𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬: 𝐀𝐬𝐩𝐲𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧 ~ 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐝𝐚 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞

The next day at the Chateau, John B stood by the bell, the same one his father would use to call him home. I watched him as he rang it, hoping his father would somehow miraculously appear. JJ, who had been asleep on the couch, woke up at the sound.

"John B, dude, what's going on?" He said.

John B shook his head and walked back towards the porch. "I don't even know," He admitted. There was a look of hopelessness on his face.

"Hey, we get it," I assured him as he joined us on the porch. "A lot of shit went down. You're hurting."

"Last night keeps replaying in my head, you know?" He said. "I mean, my dad got kidnapped, and then Sarah dropped that bomb on me? It's like a fucking punch in the gut,"

"What she did was fucked up," I sighed. "And then there's Topper..."

John B nodded. "Like, the whole 'no hard feelings, bro'"

"No hard feelings?" JJ scoffed. "It's kind of hard not to have hard feelings about that."

"It's just...that look," John B said. "That Kook look, you know?"

"It was clearly pro-vu-cation," JJ added, mispronouncing the word.

"Provocation," I informed him.

"Provocation," He corrected himself, continuing the conversation with John B. "I mean, you had to do what you had to do. No choice about it,"

"Thank you. No choice!" John B exclaimed. "Anyway, we gotta come up with a plan to get to South America, like, yesterday. I mean, they've got my dad."

He strolled into the house, with JJ and I following behind. "You have any food real quick, though?" JJ asked.

I shook my head chuckling. Of course, he was thinking about food.

"So, I was thinking passports. We don't have those. Therefore we can't fly commercial," John B said. "We need other ideas,"

"Well, don't you got the money that you took from Portis?" JJ asked.

He shook his head, opening the fridge. "I gave that to my dad."

"Of course you did," I muttered to myself.

"So then, what about a boat?" JJ suggested. "If we got a boat, maybe we could get down there cause the HMS...yeah, you know about the HMS,"

"Oh, Limbrey!" He blurted. "Limbrey has a boat! What if we took that one down?"

"Yeah, she took that back," John B sighed. "And the HMS is not gonna make it down to the Port of Spain, so out with the boats,"

"So, we don't have passports, we don't have any money, and we also don't have a boat that can make it to South America," I said. "How do you expect us to get down there?! Teleportation?!"

"Look, I don't know, okay?!" John B defended. "All I know is that I'm going to save my dad."

"Actually, I might know a guy!" JJ interjected. "I'm onto something!"

Glancing outside, John B and I spotted a Sheriff's truck pulling up. Shit.

"Uh-oh," John B sighed, quickly ducking out of view from the window. I did the same.

"Dude, you don't start with 'uh-oh,'" JJ said, completely unaware of what was happening. "You're so negative."

"Get down, dumbass!" I hissed, pulling him to the floor with John B and I. "Shoupe is out front right now!"

"Alright, John B!" Shoupe called from outside. "Anybody home?"

"Shit!" JJ huffed. He and John B scrambled around on the floor, desperately searching for a hiding spot. Most of the house could be seen if you looked through the window, so there were limited places we could go.