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"Try not to get caught" was the only thing Eli had requested of JJ, and sure enough, JJ did in fact get caught.

The sound of yelling caused Eli to rush to the window, just in time to watch Kie and Pope running off towards John B and JJ, the blonde hanging back slightly as his eyes scanned the crowd of people outside.

The blue-haired girl ran as quickly as she could outside into the crowd, JJ's mouth growing into a smile as his eyes finally found her.

"Wait, Eliana," her grandmother called out as she grasped onto her arm, stopping the girl from running. Eli turned to look at JJ, who was still waiting for her whilst the others made their way towards the water where the HMS Pogue was anchored.

"Let her go to her friends," Talia cut off with a small smile, gently removing Cecelia's hand from Eli's arm. "I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't force her to do anything she didn't want to do."

"Love you, Mama," Eli called out as she pulled up her dress and began to run to JJ, jumping into his arms and giggling when he spun her around before setting her down.

"Come on then, princess," he called as he grabbed her hand and began to run towards the others, dragging the girl with him.

"Wait, slow down, J," Eli requested after just a few seconds, her ankles feeling like they were gonna snap any second. "I can't run in these damn heels."

"I guess I'll be your knight in shining armour then," JJ shrugged, quickly leaning down and throwing Eli over his shoulder, causing the girl to yelp in surprise as the top half of her body hung upside down.

"Someone warning would have been nice," she huffed as she hung there awkwardly. "I could have just taken my heels off."

"Oh yeah."

Eli squeaked in surprise as she felt JJ's hand move from her ankle up her calves, the girl trying to lift her body to try and look over. "What are you doing?"

"Taking these heels off, obviously."

The girl involuntarily shivered as she felt the cool metal of his rings against her skin, his fingers working to undo the ribbon before pulling off her heels.

"What are you guys even doing?" Pope questioned as they finally made it to the boat, eyeing the unserious pair.

"Flying to the moon," Eli sarcastically answered as JJ set her down, taking Pope's outreached hand to help her into the boat.

"Alright then," John B began with a large grin as JJ got in. "Let's get outta here."

The group made their way further down the island until they reached an area far from prying ears, the overgrown trees perfect for keeping them hidden.

"We'll be right there," Eli spoke up as Kie, Pope, and John B got out of the boat, gesturing to herself and JJ. "Give us like five minutes."

"Ookay," John B nodded as the trio walked off. "Don't take too long, we gotta debrief."

"What are you doing?" JJ questioned as Eli searched around the HMS Pogue, muttering to herself as she opened and searched every little compartment.

"Aha!" Eli cheered quietly as pulled out a small first aid kit, unzipping the pouch and rifling through its contents.

"Where the hell did that come from?" the boy questioned as Eli moved to stand in front of him.

"I put one in here cause we're constantly getting involved in stupid shit. Hold this," Eli ordered after pulling out a tube of ointment and a cotton swab, shoving the pouch into the boy's hands.

JJ watched as Eli gently held his jaw in one hand and tilted his head slightly to the left, her gaze focused as she applied ointment to the bruises littered on his face.

"Fuck!" JJ exclaimed Eli finally applied ointment to the large cut on his cheek, the girl apologising profusely. "Some warning would have been nice."

"If I had given you a warning, you would have been a baby about it," Eli bit back, causing the boy to huff as the girl continued to dab at the wound.

"So.." JJ trailed off as Eli finally finished and screwed on the lid of the ointment, the girl looking down at him with raised brows. "You're not gonna kill me, are you?"

Eli simply sighed as she let the boy get up, moving to place the first aid kit where she found it. "I'll let you off this time. You're lucky I'm so merciful."

"Here," JJ called out as he stepped off the boat, placing down his spare shoes that he had worn as part of his waiter disguise at the event.

The blue haired girl thanked him as he helped her get out of the boat, her feet carefully stepping into the shoes that were many sizes too big for her. The pair made their way towards where the other pogues had settled, impressed by how quickly they had gotten a campfire going.

"There they are," Kie called out as JJ and Eli finally reached them, Eli choosing to sit beside Pope and JJ sitting next to her with his hands held out in front of the fire.

"Hey, guys," Pope suddenly addressed. "So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?"

John B threw a look towards JJ, who turned to look at Pope momentarily.

"Might as well tell him, man, before we're all gaffed," JJ spoke up.

Kie, Eli and Pope looked between the two boys with furrowed brows.

"You ready for this?" John B questioned.

"Just spit it out already," Eli complained, to which John B jokingly gasped.

"Jeez okay. So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant."

"Oh, my god," Pope cut off in an uninterested tone. "Here we go again with this."

"No. All right, wait," JJ tried to reason. "Hear him out, all right?"

"It's been here the whole time," John B continued with a growing smile.

"Wait, what do you mean here?" Eli questioned, only to get shushed by JJ. "Don't shush me," she muttered, smacking him on his thigh.

"It's here on the island," John B revealed with a nod.

"Are you serious?" Kie asked, an expression of disbelief on her face. "Oh my god."

Pope sat forward with elbows on his knees, hands folded together as he looked at John B. "I'd like to voice my skepticism."

"I'm sure you would, Pope," John B said as he stood up and walked towards his bag, turning for a moment to pretend to hand over documents to Pope. "But can I please present you with my evidence, sir?"

"Proceed," Pope waved off.

"All right, so, in my backpack," John B continued as he grabbed some paper from his bag. "I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."

"Who the hell is that?" Eli questioned.

"Oh my god, stop asking questions," JJ complained, earning another smack from the girl.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck," John B enlightened, holding out a piece of paper. "Check this out.

"What?" Kie let out as she grabbed the sheet and took a look for herself.

"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. After that, he bought his farm."

JJ grabbed the letter from Kie, passing it onto Eli who held it open for both herself and Pope to read.

".. drum roll, please," John B requested, causing JJ, Kie, and Eli to dramatically drum on their thighs. "Because that farm is... Tannyhill Plantation," the boy finally revealed, causing Kie's jaw to drop.

"Tannyhill?" Kie exclaimed in disbelief.

"I could have guessed that, to be fair," Eli added. "I mean... Tanny? Tannyhill? Doesn't take a genius."

"Well, I'm sorry Einstein," John B sarcastically apologised. "Anyway. 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."

"That's just so typical isn't it," Eli muttered.

"So on the day they were coming to get him," John B continued, looking around the group as he told the story, "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."

Kie and Eli eagerly waited as John B dramatically paused, with JJ silently nodding and Pope still looking unconvinced. "Where?"

"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except, there's no wheat," John B revealed, rushing over to Pope to grab the letter. "You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out." Eli peered over as John B pointed at the wheat symbol on the letter, which matched the wheat symbol that was on the gold bar.

"Holy shit."

"All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold," John B cheered, throwing his arms in the air.

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true," Pope admitted as JJ stood up without a word, walking around the logs towards John B

"Dude, it's like King Tut!" Kie exclaimed.

"I am a genius- Hey, woah!" John B exclaimed as JJ wrapped his arms around him and lifted him up in excitement. "Hello! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn."

"I'm so proud of you right now," JJ finally said with a smile as he let go of the other boy.

"Thank you," John B said in surprise as briefly held the blonde boy's face. "That's really sweet of you."

"Okay, so, guys," Pope spoke up as he looked around the group and finally settled his gaze on John B. "What's the plan?"

"Good question." John B pointed out. "Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She's gonna bring an original survey map-"

"Wait, wait, hold on," Kie cut off, with Eli similarly staring at John B in disbelief. "Sarah? Wh- why Sarah?"

"Um.."

"This is gonna be good," JJ spoke under his breath as he kicked at some loose rocks by his feet.

"Sarah, um, she- she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter."

Eli awkwardly scratched the back of her neck as she looked over at Kie, choosing to keep her mouth shut to not make the situation any worse.

"You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" Kie questioned, an expression of utter disbelief on her face.

"Yeah, um-"

"He was mackin' on her," JJ cut in.

Both girls dropped their jaws at the bomb drop.

"I wasn't macking." John B tried to defend, to which JJ shook his head.

"You were totally macking Sarah Cameron."

"I wasn't macking on her, okay!" John B exclaimed. "I was using her for access."

"Ouch," Eli let out. "Kind of a dick move."

"There was access, all right," JJ muttered, to which Eli couldn't help but snort, hand flying to her mouth as she began to fake cough to cover herself.

"Did you tell her about the treasure?" Kie questioned.

"I was trying to get into the archives."

"Is that a yes!" Kiara exclaimed, causing John B to stammer as he tried to defend himself.

"I- I left out key details."

"Yo what!" Kie continued to exclaim. "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!"

"Oof again," Eli muttered to herself.

"Why don't I believe you?" Kie mockingly questioned.

John B sighed as he looked around the group. "I'm trying to make us filthy rich here," he stated, voice laced with clear frustration. "Okay, so that we can pay off a boat, or- or.. send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies," he suggested as he turned towards Pope. "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?" both Pope and Eli ask in unison, to which John B sighed as he turned to face the pair.

"Just.. just stop."

"Look," Kie began again, "you don't know her yet. I do! You can't trust her!"

Pope nodded in agreement. "Her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club."

"Huh?" Eli let out. "That's not her fault."

"Rafe and Sarah are two different human beings."

"What did she do to you, exactly?" JJ queried as he looked over at Kie, the others following suit as they looked at the girl.

"She's like a- like a," the girl began, clearly flustered as she angrily began to gesture with her arms. "Like a spitting cobra," she spat out. JJ and Eli mirrored the same expression of complete bewilderment. "First, she- she blinds you, and then-"

"This is a bad analogy," Pope cut off, with Eli humming in agreement.

"Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's gonna try to take."

The group fell into an awkward silence, no one quite knowing what to say since everyone was so divided.

"Well, seeing as she knows now anyway," Eli began as she stood up, dusting off the back of her dress. "Let's see what she has for us."

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mini break cause i got busy (mc) but hoping to get back on a roll woohoo

Nova x