༄ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝗂𝗑 ༄

AS THALIA AND Pope jogged over to the scene on the beach, they saw that it was JJ and Topper aggressively shoving each other. Thalia knew JJ's reputation enough to assume he was being a dick and Topper took everything to another level. The sun had set, and it was dark. "What happened?" Thalia asked Kiara because Sarah was busy shouting for Topper to stop.

Kie blatantly ignored Thalia as John B pushed JJ out of the way, getting between him and Topper as Pope moved over to his best friends. "You're so funny, man." JJ called to Topper, who was walking away with Sarah.

"Dirty Pogues!" Topper sneered, and John B rushed over to him shoving him back, audible gasps leaving the mouths of passerbyers.

"John B. We're supposed to be incognito, remember?" Pope stressed, pushing JJ back towards Thalia and Kie.

"Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe!" Sarah repeated an obnoxious amount of times as Topper swung a punch at John B, knocking the brunette to the sand.

"Topper, you asshole!" Thalia shouted as Topper kicked John B into the ocean, Pope struggling to keep JJ away from the scene.

Sarah looked hurt at Thalia's words, but she should've known that Thalia would never be on Topper's side. "Chill!" Kiara yelled at JJ, somehow standing beside Thalia.

"Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?" Topper taunted, the crowd of teens on the beach starting to chant for Topper and John B to fight.

Topper turned his back to John B, and John B took his chance, standing up and tackling Topper into the ocean, Kelce arriving out of nowhere. "You're a fucking traitor, Thalia." Kelce scoffed, grabbing Thalia's arm and dragging her over to Sarah.

Pope looked away from the fight to see Kelce's hand on Thalia's skin. "Don't ever touch me again, Kelce." Thalia said, twisting Kelce's arm back and freeing herself, turning back to the fight at hand.

As repeated punches were thrown, JJ and Pope urged John B from the side with Kie telling them to stop, Kelce encouraging Topper with Sarah begging for the fight to end. Thalia thought the whole thing was hilarious, and pulled out a joint to smoke as she waited to go home. Topper pushed John B off of him, taking a second to breathe. "Don't be a pussy, Topper, go get him." Thalia said, exhaling smoke from her lips. JJ smiled to himself at her words.

John B punched Topper, his friends shouting excitedly. "Come on!" John B shouted.

"Yeah, you wanna go?" Topper panted, holding his fists in front of his face, sinking his fist into the side of John B's head.

Kiara was relentlessly trying to stop the fight, but Thalia knew nothing was ending this, so she continued smoking happily. John B swung Topper into the water, Sarah screaming in alarm and panic. "Sarah, the water's not even an inch high. He'll live." Thalia said without interest, inhaling the fumes from her joint.

"Come on, Topper! Let's go!" John B screamed, Topper standing from the ocean. After they each landed a few more punches, Topper flipped John B into the water, holding him face down, drowning him.

"Sarah, he's drowning him!" Thalia said once she realized what was happening, locking eyes with Pope, unsure of what they could do.

Just before Thalia would've strangled Topper, JJ rushed over, holding the gun he had stolen at the motel to Topper's head. With the safety off. "Yeah, you know what that is," JJ said as Topper froze in fear. "Your move, broski." he pushed the weapon further against Topper.

"Come on. Chill, dude!" Pope shouted amongst the chaos, Sarah and Kie yelling out the blonde's name.

"JJ! Put the fucking gun down before you kill someone!" Thalia shouted, teens at the Boneyard running away from the scene.

"Did you say somethin', Orphan Annie?" JJ retaliated. Thalia couldn't even be annoyed, because JJ's joke was pretty good.

"We're good! We're good!" Topper said, letting go of John B and raising his hands.

"Put the gun down!" Sarah screamed in fear. "Kie! Can you check your psycho friend, please?" Sarah yelled, Topper beginning to stand up.

JJ removed the gun from Topper's head, raising it to the sky. "Okay, everyone, listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!" he shot the gun into the air twice, shrieks and screams from the nearby crowd erupting.

Pope and Kiara instantly started yelling at JJ, and Sarah ran over to Topper, helping him to Kelce's car. Thalia had no choice; she had to leave with Sarah, Topper and Kelce. That didn't mean she wanted to. Thalia got behind the wheel, Kelce beside her, Sarah and Topper in the back seat. "Topper, you're actually a piece of shit for bringing up John B's dad. You don't get what that means for him." Thalia commented as she drove, using the headlights to guide her way home.

"Oh, and you do?" Topper scoffed, Sarah holding his face as she inspected the wounds John B inflicted upon him.

"Considering my dad, yeah, I get why he's sensitive to the topic. You have a nice house, with parents who love you. Some people don't have that." Thalia started thinking, and when she started thinking, she started spiralling.

Kelce rolled his eyes. "You're so miserable. You live on Figure Eight, Thalia. Start acting like one of us." Sarah sighed at Kelce's words, and Thalia pulled over to the side of the road.

She unbuckled her seat belt. "Well, I guess I'll be miserable as I skate away in peace." Thalia got out of the car and grabbed her skateboard, slamming the backdoor without listening to what Sarah had to say.

Thalia got a headstart, and Kelce got behind the wall, honking at her as he sped by, leaving her to skate on the dark and empty roads back to Figure Eight. It was peaceful, just a complicated redhead drifting on to her home, not a soul in sight to bother her. Thalia had always loved quiet, and people who left her alone so it could be quiet. When a van slowed down next to her, Thalia almost ran away as fast as her weak legs could carry her, until she realized it was just Pope and his friends. "Hey, Thalia." Pope said, rolling down the front window, the back door sliding open. Kie was driving, JJ in the back with John B.

Thalia stopped skating, popping her board into her hand. "Hey. Is he okay?" she looked into the van, seeing John B passed out on the seats.

"No thanks to your friends." Kiara said before Pope and JJ could answer.

Pope whispered something to Kie, and then he looked at Thalia. "He'll be fine. Do you need a ride home?" the brunette boy asked hopefully.

Thalia knew her answer, but she wished it was a different one. "No, I'm okay. You guys should get him home. Wrap ice in a cloth, put it on his eye, twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off. If you're worried about him being unconscious too long, flip him over. It should jolt his system." she instructed, preparing to go home.

"How do you know that?" JJ asked. That sequence of steps to treat a bad injury was one that JJ knew well. He just didn't know how Thalia knew it too.

"Been in a few fights every once in a while," Thalia downplayed. "Night." she smiled tightly, and Kie drove the van away before Pope could even speak. Thalia had been hit before. By her father, by kids her age, playing with her cousins. She had a high pain tolerance by now, and nothing really fazed her anymore. Cleaning and icing wounds was just a regular day for her.

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