──────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────────

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗻: 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗸𝗼𝗼𝗸

──────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────────

Cassie stood in the living room area of John B's house next to Kiara after they arrived back to open the envelope they found in the tomb. The girls were trying to make sure they didn't come back with any spiders or baby snakes in their hair.

"I swear to God, if I found out a spider laid eggs in my braid, I'm gonna kill somebody," Cassie threatened as Kiara carefully undid her braid, combing through it with her fingers.

"No...I think you're good," Kiara told her after checking her hair. "What about me?" Kiara turned around to let Cassie sift through her curly hair. "Ow!" She yelped once Cassie pulled on it too hard.

"Oops, sorry, Kiki," Cassie apologized with a wince. "But...I think you're all good.

"Thank God," Kiara breathed out before she glanced over at John B sitting at the table, just staring at the envelope as they waited for Pope and JJ to come into the room. "What do you think is in there?" She whispered to the blonde.

Cassie shook her head. "I don't know, but... if I found something my dead, or well, vanished, dad had planted for me to find...I'd be a lot more of a wreck than he is right now," she replied, shocked that John B was able to hold it together this long. Maybe it was because he was a guy and he didn't want to express his emotions in front of the others, but if that was the case, she felt even worse for him.

"That bread had mold on it three days ago," Pope said to JJ after he was able to borrow a pair of John B's sweatpants to compensate for his lost shorts.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism," JJ told the Heyward boy as the latter walked over to Cassie, Kiara, and John B.

Pope went to go argue before Cassie quickly stopped him. "Just let him believe that," she whispered to the boy with a light smirk, and Pope started to chuckle quietly at her plan to make JJ eat the bread and find out the hard way.

"JJ," Kiara called the blonde over.

"Yup, yup, yup." He came running over with the moldy bread in his hands. "Hot damn! Let's do it!" John B opened up the envelope as JJ began eating the bread, only to start gagging on it and spitting it out.

"Ha!" Cassie started to laugh at loud, fist bumping Pope since her plan had worked. He looked over at them with narrowed eyes before he scoffed, starting to pick off the moldy pieces of the bread since she was starving.

John B pulled out a large, intricate map from the envelope, laying it out on the table for them all to see. "Holy shit." Cassie looked down at it, seeing all the markings that were already made on it.

"Oh." Pope pointed at an 'X' on the map. "X marks the spot."

"Longitude, latitude." John B ran his fingers across the lines on the map. "Wait, there's something else in there." He pulled out a tape recorder from the envelope, hesitating.

"What's that?" JJ asked.

"It's a tape recorder," Kiara answered.

"Dumbass," Cassie added after the fact.

John B clicked the tape recorder on. "Dear Bird," his father's voice began. The Routledge boy instantly felt his mouth run dry at the sound.

"Who's Bird?" JJ inquired.

"That's what my dad called me," John B revealed, his mouth becoming slack as he was able to listen to his father's voice that he hadn't heard in almost a year.

"I hate to say, 'I told you so,' but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect that at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either," Big John spoke and the Pogues all shared glances with one another at the mention of the Merchant. "You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly father of the decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it...I'll see you on the other side."

As Cassie listened to full recording, her body was tensed as she stood as still as can be. It wasn't that she had felt jealous of John B, but she wished she could have had some sort of goodbye from her father before his death like Big John seemed to have done with the recording.

She wished he could have helped her with her math homework one last time, hugged him one last time, and said 'I love you,' one last time. No one had known that his death was imminent.

But it seemed like Big John had an inkling about what was about to happen to him. And that's what led him to create this recording for his son, to tell him he loved him before he was gone.

John B stared down at the tape recorder, shaking before he turned it off and got up. Cassie finally moved her head toward him once he fell onto the doorframe and started to sob, finally letting all of his emotions out that he had been piling up the last few days.

"Holy shit, he did it!" JJ exclaimed "Big John, he-he found the Merchant," he continued as Kiara quickly tried to get him stop for John B's sake. "Sorry," he apologized as John B continued crying. Kiara went over to him, wrapping her arms around him and placing her head on the back of his shoulder comfortingly.

Cassie looked over at the two as she felt her lip quiver, but she quickly shut her eyes before any tears could form. She shouldn't be the one crying here. This had nothing to do with her. She didn't know why she was making it about her.

This is about John B, she kept telling herself. She opened her eyes to meet another pair of azure ones, which had taken her aback a bit.

JJ had been staring at her curiously, wondering what she could have been thinking about in that moment. He had noticed she had been acting the same way in the Twinkie when John B brought up his dad, not saying anything for a while even though she always had something to say. That was the one of the things he hated about her, never knowing when to just shut up.

And yet, when she did shut up, he felt himself wondering why she wasn't saying anything.

When her eyes opened and met his eyes, he pursed his lips and looked toward Pope, who was busy looking at John B and Kiara with a sad expression. Cassie sucked in a breath before she grabbed her hair tie, trying to redo her braid that Kiara had took out before.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Once John B had calmed down, the Pogues somehow made their way outside after grabbing a few beers for themselves to celebrate the fact that their treasure hunt was back on.

Kiara softly played the ukulele as Cassie, who managed to redo her braid, sat on the railing next to her with a beer in her hand. Although Kiara tried to quietly protest against it again, Cassie had assured her she was only drinking it to celebrate with the rest of them.

"How much was it again?" JJ asked after, making Kiara halt the music coming from her ukulele.

"$400 mil," Pope answered.

JJ blew out some air, his lips trilling. "All right, let's talk the split. Now, before we say 'evenly,' may I remind you that I am the only one," he held up the gun, "that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us. Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

"You haven't trained. You've done zero training," Pope pointed out as JJ placed the weapon back in his waistband. 

"YouTube, bro. That's at least a five percent bump right there." John B took a sip of his beer as he heard the two arguing.

"You haven't—"

"Any objections? Didn't think so."

"Yeah," Pope shook his head as Kiara raised her hand to object.

"I didn't hear any, so..."

"I have many objections, actually," Cassie spoke up, turning her gaze toward the blonde Pogue.

"Well, we already knew that," Kiara admitted even though she agreed, and Cassie shrugged and nodded at that. Everyone knew that any time JJ did something, Cassie was going to complain. And any time Cassie did something, JJ was going to complain. It was just how it worked. "So, what are you gonna do with your $80 mil, Pope?" Kiara asked, splitting it evenly amongst them all despite JJ's idea.

"Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive," Pope nodded and Kiara furrowed her brows, expecting something more grandiose.

"What about you, Kie?" JJ turned his gaze over to her.

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope added, narrowing his eyes which made Cassie snort.

Kiara chuckled. "Just wanna make a double album," she shrugged. "About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing."

"Peter Tosh is dead—"

"Peter Tosh is dead," Kiara said at the same time as Pope. "I know that. The spirit of Peter Tosh will never die," she held her can of beer up.

"Actually, I know what I'll do. I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook," JJ told them.

"You're gonna go full Kook?" Pope questioned in disbelief.

"Yup. Gonna get a marble statute of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond," he said, making them laugh lightly. "Put a bunch of those fish."

"I'm never visiting," Kiara teased.

"I'm also gonna build it right next to Cassie's so I can constantly annoy the shit out of her," he continued, making her give him a look. "Play all the music you hate, throw some banger parties with hot chicks so you can hear us going all night long...Yeah, sounds like a good life," he poked fun with a smirk.

She scoffed at him even though a small smile was on her lips. "You're an ass."

"What are you gonna do, Cassie?" Pope asked, genuinely wanting to know since she seemed to want to know about his future earlier.

"Yeah, let's hear what's going on in that annoying ass mind of yours," JJ jested although he was also curious about what she had in mind. Kiara also looked her friend's way, not really having a whole idea about what Cassie could have wanted. Sure, they talked about stuff they wanted all the time, but not $80 million's worth.

Cassie rolled her eyes at him before she began to think, trying to come up with what she wanted but she just...came up empty.

All her life, even before moving to the Outer Banks, she struggled with wanting to be liked. From her no filter to her tendency to want to immediately fight, it was hard for her to get along with people.

That's why when she left her home, a place where she did manage to make friends, and moved to the OBX...she was scared shitless. She didn't think she was ever going to have friends again.

But that's when Sarah came along and saved the day, not caring about her no filter or her occasional aggressive personality. She liked her for who she was for a whole year...until she just dropped her. Out of nowhere. And found a new friend in Kiara as a replacement.

Cassie didn't blame Kiara anymore, how could she? It wasn't her fault that it happened and now the two were as close as ever.

But she still craved that validation that she got when she was friends with Sarah Cameron. The way people looked at her and wanted to be her friend all because of Sarah...she would never get that ever again. Especially now when she's been spending her whole time with the Pogues, which she still wasn't sure if they were even her friends or not.

And that's all she wanted. To feel included. To feel like she had a purpose in this world other than just being Cassandra Blake.

But money couldn't buy that. Money couldn't buy true relationships. Some say it can buy happiness, but Cassie already had money and yet...she wasn't happy. Not like she should've been.

Maybe that's why she spent the last year and a half trying to get revenge on Sarah. Maybe she thought it would have made her happy, to see the Kook Princess, who built her up to watch her fall, collapse from her throne.

And maybe that's why she thought hooking up with Rafe Cameron would have helped, would've brought her some solace. But it didn't. It only made her feel worse. Especially now as she realized she was sitting around the last group of people she would want to find out about what happened. The group of people who took her in despite some of their obvious dislike toward her.

"Cece, you good?" Kiara's voice interrupted her from her thoughts. She hadn't realized that she had been dissociating, staring off into the water below the dock.

"I don't know," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Even Kiara, who had been sitting right next to her, couldn't hear it. "What?"

Cassie quickly cleared her throat, turning her attention back to the Pogues who had all been looking at her with concern and confusion written across their faces. They had never heard her speak that quiet before. "Uh, I don't know. I don't know what I want," she clarified louder for them to hear.

JJ narrowed his eyes. "Oh, come on, blondie. You don't have to hide from us what you want. Ah, I know what it is. You want a white house with blue shutters and a room overlooking the river so you can paint with a big ole porch wrapped around the whole house to can drink tea and watch the sun go down," JJ quoted with a fake pout. "It's okay, you don't gotta be ashamed," he teased.

"JJ, how do you know that quote?" Kiara pointed out, tilting her head at him.

"Some girl I was hooking up with one time made me watch it, I don't know," he waved off like it wasn't a big deal despite him knowing it word for word, and Kiara rolled her eyes at him. "But seriously, Cassie, we all wanna know. Especially because you're already rich as fuck anyway."

"I told you, I don't know," Cassie shook her head, growing agitated with the badgering.

"If you don't know, why should you even get a cut of it?" JJ pointed out jokingly, arching a brow.

"I can just use the $80 mil to find out, I guess, I don't know," she replied, pursing her lips. JJ narrowed his eyes once again, wondering why she hadn't come back with a more witty retort against him instead.

Pope could tell that the girl was getting peeved off so he turned to John B and asked, "What are you gonna do, JB?" Pope asked. Cassie silently thanked the Lord for allowing Pope to save her as all the Pogues look at John B expectantly.

He slowly looked over at them, a small smile growing on his face. "To going full Kook." They all began to smile with him.

"To going full Kook!" They repeated as they held up their beers, clinking them all together before each taking a sip.

Once Cassie had finished her beer, which didn't take her long, she stood up from the railing. "I should probably get going," she announced.

"You don't wanna sleep over?" John B inquired.

She paused at his question, since it was usually Kiara who had invited her, before she shook her head. "No, my mom will probably kill me if I don't come back tonight like the other day. I was able to save myself, but I don't know how many more times I can."

"Well, I can drive you," John B offered since the one beer hadn't done anything to him.

"You sure? I could just drive her, take the Twinkie back to mine, and then drop it back off tomorrow," Kiara said.

"Nah, you were gonna sleep here anyway. I can just drive her," John B shrugged before he pulled the keys out of his pocket. "Come on."

"Bye, guys," Cassie waved.

"Bye, Cece!" Kiara waved back.

Pope also waved. "Bye, Cassie."

JJ flipped her off. "Bye, dork."

Cassie rolled her eyes and flipped the blonde off back as she turned around, following John B to the Twinkie. She hopped inside the passenger seat as he started up the truck, driving out from the Château and onto the road.

"Looks like I'm finally your Passenger Princess," Cassie joked and John B released a soft laugh. The rest of the ride had been quiet, the only noise being the low hum of the music playing on the radio.

Once John B had reached her house on Figure Eight, he pulled into the driveway and parked the car. However, before the blonde could leave, he finally spoke up, "Hey, Cassie?"

She turned to him, removing her hand from the handle on the door. "Yeah?"

"Thanks," he said.

She furrowed her brows. "For?"

"Doing this. With us. You don't have to, but you are," he told her and her face softened. "And I-I don't know if it's because of, you know, your own father or-or for Kie, but...thank you."

At the mention of her father, Cassie swallowed hard. "John B...I know we have our differences, but...I just wanna say I understand what you're going through. And-and you don't have to thank me for being here. I wanna be here," she told him although she didn't know why. She had no idea if she had actually wanted to be doing this with them, but now...now she was starting to believe she wanted to.

John B nodded before he gave her a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Cassie smiled back. "See you tomorrow, JB."

authors note!
i loved writing this chapter for
some reason. ive been trying to delve
more into her relationships with the
other pogues in this fic since she started
off with them unlike in "brutal" so hopefully
y'all are seeing that and r enjoying it :) lmk
what u think!