny's gold with a blowtorch, and it had cooled into a shiny lump that resembled a kindergartener's Play-Doh creation. JJ just about told her as much.

They bickered almost the entire ride from John B's house to the pawn shop about it, until John B finally told them to chill out.

"Easy for you to say," JJ grumbled. "You're not the one that has to pawn this piece of shit off. How did I get this job anyway?"

"Because you're the best liar," Pope replied.

JJ and Slater still weren't on speaking terms, after the fight at the club with Rafe. Now that Sarah and Kie knew about their little situationship, Slater figured it was only a matter of time before John B and Pope knew as well, though she wasn't even sure if JJ ever wanted to speak to her again. Maybe it was just a matter of time before she was ousted from the group, and JJ finally got what he'd wanted all along.

She also wasn't sure what the boys thought about her ex-fling with Rafe. If Sarah had gotten over it -- Rafe being her brother and all -- surely Pope and John B could, too. JJ remained the wild card, like he always was.

The pogues headed inside, JJ up to the counter, and the rest of them to various places throughout the store. Slater thought it was suspicious for them all to go in with JJ, and she'd said as much, but John B had insisted that JJ might need backup. "Backup" for what, Slater wasn't sure, because the old woman behind the counter seemed completely harmless.

Slater was looking through a case of vintage (and likely stolen) necklaces as the woman put the Frankenstein bar through a series of tests to make sure it was actually gold. JJ told a sob story about a fake mother with Alzheimer's as the woman continued to voice her disbelief. She disappeared into the backroom, and the pogues quickly regrouped near JJ.

"She's suspicious about one bar," Slater hissed. "How are we going to pawn off four hundred million dollars worth of gold?"

"We'll figure it out," JJ snapped, refusing to meet her eyes as she looked at him. Slater scoffed and turned away, busying herself with the antique jewelry again.

The woman returned and they dispersed, leaving JJ alone again. She handed JJ a sticky note, and he immediately snorted.

"Fifty thousand? You think I walked in here not knowing the spot price?" He said. "Ma'am, I know for a fact this is worth 140, at least."

"Well sweetie, you're in a pawn shop," the woman replied with a slight laugh. "This ain't Zurich. Do I look Swiss to you?"

They continued to haggle until the woman offered half-price.

"And I don't ask questions about where you got this," she added.

They didn't have enough cash on hand at the store to pay JJ, so the woman said they would have to go to a warehouse. As the pogues walked back out to the Twinkie, she couldn't help but find the whole thing suspicious.

"What pawn shop has a warehouse?" She questioned as they drove deeper into the Cut. The shacks and buildings she was familiar with disappeared into trees and swamp. They drove for what felt like miles without seeing a single soul, until a car sped quickly up behind them, lights flashing and siren whooping.

"Cops? Out here?" Kiara questioned, turning around.

"Shit," Slater hissed, turning around quickly in her seat. "Better not be my fucking dad..."

"Stash that!" Pope said, pointing to the gold.

"I hate cops," JJ grumbled.

"JJ," John B warned, glancing quickly at Slater.

"I don't recognize the car," Slater said, frowning at the unmarked car that had pulled up behind them.

"Did you bring the gun?" John B asked JJ.

"No, everyone told me to leave it," JJ replied.

"Thank God," Kie sighed. "Please, just hide everything else in your bag."

The police officer was out of his car by this point, and walking up to the van. Slater looked towards the driver's side window, her stomach dropping as the sound of a gun clicking echoed throughout the van. The man outside the van was not an officer. He was holding a sawed off rifle and wearing a skull mask over his face.

Slater felt JJ tense beside her, and she felt her heart racing. She turned to look at him, watching as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down nervously. However bad it would have been for her father to find them, this was worse. As the stranger aimed the rifle on John B, Slater half wondered if she'd even get to see her father again, or if they were all about to die.

"You, out of the car, let's go," the man yelled at John B, before telling him to let the rest of them out of the van. The pogues piled out in a single-file line. Slater heard Sarah whimpering, and her own teeth were chattering in fear. Slater forced herself to look at the man's face, and commit what she could see of it to memory, in case they got out of this alive.

She prayed, to whatever powers that be, that the man didn't recognize her as Shoupe's daughter. She recalled all the times growing up when she'd be out with her father, at a restaurant or the grocery store, and they'd see someone he'd arrested. Vic would pull her and Maeve behind him, to prevent whoever the person was from seeing his young daughters. They didn't need to know he had daughters, and they certainly didn't need to see their faces.

JJ got out of the van after her, and he began to argue with the man, urging him to put the gun down. The man continued to yell at him, shoving the end of the gun mere inches from JJ's face. The sight made Slater feel like throwing up.

"LAY DOWN IN THE DITCH!" He yelled at them, and the pogues did just that. Slater's bottom lip began to quiver as she brought her shaking hands up to her head. JJ knelt next to her, his hands on his head as he met her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed, and she quickly shook her head. It wasn't his fault, and she needed him to know that.

She needed him to know a lot of things, but he'd been too stubborn to listen. And now she was wondering if it was too late to tell him.

The man climbed into the Twinkie and began rifling through their things.

"It's a setup, guys," Kie said, sniffling.

"That old bat shanked us," JJ hissed, slamming his fist into the ground. "Fuck! Goddamn it!"

Slater watched in fear as John B slowly rose to his feet. The rest of the group urged him to stay down, but he ignored them and inched towards the man's fake cop car.

"John B!" Sarah whimpered, her brown eyes filling with tears. Slater felt JJ tremble beside her as he watched his best friend walk towards the car.

"I should have known," JJ muttered.

"It's not your fault," Slater whispered back.

He shook his head and looked away, his blue eyes unable to meet hers.

The masked man jumped out the van, the gold in hand. "Y'all stay just like that, alright? Unless you want your brains blown out all over this road, don't move your goddamn heads, okay?" He yelled.

Tears streamed down Slater's face and she silently sobbed into the ground, biting her hand to prevent from making too much noise. The pogues watched nervously as the man got back into his car, where John B was waiting in the backseat. John B attacked the man, grabbing the gun and the gold before hopping out of the fake squad.

JJ jumped up, running after John B, and the rest of the pogues slowly got to their feet. They rushed the man, punching and kicking as they could, until he collapsed against his car. JJ ripped the skull mask from his face and let out an angry sigh.

"I know this piece of shit," he grumbled. "He's a basehead!"

"Probably knows my brother," Sarah muttered.

"He sells coke to my dad." JJ kicked the man again until John B and Pope pulled him off. JJ bent down to grab the man's wallet, yanking out his driver's license.

"We've got one last stop," JJ said, running towards the van. "Let's go see where this son of a bitch lives."

"You can't hide from me!" The man yelled after them. "I know exactly who y'all are! Maybank's boy! Kook princess, I know your brother well! And don't think I don't know your Pig daddy!"

Slater's stomach dropped and she froze, turning around to look at the man again. They made eye contact, and it sent a chill throughout her whole body.

"Come on, let's move," JJ said, gently grabbing her arm and pulling her into the van.

JJ hopped in the driver's seat, starting the van and they sped off in silence, each of them too stunned to say anything until JJ pulled out the man's license. Slater looked over his shoulder, seeing that the man's name was Barry.

JJ remained silent as he drove through the Cut, until they pulled up to a battered old mobile home, with lots of junk strewn around it.

"Welcome to crackhead paradise," Sarah muttered, and Slater remembered her quip from earlier. Slater was well-acquainted with Rafe's cocaine issue, and though she'd thought his family was clueless, she was now beginning to wonder if Sarah knew more than she let on.

JJ hopped out of the van, saying he would be just a minute.

"Where are you going?" John B called after him.

"Yo soy justicia," JJ replied.

"Oh God," Slater muttered, watching out the window as JJ disappeared into the trailer.

John B sighed and got out of the van. "I should probably ... yeah..." He followed JJ into the house.

Slater felt like puking, and she buried her face in the seat in front of her, silently willing her body not to dry heave. Now that the adrenaline was leaving her body, she was feeling nauseous and wanted nothing more than to bury herself in her bed, under five to ten layers of blankets.

"You okay, Slater?" Pope asked, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be okay," Slater said, her voice muffled. "As long as JJ doesn't do anything stupid."

"Doing stupid things is in his blood," Kiara replied.

JJ's irrational behavior had always concerned her, but now that she cared about the boy -- a whole lot more than she'd ever imagined she would -- it was more worrying. She didn't want to see him get hurt, or get himself into even more trouble. Slater, who'd been kept safe in a metaphorical glass box her entire life, wasn't used to such unpredictability, and the pogues, especially JJ, were full of unpredictability.

JJ returned from the trailer holding a duffle bag, and the rest of them climbed out of the van.

"Alright, so we're looking at five grand each, for reparations for putting us through that bullshit," he said, pulling a pile of cash out of the bag.

"So that's what we're doing now?" Kiara protested. "Robbing drug dealers?"

"This Barry guy's gonna find out," Sarah said. "He's going to come after us."

"JJ, this is a bad idea," Slater said.

"Of course you think it's a bad idea," JJ snapped. The words hit her like a punch to the gut.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Slater replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

JJ scoffed. "You think everything is a bad idea, Slater. Except, of course, Rafe Cameron. Apparently, you think that's a grand --"

"That's enough, JJ," Kiara said, stepping between the two.

"This is not the time to start wilin' out," Pope interjected.

"How'd you guys like having a gun pointed at you, huh?" JJ asked, looking around the group. Slater found herself unable to meet his eyes.

John B pushed him back. "Relax," he hissed. "Our priority is the gold, okay? Just give me that shit," he said, reaching for the bag. "We're putting it back." JJ shoved his best friend up against the van, and John B scoffed. "You feel like a tough guy, huh? What are you going to do when he comes after us?"

"We punch him in the throat," JJ replied.

"Yeah, good fuckin' idea, JJ," John B hissed.

The rest of the group watched nervously as the two faced off.

"I'm not putting it back," JJ said, holding tight to the money as he hopped back into the van. When none of them followed him, JJ got back out. "What?"

"We're sick of your shit," John B hissed.

"Yeah," Kiara said, nodding in agreement. "Your 'pulling guns on people' shit."

"You acting like a frickin' maniac --"

"Okay, Pope," JJ cut the Heyward boy off. "I took the fall for you, man! You know how much money I owe because of you?"

"I didn't ask you to do that, and you know I'm going to pay you back!" Pope protested.

"I just did pay it back!" JJ said, holding up the duffel bag. "Right here, right now, by myself," he said, turning to look at the rest of the group. "You know what? That's exactly what I'm going to do. Go off, by myself."

He grabbed the bag and walked away, and though part of Slater wanted to call him back, or hurry after him, more of her wanted to stay right there, with the other pogues. JJ's words to her echoed in her mind; the way he'd thrown Rafe's name at her like a weapon.

Her feet remained cemented on the ground, watching as he walked off.

Slater watched the Maybank boy, barely recognizing him. This was the old JJ. This was the JJ that had yelled at her and berated her and called her a kook.

This was not the JJ she knew. The JJ that snuck her out of the house and complimented her perfume and wore her old Disney shirt. The JJ that made her feel safe and real and happy.

Slater didn't like this JJ. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ author's note ✫・゜・。.

this author's note is going to be important, so if you usually skip them, i urge you to read this one!

VERY LONG AUTHOR'S RAMBLING AHEAD, APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE:

as always, thank you for reading!

there's something important i would like to discuss with y'all. a few chapters ago, i asked if people would be interested in me continuing this story into season two of outer banks. now that season three has come out, i've been doing a lot of thinking about how/if i want this story to continue on, and how i want to end it.

in theory, i could continue the story on for as long as outer banks does, but honestly, that's not something i want to do. if i were to draw the story out and follow it through all of the rest of the seasons, at one point does this story stop being the one i set out to write and become a pile of regurgitated plot lines and dialogue from the show? when do i lose sight of what i actually want for slater?

i have decided to not do that. this story will reach a finite ending, an ending that i've spent a lot of time thinking over. this ending will be one that i hope leaves all of us, author and reader alike, satisfied. as much as i would love to continue slater and jj's story forever and ever and ever, i just don't think it's fair to the story or me as a writer. 

it's really bittersweet, now that i know where the end is. slater is one of my favorite characters, and this story is honestly my favorite on wattpad. it doesn't get as much attention as some of my other stories, but i love it so much. i love writing slater, and i especially love writing about her and jj. however, this has to end sometime! 

anyway, this has been a lot of rambling. the key point is: this story is going to end fairly soon, and i'm a little emotional about it :')

this has been a journey, and i want to thank everyone for sticking through it with me. don't worry, it's not ending YET! i don't know exactly how many chapters are left, but i just wanted to let y'all know my plans without EXACTLY revealing how it will end. gotta leave some surprise, right?

ugh, this was so long. thank you so much for reading. please let me know what you thought! i keep forgetting just how reckless jj's character is, so i knew i needed to include this chapter. i feel like i sometimes paint him in a better, more mature light in this story than they do in the show. oh well.

again, thanks for reading! 

xx,

madi

ps -- fear not that THE MIDDLE will soon be ending -- i just published a new obx fic, TURNING VIOLET! i also have another jj fic idea in mind (currently untitled and unpublished, but i'm working on it!) so i would love to hear your thoughts. my dms, message board, and comment sections are always open, and i love hearing from y'all.

stay tuned! 

xx,

madi