"𝙎𝙃𝙀'𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙂?" John B called to Kie as she was walking down the dock. The girl just shook her head and grabbed onto Pope's outstretched hand before stepping on the boat.
"Nope." Kie just shrugged and sat the cooler of drinks down. They all quickly grabbed a bottle out as they drove off into the marshes.
"Lilac has practically ditched us," Pope said with a sigh and a shake of his head.
"She wouldn't do that, would she?" John B asked. The group all just shrugged at him in response.
"Who knows, man," JJ replied, drinking his beer.
"We should go check on her later and see if she is at home," John B suggested. The group only gave quiet, inaudible replies.

"𝙃𝙀𝙔, 𝙇𝙄𝙇𝘼𝘾? 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀?" Pope called as JJ knocked on the door to the front of her house. When no response came, he tried to wiggle the door handle. Eventually, after his friends tried telling him to stop, JJ got the door open.
"See?" JJ grinned as he stepped inside and his friends followed.
"Lilac?" Kie called out. Again, no response came, so the Pogues diapered and began checking everywhere in the house. When no sign of the girl came up, they regrouped back near the door.
"Where else would she be?" JJ asked with a sigh.
"Don't know, man," John B said, scanning the area once again, just in case he had missed anything obvious. "Maybe she went rogue on us or something."
"Went rogue on us? Really, John B?" Kie asked, shaking her head. She pulled the door back open and headed back towards the group's run down van. Pope went after her and John B followed, but JJ lingered.
"Lilac?" he whispered again. As he figured, no response came. He sniffed in, smelling the remains of weed that he knew from his dad's habits. The other Pogues didn't notice, he knew, and with a final glance, he hurried after his friends.

"𝘽𝙊𝙉𝙀𝙔𝘼𝙍𝘿 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙔 𝙏𝙊𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏?" JJ asked the group, needing to get some alcohol in his system before he went crazy.
     "Yeah, that sounds good," John B said. Pope just rolled his eyes and Kie shrugged as they sat around the Chateau's porch.

"𝙇𝙀𝙏'𝙎 𝙋𝙐𝙏 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙆𝙀𝙂 𝙊𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀!" Kie called as she stepped over some driftwood into a clearing in the Boneyard. Pope, carrying the cups, agreed with her idea, so John B and JJ placed the keg down where she suggested.
     Soon, other Pogues, Kooks, and tourons started showing up as the sky darkened into night and red cups were being passed around. JJ was already drunk and Kie was sitting around the fire while Pope and John B passed out the drinks.
     Eventually, JJ had wondered off toward the edges of the party, still sipping on a drink as he stumbled a little. He downed the cup and threw it to the side before continuing on down the beach and sitting on a driftwood log.
     "JJ?" somebody mumbled behind him. He ignored the sound, figuring it was some random partygoer stumbling about.
     Eventually, though, he heard someone fall down, so he quickly turned around and saw Lilac pulling herself up on a tree. Quickly sobering up, JJ hurried over to her and pulled her up, holding her against his chest.
     "Lilac? What's the matter? I didn't even know you came tonight," JJ said quickly. Lilac just shook her head and pulled him closer. "What's the matter?" he asked her softly.
     "I didn't know there was a party tonight. I came from the road," she mumbled. "Dad was driving."
     "Lilac, babe, what happened?" he whispered, pulling her closer and keeping her out of view from the large crowd. She smiled softly at his nickname, but tears kept rolling down her cheeks. When she shook her head again, JJ pulled her chin up to see her face and was shocked when it was scratched and bloodied against one side.
     "How bad is it?" she whispered.
     "How did you get this?" he asked, pushing her hair back to see it better.
     "He pushed me out of his truck," Lilac mumbled to him.
     "What?" He shook his head, not being able to process it. "Let's get out of here."
     "Alright," she mumbled as he ushered her off the beach.

"𝙎𝙊 𝙃𝙀 𝙋𝙐𝙎𝙃𝙀𝘿 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝙊𝙁 𝙃𝙄𝙎 𝙏𝙍𝙐𝘾𝙆?" JJ asked Lilac as she sat on the bathroom counter at John B's house. She only shrugged and pushed her hair behind her ears.
     "Yeah, I guess," she muttered, looking back at him with a sigh.
     "So..." he trailed off. "Can I ask what happened?"
     "When you saw him driving yesterday?" JJ nodded, remembering it. "He was driving like that again. Speeding. Not...not in a great state of mind. And I asked him to slow down because people were walking around, so he pulled over. And-and..."
"Shh, babe. Come here," JJ said, pulling her closer. She started to sob against him. Lilac was the first one he told when his dad had beat him in their truck and seeing something like this happen to her broke his heart. "You don't have to keep going, Lilac. Let's just get you cleaned up."
"Thank you, JJ," she mumbled into the crook of his neck as he sat her back up.
"Anytime, babe."