𝖤𝖯𝖨𝖲𝖮𝖣𝖤 𝖮𝖭𝖤, 𝗉𝗂𝗅𝗈𝗍
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'LOLO?' john b called as he opened the door to his home - no, fish shack shared with his older sister, lolo routledge. 'lo...' he sang after no response, looking through the kitchen which is where lolo usually hung around.

'boo!' the brunette girl who had been hiding around a corner revealed herself, smile dropping when she saw the unimpressed look on her brother's face, 'no?'

john b patted the shorter yet older girls head and smiled sarcastically, 'there, there, lo. it will work some day. anyway, i was just making sure you were home. pass me a beer, please?'

'you really shouldn't be drinking this, but fine.' she grimaced as she handed him the cold beverage.

꧁꧂

'lolo, john, it's come to our attention that you are unemancipated minors living on your own.'

'what?' lolo scoffed shaking her head, her brother letting out a sarcastic laugh, 'no, no..' the relatives fell silent after seeing the unconvinced look on the social helpers face, 'no.' john b deadpanned.

'guys, i need honesty to help you. thats what we all want, right?'

the teen girl tutted annoyingly, 'we are being honest.' once again, the woman looked unconvinced, 'okay, then when is the last time you spoke to your uncle?'

john looked down at his watch briefly and smiled, 'uh, 34 minutes ago.' lolo nodded with a matching smile beside him. 'when's the last time you saw him?'

he looked around the room, and stuttered, 'two hours and.. 43 minutes ago?' he winced at the feeling of his sister elbowing his rib, but quickly smiled when the woman looked back up at the routledge's, 'okay, we're gonna come out there tomorrow to talk to your uncle. if he's not there, we're gonna move forward with foster care. at least until you turn 18,' she gestured to lolo, 'i want to assure you, we're gonna find you a safe and loving home.'

lolo huffed a sarcastic laugh as she exited the building with her brother, 'they actually think we're gonna be happy about all this.'

she looked over to john b who stayed quiet, looking deep in thought as he stared at the ground with his eyebrows furrowed. 'you ok?'

he nodded quickly, 'yeah i'm good. what did you say sorry?' the girl smiled softly and ruffled the slightly younger boys hair, 'don't worry, i wont let anything happen.'

john b looked at his sister with a grateful smile, 'you promise?'

'i promise.'

꧁꧂

'JOHN BOOKER ROUTLEDGE!' lolo yelled in response to her brothers stupid idea, 'you are NOT going surfing in this HURRICANE.'

'come on, lo, live a little!' pope attempted with an amused smile on his face as he watched lolo go overprotective mother mode. 'yeah come on sis, please,' JB flicked at his sisters arm who swatted his hand away angrily, crossing her arms and looking away with sass, 'no.'

'fine be that way, mom. me and pope are going anyway. you're free to join if you'd like to!' the two boys chuckled to eachother before running out into the rain with their surfboards, heading towards the aggressive ocean.

she bit her lip to hold back a smile as she watched john b trip over a twig,
'idiots.'

꧁꧂

'oh my god,' lolo groaned as she looked out of her bedroom window. everywhere was a mess. trees had fallen over, fences had broke, things were everywhere. she opened the window when she spotted her brother walking around the garden with his hands on his head as he scanned the scene. 'john b!'

'good morning.' he smiled sarcastically and gestured to the surroundings. lolo let out a laugh, 'agatha really did her thing, huh?' she walked over to the tree that had fallen over and climbed onto the trunk to stand on and get a better view of everything.

'jesus.' she scrunched her nose as she  noticed the boat full with leaves and sticks. 'oh man,' john b groaned as he cleaned it. 'damn, she really did do her thing.' jj burped from the porch, shirtless with a beer in his hand. 'yes, she did.' john b smiled sarcastically as he spoke in a sing song tone. lolo walked over to her brother, as did jj.

'what you thinkin'?' the blonde smirked.

'im thinking that storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh maze. all those drum are gonna chase the crab.'

'a whole hurricane has happened and you're just thinking about fishing?' lolo glared at jb, leaning against the boat.

'what about the DCS? wasn't that today?' jj spoke from beside lolo, glancing at the siblings. 'there's no way they'll make it,' lolo shrugged, john b looking at the ocean, 'yeah they're not getting on a ferry.' he turned to his sister, 'come on think about it. it's god telling us to fish!'

'bit dramatic, guess you're right though..' she rolled her eyes.

lolo slumped onto the couch next to kie in the sunroom once she heard everyone was back from fishing, 'how was it, boys and girls? find any fish?''

'bro- lo, you wont believe this,' jj was interrupted by a very excited john b, 'we found something better. we found a grady white.' she raised an eyebrow confusedly, 'what, like, sunken?'

'yeah, sunken, and then we also found this motel key, so we went to go break into the room it was for and then you wont guess what happened,' jj explained, lolo's eyes widening as she listened to the story, 'okay, sherlock holmes, do tell?'

kie carried on, 'jj found a- i mean, when they were in the room, the police ironically showed up at the same time, so then they had to rush out and basically jj and john b saw one of the officers stealing money from the owners safe.'

'what the fuck?' she sighed, still processing what kie had just told her.

'god i hate that bitch and his pervy moustache,' jj mumbled under his breath, lolo looking over to him with a smirk, 'oh because you wouldn't have done the same thing?'

the blonde gave her a bewildered look, 'what? i'm an angel!'

'whatever you say, sweetheart,' she ruffled his hair, him swatting her hand away with a scoff. 'anyway i'm going to sleep. night guys!'

'night night,' jj smiled goofily.

'lolo, it's 5pm.' pope raised an eyebrow, the girl shrugging her shoulders, 'so?'

'wait, lo, you coming to the party later?' john b asked before she could leave. she groaned 'fine, only because you're so desperate for my company.'

pope let out a sarcastic scoff, 'so hard to convince.'

꧁꧂

lolo woke up three hours later, also attending the party two hours late. not that it surprised anyone. she wore a blue bikini top with a long flowy white skirt to the party, also with a navy zip up hoodie which was probably her brother's.

when she got to the party, it was dark. so she sat around a small fire with some teenagers she had spoken to during the rave.

'so lolo, whats your favourite colour?' chris, the ginger boy next to her stuttered, scratching the back of his neck nervously. she smiled sweetly, 'orange. but like a sunset orange, not neon. what's yours?' he smiled softly at her kindness, 'green.'

the moment was interrupted by sudden yelling, which was obviously some type of fight.

'dirty pogues!' topper grimaced, immediately being pushed back by john b, but when topper threw a punch to john's face, lolo stood up without hesitation, jogging over to defend her brother.

'hey, john b, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?' the kook threatened, walking towards a struggling john b. 'HEY!' lolo spat, storming towards him, pushing him from behind. 'stay out of this lo, please!' her brother begged, but lo only grew more angry when he got kicked back down by topper.

'fight! fight! fight!' the crowd yelled, watching the argument with amusement. lolo huffed and pushed topper again with all her strength, sending him straight to the ground into the shallow water. 'you bitch,' he growled, stomping towards her, who gave him an unfrightened look.

before she could send him a slap to the face, john b grabbed topper by the collar and swung him backwards, 'stay away from my sister!'

jj pulled the fuming girl back lightly by the wrist and hid her behind him, 'leave it, lo.'

she watched with fear as the fight took place, john b punching topper in the side repeatedly. 'that's what i'm talking about!' jj encouraged, lolo slapping his arm, 'john b, please stop!'

her brother ignored her, getting punched in the face twice and pushed down into the water, making the crowd gasp. 'he's drowning him!' lolo pleaded, shaking jj's arm, 'stay here, i'll deal with him.'

suddenly everything was silent.

jj had a gun placed to topper's head, wearing a psychotic smile, 'yeah you know what that is.'

lolo stood in shock, next to kiara and pope who were now begging jj to stop.

'put the gun down!' sarah yelled, jj ignoring her. 'did you say something, princess?'

'were good! were good! alright?' topper yelled desperately, slowly getting up, away from john b. lolo immediately ran over to her brothers side, hugging his struggling body, flinching as two shots were fired into the air by a yelling jj.

'guys, GUYS! HE'S PASSED OUT!' lolo shouted, her voice trembling as she shook her unconscious brother in her arms.

꧁꧂

'sorry to break in like this, bur DCS called,' peterkin said from the doorway, looking at a sleepy and hurt john b with lolo sitting next to him, 'they wanted me to check on you guys. see how you're doing.'

'oh no, we're great!' john b reassured, lolo nodding, 'yea, fantastic. thanks for stopping by.'

'i'm so glad to hear you's say that, but i heard a few things that worried me. let me see if i can remember.. oh yeah, one of the things i heard was that your uncle teddy, your guardian, hasn't been in the state for three months.'

'whaaat?' lolo chuckled unconvincingly, 'thats not true.'

'don't say anything, i know its true. i called the school about john b.' peterkin pointed to john b accusingly now, 'they said you used to be a good student, but now you're failing all your classes.' lolo quirked an eyebrow with her hands on her hips and looked at john b after hearing the news.

he tried to convince them otherwise, but it clearly didn't work, being interrupted by the sheriff, 'i heard there was a fight on the beach yesterday. and a gun was involved.'

lolo bit down on her lip and let john b do the talking, she definitely wasn't good at lying.

'all i'm worried about right now is that you guys are in a safe home.'

the brunette girl scoffed, 'we're super safe here. sturdy and everything, y'know?' john b agreed, 'and uncle T's coming back, so.'

'that's what he told you? if he is coming home, i think you should be allowed to stay.'

'exactly!' lolo over-exaggerated with a relieved smile.

'but if i stick my neck out for you's, you have to help me. tit for tat. a body was found in the marsh yesterday. were you in the marsh yesterday, john?'

lolo's eyes widened as john b explained, 'yeah, we were fishing for some drum.'

'you catch anything?'

'nah, we were skunked.'

'strange. fishing's usually good after a storm. all sorts of things get surged up. you come across a wreck yesterday?'

lolo choked on her coffee from behind them, peterkin looking at her with a raised eyebrow and john b giving her a threatening glare. 'hair in my coffee.' she nervously giggled.

'no, i didnt.' he reassured.

'you skimmin' just above the surface, you two. down here is foster care, juvie. pretty big drop for smart kids like you. and up here is you and your little friends doing whatever you want.'

peterkin finished questioning about the wreck and left. 'fuck.' lo sighed, throwing her head back. john b threw a can across the room and gripped his hair frustratedly.

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2024 words

rafe in next chapter i promise. just wanted to show lolo's relationship with john b and the pogues 🤫🤫