The old movie playing on the screen sends fake gunshots ringing through the air. The sky has long turned dark, making me more comfortable from the lack of visibility from the boys behind us. 

    I take a handful of the popcorn I bought from one of the stalls, handing the bag to JJ who generously pours half the continents into her mouth.

    "JJ," Pope whispers, tapping the boy in question's leg. JJ rather disgustingly forces himself to swallow his mouthful, turning to his friend, "Gotta take a piss,"

    "Hold it," JJ replies sternly and coldly. 

    "I can't hold it. I drank too much soda," Pope pleads, my eyes drifting to the empty cans of Pepsi beside him.

    "It's too exposed, they'll totally see us," JJ whispers back. I turn over my shoulder, noticing how the three Kooks sit blocking the way to the toilets. 

    Sighing, I turn back to the duo and nod to Pope, "Go find somewhere to take a leak, I'll distract him,"

    Pope looks at me like a goddess, clamping his hands together in prayer as he whispers, "Thank you,"

    JJ sighs tapping Pope as he gestures over to a tree near the screen, "Come on, I know where,"

    Before they get up, I leave the group and walk over to where Rafe is seated, rubbing my sweaty palms on my jean shorts. He notices me almost instantly but pretends not to, rather, sipping on his drink and 'watching' the screen ahead.

    "Hey... Rafe," I whisper, not needing to crouch down considering no one is seated behind them. He finally looks up at me, his eyes darting to the small mark under my eye, "Can we talk?"

    He looks to his friends beside him who have varying responses. Topper glares at me, probably due to the punch I landed on his face at the boneyard, while Kelce lowly whistles and leans to tap Rafe on the shoulder as he stands. I lead Rafe away from his friends, up the back of the sitting area. From my peripheral vision, I see JJ and Pope scurry off to their spot.

    "About... what happened. Phoebe, I didn't mean to," He says, sounding remorseful without actually apologising. 

    I keep my arms close to me, feeling protective of myself around him. I nod, forming a tight-lipped smile as I look up at him, "I know, it's... fine,"

    "Just... thinking of you with-" He cuts himself off, turning his head to where the two pogues were previously sitting. My stomach sinks as he turns to the tree, his face furrowing before he turns to me with nothing but anger on his face, "Were you... distracting me?"

    "No, Rafe, I-" I'm cut off when Rafe turns, gesturing to his friends to get up who immediately follow his orders. I scramble after him, attempting to grab his biceps and pull him back all while apologising to the people beside us.

    Rafe crosses the crown in no time, approaching the tree just as JJ and Pope attempt to go back to their seats.

    "Rafe, stop!" I raise my voice from a whisper, grabbing onto his arm once more only for him to flick me away. 

    "What's up, pogues?" Rafe ignores me, his voice eerily calm as he marches up to my friends. JJ and Pope step back, Pope immediately turning and trying to flee behind the screen only for Topper and Kelce to appear on the other side, blocking him. 

    "Nice work you did on my boat," Topper steps to Pope, all of us huddled behind the projector screen, out of sight.

    "I don't know what you mean," Pope stumbles for words, denying any accountability. 

    "Sure," Topper scoffs, clearly not believing a word.

    Rafe and his friends stand on one side while I fall into step beside JJ and Pope. Rafe conveniently ignores my choice, glaring down at JJ, "Not so burly without a gun now, are you?"

    "Take one more step, I'll rip that prepubescent face off," JJ threatens, stepping closer to Rafe to show how unafraid he is, gun or not. 

    "No offence, Top. But, a lot of people on this island have plenty of reasons to want to knock your spoiled ass down a peg," I say, glaring at the blonde rich boy who tried to drown my brother not so long ago. 

    "Oh, really?" Topper steps closer into the circle, obviously assuming he can intimidate me. 

    "Yeah, is that surprising?" I tilt my head, mocking him like a child. 

    Topper shakes his head, turning to Pope and looking like he wants to spit on him, "Do you feel good? Stealing shit? Is your mum proud of you? Is your Dad?"

    Within seconds, Pope latches onto Topper's collar and swings his head forward, connecting with Topper in a solid headbutt. 

    "Now, attaboy! Attaboy!" JJ encourages him. He stands next to Pope, tapping on top of his closed fist, "With your fist, like this? Okay?"

    Just as he's about to land a hit, Kelce grabs JJ around the waist, both of them fighting each other off. JJ gets free, landing punches on Kelce's face as Pope does the same to Topper. Unsurprisingly, Rafe comes in behind JJ, grabbing him and spinning him around enough for Kelce to get JJ in a hold, allowing for Rafe to easily land hits on him. 

    "Hey! Enough!" I yell, stepping in between Rafe and shoving him away. If they wanted to fight it out, fine, but leaving JJ unable to defend himself is a cowardly move. 

    "Come on, Rafe! Is that all you got?" JJ encourages over my shoulder, the anger in him leading to him egging on the fight. 

    "JJ, shut up!" I yell over my shoulder. Rafe takes this opportunity to grab my arm, pulling me away from them with a harsh enough grip to leave fingerprint-sized bruises on my arm. 

    I claw at his grip, yelling at him to let go. Truthfully, I knew Rafe would become too focused on me to continue jumping JJ no matter how much he encouraged it. 

    "Let go of him, Topper! Fascist asshole!" Kiara's voice joins the group. I look over Rafe's shoulder, watching as Kie jumps in beside Topper, slinging what looks like a bag across Topper's body with force. Topper pauses his this on Pope, turning and yanking the bag from Kie's grip before throwing it away.

   The last thing I see is Kie jumping on Topper's back, throwing hits on his face before I'm distracted by Rafe. He turns back to JJ, my body moving in front of him to shove him back. He stares at me with anger, marching over to me and grabbing me before throwing me to the ground. 

    My back hits the ground, my spine sore as I watch Rfae turn to Kie, tossing her off of Topper and to the ground as well. 

   I roll onto my stomach, pushing to my knees as the Kooks get the Pogues into a tight headlock. My panicked vision turns to Kie, spying JJ's bag laying beside Kie in the grass. I crawl over to her, reaching for the bag and tossing out the contents in search of a certain weapon.

    My fingers latch around the gun, pulling it out just as Kie jolts her hand out and covers it. I look up at her as she holds up JJ's lighter, nodding her head towards the screen. I nod, letting her silently know I understand her plan. 

    We both stay low as we reach the screen, Kie taking the lighter out and holding the flame to the projector screen. 

    The screen takes fire almost instantly, both of us stepping away from the heat as people on the other side of the movie scream and gasp in horror. 

    Topper drops Pope to the ground, him and Rafe turning to the fire as Kelce keeps his grip around JJ's neck.

    "Kelce! Let go!" I yell over the sound of the blaze. Kelce reluctantly lets go of him, turning his attention to the fire behind me. 

    JJ leans forward, coughing heavily and holding his throat. I reach him, bending to look at his face, "You okay, J?"

    I reach down to the grass, picking up his red hat and handing it to him. He takes it, coughing less now as he fixes it on his head. Turning over my shoulder, I watch as Rafe and Topper laugh, all three of them scattering as Kie helps Pope up.

    "Let's get the hell out of here,"

                    "What was your thought process? Using your head?" JJ asks, sorting through groceries in Heyward's shop. Pope looks less than amused, beside Kiara as they both get things ready for transport. Considering I'm still avoiding going home, I'm hanging around the Pogues as much as possible, sucking in all the freedom I can before going back to my bubble wrap.

    "I don't know, man. I just kinda acted off instinct, alright? I was a cornered animal," Pope shrugs, seemingly unphased by the ordeal last night. 

    "Keeping it humble, I see," I laugh, looking down at my station.

    "Hey, Pope, someone here to see you," Heyward's voice grabs my attention, all of us turning to the source of the noise. Heyward points behind him just as Deputy Shoupe enters behind him.

    My face falls at his serious expression, my eyes instantly shifting to Pope as she shares the expression. Shoupe speaks, "I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property. Hand's where I can see 'em,"

    Pope turns back to JJ, his eyes wide and scared at the charges behind read to him.

    "Shoupe! What'd he do?" Heyward asks in a fluster as Shoupe walks behind Pope, pulling his arms behind his back. "You're just arresting my boy?

    "He didn't do anything!" I shout after them, Kie shouting things of her own as Shoupe ignores us, reading Pope his Miranda Rights. I lift my arm up, gesturing to Pope's face, "Look at his face! They beat the shit out of him!"

    Pope's face is something indescribable, like he's completely disconnected from the world as Shoupe leads him out of the shop and down the dock. We all follow after them, our shouts mixed in with each other as we scramble for protests.

    I turn to JJ who has a look of self-sacrifice and sadness on his face. I step closer to him to him, whispering lowly, "I can get him a good lawyer, okay? He's not going down for this,"

    "You're right," JJ shakes his head, looking up towards Pope with a clenched jaw. "He's not,"

    "What are you-"

    "It wasn't him!" JJ shouts, pausing the chaos as everyone turns to him. I look at him with sadness, his eyes hard as he steps up to Shoupe. "It was me. He tried to talk me out of it, but I was mad because he'd just been beaten up. I was so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I lost my shit," He turns to Pope with a smile, "I can't let you take the blame for something I did, you've got too much to lose,"

    "JJ, what are you doing?" Pope asks, their eye contact something of intense loyalty.

    "I'm telling the truth. For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth," JJ says, turning to Shoupe now with a smile of acceptance on his face, "I took his old man's boat, too,"

    "What the hell," Heyward chimes in.

    "JJ, come on-"

    "Just shut up, Pope!" JJ yells, cutting off Pope's attempts at reason. "Just shut up. He's a good kid, you know where I'm from,"

    Shoupe looks him up and down, an understanding on his face saying he knows that JJ's lying but doesn't seem to care. Shoupe responds with a simple, "Yeah,"

    "This was all me,"

    Shoupe turns to Pope, almost as if he's trying to make Pope feel guilty as he asks, "That's the whole truth?"

    Pope looks to JJ, his face ridden with guilt and unsureness while JJ projects nothing but certainty. Pope finally looks down, unable to face JJ as he responds, "Yeah, that about covers it,"

    That's enough for Shoupe to take the cuffs from Pope, transferring them to JJ before loading him into the squad car. JJ turns over his shoulder, making eye contact with me before being tucked away.

    I let out an extended breath, running my fingers through my hair as Pope runs off in anger. If there's ever a time to go back home to my wealthy, well-connected parents, now couldn't be better. Maybe I could get in Linus's good graces and he'd help me with a lawyer or money, whatever helps JJ get out of lock-up faster. 

    Picking up my bike, I mount it and take off without another thought. If I ponder it too much, I won't go back home and I won't be of any use to JJ or Pope. 

-----

a/n

it's been nearly a month but I've hit a writers block for this story aha. i wanted to extend this chapter longer but decided it's fine here so here it is! sorry for the wait x

it's only been roughly edited so I hope there's no confusing mistakes