It was the first time Collins had ever witnessed the root of her mothers addiction. Before, she'd only seen the deals when the scary man came to their house, then afterwards when Collins peered around corners and caught a glimpse of her mother rolling up a dollar bill. But then, she was there where the dealer lived, where his colleagues roamed, where all that illegal paraphernalia sat, and she was so out of place, so afraid of what was going on and too scared to move a muscle that could take her out of that place. 
"Collins." A voice calls to her, pulling her back to reality. She opened her eyes and Kie is staring at her from outside the van. The others had gotten out in the span of time that Collins had been lost in her head and she hadn't realized it. Kie looked at her with a concerned expression on her face. "You coming out with us?"
Swallowing thickly, Collins managed to shake her head. She hugged her knees close to her chest and whispered, "No."
She knows she shouldn't be so affected by this house, by this memory. She should be worried about JJ and the fact that something was clearly going on with him and she should be helping everyone by getting to the bottom of it.
But what can she do? He's not going to listen to her, he could barely hear her when they'd had a gun pointed at them and she'd pleaded for him to follow orders before he got himself killed. Collins doesn't have the power to snap whatever this was out of him. She doesn't even have the power to pull herself back together.
Against what Collins had hoped Kie would do, the girl climbed in and crawled over to her so that she was kneeling in front of Collins. "Talk to me. What's going through your head right now?"
Biting her lip to stop it from quivering, Collins muttered, "I can't be here."
"Because of what happened earlier? Is it JJ? Are you scared for him, is that what this is about?"
Collins doesn't respond. It's neither of those things, but at the same time, it's both of them and then some at once. And she can't bring herself to explain her hi온라인카지노게임 with this place to Kie because it's like she can't physically formulate the words that she needs to. If only there was a way for Kie to just know, that way she wouldn't have to tell this 온라인카지노게임 out loud and try to compose herself while doing it. The only person who would most likely be able to understand why she was acting this way, is JJ. She wouldn't have to delve into details because he would have heard the 온라인카지노게임 before. In any other given situation, she was sure he'd be sitting where Kie was and he'd be the one comforting her. It's unfortunate that that particular situation isn't the case. 
Realizing that she isn't going to get anything out of Collins, Kie clamps her mouth shut and sits back with a defeated look. She still withholds her concern for Collins, but fails to know how to approach the situation. They were still in the early stages of their friendship with Collins so she didn't know how to talk when Collins is acting this way. 
So Kie just sat there with Collins, not making a sound, but making her presence known and acknowledgeable. Even if she didn't know what it was that Collins needed to hear and if she couldn't get Collins to tell her what was wrong, the least Kie could do was be ready for when she finally decided to open up. 
The sound of heavy footsteps trudging through the gravel alerted them that either John B or JJ had emerged out from the house. "All right, so we're looking at five grand each for reparations for putting us through that bullshit. Sorry 'bout that y'all."
The two girls both looked up to see JJ with a fist full of cash in his hands and an unfamiliar looking duffle hanging on his arm that had more dollar bills peeking out of it. He counted the money nonchalantly while his friends stared incredulously at him.
"So that's what we're doing now? We're robbing drug dealers?" Kie shook her head in disbelief. 
With a worried expression on her face, Sarah chimed, "This Barry guy's gonna find out. And he's gonna come after us."