A Chapter| Chapter Twelve

"Hey, guys, so like, my dads already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked as he looked around at the group who were sitting around a fire, the heat keeping the mosquitoes away while warming them up.

Lila sat with Kie, their legs touching each other as Lila pulled the black ring on and off her finger. Kie eyed it slightly, seeing it before but not being able to put her finger on where or when.

"Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ spoke up as he looked at John B with a knowing look.

"Why are you two getting gaffed, exactly?" Lila spoke up with a frown of her eyebrows, looking at the two boys.

"You ready for this?" John B asked, looking at the three as they all nodded.

"Yeah." Kie said to him inpatiently.

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B said as Pope rolled his eyes, Lilas fidgeting stopping as she stare at him like a deer in headlights.

"Oh my god, here we go again with this." Pope said annoyed, clearly wanting to drop the topic once again.

"No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?" JJ asked Pope in a soothing voice and a nod to his head as Pope sighed and looked to John B. Lila though it was sweet how JJ could get Pope to do anything he wanted as long as he stayed calm, it was a good bromance, a healthy one.

"It's been here the whole time. It's on the island." John B said softly as he looked at the three dumbfounded teens, his face illuminating a nice honey glow. Lila thought he looked beautiful, would have easily told him that if it weren't for the serious moment.

"Are you serious?" Kie asked in shock as she looked at him.

"Why did we not think of that before? All those scuba dives for what? Nothing." Lila pointed out as John B nodded in agreement, giving her a half smile.

"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope spoke up as he folded his hands.

"Hit us with your best shot, like the song." Lila nodded his way with a point of her finger.

"I'm sure you would, Pope." John B huffed as he stood to his feet.

"Can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B asked sarcastically as Lila held back a grin, messing with the ring on her finger again. She knew Rafe was mad at her, knowing she embarrassed the living hell out of him when she took off with a bunch of pogues. Apart of Lila felt guilty for living him there, knowing his hatred for the party. But then again she didn't, because these were her friends. And maybe it made her a bad girlfriend but she'd choose them over him. Or so she tried to tell herself.

"Proceed." Pope said with a sigh as he waved John B off.

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." John B said as he pulled a vanilla piece of paper from the small side pocket.

"Who the hell's that?" Kie asked as her arm brushed against Lilas slightly.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Cheek this out." John B said as he unfolded the paper.

"Damn, cheers to Denmark Tanny for being a brave son of a gun." Lila said as she held up her sparkling water, which she grabbed before fleeing Midsummers.

"Here you go. Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery." John B said as he gave Kie the letter while speaking to the group. Lila leaned onto Kie slightly to peer down at the words, reading the nice, inked hand writing.

"So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom. After that, he bought his farm. Drum roll please, because that farm is..." John B trailed off as the five all slapped their legs, waiting for the final words.

"Tannyhill Plantation." John B finished his line.

"Tannyhill! Mic drop!" Lila said loudly as she fell into Kie some dramatic, too worked up not to do it.

"Wait... what- what's Tannyhill?" Lila asked now confused, never hearing it before.

"We'll show you, don't worry. 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. So on the day they were coming to get him, he writing a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of the letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold." John B said with a grin as he looked around at each of them. Kies face lit up at his words, making Lila giggle slightly.

"Where?" Kie asked like a kid in a candy store, her excitement written all over her face.

"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine near the water." John B said as Lila look over at JJ who raised his eyebrows at her.

"Except... there's no wheat." John B said with a knowing look as Lila snapped her hand to him.

"The wheat is gold?" she asked hopeful as he nodded.

"Lila is correct, point for Lila. The gold is the parcel nine, near the water." John B said as he gave Pope the small paper to show him, the boy gapping at it as Kie laughed excitingly. Lila stood up as she spun in a circle with a grin, overly proud but oddly speechless.

"I can stay on the island." Lila said with a grin, her voice quiet and mainly to herself but the blonde boy a few feet away from her caught it, grinning slightly at her words, only fueling him more to try and get to the gold.

"All we need is an ordinal survey map of the property, and we've found the gold!" John B announced with a laugh out of pure bliss and excitement. JJ rose to his feet and marching toward John B while Popes voice filled the hair.

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true." Pope said as he tried to hide his smile, feeling a slap to his shoulder.

"Bet your flat ass it might have a small chance of being true." Lila grinned as she spun in a circle again.

"Hello! Fire! Fire! You're near the fire!" John B said as JJ hugged him, lifting him off the ground.

"No sir, you are on fire." Lila said to the boy with a point of her finger.

"I'm so proud of you right now." JJ said as he stared into John B's eyes, holding his waist.

"Thank you. That's really sweet of you." John B said as he put his hands on the blonde face.

"Bromance." Lila said with a knowing look as she went to Kies side.

"I want us to have a bromance." Kie said as she hugged Lila, making the blonde hug her back.

"Should it be called a ladymance? Womance?" Lila asked as she kept her head in the crock of Kies neck.

"Okay, so, guys? What's the plan?" Pope spoke up, cutting the fours moments off as they looked at him.

"Good question. So, Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She's gonna bring a original survey map." John B said as Lilas head snapped over, shocked to hear the words coming from his mouth.

"Wait, hold on. Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?" Kie asked, the annoyance and anger in her voice not going unnoticed.

"Is it- it's just Sarah, right?" Lila asked, hoping to god John B didn't involve both Cameron's.

"Yes, yes just- just her. Sarah, she um, she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday and that's were I got the letter." John B said as Lila frowned her eyebrows in confusion.

"You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" Kie asked him in disbelief before Lila spoke up.

"Wait, but Rafe said she was with Scarlet all yesterday, was she there too?" Lila asked curiously as she felt eyes on her.

"Why were you talking with Rafe Cameron?" John B asked her with confused eyes as Lilas face fell, not even realizing what she said.

"Macking." JJ said as Lila gave him a look.

"Just like John B was macking on Sarah." JJ added as John B matched Lilas look toward their friend.

"I wasn't macking-" John B began, taking the attention off Lila, which she was thankful for.

"You were totally macking Sarah Cameron." JJ argued before Pope cleared his throat.

"Almost as hard as Lila was macking on Rafe, got him to apologize to me and everything." Pope said as Lila threw a stick at him with a annoyed expression.

"No I wasn't, Pope." Lila argued back.

"I don't know, Pope. John B was macking pretty hard." JJ said to his friend as Pope went to open his mouth to say something before John B cut him off.

"I wasn't macking on her, okay? I was using her for access." John B said as Lila gave him a glare.

"You used her?" Lila asked him in disbelief, a mix of angry and annoyed on her face.

"There was a access, all right." JJ mumbled as John B rolled his eyes.

"Did you tell her about the treasure?" Kie asked him now with yet another look of disbelief, judging him with every facial feature she had.

"I was just trying to get into the archives. Wait- Lila, you didn't tell Rafe, did you?" John B asked in a panic as he looked at his blonde friend with wide eyes.

"No, John B, i'm not a fucking idiot." Lila said to him with a stupid look.

"Is that a yes? You told her?" Kie asked loudly, making John B looked at her in a panic this time.

"I-I left out key details." John B defended himself.

"Yo, what? You let a full blooded Kook in on our secret?" Kie asked him as Lila sucked in a breath.

"Yeah, John B, no offense to Sarah or anything but I though this was just for the Pogues and a half Pogue, you know, Kooks kinda already have all the money they need." Lila explained with a shrug of her shoulders, knowing she shouldn't address herself as a full Pogue no matter how badly she wanted to.

"Exactly! What about Pogue life? What about the t-shirt company, bro?" Kie asked him with a insane look, her anger coming out more then Lila has seen before.

"I was just using her for information." John B repeated as Lila rolled her eyes once again.

"You've said that already, doesn't make it right either way." the blonde argued, not liking that Sarah was being used in a situation she was involved with.

"Why don't I believe you?" Kie asked him in disbelief.

"I'm trying to make us filthy rich here. I'm trying to keep Lila on the island, whether that's on the cut or in figure eight! Okay, so that we can pay off a boat, or-or- uh- send you to altopsy school to study dead bodies. Look, you guys know me. Do I look like the type of person to fall for Sarah Cameron?" John B asked in disbelief as Lila raised a eyebrow at him, not knowing if he wanted the truth or not.

"Uh, do you want us to answer that?" Pope asked as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Look, you don't know her, I do! And you don't know Rafe, okay? You can't trust her, and you can't trust him!" Kie yelled as she looked at John B then at Lila who sighed.

"Kie, just, leave me out of this, okay?" Lila asked, not wanting to hear it from her.

"No, Lila! You don't get it, okay? I'm trying to protect you here! He's not good for you!" Kie said as she looked at her in disbelief.

"You don't understand Kie, he needs me in his life!" Lila said back, not bothering to hide her emotions.

"You're right, I don't understand! But I understand you and I care about you, Lila! You really think I believe you got those bruises from falling off the boat? He's dangerous! He's gonna hurt you." Kie said as Lila huffed, running a hand through her hair.

"It's not that easy, Kie! Jesus, why can't you understand that? I can't just- I can't just, like, walk away. I've tried! Twice!" Lila said as the darker girl shook her head.

"He did hit me in the back with a golf club, not to mention that's Sarah's brother." Pope added as he looked at Lila then at John B.

"I know, and I'm really sorry about that, Pope." Lila apologized as JJ was the one to speak up now.

"Hey, stop it Lila. Stop apologizing for his mistakes, it wasn't your fault." JJ said as Lila fell silent, knowing there was no way in hell she could pick a fight with him like she could with Kie or John B.

"Rafe and Sarah are different human beings. You see any bruises on me? No, because she didn't hit me with a golf club and she didn't do whatever Rafe did to Lila." John B said as Lila rolled her eyes.

"He didn't do anything to me." Lila argued.

"Yeah, he did." Kie said back with a look as Lila simply looked down.

"What did she do to you, exactly?" JJ asked as he looked over at Kie curiosity.

"She's like a- like a spitting cobra. Right she-she blinds you and then-" Kie began, stumbling over her words as she tried to use her hands.

"This is a bad analogy." Pope said to her with a shake of his head.

"Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's gonna try to take." Kie said as it was silent again before she looked toward Lila.

"And you. You can't get involved with Rafe, okay? I can see what it's doing to you, Lila. We all do! This isn't good, it's not healthy for you. You can have literally anyone you want! You've got so many options, you deserve better then him! He's hurt you, and he'll do it again, you know that deep down." Kie said as all eyes were on Lila. She didn't know what to say, her heart thumping in her chest as she became lost of words.

"I just... he needs me, okay? I know he's bad, Kie. I know he hurt all of you and even though it's not my place to say it, i'm sorry for that. But i'm trying with him, I am. I'm trying to get though his head and make him better for his sake but also all of yours. He's not just- he's not just this monster he makes himself out to be, okay? He's he needs help. I just wanna help him and make him better and then i'll back off, okay? Can you please, please, just accept that?" Lila asked as she stared at Kie mainly, the fire shining bright enough to see the glossy over the black eyes. And that's when the Pogues knew, when they figured out what was going on.

Lila was in a toxic relationship.

•••••••
why was this emotional? why did i feel like.. pain?

felt a ton of chemistry from multiple people this chapter, did y'all feel it? i felt it.

gonna see rafes pov next chapter and hear some stuff he says about lila'