——

"Took you long enough," Emelina's sly smile appeared once her friends pulled up with the HMS Pogue. Her feet dangled over the water as she sat on the dock waiting for them. The sun had begun to rise due to her not receiving a wink of sleep the whole night.

She caught Kiara's misgiving gaze, which was the exact opposite of what she was expecting from her. Emelina gave Kiara a discreet nod, knowing a talk was going to occur soon.

Kiara hopped off onto the dock where she prepared to station the boat, but Emelina stopped her. "We're gonna need that."

"Why?"

Before Emelina could answer, JJ ran down the dock to meet up with them. "We're dipping," he said with his bag hanging on his right shoulder.

John B and Sarah followed behind. Sarah held onto John B for support, the pain from her shot visibly noticeable on her face. "Where'd you guys go? What happened last night?"

"We slept on the break. What's up?" Pope answered.

"Slept, right. Yeah." JJ smirked while giving Pope a pat on the shoulder before answering him, "We were up all night."

Emelina stood up and collected her bag, making sure not to miss her step when climbing into the boat with JJ.

"We gotta get the hell out of here," John B said. Sarah nodded, grunting as she spoke, "Rafe knows we're here, so we have to leave, like, now."

The Chateau was no longer in view the further the boat got away. They stopped by a random field and settled on a bench and a few logs.

Emelina sat next to Sarah on the bench and JJ was behind her, pacing around in thought. "Look, if Rafe and Barry know, it's only a matter of time," Sarah said.

"Before everyone knows," Pope muttered, looking down at the ground.

JJ walked toward John B, who was facing the body of water, "I told you! We should've just gone south, man. Why does no one ever listen?!"

"I get it! I get it. I understand." John B told him, but JJ only turned around in a fury.

His frustrations led to Emelina, where he plopped down on the grassy ground next to the bench and leaned against it. This gave her access to his head and she wasted no time running her fingers through his hair to calm him down; a new tactic she learned.

"I have an idea. With me back, my dad's going to have to choose between me and Rafe." Sarah suggested and silence crept up on the group as they stared at her in objection.

John B was the first to make a sound, "Sarah, Sarah—"

"He's gonna choose me!" she stated, so sure of herself. Emelina placed her hand on Sarah's to draw her attention to the worried brunette, "Sarah, you don't know that—"

"I do! It's always been me. Not Rafe." Sarah assured and John B shook his head, "Just please listen. Ward keeps lying to you, Sarah."

Sarah brought her hand back and slowly looked down at the ground with a growing frown. Kiara chimed in, "He won't agree after all that's happened."

"No, I... I know it sounds crazy—"

"Yeah, it does!" Kiara cut her off.

"I know!" Sarah interjected, taking a moment of silence before speaking again, "But he's my dad. And I know him, and I know he loves me. I'm just asking for two hours."

JJ threw his hands up in the air and Emelina retracted her hand from his hair to her own head in ponder form. John B looked around at his friends, unsure of what to do because letting her go seemed like the only solution.

Sarah got up from the bench slowly and began to walk away toward the boat but John B stopped her to talk for a moment. By this time, Emelina tore her stare away from the couple.

"You okay?" Emelina whispered to the blonde boy and he turned his head up to look at her, giving her a tight smile. "'Tis not like we can stop her."

She didn't reply, looking at Sarah entering the boat by herself and driving away to her destination. John B stood there, watching her figure grow smaller and smaller as the seconds pass by.

Switching her gaze over to the others, she found Pope very obviously trying to avoid eye contact with the girl next to him. Emelina stood up, walking over to Kiara and motioning over to the woods for some privacy.

JJ whistled to halt them from continuing, "Yo, where you are guys going?"

Emelina winked, "Girl talk."

Further into the woods, Emelina leaned against a tree and glanced at her friend for an explanation. "Was it bad?"

"No—it... it should've been perfect. There was the moonlight and the beach and the bonfire..." Kiara started and Emelina listened intensely. "That sounds perfect," she commented.

"Yeah, but it's kind of... weird, now? I don't know. Like, I don't know what to say to him." Kiara ranted, pushing her hair away from her face as the wind blew.

"It just happened, Kie. Maybe you need to let it settle in? You guys have been friends for so long and this is a big change," Emelina tried to reason, mostly because she felt bad for Pope. He has been pinning after Kiara for so long and hearing her say this had her picturing Pope's sad reaction if he found out.

"It shouldn't be this weird, though, Lina. It wasn't weird for you and JJ, right? Didn't you have the perfect night, too?"

"I mean, I had some candles lit and JJ played Otis Redding on his phone... but no, it wasn't weird. At all."

Kiara looked down at her fingers, "I don't know what to do."

Emelina stepped away from the tree and put her hands on Kiara's shoulders. "Wait it out and if it's still weird... you should tell him."

"I wanted it to work. I really did," she told her, a guilty frown on her lips. Emelina pulled her in for a quick hug and spoke in her hair, "It's okay, Kie. Some things just aren't meant to be."

§

Emelina sat on the shore, just enough so the water could crash at her toes digging in the sand. Footsteps trickled behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see JJ smiling at her. "Hey,"

He leaned down after placing his hand on her right shoulder and aimed for her lips, but a voice stopped him from doing so. "Hey, Hey! No macking in front of us or at least warn us. New rule!" John B shouted from the depths of the tall wheatgrass.

"Your rules suck!" Emelina shouted back, giggling in the process as she tugged JJ down for that precious kiss. He pulled away and situated himself next to her while grabbing her hand and interlocking it with his.

Emelina placed her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes as she listened to the small waves hitting the sand. Over an hour passed and she sat and waited for Sarah to come back as the rest of the Pogues set out to create a small bonfire for the time being.

The two barely shared a word, and they did not have to. His presence alone was enough to make her heart feel warm. Nothing but the ocean swishing and the chatter among her friends behind them were heard. It was all she needed.

The HMS Pogue came to view and Sarah stood there with tear stains on her cheek when Emelina could finally see her. "Sarah!" she called out happily, a wave of relief hitting her bones. After knowing what Ward has done in the past, she wasn't sure if Sarah would make it back.

"What happened?" John B asked when he reached over after helping Sarah climb out of the boat. "How'd it go?"

Sarah pushed her hair back and sniffled, "You guys were right. It didn't work. Sorry."

"Welp, then that settles it, guys. Now, y'all need to load up in the paddy wagon," JJ used his thumb to point backward, "and get the hell out of Dodge right now."

"Right, you guys are gonna need supplies, and you'll have to split as soon as possible," Pope said with his hands on his hips. Emelina pursed her lips to avoid a frown popping up on her face. She wasn't ready to say goodbye again.

"Guys, I think it's too late."

Sirens wailing hit their ears and Emelina turned around to find multiple police boats driving over to them. "Fuck," she muttered and grabbed JJ's arm to pull him back with her.

John B gulped, "They followed you here? Must've been your father."

JJ loosened Emelina's grip on his arm in order to slip his bag off of his shoulders. He rummaged inside and she shook her head to stop him from pulling out the object that could make this situation worse. "JJ, no," she whispered but he ignored.

"We have to find another way outta here." Pope rushed out.

"Stay on the beach with your hands in the air!" An officer shouted through the megaphone. JJ slipped his gun in his pants, leaving his bag on the ground, all while grabbing Emelina's arm to give her a head start to run.

Everyone sprinted away from the boats and through the woods and eventually into the tall grasses. Emelina hissed at the cold water when it hit her ankles, but she treaded along into it, following after Kiara.

She dove right in, using her arms to swim to the other side. The boys kept pressuring everyone to go and she tried to block out the noises of the polices from the distance. "Freeze! Stay where you are!"

They reached the other side, quickly hiding behind a big tree. Emelina panted, bringing her hand to her wet-clothed chest. JJ's arm brushed against hers and took a bandana out of his pocket to squeeze out the excess water.

Police trucks zoomed in front of them and heavily armed police guards were coming out of the water like they did seconds before. "We're trapped. They surrounded us." Pope said, panting as well, "What do we do?!"

"No getting out of it. We gotta make a stand." JJ said and pulled out his gun, using the banana to soak the water off of the gun.

"JJ, please don't do anything stupid. I can't lose you." Emelina whispered. He kept his gaze on the weapon and blew air into it, shaking his head at her words, "Don't worry 'bout me."

She looked at the police stalking closer with guns in their hands ready to be fired. Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes as she begged, "Please, JJ."

John B seemed to have heard her pleads because just as JJ cocked his gun and prepared to face the police, he pulled his arm back and stood in front of him. He wrapped his hand around JJ's occupied wrist and took the gun out of his grip, letting it clatter to the ground.

"It's gonna be alright," John B whispered, tapping the side of JJ's face and quickly gave Emelina a reassuring smile. "Here we go."

JJ used his feet to cover the gun with the dead leaves on the ground. Emelina's breathing hitched, unable to decipher how she truly felt at the moment. A part of her felt relief that JJ didn't go out and get himself killed, but the other had her stomach churning at the sight of John B stepping away with his hands up into the police territory.

A few more vehicles surrounded them and Shoupe came out, "John B! Step out into the clearing! Get down. Do not movie!"

"I'm surrendering!" John B informed and kept his hands behind his head.

"Alright, the rest of y'all stay right where you are! Keep your hands where we can see them." Shoupe ordered and they followed through.

John B stepped forward, "Hey, listen, Shoupe, I wanna testify."

Shoupe walked closer with his gun in hand. "It's about time. Get down. Do not move a muscle. Everybody else, don't move." John B knelt to the ground where another officer pulled him up and slammed him to the ground.

Emelina gasped and screamed for him to stop, along with the others. JJ yelled out, "Seriously?! Come on!" The officer continued to kick and beat John B with his feet. "Sheriff, what is that?! You're gonna let that happen?!"

He pulled John B up by the neck and Shoupe tried to stop him, but he pushed him back aggressively. "This is for Peterkin." One hit to the face, and John B was out cold.

——

a/n: sorry this chapter took forever to update i got so bored with it lmaofkfj but quick question what zodiac sign do you think emelina is cuz i'm not sure..? i think she's kinda all over the place but i hope there's some astrology nerds hereee idk i'm just curious