"Ah, crap, the tide." Pope huffed as they pulled up to the once small water hole, seeing as though now it has risen and looked like it had been apart of the creek, "Oh, this doesn't look good."

"How deep is that?" Kie questioned.

"I dunno. The roads gone." John B nodded his head, looking at the water.

"Think the gators are in there?" Lila spoke up.

"Yeah." JJ spoke from the front, "Tide rose faster then I thought it would. How high are the spark plugs?"

"They're good. We're fine." John B spoke hesitantly.

"No, how high are they?" JJ and Pope said on sync.

Lilas stomach grumbled as she huffed, "I'm gonna eat one of you."

"Ma'am, i'd be honored but let me get us through this first." JJ announced as he hit John B's arm, "How high are they?"

"Oh, just above the tail light." the curly haired boy gave a tight lipped smile.

"Okay, so that's, what, three feet?" Pope questioned.

"That's three feet. Yeah." JJ hummed with a odd look.

"That water can't be three feet deep." Kie shook her head.

"Then whats the problem?" John B rose his eyebrows.

"Not a problem. No, we're good. She'll make it." JJ nodded as he leaned back with a clear of his throat.

"Ladies and gentleman, fasten your seat belts. Hold on to something." John B announced. Pope let out a yell as Lila latched onto his head tightly. John B hit the peddle, the tires spinning but the Twinkie stuck in place. It suddenly flew forward, making it out of the mud and through the deep waters.

"Speed is your friend! Speed is your friend, John B!"

"We got it! We got it!" Sarah hollered as they made it to the end, the tires suddenly turning and bringing them into the creek.

"No, no, no, no." John B panicked.

"I think we miscalculated." Pope spoke up as Sarah gave a sarcastic look.

"If a gator climbs in, I vote John B's leg and Popes hand to distract it." Lila spoke up as she looked out the window, "I've watched a lot of swap shows with my moms. I might, possibly, be able to attack it."

"You are not attacking a gator." Pope said in disbelief with wide eyes.

"I knew I should have driven." JJ shook his head.

As they climbed out, Pope took looked around, "Okay, maybe we can walk from here."

"What? And leave the Twinkie? The tides coming in." John B said, adjusting his jacket.

"So then what are we suppose to do?" Sarah questioned.

"Not stay here." JJ spoke up.

"I can call my moms maybe." Lila suggested.

"And have them hate all of us like they hate Rafe?" Sarah asked as Lila cringed, "I'm not trying to get kicked out of the house."

"There isn't any signal anyways." Pope added.

"I can take my dads truck." Kie sighed in disbelief.

"Kie, are you sure?" John B asked with questionable eyes.

"How much worse can it get, you know?" she shrugged, Lila patted her back.

"We need something to pull her out with. There's the winch at the Chateau." JJ went along with her words, a nod of his head, "That's like two miles."

"Yeah, good idea." Sarah nodded.

"If you're gonna do it, let's go, okay?" John B nodded quickly.

"All right." Kie nodded as she headed around.

"Tides coming in. Twinkies going underwater." John B panicked.

"We're gonna save her, John B." Lila nodded as she threw a look toward JJ, "Will you bring me a snack?"

"Yes ma'am." he nodded her way, following after Kie.

"So." Sarah said as her and Lila sat on top of the Twinkie together, "What are you gonna say to Rafe when you find him?"

Lila shrugged with a half frown, "I don't know. I'll probably just yell about random stuff that doesn't make any sense and embarrass myself."

"Don't think like that. You know what you wanna say, you can't hold back from it." Sarah shook her head at Lila, "You gotta let that guilt go. This is all on him, non of it is on you."

Lila inhaled, "I'm kinda starting to realize that. I just feel stupid for thinking things were starting to change."

"You aren't stupid, he's manipulative and talks outta his head." Sarah said, messing with her bracelets, "Even I started to believe him."

Lila looked over at her, "Has Rafe always been, like, off? Not off, but you know what I mean. Different?"

"Yeah, I didn't realize it until I got a little older though." Sarah cross her legs as Pope and John B talked in the background of their conversation, "He'd always do this really weird shit, stuff kids definitely don't do. I guess my dad just never thought anything of it."

"That's how my brother was too." Lila nodded her head, "I see a lot of him in Rafe. I didn't even realize it at first until I stopped a second and actually thought."

"It's probably why you have such a hard time walking away from him." Sarah said honestly, "I didn't get it at first until I found out about Logan. It makes sense though."

"No, I know." Lila agreed with a nod, "I'm seeing it like I never helped Logan, and he died before I could. Now, seeing so much of him in Rafe, I feel guilty when I turn the other cheek."

Sarah gave her a smile, "I'm proud of you for realizing it."

"Just now did, actually, saying it out loud." Lila said honestly as she met Sarah's eye, "I guess I just avoid talking about it. Especially with people that wouldn't understand."

"But I understand?" Sarah asked.

"You understand." Lila gave a soft smile her way.

"Y'all don't get eaten by no gator!" Lila called out to Pope and John B, taking her video camera off her neck, "Documentary part two."

"Marilyn Monroe!" Pope grinned as he looked at it, "I missed her."

"I missed her too." Lila grinned as she zoomed in on Pope, "I haven't been videoing this whole time."

"Gotta lot of catching up to do." Sarah nodded her head.

"JB, tell us the story on how the Twinkie got the n-" Lila began, looking at John B through her video camera. She stopped when he suddenly went under the water, Lila gasping as the looked up.

"John B?" Sarah called, seeing it to.

"Help!" he hollered, coming up under the water before being yanked back down.

"Holy shit, a gator!" Lila yelled, leaving her video camera up top as she jumped off the Twinkie.

"Pope! Help!" Sarah called as she jumped off after her, "Lila, look, watch out."

Lila moved as Sarah hurried past her with a knife, "Get directly behind the skull plate!"

Sarah began trying to stab at the gator, it and John B flipping before her. Lila panicked, swimming over quickly and past them.

"Lila, get back!" Sarah called as the blonde swam deeper into the water, about seven feet away from the gator and John B. Rafe gave Lila a pocket knife once, she kept it on her most of the time to help open tight jars or just to feel like she had some form of protection. Her hand came out of the water, holding the pocket knife in her other hand as she cut her palm open. Lila gave a minor whimper at the sharp pain, dropping her palm down into the water.

It took a second, but the smell of her blood filled the creek in no time as the gator let John B go and was swimming toward her.

"Oh, shit, Oh shit." Lila panicked as she began backing up. Sarah lunged forward, stabbing it a few times with a yell, giving Lila enough time to crawl up on the branches. The gator swam off, it's own trail of blood following it.

"Lila!" John B called as he caught his breath, "What-"

"They're attracted to blood!" she called from where she was on the log, "Someone come get me before I attract more."

John B swam toward her, taking the knife from Sarah with him. He reached up, helping her down and carrying her back toward Pope and Sarah, "Thanks for saving me."

"You got it." Lila said out of breath, "Sarah Cameron, i'd be dead without you."

"How'd you know that about the blood?" Sarah asked as Lila hugged her, "And what was your plan when he came at you?"

"I was hoping to get hold of his jaws and snap it. Bad plan but at least John B wasn't eaten." Lila said, sitting on the twinkie with a huff, "Y'all better back that story up so JJ doesn't think i'm lying."

John B laughed as he sat next to her, throwing a arm around her with a kiss to the side of her head, "You're crazy."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Lila laughed. John B groaned as he looked down at the gator bite on his leg.

"All right, be carful, i'm pretty sure that thing will get infected." Pope shook his head as he sat with them, Sarah coming close after.

"Yeah, you're lucky. It didn't cut into muscle too much." she said, looking at the wound.

"Lucky I got bit by an alligator and my car is underwater." John B panted painfully.

"Do you have something to wrap it with, stop the bleeding?" Sarah suggested. John B pulled his fathers bandanna out of his pocket, handing it to her. Lila noticed her purple one tied around his wrist.

The car heard as Pope looked up, "Oh, and speak of the freakin devil. Look who it is, the tortoise and the tortoise. Just a couple hours late. Where the hell were you guys?"

"Paternal complications." Kie sighed as her and JJ got out of the truck.

"Luke was at the Chateau." JJ said, avoiding looking at anyone.

Lila frowned, climbing off the van and getting out of the water quickly.

"Oh, great! While you were having family time with your pops, John B got bit by a gator and Lila sliced her hand open, almost got eaten, to save him and then Sarah stabbed the shut outta it to save her!" Pope announced, stressed as hell.

"What the hell happened?" Kie spoke up as she looked at John B's wound and Lilas, still, bleeding hand.

"I got bit by a gator!" John B and Pope yelled her way.

"I dunno why i'm being yelled at. I put my ass on the line." Kie shouted back at him.

"You're getting yelled at because you asked what happened right after we tell you!" Lila hollered back with a crazy look.

"You said twenty minutes!" Pope shouted.

"We for here as fast as we could!" Kie argued back.

"Oh- yeah, great, great-"

"Shut up!" JJ suddenly hollered over all of their yelling, making them look his way, "Seriously, guys, I can't take it anymore, all right? Everyone just cut it out for a second."

Lila looked at Kie as the Carrera girl nodded her head, indicating that JJ seeing Luke was hitting him hard.

"Look, I just helped my dad leave this island for good. Like, he's not ever coming back. He straight up like the Spanish, just, Bon voyage." JJ waved his hands around, the pogues sharing a slightly odd look.

"That's not the right language." Sarah whispered.

"All we got... and I know for a fact all I got is you guys, okay? You're it." JJ announced as he looked around at each of them, "And I've come too close to losing you, all of you!"

He pointed at Kie suddenly, "I mean, shit, like you almost drowned."

He glanced Popes way, "Pope, you were kidnapped."

His eyes set on Sarah, "Sarah, you've been shot."

John B next, "John B, you were almost dinner for a freaking gator."

Lastly JJ looked over at Lila, "And you go off and try to do the right thing, scaring the hell outta me every single time because I have no clue what or who's gonna hurt you. And then you gotta try and be gator bait like a lunatic."

Lila gave a soft grin his way.

"So, this blaming each other is some Kook-ass bullshit, all right? We don't do that. Okay? We're pogues." JJ announced before throwing his hands up, "Sorry, that was a lot right now."

They all shared a look, clapping their hands together for him as JJ scoffed in disbelief, flipping them all off with a shake of his head.

"That was the best freaking speech you have ever given." John B announced his way, "Also, you should think about, like, a Rosetta Stone because your spanish and french are flip-flopped."

"We should bon voyage out of here." Sarah nodded. Lila walked toward JJ grabbing his wrist.

"We'll pull." she announced subtle.

"You really think they're gonna be able to hook that up without us?" JJ asked in disbelief as Lila pulled him behind the truck, making it around, "What are we doing? The-"

He stopped when her arms went around his waist, head tucking into his neck. JJ rose just eyebrows before hugging her back, "Okay, affection."

"I'm sorry about your dad." Lila said as she rubbed his back, "How do you feel?"

JJ shrugged, holding her shoulders, "I don't know. I mean, I guess it's better without him here but he's still my dad. He still left."

Lila hummed as she leaned back some, "I hear you. It's his loss for going, you know? He's missing out on you and even the worst of people don't deserve that."

JJ grinned down at her as he flushed in the face. Her hands rubbed his lower back gently while his stayed holding her forearms, "Give me that hand of yours."

Lila placed her slice hand in his. JJ's were much warmer then her own. He reached into the truck, pulling the red bandana off, "It's mine but i'm sure you'll be fine."

"I'll be fine." Lila agreed as he wrapped her hand for her, making sure it was too tight before tying it in a little knot on her palm.

"How's that?" JJ asked, making sure non of the blood was seeping from the sides.

"Feels good." Lila nodded her head.

"Feels good?" he asked with a raise of his brows, "All right, we're on a good start then."

Lilas eyes fell on his neck, seeing a fishing line around his neck. She reached forward and pulled at it, thinking it had fallen off on him somehow. Instead, she saw he'd been using it as a necklace, the baby shell she found in her shoe and gave to him hanging around it. Lila met his eye as she grinned. JJ looked away quickly, "I brought you a very poorly made sandwich and-"

Lila gasped with a grin as JJ pulled the purple hawaiian shirt from the seat. He gave a laugh at her reaction, "Since you were all attitude central without any purple."

"JJ." Lila gushed as she pull it on, pulling it over the green, "I feel a hundred times better now."

"Good, good. You look good." he nodded, rubbing her arms, "All right, you get in and drive and i'll guide them."

"Okay." Lila nodded as he climbed up in the back, "JJ."

"Yup?" he looked down at her.

"I'm never gonna leave you behind." she spoke, looking up at him, "I swear on my life."

JJ smiled down at her, "What if your moms wanna move you to a super haunted town?"

She shrugged, "Then I'd just take you with me."

•

kylie speaks

if y'all didn't realize-
lila realizing the root
of the problem with rafe
and finally accepting what
her issue is and why she is
having trouble walking away
is symbolizing at her feeing
herself again, hinting why she
gets her purple hawaiian shirt
back because it is what she was
wearing in the very first chapter
when her and her moms were
arriving in the obx.

look how beautiful, i cry.