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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲: 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴-𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲

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Cassie went back to her original home that Aunt Bea and Emery had taken over. Since building Poguelandia 2.0, Cassie had been living there with the other Pogues, sharing a room with JJ, so Aunt Bea and Emery were able to take Cassie's house and use it as their home without having to find somewhere else to live.

When they first bought JJ's house at the auction, they designated rooms for themselves. Sarah and John B got a room, Pope and Cleo got a room, Cassie and JJ got a room, and Kiara got a room to herself.

They had set a system up. If a couple decided they wanted to...have a little fun, they would hang a conch shell on the doorknob so no one would accidentally step inside. John B and Sarah used it a lot more than the other couples since the others had more recently gotten together.

Cassie and JJ used it, too, especially when they would have a good day at the shop working together. They'd come back inside to count the money they made that day, take the conch shell, and hang it up on the doorknob to have all the fun they wanted.

But that was why she didn't want to sleep at Poguelandia 2.0, she would have to be sleeping in the same room as him. And he sure as hell wasn't getting that she treat she told him about if he had won since he had done anything but win.

She had been getting ready for bed even though it wasn't that late yet. The whole day just exhausted her. However, before she could get into bed, a knock had sounded on her balcony door. She furrowed her brows before another one occurred and she went toward it, opening up to see that nothing was there.

"Down here!"

Cassie walked further onto the balcony and looked down to see a certain towhead blonde standing below on the grass, holding a bunch of bouquets of flowers in his hands. "JJ?"

"I wasn't sure which flower you liked the best so I kinda just bought them all!" he told her and she blinked at him, unsure of what was even happening. "I wasn't sure if your Aunt Bea was gonna let me in and I didn't want her to warn you I was here so I decided to throw some rocks instead."

"JJ..."

"I'm sorry, Cass!" he continued and she closed her mouth, sucking in her lip. "I'm sorry for betting the last of our gold! I shouldn't have done that. I should've ran it all by you first before thinking I could win and get our money back. And I'm sorry for yelling at you afterwards. I was just mad at myself for losing and took it out on you. I'm sorry. Really, I am. And I don't want to have to go to our room without you tonight just because I couldn't stop myself from saying and doing some stupid shit. I love you and...and I'm sorry. For everything."

Our room.

That had been the first time she had ever heard him refer to their room as that before and she was dumbfounded, completely speechless. They had been together for over a year now, but there hadn't been an instance where he needed her back in their room unless they wanted to have some fun. But even then, he wouldn't even need to ask because they would just know.

She looked down at the boy from her balcony, seeing him trying to hold up all the bouquets of flowers in his hand without dropping them. Seeing the desperation in his eyes that brought him here to make her forgive him.

It had been over a year since they started dating and this had probably been the first real fight since then. Of course they still bickered back and forth like they did before they even liked one another, but this fight was real.

However, JJ standing below her balcony proved that he didn't want to get into real fights with her anymore. He didn't want to go back to the days where he would call her a Kook and she would storm away from him, only for Kiara to force him to apologize.

He was here on his own free will, staying until he was able to get her to forgive him.

She started to smile, finding it hard to stay mad at him when he went through the effort of getting all these different flowers and coming to her house to apologize.

"Wait there," she told him before she disappeared back into her room.

"Wait here? Okay, yeah, I can do that," he muttered to himself, not sure what she was doing.

Cassie exited her room, walking down the steps. She passed by the living room, where Aunt Bea and Emery had been warning a movie. "Hey, where you going?" Aunt Bea inquired once she heard the girl behind her, looking over her shoulder. "Thought you were staying here tonight."

Cassie shrugged. "Changed my mind."

"JJ apologized, didn't he?" Emery assumed and Aunt Bea arched an intrigued bro.

A faint blush grew on her cheeks from Emery's perfect guess. "Maybe," was all she said in response before she left out the front door.

Emery turned to her mother. "JJ's gotten good at apologies."

Aunt Bea chuckled. "As long as he doesn't break her heart, I don't care what he does."

JJ had continued to wait for a few moments outside on the grass as he went back and forth on his heels, getting anxious once she hadn't come back out onto the balcony.

Did she just leave me out here to humiliate myself? Is she gonna come back with something to throw at my head?

However, none of those assumptions had been correct once he heard footsteps nearing him outside. He turned to his left, seeing the Blake girl making her way toward him. "Oh, you're here," he realized.

"What did you think I was doing?" Cassie asked, arching a brow.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, I don't know."

She flashed him another smile. "Well, I came down here to say...I forgive you."

A weight had been lifted off of JJ's shoulders. "You do?"

"Yeah. I'm pissed at what you did...but I forgive you for your apology," Cassie told him and he pursed his lips. "Speaking of which..." She plucked out the lilac bouquet from his hands. "Lilacs are my favorite."

He tossed all the other flowers aside as he stared at her like a golden retriever looking at a bone, earning a laugh from her. "Lilacs it is then."

She shook her head at him, scoffing. "Let's just go home."

He beamed. "Home. Yeah."

The two began to walk to the Twinkie JJ had parked in her driveway. JJ was still fixing up his bike from the Enduro so it made sense why he hadn't taken that instead. "John B actually let you take the Twinkie though?" she questioned.

"He knew how important this was," JJ answered and Cassie hummed. The two got into the Twinkie, Cassie being the passenger obviously. However, before JJ put the key into the ignition, he turned to her again. "I really am sorry, Cass."

She let out a sigh. "I know you are. Just...don't do shit like that again, okay? Because now we have to clean up your mess somehow before we get our home taken away."

JJ looked down, feeling extremely guilty. "I know."

She gave him a lopsided frown. "Now let's go home."

Cassie and JJ arrived back to Poguelandia 2.0, where Cassie was immediately greeted by the girls who kept saying how much they were going to miss her for the night if she actually slept home.

They also had apparently ordered a few pizzas from whatever money they had, Cassie didn't want to ask. How could she turn down a pizza?

They all ate with one another, glad that Cassie had decided to change her mind on sleeping back at home. It was clear there was still some tension in the air because of what JJ did, but they couldn't exactly do much about it now.

When they were done eating and cleaning up, Cassie found herself with John B as they were tasked to wash the dishes for that day. "So...you let JJ take the Twinkie so he could apologize to me?" she inquired as she scrubbed a dish from next to John B.

John B shrugged. "'Course."

She arched a brow. "Why?"

John B looked at her again before he sighed. "Look, we're all mad at JJ. What he did was fucked. But you being mad at him is a different story. It had been only been a few hours and I could tell how much it was eating at him alive. He was supposed to be fixing his bike outside, but every time I looked out he would be pacing back and forth and throwing a wrench on the ground."

Cassie was a bit taken aback. "Really?"

"I mean, you guys used to fight all the time but that was different. You guys weren't...in love, you know," John B pointed out, scratching the back of his neck. Cassie chuckled lightly in embarrassment, her face burning. "I've just never seen him this happy. You either in the time I've known you. If me giving him the Twinkie was gonna help you guys make up, then I'd give it to him a thousand more times."

Cassie started to smile at John B's words, hearing the genuineness in them. He really wanted them to be happy and even though he was mad at JJ, he still wanted to put JJ's happiness first. Same with Cassie's.

"Thanks, JB." She nudged him with her shoulder from beside him. "Glad to know I have your blessing for us to be together."

"You kiddin'? It's been over a year now since you guys have been together, you've had my blessing for ages. Ever since I saw you wearing his clothes at the jail," he admitted and she let out a laugh, shaking her head at him. John B sucked in a breath, his grin fading a bit. "Speaking of years though...does it, uh...does it ever get easier?"

She furrowed her brows. "Does what get easier?"

"Grieving a father," he clarified and sucked in her lip. "The first time I thought I lost my dad, that was different. I was holding on hope that he was alive. But now...now there's really no chance and, like, I'm not sure what stage of...grief I'm in or if-if I'm done. Like...I don't know."

She pursed her lips to the side. "Well, you're definitely not in the anger stage," she cracked a joke and he smiled a bit before it fell. She cleared her throat, giving him a lopsided frown. "Honestly, JB...It doesn't get easier. For me at least."

"Oh."

"I guess it's more, like, you get stronger?" she guessed and he tilted his head. "There's times I find myself thinking about my father. My situation's been a bit different since I found out things about him way after he died so that's changed my grieving process but...I still miss him sometimes."

John B looked down. "Yeah. I miss my dad a lot, even though he's done bad things."

Cassie sucked in a breath. "What I've learned is to just...take it one step at a time. And surround yourself with people who love you. And hey, you already got that part down."

He chuckled a bit. "Yeah."

"So you're doing it right. I mean, there's really no 'right' way to grieve I guess but...I'd say you're doing a pretty good job," Cassie told him, rubbing his back.

He nodded, sniffling a bit. "Thanks, Cassie. I'm glad I...I'm glad I welcomed you as a Pogue when I did."

She gave him gentle smile. "I'm glad too."

They stared at each other for a few moments, a shared understanding between the two of them. That's what started it all. Cassie's understanding of what John B was going through was ultimately led her to become a true Pogue. And here she was, understanding and helping him again.

John B cleared his throat, looking back down at the dishes. "Now we just gotta get this shit figured out."

Cassie released a breath, turning back to the dishes in the sink. "Yep. We do."

Figuring it all out didn't take long, however, when Kiara was Internet surfing at the end of the week and seemed to stumble across something.

"Wait. You guys," Kiara spoke as she kept her eyes on her computer.

Sarah looked up from her magazine. "What?"

"Holy shit. They-they wrote about us."

Cassie and JJ shared a look from where they were sitting with one another before the latter piped up, "What?"

"The Outer Banks Sentinel wrote about us," Kiara clarified and they all immediately rushed over to sit on the couch next to her, trying to see what was written on her computer. "'The extraordinary discovery made by the younger adventurers has validated the existence of the City of Gold.'"

"You're kidding!"

"Oh, my God!"

"I found my name!"

"Holy shit, that's my name!"

"Guys, guys, wait! What does this mean?" Cassie questioned.

They all paused their celebratory words to turn to John B, who slowly lowered his hand from his mouth and shouted, "We're heroes!"

"WHOO!" They all whooped with one another, grabbing each other by the arms and shoulders.

They were finally being acknowledged for all the blood, sweat, and tears they put into this. They were finally being recognized for something more than just being reckless Pogues.

So when the mayor reached out to them to hold a ceremony for their excellent work, you bet their asses they took advantage of it.

By the time this ceremony had taken place, it had already been eighteen months since their trip to South America. It seemed like time just flew by from working on their house and spending every day with one another.

They sat lined up on the stage, peering out into the crowd that showed up to celebrate them. Cassie noticed Pope's parents in the front row as well as Kiara's parents. Kiara was still in the stage of building back the relationship she had with them even though she didn't really want to. It was mostly her parents trying to do it since they must have realized the dire mistake they made.

Cassie kept looking through the crowd, noticing Topper and his parents there. Her lip curled just a bit, but tried to remember that she and her friends were the ones being celebrated here and that was definitely bruising his ego.

She spotted Aunt Bea and Emery in the crowd, who both gave her excited waves once they made eye contact with her. Cassie smiled and gave them a small wave before the sound of the dignitary's voice pulled her eyes away from them.

"An expedition of one man, John Routledge, and a group of teenagers, who are with us today. Locals, who grew up here, and who succeeded where centuries of conquistadors, explorers, and admirals failed. Today, we come together to celebrate these teens," the dignitary spoke and Cassie looked over at JJ, who was leaning forward with pursed lips, "friends from both sides of the island who came together to solve this five hundred year old mystery. Let's hear it for them!"

The crowd erupted in loud cheers and applause for them, causing the seven Pogues to look at one another before standing up. Cassie pulled down the white dress she had been wearing as she stood up, looking around at all the people clapping.

That's when she noticed Shoupe, making eye contact with him. He sent her a subtle nod and she sent one back, sucking in a breath. Without Shoupe believing her story, she might have not been there with her friends her to celebrate.

And no matter how much bullshit Shoupe put her and her friends through, she had to give him some credit for that.

She looked at JJ beside her, who was looking a bit anxious. She wordlessly grabbed onto his hand, intertwining their fingers. He looked down at their interlocked hands and back up at her face, calming down a little.

He wasn't used to this type of situation. He was used to people cheering him on in a fight, not cheering him on for solving a five hundred year old mystery. He felt so out of place, but with Cassie's hand in his...he was starting to feel like he was put back into place.

They stood up there for a little longer before the dignitary allowed the crowd to disperse. The Pogues stepped down from their stage they were on, walking by people that were congratulating them and thanking them for their contribution towards this town.

"Okay, I need to reset. I need a reset a right now. This is-this is a lot. It's time to celebrate," JJ spoke as he took out a joint from his leather jacket pocket.

"I'll take one hit. One," Pope told him, holding up one finger sternly.

"Bad man now," Cleo teased.

John B and Sarah split off from the group to talk by themselves, but the rest of them stayed together to celebrate by sharing the joint.

JJ leaned against the white pillar, placing the joint in his mouth. He blew out some hair before he held it out for Cassie, placing it between her lips for her.

"Hey, Cassie," Aunt Bea spoke up from behind her, causing her to cough and splutter as JJ took the joint out of her mouth and tried to hide it. "Guys, it's fine. You're acting like I wasn't a teen once myself. And you guys are also adults now so, can't really do anything."

Cassie let out a breath of relief before she said, "Thanke for coming, Aunt Bea."

"Oh, you know I wouldn't miss this," she said to her niece, pulling her into a hug. "I'm so proud of all of you. I know you guys worked your asses off, but this...this is another level. I guess what Emery was telling me really wasn't dramatic."

"I told you it wasn't," Emery said to her mother as she walked up to her, rolling her eyes. "But this is really great. I'm related to a certified treasure hunter! How exciting."

Cassie laughed at her cousin, nodding her head. "Certified treasure hunter? That's an interesting title."

"It's okay. Soon, I'll be an A list actress and people will be asking you about me," Emery assured her confidently.

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yup."

Aunt Bea shook her head at her daughter. "First you actually have to book a job instead of waiting tables at The Wreck," she said, causing the others to laugh as Emery narrowed her eyes at her mother's joke. "Oh, Kiara, thank your parents for us for allowing her to work there while she tries to find auditions. That was really nice of them."

Kiara pursed her lips awkwardly. "Will do."

"I'll leave you kids to it then," Aunt Bea said as she pretended to smoke an imaginary joint, making them all giggle. She then walked off, but Emery stayed with them as they continued to smoke the joint and chat.

"Hey, who's that?" Cleo spoke up, pointing past them to see an older man walking up to Sarah and John B. "You know him?"

The others shared a look, trying to figure out if they've ever crossed paths with that man before Pope replied, "No. Come on." The Pogues walked over to John B and Sarah, seeing their confused expressions. "Uh, can we help you?" Pope cut in as Kiara tried to wave the smoke from the joint away so the man didn't see what they were doing.

"Jay," Cassie warned and JJ looked around frantically,  not knowing what to do with the joint before he saw a champagne glass and put it in there. Cassie let out a snort before she covered her mouth, trying to hide the sound.

"Yes. I wanted to tell you all it's remarkable what you all did. Royal Merchant, El Dorado, Denmark Tanny. Impressive résumé, impressive," the man complimented before he put his briefcase on the table. "I was wondering if you would all be so kind as to look at an item of mine."

"Oh, yeah? What type of item is that?" Cleo questioned, glancing down at the briefcase.

"It's a manuscript," he told her as he pulled it out of the briefcase. "I would investigate it myself, but I'm...too long in the tooth. I need partners, and you all were first on my list."

They all shared some glances, unsure of what the man was talking about. It had been eighteen months since they had found El Dorado and now that they had created Poguelandia 2.0 and opened up shop...they thought they were done with treasure hunts for good.

Pope decided to speak up and say, "May I?"

"I was hoping you would," the man said, handing him the manuscript. Pope flipped it open and the Pogues looked at it from over his shoulder.

"1718. Jeez, this is old," Pope muttered before he began flipping through some more pages. "Exhibition notes, dates."

"This is a captain's log. This shows the exact position of the ship," John B realized, looking back up at the man.

"The exact location where the ship sailed and where it stopped," the man confirmed.

"Who is the captain?" JJ curiously asked since they already solved the riddle of the Royal Merchant.

"Edward Teach. Blackbeard," the man revealed ominously.

The Pogues began sharing looks with just their eyes before the thin lines on their lips turned to smiles.

John B breathed out, "Hot damn."

"Wait, wait, wait," Cassie cut in, making them all look at her. "What's your name, sir?" she inquired. She didn't want to get into another treasure hunt without barely knowing anything. She may have been rash at times, but they already knew what it was like to go through the hassle of finding lost treasure. She didn't want to make the same mistakes as last time.

"Right, yes. My name is Wes Genrette," the man introduced himself. The Pogues all glanced at one another after hearing that last name, knowing about it from all the stories told about the Genrettes in their family. Genrette seemed to notice their subtle looks so he cleared his throat. "I would like to invite you all to my private estate to discuss this proposition further."

"Where is your private estate?" Kiara asked.

"Goat Island. You'll see the dock I own if you use a boat to get there. It's easier than using a car with all the flooding," Genrette told them. "You may come tomorrow. I hope to see you all there." And with that, the man took his briefcase and left.

Emery looked between all their Pogues, seeing the curious looks on their faces. "Oh God, are you guys really gonna go on another treasure hunt?"

"I don't know...Are we?" Sarah turned to John B, looking a bit apprehensive.

"If there's money involved, we might have to," John B said, giving a pointed to look at JJ.

"I said I was sorry, man!" JJ whisper-shouted and Cassie quickly shushed him, placing her hand on his shoulder to pull him away from John B.

"I know you did, but...We might wanna just look into this to see. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right?" John B shrugged.

"Oh, it could hurt. It could definitely hurt," Pope argued. "But...John B's right. If there's money involved, it could help us."

Cassie sighed. "So this is it? We're back in the G-game?"

The Pogues all shared a determined look before they all replied, "Back in the G-game."

Emery gave them all confused look. "What the hell's the G-game?"

"Gold game," Kiara rolled her eyes.

"Oh. That makes sense."

authors note!
not sure if i like this chapter but whatever,
they r back in the g-game! definitely not a
good thing for one of the pogues butttt it's okay
im trying to plan shit in my head on how to make
this work lol hope u guys liked this chapter!