CHAPTER THIRTEEN
( ! rixons cove ! )

MARLEY WAS SAT in her dress next to Kie on a log. the group had gone to rixon's cove like jj said they would and they were all sitting around a fire that jj and pope were finishing up.

"hey, guys. so, like, my dads already gonna kill me. so what's this mandatory meeting about?" questioned pope as marley nodded in agreement, her father was definitely angry and once victoria got in his ear, he'd be furious with her.

john b and jj looked at each other as john b did finger guns to indicate jj to speak, "might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed."

"you ready for this?" questioned john b as marley leaned forward in her seat excited. john b looked at the girls and kie responded, "yeah."

"so, the gold never went down with the royal merchant," started john b as marleys excited smile dropped. she had thought they were done looking for gold.

"oh, my god. here we go again with this," sighs pope as jj looked between his friends, "no. all right, wait. hear him out, all right?"

"it's been here the whole time," stated john b before looking around and continuing, "it's on the island."

"are you serious?" questions kie before smiling, "oh my god."

"i'd like to voice my skepticism," states pope as john b looks at him, "i'm sure you would, pope, but can i please present you with my evidence, sir?"

marley smiled, "ooh he has evidence now." pope just looked at john b, "proceed."

john b smiles, "all right. so, in my backpack," john b pulls out some paper, "i have a letter from denmark tanny."

"who the hell is that?" questions kie as marley remembers, "i've seen his portrait in my uncles office."

"denmark tanny was a slave that survived the royal merchant wreck. check this out," states john b before handing the paper to kie.

marley leaned over kies shoulder and the two girls inspected the paper. "okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. that was his big discovery. so tanny used the gold from the merchant to buy his freedom."

kie whistles to get jjs attention and hands the paper to the boy as john b continues, "after that, he bought his farm. drumroll, please, because that farm is..."

everyone began a drumroll as john b finished, "tannyhill plantation." "tannyhill?" questioned kie as marley smiled, "wicked."

"yeah. so, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. so on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold," explains john b.

kie looks at the boy with a smile, "where?" john b looks at kie, "harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. except.... there's no wheat. you see, wheat is code for gold. check this out."

john b goes next to pope and shows him that the wheat symbol on the letter is the same symbol that is on the picture of the gold.

"the gold is in parcel nine, near the water." finished john b as kie laughed in shock. marley made eye contact with jj as a smile appeared on her face, maybe they'd be able to find the gold after all.

"all we need is the original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold," smiled john b as pope continued to look at the papers, "okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true."

jj walked around pope and went towards john b and engulfed him in a hug. john b pat jjs back as he looked at the fire, "hello! fire! you're near the fire. you're gonna burn."

jj looked at john b, "i'm so proud of you right now." john b smiled, "thank you. that's really sweet of you."

"okay, so, guys. what's the plan?" questions pope as john b points at him, "good question. so, sarah cameron's coming tonight. she's gonna bring an original survey map-"

before john b could finish kie cut him off, "hold on. sarah? wh-why sarah?" john b looked around at his friends, none of them helping him out.

"this is gonna be good," states jj already knowing why sarah was apart of the plan. "sarah, um, she- she got me into the archives in chapel hill yesterday, and that's where i got the letter."

"you were in chapel hill with sarah cameron?" questions kie as john b begins to nod before jj cuts him off, "he was mackin' on her."

marley laughs, "no shit. really?" kie gives the other girl a look, making marley quickly out her hands up in surrender.

"i wasn't macking." replied john b as jj responds, "you were totally macking sarah cameron."

"i wasn't macking her, okay? i was using her for access," replied john b making marley glare at the boy, "excuse me?"

john b turned to the girl wide eyed, he had forgotten that they were talking about marleys cousin.

"there was access, all right." mumbled jj.

"did you tell her about the treasure?" questions kie looking at john b hurt. "i was trying to get into the archives," replied john b as marley glared at him for just using her cousin.

"is that a yes?" questions kie as john b continued, "i- i left out key details." kie scoffed, "yo, what? you let a kook in on our secret? what about pogue lyfe? what about the t-shirt company, bro?"

"i was just using her for information," replied john b as marley crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows at the boy. kie may have been mad sarah knew, but marley was getting mad that john b was just using the girl.

"why don't i believe you?" questioned kie as marley added, "no one should be using my cousin for information here."

john b sighed, hating that both girls were pissed at him for opposing reasons, "i'm trying to make us filthy rich here," he looks at jj, "okay, so that we can pay off a boat," he looks at pope, "or- or, uh... send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies."

he continued, "look, you guys know me. do i look like the type of person to fall for sarah cameron?"

"do you want us to answer that, or-" starts pope as marley rolls her eyes at the boy. anything he could say to make kie feel better would only make marley more upset and vise versa, there was no winning for john b.

"just- just stop." replies john b looking at pope as kie sighed, "look, you don't know her yet. i do! you can't trust her."

"kie what the hell?" questioned marley as she went to stand by jj. pope sighed, "her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club."

marley sighed, "rafe is an asshole." john b added, "rafe and sarah are two different human beings."

jj looked at kie, "what did she do to you, exactly?" marley looked at kie as well, "yeah i'd like to know that too because i was thrown in the middle of something very quickly when you two fell off."

"she's like a- like a spitting cobra. first, she- she blinds you, and then-" jj gives kie a weird look.

"that is a bad analogy."

"listen to me! whatever we get, shes gonna try to take," kie turned to marley, "and i get that she is your cousin, but what has she ever done to gain your trust? what has she done to gain any of our trust?"

marley sighed, "kie she's my family." kie sighed, "i get that but i don't like her and i probably never will."

marley sighed as jj wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

john b looked at kie, "look. even if you don't like her, we need her for the map. so can we please just go get the map and we can all discuss this later?"

kie rolled her eyes before nodding. the group followed john b into his van and on the walk kie grabbed marleys arm, "can we not fight? please?" marley nodded her head making kie smile, neither girl ever enjoyed fighting with the other.

they all sat in the back, leaving john b alone in the front of the van to drive them to where they'd be meeting sarah.

marley sat with her head on jjs chest and her arms wrapped around him. jj was enjoying just messing with the girls hair as john b drove.

once they made it, jj sat up as pope pushed open the sliding door. with a grunt, jj spoke up, "hit it, boys! we're goin'. recon mission."

john b turned towards all his friends, "yo, uh... so, uh, i think i'm gonna do this one by myself..." they all looked at him confused before he continued, "tonight."

kie just rolled her eyes at the boy and sat back down as jj questioned, "really?" "what?" questioned john b as jj sighed, "nothin' brotha."

"i don't want to spook sarah with the peanut gallery," stated john b as marley layed back on jj, ready for her job of sitting and waiting.

"i just don't understand why we're involving her at all," stated kie as john b sighed, "kie, we're not involving her, okay? it's- it's just, uh, like a- a business meeting... thing."

jj pretending like he was sucking dick with a little thing he was playing with, making pope laugh as john b continued, "look, once we get what we need, we cut her loose, all right? plus, we need the map."

"promise me nothings happening between you." stated kie as marley tried not to laugh. as much as john b was trying to hide it, he was obviously macking sarah.

"nothing is happening, kie."

"i'm being serious." responded kie as john b sighed, annoyed, "okay!" "this isn't about you, and this isn't about us. this is about her. dude, she's gonna get inside your head. just promise me nothings happening between you guys."

"i promise."

"that was really believable," stated jj making marley laugh as pope added, "a hundred percent believable."

"anyways, um... i'm gonna take care of business," stated john b as jj replied, "you're gonna take care of it."

"we'll just sit here... in the hot-ass car. while it's lightning," states pope as john b leaves the car and walks off.

marley sighed, "all this drama has got me needing a smoke." jj smiled at the girl as he pulled out a joint making marley smile.

pope quickly grabbed said joint and threw it out the open car door making marley glare at the boy, "hey, asshole! i needed that!" pope just rolled his eyes before turning to kie, "kiara, holding onto your grudge is like drinking poison and thinking sarah will die."

"exactly," added jj as kie just rolls her eyes and ignored the boys. marley felt jj pull her closer to him by her waist before she rested her head on his chest.

pope and jj continued small talk about midsummers, "rafe and kelce followed me-"

"wait, did you guys hear that? sh." states kie as everyone leans forward before hearing a muffled scream for help.

"oh, wait, no. i hear that," states jj as they all quickly get out of the van and run towards the noise.

when the four get to where they heard the scream, they see sarah, laying over john b. marley ran up to her cousin and grabbed her shoulder, "sarah! what happened?"

sarah continued to cry as she responded, "i don't know what to do. he needs help. topper shoved him."

"where the hell is he?" questioned jj as marley looked up to see an opening where wood should have been on the structure above them.

"oh, please, please, please get help. i don't care who. just call someone." cries sarah as marley rubs the girls back in comfort.

marley looked at kie worried as jj pushed pope off to go get some help. "pope, hurry!" screamed kie as she watched john b lay on the floor.

marley stood up and felt jj wrap his arm around her as sarah cradled john b, "john b, stay with me." sarah than began to kiss john b, showing that john b had in fact lied to kie about his relationship with sarah.

kie continued to watch the two as jj shouted, "pope! come on!"

pope came back a little bit later. he was sat in an ambulance as doctors began to pull john b inside of the ambulance. sarah followed the boy into the ambulance while the rest of the group decided to drive john bs van behind the ambulance.

when they made it to the hospital, they all were taken to his room and watched as sarah held his hand while john b laid unconscious.

they all stayed a bit longer till jj led the rest of the pogues out and towards john bs van. jj decided to drive everyone home before bringing the van to john bs house for the boy to have when he went to get it.

AUTHORS NOTE!
yeesh i didn't know how to end that lol. kinda had to make stuff up and sorry if the ending wasn't your favorite.

be sure to comment about anything in the story because i love to read the comments!