The next day I woke up and walked around town, having nothing better to do. Later tonight was Midsummers, and even though I'm not technically allowed to go, I was gonna sneak in and hang out with Pope and Kiara who would both be there. When the sun started to go down, I went up to the building where people where all dressed up. I was just wearing jean shorts and a blue and white tie-dye shirt, so I would have to stay in the back where Pope and his dad always cook. I snuck up and saw Pope and Kie talking, Pope in his normal clothes and Kie in a long purple dress. I ran up behind them and put my hand in either of their shoulders saying, boo. They both screamed and I laughed. "(Y/N). How did you get in?" Kie asked. "It's called sneaking in." I replied. "Of course." Pope said. "I've got nothing better to do." I said. "John B still not back yet." Kie asked but it was more of a statement. I shook my head, no. Kie left to go to her parents, and Heyward came up to me. "(Y/N)." He said. "Mr. Heyward." I replied with a smile and held my hand out which he shook cautiously. "If you snuck in, at least lay low and don't make any trouble as long as you stay near us." Heyward told me. "Aye aye." I said with a finger salute and sat down on a bucket next to the grill. Me and Pope talked to each other and laughed as he kept cooking food. "Hey, uh, I forgot to tell you. I saw JJ earlier." He said. I stood up. "What?" I asked. "Ya, he's here. Said him and John B have a plan. And, uhm, he did get beat up. But he said it was fine." Pope told me. I hugged Pope. "Thank you." I said. We pulled away and he asked, "For what?" I shrugged. "Letting me know." I said. He nodded as there was commotion somewhere in the party. We both turned around to see JJ being escorted out by a cop. "It's okay everybody! Do not panic! Leave it to the men and women in uniform. Let's hear it for them. Rose! You look like Lady Liberty." He said, making me laugh and smile. "Let go of him!" Kie yelled. "You can't just boot him!" She added. "Excuse me ma'am?" The security asked. "I invited him here. I'm a member of this club." Kiara said. JJ pushed the security off him. "Hey, mandatory power hour at Rixons, Kie." JJ said he turned to Pope. "Pope, (Y/N), you as well." He told us and kept walking backwards. "Let's roll. Come on!" He yelled and kept walking back to John B who was standing there. I got out of my shock and said, "Oh screw this.", before I ran after him. He held out his arms as I jumped into them, burying my head into his neck. I loved the feel of his arms around me again. He spun me around before he put me down, us laughing as Kie and Pope came. "Later losers!" I yelled as we started running away. We got to Rixons and sat around the fire, JJ with his arm around me. Like Pope said, he did have a beat up face. I wanted to say something, but knew he wouldn't like it. I looked up and JJ kissed me. "Never do that again." I told him and pulled away before kissing him again. "Hey, guys. So like, my dads already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked. John B shot finger guns at JJ. "Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ said. "You ready for this?" John B asked. "Yeah." Kie replied. "So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B said. "Here we go again with this." Pope said. I shushed him. "It's been here the whole time. It's on the island." John B told us. "Are you serious?" I asked. John B nodded. "Oh my god." Kie said. "I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope told us. "I'm sure you would Pope. But can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B asked and stood up. "Proceed." Pope replied. "All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." John B said and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. "Who's the hell is that?" Kie asked. "Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out." John B replied and opened a piece of paper, handing it to Kie. "Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members in the ship, but our dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the good from the Merchant to buy his freedom." John B told us and Kie handed me the piece of paper with two letters on it. I looked it over as John B said, "After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll Please, because that farm is.... Tannyhill Plantation." I handed Pope the paper. "Tannyhill?" I asked. "Yeah. So after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pissed off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him." John B said as I intertwined my hand with the one JJ had over my shoulder. "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 is a coded message he leaves about where to find the gold." John B told us. "Where?" Kiara whispered. "Harvest the wheat, in parcel nine, near the water." John B replied. "Except, there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. The gold is in parcel nine near the water." John B added. "Holy shit." Pope said. "All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold." John B told us. "Okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true." Pope said. JJ let go of my hand and stood up, walking over to John B. "Dude, it's like King Tut." Kie said. "I'm a genius." John B said as JJ hugged him, picking him up off the ground. "Hello. Fire. Fire. Your near the fire. Your gonna burn." John B said and patted JJ's back. "I'm so proud of you right now." JJ told John B. "Thank you. That's really sweet of you." John B said. JJ's hands were on John B's waist, and John B has his hands on JJ's face, making them look like a couple. "Hey, hey, hey. JB you better not be stealing my man." I told him, making everyone laugh. John B pulled JJ closer jokingly as if he was gonna kiss him. JJ pulled his head back screaming, "Ah! Save me!" We all laughed as they let go of each other. JJ walked back over to me and sat down before pulling me into his lap and kissing my neck. "Your Wombmate's weird." JJ said. "I know. I definitely got the better genes." I joked. "Ha-ha. We all know that's not true." John B replied. "No, no, it's true." JJ said. "Yeah." Kie added. "I agree." Pope said. I stuck my tongue out at John B. "That is not fair." John B said as we all laughed. "Okay, guys. What's the plan?" Pope asked as we all calmed down. "Good question. So, Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She's gonna bring an original survey map-." John B replied but Kiara cut him off. "Sarah? Why Sarah?" She asked. "Um..." John B said. "This is gonna be good." JJ said and held my hands, me still on his lap. "Sarah, um, she- she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter." John B told Kie. I turned around and whispered to JJ, "He's macking her isn't he?" "Totally." JJ replied. I laughed and rested my head on his chest. "You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" Kiara asked. "Yeah, um," John B replied. "He was mackin on her." JJ said. "Like the way your macking on my sister?" John B replied and then looked back at Kie. "I wasn't macking." He said. "You were totally macking on Sarah Cameron." I replied. "I wasn't macking on her, okay? I was using her for access." John B said. I could tell he was lying but the others probably couldn't. "There was access all right." JJ said, making me laugh. "Did you tell her about the treasure?" Kiara asked. "I was just trying to get into the archives." John B replied. "Is that a yes?" Kie asked. "I left our key details." John B replied. "Yo. What?" Kie asked. "You let a Kook in on our secret? What about Pogue Lyfe? What about the T-Shirt company, bro?" Kie said. "I was just using her for information." John B told us. "Why don't I believe you?" Kiara asked. "I'm trying to make us filthy rich here. Okay so that we can lay off a boat, or send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies." John B replied while having his hand out to Pope. "Look, you guys know me. Do I look like the type of person to fall for Sarah Cameron?" John B asked. "Do you want us to answer that?" Pope asked while I nodded. "Just- just stop." John B told me and Pope. "Look, you don't know her yet. I do! You can't trust her." Kie said. "Her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club." Pope replied. "Rafe and Sarah are two different human beings." John B said. "What did she do to you exactly?" JJ asked Kie. "She's like a- like a spitting cobra. First she blinds you, and then-." Kie said. "This is a bad analogy." Pope cut her off. "Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's gonna try to take." Kiara told us. Somehow we got Kie to agree with us, and we got in the van. Me, Kie, JJ and Pope sat in the back while John B drove. Kie was sitting on the seats while me, Pope, and JJ sat in the floor. Pope sat with his back against the passenger seats back, and JJ was sitting against the seats, me laying down with my head in his lap and my feet up on the seats next to Kie. "All right." John B said as he parked. "Hit it boys!" Pope yelled and opened the door. "We're goin. Recon Mission." JJ replied. "Yo, uh, so, I think I'm gonna do this one by myself tonight." John B said, making us all stop. "Really?" JJ asked as we all went back to our previous positions. "What?" John B asked. "Nothin." JJ replied. "I just don't want to spook Sarah with the peanut gallery." John B said. "I just don't understand why we're involving her at all." Kie told John B. "Kie, were not involving her, okay? It's it's like uh like a business meeting." John B said. "Look, once we get what we need we cut her loose. All right? Plus we need the map." JB added. "Promise me nothing happening between you." Kie said. "Nothing is happening Kie." JB replied. "I'm being serious Kie said. "Okay!" JB replied. "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 things happening between you guys." Kiara told John B. "I promise." JB lied. "That was really believable." I said. John B threw something at me. "Ow!" I said while laughing. "It was a hundred percent believable." Pope said sarcastically. "Anyways, um, I'm gonna take care of business." John B told us. "Your gonna take care of it." JJ replied. "We'll just sit here... In the hot ass car." Pope said. "Yeah." John B said while getting out. "While it's lighting." Pope added and JB got out. Like Pope said, we all sat in the hot ass car while lighting and thunder struck, occasionally talking. "Rafe followed me-." JJ was talking. "Sh." I told him. "What?" He asked. "Do you guys hear that?" I asked and sat up. We all listened to the faint cry of help. "Shit." Pope said as we got out of the car. "What the fuck?" I asked as I got out. We ran to the screaming and saw that Sarah was crouched over a body. When I realized it was John B, I ran in front of everyone. We all stood there as Sarah held onto his head, crying. "Sarah what happened?" Pope asked. "I don't know what to do. He needs help. Topper shoved him." Sarah said. "Where the hell is he?" I yelled angrily and started walking around, but JJ grabbed my hand and pulled me back. "Please, please, please, get help. I don't care who. Just call someone." Sarah cried. "Go!" I yelled at Pope who ran back to the van. "Pope hurry!" Kie yelled. I covered my hand over my mouth as I started crying, seeing my brother laugh there. JJ turned to me and put his hand on the back of my head, pulling me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around him and cried into his chest as he ran his hands through my hair, whispering soothing things in my ear. "Pope! Come on!" JJ yelled. When Pope came back with the medics, they rushed John B to the hospital, Sarah going in the ambulance and us following in the van. They made us all wait in the waiting room as they rushed John B away. I sat down on a small couch, my hands intertwined and my leg shaking. I had stopped crying, but was still nervous. JJ sat down next to me and put a hand on my leg, getting it to stop shaking. I leaned into his side and he put an arm around me. "He'll be okay." JJ told me and kissed my head. After a while, a doctor came in and walked to us, us all standing up quickly. "He's fine. He just has a concussion and broken wrist." He told us. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Hey, uh, me and Pope gotta go." Kie said, walking up to us. I nodded and they left. Me and JJ stayed in the waiting room all night. Sarah was sleeping in the room with John B. "You don't have to stay." I told JJ even though I was half asleep on his shoulder. "It's okay. Go to sleep." JJ said and leaned his head against mine. "I love you." I told him. "I love you too." He replied before I fell asleep. The next morning, we got up and waited until we could go see John B. When we could, Sarah went in before we could. When she left, her dad also coming out, me and JJ walked in. I ran up and hugged him, JJ patting his shoulder after I pulled away. "Hey, um, Mr. Cameron offered to be our legal guardian." John B said out of no where. I laughed slightly. "What?" I asked. "I said yes." John B replied. "I'm gonna let you guys talk." JJ said and left the room although we saw him stand outside. "What? There's no way in hell i'm living with them. He can be my guardian or whatever, but I'm staying in the cut." I told John B. "Just come to the house." John B said. "No!" I said a little too loud. "I'm not living with them. They can be our guardian or whatever, and you can go live with them, but I'm staying in our house." I told JB. He sighed. "Fine." He said. "But I'm going to live with them." JB added. "Okay." I said.

•Tike Skip•

Like we agreed on, John B went to go live at the Cameron's, but I still stayed at our house. He kept asking me why I was so against it, but I just wasn't going to live there.