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"I mean it's obvious, right?" John B spoke from the driver's seat of the Twinkie. "A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?" The group exchanged doubting glances but had no reason to burst John B's bubble.

Kiara spoke up first, agreeing with him. "Yeah, it's possible." But Pope was one to stay logical, at all times.

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help.. -you know, deal with your sad feels."

Amara shook her head, a sigh escaping her lips at Pope's words. As much as John B probably hated it, he was right. She really didn't know how she ended up here, or why she wasn't just going home, but she was willing to come on the journey. It's not like she had anything better to do.

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels." JJ said dreamily. "Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it."

The Kook shot him a disgusted look, glad it went unnoticed by him. Her mother liked to tell her that she tended to wear her emotions on her sleeve. She couldn't help it.

"I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to give me a message." John B stared around with hopeful eyes, yet only the doubtful eyes of his friends met his gaze.

"If it helps you believe, John B." Kiara replied sadly.

John B cut her off. "Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? Look, I'm not trippin' out."

"It's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ mumbled from the back.

"Look, my- my dad is missing, okay?" John B turned to the back for a moment before his eyes returned to the road. "Missing. You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."

Amara sympathized with the boy, maybe that's why they were so close. She had no idea what happened to her father. She never brought it up much because, well, it is what it is. Her mom told her he had left, but that never stopped her curiosity. Of course, she never found much on him. JJ's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility."

"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope chimed in.

"Absolutely. Uh... or Atlantis."

Amara scoffed at the two. "Guys. Not helping." She turned to John B, curious. "What do you think the message is, JB?"

"Redfield, Mara. Redfield Lighthouse. That's my dad's favorite place." The boy made eye contact with Amara, who perked up at the realization.

"Like where your dad took us when we were kids? To spot the skiffs?" She let out a laugh at the memory. Big John would take them up to the lighthouse and tell them whoever could spot the most boats would earn a candy of their choice. Amara always won.

"Right on." He winked at the girl.

The Twinkie pulled onto the dirt road that led up to the lighthouse. The fived jumped out, staring at the structure before John B spoke up.  "So here's what's gonna happen, You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?"

JJ paused, staring at him as if he wasn't serious. His smile dropped at soon as he realized he was. "Wait... Why me?"

"Because you're not coming," Pope interjected before JJ questioned him again. "There are independent and dependent variables. You're independent. We don't know what you'll do."

"Shut up!" JJ exclaimed before the two began arguing. Amara highly doubted the two understood a single word either of them said during it.

"Listen to me for a second. Pope, you stand lookout with JJ. Okay?" John B said. Amara let out a muffled laugh.  "Amara, stay with them. Make sure they don't kill each other."

"Wait, why do I have to be the babysitter? JB, what the hell?" Amara's brows furrowed, a scowl in her expression as well as the boys.

John B ignored her question and continued. "If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house." JB and Kiara bid farewell to the group before they entered the lighthouse, leaving three pissed-off teens outside.

Amara sat against a palm tree, sulking while JJ played hacky sack with Pope. "Remind me why we invited her again?" JJ asked Pope, purposely being loud enough to get a reaction from the girl.

"You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you JJ?" She shot a fake grin at him before the scowl made its way back onto her face. "It's not like I was there when we had to hide from those thieves or anything, no, definitely not." She said sarcastically.

"Well, you weren't with us for any of the shit before this, were you? You have nothing to do with this. You don't even need the gold." JJ scoffed, continuing to kick his hacky sack.

"I don't even want that gold! I'm not in it for the gold!" She crossed her arms.

"So why the hell are you here?"

Pope decided to interject in an attempt to diffuse the argument. "JJ, chill. She's here now. Shouldn't that matter?"

JJ stared right at Amara while he replied to Pope, "Maybe it would, if she didn't ghost us then come back as a fuckin' rich ass kook."

Amara groaned, "For the last time, I didn't fucking ghost you guys! You ghosted me. I texted Kiara every damn day, no reply. Why is it so easy for you to accept Kiara, but not me?"

JJ's expression twinged with guilt, and he opened his mouth to say something but was stopped by the sound of sirens quickly approaching them. "Oh shit," Pope exclaimed before the three of them bolted for the Twinkie, jumping in at the speed of light.

JJ revved the engine before putting it in drive. "What about JB and Kiara?" Amara yelled from the back as the Twinkie swung around, causing her to fly against the wall. "Ouch- we can't leave them back there!"

"They'll be fine. They'd rather us save the Twinkie than get a felony." Pope reassured her.

"Hope they don't get one." She sunk into the couch-like seat in the back, a scowl on her face as her worry grew. The lump in her throat grew as she thought of how if she was in their position, they wouldn't give a damn about her.

"So, uh.. want us to drop you at your fancy shmancy mansion?" JJ sneered from the front, looking at her through the rearview mirror. Amara shot him a glare, crossing her arms.

"Staring straight at the money once again.." She muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.

JJ put a hand up to his ear, "What was that? Didn't quite hear ya there."

She gave an exasperated sigh. "I said.. that works for me."

The blonde boy smirked victoriously before letting out a small laugh. "That's what I thought." He nodded, his eyes locking on the road again before turning up the volume on the radio, immediately falling into an air guitar solo while "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd played.

Amara had no clue why it was so hard for JJ to see her for her as he had not too long ago. Personally to her, the new money didn't mean a thing. She loved her friends and would do anything for them, just as JJ would. Yet JJ saw her as a barbarian, someone who betrayed him to the worst possible extent. Having money seemed like the end of the world to JJ Maybank, yet he was the one who couldn't stop chasing it.

The Twinkie pulled in front of the Vasquez mansion, Amara bid her farewell to Pope before swinging the door open and stepping around to the driver's side, "Thank you so much for the uber." She exaggerated her thanks, hoping her sarcasm wouldn't be mistaken for ungratefulness.

"Always a pleasure." He returned her sarcasm, a smirk playing on his lips. "Adieu, Amara." With a brief salute, the Twinkie squealed away from the mansion, burning rubber in its tracks. Amara shook her head before walking up the driveway to her house.

House. Where she was living was a house. Not a home. She had a different definition of home.

As she entered the front door, she was surprised to see her mother standing at the foyer, waiting for her with a tense brow and her arms crossed. "Where have you been? I've been worried sick, pumpkin!"

"Oh you know, getting robbed, shot at, running from the cops. The usual." She shrugged, putting her backpack on the hook next to her. She then met her mom's eyes, a mortified expression on her face. Amara froze, silent as her lips parted. She realized she took her statement seriously. "Mom. I'm kidding."

She was not kidding.

Kathryn let out a gasp of relief, a hand on her heart as the other held the railing. "I don't even know what you're doing out there anymore. You're sixteen years old and I give you the freedom of a damn stray dog. What's it gonna take for you to come home once in a while?" Her mom spoke in the heavy southern accent Amara wished she had.

"I was legit here last night. I guess you just didn't see me." Lies. She was at Sarah's last night. And the night before that.

"Just.. Next time say hi to me?" Her mom asked, rubbing circles on her forehead to relieve the tension.

"You got it." She finger gunned her, a smile on her face. "Where's Paul?"

Kathryn let out the thousandth sigh of the evening, "Oh you know him, he said he had more business to attend to. With Ward. Have you seen him recently?" There was a twinge of hope in her voice as she asked.

Amara snorted, adding a shrug. "I don't keep tabs on him. He's not my dad." With that, she beelined for the stairs. Her mom scolded her words behind her, but ultimately waved her off.

She swung the door open to her room, throwing herself onto her bed. The one good thing she thought came out of Kook life was her bed. She felt like she was sinking into the sea of blankets that piled up, enveloping her in a warm embrace. Amara let out a happy sigh, but she wouldn't stay comfortable for too long. A tapping on the window caused her to open an eye, looking around for the origin of the sound.

The girl glanced towards the window, immediately shooting up out of her position. John B sat on the roof outside of the window, waving profusely at her. "JB?" She gasps, rushing to her window and opening it, letting him topple in. "What the hell are you doing?"

"First of all, that kook friend of yours is an asshole." He begins, and Amara immediately opened her mouth to protest, but John B got there first. "Second of all..." He hesitated, letting out a long-held breath. "I need your help."

"Okay.. do not talk about Sarah like that. But what do you need my help with? I'm sure you guys got it all figured out. Plus, none of the pogues like me anymore and I'm really not of any use, JB." She explained, John B just nodded through her whole explanation to seem like he was listening.

"Please, Mara. I just had a huge breakthrough.. a-and you've been my friend for a long time, you know my dad better than most.. and you're really smart and helpful.." Despite him rambling on and boosting her ego, she knew his heart was in the right place. Yet she was curious how much he really needed her on this.

"Okay.. okay. I'll help. Thanks for telling me how great I am. Love to hear that." She grinned, grabbing her backpack off the floor.

"Also, I kissed Kie." He blurted, freezing Amara in her tracks.

"You what?"

"I kissed Kie, and it was a spur of the moment type thing.. I don't even know what got into me, I mean one minute she was hugging me, and the next.. fuck. I messed up. I messed up bad. Now I'm booted to the friend zone and she'll barely talk to me-" John B rambled on as he followed her around her room as she got her stuff together.

She stopped abruptly, turning around to face them. Their eyes met eyes she cut him off, "Were you ever even out of the friend zone, JB?" He stared at her with wide eyes and his mouth agape yet, silent. Amara sighed, "Okay. I get it. You're overwhelmed, a lot is going on. But that doesn't give you an excuse to just.. kiss her when she's trying to comfort you. She's probably just surprised you tried that, pal."

"F- I know, I just thought-" He hesitated for a moment. "I thought she liked me."

Amara's gaze softened as he finished his sentence. "Maybe you just surprised her. Give her time to cool off." John B nodded in agreement, the solemn expression he was wearing unchanged. "Alright, we going?"

The two snuck out the back window. The sun was setting quickly over Kildare, casting a brief orange glow on the environment. It wouldn't be long before the island was engulfed in the deep purple of the night. They slipped through the backyard gate and rushed to the front, where the packed Twinkie was waiting for them. John B opened the back door for her, and she climbed in, finding a seat on the floor.

JJ peered up from his joint, waving it towards her. "Sup AK-47."

Amara's eyes immediately shot to where the boy was sitting, confusion laced in her expression as she stared at him. "I'm sorry, what did you just call me?"

"AK-47." He confirmed. "A, Amara. K, King. 47, 47 million dollars." He used his hands as if he were an intellectual putting together a puzzle, then shrugged as if it were obvious and went back to rolling his joint.

"Fucking douchebag." Amara mumbled under her breath.

Pope shifted to the seat next to her, leaning back comfortably before whispering to her. "Tell me about it. He's been acting like this for a while now. No clue what's up with him."

Amara offered him a small smile, "Probably doesn't help that he's in the presence of a kook, right?" She spoke sarcastically, only in a jokey manner considering she was talking to Pope.

"You mind if I just relax on this one? It's been a long day,and a lot of weird stuff's gone down. I'm just gonna lay low." JJ continued to wave his joint around, meeting Pope's confused glance, "Oh, did you want a hit of this?"

"I keep the signal clear." Pope shook his head, rejecting the offer as nicely as he could.

"Dude, okay.Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative, then-" JJ was soon interrupted by John B.

"Look, I- I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right? And wrong abouteverything else going on. But I- I was right about one thing. Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something." Everyone in the van exchanged glances, knowing that's what he said the last time. Yet it sparked a little inspiration for the group, knowing he was not one to give up.

The Twinkie pulled into a dirt lot, John B parked and exited the car, followed closely by the rest of the teens. Pulling out their flashlights they followed the quickly moving brunette down a windy path.

Confusion stuck to their faces like glue, Amara the first to speak up. "John B, this feels like a kidnapping. Where are we going?" Her question sounded more like a demand, but she didn't care. She really hated surprises.

"You'll see. Just.. trust me. It's important" He drawled on, not stopping for a second to look back at them.

A clearing in the trees revealed an overgrown cemetery. Panic and adrenaline sparked in the teens' bodies as their gazes widened. "You know how you're trying to remember a song and can't remember who sings it?" John B stood in front of a large tomb-like grave. "So, Redfield. This whole time,I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place. It's a person."

"Voi-effing-là." JJ said in awe.

John B held his latern up to the tomb, "See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia.. Redfield. That was her maiden name."

The teens gazed in amazement at the final resting place of what they had been searching for. The silence was broken by John B requesting help with the door. Pope and JB exchanged a quick nod before beginning to push the door. JJ and Amara joined in quickly, the door not even trembling a little.

"This door is like 700 pounds. It's not gonna budge." Pope sighed.

"We didn't come this far to get this far, all right? We got this." JJ was optimistic as he shoved the door, only to stop when a snake slithered out of a hole in the wall, startling them briefly. "That's a moccasin, all right. Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass." He began barking at the snake, causing the others to panic.

"You're gonna wake the dead, man." Pope exclaimed.

"They're afraid of dogs." He exclaimed, justifying his actions as innocent. "Everyone knows that, man."

"Dude, I think it's gone." Amara let out a small laugh, jokingly looking around for the snake on the ground.

"Wait, wait. Hold on." JJ grasps John B's shoulder. "If there's one, there's probably dozens. All around"

"JJ stop, you're scaring me." Kiara cried.

"You're so full of shit." Amara shook her head as he continued to bark. Pope scoffed and tried to get John B's attention, unsuccessfully at first but soon got what he wanted.

After shutting them up for what felt like forever, Pope finally got a word in. "We're not gonna get in there, alright? It's not budging. We should probably just go."

The teens stared in hopelessness at the sealed door, they pondered in silence before Kiara spoke up. "I can get through."

"What? No, no, no. You think you're gonna fit through the hole? That hole?" John B immediately shot down Kiara's idea.

"Look, this is about your dad. And honestly I really don't believe in it. But you deserve to know the truth." Kiara reasoned with him.

Amara was silent, an idea had popped into her mind yet she wasn't sure if she wanted to suggest it. Putting her pride aside, she decided to be the bigger person after being ignored and bashed by Kiara. "I'll go with her."

"No you won't." JJ didn't even hesitate, and Amara thought she saw a glint of worry in his wide blue eyes.

"Yes, I'm going. She's gonna need help getting in, so obviously she's gonna need help getting out." Amara shrugged.

Kiara sighed. "Fine. Let's get in there." She motioned to the boys. "Can you guys help?"

"I'm gonna boost you, alright? I've seen it in the movies several times. Ready?" JJ spoke as he formed a step for the Amara.

"What are we looking for again?" Amara asked.

"You'll know when you see it." John B spoke, causing Amara's brows to furrow.

"O-Kay... very vague and mysterious. 'preesh." Amara said sarcastically as she gave her flashlight to John B and approached JJ.

"Alright, so put your hands right there... your foot.." JJ instructed as she followed his lead, and she slipped into the opening, darkness engulfing her before she gained her flashlight. Kiara soon joined her inside, the two looking around.

"You guys still alive? You got like, a heartbeat and everything?" John B's voice was laced with the slightest bit of panic.

"For now." Amara was slightly joking, but a part of her was quite nervous. The goosebumps along her arms were evidence of that.

"Uh, we need more light I think." Kiara asked, her voice trembling the slightest bit.

"Yeah, I got you." John B slid his light through the gap, Kiara waiting to grab it. Amara had drifted into silence, her eyes wide as she stared at something.

"Kiara, you have to come see this." Amara had a grin on her face as she continued to stare. Kiara came to her side, staring at the same thing, a smile growing on her face as well.

"You find something? Is there gold?" JJ inquired from the outside.

"Oh my god."

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we are so back