✧*̥˚ITS ALWAYS YOU! *̥˚✧ J.M 2

060

CHAPTER SIXTY
watch ur back.

POPE IGNORED THE PLEADS of his fearful friends as he climbed the wall, hooking onto the top of the mantle as he helped himself onto it.

"Yo, let me be real. You're not the most coordinated person on planet Earth." JJ cringed hearing the wood snap as Pope flicked his foot off it.

They watched as Pope held onto the decaying wood, tapping his foot against it every so often to check it's sturdiness, each crack echoing louder and louder.

"Bro, just look out for that giant wasp nest above your head." Aria warned, scrunching up her face as she watched the bugs hover by their thick nest, dangling above the boy like a mistletoe.

Pope tilted his head to glance at it, swatting his hand by his face as the deathly bugs neared him, his placed his heel on the wood caging in the "cross", specks of it flying down towards the group.

They jumped backwards, their eyes staying glued to their friend practically risking their life.

His movements were slow and cautious, his foot barely getting the thicker pieces off, "Aria! Crowbar please."

Aria scurried to the Twinkie parked just outside of the church, her unzipping the duffel bag, tools clinking together as she searched for the tool.

With the crowbar clutched in hand, she spun around to head back into the church, but she paused as she heard wood snapping a few feet in the distance, without thinking she began to run, never looking back until she got into the building again.

"I'm gonna throw it, okay?" She breathed, tossing it up in the air, Pope reaching his hand out as he caught it.

He whacked it relentlessly, the girl backing up slowly as she squinted in disbelief, her lips parting as the gold beneath the wood began to show.

The group began to yell, hugging one another in a victory celebration, jumping around in a circle.

"Okay, they're stinging now. Ow!" Pope yelped as the wasps soon began to swarm around him, his palm slapping himself repeatedly in different spots.

"Take it easy." JJ cooed nervously.

Pope suddenly fumbled, his body slipping over the edge as he dug his fingertips into what had been left of the wood, the friends below him screaming as he dangled.

They rushed to gather pillows and cushions to lay them beneath him, frantically running around the old building in search for a soft landing.

A wasp landed on his knuckle, stinging him, Pope croaked in pain, "I can't hold! I'm slipping, guys."

His hands became sweaty, ultimately resulting in him falling, his back hitting the stacked pillows, his breath being robbed from him.

"Are you okay?" Aria stood over him, her eyes wide as he helplessly nodded.

The wood holding the cross upright began to shake, the Pogues completely unaware as they were crowded around the boy, the screw falling off, as well as the support.

Pope weakly peeled his eyes open, just to see the cross beginning to make its descend down, he quickly rolled to the side, knocking Aria down in the process.

Everyone avoided the pillowed area as they watched the cross smack down on them, the floor shaking as dust flew up.

Their chests rising up and down rapidly, holding their hands over their hearts as they stared at the cross dumbfounded.

"Pope, are you okay?" Aria bent down slightly, placing a hand on his shoulder as she helped him sit upright.

He nodded, wincing in pain as his body scooted up, "yeah, I'm good. Just give me, like, one second to, like, catch my breathe."

JJ and John B tilted the weighted cross up, admiring every small detail of it in awe, "Pope, she's...she's beautiful."

"I've never seen anything like it." Aria flashed a smile, dancing her fingertips along it.

"How much do you think she's worth? Like, if we melted her old bones down, dude, I'm talking like high billions." JJ preached, whistling to himself.

John B scoffed under his breathe, "No. This belongs in a museum."

"What? So no one sees her?" JJ fought back, furrowing is brows.

"In a museum where everyone sees it." John B quipped, rolling his eyes at the blonde boy.

Pope yelled, cutting off their bickering as they glanced at him, "hey! It's my ancestors' cross!"

The two boys went silent, nodding to themselves as the rest of the group stood beside them.

They held up the cross, the group groaning at the cross heavy weight.

"Ah! God!" Aria yelped, forming her lips into a flat line as she placed her palms underneath one side of it.

"Who's-who's not lifting right now. Aria are you seriously-" JJ complained, shooting daggers at the girl before him.

She immediately clapped back at the boy, not bothering to let him finish his sentence, "I'm lifting, JJ!"

"Okay, guys. I can't. I can't." Pope warned, ignoring the protests of his friends as he set the cross down.

The metal clanked as it hit the flooring, the group panting as their shoulders slumped.

"Damn it, yo! You almost dropped it on my foot." JJ glared at the dark haired girl, leaping backwards to avoid the weight crushing his foot.

"Cause I'm the only one lifting!" Aria yelled back, furrowing her brows with anger.

John b stepped between them, "okay,okay,okay! Listen, we'll make it like a sling, like a little-"

"Yeah, yeah, and then put it on the tall hitch." JJ added, nodding his head along in agreement with the boy.

Pope suddenly yelled with urgency, "Guys! Guys, guys. I'm not okay. I'm not okay."

"You're eye. It look all puffy." Aria cringed at his eye beginning to swell up, her hand gently grasping his shoulder.

"He's having an allergic reaction." Kie breathed, grabbing his jaw as she held his head upright, his breaths becoming like gasps.

His eyes rolled back, his body slumping down even more, the friends yelped in panic as they watched him slip into an unconscious state.

"Hide the cross, JJ! We gotta go."

AUTHORS NOTE

tbh.