"You two look good together".
Rafe was caught off guard by his little sister Wheezie, who appeared next to him on the porch. His eyes were fixed on the black Nissan, which was leaving the driveway.

"What?". Rafe faced his sister, who was grinning at him,"I don't like her. It's the opposite of what you think. Can't stand her presence. You don't know shit, Wheez".
Defensive Rafe, like usual.

"Ooh enemies to lovers", Wheezie laughed,"That's a great story to tell when people ask you how you two fell in love".

Rafe furrowed his eyebrows and watched Wheezie leave. The girl just chuckled on her way back inside, her brother looked like he didn't understand a word she just said.

-

A thick and depressing silence was in the car. Anastasia gripped the steering wheel tight, trying to hold back her anger about what John B just witnessed. To try and soothe her emotions, Anastasia turned on the radio. Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits was playing.

JJ came to Anastasia's mind and she turned the radio back off. Just like John B thought about his best friend, who had no idea Anastasia spent the night with Rafe Cameron.

"Are you going to tell him?".

Anastasia eyed her friend next to her. John B was looking at her like she just killed somebody. "Tell who what?".

"God Ana", John B frowned,"You're wearing Rafes shirt. I saw you guys be extremely close. You disappeared last night after I entered the hospital".

"I-", Anastasia took a deep breath,"There is nothing to tell, because nothing happened. I also hug you guys, or wear your clothes".

"So Rafe is your friend now?". He snapped back, his voice hurt and icy.

Anastasia hit the breaks and stopped at the side of the road. Her head whipped around. "So Ward fucking Cameron is your legal guardian now?".

John B lowered his gaze and didn't answer. "You're moving in with Sarah Cameron. I bet Kie will love that", Anastasia continued.

"Don't!", John B snapped back,"You weren't there last year. You don't know what happened between Kie and Sarah".

"Just like you don't know what my last year looked like!", Anastasia answered without thinking,"I know Rafe Cameron from when he was in California".

"What?". John B looked at Anastasia utterly confused. Her watched her eyes tear up.

"I didn't know Rafe was living in the Outerbanks until I moved here", she explained, trying to blink away the tears forming in her eyes. Anastasia was never good at fighting with her friends. Most of the time she was scared she'd just snap and say the most hurtful things and then end up loosing her friends.

"You found out at the bonfire", John B concluded and Anastasia nodded,"What happened between you two? Last year I mean".

"I-", Anastasia turned her eyes back on the road and sighed,"I can't tell you, at least not right now".

"The only thing I can tell you is that nothing happened between me and Rafe", Anastasia added,"So don't tell anyone. It's not yours to tell anyways".

"Okay". John B believed the girl in front of him every word she said. By the way her eyes teared up he could only expect that something bad must've happened last year and he surely didn't want to dig it up. "I'm sorry".

"Me too", Anastasia whispered and hugged John B before she was back at driving to the Chateau, where John B would tell their friends about his new living situation.

-

Anastasia sat next to John B, looking down at her dirty shoes while he told their friends everything about his talk with Ward. He thankfully let out the part where he saw Anastasia hug Rafe. But still Anastasia couldn't help but feel extremely uncomfortable. She felt like she was lying to her friends, which was something she couldn't work with.

"So you're living with Sarah Cameron?". Kiara scoffed and rolled her eyes. The boys didn't seem to care that much. But Anastasia was scared they'd all hate her once she'd tell them about her past. So she decided to stay quiet and wait for the right moment. Because right now, things were way too heated.

"Yeah but just because of the DCS", John B explained,"Please Kie. I-".

"No I get it", Kiara nodded and got up on her feet,"I just want you to know what you're getting yourself into. Sarah Cameron is a snake!".

"I'm not getting myself into anything", John B answered. Anastasia knew he lied. She could see right through her friends.

JJ couldn't see through Anastasia though. She was sitting opposite of him, wearing a man's dress shirt, which did look pretty businesslike. Nothing made sense to him: Anastasia drove John B to the hospital, dropped him and the girls off and once Pope and JJ arrived she was long gone. Now Anastasia couldn't even look her friends in the eyes. He was worried for her.

"Guys", Anastasia finally spoke up after letting out a sigh. She forced a smile on her lips. "Let's just not fight for a sec. We have the map, right? I suggest we should go and look for the gold".

Both Pope and JJ agreed heavily, the two were equally glad it was Anastasia, who dared to interrupt Kiara and John Bs fight. The five friends got into the Twinkie and Anastasia started to drive with her friends directions, which weren't as great as she hoped they'd be. But eventually they came to a halt in front of an old stone wall.

"Oh god no", JJ sighed once he eyed the house in front of him,"Not the Crain house".

"Oh no", John B sighed along with his friends. Anastasia just furrowed her eyebrows and watched all of her friends lower their heads. What was going on?

But even Pope agreed with his friends:"Worst case scenario".

"Wait guys", Anastasia opened her mouth and faced Kie,"What the hell is going on?".

Kiara just grinned and didn't answer, watching JJ sneak up to Anastasia from behind. Anastasia didn't realize until she heard a deep whisper in her ear:"I heard Mrs. Crain buried her husbands head on the property".

Anastasia turned around and laughed out loud, playfully pushing JJ away from her:"Stop messing with me, J".

"No I mean it", JJ quickly continued,"Her daughter was babysitting me and she told me stories".

"Wait really?", Kie gasped and Anastasia couldn't help herself but laugh out loud once again. She turned away from her friends and faced the stone wall. With a swift movement she managed to climb up and swing her legs over the wall.

"I don't believe you, JJ", Anastasia just smiled and helped John B up the wall, who was following her. "Neither do I".

Once the five friends all settled on the Crain property, JJ caught his breath and continued talking:"No I mean it. I swear Mrs. Crain killed her husband with an axe and dumped his body here somewhere".

"Oh god", Kie gasped once again and obviously got scared. Anastasia just turned around and looked JJ dead in his watercolor eyes. "I'll kill you with an axe if you won't stop talking J".

Harvest the wheat near the water.

The five friends have looked everywhere in the Crain garden but no one found water. So eventually John B decided it would be best to break into the cellar and look there. Anastasia followed him without a doubt, whereas their friends were all hesitating.
While JJ tried to play it cool by singing a song about the murder of Mr. Crain; Pope and Kiara couldn't help themselves but think the exact same thing: Why was Anastasia so calm about breaking into someone's home?

They obviously didn't know her past and that she had done worse things. Neither Pope nor Kiara dared to ask. The reason was a mixture between their anxiety about the whole situation over all as well as the fact that neither of them were sure it would be right to ask. What Pope already knew was that Anastasia probably had an alcohol / drug problem and he for sure didn't want to stir that up.
He was just surprised how a rich kook girl would end up so different than what he knew of a kook girl - she was reckless, didn't give a single fuck about anyone's opinions except about her friends and family. That was one thing Pope was sure of ever since she rescued him from being beat up by Rafe Cameron: Anastasia would do anything for the people she loves.

And so Anastasia did once again. Everyone stopped believed that they'd find the gold. It was just another dead end, they thought. John B was fighting with Kiara about the Sarah topic; JJ was twitching nervously and Pope just sat down and watched his friends.
"Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?!".

Slap. "Oh Shit!".

"Stop treating me like I'm some girl that's obsessed with you". Kiara snapped back and Anastasia just smiled to herself loving Kiara's response.

Slap. "What the hell John B?!".

"Skeeter!".
Once Kiara and John B both showed each other their hands, proving they in fact hit one another because of a skeeter, Anastasia suddenly stopped in her tracks and bucked down to her knees.

"Pope", she spoke up,"Look!". Once JJ watched Anastasia try to rip off a wooden plank from the floor he quickly kneeled down next to her and did the job for her.

"Wow". "Holy shirt".

Underneath the wooden planks had been the water they had been looking for all along. The five friends cheered.
"Well, well, well".

"That was a great dad joke, Pope", JJ laughed.

-

Turns out JJ and Anastasia sucked at cooking. They tried to make some pasta for the five of them. And it did start quite well, but eventually the two got too carried away jamming along to Taylor Swift (JJ loved Taylor now) and talking about certain things. Thank god John B got into the kitchen before anything caught fire.

But still everyone was hungry and therefore JJ managed to convince Kiara to pick up the food they ordered with him.
"How did you even manage to burn pasta??".

"Pope", Anastasia sighed, trying to explain herself for the ninth time,"I-. It doesn't matter. JJ and I made a plan and we eventually forgot the pan on the stove".

"God", Pope frowned in between a laugh. Anastasia was one of the smartest people he knew but she sucked at cooking.

"Wait a sec", John B interrupted, looking at his friends,"What plan?".

"A plan so that Kiara and Sarah can overcome their differences".
Anastasia grinned and explained the plan to her friends. It was a simple plan JJ and her figured out: Pope would trap Kiara on the boat just like John B would get Sarah on the boat and then they'd just leave them there until the next morning.
"- like I said: It's a simple seven step plan".

"It's the best shot we got", John B answered and exchanged glances with Pope, who hummed in agreement.

"I mean if they kill each other it's your fault", Pope just laughed and added, laughing even harder,"Wait so you two figured out a perfect seven step plan but didn't even manage to make pasta".

John B broke out in laughter once Anastasia just giggled:"Priorities".

-

Kiara's gaze travelled over to JJ, who was driving Twinkie after he miserably failed to make pasta; since then Kiara knew she'd be the one, who'd cook next time. Still she wondered how JJ and Anastasia managed to mess up a simple recipe and she couldn't help herself but think about them and what had happened between them.
Pope, John B and Kiara herself could only guess what happened that one night, considering neither Anastasia nor JJ told them the truth. But it was obvious something happened. Kie knew just by the way they looked at each other.

"You like her don't you?".
"- Huh?".
"Dude I'm talking about Ana".

JJ was caught completely off guard. So he answered the first thing that came to his mind.

"I mean I'd make out with her, but like platonically, you know?".

"You can't make out with someone platonically". Kiara chuckled thinking this was just one of JJs stupid jokes.

"Of course you can. We've done it like
several times before already".

Oh.
Kiara was flabbergasted.
She didn't know what to think about Anastasia and JJ together. They were obviously attracted to one another and good friends. But still there was this weird feeling in her stomach. Like something wasn't right, like she ate some bad food.
Without thinking about what the feeling in her stomach meant, Kiara just smiled and laughed in response.

-

Kiara quickly stopped laughing later that evening once she realized she was trapped on a boat with water all around them too far to swim - because she was trapped with Sarah Cameron. The snake herself.

Pope, Anastasia, JJ and John B just chilled on the porch of the Chateau, hoping the two girls wouldn't kill each other while working through their differences - JJ liked to call it like that.

It was a great evening until Anastasia's IPhone pinged and the corners of her mouth dropped:

Rafael Jackson Cameron

I need your help.
Come over.

No.

I have a present for you.