༄ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍𝗒－𝗌𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 ༄

𝑷𝑬𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑲𝑰𝑵 𝑯𝑨𝑫 𝑨 funeral service that Thalia wasn't allowed to attend. Ward didn't trust what she'd say, and even though Thalia wanted to go, she was left behind. Rose forced her into going to physical therapy every day so she would be walking sooner. Thalia obliged, because she absolutely hated her crutches. After a shit ton of arguing, Thalia was switching schools. She refused to go to the Kook school without Sarah. That was the reason she gave, not that she wanted to be with Pope, JJ and Kiara.

        So she was going to school on the Pogue side of the island. It was a compromise Ward and Rose were willing to make to keep the peace. Thalia was at physical therapy when Kiara decided to spray paint the word 'murderers' on the wall of the Cameron property and shout the word at Rafe, and she was glad to have avoided Rafe's anger when he saw it.

        Thalia talked to Pope every day, but because she wasn't working for the rest of the summer, she couldn't see him. JJ was being difficult, so Thalia didn't talk to him very often. Just when they had gotten close, there was a clear distance between them. "How's Kie?" Thalia asked Pope through the phone, lying on her bed, icing her knee. It had been two weeks since her surgery, and school was set to start the following week.

        "She tried to kiss me the other day." Pope said casually.

        "What?" Thalia asked quickly, too quickly.

        Pope smiled on the other line. "She was high. I didn't let her," Pope answered. He got an idea. "Are you jealous, or something?" he questioned, hoping this didn't go horribly wrong.

        Thalia froze. "No. Not at all." she said after a long pause, trying to shake off the question.

        The conversation continued for probably another hour, until Pope fell asleep on the line, and Thalia hung up once she heard his steady breathing, and she managed to sleep, too. The next few days were extremely boring, and filled with arguments about how Thalia was getting to and from school. Everything was an argument these days.

        The previous years, Topper had taken Sarah and Thalia to school and driven them home. It was suggested by Ward for Rafe to bring Thalia, to which she reminded her uncle that Rafe was a murderer and she wouldn't ever be alone with him. Wheezie suggested that Thalia drive herself to and from school, to which Rose vetoed instantly with zero explanation as to why.

        Then, Thalia dared to bring up Kiara, JJ and Pope. Her friend, her brother, and her... something. "Why can't Kie drive me?" Thalia asked after physical therapy the day before school started.

        Ward put his glass down on the kitchen counter. "She and the other Pogues painted 'murderers' on the wall, Thalia. They're not allowed over here." Ward said firmly, and Thalia sighed.

        "Ward, JJ's my brother. You think I'm never going to hang out with him?" Thalia reminded her uncle, hardly able to look him in the eyes these days.

        "Not in this house." Ward decided.

        Thalia was very persuasive, and Kie could bring her to school until she was trusted enough to drive one of the many Cameron cars and take herself. Thalia told Pope as soon as she could, and the random calls she often gave him offered Pope the hope that maybe this could work between them. If he grew enough confidence to finally ask her out.

        By the time the next morning rolled around, Thalia forced herself out of bed and pulled on black jean shorts, a blue off the shoulder knitted sweater with a blue tank top beneath it, paired with her blue converse. Her flesh-colored bandage and black brace covered her knee, and she hopped to her bathroom to get ready, leaving her crutches behind temporarily.

        She braided her red hair into a messy bun atop her head, stray pieces framing her face, accentuating her freckles. After putting on her jewelry and some light makeup, Thalia grabbed her practically empty backpack and walked with her crutches down the stairs. She was able to put a decent amount of weight on her knee, but not a lot, and not for long periods of time.

        "Aren't you hungry?" Rose asked Thalia as she began to walk out the door.

        Thalia shook her head and left. She had weed. She was fine. Kiara was waiting on the side of the road with JJ in the front seat. Thalia pushed herself into the backseat behind her brother, hugging her crutches. "I hate school." she muttered, annoyed.

        Kiara started driving. "At least you're with us." she said quietly. The Pogues didn't talk much anymore. Everything felt empty without John B and Sarah.

        JJ passed Thalia a joint and she took a hit before giving it back. That was the extent of their communication. Then they drove to get Pope, who was very happy to see Thalia based on the look on his face. The drive to school was fairly quiet, with Thalia and Pope carrying the weight of the conversation in hushed voices to each other.

        When Kie parked the car, JJ took a hearty swig from his flask, tossing it in the backseat. "Hey, chill out." Kie said when she noticed his reckless behavior.

        "If I black out, just don't remind me." JJ muttered, pushing his hat down onto his head as he shut the car door, walking around the front of it.

        "That's not funny." Kie scorned.

        Thalia pushed her crutches under her arms, refusing Pope's help. "It's a little funny." she said, rolling her eyes at the stares she got. Everyone on the island knew who Thalia Cameron was, there was no escaping her reputation.

        The Pogues started walking towards the front door of the school, whispers flitting about all around them. They came upon a painted rock with a surfboard propped up against it. On the board was John B's name, pictures pasted all over it. "I feel like people are staring at us." Kiara said, glancing around.

        "Oh yeah." JJ nodded.

        "Guys, I can't be late." Pope said, starting to brush past Kie and Thalia.

        Thalia grasped his wrist before he could get too far, turning him back to her. She didn't say anything, but Pope knew everything she was telling him. So they walked into school together, Kiara forcing JJ to walk with them. Thalia hated the fact that she was a 'new kid', even though every one of her teachers knew who she and her mother were just by her stupid red hair.

        Mr. Sunn did not like Thalia one bit. She sat behind Kiara, not taking notes. "And the slave becomes the new ruler. Now, Diocletian splits the sprawling Roman Empire..." Thalia's phone dinged and she stuffed it into her backpack. "...into four separate kingdoms," Pope's phone went off next, and he tucked it away without taking his eyes off of his notes. Mr. Sunn turned around. "Whose phone was that? Nobody? You will be tested. Now, to recap, who was Diocletian? An ex-slave who became the ruler of the Roman Empire. His reign began..."

        Kiara pulled out her phone, seeing a text from an unknown number. "Did you get it?" she asked Pope, who nodded.

        Kie looked at Thalia, and she nodded because she had also received the message. As Mr. Sunn continued teaching, JJ snuck his way over to Pope, Kie and Thalia. They all opened the message, seeing a picture of John B and Sarah. Eyes wide, Thalia was in shock. Was Sarah alive? Thalia then looked at JJ, and they mutually decided to just dip. Without a word, JJ rushed out of the classroom, Thalia following him, waiting in the hallway for Pope and Kiara.

        The Pogues dodged teachers and students as they jogged down the halls. JJ tripped over a janitor's cart, and they had to run faster, Thalia practically hopping on one foot because it was faster. They pushed open the door to the courtyard and moved down the steps. "I mean, is that even possible? I mean, Shoupe said that they didn't make it. He said that." Kie said right away, Pope helping Thalia down the stairs.

        "Okay, but I... I think we're overreacting, 'cause we can't rule out the possibility that this could all be some kind of weird, cruel hoax." Pope said as Kiara sat on a picnic table, Thalia joining her.

        "Just ask." Thalia said, peering over Kie's shoulder to see what she was sending.

        JJ paced as Pope sat on a table across from the girls. "What if it's actually him, though?" the blonde voiced.

        Pope shrugged. "Then I don't know, okay? I don't know." he said, eyes locking on a focused Thalia.

        Kiara texted the unknown number back, asking if it really was John B. Pope pulled out his own phone, too anxious not to look at the text string himself. "He's typing." Thalia said, cracking her knuckles to busy her shaking fingers.

        "He responded?" Pope asked, unable to hear Thalia's quiet voice.

        She looked up at him. "He's typing." she reiterated.

        John B finally responded, asking for JJ. When JJ responded with a phrase everybody knew, it was clearly him. Soon, they were laughing, because it was really John B. "It's him." JJ said, overjoyed.

        "It's him." Kiara agreed, crying tears of joy.

        "It's definitely him." Pope said, but Thalia wasn't satisfied yet.

        She asked if Sarah was there, and when Sarah responded, Thalia smiled. "They're okay." she looked up at Pope. He hadn't seen her this happy in a long time.

        Pope and JJ embraced each other happily, and then JJ came over to the girls, crushing them both in a hug that had Thalia shoving him off so she could breathe. And JJ cheered loudly at the sky, which forced Thalia to smile at him. "'Laying super low in Nassau,'" Kie read out John B's latest text. "How the hell did they get to the Bahamas?" she questioned.

        "Sarah can find rich, Kook houses, even in the middle of the ocean." Thalia said, and they all smiled. Thalia was a tad bitter that she had never been allowed to go to the Bahama house.

        "You can't kill a Pogue, dude." JJ said, sitting on a rock beside Pope.

        "Especially John B." Pope agreed.

        John B asked them to clear his name, as if they weren't already going to do so that very day. "Hell, yeah, we'll clear your name, boy." JJ voiced aloud. Thalia looked up from her phone, only to meet Pope's eyes. He looked away frantically.

        Thalia's phone dinged, so she looked down at it. "'Be in touch. P4L.'" she read out with a smile.

        "P4L, man. That's what I'm talking about! P4L, baby!" JJ screamed up at the sky, and before Thalia knew it, she was being lifted off of the table and into Pope's arms, her legs dangling towards the ground. She hugged him because she cared so much about him. She couldn't hurt him.

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