chapter six, i just miss you

"WHAT THE FUCK just happened?"

John B. slumped back against the wall with an exhausted sigh at the sound of the car leaving.

Kiara was still squeezing onto Daisy's hand like she had no plans on letting go, and JJ was glancing down at the dead rooster on the ground with a grimace. Pope was trying to avoid opening his eyes at all.

So much had just happened in such a short amount of time. Only ten minutes into being with the Pogues again, and Daisy was already getting shot at. Lovely.

"Is everyone alright?" Pope slowly opened one eye at a time before relaxing a little after looking over everyone. Good, none of them were shot.

Kiara sniffled. "I think so." She let Daisy's hand fall from her grip.

Daisy pulled her hand back into her lap, biting down on the inside of her cheek. An odd feeling stirred inside her.

"Where's the compass?" JJ suddenly asked, Daisy furrowed her brows.

John B. raised the circular piece of glinting metal in the air. "Still got it." He mutters.

"Shit! What if they come back for it again?" Pope looked around frantically.

Finally, Daisy grew tired of trying to make sense of what they were talking about on her own. "Who were they and why were they trying to kill you guys?" She questioned sternly.

"Wouldn't you like to know—" JJ is cut off by Kiara's hand slamming into his chest.

"JJ, no." Kiara hisses. "She's not apart of this."

Daisy drops her hands down defeatedly. "Okay, so what now I just leave?" She gestured towards the entrance of the chicken coop.

"Yes, actually."

"Why are you such a bitch—"

"GUYS!" John B. shouts. "We don't have time for this, my dad wanted me to find this," He grips the compass in his hand. "for a reason." Silence falls over them almost instantaneously.

Kiara huffs, shuffling away from Daisy. "So what do we do?" She asked softly.

"I think Redfield has something to do with my dad."

Daisy blinks, "Wait— your dad? I'm sorry, I thought Big John was missing." She dragged her hand over her face.

The rest of the four teens glanced at each other with knowing looks. Daisy could tell they were clearly trying to decide whether or not to include her in whatever they were doing. And by the defiant look in her eyes, Kiara seemed to be the main one that was clearly bothered by Daisy's presence.

"She's not one of us, anymore." Kiara states plainly.

John B. pushed himself forward. "You're right, she's not. But she was here when those guys just came after us. She's apart of this now—" He pauses for a moment. "We'll figure out the rest on the way there."

On the way where?

HOW DAISY ENDED UP piled into a van called 'The Twinkie'? with all her old friend, she couldn't say. But John B. was currently driving them to some super secret location that he had yet to reveal and still no one has explained anything to her. And she's ninety-nine percent sure that if Kiara glares at her any harder, she was going to burn a hole right into Daisy's forehead.

"How'd you end up at J.B.'s place anyways?" JJ squinted at the Ka'uhane girl sitting beside him.

Daisy stopped fiddling with the hem of her shorts, looking up at the blonde boy. "I came to warn you guys." The others briefly looked at her before looking away.

"About?"

She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Topper wants pay back... specifically for the whole gun thing."

"Nice going idiot." Pope jabs at JJ, who sticks his tongue out back.

"And he's knows that John B. snuck onto the Druthers and stole some scuba gear."

John B.'s eyes find Daisy's through the rear view mirror. "What's he care about some stupid air tanks for?"

Daisy shrugged. "I dunno, if the guy that almost got me shot got caught stealing off of my girlfriend's boat by my girlfriend, and she didn't say anything about it. I'd be pissed too."

"Well look who's the idiot now?" JJ tapped the back of John B.'s seat with a grin.

Kiara groans. "JJ—"

"Now, what's the deal with this compass?" Daisy interrupts.

This ends with the four of them bickering over whether she should know. Daisy overhears something about the hurricane, a motel room, and the gun, before finally they just agree to tell her because Pope made a good point that Daisy was already in the car with them, and John B. was the one that — stupidly, in Pope's opinion — agreed to 'figure out the rest on the way there'.

And so they each took turns, except for Kiara because she refused to be apart of this, explaining to Daisy every detail; How this all began with them discovering Scooter Grubb's boat completely by accident, which lead to finding a key to a motel room stacked with money — plus JJ's gun that he stole — then sneaking back onto Scooter's boat with the help of the Cameron's scuba gear and, again, stealing a duffel bag that contained the compass that belonged to John B's dad. At least that's what Daisy could gather from all of their rambling.

"So how did all of that lead to the scary guys with the gun?" Daisy finally asks after taking a moment to digest all that information.

"Because we think Scooter was a smuggler before he disappeared... and then he turned up dead." John B. sighs, "I'm betting now that those guys had something to do with it."

Daisy slumped down a little in her seat. "Oh okay, good to know." She responds sarcastically.

"We still don't know why Scooter had your dad's compass though." Pope points out.

"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?" He looked to Kiara for support on the matter.

"Yeah—" She hesitates. "It's possible."

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help... y'know, deal with your sad feels." Pope insists.

JJ twirled a strand of his hair between two fingers. "Bro, you know how I process my sad feels. Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies—"

Daisy squints at JJ, "Are you always like this?" The blonde boy winks at her, tipping an imaginary hat on his head.

"I'm not concocting, okay?" John B. protests. "My dad's trying to give me a message."

"If it helps you believe, John B—" Kiara says lowly.

"Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? I'm not trippin' out." He snaps.

"It's okay to trip, bro—" JJ makes a poor attempt at comforting John B. and is sharply cut off by Daisy's foot kicking him in the shin.

John B turns in his seat, looking at all of them sitting in the back. "Look, my dad is missing, okay? Missing." His voice breaks. "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened."

It seemed that Daisy and Kiara have a horrible habit of making eye contact at the worst possible times, because when Daisy looks up from her lap, there Kiara is, looking right back at her.

Of course she would be, after all she understood those words all to well. Kiara may never understand losing a parent, as John B. does. But, she lost her best friend once. And she spent many long summers turned to years, wondering when she'd come back. Even now as she looked right at Daisy and hardly recognizes her anymore, she's still secretly waiting for her friend back.

"—Just wake up every morning wondering." John B. clenched his jaw through the stinging sensation in his eyes.

Kiara looks away, eyes focusing back on the Routledge boy sitting beside her. "It's been almost a year."

"All you need is a chance that he's out there." The words tumble out of Daisy's mouth, eyes kept trained on Kiara.

"He could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility." JJ suggests.

"Yeah, he could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope added.

JJ shakes his head, "Absolutely, uh— or Atlantis!" Daisy tilts her head mouthing 'really' at him, unsure of where JJ was going with that.

"JJ." Kiara shuts him up. "Look what do you think the message is?"

"Redfield." The van zips past an old dusty sign on the side of the road. "Redfield Lighthouse, that's my dad's favorite place."

THE VAN PULLED UP to a white fence and, beyond that, what must've been Redfield Lighthouse. The teens jumped out of the car, doors slamming shut behind them as they followed John B. He quickly scanned the area for any signs of people, then facing them again.

"You two are gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" He points directly at Daisy, which she doesn't even need to look to know exactly who the other person is.

Kiara's eyes widen. "No, absolutely not. I didn't even want her here in the first place—"

"I'm literally standing right here." Daisy pressed her lips into a thin line.

"My point still stands."

John B. frowns at both of them. "Please, just do this?" He pleads. Kiara crosses her arms and backs down. "If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."

"Great." Kiara and Daisy answered at the same time, which causes them to sneer at each other.

The boys head off into the opposite direction together, leaving Daisy and Kiara alone together. This was sure to be interesting.

Daisy brushes past Kiara to go sit on the fence while they're on 'look-out'. While, Kiara doesn't say a word, instead staring off into the direction of the road they came on.

For a while, they stay just like that, not speaking or doing much of anything. Then after a few minutes they start to take turns stealing a glances at one another while the other pretends they're not looking. Though, their little game ends short, when Kiara turns her head too fast and notices Daisy looking at her.

"What the hell are you looking at me for?" Kiara complains, balling her hands into fists like a child.

Daisy rolls her eyes, "Jesus, I'm not." She lied because she definitely was just looking at Kiara.

"Mhm."

"You do know that you don't have to be rude to me all the time, right?" Daisy scowled, but Kiara continued to ignore her. "I get it, you hate me, and that's fine. But I'm just trying to do the right thing here." Daisy's voice softens. "You guys are still my friends even if I'm not yours." She says quietly.

Kiara stares at Daisy for a long time with a mild expression. "Did you ever even think about us?" She asks bitterly.

All the time, Daisy thinks to herself. Every summer, every trip to the beach, every firefly, every letter in the mail, every seashell bracelet reminded her of them. Kiara most of all, she was the last one of them to stop trying to reach out. Daisy wanted to answer — really, really wanted to — but it seemed easier to just forget that part of her life. Then, maybe leaving would hurt a little less.

"Yeah."

Kiara looked away, "Y'know, I wasn't even mad about it until you showed up." She shuffles her feet on the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dirt. "I thought I was over it. I thought I didn't care. But then I saw you and I was so... angry?"

"Kie..."

She shakes her head, "No let me finish." Her eyes squeezed shut. "It was okay before because you were never coming back. But then you did. And you didn't even call me, and that really fucking hurt. Especially seeing you with Sarah—"

"I—" Daisy opens and closes her mouth, unable to find the right words to say.

"And the thing is, I don't hate you, even though I want to so badly." Kiara bites down on her lip. "I just miss you."

Daisy hops down off the fence to her feet. "I'm sorry Kie, I really am." She instinctively reaches out to touch Kiara's hand, but stops herself, snatching her hand behind her back. "I hate that I did that to you."

The sound of distant sirens approaching disrupts their small moment. Both girls look toward the road to see flashes of blue and red lights.

"Shit! Cops." Daisy hisses under her breath.

Kiara groans, "Those dumbasses—" She muttered. "Come on, we'll meet up at JJ's." Kiara takes off towards the van.

"Wait, we're just gonna leave them?" Daisy runs after her.

Kiara comes to a halt, looking back to the lighthouse. Her face twist into frustration. "They'll be fine." She decides and runs over to the driver side of the car.

Daisy joins her in the passenger seat, slamming the door shut. Before she can even settle into her seat, Kiara has her foot on the gas and is driving away.

KIARA PACES BACK and forth across JJ's yard. It had been at least a half hour since they fled the lighthouse, and the boys should have been back by now. Daisy sat on the steps, bouncing her leg up and down.

One of their phones buzzed, Kiara fumbles in her back pocket for hers causing Daisy to get up to her feet.

"It's Pope." Kiara announced, reading her phone. "He and JJ got split up from John B."

"Are they okay?"

"John B. got caught by Shoupe." Kiara continues reading, "He needs someone to bail him out."

Daisy heaves a tired sigh. "What are they gonna do?"

"Nothing." Kiara shoves her phone into her back pocket. "I'll call my dad to bail him out."

"He's gonna be pissed."

Kiara runs a hand through her curls, "We don't really have any other choice. JJ's dad won't care and Pope can't mess up his scholarship." She rambles frantically. "They could call DCFS on John B."

"Right." Daisy murmurs.

"I'll call him on the way there, you coming?"

Daisy stands shocked for a moment that Kiara even considered inviting her to tag along, "Yeah."

They meet up with Kiara's dad at the police station in town. He was, indeed, pissed; but thankfully agreed to bail John B. out. Daisy decided to wait outside, while Kiara went into the station with her dad.

Just after a short twenty minutes, Mr. Carrera angrily exits the police station with Kiara and John B. trailing behind him. Daisy starts to follow them.

"If you skip out on your bail and I lose my money, I'm gonna hunt you down and skin you." Mr. Carrera warns John B.

Kiara jogs a little faster to catch up with his pace. "Dad!"

"Cut it." He snaps.

John B. falls behind, noticing Daisy beside him. "Thank you, Mr. C." He slightly dips his head.

"Don't thank me."

Kiara passes by her dad to his truck around to the passenger side. John B. and Daisy meet her on the other side, stopping once they reached her door.

"What happened?" Daisy asks in a hushed tone.

John B. readjusts his hat, "I'll explain later." He whispers back.

"Here," Kiara reaches into her back pocket and pulls out the compass. "JJ said to give it to you. They should be back at his house—"

"Get in!" Kiara's dad angrily shouts from inside the car.

She rolls her eyes, "Give me a sec." She yells back, then facing them again. "You're gonna be good." Kiara reassures.

"Kiara."

With one last apology, Kiara gets into her father's truck and they pull off. Daisy blows out a frustrated breath, massaging her temples.

John B. awkwardly cleared his throat, "Thanks." He scratches at the back of his neck.

"No problem." Daisy gives him a weak smile, and John B. returns the gesture. "JJ and Pope took the Twinkie, so, you're on your own." She nudges his arm, then turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction.

"Wait!" John B. scrambles after her. "Aren't you coming?"

Daisy shakes her head. "My phone's dead, and my aunt will actually murder me if she finds out I left Sarah's house."

"Right... that's where you were before— how did that happen, anyways?" John B. scrunches his nose.

"I don't really know." Daisy shrugs. "She's not so bad though." She admits.

John B. raises his eyebrow at her. Daisy ducks her head to hide the grin on her face and John B. can't help but laugh quietly.

"Thanks again, for looking out for me today, for warning me about Topper and all..." John B. says once they reach the corner of the street.

Daisy stares at him for a long moment, squinting through the suns rays that block her vision. "As much as I'd love to see Topper kick your ass again, I guess I'm still a Pogue at heart." She smirked.

"He did not kick my ass!"

"He definitely did." Daisy giggled.

AUTHOR'S NOTE——

i need to start speed writing if imma get to s2 by the time s3 comes out 😭

did i change the plot a little? yes bc wtf was that kiss between jombee and kiara... i actually despise that storyline bc it literally went nowhere.

so instead kiara gets stuck w/ her gf that's not her gf but is her gf ❤️

hopefully updating again sunday?? fingers crossed