chapter two
poguelandia 2.0

The pogues all gathered in the room in the Pelican Gold Trust, ready to find out just how rich they would all become from their finding of El Dorado. Athena waited with bated breath as the man weighed the gold, biting her fingernails as she watched him.

"20 pounds." The man stated. "98.5%... gold."

"And that translates to..." John B trailed off, raising his eyebrows at the man.

"This is money." He announced. "A whole lot of money."

The pogues erupted into cheers, jumping up and celebrating with each other. It had actually paid off. They quickly exchanged most of the gold, but kept some of it to themselves for insurance, heading to an ATM to see just how much money that had received.

"Moment of truth. All right." John B told them, swiping his card in the ATM. "Pin is 0-0-0-0. Enter."

"You're kidding." Sarah sighed.

"What?" John B turned to her in confusion.

"Tell me that's a temporary pin." Kie begged.

"I thought nobody could guess it." John B shrugged.

"You need to change that immediately." Pope ordered.

"Why are you in charge of everything? You are an idiot." Athena told the boy, who sent her an offended look.

"John B."

"I'm sorry." John B held his hands up in surrender as the ATM printed out the receipt stating the account balance.

JJ immediately grabbed the receipt, John B fighting him for it. John B succeeded, ripping the receipt from JJ's hands and rushing over to the counter and leaning against it.

"It's not even the money. It's just the receipt." Pope reminded them.

"Guys, we're already stressing Pope out!" Athena stated loudly. "Kie, you owe me money."

"No, I don't!" Kie exclaimed, "JJ does."

"You guys betted on me being stressed?" Pope wondered.

"You get stressed easily." Sage shrugged as if that was an explanation.

"And betting is fun." JJ added with a smile.

"Okay. Okay. Our joint account balance..." John B interrupted them, reading the receipt. "After paying JJ's restitution at 10:04 am on Tuesday..."

"Oh, come on, get on with it!" Cleo hurried him.

"Our joint account balance is one point one million, seventy-two thousand, five hundred and forty nine dollars." John B stated, glancing back at their shocked faces.

"You said mil?"

"Million?"

"Um—"

"With an M?"

The group broke out into cheers and screams, pure joy taking over them. Everything they had gone through had been worth it. They had found the money on their own, they had earned it. Athena squealed loudly, jumping around with the Cleo and hugging Sarah. She then wrapped her arms around Sage and Kie to pull them out of their shocked trances before quickly hugging Pope.

However, her smile dimmed when she noticed the lack of Maybank presence in their celebration. She looked over to see JJ having moved away from the group, the boy drinking a beer he'd stolen from the fridge. She made her way over to him, leaning against the fridge he had his hand on.

"Turn that frown upside down. This doesn't make us Kooks." Athena smiled, gesturing to the others behind him. "I've been a kook, and this isn't it. It's just us having a little extra money. And plus, knowing you and the people we're friends with, it will probably be gone in two weeks."

"Hmm." JJ hummed, moving to play with the paper ring on her necklace. "All I know is I'm gonna buy you a proper ring."

"I like my paper ring." Athena told him.

"You don't want like a diamond ring?" JJ wondered. "Aren't diamonds a girl's best friend?"

"Nope. I like the sentiment of my ring. It means more to me." Athena answered with a slight shrug. "Money is great, Jayj, but I have been the happiest I have ever been with no money, with you. Money doesn't matter to me, and neither does a proper ring. I already have everything I could ever ask for."

"I think you could ask for the world, and it wouldn't be enough." JJ corrected, pulling her closer to him and pecking her lips, not giving her any time to object before he guided her back to the rest of the group.

The pogues, with a newfound determination to turn their lives around and actually do something with the money that had come into, made their way to JJ's house, which they had deemed the new chateau – since Topper burnt the last one down – for some brainstorming on what to do.

"Hear me out." JJ started and the group already knew it would be a silly idea from the smile on his face. "Rally truck with yellow LEDs to replace the Twinkie for right now."

"No. I'm not getting rid of the Twinkie." John B shook his head without hesitation.

"But with solar panels, maybe?" Kie added to JJ's idea, ignoring John B. "If it's in the budget."

"And a bigger boat." Cleo suggested.

Athena looked around at them all suggesting things with a small laugh, holding her hand up like she was a presenter, sharing a look with Sage. "And... cue Pope."

"Guys, hold on. Hold on." Pope stood up, cutting them all off and making Athena and Sage giggle to themselves. "It's not like we can all go off and buy houses or anything. I mean split between all of us, that's about $211,000, minus what we owe Barracuda Mike."

"Let him try and come and take this." JJ scoffed. "I'll mess him up."

"I'm just gonna say it. I don't wanna piss off the drug dealer." John B admitted, holding his hands up in surrender. Athena laughed at John B, both of their attention snapping to each other in shock. "Did you just... laugh at me."

"I did." Athena nodded. "I'm scared."

"Me too." John B sent her a look. "Did you get possessed on our way home?"

"Did you? Where did the sense of humour come from?" Athena retorted, genuinely confused.

"Beats me." John B shrugged.

"Wasn't your dad that's for sure." Athena commented. "He wasn't funny."

"Neither was your dad." John B replied.

"Never said he was." Athena smiled at him sarcastically.

"Liste, if we divide this up, we're all gonna blow it." Pope interrupted the two, getting them back on track, everyone turning to look at JJ.

"Wow, okay." JJ stood up in offence. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Woah, don't just put on JJ." Athena spoke up. "Have you seen Sage's financial records, they're just as bad."

"Why are you attacking everyone today?" Sage wondered, sending Athena a look although the smile on her face suggesting she was making a joke.

"This is how I treat my family. Get with the program." Athena responded. "Ask JB, I've been treating him like this for years."

"It's true." John B nodded sadly. "I'm a victim of longstanding psychological abuse from Athena."

"If this is how you treat family, no wonder you were disowned." Sage teased her.

Athena gasped. "At least my parents didn't put a hit out on my life. At least he had the balls to try and kill me himself."

"Guys!" Pope clapped, gaining their attention once again. "Maybe if we pool our money together, we can create something with actual economies of scale."

"Like what?" Kie wondered.

"You remember the island?" Pope questioned.

"Duh."

"Of course."

"It was our own island, and we built everything from basically nothing, right?" Pope reminded them.

"It was perfect." Kie nodded.

"The best life." Cleo commented.

"Gets boring after a few years but yeah." Sage smiled.

"The whole island just to ourselves. All of us together." Sarah spoke up, a reminiscent smile on her face.

"I think we can have that again. Right here." Pope continued his presentation. "JJ's property is going up for auction, right? So, let's buy it back. I mean, look around. A lot of land. Deepwater access. Unless any of you are planning on going back to school, we are gonna need a place to work, a place to stay and live. I think we can have both of those things here. First things first, we get the land, right? And then over there, we could build, like, a surf shop. And then maybe we can make our own dock."

"This place needs a dock." Kie agreed with a nod.

"Ooh, what about a bait and tackle shop?" John B suggested.

"Exactly. And... and who knows these waters better than us?" Pope asked rhetorically. "JJ, you can get a new boat and run a fishing charter. We can all live and sleep in the house."

The group all agreed excitedly. Their plan was in motion, they were going to create a place where they could be whoever they wanted, be themselves, all together, for the rest of their lives.

But first, they had to buy JJ's property back.

Which is why, a few days later, they were at the auction site, ready to pay to get the property back and kickstart their plan into motion.

"I'd like to remind you, the winner of the auction..." The auctioneer explained at the front but the pogues weren't listening to him, Pope gaining their attention instead.

"Listen up. Here's the plan." Pope stated. "We go up in one-dollar increments, all right? It's gonna take a while, but we're gonna need to save every cent we have for construction."

"Pope's on point, JJ. Got it?" Kie turned to the boy with a look. "And you, Sage."

"All right."

"Got it."

"Don't change the plan." Pope ordered firmly.

"The first item up for bid... it is the foreclosure sale of 14 Rogers Point Road." The auctioneer announced. "Now, this is the old Maybank place. Now, the bank has an opening bid of $80,000."

"Here we go." Pope sent them all a look.

"Now, I have $80,000, looking for 81." The auctioneer started the bid. "I've got 80,000 going once."

Pope raised his hand. "$80,001."

"Okay. One dollar more at $80,000, one dollar."

"$80,500." Another man raised his hand.

Athena turned to JJ, noticing the look on his face. "It's okay. Pope's got this, J. Don't do anything stupid."

JJ sent her a smile before completely ignoring her, raising his hand quickly. "100K flat out."

"$100,000 right here to the gentleman in red." The auctioneer spoke as the group turned to JJ in shock.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Pope questioned.

"Just a knockout punch." JJ defended himself. "Knockout punch and we're a wrap."

"That's not the plan. That's not the plan."

"I got shit done." JJ shrugged.

"$100,000 going once, going twice—"

"150." Another man spoke up, the whole group turning to look at him.

"150 from Mr Zeasy. Good to see you, Dale at 150." The auctioneer responded.

"Good to see you, Rog. Just give me a minute here, would ya?" Mr Zeasy asked, walking over to where the pogues were stood. "You know, uh, The Cut's gonna be Figure Eight in a few years. You walk away now, you won't have to scurry off with your tail between your legs, and I'll, uh, give you a little taste on the back end."

"Dale, was it?" JJ wondered sarcastically, turning to face the man.

"That's correct."

"It's not happening, hoss." JJ cracked his knuckles, looking back to the front. "Let's play ball."

"150 bid, bidder with 200, I've got 200..." The auction continued and before any of them knew it, JJ was bidding $775,010 on the property, which was way out of their price range.

John B tried to stop him, but it was too late. The damage had already been done and there was nothing any of the others pogues could do about it. They all made exclamations of disbelief at the boy's bid as Dale bowed out of race and they won the property.

"I got shit done." JJ exclaimed. "We got it, that's all that matters."

Athena let out a small sigh as she followed JJ up to the front to sort out whatever needed to be done so they would officially own the property. She could see the frustration on the rest of the pogues, but what was done was done and they couldn't do anything anymore, they just had to go on with their plan and hope for the best.

And they knew JJ would do something like this, so they should've just lied to him and said the auction was on a different day or something.

They made it back to JJ's house, the blond bounding up the porch steps and ripping the tape off of the door excitedly. "Ladies and gentlemen, I christen thee, Poguelandia 2.0. Let's turn this piece of shit into our home."

John B was the first to walk up to JJ, a smile on his face. "Let's do it."

"We're home, y'all." JJ announced.

And they were off, getting ready for a lot of hard, manual labour, which Athena was not looking forward to,

"Okay, so, we're gonna have to do this Pogue-style." Pope explained the new plans as him, Cleo, Athena, JJ and Kie walked to an abandoned shack to steal wood from it. "That means DIY, scavenge, whatever materials we can find."

"Look, we might have paid a little but over on the dirt, but it's some of the best dirt, okay?" JJ told Pope, his arm around the boy's shoulder in hopes to reassure him. "And we'll make it up in construction. Because these boards right here, if we plane them, they're gonna be as good as new."

"These are rotten as shit, man." Pope commented, inspecting one of the boards.

"They're free as shit, as well." JJ reminded him.

"Look, not all rotten." Cleo ripped one of the boards off with a smile.

"All right, yeah, thank you Cleo." JJ sent her a smile.

"Okay, JJ, you're right, this might work." Kie nodded as they got to work, taking the boards off of the shack.

"I feel like a property brother." Athena spoke out of nowhere.

"Who?"

"Property brothers." Athena repeated. "You don't know the property brothers, they're so cool, they do these house renovations. They're brothers, and one of them does the finding the real estate and the other does all the renovations. You need to watch the show."

"Maybe later, Athena." Pope stated. "Help now."

"Fine." Athena huffed.

The group continued their planning. JJ buying a new boat while Sarah found an old cooler and Pope found a large shark to hand somewhere. And the next thing on their agenda was to build the dock. JJ enlisted some guy he knew to do the piles, which was a bad idea since the guy was shit but it eventually got done and it was up to them to do the rest.

"I need some more nails." Kie told Sage, who handed them over to her. "Thank you."

"You got the other end." JJ asked Pope, the two sorting out the electrical line.

"No, do that again." Pope stated. Athena laughed quietly at them from her seat on the deck, having decided she had done enough work for the day.

"It's fine." JJ defended.

"It's not—It can't just be fine." Pope responded, moving over and taking it off of JJ to do it himself.

"Pope, it's fine."

"It's a dock." Pope reminded him. "This isn't just like a school project, man. This is our dock, our dream. So, it should be perfect."

"You know what the key is here?" JJ asked, looking around. "You've just gotta make it a little janky and he does it for you. I love you, Pope."

"I'm sorry but I want my dock to be safe." Pope admitted.

"I feel safe. I feel... I feel so safe." John B told them, a reminiscent smile on his face.

The group worked together to build the bait shop, all of them hauling wood and nailing it all together before they worked on the surf shop, painting a sign for outside and hanging up the shark that Pope had found.

They all cheered loudly as it finally fell into place, JJ the loudest. "Bring it on home, John B!"

The girls put the cooler into the bait shop and Kie and Sage put up the sails on the small terrace. JJ also painted a new poguelandia sign, handing it up outside the house with a smile before they managed to get the new boat to actually work.

And finally, after a whole lot of work and manual labour, and long long days, JJ finally placed the sign out on the dock, turning back to face all of them that were finishing up at the bait shop.

"Hey, guys." JJ called out to grab their attention. "I think we did it. We're in business, baby! Wow! Oh my gosh, this feels good. Look at this, look at that. Oh my! Captain Maybank at your service, now that has a ring to it! Nothing can stop a pogue, nothing! Whoa! That's what I'm talking about!"

"Yeah!" John B cheered as JJ jumped and danced around.

"Is he okay?" Sarah asked, leaning on the railing next to Athena.

Athena nodded, letting out a content sigh as she watched the boy. "Yeah, he's just never really had a home, he's happy."

The group watched him dance around, laughing at him. Athena shook her head, making her way down the ramp and onto the dock with him.

"Having fun?" Athena wondered with a smile.

"More fun now you're here." JJ nodded, holding a handout to her. "Can I have this dance, milady?"

Athena laughed but nodded nonetheless, pretending to curtsy as she took his hand. "You may kind sir."

JJ pulled her closer, the two dancing around the dock together. He spun her around, watching as her face lit up with pure joy before pulling her back towards him so she would smile at him once more. He stopped moving after a few moments, just pulling her towards him.

"What?" Athena wondered.

"We did it." JJ stated, disbelief settling over him.

"You did it." Athena nodded. "I'm so proud of you."

"I love you, Attie." JJ told her.

"I love you too, J." Athena replied without hesitation, pulling him in a for kiss.

JJ smiled into the kiss, tightening his grip on her waist, and just like before, he lifted her off the ground and spun her around. The rest of the group whistled and cheered at the two, Athena not pulling away from JJ as she stuck her middle finger up at them.

JJ pulled away first, setting her feet back on the group but not pulling too far away from her, pressing his forehead to hers for a moment or two before they started celebrating once more.

The next day, they got their first customers, the group cheering as the family that came it bought a whole lot of shit, and then told them to keep the change.

As they waved goodbye to the customers, the smiles on their faces were the biggest they had had in a whole.

"First dollar of our first ever sale." Sarah stated, holding the dollar up with a smile.

Kie handed her the stapler, the blonde stapling it to the wooden beam across the ceiling as they all cheered and celebrated. Athena wrapped her arms around Kie happily, the two jumping up and down squealing.

"Hey, guys." Cleo stated loudly. "Incoming! We're open!"

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
adding in so so much jathena fluff
so the ending hurts that much more 😊
john b and athena i love you so much my
fav siblings ever !!!!!!!
pope and athena i love you guys as well