𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲

𝐂𝐎𝐁𝐘, 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝐁, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐉𝐉 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 on the pogue, slowly making their way through the marsh. they were going to the wreck since kie's parents were throwing an anniversary party. coby had a feeling that her two deadbeat parents would make an appearance. not at the party, just some point in time. especially since they definitely know that coby and the pogues were back. but, that's not the point. the three stooges needed to tell the other pogues what neville had told them. coby had stopped paying attention to what was told to the three of them, her mind drifting towards sarah. she really hoped that the blonde was gonna be at the party. the three of them pulled up to the wreck's dock, the boys immediately starting to tie it up.

"here's the plan. get the girls, go find pope and cleo, get down to south america as soon as possible. cool?" john b announced.

"seems a bit vague, i gotta say, john b." jj said, earning a nod of agreement from coby.

"also, neither of us have passports." she added, gesturing to the three of them. "pope, kie, and sarah might. maybe even cleo. but i know for a fact, we don't."

"hey, look, don't bore me with the details, all right? we'll figure that out later." john b assured.

"sure we will." coby mumbled as she stepped onto the dock. she started to scan the crowded area, looking for sarah.

"coby, you go get sarah. j, go get kie, a little rendezvous mission. back on the boat, get out of here." john b said, looking between his two best friends.

"look, the other day, mike and i kind of got into a little bit of a tiff, all right? and if i go over there right now and mike sees me, he's not gonna let kiara out of his sight, boom. mission blown, we can't go down to south america." jj explained, doing that weird thing with his hands when he talks.

john b quickly cupped jj's face, the maybank boy shutting his mouth. "just don't get seen."

"you're right. i'll stay here." jj shrugged, earning a snort from coby.

"no, no, no. that's not what i was saying." john b shook his head.

"i got your six. i'll keep her running, dog." jj nodded, hopping back down into the pogue.

"why is dog suddenly in your vocabulary?" coby questioned, noticing how much he had been using it.

john b sighed, looking at the sawyer girl. "so, you go get sarah and i get kie?"

"sounds like a plan." coby nodded.

with that, the two of them started to walk down the dock and towards the party. thankfully, mike had ended up giving a speech, gaining everyone's attention. it sure as hell made it easier for them to find both kie and sarah. coby dismissed john b, the boy nodding and going off to stand to the side. once mike was done with his speech and kie had walked over to her parents, coby made her way over to the fence that surrounded the outside dining.

"psst, cupcake!" coby whisper-yelled, making the girl in question whirl around.

coby felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders when the two of them had made eye contact. she quickly made her way around the fence, walking up to sarah and wrapping her arms around her. sarah did the same thing, squeezing her just as tightly.

"long time no see." coby said softly, placing her chin onto sarah's shoulder. she then pulled away. "hey, follow me. i gotta tell you something."

"what are you doing here?" sarah questioned, letting the taller girl guide her over to a more quiet place.

"i have so much i have to tell you." coby said.

"i have so much i have to tell you." sarah repeated.

"sarah, i am so sorry for the way that i just left you at the château. john b just made me so mad and i didn't want to take that out on you. i'm sorry for not being there when you needed me." coby quickly apologized, meaning every word.

sarah shook her head slightly. "it's fine. you had every right to be angry."

"no, no. hey. i messed up." coby told her, tucking a few strands of hair behind sarah's ear before she placed her hand onto sarah's cheek. "i missed you, cupcake."

the cameron girl smiled, pulling coby in for a hug. "i missed you too, cowboy."

"hey, look. we gotta get out of here. we gotta go. come on." coby whispered, pulling away as she grabbed sarah's hand. she started to drag to where john b was standing.

"no, no, no. wait, wait, wait, wait." sarah mumbled, shaking her head as she pulled away from coby.

coby looked at her, eyebrows furrowed as she walked towards the shorter girl. "cupcake, what's going on?"

"okay, before we go anywhere, before we do anything, i have something i need to tell you." sarah informed, making coby raise her eyebrows.

"okay, talk to me." she said, looking at sarah closely.

"i made a mistake." sarah started, coby's face dropping. "and - and it's not something i planned, and it's definitely not something i would ever do again. and. . ."

"what's going on, cupcake?" coby questioned.

"i kind of hooked up with topper." sarah admitted.

and suddenly, it felt like coby's whole world came crashing down. her chest started to ache and it was like someone had punched her in the gut, all of the oxygen in her lungs vanishing. her ears were ringing, blocking out everything else that sarah had been saying. coby just stared down at the ground, her eyes stinging as tears started blur her vision. she brought her hands up to her face, covering her mouth. she was snapped out of whatever trance she was in when she felt sarah's hands on her arms. coby immediately moved away.

"please say something." sarah whispered, looking at coby with watery eyes.

coby looked down at her, shaking her head. "i trusted you. i - i trusted you. till death do us part?"

sarah looked defeated. "please. jake."

coby shook her head, not being able to stop the tears from falling. "we're done. okay?"

she walked away before sarah could say anything else, making her way back over to john b. she pursed her lips, trying to hold it together. but she couldn't help the pain that was in her chest. she couldn't describe it but it reminded her of when taylor had gone missing. it was like someone had ripped her heart out and stomped on it. she walked up to john b, the taller boy immediately noticing the look on her face.

"hey, hey. what's wrong? what happened?" he quizzed, coby hearing the panic in his voice.

she opened her mouth to answer, but she was interrupted by a sob. john b didn't say anything, he just pulled her in for a hug. they stood there for a few minutes, john b letting her cry into his chest. he held her close, rubbing her back to try and calm her down. he scanned the area to see where sarah had gone, his eyes landing on her almost immediately. he had seen the devastated look on her face, seeing that she was trying not to cry.

well, that's not good.

☠︎ ✶ ♡ ✶ ☠︎

𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 everything had gone down. the sun was replaced with the moon and the stars. coby had calmed down, her hurt turning into anger the longer time had went on. john b had given her some space, knowing that she needed it. but he still kept an eye on her, not wanting her to do anything that would keep her from going to south america with them. eventually, she had reappeared, both her and john b going back to the pogue so that they could meet up with jj.

"guys, where the hell have you been? what happened?" jj quizzed as the three of them walked towards the pogue.

"what happened?" coby repeated, her voice low as she kept her eyes ahead. "she cheated on me. that's what happened. after everything that's been going on, she's off hooking up with topper? i mean, what the hell?"

"guys, i've been looking all over for you." jj told them, jumping onto the pogue so that he could untie it from the dock. "the clock's ticking. let's just go. we don't need them."

coby tuned out what what jj and john b were saying, turning around to look back at the party. her heart dropped when she saw topper and sarah hugging. before she could even process what was going on, her feet was moving, making her go towards the two kooks. jj and john b were trying to snap her out of it, telling her not to do whatever she was thinking. but she couldn't hear them. her ears were ringing again. she continued to walk over towards the two, her and topper making direct eye contact as him and sarah pulled away from one another. she maneuvered around people, making sure not to bump into anyone as she quickly approached topper.

"no, not right here, coby." topper tried as he backed away.

"no, no, no. jake!" sarah called, trying to block topper from the sawyer girl.

"get out the way." coby mumbled as she gently moved sarah to the side.

"we're not doing this." topper told her.

coby shoved him back. "feel good about yourself?"

"stop!" sarah yelled, gaining everyone's attention.

"you need to chill out, bro." topper said as coby shoved him back again.

"you like messing up my relationship?" coby questioned.

"you're ruining mike and anna's party!"

"oh, really? that's what you're worried about?"

"i would just walk away."

"do you feel good about yourself?"

"hey!" sarah yelled, grabbing coby's arm before she turned her around. coby looked down at her, the anger leaving her body. somewhat. "for once in your life, would you please just turn around and walk away? please? look at me. please don't."

coby kept looking at the shorter girl, seeing that sarah was silently pleading for her to just walk off. and it almost work, coby feeling her anger simmer down just enough for her to be able to walk away. even with how much sarah had just hurt her, she still had a hold over her.

"hey, no hard feelings, coby." topper commented from behind coby.

"topper." sarah whispered, immediately seeing the fire grow inside her eyes.

coby let out a bitter chuckle as she turned around. it didn't help to see that topper was smiling as he looked at her, feeling proud about what he did. the ringing in her ears appeared again, not hearing sarah begging her to not do whatever she was about to do. but it was too late. coby was already pulling her arm back. she lunged her arm forward, her fist connecting with toppers face. she watched as the thorton boy went flying to the ground. he didn't recover from the hit, but coby didn't care. she sniffled as she crouched down, grabbing topper's shirt. she ignored sarah's cries for her to stop, pulling her arm back to send another punch to the boy.

topper has been making coby's life a living hell for as long as she could remember. from making fun of her when they were younger, to saying snarky comments about taylor after he disappeared. hell, she couldn't forget about the time he pushed her and john b off the hawk's nest. this was just the cherry on top. so, she kept throwing punches at the boy, not caring about the fact that he was no longer responding to them or the blood that was seeping from his mouth and nose. she didn't care about sarah or kie calling her name. she didn't care that there was a crowd watching her every move. all she cared about was making sure that topper was hurt. that he felt everything he had said to her. everything that he had done to her. she wanted to make sure that he felt how he had made her felt since they met when they were kids. because he deserved it. he deserved every bit of it.

she felt someone pull her away from topper, the sawyer girl starting to fight against their hold. but they were too strong. she was handed over to john b and jj, seeing that mike carrera was the one to pull her off. she blinked, almost like she had finally snapped out of the trance she was in. she looked around, seeing the scared looks on everyone's faces. her eyes then went over to kie, who was looking at her in worry. she then looked over to sarah, who's eyes held so many emotions. she then looked over to mike and anna, who held such anger in their eyes. she could see that mike was yelling at her, but she couldn't hear it. the ringing was still in her eyes. she didn't even realize she was crying until john b had wiped her face.

coby looked at sarah again as john b and jj dragged her away. she didn't say anything, letting the two boys guide her towards the pogue. the both of them were scolding her, but she wasn't processing it. everything they were saying was going in one ear and out the other. that was until john b grabbed her face to make her look at him. their eyes met, coby seeing how worried he was for her.

"do you have any idea what you just did?" he questioned, his voice barely above a whisper.

coby didn't answer right away, sniffling again. "i fucked up."

"yeah, you fucked up." john b nodded.

"i'm sorry." she apologized, her voice shaking.

john b chuckled, shaking his head slightly. he knew that she was hurting. i mean, the first girl that coby had ever loved, had actually gotten into a relationship with had cheated on her. not only did she cheat on her, but she cheated on her with her ex boyfriend. coby had every right to crash out.

"it's okay, cobe." he mumbled, pulling the girl in for a hug.

daij speaks!

ah