"2020 MALIBU, 24-MXC. THE WORLD'S finest wakesetter." Pope recalled, eyes glaring a sleek boat that floated next to the Thornton property dock. "Number one in quality, luxury, and performance."

  "This is war, Pope." JJ muttered, his own eyes also fixated on the thing, he tugged a bandana over his head, covering his lower face. "They hit us, we hit back."

  "Couldn't we have done something, like, I don't know, egg their house?" Sierra questioned hesitantly from the cabin doorway.

  "Nah, egging his house won't do shit." The blondes muffled voice replied, "But this, this will get him in deep shit. Do it."

  To cover his eyes he put in a pair of cheap sunglasses, turning to Pope encouragingly as he removed his shirt and shoes. It wasn't until the boy was off and into the water, swimming swiftly to the boat that Sierra approached.

  "This is the least responsible thing I've ever seen him do." She quipped, turning to JJ. "You really are a bad influence."

  "It's the coolest thing he's done, and I'm a great influence." Responded the boy as he dug through a storage compartment underneath the floors. "You are just too afraid to admit it."

  "I'm not afraid, just concerned." Sierra argued calmly, watching as he set up a metal latter against the side of the boat for when Pope was climbing back on. "I don't want to see him get anymore hurt then he already is because of this."

  JJ stared as she walked away, back into the cabin to sit and wait. By then Pope had returned, holding a T-shaped plug proudly while climbing the latter. "Wow, you did it." JJ pulled down his bandana to reveal his smile, hanging the sunnies onto the collar of his shirt. "I'm so proud of you right now, holy crap."

  "JJ." Pope panted, breaths heavy from both the adrenaline and the energy spent on swimming to and from the boat. "You can't tell anybody."

  "Oh, no, yeah." The blonde immediately agreed, nodding his head vigorously. "Totally, dude."

  "No, I'm serious, dude." The Heyward boy stressed, his wet hands firmly gripping JJ's shoulders, "Not Kie, not John B, nobody.

  "Yup, my lips are sealed." JJ confirmed, grabbing the plug from his hand and tossing it far into the blue of the marsh. "Okay, let's get outta here!"

  "Sierra." Pope began sternly making the girl glancing up, "Swear you won't tell absolutely anybody about this?"

  Sierra let out a sigh, and as much as she disapproved and wanted to lecture him, she new it wasn't the time. "I swear."

  A nagging feeling tugged at her as she stared out the window, watching the expensive vehicle sink while they casually sped away. It didn't take long before they made their way back to Heyward's, luckily, he was too busy inside the shop to meet them and ask anything about the undelivered groceries.

The three used his truck once more to drive all the way to the beach. Silence filled the truck, and a sort of awkward one at that. "You're not, like, mad at us, right?"

"Not mad, just...disapproving." Sierra replied with a shrug, "I don't think you should've done it."

"But not mad?"

"No, Jay, not mad."

"Okay, good." JJ took it as an opportunity to drop his arm around her shoulder. "'Cause I didn't want you to be even madder when I beat you in surfing."

The Ray girl giggled as the truck came to a halt, parking next to the Twinkie in a empty lot. "Don't be butt hurt when I prove you wrong."

The blonde glared playfully at her while pushing the side door open. He removed his shirt and tossed into the cargo bed, trading it in for his surfboard. "May the best Pogue win."

Sierra removed her shirt and shorts, doing the same of putting them in the back of the truck and grabbing her own board. "May the best Pogue win."

JJ watched in amusement, his bottom lip pulled under his teeth while girl smirked up at him.

"Can we go?" Pope asked rudely, his board resting by his side, while his eyes glared at the two. "I'd really like to surf right now."

"Yeah, of course, Pope." Sierra nodded kindly, walking up to him and pausing. "But the last one there has to buy me ice cream."

The three took off in a sprint to the water, her giggles being heard all from land to Kiara and John B who sat afloat on their own boards. The Ray girls legs collided with the warm water, feet sinking into the wet sand before she turned back. First she Pope then JJ just a few feet behind, the blonde claiming he wasn't ready as he paddled into the water.

"Hey, where have you been." Kiara chuckled, watching as they made their way towards them. "I was saving some waves for you guys."

And so the rest of the time they had left before the sun fully set was spent surfing. A well-known and familiar sport they could all bond over. The cool feel of the water, the laughter, the want to get back up when you fall down, it was a feast of joy.

  By the time the night had come they were panting and sandy, laughing as they parted ways. Kiara and John B in the Twinkie, Pope, Sierra, and JJ in the pickup truck. It took the trio a little longer to get there as they had to go to the drive thru of some fast food place for the ice cream Sierra had 'won.'

  JJ begrudgingly pulled out his wallet, grumbling about the dollar and some change he had to spend. "I feel like we should've had a rematch, but, okay."

  They were sitting at the second window, waiting for the worker to finish pouring the ice cream into the cone. "Yeah, well, not paying attention when I call for a race doesn't get you a rematch."

  The blonde rested on arm out the open window, shaking his head as the kind girl handed Pope the cone. "Thank you, have a nice night."

  His smiled dropped once driving off, hand on the wheel while the other passed the cone off to Sierra. "Thank you, kind man."

  The Heyward boy only grumbled in response, turning the car in the direction of the Château as Sierra happily licked at her ice cream. She turned her head to peer at JJ who still stared off in dramatic annoyance, an angry pout on his lips. Leaning off, her cold lips planted a sweet kiss on his cheek, breaking his gaze away from the outside and towards her.

  His smile reappeared, an arm going around her waist to pull her closer.

—

"GOD, I'M SO FUCKING TIRED." SIERRA loudly announced, exiting the back door of John B's home in cotton shorts and a tank top. Her ice cream was long gone, eaten and tossed away just a few minutes after arriving. The four Pogues were already resting in the hammocks by the time she came over from changing, Sierra took the empty spot next to JJ, to which she was clueless to the fact that he was stubbornly saving it for her.

  It was that time of day where you could declare it night, but their was still a bit of natural light faintly illuminating the Earth. No stars made their appearance just yet, but the crickets chirped like it was bed time. Sierra instantly felt a wave of relief wash over as she nestled herself into JJ's side, she could've fallen asleep in that moment had Pope not spoken up.

  "You really think it's out there? Like, No bullshit?"

  "My father thought it was."

  "But do you?"

  An thoughtful silence filled the air, a grumble of thunder interrupting it before John B spoke up. "After hearing his voice on that tape...I think I do."

  "Only one way to find." Pope mumbled, lifting his hand to do the 'Pogue handshake' with JJ he forced all of them learn after he came up with it one night.

  "Look we're gonna find it you know." Kiara hopefully added on, even in the dark you could see her smile. "Even JJ believes."

  The brunette boy let out a gasp, "Oh, my God, JJ, do you really believe?"

  "Totally." JJ hummed tiredly, suddenly lifting his head from Sierra's in confusion. "Wait, are we talking about four mil?"

  "Four-hundred mil." Pope and Kiara corrected in unison.

  "Jinx."

  "I would really love if everyone basked in this silence and went to bed." Sierra spoke up groggily, head resting on JJ's chest, legs entangled in his while an arm laid on his stomach.

  "Please don't have sex in the hammocks tonight." Kiara teased, watching the two cuddle up casually like they'd done it before. Which they had, but it didn't make it any less harder to watch. Not because it was cringe, or gross, but because they hadn't even confessed anything to each other when it sat right in front of them.

  "Shut the hell up."

  "I'm gonna be to busy dreamin' about shipwrecks." JJ added on, pulling the blanket so it covered the both of them sufficiently. "Good night, Bird!"

  "Good night, bird shit!" John B replied with a chuckle, a shuffle of people moving around to get comfortable filling the silence before it completely took over. "Hey, Sierra."

  "For the love of god, Jonathan!"

—

  EARLY THAT MORNING THE FIVE Pogues had climbed onto Heyward's boat, the plan was to get the gold before the rest of the island woke up to assure they didn't face any possible conflicts. This also gave them the opportunity to be alone, and it avoided Pope having to ask his dad to borrow the boat again.

"It is too early for this shit." Sierra mumbled, resting inside the cabin of the boat, a hand resting on her forehand while the other on her stomach. "I bet the fishes are talking shit about us as we speak, like: 'why are this hoes up so early'?"

"Do you think it's possible to get early morning delirium? Is that a thing?" Kiara questioned quietly to Pope with concern.

"Could be possible, I mean, that wouldn't be the exact medical term but lack of sleep could cause delusional behavior."

"I can hear you loud and clear." Sierra called out, eyes still closed and unmoving.

"Right, sorry." The Carrera girl mumbled mx quickly making her exit to join John B at the front, Pope followed quickly.

"I won't say I agree with them, but you are sounding a bit crazy." JJ admitted, glancing back at her with an amused chuckle.

"Wake me up when we're four hundred mil' dollars richer." The Ray girl replied simply, cozying up into a small blanket she brought along.

"All right, JJ, pin it here!" Was the first thing she heard, and the thing that woke her up. It was John B from the bow, at his command the boat slowed.

"Roger that, X marks the spot." JJ replied, maneuvering the wheel before turning back to look at the girl. "Apologies for the awakening, my lady."

Sierra was sitting up, eyes squinted as they looked around in slight confusion. For a genuine moment she'd forgotten where she was. "Are we at the place?"

"Yup, and JB is lowering the drone right now." The Maybank boy observed, his sunnie clad eyes looking out the window in front of his spot.

"Sierra!" Called out the Carrera girl, "A little help up here!"

Sierra groaned, but stood up nonetheless, she approached the side of the gently rocking boat, awaiting instruction. "What do you need?"

"Help guide this tether down, I'm gonna need extra help with the way these waves are moving." Kiara explained, nodding the bright yellow rope.

Together they worked on lowering the small drone while Pope watched from the small screen, and John shouted directions towards JJ. Every hundred feet that the tether reached was called out, letting Pope know of how much they had left. He was the only one in control of the drone, John B made sure that they sat directly over the treasure.

At four hundreds feet a shift in the air brought a change in tide, which Sierra informed to the rest before marking down a extra line onto the edge of the boat with a stick of chalk.

"Keep the tether out the prop!" JJ cakes lit after a few harsh waves rocked the boat, a storm of grey clouds looming over them.

"We're trying!" The Ray girl snapped back, leaning over the edge of the boat and tugging at the yellow material. Kiara assured that she didn't topple over board, the one hand that wasn't lowering the rope keeping a firm grip on her shirt.

"Seven hundred feet!" Kiara called out, temporarily letting of Sierra to mark down another tally.

"Jesus, can Poseidon chill the fuck out." Sierra muttered, pulling her upper body back onto the boat and continuing the process of lowering the tether. It truly felt like the weather got two times worse with every minute, just a few ago the sun was at least still out. Now, the grounds over took the sky and let the wind roam, harshly blowing into the Ray girl's hair.

"Nine hundred!" Called Kiara, marking a tally down,

"JJ, we'll turtle in the storm, man!" Pope shouted over the strong winds, his eye brows scrunching together in worry. The screen showed still no signs of any wreckage or a gleam of gold.

"Nine-twenty!"

The two girl worked madly in both attempting to maintain the tether in the right place and lowering it. With a pull, the waves pushed it away. "John B there's too much current, we're gonna loose it!"

Sierra's arms had ached with the amount of strength she was putting in, it begin irritating her. With the mix of cold winds pricking her skin and messing up her hair she couldn't help but snap. "Is there a goddamn Royal Merchant there or not!"

"There's nothin', a whole lot of nothin'."

"C'mon, we should be right above it, brother." John B encouraged stubbornly, looking between his electronic map and the camera screen.

"Pirate!"

"Nine-sixty."

"Nine-seventy!"

"Nine-eighty!"

"I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" Pope finally stated, the brunette next to him shouting orders to stay put.

"Come on, man, you should be seeing something." John B returned, looking at the screen intently. Soon, Kiara joined in and left Sierra to handle the roping herself.

"I know, I know, just wait—" Pope's own words were paused, his eyes widening. "Oh, good God."

"See anything?" JJ questioned, doing his best to stay involved in the situation but also be focused on keeping the boat in place. 

"Anything at all?" Sierra added, they flowed directly over the merchant, as John B said, the very moment they all stood upon was quite literally all or nothing.

"It's the Royal Merchant."

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Edited on June 18, 2024