CHAPTER FIVE
SHARK MOVIES AND SMILES

THEO HAS BEEN MOPING around in his room for days now, no even bothered to leave the house either. Instead, he lays in bed and watches old classical movies on his laptop for hours and hours and having his dad check in every now and again. It's stupid really, he was the one who sort of instigated the fight with Maisie, but he also can't help but feel as if maybe she deserved it a little bit. He knows it's a horrible thought to have because that's his best friend and she has been for years.

Tonight the two of them were meant to be going to that movie night together but that's obviously off the cards now. Maisie will still probably stroll into the event without a care in the world, he can't pretend that it doesn't sting a little bit — he's practically falling apart without her whilst she's off living her best life.

"Its starting to get a little pitiful now, Theo," Emmy teases lightly as she comes to sit beside him on the bed. "Don't let a girl get you down like this,"

"I never thought I'd have that problem," Theo responds with a small smirk, Emmy laughing softly as he sits up properly. "I just, I just don't get it Em. She seemed so happy the other day when we were hanging out,"

"Sometimes, part of growing up is growing apart. Some space might be good for the two of you, give you a chance to make some new friends,"

"Never been a strong suit of mine,"

Theo leans his head on the woman's shoulder and sighs, a gentle warmth in his chest when she wraps an arm around him comfortingly. It's motherly, the way she is able love him as if he's her own is something he so desperately appreciates because his own mother hadn't bothered. It's been years since she up and left without any contact since, Theo has no clue as to where she even is.

"Your dad told me that you brought some friends over the other day," Emmy starts quietly, staring out the window at the waves. "Why don't you go and do something with them?"

"We're not really that close, just an in the moment thing. Besides, they're probably off on some crazy adventure on the water, I see them come by here all the time," Theo replies.

Theo knows they're up to something, he hasn't forgotten about the fact they were looking up coordinates on his computer, but it's none of his business really. They seem to have some sort of understanding, he's not really their friend but he's not going to cause any problems with them — Theo has invited them into his home several times now so clearly he trusts them.

"How about I send you down to get us something for lunch and then we'll just sit around and watch movies all afternoon? I've got the day off so I send to occupy myself as well," Emmy comments.

"I do still need to educate you on proper shark movies," Theo smiles slightly as Emmy laughs at him, gently shoving him away. "Shark Tale and then all the Jaws movies,"

"Sounds like a plan,"

Theo gets changed and slips his shoes on, grabbing the car keys off the side of the bench on his way out the front door. It's not often he drives around here, there isn't much of a reason too, but if he wants to bring back food hot he probably should this time. He takes the familiar route down to The Wreck, knowing that he should be able to get something relatively quick.

Parking the car is a relatively easy task, a few spaces along the road available for him. Most people walk here and often take their food down to the beach to eat, hence the lack of cars actually here.

The light breeze pushes against his face as he heads for the front door, his hair flying about slightly with each gust of wind. Theo knows he probably looks like he just rolled out of bed, his hair a mess, but he cannot bring himself to actually rectify the issue. It's not like anybody is going to openly comment about it in front of him and what they say behind his back, well he'll never know what that is anyway.

Theo opens the door and he walks inside, the restaurant rather busy and the line close to going outside. He joins the end of the queue, shooting his step mother a quick message about how he might be a while. Clicking out of the message, his finger hovers over Maisie's name for a moment before he shakes his head and turns it off — he isn't going to go running back, not when he thinks she should be the one who is.

"Hey, what can I get for you today?"

Theo hadn't even realised that he was now at the front, his feet moving on their lonesome as he continued to overthink. The brunette boy looks up at Kiara who smiles friendly, her eyes lighting up slightly at the sight of the familiar face. Theo believes that if Kiara had attended his school from when they were children, the two of them would've been great friends.

"Uh anything that will be good for a movie night," Theo responds with a smile, eyes searching the board for something to buy. "Maybe some fries?"

"No problem. Anything else?"

"Some calamari too sounds good,"

Kiara writes down the order and repeats it back to him, giving the price as well. He slips the money in her direction and stands to the side to wait for his order. It'll more than likely be a wait, he is well aware, so he sits down at one of the empty tables and scrolls away on his phone.

"Now I'm really starting to think you're tracking me or something,"

Theo is startled by the voice, again, and his phone tumbles onto the table in front of him. The glare he gives JJ is halfhearted and the blonde haired boy seems to know it too, his face lit up with laughter. "Sorry. I didn't break your fancy phone did I?"

"No but I am this close to throwing it at your head. Is it that hard to approach me normally and not scare the shit out of me?" Theo breathes, his eyes narrowed.

"But where's the fun in that?"

Theo opens his mouth to respond when Kiara calls out to him, his food now sitting on the counter. Giving JJ a fleeting glance, the brunette goes and grabs his food. "Thanks Kiara,"

"No problem. Enjoy," Kiara responds.

Theo waves at her and leaves the restaurant, coming to a quick halt when he hears the sound of his name. JJ jogs up so that he can stand beside him, catching Theo's full attention as he pulls his brows together in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" Theo questions curiously, turning his head to get a proper look at the boy. He doesn't seem as if he's in an real hurry to answer though, walking beside Theo as he heads to his car. "JJ?"

"I just wanted to speak with you about the other day," JJ finally responds, playing around with the hat that's on his head.

"I already told you I'm not going to snitch on you—"

"No, I meant about what you did for Pope. I just wanted to say thank you,"

That stuns Theo slightly, he will admit that. He hadn't really done much in reality, simply stepping in like any decent person would. "You don't have to thank me, JJ. I'm just glad he's okay,"

JJ looks at him for a few moments, almost as if he's trying to figure the other teen out. Theo returns his gaze briefly before looking away, trying to make it seem as if he hadn't looked at all.

"I've got to get home or the food is going to go cold," Theo suddenly blurts out, desperately trying to avoid the boy's eyes.

He opens the car up and puts the food on the passenger seat, moving to get into the passenger seat when a hand grabs onto his wrist. JJ isn't holding on too tightly, but it's firm enough for Theo to know he wants to have some sort of further conversation.

"And about Maisie, just be careful, okay? This is what she does, happy one day and dropping you the next," JJ warns, reminding Theo that he had in fact been friends with Maisie first. "She'll find a way to make it your fault too,"

He wants to defend her, yell at the blonde for insinuating such a thing, but his mind is so exhausted from the constant events of the past few days — he just can not be bothered. So instead, he merely nods his head in acknowledgement before getting in the car and leaving the blue eyed boy to watch him go.

"A vegetarian shark? Are you serious?" Emmy scoffs as Shark Tale plays before them. An amused grin has appeared on Theo's face in the meantime, he knew she would be perturbed by it.

"It's not that obscure, we as a species are generally carnivorous but not everybody follows that. Why can't Lenny be a vegetarian?" Theo teases softly, ducking his head to avoid the pillow being hurled in his direction.

"This is so dumb,"

The two of them watch the rest of the movie in relative silence, the boy feeling the familiar warmth within as the credits roll. He has so many memories from when he was a child, so many that he loves to remember even if they do involve the woman who had abandoned him.

"Your dad is going to be home late again tonight and I have to go to bed soon because I have to be up early," Emmy comments as they get halfway through the first Jaws movie, typing away on her phone. "You got plans tonight?"

"Nope. Might have a walk on the beach later I guess," Theo shrugs.

"Make sure you're back before it gets too dark," Emmy responds somewhat sternly.

Theo simply nods his head, grabbing his phone from beside him when it lights up. His immediate belief is that it may be Maisie but instead it's an unknown number, it's buzzing uncontrollably as he tries to figure out who it is. He doesn't answer it, he never does if he doesn't know the number, they'll leave him a message if they want him to get back to them. He puts it to his ear when a voicemail does come through.

"Thought you'd be better at answering your phone, rich boy. Look, we might have a slight problem, we think that Topper knows who sunk the boat and Pope is freaking out. You got plans?"

How did JJ even get his number? That's the first thing that comes to his mind but almost instantly it's replaced with a slight fear of what will happen to the two of them when, or if, Topper has actually figured out who did it. The last thing JJ and his friends need is for the police to get involved, Theo knows Topper's mother and there is no chance she doesn't press charges.

He clicks the number and sends through a quick text message, informing the boy he'll meet them down on the beach. "Do you mind if I go meet some people?"

Emmy looks over. "Go have fun kid. I'll let your dad know that you might be back a little later tonight,"

Theo leans over and kisses her cheek, scampering to his feet and rushing out to the car. His mind is in overdrive, he wants to help them, he wants Topper and his stupid friends to finally get what's coming to them, but he should've known there would be more extreme circumstances.

"Theo!"

He sighs and rubs his forehead, turning around to face Topper as he walks over. The brunette's eyes flick behind him to see Maisie and Rafe conversing as well, just great.

"Can I help you with something, Topper? I have somewhere to be," Theo sounds exasperated, he feels it too. This is the furthest thing from what he wants right now, the sun beaming down on his face as he awaits the upcoming conversation.

"We know that Heyward sunk my boat," Topper hisses, his face slightly red with what Theo comprehends as underlying anger. "I also know that you probably had something to do with it. May has convinced me to not press charges against you,"

May? A ripple of pain runs through him at the sound of the nickname that he has only ever called her, one he'd given her when they were younger. Maisie looks at him for a few seconds before turning her head away, almost as if she's thinking the same thing that he is.

"Why would Pope Heyward sink your boat, Top? I mean, he's never done anything like that before. I think it's more likely that you didn't care for it properly," Theo shrugs nonchalantly.

"We have cameras, Silver. I saw him do it and my mum is thinking of pressing charges," Topper replies harshly.

"Right and what will you tell them when they ask why he acted that way? Will you act as if the whole golf club thing didn't happen? You know, the assault that you were apart of?"

"Like they're going to believe that," Rafe scoffs, walking up behind his best friend. "The word of a pogue over the two of us?"

"The word of a lawyer's son or an asshole who has a history of hating pogues?" Theo shoots back, a tense smile on his face as he slips into the driver's seat of his car. "Just an idea, if you don't like the retaliation, then maybe don't do the action that's going to cause it,"

Rafe grabs hold of the door before Theo can close it, leaning in. "You better watch yourself, Silver. You think you can just go around talking shit and getting away with it?"

Theo smiles tightly, pushing Rafe away from him lightly before slamming the door. He reverses the car, careful to avoid the three teenagers who are standing about in his driveway, and zooms off towards The Cut.

He spots JJ from a mile away, his blonde hair flying about in the wind as he sits beside Pope. They seem to be in a deep conversation as Theo approaches, hands in his pockets. "Hey guys,"

The two teens turn to look at him, Pope's eyes glazed over with a deep worry. It makes Theo's heart ache for him, he's so worried about this whilst Rafe and Topper get away with literally attacking him with a golf club — the usual turn of events here in the Outer Banks.

"Theo," Pope breathes anxiously. "We think Topper knows–"

"He does," Theo interjects quietly.

"What? How do you know that?" JJ asks, his full attention now on the kook.

"Well he, Rafe and their new best friend just cornered me in my driveway. Apparently they have cameras,"

Pope's eyes grow wider, if that is even possible, and he's looking at his best friend again who immediately tries to assure him. Theo's lips pull down into a frown. "Pope, they attacked you first, you could press charges,"

"They won't listen to us, Theo, it's pointless. We just, we have to ride this out, okay?" JJ directs the second part to his friend who nods. "Look, how about we go to that movie thing tonight? Give you some time to relax a bit,"

In retrospect it sounds like a great idea, the downside is that they will likely be there as well. Pope seems to reluctantly agree, nodding along to JJ's words.

"You going to come with us, rich boy?" JJ asks, turning his head to look at Theo again.

"Sure," Theo smile softly, almost as if he's trying to assure Pope that it will be a good night. "I can drive us over if you want,"

"Sounds good. Can we swing by and pick up Kie along the way?"

Theo nods, already nervous for what the night holds. For some reason, every-time you get kooks and Pogues in the same place, a fight breaks out and with everything going on, Theo knows this time will be no different.

NOTE!

Hi! Thank you for clicking on the new chapter and giving it a read! I hope you enjoyed, things will definitely start picking up soon. I already have a lot of the next few chapters planned out so when I get some time I'll sit down and write them up!

I hope to see you next time! :)

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