➸

Claire stared at the screen in front of her.

There was no sign of the Royal Merchant like they'd thought and the disappointment was clear on all their faces. None more than John B.

John B sighed, "It's not there. Look, just pull the drone up."

Pope did so and thunder rumbled in the distance. John sighed again and walked away from the screen in frustration.

"Look, we can do another pass, recharge the battery. We–we can go back down." Pope said.

"Guys we've been through it three times, there's nothing there." JJ called out.

"Shut up!" Kiara yelled at him.

"What? It's true!"

"The gold could be buried. We don't know!"

"Or maybe we read the map wrong and it's in a different spot?" Claire added.

"No we read the map right." John B said. "If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it."

Claire closed her eyes and sighed softly, before walking back inside the cockpit and sitting down as the five friends made their way back to The Cut.

When they got back to the Cut, the group all split off to go about their day with whatever they had planned. Kiara had work, and Pope had to go help out his dad at his shop. John B went home as did JJ. Claire on the other hand, had no plans at all. She had today off work and for the first time in the last few days, she didn't have anything to do. So, the brunette decided to take her time walking home. She wanted to get some fresh air and for once just take in the peacefulness of the island. It wasn't a long walk, but it was what she needed to take her mind off their defeat about the Royal Merchant. It was disappointing to find nothing, especially after all the time they spent and trouble they got into looking for it.

But, she hadn't lost hope yet. It had to be out there somewhere, and Claire had faith that some kind of good luck would be handed out to them and maybe just maybe, they'd be able to get back into finding the gold.

When she approached her house, some fifteen minutes later, she spotted a black car that belonged to neither herself or her mother, parked in the driveway. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, she quickened her pace over to the front door and walked inside. Sitting at the kitchen table was her mother and a blonde woman dressed in a navy pantsuit, and the two were flipping through a manilla folder of papers.

The lady spotted Claire first, then Jackie turned in her seat and gave her daughter a soft smile.

"Hi, sweetheart."

"Hi..."

"This is Chloe. She's the real estate agent who's be helping us with selling the house."

Claire tensed. She'd been so caught up with the Royal Merchant stuff that she'd forgotten about the move.

"You haven't been here in a while but we've had a couple of people look at the house, letting the damages slide of course, and have been given some good offers. I was just discussing with Chloe which one to take, but now that you're here you can have a look for yourself and maybe help us out." Jackie explained.

Claire stared at her mother in disbelief. "You're really going through with this, mum? You're really going to take me away from my home after all we've been through?"

Jackie sighed, standing from her seat and walking up to Claire. "I know this is hard for you, Claire. Believe me, it's hard for me too–"

"Then why go to all the trouble of moving if it's too hard for you?!"

"Because, we can't stay here anymore. There's nothing left for us here."

Claire really wished she could argue and say that there was, but she knew in her heart that they were at a loss with the Royal Merchant search after today and she had no idea if they would end up finding it at all. She wished she could tell her mother that the reason she'd been so MIA from home lately was because of the search, but telling her came with all the extra information about her and her friends almost being killed and not to mention all of the rules that they'd broken. Claire wasn't ready to be that open with her mother yet.

The brunette sighed. "But what about my friends? I can't just leave them. Not now."

"They'll still be here. You can call them from Sydney."

"No."

"Claire, can we please not argue about this anymore. I'm tired of fighting with you over everything."

"And I'm tired of you always making my decisions for me. I'm sixteen, mum. I'm perfectly capable of making my own choices and I choose to stay here. With my friends. With dad."

"Your father is gone! He's not here anymore, alright? Stop saying that he's still here because he's not." Jackie exclaimed, causing her daughter to flinch.

Claire bit back a crude remark and instead took a deep breath. "I'm not reading any papers and I'm certainly not leaving Kildare." The she turned on her heel and headed for the door.

"Your father would be disappointed in how much of a spoiled brat you're being right now." Jackie said just as Claire reached the door. Her hand lingered on the handle. "We raised you better than this and I do not appreciate your attitude."

Claire turned back around slowly and looked at her mother through glassy eyes. "No, mum. Dad would be disappointed in you."

Without another word, she left the house and slammed the door behind her.

It wasn't until she was at the top of her street that she started crying. She'd have truly given anything to be with her dad right now, and wished more than anything that she could hug him one more time.

Not wanting to be seen crying out in the streets alone, Claire composed herself–wiping her face free of tears and sniffling then taking a few deep breaths–before she walked all the way to The Wreck.

~

Later that afternoon, Claire and Kiara met up with JJ and Pope and they all headed to the summer movie night that was happening on the public green. Claire figured it would be a nice distraction after the shitshow of a day she'd had.

When she arrived at The Wreck earlier that day, Kiara noticed immediately that something happened and forced Claire to spill. After Claire broke down again, Kiara made the two of them some lunch and the two girls just talked about anything and everything, just enough to get the moving situation off Claire's mind. Claire appreciated Kiara more than anything in that moment and it broke her heart to know that she might never see her again. Then Kie mentioned that the movie night was on and suggested they go, and force the boys to come too.

"I'm so glad that they're still doing this." Kiara said. "Keep calm, carry on. Back to OBX life, you know? Aren't you guys glad that I made you come?"

"Ecstatic." Pope replied sarcastically.

"My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest." JJ added.

"Well I'm glad I came." Claire said, earning a big grin from Kie.

"You wanna come get some drinks with me?" Kie asked.

"Sure."

The two girls walked over to the kiosk. "Hey, uh, can I get two Pepsi's and–" Kiara looked at Claire, "what do you want?"

"Just a water, thanks."

"Two Pepsi's and a water, please?"

"Sure."

"Hey, Kie."

Claire's head snapped up at the sound of Rafe's voice and her body tensed as he approached them.

"Hey, Claire. What's up?"

Claire ignored him. She swallowed the lump in her throat, shifting uncomfortably and looking everywhere but at Rafe.

"How are you?" He asked Kiara.

"I'm fine."

"Good, good. Um...tell your boys we know what he did."

Claire's eyes widened and she forced herself to look at him.

"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?" Kie asked.

"Uh, he'll know." Rafe replied, then glanced at Claire. "You got a bit of a bruise on your face, Claire, how'd that happen?"

The brunette clenched her jaw. "I tripped and hit my face on a railing." She said through gritted teeth.

Rafe smirked smugly. "Well, maybe you should watch where you're going. Wouldn't want that happening again, would we?"

She gave the Kook an icy glare. "No, we wouldn't."

Kiara looked between the two in confusion. "Claire, you good?"

"Fine."

Kiara grabbed her arm and walked away from Rafe.

"Bye." He said.

"Douche." Kiara replied. Claire remained silent.

Her whole was body tense. Rafe knew what Pope did and he obviously knew that Claire did too.

"Just saw Rafe and he said, and I quote, "tell your boy that we know what he did." What is that?" Kiara asked, handing the boys their soda's. Claire unscrewed the lid of her water and took a huge sip as she sat down beside Kiara.

"Um...where is he?" JJ asked.

"Right there." Kie said, turning around. The others turned their heads and watched as Rafe, Topper and Kelce were standing at the back of the crowd with drinks in their hands and smug smiles on their faces.

"Great, the whole death squad. Ah!" Pope said.

"Don't stare, bro." JJ warned him.

Claire took another large sip of her drink and quickly faced the front. Kiara stared at the two boys in confusion.

"Just warning you, bro, if they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay?" JJ told a frantic Pope. "Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now."

"Yeah, yeah."

"If that doesn't work, I got this right here." JJ patted his backpack.

"Yeah, yeah. So we just gotta stay in the group. They can't get us in the group."

"Like a school of fish."

"Stay in the school."

"Can't leave the school."

"Oh for the love of god." Claire muttered, rolling her eyes at them.

"I'm sorry, JJ...please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids!"

"No! Kie, I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?"

"Oh, wow, thank you. That's really convincing, I love that, JJ." Kie replied sarcastically.

"Welcome to the summer movie series..."

"Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues." Kie looked between Claire and the boys as she said this. "What is Rafe talking about?"

"Kie, it might go down tonight." Pope said.

"What does that mean? 'Might go down tonight'. What did y'all do?"

JJ looked at Claire and then at Pope. "Deny, deny, deny."

➸

"Hey, where y'all going?" Kie whispered as JJ and Pope had gotten up from their seats.

"We gotta wring it out." JJ responded.

"Are you gonna hold it for each other?"

"God, what is up with them?" Kie muttered when they walked off.

"Dunno."

"Yes you do."

Claire furrowed her eyebrows. "What? No I don't."

"Claire, I know you know what Rafe was talking about, so please just tell me."

Claire stared at her friend for a moment, before giving in reluctantly.

"Fine," she sighed, "the other day when me and Pope went to deliver groceries on Figure Eight we got jumped by Rafe and Topper. That's how I ended up with the big bruise on my face because Rafe hit me with his golf club. Before we left, Pope pulled the spark plug out of Topper's boat and threw it in the water and now they know what Pope did so they're going after him and I'm freaking out because they know I know and I don't want them to come after me either and..."

"Okay, okay, Claire, calm down. They're not going to come after you or Pope or JJ. As for Rafe hitting you, that's assault and you need to report it."

Claire shook her head frantically. "No!" She yelled, a little too loudly because people stared to stare. "No, that's the last thing I'm going to do." She continued, a little bit quieter. "If my mum found out she would make it worse than it already is."

"Kie, please don't tell the boys I told you. I promised I'd keep it between us."

"I won't, I promise. But we should go find the boys and make sure they're okay."

"I agree."

The girls got out of their seats and Claire grabbed JJ's bag, then they walked quickly over to the large screen. Immediately they saw all three Kooks beating up JJ and Pope and Kie snatched the bag from Claire and ran to Topper who was fighting Pope.

"Let go of him, Topper! Fascist asshole!" She yelled, hitting him with JJ's backpack repeatedly.

Claire saw Kelce holding JJ while Rafe punched him and clenched her jaw. She ran over to them and yelled, "Get the fuck away from him!", before she jumped onto Rafe's back, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck so that his circulation was being cut off.

"Get off me, bitch!"

She was sure there were better ways of attacking someone but as a skinny teenage girl with very limited experience with violence, this was all she had.

Rafe was still evidently too strong and he shrugged her off his back forcefully. In the process, he also grabbed Kiara off of Topper's back and threw her to the ground beside Claire.

"Stay out of this!"

She and Kiara shared an angry look before they both got back up and Claire pushed Rafe away from JJ.

"Claire, stay out of this!" JJ yelled.

She ignored him and instead balled her fist and threw a punch at Rafe when he came at her. "That's for Pope!" She punched him once more, "that's for coming after me and my friends," then she did the ballsy-est thing she could think of (no pun intended) and kneed Rafe in the balls. "And that's for hitting me, you fucking wanker!"

Rafe doubled over in pain, clutching his manhood and JJ laughed.  "That was so fucking hot."

Claire smiled at the blonde boy but her smile disappeared as Rafe recovered quickly and hit JJ once again.

"Shut the fuck up!" He said.

"Come on man, just admit it! Admit you did it, bitch!" Topper yelled.

"Ow!" Pope exclaimed.

Claire spun on the spot and saw Topper choking Pope.

"You don't mess with me, Pogue! You hear me?"

"Topper, get off him!" Claire yelled as she ran to help Pope, but Rafe tripped her and she landed on the ground roughly, grunting as the wind was knocked out of her. She slowly rolled onto her back but the disgusting Kook boy straddled her and began to choke her.

"Your little girlfriend's gonna get it, Pogue." He spat.

"Get the fuck off her!" JJ shouted, thrashing angrily against Kelce's grip.

Claire clawed at his hands around her neck as she gasped for air.

"I'm gonna give you one chance. One chance, Pope! Got anything you wanna say, bro?!" Topper yelled angrily. "Come on! You got something you wanna say?!"

"Pope!"

"Rafe..." Claire choked out."please..."

"Finish him off, Top!" Rafe encouraged, ignoring Claire's pleads.

Just as she garnered enough strength to push Rafe off her body, a bright blaze of fire suddenly caught their attentions. Claire coughed and gasped as she welcomed as much air as she could back into her lungs while seeing that Kiara had set fire to the movie screen to break the fight up.

"Get off of him!" Kie yelled at Kelce who still had JJ in his hold. "Kelce, let go of JJ!"

Kelce did so and JJ immediately ran to Claire to help her up.

"Let's get out of here, let's go!" Rafe urged his buddies.

"Fuck, are you okay?" JJ asked her. Claire's eyes filled with tears as she struggled to respond. He pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her body tightly.

When the four of them left the green, Kie and Pope, after asking Claire many, many times if she was alright, went home and JJ walked with Claire back to her place. She'd gotten some of her voice back but the pain was incredible and it hurt the brunette to even breathe.

"You were pretty badass tonight. I've never seen a girl punch the way you did." JJ said as they approached her front yard.

Claire smiled. "I've been wanting to do that since I met him." Her voice was horse and scratchy and it hurt to speak.

JJ chuckled. "I wasn't lying when I said it was fucking hot."

Claire rolled her eyes. "You're so horny all the time and it's gross."

"I'm only horny for you, baby." The blonde boy wiggled his eyebrows and Claire shoved him away playfully.

"Thanks for walking me home." She said quietly after a moment. Claire winced at the pain and rubbed her neck gingerly.

He shrugged. "Wanted to make sure you made it home safely. Girls shouldn't be walking alone at night anyways cause it's not safe. Even in a place as chill as here."

"Yeah. Well, I appreciate it."

"Drink lots of water and get some sleep. You should hopefully have your voice back somewhat in the morning."

"Hopefully. My mum will ask lots of questions otherwise."

"You can handle her. You always do." He said. Claire smiled softly at him.

"Well, I'm gonna head home. See ya tomorrow."

As he started walking away, Claire called him back over. "JJ," he turned around, "can you stay?"

He didn't answer, he just walked back over to her and slung an arm around her shoulder. The two teenagers walked inside the house quietly and Claire closed her door carefully. JJ flopped onto her bed and sighed contently. Claire shook her head and chuckled as the boy made himself comfy while she grabbed a shirt from her closet. She took off her tank top, ignoring JJ who was most definitely staring despite the darkness, and threw the shirt over the top of her bra.

"Is that one of my shirts?" JJ asked. How he could tell Claire had no idea.

She shrugged and looked down at the piece of clothing. It was baggy and long enough that she could wear it as a nightie. It did look like a shirt she'd seen him wear before, and then both of them realised that the only reason Claire would have a shirt of JJ's was from when they'd spent the nights together all those months ago. Claire's cheeks flushed and she was glad it was dark so JJ couldn't see.

She climbed into bed beside him and he pulled her close to him. And as soon as she closed her eyes, Claire drifted off to sleep.

➸

I am soft for jjclaire fluff, how bout you?

Hope you enjoyed this one! Was very intense and I hate hurting my girl but she's badass enough to punch Rafe twice and knee him in da balls so she'll be right hehe

Also, her mum is a biatch smh

Anyways, don't forget to vote and comment! Love u guys xx