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The following day, the group of friends sat outside together, thinking about what had happened the night before. Kiara was playing the bongos, Pope was reading a book, Rory was smoking a joint, and JJ was throwing rocks around when John B walked over to them.
"Look, I'm calling it off, alright?" He announced as he walked over to his friends, "Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS."
"And you believed her?" JJ asked and Rory was quick to add in.
"Yeah. You're fucking nuts for that," Rory agreed with JJ, earning an eye roll from John B.
"Yes, I believe her, guys," John B replied, annoyed with his friend already and the day had barely started.
"An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop," JJ complained and Rory knew he was right. When had cops ever helped them?
"Look, all I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out," John B informed his friend, "It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."
"You know what I should have done?" JJ asked his friend with an attitude, "Just let Topper drown your ass."
"Yeah, because Topper was gonna drown me?" John B scoffed, clearly not believing that to be the truth.
"Sure looked like it," JJ replied, standing up from his seat beside John B before he began to walk over to him, "I mean, have you looked in a mirror?"
"Keep going. Come on. Tell me some more," John B encouraged JJ as the latter continued to walk toward him, "Come on."
"They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!" he shouted, punching an object that was hanging before he turned his back to his friends, "Goddamn!"
"Look, it's okay!" Kiara tried to convince him, but JJ whipped himself around to face her with an aggravated look on his face.
"No, it's not okay! It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it," JJ explained, pointing a finger at John B, "I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go," He paused, gesturing toward Pope, "You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you..." He trailed off, pointing toward Kiara next, "I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?"
Kiara rolled her eyes and shook her head. Rory stood up, putting out her joint before walking down to stand near JJ as he continued on.
"But you, me, and Rory, man, we got nothing to lose!" JJ pointed out to his friend in a loud tone, "We really don't, alright? And I know, it didn't used to be that way for you."
"I don't want to talk about this," John B argued, shaking his head as he spoke in a soft tone, "I don't want to talk about it."
"So that's it?" JJ asked as John B began to walk past him.
