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With the storm putting their plans on hold, the pogues went off in their own directions to make the most of the day. Eli decided to stay at the Chateau since she didn’t have anything better to do, and decided to make some little friendship bracelets with the shells and beads she had stashed ages ago and hadn’t gotten around to using.

“I wish I could understand how to use maps and stuff,” Eli sighed as she looked over at the boy from where she was sitting, her feet resting on the coffee table that had various maps and notes sprawled across it.

“I’d offer to teach you again..” John B trailed off as he looked up from the device in his hands. “But that would make it the fifth attempt,” he continued with a laugh. 

Eli huffed and grabbed the nearest pillow, launching it at the boy’s head. Unfortunately for the girl, his quick reflexes allowed him to easily catch it and set it down by his side.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caused Eli to look up, her eyes falling on the blonde girl approaching them.

“Uh, kook princess approaching,” Eli warned, to which John B immediately straightened up in surprise.

“It’s your turn,” Sarah Cameron spoke as she finally walked onto the veranda and stood next to John B. Eli furrowed her brows as she looked between the two of them, her interest growing by the second. 

“Uh, for what?” John B answered as he looked up at Sarah, a confused expression on his face. 

“To ask me what I’m doing here,” Sarah simply put, as if it were obvious.

“What are you doing here?”

Sarah stood tall as she faced the boy, hand leaning on the back of one of the empty chairs. “I realised, I didn't get a chance to respond to you the other day, after you spat in my face and yelled at me, and you stormed off like a child.” 

Eli almost choked out in laughter at the interaction, her hand moving to cover her mouth as she tried not to snicker at the dumbfounded expression on John B’s face. John B threw a look at the blue-haired girl, as if he were telling her to shut up.

“So, first of all, I’m not a liar,” Sarah continued. “I don’t know how Ward found out about the scuba gear, but I swear, it was not me.” John B simply nodded in response. “I’m not the reason you got fired.”

“Okay,” John B responded with a slight shrug. 

The air was filled with awkward silence for a few moments, before Sarah finally nodded. “That’s all. Good talk.”

The Cameron girl began to walk off, only to stop a few moments later. “Oh,” she began as she dug into her bag and produced a bag of chips. “Your favourite,” she continued as she launched it at the unsuspecting boy, who just about avoided getting smacked in the face. “Good catch.”

With that, Sarah Cameron finally left.

“What the hell,” the boy breathed at as Eli lifted her feet off the table and sat up straight, a curious gaze fixed on him.

“So, what was that about?” the girl inquired, but the boy simply shrugged.

“I have no idea.”

☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful for the two, and it was soon time for all the pogues to meet up as a group again at the beach to catch some waves. 

Eli set down her board as John B and Kie immediately ran off into the water, letting out a laugh as she watched John B accidentally trip and fall into the water not even five seconds in. 

She quickly pulled off the shirt she had borrowed from JJ to reveal her bikini, and made sure to place a weighty rock on top of it to make sure it wouldn’t go flying off with the windy weather they were experiencing. 

The girl finally grabbed her board and made her way towards the water, catching the tail end of the conversation between Kie and John B.

“..bad timing. You were freaking out, right?”

“Why were you freaking out?” Eli questioned as she waded into the water and climbed onto her board, sitting with her legs on either side.

“Uh..” John B trailed off as he scratched the back of his neck, awkwardly glancing at Kie.

“I know you guys kissed, by the way,” Eli stated as she looked between the two. 

“Oh, did JJ tell you?” Kie questioned as she looked at the girl. “He has such a big mouth.”

“Yeah..” Eli trailed off unconvincingly. “Yes. Yes, JJ told me.”

“Hey. Save some waves for us!”

The three turned to see JJ and Pope running towards them, smiles growing on their faces as they watched the two boys wade into the water with their boards. 

No matter how chaotic life got, Eli could always count on the waves to temporarily bring some calm.

The group surfed to their heart's content until the sun began to set, each taking turns to ride the larger than normal waves brought by the slightly stormy weather in the obx. 

After hours of fun, the pogues relocated to the chateau, each of them knackered and seconds away from falling asleep. 

“You really think it's out there?” Pope questioned randomly, looking around the group before finally at John B. “Like, no bullshit?” 

“My father thought it was,” John B answered with a shrug.

“It sure would be nice,” Eli added as she leaned further back in her chair, propping her feet on the hammock where JJ and Kiara were laying down on opposite sides.

“But do you?” Pope continued as he stared at John B. 

John B sighed to himself. “After hearing his voice on that tape… I think I do.” 

Pope reached out his hand towards the boy. “Only one way to find out.” The two boys performed the P4L handshake with smiles on their faces.

“Look, we're gonna find it, you know?” Kie reassured as she turned to face John B, before turning to face JJ. “Even JJ believes.”

“Oh my god, JJ, do you really believe?” John B questioned with a sarcastic tone.

“Totally,” JJ bluntly responded. “Wait, are we talking about four mill?” 

“Four hundred mill,” Kie, Pope, and Eli answered simultaneously. 

“Jinx.”

JJ began to settle himself in the hammock. “I'm gonna dream about shipwrecks. Goodnight, bird!” 

“Goodnight, bird shit!” John B playfully hit back. 

JJ mockingly laughed as he raised his middle finger at the boy. 

☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎

The teens headed out with the equipment early the next morning, with their fingers crossed and their hearts full of hope. 

Alright, JJ,” John B called out from the back of the boat. “Pin it here.”

“Roger that,” JJ responded with a salute, expertly steering. “X marks the spot.”

Eli stood up from where she was sitting, carefully making her way over to John B who was preparing to throw the drone into the water.

“To going full Kook,” the boy cheered with a smile as he looked around the group, finally dropping it in with a large splash. 

“Here, I'll keep track of the depth,” Eli offered as she held out her hand, to which Kie responded with a smile as she dropped the bit of chalk in Eli's hand. 

“Alright, JJ, we're right over it. Ten seconds northwest,” John B directed as he looked at the screen, whilst Pope operated the controls. 

“Got it! Ten seconds northwest,” JJ confirmed.

“One hundred feet,” Kie called out. Eli marked the depth with a single tally mark using the chalk. 

Pope gasped suddenly and jumped slightly, causing John B to straighten up in shock and rush over. “What? What, what, what, what?”

“Uh, it's nothing,” Pope trailed off. John B groaned in disappointment and threw a hand to his head. “Sorry, I thought-”

“Don't do that to me, man,” JJ complained as he threw a hand in the air. “Come on, bro.”

“My bad. I just thought I saw..” Pope trailed, shaking his head aggressively to get himself in check. 

“And to quote The Hobbit. ‘Down, down, to Goblin Town’,” Pope suddenly quoted whilst putting on a strange voice. “‘Down, down, you go, my lad’.” 

“You are such a nerd, Pope,” Eli said with a laugh as she turned to look at the boy, before turning back towards Kie who was still lowering the drone.

The teens waited in silence as the drone dropped a few hundred more feet. 

“Four hundred feet,” Kie called out, adding another tally to Eli's tally. “The tide’s turning.” 

“Hey, JJ?” John B called out.

“Yup?”

“Ten seconds easy. South-southeast, alright?”

“Copy that!” the blonde exclaimed, working the steering to get them back on the right spot. 

“This is starting to look a lil sketchy,” Eli mumbled as she eyed the growing waves, starting to get a little nervous. 

“JJ, 20 seconds mid-speed, alright? South.”

“Copy that! Aye, aye.”

Eli squeaked as the boat began to rock more aggressively, hand moving to clutch the side of the boat as she tried to steady herself. “Oh man.”

“Keep the tether out of the prop!”

“I'm trying!” Kie exclaimed.

“JJ, keep going!”

“John B, is that good!” 

“We're good!”

“Okay, 700 feet!” Kie announced. 

Eli gasped as thunder began to rumble above them, her free hand moving to cover one ear. 

“It's okay, I've got it,” Kie reassured as she took the chalk from Eli. “Get inside.”

Eli nodded with a thankful smile before walking over to where JJ was steering, taking a seat on the chair and hugging her knees to her chest. 

“Hey, you're okay. I'm here,” JJ reassured with a gentle voice as he rested one hand on her knee for a moment, before stumbling due to the rocky waves and securing both hands on the wheel once again.  

“JJ, hold it steady!” John B yelled out. 

“Okay, 900!” Kie exclaimed.

“Crank it north by northwest! Ten seconds!” 

“John B, there’s too much current, we’re gonna lose it!” Kie warned, voice strained slightly. 

“South, southwest, JJ! Hard!”

Eli was starting to get completely overwhelmed by her surroundings, the girl now resting her head on her knees with one hand blindly reaching to hold onto something. Between John B and Kie’s desperate yelling, the rocking boat, and the thundering skies above them, it was safe to say that the girl was about five seconds away from knocking herself out so she didn’t have to deal with it. 

 “I’m at the bottom!” Pope suddenly yelled, causing JJ and Eli to whip their  heads towards him. “I’m at the bottom!”

“Okay, steady here, JJ!”

Eli watched as Pope, John B, and Kie huddled around the screen, the curiosity momentarily distracting her from the atmosphere. 

“See anything?” JJ called out after the trio seemed to go quiet. 

“It’s the Royal Merchant,” John B announced. JJ and Eli looked at eachother with wide grins, with girl jumping out of the chair to hug JJ in excitement. 

“Oh my god,” the blue-haired girl breathed out as she stumbled slightly towards the trio, peering over Pope’s shoulder to look at the screen.  “The gold. Do you see it?”

 “It’s not there,” John B murmured in disappointment after about ten minutes of searching, leaning away from the screen. “Look, just– just pull the drone up.” 

“Look, we can do another pass,” Pope tried to convince, turning to face the boy who was walking off in frustration. “Recharge the battery. We can– we can go back down.”

John B let out a frustrated sigh as he stared off in the distance, both hands settling on his head. 

 “We’ve done it three times,” JJ exclaimed. “There’s nothing there-”

“Shut up!” Kie cut off with her voice raised.

“What!” JJ fought back. “You know it’s true.”

“The gold could be buried! We don’t know!” Kie tried to reason. 

“If it was there, it would’ve been found on the metal detector, okay?” John B exclaimed as he turned to face them. “Somebody beat us to it.”

“Or it was never there,” JJ muttered.

Silence settled over the group, the rumbling of the skies reflecting the feelings of frustration and disappointment they were feeling. 

~°• ☀︎︎ •°~

merry christmas/happy holidays! i don't really like this chapter since there's sm happening so you're getting the draft version as a christmas update.

super excited to get to midsummers

Nova x