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ΰΌ„ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗐𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗒 ΰΌ„



THALIA WAS AGAINST listening to Ward, so the following morning, she met up with Pope, JJ and Kie at Pope's father's market. JJ had small bruises covering his face, but other than that, he seemed fine. "Nice to see you, Mr. Heyward." Thalia said to Pope's father. She hadn't used anything that day, and she was glad because she didn't want to be stoned in front of Pope's father.

        "Hi, sweetheart." Mr. Heyward smiled at Thalia, and she matched his grin, finding Pope, Kie and JJ organizing things in the store. Well, Pope was organizing, Kie and JJ were being useless.

        "Don't let it get in your head, bro. There's 3️⃣ or of them and two of us. That's typical Kook shit right there." JJ said, seated on a countertop.

        "Hell, yeah." Kie agreed. She was beginning to tolerate Thalia now, but Thalia really didn't care either way.

        JJ tossed a piece of fruit at Thalia and she caught it with one hand. "What was your thought process there, Pope? Using your head?" Thalia teased, throwing the fruit back at JJ.

        Pope shrugged. "I don't know. I just kind of acted off instinct. I was a cornered animal." he said, filling out inventory paperwork. Thalia smiled at him when he couldn't see her.

        Mr. Heyward walked into view. "Hey, Pope, Thalia, someone here to see you." he pointed behind himself, where Shoupe was following him. Thalia's heart dropped.

        Pope looked at Thalia quickly, fear written all over his face. "Evening, Officer." Pope said, and Thalia was suddenly so glad she was clean for the moment and had no drugs on her.

        "I have arrest warrants for felony destruction of property. Keep your hands on the counter where I can see 'em." Shoupe pulled out two pairs of handcuffs, and Thalia knew she was done for.

        "What? Whoa. Shoupe, what'd they do?" Heyward asked as Shoupe stepped around Kiara to get to Thalia and Pope.

        Shoupe sighed. "Take a look at the warrant." he answered, gathering Pope's hands into cuffs behind his back. Thalia didn't know how to react to the situation.

        "You're arresting them?" Kie asked, but everyone knew she was only in defense of Pope.

        "You're just arresting my boy and Whitney's girl?" Heyward said, flabbergasted.

        Shoupe took Thalia's hands, forcing them behind her back. "How'd you know I was here, Shoupe? Rafe?" Thalia asked, hearing the familiar click of handcuffs latching onto her skin.

        "Wheezie." Shoupe answered over Kie, JJ and Heyward's rapid words.

        "Wheezie," Thalia chuckled in disbelief. "You got security footage? The hair gave me away?" Thalia questioned, and Shoupe nodded. Shoupe started walking her and Pope out of the store, reading them their rights. Thalia knew the speech by heart, so she looked at Pope. He was scared out of his mind, dissociating away from the scene. She wanted to grab his hand, but she couldn't.

        It was when they were outside in front of Shoupe's car that JJ made a drastic decision. "It wasn't them! It was me." JJ blurted out, all eyes whipping over to him.

        Thalia had a story of her own ready to go. "JJ, you don't have to lie for me. He knows I did it, and now he knows you helped." Thalia said, and Mr. Heyward was confused and quickly growing angry.

        JJ sighed. "He tried to talk us out of it, but we were mad because he'd just been beaten up.  We were so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that we lost our shit," JJ stalked up to Shoupe, Thalia and Pope. "I can't let you take the blame for somethin' Thalia and I did. You've got too much to lose."

        "JJ, what are you doing?" Pope asked, looking between the blonde and the redhead.

        "I'm tellin' the truth. For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth." JJ said, and Thalia had more ideas.

        She looked at Shoupe. "We took his old man's boat, too." Thalia spoke, her heart breaking at the thought of Mr. Heyward hating her.

        "What the hell?" Heyward blurted out, standing at Shoupe's side. Instantly, all of his affection for Thalia was gone, and she knew it just by looking at him.

        "Thalia, come on–" Pope tried.

        Thalia looked over at him. "Pope, just don't." she said, staring into his warm eyes. He saw her in a new light now. Her eyes weren't bloodshot and glazed over. Instead, they were a beautiful, crystal clear blue. And he was lost.

        JJ faced Shoupe. "He's a good kid. You know where I'm from. Where she's from." the blonde spoke to the officer. Shoupe knew.

        "Yeah." Shoupe nodded, looking between the two teens.

        "This was all us." JJ said, sharing a look with Thalia. They came to the same conclusion: it was worth it if Pope would be protected.

        Shoupe sighed. "That's the whole truth?" he questioned.

        "Yes, sir." Thalia spoke first.

        "Whole truth, swear to God." JJ added.

        "I know what you two think, damn it, I'm asking Pope." Shoupe shouted.

        Pope looked between JJ and Thalia. The girl was essentially begging him to go with the story, to save himself. "Yeah, that about covers it." Pope said regretfully, and Thalia visibly relaxed. Pope wouldn't last a day in jail.

        JJ ended up in Pope's handcuffs, sitting in the back of Shoupe's cruiser with Thalia. And they smiled, because it had worked. As they were driven away, Pope lost his mind. He was pissed, and scared, and mad all at the same time. Thalia and JJ were arrested because of him, but they were fine with it, because it was for him.

        They ended up in the same holding cell. After the initial fear JJ held washed away, he joined Thalia in light happiness. They sat on opposite sides of the cell. "Worried about your dad finding out?" Thalia wondered, playing with the ends of her red hair.

        "Yeah. You?" JJ asked, toying with his shark tooth necklace.

        "Same." Thalia said, the realization setting in that either Ward was coming to get her, or her father was. Neither situation was better than the other, but at least Ward wouldn't hit her. So they sat in the cell, playing rock, paper, scissors over and over.




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