CHAPTER TEN
"you so owe me cameron!"

( episode five ━━ midsummers )

SCARLETT HAD BEEN TREASURE HUNTING once before. At a pirate themed birthday party... when she was eight.

It was a stupid party and Scarlett was miserable the whole time, coming in last place and bawling her eyes about losing for three straight hours afterwards. She hoped this treasure hunting mission didn't crash and burn like that one.

After Sarah had finally spilled the beans as to what was going on in her life, Scarlett genuinely didn't know if Sarah had either lost her mind, or was trying to play a prank on her.

Apparently, it was neither. This was for real.

For five minutes after, Sarah had to deal with the many, many, rapid fire questions being thrown at her by Scarlett. How did this happen? Where is the gold coming from? How did she find out? How did John B find out? For a bit, Sarah almost thought the girl was never going to relax and calm down. Although truthfully, she had been really happy to let Scarlett in on the secret, she just felt nervous not knowing how John B would react. She had promised him she wouldn't tell anyone, yet less than 24 hours later she was already spilling her guts to her best friend.

I mean it had to have been expected... right? Almost everyone in the OBX knows how inseparable they were, so surely John B had expected her to at least tell the girl snippets... right?

Both of them were busy sneaking around the Cameron house as quietly as they could be. Scarlett was still quite unsure what exactly was going on, but was willing to help as long as Sarah needed her.

"Okay, I have more questions and really need more information on whatever the hell is going on." Scarlett whispers while checking over her shoulder to make sure no one was near. "Don't worry, I can wait until you get back from your midnight booty call."

Sarah immediately stops in her tracks causing the smaller girl to bump into her. "It's not a— nevermind."

She turns back around, deciding against trying to argue with Scarlett, knowing how she would only continue teasing her and the next thing they'd be playfully arguing and get caught by her dad. Any other night that would be fine, but not tonight.

Sarah gestures to Scarlett to keep her quiet, turning on the light to her father's office and walking over to where she knew he kept exactly what she was looking for.

The Hall girl looks around the room and takes in her surroundings, this being the one place in the Cameron house she wasn't familiar with at all. "What are we doing in here?"

"I already told you." Sarah answers without looking up, continuing to rummage through the drawers. "John B needs me to bring a plat map, and I need to find wherever the hell my dad put it."

Figuring Sarah had this under control, Scarlett takes a seat in one of the many chairs in the room, sitting back and relaxing while Sarah keeps looking for what they needed. While she was having a good time watching Sarah get all worked up over this boy, she knew it technically wasn't right, especially since she was still dating Topper.

Now, she still didn't like Topper, at all. Honestly, who did? But she still didn't think it would be right for Sarah to string Topper along while she had completely lost all feelings for him and had already moved on.

"Speaking of John B, I know this may be a bad time to bring this up, if you are going to be with him properly, I think you need to let Topper go."

The dirty blonde pauses, still in the same position she was looking for the map. In all honesty, in the last hour, she had completely forgotten that she was dating Topper. A feeling of guilt suddenly rushes over her, but she was quick to shake it off. Topper wasn't her main priority at the moment.

"Yeah, I'm going to after I deal with everything tonight. I promise."

"Good." Scarlett leans back in the chair, throwing her feet over it and stretching out while closing her eyes, imagining her life Topper free. "Bye bye Topper, finally."

"I should have known to dump him sooner, it shouldn't have taken me kissing John B to see we don't work."

Scarlett sits up slightly after hearing this piece of brand new information that the Cameron girl had conveniently left out earlier. "Wait, you guys have kissed already? Details now!"

"Shh!" Sarah swiftly grabs the map from the drawer while telling Scarlett to quiet down, since the girl had seemed to have forgotten they were on a time sensitive secret mission. "We need to be quiet."

"I am being quiet!"

"No, you're not cause—"

"What are you two doing?"

"Jesus! You scared the shit out of me! Man, you have quiet feet." The arrival of Ward had startled Scarlett so much, she almost fell out of her seat.

Ward, ignoring her dramatics, steps more into his office while keeping his eyes on both girls. "And I'll ask again, what are you two doing?"

This time, Ward made sure to look at his daughter while speaking, almost like he was directing the question more to her, having a feeling whatever was going on was her idea.

"That's— that's a good question." Scarlett stammers, while standing up from where she was seated. Scrambling to think of an excuse and annoyed that her mind was a complete blank at the moment. "Sarah, what are we doing?"

"We just uh—" Sarah holds up the item in her hand, giving her dad a smile and hoping to look innocent. "We just wanted a copy of one of the old plat maps."

"A plat map. Of Tannyhill." Ward scoffs, not believing the answer he got but also was curious to know what all of a sudden peaked their interest.

"Yup."

"Neither of you girls wanted to look at those when I tried to show 'em to you. Scarlett I distinctly remember you telling me that you'd rather die than look at history stuff outside school."

Scarlett coughs in an attempt to cover up her laughter, recalling the memory Ward had just brought up. "Still true. I'm just helping out my good friend here."

He turns his attention back over to Sarah, awaiting her explanation.

"I have become so appreciative of this beautiful property that we call home, and they're so beautiful, I thought maybe I could get them framed and hung in my room."

As much as Scarlett adored Sarah, sometimes the girl was an absolute terrible liar, especially on the spot and under pressure. This moment was no exception. She had kept her eyes down the entire time and avoided eye contact, the number one tell for fibbing.

Ward scoffs, not believing a word that came out of his daughter's mouth. "Okay, come on, Sarah, seriously."

"Even I could tell that was a terrible lie." Scarlett weighs in.

"What is this, a school thing?"

"Dude, it's July." The small girl laughs while speaking, finding how Ward knew nothing, yet continued trying to get an explanation from them, pretty amusing.

Ward sighs, a little frustrated that with all his questioning he was still receiving no straight answer back. "Alright fine, a Topper thing?"

"It's not a Topper thing." Sarah admits, folding up the map and standing up from the couch where she was seated. "But it is a boy thing."

"A boy thing?" Ward nods his head.

"He's a real go-getter. I think you'll like him."

Scarlett resists the urge to roll her eyes at Sarah's words and decides not to reply with a sassy remark along the lines of oh yeah, sure your dad is going to love the employee he just fired for stealing things off his boat. She bites her tongue and smiles, thinking of how amusing it will be when the two finally meet, wondering if Ward and John B would even get along. "I'm sure he will."

"Hey, who is this mystery history buff? Is he a cartographer or something?"

"I could tell you, but then he wouldn't be a mystery, would he?"

Ward should have guessed that his daughter would only dodge his questions yet again. He glances over to Scarlett, testing to see if she would reveal who this mystery man was, but she only shrugs and throws her arm over Sarah's shoulders.

"Hey, my lips are sealed. I'm too loyal to this girl."

They open the door, Scarlett rushing out first with her friend following closely behind her, although neither girl gets very far before Ward calls them back in one last time.

"Hey, you two."

Sarah sticks her head back in, glancing at her father curiously and unsure of what he was about to say next.

"Make good choices."

"We always do!" Scarlett comments from the other side of the door.

Ward points at the piece of paper in the Cameron girl's hands, nervous about letting them both leave with it but decided against fighting them on it. "Be careful with that."

"Promise." Sarah dramatically kisses the map and smiles over at her father, grateful all the questioning was over with. "Thank you. You're the best."

Watching as the two girls left, Ward dropped his smile almost instantly. Closing his eyes and sighing, taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself down, he wastes no time locking the door.

Contrary to the belief of the two teenage girls he just had a conversation with, he wasn't an idiot. He knew they were lying, or telling the half truth. The only question he had was why? Where were they really going? What were they hiding? Most importantly, was what they were hiding connected to what he was hiding?

Walking over to the corner of the room, he pulls out his cellphone, scrolling through the contacts list and dialling the one person he desperately needed to speak with.

"William, I need you to come over. Immediately."

☆

Of course there had to be thunder and lighting out right now, Scarlett thought to herself as she and Sarah arrived at the Hawk's Nest. Wanting to leave immediately, but knew she had no choice but to stay here.

It was almost comical the things she was willing to do for her friends, I mean, here she was at midnight during a Thunderstorm in the dark all because Sarah had asked her kindly to accompany her. Well, Scarlett absolutely despised thunderstorms. It wasn't something she could explain really, they've just always terrified her. Yet she was willing to put aside her discomfort and fear for one night, especially since she owed Sarah, for you know... sinking her 'boyfriend's' boat.

"I'll be like 30 minutes, tops."

Sarah didn't make it very far, Scarlett quickly grabbed her arm and turned her back around so the two girls were facing each other.

"I still don't understand why I'm here, but fine." She comments, looking up at the sky and not liking how dark and scary everything was looking. On top of all of that, she was starting to freeze her ass off in the dress she was wearing. C'mon, couldn't rich people make their fancy clothing more suited for whatever weather?

Sarah shrugs, not seeing what the big deal was, but also feeling a little frightened herself. "It's dark and scary. I didn't want to come here by myself."

"Oh, and I can stand here by myself?" Scarlett scoffs, letting go of her friend's arm at the same time.

"I love you, thank you for doing this!"

Sarah wasted no time rushing off so her friend had no more chances to protest. Blowing her an air kiss before turning around and making her way towards the spot she was told to meet John B.

"You so owe me Cameron!" Scarlett yells as she leaves her.

The loud thunder startles Scarlett's as she stands alone shaking, both from the cold and from fear. She just hoped Sarah would remember what an awesome friend she was being so she could cash in the favour the time she got a girlfriend.

Although... would she ever even get the chance to? Cash in the favour at all, since by the end of summer, Outerbanks would no longer be her place of residence. She and the rest of her family were packing up and leaving the only place Scarlett had ever known.

It was all starting to make sense now. All the traveling, brief conversations, everything was because of the move. At one point, Scarlett had even thought they were gone so much just to get away from her like they couldn't stand to be around her, she was thankful that wasn't true but she wasn't sure how she liked the real reason either.

The conversation with her mom had really helped her earlier. Since birth, Margaret Hall and her daughter had always been on good terms, that's why it hurt so much when it felt like she all of a sudden got up and left Scarlett to travel around for, at the time, seemed like no reason.

William on the other hand... well at least he was always sorta just there (if you could even say that) It's not like he and Scarlett didn't like each other, she loved her father, in fact she loved both her parents, but it wasn't her fault her and William just never really clicked.

That was part of the reason why she didn't feel the need to come out to him earlier tonight. Sure, she could have at least someway predicted how her mother was going to react, but she had absolutely no idea as to how William would take the news. She couldn't remember the last time they had a conversation longer than five minutes.

Thinking back to her conversation earlier, Scarlett realizes how much of that she actually brushed off. For years she had been denying and ignoring her sexuality and finally decided enough was enough. She was immensely and unbelievably proud of herself.

Now if only she could work up the courage to do one last thing before she went away forever...

Margaret may have been right, there will be other girls, but Scarlett didn't want any of them. Not a single one.

At the end of the day, there's only one girl Scarlett Hall wanted to call her girlfriend.

A noise in the distance takes the small girl out of her thoughts, glancing around and trying to figure out where it was coming from. She eventually spots a very familiar van, chuckling to herself as she begins to walk over. Also grateful there were other people around, she was really starting to get freaked out.

"Why are you guys here?"

Scarlett was the last person Kiara had expected to approach them tonight. Okay, maybe not last person, but still, the chances weren't very high.

"What are you doing here?" Kie questions. "You hate lighting."

"Yeah, but Sarah asked me to come and be lookout for whatever reason." Scarlett shrugs her shoulders and leans back against the van, trying to act like she wasn't unbelievably terrified out of her mind right now. "So I did."

JJ looks up from the joint in his hands, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion as he directs his attention to the curly haired girl. "You remembered that she didn't like lighting?"

JJ looks down to cover up his laughter after watching Kiara's eyes go wide when she realizes she got called out. Stumbling over her thoughts, she tries her best to think of a good enough excuse. "Only cause it's like, a totally lame fear to have."

"Sure."

"JJ, I swear to—"

"Hey, you and Sarah are pretty close, right?" Pope interjects while keeping his eyes on Scarlett, momentarily stopping the mini fight between JJ and Kie, though he figured they would probably continue later.

"Right, why are you asking—"

"Like, the two of you tell each other absolutely everything?"

Unsure of where Pope was taking this, Scarlett gives him a weird look but continues to answer his questions. "Pretty much, yeah. Why are you asking?"

"Be honest with us right now, is John B macking on Sarah?"

Of course, she should have guessed this was the information they were after. It was pretty obvious John B had yet to tell his Pogue friends he and Sarah were together... romantically, and Scarlett didn't plan to be the one who released this information.  "Uh— given that I am neither John B nor Sarah, I don't think I am allowed to comment on that."

JJ turns around to face Pope, holding his hand out as if he was waiting for money. "I knew it! I knew they were..."

The two boys continue on their conversation, leaving just Kiara and Scarlett. The blonde girl had absolutely no idea what sort of terms they were on now. I mean, they seemed to be quite civil earlier tonight, but what if that was all gone?

"So." Kiara was the first one to break the tension, deciding to just be the bigger person and initiate the conversation rather than sit in awkward silence.

"So."

"On a scale of 1-10, how mad are my parents right now?"

Scarlett laughs thinking back to Mike and Anna's reactions after their daughter had run away earlier. It wasn't supposed to be funny, but it had amused Scarlett quite a bit seeing how pissed off they were, how pissed off everyone at Midsummers was during their... let's call it a public disturbance.

"Eleven thousand."

Kie closes her eyes and cringes, not wanting to think about the lecture that would surely be waiting for her the second she got home. "Oh god."

"Yeah, they had some choice words. Don't worry, I attempted to soften the blow and defended you. Well, all of you."

This was completely unlike Scarlett, at all. Helping Kiara with no ulterior motive? This seemed more like the Scarlett that Kiara used to call her best friend. Only this time around, she wasn't 100% sure if she could trust her, not yet anyways.

"Thanks, that was really cool of you to do."

"I said attempted, never confirmed it did much, which it did not."

Not wanting to take the credit and glory for helping out? Yeah, Kiara thought this was definitely unlike Scarlett Hall. "Still, you didn't have to, but you still did."

This was it. C'mon Scarlett, it was now or never.

"Kiara there's som—"

"Someone help!"

Scarlett was interrupted, yet again, by someone yelling out. The two teenagers glance at each other and Kiara sits up in her seat, both confused as to where the noise was coming from.

"Wait, do you guys hear that? Sh." The Pogue informs JJ and Pope, who were still too busy in their own conversation to hear the cries for help.

"What?"

Everyone in the van stayed quiet, waiting to see if they heard it again.

"Please, somebody help!"

There it was.

"Oh, wait, no, I hear that!" JJ spoke.

The four wasted no time rushing out of the vehicle and running towards where the voice was coming from. They came across a sight none of them expected to see.

John B was laying on the ground, unconscious while Sarah hovered over his body with tears streaming down her face while she whispered to him, pleading with him to wake up or at least show her his eyes.

"Sarah! What happened?" Pope yells as he runs over.

"I don't know what to do. He needs help. Topper shoved him."

JJ had enough at this point. Tired of the Kooks and ready for revenge part two. "Where the hell is he?"

"Oh, please, please, please get help." Sarah ignores JJ's questions, her only thought at the moment was hoping John B was okay. "I don't care who. Just call someone."

Pope nodded and swiftly ran over to the van where all their cell phones were. Hoping that whoever he called would make it in time and John B would live.

"Pope, hurry!" Kiara screams at Pope, hoping that would speed him up.

"John B, stay with me." Sarah leans down and places a kiss on the Pogues cheek, unknowingly being watched and glared at by Kiara. "Please don't leave me."

Kiara continues to watch in disbelief. He had lied to her. She couldn't believe it. She had asked not once, not twice, but three times if he and Sarah were together, and everytime he had answered no. Words could not explain how upset— no how betrayed she felt. The rage—

She pauses her thoughts, scolding herself for getting mad at her friend right now while he was unconscious and couldn't explain himself. She vowed to hold in her anger until she could at the very least get an explanation out of him.

Scarlett kneels down to Sarah's height, grabbing her hand and inspecting her for any injuries. "Are you okay though? Did Topper hurt you at all?"

Sarah shakes her head, not trusting her voice right now to speak and her emotions all over the place. A million thoughts were running through her head right now. How did Topper find out she was meeting with the Pogue leader, more importantly, how did Topper find them? Why would he shove John B? What was she going to do if John B didn't make it?

"Pope! Come on!"

☆

William Hall entered the office of Ward Cameron without so much of a knock on the door, entering the room and finding his buddy seated in one of his chairs and looking down at the floor.

"What the hell was so urgent that I had to rush over here?"

Ward stayed silent, making no effort to answer his friend's question and continuing to stare at the floor. The sight itself had begun to make William quite nervous. His annoyance turning into slight panic, he made his way over to the centre of the room.

"I caught Sarah and your daughter rummaging through my office." He turns his head, pointing over to where the girls were looking, the moment still fresh in his mind. "Right over there, and they took a plat map."

Was he... actually serious? William scoffs and then begins to chuckle. Taking a seat across from Ward and letting out a long sigh once he was finished laughing. "No way, my kid is not looking at maps in her spare time."

"When I asked them about it, they both just brushed me off, saying it was a boy thing."

William truly was not exactly understanding a single word of what Ward was implying, but the man seemed pretty worried. William however, was certain the man was just overreacting. Their girls, looking at maps...? That subject was hardly worthy of an emergency SOS call.

"And? They're sixteen and seventeen years old, there's gonna be a revolving door of boys in their lives. So what if they are trying to impress some by showing them a map or whatever."

Ward finally looks up for the first time since William had entered the room, seeing how relaxed and calmed he looked. He envied that, he really envied that. How was he so able to keep his mind at ease with everything they had going on? Everything they had done and all the loose ends that still needed to be tied up.

It was partly his fault, and he knew that. He had been the one to rope William into all his ridiculous plans, but what's done is done. He couldn't focus on that right now, there were more important matters that needed to be discussed.

Following William's lead, Ward leans back into his chair and attempts to relax, running his hands down his face. "You're right. It's probably nothing. I'm just— I'm just on edge lately."

"Rightfully so, but hey, it's all going to be over eventually." The Hall man declared as he stood up from his seat, walking over to where he knew Ward kept his liquor, pouring himself and his friend a drink. "When we get what's rightfully ours."

Ward accepts the glass with no protest, needing this drink more than he could express right now. "You sure Margaret has no idea?"

"Not a clue." William confirms, looking down at the glass in his hands and swishing the contents inside back and forth before taking a sip. "She thinks we're traveling so much because I want to move the firm."

"Good lie."

"Yeah, well I learned from the best."

It was silent in the room for a moment, but not an awkward one, almost as if both men were just lost in thought and planning out their next move.

"Did you find him yet?"

"No. If he's still out there and alive, then he's doing a damn good job at staying hidden."

Ward grinds his teeth together and closes his eyes while trying to remain calm. After months and months of searching, he thought... no, he assumed that William would have at the very least found something by now. Even just the smallest bit of evidence that he was still alive.

"Keep looking. He's a sneaky bastard."

William chuckles, raising his glass to his lips and finishing off the last bit of his drink before placing it down on the table next to him. Smirking as he leans back in his seat, he's ready to put Ward's mind at ease. "Don't worry. If he's still out there, he won't be for long."

author's note.
so uhhhh... now it's revealed how shady william actually is...