"And tell me,
Did you fall from a

Shooting star?
One without a
Permanent scar?"

IT WAS THE NEXT DAY, and there was no question about the fact that Red was still very much on-edge about the situation with the boat the evening before.

Her gut and her brain agreed that the pogues were up to no good, but none of them really told her what they were doing in the marsh beforehand.

Nevertheless, she carried on with her day until she spotted Kelce, Bennie, Rafe, and Topper walking around figure eight, so she left the house and decided to join them despite her petty argument with the youngest Thornton the day before.

The four paid no mind to the fact that she now stood beside Bennie, who shot her a half smile telling her that she wasn't mad at her.

"Jeez man." Kelse exclaimed, looking at the damage the hurricane caused.

"Agatha's a bitch." Rafe swooped over to the side, making everyone crack a laugh.

"Damn straight." Bennie muttered, not turning to face any of the boys.

As the teens walked along, Topper's smile began to fade as he brought up the events of the kegger. "I mean- I just... can't get it out of my head. It's just on Repeat. 'Your move broski.'" Topper quoted JJ from that night.

"Bro, he had a semi-automatic pointed at your head!" Kelce explained.

"That's what I'm saying!" Topper agreed.

"Safety off!" The tan skinned boy added.

Bennie shrugged, looking up at her brother. "I mean... I'm sure he wasn't actually going to shoot you." Bennie chuckled. "Like... C'mon. He may be JJ, but he's no murderer."

"Well what's the point of having a gun pointed to someone's head if you're not gonna pull the trigger, exactly?" Topper picked up a rock off the ground and threw it out into the distance.

"Oh, I don't know." Bennie told him, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Maybe to stop you from drowning a pogue."

"Sure. And lemme guess it's the same reasoning for me not drowning John B than it is for JJ not shooting me?"

"Basically, yeah." Bennie shrugged. "I mean, you wouldn't have drowned John B, right?"

"Well, it depends if he shut his mouth or not."

"Topper!"

Top rolled his eyes at the younger girl. "Relax, Bentley. No, I wouldn't drown John B."

"I think her point is that just like you wouldn't drown John B, JJ wouldn't shoot you." Red cut in.

"JJ and I are not the same person." Topper added one last time.

After a bitter silence, Rafe spoke up. "You know you should get a piece?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Top.

"You gotta fight fire with fire and defend the homestead, right?"

"Yeah."

"That's a very kooky thing to say, Rafe, but thanks for your influence." Red chuckled.

"Well it's better than being caught without one, right?" Asked Kelce.

"Listen guys." Topper started. "I-I'm gonna get him back, Alright. I'm making that a little project of mine."

"Oh yeah, you can put that right next to fixing the window you and your friends broke and actually putting the trash in the driveway." Bennie teased, making Topper roll his eyes.

"I think you should." Kelce encouraged.

Their attention was turned from each other to Sarah and a little girl, who Sarah kneeled next to having a conversation that none of them could quite hear.

Red looked over at Bennie, who not-so-subtly rolled her eyes, earning a elbow from her brother.

Red was well aware of the fact that Bennie wasn't in love with the fact that Topper was dating Sarah. She never knew quite why. Maybe because Bennie knew that Sarah had had a history of dating many boys and being a heartbreaker and didn't want Top to get hurt, or the fact that Sarah was one of them many people on the island that treated Bennie like a kid, much like the one Sarah knelt next to. In fact, Red was sure Sarah would kneel next to Bennie, despite the fact that she wasn't short.

Rightfully so, Bennie was only 12-years-old, but Red thought maybe the reason she was drawn more towards teenagers instead of other kids her age, was because she was mature enough to understand everything going on.

Probably the reason that she was Rafe's personal 'therapist'.

"What's she doing?" Asked Topper.

"Watch her fall and make a big drama out of it." Rafe guessed, playfully elbowing Bennie, grabbing her attention and pulling it towards Sarah.

"Hey! There are 14,000 volts in those wires!" Rose, Rafe and Sarah's stepmom yelled from the porch.

Sarah shrieked playfully.

"Hey Sarah, be careful!" Topper yelled down to his girlfriend.

"Sarah, Get down!" Rose ordered, approaching the girl.

"Rose calm down! I'm an athlete." Sarah explained confidently. "I got this."

"You're gonna get electrocuted! Get down!" Rose demanded again.

Sarah did a little dance with her shoulders teasingly, angering her step mom and brother even more.

"Sarah, that's not funny!" Topper protested.

"Maybe she'll die before she gets the chance to break up with you." Bennie blurted, causing everyone including Red to laugh out loud, but Topper glared at her. Bennie put her hands up and surrendered. "Not funny, noted dude."

Rafe chuckled and looked down at her, "Little fried Sarah."

"Rafe, you're sister's crazy, man."

Sarah climbed into the boat, still being careful where she was standing.

"I see her!" Sarah told the girl, making her giggle.

Just then, Sarah screamed loudly, falling into the boat. Topper nearly bolted to her as Red grabbed Bennie who shoved her head into her chest, covering her eyes for if there was any blood.

As Kelce, Rafe, and Topper walked down there, Red and Bennie remained up on the hill until Red realized she was faking and let go of Bennie, letting out a relieved sigh.

"Holy Shit, For a minute I thought I witnessed something horrible!" Bennie exaggerated.

Red laughed and walked away with Bennie.

Just as the two girls began walking downtown, Kiara rushed towards the two girls, "Red! Red! Red, you need to come to the Chateau."

Red was startled, "What, why?"

"Something happened to John B and JJ." Kie explained. Bennie held her hands in the air, waving to Kiara. "Oh, Hi, Bennie."

"Top of the morning." Bennie saluted.

Red looked over her shoulder, "Can it wait? I'm supposed to babysit Bennie now that Topper is having a serious conversation with Sarah."

Kie looked at Bennie. "Is she actually babysitting you, or are you covering because she doesn't want to go?"

"For the first time, no, I'm actually not covering for her. She still owes me restitution." Bennie smiled.

"Ok, Well she could wait outside I guess." Kie told her.

"How generous." Bennie rolled her eyes but agreed.

Soon, the three would arrive at the Chateau where Red would direct Bennie to stay outside for 10 minutes until they were done talking about the matter.

Bennie nodded and circled a tree singing a weird song.

Red sat down in the chair next to Pope listening to the boys tell their tale.

"And then we were right outside like this." JJ put his back against the wall, explaining how everything happened. "And all we hear is, 'BAM, BAM, BAM!' Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside! Alright, and I'm just looking at him like- Wait, first off, look at this sh**." JJ put his head down and ran his fingers through his hair, as white stuff came out of it. "Look at it."

"That's- dandruff. Disgusting." Kie commented.

"Okay, that's enough." Pope begged.

"Thank you for your... visual." Red smiled.

"Look at all that! Alright?" Explained JJ, catching his breath. "That's paint. At that point... I was just- waiting for death."

"Okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Pope asked, Red jumped in confusion.

"Wait, wait, wait, shoot at you? I missed something." She put her hands in front of her, signaling them to slow down."

"Let me catch you up." John B told her. "Basically after you and your dad finished checking us out, which by the way I was underwater with Ward Cameron's scuba gear the entire time looking for the duffel bag, in which I found my fathers compass. Yeah, in Scooter's boat. Weird, right?" He asked, earning a nod from the girl. "So after that, these two men shot at us while we were riding away and if it wasn't for Kie, we would have been shot right now." He summed it all up. "And this morning, me and JJ went over to Scooter's wives house and the same two guys that shot at us tried to hurt Mrs. Grobes. So yeah that's basically it."

Red took a breath, "Well, first of all. That's really weird. And second... way to go Kie!" She held up a high five to the girl. "Anyway, continue."

"But yeah, We saw the guys." JJ finished.

"Um, did you get a description of them?" Pope asked. "Like what do they look like?"

"Yeah, like anything helpful." Added Kie.

"Anything we can bring to a police report?" Pope asked again.

"Burly." JJ blurted.

"Burly?" Red repeated.

"Yeah." JJ's words didn't make sense. "You know? Like-"

"That's not very helpful." Kie groaned.

"Okay, well, no, like the type of guy at my dad's garage." JJ explained. "I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers."

"Yeah. Yes, No we know." Kie stopped him.

"I can tell you with full confidence guys... these boys- these killers." JJ leaned against the wall again and smoked again. "They're square groupers."

"They're square groupers? Like narco square groupers?" Asked Pope. "Like- Pablo Escobar square grouper?"

"Yeah, Man."

"You guys. Not everything's a kingpin movie." Kie added, stopping them.

Pope and JJ argued about it for a moment before JJ cut to the point. "But I can tell you... I can tell you- by the way Mrs. Lana was screaming. These guys are serious, serious hombres."

Red zoned out and turned her attention to John B, who held a compass in his hand. She glared at the compass, as if asking to hold it, which John B nodded.

She muttered a small thanks before carefully taking it and opening it.

John B stared at her and the compass, as if realizing something.

"The office." He blurted, taking the compass back. "My dad, My dad's office." John B began walking inside the house followed by everyone. "He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research."

Red decided to stay outside to keep an eye on Bennie, but was distracted by the pictures of John B, his dad, uncle, and mom on the wall that she couldn't pay attention to her.

Red was startled by JJ running in looking for something.

"JOHN ROUTLEDGE!" A man yelled from outside, sending JJ nearly picking Red up and sprinting into the room.

The stood there in fear, those had to have been the guys who shot at them, right?

"Guys, they're on the porch." JJ whispered.

The men continued yelling from inside the house.

"Guys, the window! The window!" Kie sparked and idea.

Pope tried to open the window, but it was painted shut.

Red stood there in almost shock, but tears flooded out of her eyes as she stood in a frozen position.

JJ approached her and put both hands on her shoulders, "Hey, no- It's okay, we'll get out."

"No- No, it's not that." Red sobbed quietly. "Bennie."

"What about Bennie?" JJ asked before coming into realizing that Bennie had still been out in the front yard. "Oh Sh**."

JJ pulled Red in as if comforting her as the rest of the boys stood by the door, but Kie tried to cut the paint of the window.

The door began to shake, "YOU BETTER NOT BE IN THERE!" The man yelled from outside.

The man kicked the door down, but by that time they all sprinted outside, where Bennie didn't sit by the tree anymore, but she was nowhere to be seen.

They retreated into the chicken coop, where Red almost cried at the sight of Bennie in tears, but still safe, yet understandably terrified.

Red sat between JJ's arms, still crying.

Kie also was terrified, as they probably all were as the chicken wouldn't shut up, which was drawing attention to their hiding spot.

JJ climbed after the chicken, eventually killing it by snapping it's neck as Red held on to his bicep.

John B held Bennie in the crock of his shoulder while on the other hand held Kie's.

That's when Bennie and Red became apart of the hunt.

bennie as a pogue is
actually going to be epic,
but brace yourselves for
a plot twist coming soon :D

I also thought it was really
sweet how John B protected
Bennie *teary eyes*