EIGHTEEN PUT UP OR SHUT UP

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"Did you hear?" Alisha exclaimed as she slammed into Norman's bedroom at an hour that was far too early for them both to be awake, "I heard from Lila who heard from James who heard from Topper who heard from Sarah that apparently Ward Cameron took John B to live with him since apparently he was running from DCS! Isn't that insane? Anywhere, where'd you go last night?"

The boy did his best to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he sat up, eyeing the girl curiously as she flopped down onto his bed like she had a hundred times before. He sighed, "I didn't hear about that, no, it doesn't surprise me, though. Sarah seems to care about him a lot."

"Aren't you worried? I thought they were having a thing? I mean, wasn't that what you were crying about the other day? Why aren't you freaking out about this?" the girl scoffed, looking suspicious. Clearly, something had changed and she was starting to figure that out. "You also didn't answer my question. You were like "I'm gonna go find a bathroom" and then you dipped. Stop telling us you're going to the bathroom it has literally never worked once, we never believe you."

He shrugged, "I'm not worried. I am absolutely chilling. And I went to talk to someone, it's not that big of a deal. Just normal teenage drama. Oh, a text from Kiara. I gotta go. This was fun, though, really."

"No!" Alisha protested, something rare for the girl. He furrowed his brow in confusion, prompting her to continue with a pout, "You're not going anywhere, bitch! You have been running off at the beck and call of those Pogues for the last week and I'm sick of it! I wanna be included. You're making me get FOMO for poor people, I didn't think that was possible!"

"Okay, okay, I'll ask. Also, Kiara is literally rich, I don't know what you're talking about," he obliged with a sigh as he texted Kie back asking if Alisha could come along. Maybe it was a bad idea to let the two friend groups start to converge, but he had a feeling it was going to happen sooner or later. Besides, if it was going to be anyone, Alisha was probably going to be his best bet. "There, you can come. Happy?"

She nodded affirmatively, "Very much so, now get dressed."

As they arrived at The Wreck, Kie looked at him with a weary expression as she spoke, "Things have gone to utter shit. He's living with Sarah fucking Cameron. Why couldn't your rich parents adopt him?"

"This isn't Alabama, Kie," was the first thing he said in response, sitting down on one of the barstools as she prepared a tray of drinks, "Blood relation or not, it would be weird. Also, if they're adopting anybody? It's gonna be Alisha."

"Damn right," the dark-haired girl nodded, the two of them fist-bumping without even looking.

Just then, the bell on the door rang loud and clear through the restaurant as John B entered. He seemed to see the annoyance on Kie's expression and he looked as if he was ready to run. Looking at Norman, that instinct seemed to amplify for him. Norman broke eye contact first, taking a sip of the drink Kie had given him the moment he arrived.

"Speak of the devil," Kie exclaimed as the boy sat down on the stool next to Alisha with a small nod to both of them as he seemed to be mentally preparing himself for the speech from Kiara. "You're living with her now?"

"She dumped me, so it's not like it's weird," he sighed, "I'm not even gay, but she seems to be very no take-backs on that. Besides, it's not like I had much of a choice, it's only because her dad saved my ass. And it's way better than foster care, which, by the way, is where I was about go if Ward--"

"Hey, so do you have a membership to the clubs now?" Pope asked and Norman had honestly just realized they were there since they had been so quiet while scrounging on fries from the restaurant. Norman turned on his stool to face them.

John B sounded exasperated when he replied, "I don't know, Pope. Also -- why are they here?"

"Because I asked them to be," Kie retorted, motioning to Norman and Alisha, "Like I said yesterday, you get Sarah, I get Rocky."

"Things are awkward with Sarah now so I really don't think that rule applies, I don't want him here," John B argued before turning and getting into Norman's face, "You're the fucking reason she dumped me, too. If you had just kept your dick in--"

Norman snapped, grabbing the boy by the bandana around his neck as he cut the boy off to say, "All right, shorty, don't finish that fucking sentence. You wanna know what you missed after you passed out? She dumped you because she felt like a replacement, a second choice, she didn't feel like you cared about her in the first place. You're too selfish to realize that, though, because the world just revolves around you and your feelings, right? I'm here because while you were off chasing rich girl pussy, your friends and I started actually getting along so either put up or shut up."

"He called you short," JJ snickered under his breath to which Kie smacked him upside the head, but even she was hiding a smile.

"I have never seen you act like that, Jesus," Alisha whispered in Norman's ear when he finally let go of John B, letting him stumble back just a bit.

The shorter boy was stunned into silence as he shook his head with a scoff and took a seat at the table. After a moment, he seemed to find his words, "Fuck you, Norman."

The boy laughed at that but didn't dignify it with a response. Instead, he turned to Pope, "Dude, if you wanna get into the country clubs, just ask me. You can even borrow some of my favorite sweater vests."

"You have a favorite sweater vest?" JJ asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Dude, no!" Norman exclaimed with a laugh, "It was a joke!"

Kie was laughing, but soon her expression morphed into something more serious as she geared into John B, saying, "Listen, John B, you need to figure this shit out. Clearly, you still care about Sarah even though I vaguely remember you promising nothing was going on there. Just know I'm not doing anything with her, you know what she did to me."

"Do you see her here?" No one answered the rhetorical question so he continued, "No, right. Okay. A little focus would be fantastic. We've got the map right?"

"Map?" Alisha whispered and Norman sighed.

"This is why you've never come along before," Norman whispered back and the girl smacked him gently on his arm while he just laughed.

JJ motioned to the plat map that John B had spread out on the table, "It's all out of whack because the guy was ganja'd when he drew it."

"It's 'cause the coast has changed," Kie corrected.

"So we just have to look for landmarks that haven't changed," Pope contributed. With a sigh, Norman got up and walked over to the table, ignoring how close he would have to be to John B to get a good look at the plat map. If only the boy knew how hard it was for Norman to yell at him like that, but John B needed to get his head on straight or he was going to drive all of them up the wall. He wished he was better at communicating how much he really did care about him, but it always seemed to come out wrong.

"What about the old forts?" John B asked, seemingly moving past the strange interaction he and Norman had just had. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I wasn't looking at you," he denied even though he absolute was, "Keep taking, weirdo."

"I'm not weird, you're weird," John B muttered, "Anyway, old forts?"

Something seemed to click with Kie as it seemed as if a literal light bulb went off above her head, pointing at one of the markers on the map, she said, "Battery Jasper."

Their attention was soon gained by Alisha clearing her throat and asking, "Uh, is anyone going to tell me what the fuck is going on here? I thought you guys just like went fishing and surfed because there's nothing else to do when you're poor, so what the fuck is this?"

"Why did you bring her?" JJ questioned, "I mean, no offense."

"I'm not offended, we got history, bitch," Alisha put up a hand towards JJ before turning to Norman, "Rocky, what the fuck have you gotten yourself into?"

He sighed, "I don't really know how to explain it because you'll think we're crazy. It's just... why don't you see for yourself?"

filler chapter because this scene itself is like two minutes of the episode and you guys know how much i love to drag these episodes out! also, I'm on episode 6 which means we're officially over halfway through the show and by extension, about halfway through this book! i cant believe it hasn't even been a month since i posted this and it's already halfway over I've literally never done anything close to this before i think I've only missed the daily updates literally once i am unstoppable bitches!!