"I just don't get it. I mean, you guys saw the map. He hides his gold so no one finds it for 170 years." Pope ranted on as the group stayed near the tree, "And then he sends a message to his son, Robert, to come here to his mother's grave, but the message never gets to him. Denmark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot. It just feels like-"

"Like we missed something?" JJ's voice caught their attention, heads turning to see he'd been looking up at the tree, "Come here."

Layla gave a odd look as JJ crawled up on the twinkie, Kie following after, "JJ, get down right now before you fall and break a bone."

"Hang on, hang on." he waved her off, "That looks like-"

"The painting in the island room." Kie added in as she looked at the hole in the tree.

"It's worth a shot, right?" JJ spoke up with a shrug, "Go for it."

"No chance." Kie gave a stupid look.

"You do it!" Sarah scoffed from the ground.

"Sorry, I went in the storm drain." Kie said back.

"She did go in the storm drain." Pope sided with Kie.

"Yeah. No, i'm gonna do it. It's just..." JJ trialed off as he pulled his sleeve up some.

"He's scared." Kie whispered.

"I'm not scared, dude." JJ scoffed in disbelief.

"You seem scared." Kie laughed.

JJ slowly reached his hand into the tree, getting closer before letting out a shout. Layla yelled out, grabbing the window to pull herself up immediately. Kie yanking on his body while John B tried to climb the twinkie. JJ began to laugh, relaxing as everyone gave looks of disbelief.

"Real original." Pope scoffed.

"Mom mode really went off there." John B nudged Layla as he let the twinkie go, reaching up to help her down.

"Wait, there's seriously something in here." JJ shook his head, digging deeper before retracting his arm with a golden and maroon trinket.

"Let me see it." Pope reached up. Layla held her hand up to help Kie down, doing the same with JJ as he stumbled into her some, "HMS Royal Merchant."

"Give it to the captain. Here we go. It's a spyglass." JJ yanked it open, peering through the peephole.

"There's something on the end." Kie nodded, their eyes moving toward the little writing.

"An inscription right there. Look at that shit." John B looked down at it.

"You've come this far. Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's altar." Layla read over John B's shoulder a second later.

"The cross is at the church!" Pope announced as his face lit up.

"What are we doing here, guys?" JJ called out with wide eyes.

"Come on!" Pope encouraged as they got back into the van.

"Ah, crap! The tide!" Pope huffed as he looked out the window at the once small mud hole, now looking like an entire lake, "This doesn't look good."

"How deep is that?" Kie questioned.

"Dunno, the roads gone." John B shook his head, looking out the cracked window shield.

"Tide rose a little faster then I thought it would." JJ scratched the back of his neck.

"Just a tad." Layla hummed, adjusting her hips from where she sat. mommy.

"Uh, John B, how high are the spark plugs?" JJ turned in his seat to look at him better.

John B hesitated, "They're good. We're fine."

"How high are they?" Pope repeated JJ's words.

"Oh, um." John B looked out the window, "Just above the taillight."

The group shared a unsure look before Pope spoken up, "So thats, what, three feet?"

"That's three feet, yeah." JJ hummed.

"Well, I will be in the top of the twinkie if any of you need me." Layla said sarcastically with a raise of her brows.

"That water can't be three feet deep." Kie scoffed.

"Then what's the problem?" the curly haired boy looked back.

"Not a problem. No, we're good. We're good. She'll make it." JJ nodded his head, turning back correctly in his seat.

"Ladies and gentleman, fasted your seat belts. Hold onto something." John B braced them. Sarah held a hand out, Layla holding onto it , "Three, two, one!"

The group all yelled when it took a moment for the twinkie to move, finally getting out of the mud and speeding forward. Cheers echoed off the metal doors, yelling for John B to go faster as they neared the end, loosing control and swerving off into the swamp.

"I think we miscalculation." Pope said as Sarah squeezed her index finger and thumb close together.

"I knew I should have driven." JJ sighed.

As they climbed out, Pope took a look around, "Okay, maybe we can walk from here."

"What? And leave the Twinkie? The tides coming in." John B said, adjusting his jacket.

"So then what are we suppose to do?" Sarah questioned.

"Not stay here." JJ spoke up.

"I mean, I use to be a cheerleader, we ran a lot. Maybe I can sprint to the road, find a phone, call someone." Layla suggested, getting a dumbfounded look from Sarah , "No? Okay, never mind."

"I can take my dads truck." Kie sighed in disbelief.

"Kie, are you sure?" John B asked with questionable eyes.

"How much worse can it get, you know?" she shrugged.

"I'll go with her!" Layla blurted suddenly.

"No." Kie said just as quick, earning a odd look.

"Kie and I need to discuss....politics, anyways." Layals words came out more of a question then anything.

"There isn't any politics to discuss." Kie said through her teeth.

"We need something to pull her out with. There's the winch at the Chateau." JJ cut the odd conversation off, a nod of his head, "That's like two miles."

"Yeah, good idea." Sarah nodded.

"If you're gonna do it, let's go, okay?" John B nodded quickly.

"All right." Kie nodded as she headed around.

"Tides coming in. Twinkies going underwater." John B panicked.

"Try to hurry back so I don't start to over think that you're dead or something." Sarah gave Layla a tilt of her head.

"Yeah." Layla grinned, pecking her lips before following JJ and Kie.

"Be right back!" JJ called after they stole Kie's dads truck, pulling up to the chateau after.

"Need help?" Layla suggest.

"I got-" JJ called, running as he flew over something in the yard, "I'm okay!"

"That boy." Layla shook her head in disbelief from the passengers seat, looking over at Kie, "So-"

"I don't wanna talk about it." the Carrer girl stopped her immediately.

"Okay, don't talk then. Just listen." Layla cleared her throat, turning in her seat to face Kie, who insisted on staring forward, "Obviously I was a idiot last summer for not realizing that you were talking about me and not John B. I know we've always been so close and I feel like I can just tell you literally anything and i'm so comfortable around you. Clearly, I liked you for a while but then you made the whole no pogue on pogue macking rule so I let it go and then I guess some where along the way you started to feel the same."

"Obviously." Kie rolled her eyes, "But i'm over it."

Layla blinked, "Are you?"

Kie looked at her finally, "I know when to move on from someone who doesn't have feelings for me, so yeah, obviously."

Layla swallowed, "But I did, before."

Kie sighed.

"I told you I did." Layla went on.

"Yeah, well, I was still confused when you told me you liked me freshman year." Kie defended herself quickly, "I was going through my kook phase and I just- I don't know."

"I wasn't good enough for you then." Layla confirmed with a nod of her head.

"That is so not it." Kie looked at her in disbelief, "I didn't know I liked you. I didn't know I liked you until you got with Florance and everything got so messed up after that."

Layla nodded in agreement, "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because of this. This awkward talk that we have to go through. You're with Sarah, i've moved on, we don't have to talk about anything." Kie met her eye with a harsh shrug, " Can we just let it go?"

"I'm not just gonna let it go. You laid that on me, that's on you, it's my right to talk to you about it." Layla defended herself again with a minor eye roll, "You can't just say you were in love with someone and expect them to forget it."

"Fine, then why did you call me the most last night?" Kie looked over at her immediately with a minor glare on her face.

"I called you so many times because you're my best friend and I wanted you with me." Layla blinked as Kie stared at her, "All i'm trying to do is make sure that we still have that bond. I liked you, you liked me, we didn't work out. That's one thing, yeah. But it's so much more complicated when you're my best friend in the entire world, I don't want thing to change between us."

Kie's face fell as she blinked, "Obviously nothing will change between us, Layla. You've been my best friend since Kindergarten, nothing could change that. I just feel like we're keeping this huge secret from Sarah and it's making me feel like shit."

"Then do you want to tell her?" Layla suggested.

"No, we just got okay again." Kie shook her head, "And the two of you just figured all of it out. We don't need to ruin that by telling her something that happened a year ago."

Layla swallowed, "You could have a least told me though."

Kie looked over at her.

"No one knows more about liking girls then I do." Layla pointed out, making Kie laugh.

"I just, I don't know, I didn't know everything for sure, I guess." Kie picked at her fingers slightly, "Can we just keep it a secret for now?"

"We can keep it a secret for however long you want." Layla nodded, smiling softly before her face fell. Kie followed her gaze out the window.

"Hell no!" the Carrera girl spoke when she saw Luke Maybank walking with JJ.

•

kylie speaks

finally got that all
covered.