This is not has not been reviewed so kindly point out any mistakes u see (I'm sensitive ok😭)

"HEY, HEY." SIERRA SOFTLY SPOKE as she watched the blonde pace back-and-forth inside her living room. "Calm down, JJ."

He tugged at his hair roughly, "It's not right, Si, i-it just isn't." His hand gripped at his chest as his breaths deepened, Sierra has already caught onto that action, he was panicking.

"JJ." Sierra spoke more firmly placing both hands on his shoulders to stop the stressful pacing, but his breaths came out ragged and uneven. She pulled him close, wrapping both of her arms around his neck as he buried his face into her neck, taking a deep breath he smelled her perfume that was always left behind after she borrowed on of his shirts. He always complained but he always loved it and knew it brought him comfort when he needed it. His breaths calmed down as all his senses focused on her aroma, as a kid he never was able to find something that calmed him down, until her. Carefully she lead him towards the bed and laid him down, he was tired, all he need was goodnight sleep. "Go to sleep, a human needs atleast 10 hours of it, the last I need is for you to become an insomniac."

The blonde softly snorted as a smirk grew on his face, with his eyes still closed he mumbled quietly, "Nerd."

"Douche." She shoved his shoulder and turned off the lamp beside her bed. By the time she was comfortable on the mattress JJ's soft snores were heard loud and clear.

—

The clocked ticker painfully slow as teenagers focused on the sheet of paper in front of them, a test that half of the students probably didn't study for, the classroom door creaked open and a man in slick black suit came in. "Mr. Sunn, can I borrow Pope for a minute."

Mr. Sunn swiftly stood from his desk, "We're in the middle of a test right now."

"I'm from the Vanderhorst Foundation." Replied the mysterious man as Mr. Sunn sighed and looked towards Pope. His focused was removed from the test and he looked up in confusion, a crease making it's way between his eyebrows.

"Mr. Heyward, it's for you."

"Thank you." Both stood outside the door speaking a hush and quiet tone, Kiara glanced behind her to look at Sierra who was holding the same puzzled look. After a few minutes Pope came in, his eyes wide while his shaky hands held onto a letter, as he sat down he held it up towards Kiara.

Sierra leaned in closer to look at the small golden stamp that held the letter closed, her eyes focused and saw a familiar symbol. The wheat symbol. All together they realized in a silent panic.

"What the fu...fu...fudge." JJ loud exclaimed as Mr. Sunn glared at him, it was always the blonde who had to pull him away from the lesson he was teaching.

—

"Is this like a game of tag?" JJ questioned as the swiftly passed the metal detectors and walked into the school library. Immediately his loud voice clashed with the quiet atmosphere causing the librarian to let out an aggressive 'sh'.

"Seriously, Pope, you are driving me insane." Kiara commented as she sat down in front of the old school computers.

"That guy was from the scholarship committee, take a look at this." He passed it JJ who snatched from his finger tips. "Read it."

"Out loud."

JJ stayed silent, he observed the letter and bit his lip, Kiara raised a brow at him as Sierra sighed, the boy glanced at her for help. She took it from his hands, "He cant read cursive."

"Yep."

"Dear Mr. Heyward I have reached out because I have material evidence that can exonerate John B. Routledge." Sierra whispered loud enough for them to hear, "It is a vital importance that you come and meet me in person at my offices at 27 King St., Charleston at eight PM sharp tonight. Please come alone. Regards, C. Limbrey."  She put the letter down on the wooden table beside Kiara, "That shits creepy as hell."

"Charleston?"

"It's like an eight-hour drive plus the ferry. How will we get there tonight." Pope whispered-shouted whole pacing back and forth.

"We'd have to leave right now."

"I have a free period."

"Material evidence"? What does that even mean, "material evidence?" JJ muttered to himself revising the letter in his head.

"It means that he can clear John B's name, cut them free from this stupid ass goose chase." Sierra replied.

"Oh, shit, then we're going to Charleston." JJ suddenly spoke louder then his earlier mumbles causing the librarian to once again look up at glare at the four.

"I gotta tell my mom, look, if we get it this time, we are not giving it to Shoupe, or your lawyer." Kiara explained while JJ snorted and added his own comment.

"Yeah, no duh."

Pope did some typing in the computer then let out a sigh, Kiara glanced at him questioning the sudden act. "I'm not sure, but I think whoever this Limbrey person is, they might be related to the captain of the Royal Merchant."

"Dun, dun, duun."

—

To summarize the whole situation, they got kicked out the library for being too loud. They got ahold of a vehicle, well, if you count an old run-down, rusty truck Pope lied to get a vehicle then mission accomplished. Although their wasn't any space in truck so Sierra had to sit on JJ's lap but she could barley get comfortable when he had to loudly admit he had a boner. After the same old scold by Kiara: Stop making everything so sexual JJ, they arrived at her house which was a disaster.

Shouts coming from all ends of the small family were heard from the truck as Sierra traced the tattoo on her thigh, guilt was eating her insides when she heard Kiara's parents frustrated screams. They gave the young girl so much yet here she was, it was hard.

"They're taking it really well." JJ remarked while the, (surprisingly working), radio softly sang. The blonde glanced at Pope who intensely watched the argument in front of him. "How'd you get this rig? I know your old man didn't let you have it."

"I undid the intake bables on the carburetor. Made it start pinging." Pope replied casually as his gaze never moved from the fight like an IPad kid watching Coco Melon.

"And now you're just gonna take it to your cousin Jeff's house, just gonna get it fixed,"

"Crash overnight." The two said in unison as Sierra quietly giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"You two are more of a couple then me and you." Sierra teased while Pope rolled his eyes and JJ smirked.

"I find offensive to think I'd ever date this dumbass." Pope finally tore away his focus to look at Sierra who scoffed sarcastically, "No offense of course, you guys are occasionally cute, and occasionally disgusting."

"Wow, Pope, I think JJ is rubbing of on you with all that attitude." Sierra nudged him with her shoulder.

"Exactly what I was thinking, lying to your old man and stealing his truck, don't know about you but that sounds familiar." JJ took notice of the silence from Pope after his words and quickly spoke again.  "All right, that's a sore subject. My bad."

"I'd say we have about 18 hours before he absolutely loses his shit. So as long as we get it back before then, I think we're good." Pope explained as Sierra nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, Mr. Heyward has like five stages of anger, sorta like the five stages of grief, y'know." Sierra began, "First he's confused, then he gets a mad, but then he get irritated, following that he gets pissed, and finally he fully looses his shit."

"Perfectly said." Pope high-fives her while Kiara came running down her porch steps screaming about boarding school. JJ pushed the door open with a loud creak allowing her to enter the truck but Sierra had to climb out as well. Her eyes met with Mr. and Mrs. Carrera's she sent them a soft smile but her eyes showed all the guilt she held.

"I'm sorry, thank for all you've done, seriously. I'll take care of her, make sure she doesn't get hurt." She swiftly climbed back into the truck after her best friend.

"It's good to see y'all,  Mr. and Mrs. Carrera!" 

Pope poked his head out the cat window, "Hi, uh, ma'am, sir. I..I promise to have her back at a reasonable hour and safe." Kiara glared at him with furrowed brows.

"What are you doing?"

"He's being a gentlemen." Sierra scolded the curly-haired girl for being so harsh on the respectable man.

"Kiara, listen to me." Mrs. Carrera strongly spoke with one hand planted on her hip. "You wanna go, then you can go, but if you don't come back at the proper time then don't come back at all. Sierra, we have provided with help and appreciate what you've done in return but if you are involved in this then the same goes for you."

"She's bluffin." JJ whispered before climbing back into the car with a small wave, "Y'all have a nice day."

"This shit would be so much easier without parents." The girl spoke at types of annoyance and anger laced in her tone.

—

A soft wind blew, the smell of the ocean reeked all around, hues of yellow and orange swirled together creating an enchanting gold that made the lost treasure they searched for envious. Waves crashed against each other, the seagulls loudly cried in the air along with Kiara's rant about how horrible her parents were.

"My parents are so paranoid of me being a pogue like it's the worst thing that could ever happen." The curly-haired girl complained as the three just listened in trying to find a good part in all of it.

"Hey, I hear they got good weed at boarding school, though." JJ shrugged.

"I'm not going to boarding school." Kiara stubbornly claimed, "They're gonna have to kidnap me, tie me up, and throw me in a van."

"Well, I say, we just crumble some herb right now." JJ rose from his position on top of the trucks roof to pass the joint towards Kiara as he reposition beside Sierra.

"Hey, Kie, have you tried to hit John B back on that number yet?"

"Like twenty million times."

"That's quite a few times, heh."

"Some random lady at a hotel keeps answering."

"Well, until we hear from them again, we gotta try and clear his name." Pope spoke in a way that reminded Sierra of the leadership John held within the group. "Right now, this letter's our best bet."

"Right, stay on task." JJ nodded in agreement, "That's why I love ya, Pope."

"Aww, I ship." Sierra giggled as she noticed Kiara stand up and walk towards Pope with a hand out, she offered the joint despite knowing how against drugs Pope was.

"What Pope are you gonna be today?"

Kiara rolled her eyes and back down, "Good Pope." She sat beside Sierra, the young girl noticed how Pope's face slightly dropped at her words. "Boring Pope." Kiara muttered again.

"Aka, my favorite Pope that keeps me stable within this group of occasional dumbasses." Sierra raised her hand towards her friend as the two did a quick hand shake, the smile she adored back on Heyward boys face.

"Whatever." Kiara chuckled softly handing Sierra the blunt, Sierra gladly took it. The loud air horn of the boat rung leaving a deep echo to guide the waves, The island of the Outer Banks was now just a small dot in the distance. Sierra looked all around her admiring the scene, it was funny how such a simple thing satisfied her eyes, the way the ocean before them crashed in different direction while it reflected the colors of the golden sky making it look like a mystical fountain you'd read about in the stories.

—

CHARLESTON, NORTH CAROLINA

The old truck rumble down the street of North Carolina, both windows had been cracked down all the way but the heat still created a humid atmosphere that made them all sticky and sweaty.

Kiara had been analyzing the letter for the whole drip, she huffed in annoyance as her eyes brows creased deeply. "Gus, I've read this thing like a thousand times, it makes no sense. I mean, the Limbreys own, like, half of Charleston. What do the Kook kings of Charleston know about a murder on Kildare Island?"

"Yeah," JJ agreed, "Why you specifically? That's the other creepy thing, y'know."

" 'Please come alone.' That's hella sus." Kiara commented as Sierra lightly cringed at her choice of words.

"I was thinking the same thing." Pope began, "I think it's because—" Steam had abruptly appeared from the hood as the truck rumble louder till a small crackle created an even big puff of smoke.

The truck slowed and jolted when Pope continued to press on the gas, JJ had immediately rolled up the window as he inhaled the smoke and coughed. "Pope, I got sensitive lungs, man!"

All three had protested loudly while Pope panicked and made a sharp turn onto the grassy part beside the road, a rim had jumped out one of the tires while the car slowed down. In a fit of shock and a smidge of fright the group had all gotten out the car swiftly with Kiara even claiming that it was gonna blown, this and loud hissing  worsened Popes raging anxiety.

"No, no, no."

"Jesus, fuck!" Sierra yelled glaring at the junk that still managed to be called a working vehicle. "I've had it up to the holy heavens with this shit!"

"You probably unhooked the radiator, Pope." JJ informed, "I haven't seen this before. You knocked the entire hubcap off!" JJ clapped and grinned, he picked up the rim from the hard ground with a small chuckle. "You might want to reschedule your meeting tonight, Pope."

"Uhh, plan B?" Kiara suggested. "We could, um...public transportation, we could hitchhike, we could rent bikes."

Kiara listed all types of things she could think of but Pope seemed unfazed as he worryingly looked at the insides of the car. JJ, the self-proclaimed mechanic master, had a look inside and clicked his tongue with a small nod, "Yeah, it's the radiator."

"My dads gonna kill me."

"Yeah, he might. He might."

Sierra sent a not-so-subtle smack with the dirty rag in her hand towards JJ's hip. "J!" She scolded and sent a sweet smile in Pope's direction. "Well, we could look on the bright side which is..." Sierra stammered before sighing in defeat. "Yeah, we're screwed."

NAT SPEAKS
Well, well, well. Looky here  I am actually posting a chapter 😱😱😱😱😱😱 no but in all seriousness no apology will make up for my long absence and seriously feel bad about leaving you guys hanging here so I'll try. Currently my motivation is giving nothing, I still adore reading but the actual process of writing just makes me feel so tired and it doesn't help that school has been pressuring me to pass or else I'll be out in summer school and blah blah blah. Anywhore, I am failing 2 classes 😭😭, I am doing all I can , juggling some responsibilities outside and inside of school but it can get pretty difficult. Now this is still NO EXCUSE for my lack of updating so I just want to send love and hearts to all who still have some sort of patience left with me. I think about y'all and the support you've given me and the character of Sierra Ray all the time , it truly melts my heart that I managed to create this platform. As always,  eat well, drink water, take care and love yourself, have the most amazing day, evening, or afternoon, if you EVER need to rant or need any type of help my private message will always be  safe space.

As always

                                        —XOXO, nataly