I still couldn't believe that we'd found it. I was just staring at this ship. We'd done it. "It's not there. Look, just- -just pull the drone up." John B said and there was a rumble of thunder. It was only going to pick up.

"That storm is getting closer." I said to them all.

"Shit." John B said to us all.

"Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery. We can- -we can go back down." Pope said to John B as he walked around.

"We've done it three times. There's nothing there." JJ said to us and we didn't know that for sure.

"Shut up!" Kie and I shouted at him.

"What? It's true!" JJ said to us and maybe we just needed to find a better way of getting down to that ship.

"The gold could be buried. We don't know." Kie said to him and that was true.

"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it." John B said to us and I looked at him shaking his head.

"I don't think they did. There has to be another way." I said to him and I was just being hopeful at this point.

"Or it was never there." JJ said and I guess only three of us were hopeful. We went back the shore in silence. John B dropped us all off and went home alone. Dad was home.

"Where have you been you little whore!" He shouted at me when I came in. I said nothing. "You've been out with them boys again haven't you!" He shouted and I started backing away from the door.

"They have names." I said to him and he looked at me. The anger in his eyes.

"You need to stay away from them. From everyone." He said to me and I looked at him.

"Why? At least I'm safe with them!" I shouted and he started charging towards me.

"You whore! You only go and do things with them." He said to me and I was ready. Ready for when his hand would collide with my face and when it did. I felt the water in my eyes. You couldn't help it. "Now get out of my house!" He shouted and I opened the door. Running out of it. I had nothing with me. Just myself. I headed to the only place I knew JJ would be. Once I saw him at his house. He hadn't seen me yet.

"JJ." I said to him and he looked at me.

"Did he do that to you?" He asked me and I looked at him.

"Don't get mad. He's a drunk, you know how he can be." I said to him and he put a hand on my face. The side with bruising on it.

"I'll kill him. That son of a bitch, I'll kill him." He said to me and I looked at him and shook my head.

"JJ don't. Please." I said to him and he looked at me.

"Where are you staying tonight?" He asked me and I looked at him and shrugged.

"I don't know. He kicked me out. I have nowhere." I said to him and he looked at me.

"Your staying here." He said to me and I looked at him.

"I'm going to go and wash up cover this mark up." I said to him and he looked at me.

"I'll be right out here if you need anything." He said to me and he kissed me. I smiled at him and nodded. That's when I headed inside. That's when I heard gunshots from outside. Once I was ready I went back out.

"They know." I heard Pope say. I was confused.

"What?" JJ asked him and I came outside.

"They know." Pope said again.

"Who knows what?" I asked them.

"It's a long story." Pope said and he looked at me confused. Probably because I was here.

"All right, chill, bro. All right? They don't know shit." JJ said to him and I just wanted to know what was going on.

"Topper knows I sunk his boat." Pope said to him and my eyes went wide.

"You did what?" I asked him and I couldn't believe this.

"How do you know they know?" JJ asked him and I sat down beside JJ.

"Because Rafe and Topper posted outside of Heyward's and mad dogged me." Pope said and maybe that was over something else.

"Will you calm down and get a grip, man? They don't know shit." JJ said to him and I wouldn't be too sure about that.

"They have cameras. They could've seen me." Pope said to us and I looked at him.

"I doubt they worked." I said to him. Especially with the outages that we've had.

"There was no power. How could they have seen you?" JJ asked him and Pope was pacing.

"It's Figure Eight. They got generators. They don't give scholarships to kids who vengefully skink boats. It's not a good look on my transcript." Pope said to us and he was stressing.

"Enough with the regret, bro! They caved your face in. They hit us, we hit them. It's the law of the jungle. Now, if any Kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walk up to 'em, look 'em right in the eye, and..." JJ said as he stood up and took ahold of Pope's shoulder.

"Deny the living shit out of it." Pope said to him.

"That's right. Deny, deny, deny. But just for safety, we don't go anywhere without protection. Right?" JJ asked and he looked at the gun. I stood up and looked at Pope.

"Look no matter what happens, we've got your back as well." I said to him with a smile and Pope then looked at JJ and I.

"What's going on between you two?" He asked and this was going off topic.

"We broke a rule." I said to him and JJ looked at him.

"I guess we're kind of a thing." JJ said and I looked at Pope.

"John B and Kie don't know so please don't tell them yet." I said to Pope and he looked at me and nodded.

"I won't tell them." He said and he nodded. That's when the three of us went out with Kie.

"I'm so glad that they're still doing this. Keep calm. Carry on." Kie said to us as we headed the the seating area. We all had to bring our own chairs. We were at the OBX summer movie series event. "Back to OBX life. You know? Aren't you guys glad I made you come?" She asked us and I looked at her.

"Thrilled." I said to her with a smile. I then made a face in pain.

"Ecstatic." Pope said and he set the chairs down.

"My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest." JJ said and I looked at him with a smile. He did have one of the best couches.

"We're out of the green zone, man." Pope said to JJ and I. He'd be fine.

"Dude, tranquilo, okay?" JJ asked him and I looked at him.

"Everything will be fine." I said to Pope and I meant it.

'We're in the middle of Kooklandia. This is the last place I wanted to be." Pope said to us and I sat down beside JJ. I looked around, so far no Topper or Rafe.

"Shut up, Pope." JJ said to him. I saw that Kie had gone to probably get drinks. I placed my head on JJ's shoulder. That's when Kie came back. I didn't move my head.

"Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'tell your boy that we know what he did.' What's that?" She asked as she passed the Pepsi's around to us. That's when Pope looked at JJ and I.

"Um...where is he?" JJ asked her and I then sat up properly to look around.

"Right there." She said and I looked back. There was Topper as well.

"Oh shit." I whispered. They were just looking at us.

"Great, the whole death squad. Ah!" Pope said and that's when JJ turned his head back around.

"Don't stare, bro. Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now." JJ said to us and I knew that he would be. I was as well.

"Yeah, yeah." Pope said to him.

"If that doesn't work, I got this right here." JJ said and he picked his bag up. Of course he had it.

"Yeah, yeah. So, we just gotta stay in the group. They can't get us in the group." Pope said and they couldn't. I could see Kie's face. She was disappointed.

"Like a school of fish." JJ said and I wasn't going to be heading anywhere alone.

"Stay in the school. Can't leave the school." Pope said and he was thinking too much.

"Pope, we'll be okay." I said to him and he needed to believe that.

"I'm sorry, JJ..." Kie started and I looked at Kie.

"Stay in school." Pope said again. He was lightly rocking.

"Please tell me that you did not bring and gun here. JJ, there are kids." Kie said to him and we were kids as well. We just knew how to protect ourselves more.

"No. No, I didn't bring the gun. Everything's fine, okay?" JJ said to her and we all knew that he had it.

"Wow, thank you. That's really convincing. I love that, JJ." Kie said and I looked at her.

"Kie, he said he doesn't have it." I said to her and she looked at me and then at JJ. I then put the cold can to my cheek.

"Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?" She asked and she wouldn't like the answer.

"Kie, it might go down tonight." Pope said and it sounded a bit cryptic. Even for me.

"What does that mean? 'Might go down tonight.' What did y'all do?" She asked and I looked at Pope.

"Deny, deny, deny." JJ whispered to Pope.

"It's nothing Kie." I said to her but I knew she wouldn't believe. "Let's just watch the movie." I said to her and I took a sip of my drink. Once the movie started JJ put his arm around me.

"JJ? Y/n?" Pope whispered during the movie.

"What?" We both asked him.

"Gotta take a piss." Pope said to us. I wasn't going with him.

"Hold it." JJ said to him and he had.

"I can't hold it. I drank too much soda." Pope said to him and that was just one of those things.

"It's too exposed. They'll totally see us." JJ said and they would get attacked.

"I gotta go." Pope said and he looked back at where they were. "They're blocking the bathrooms." Pope said and I went back to watching the movie.

"Come here. I know where." JJ said and him and Pope stood up.

"Hey, where y'all going?" Kie asked them and I looked at JJ and Pope.

"We gotta wring it out." JJ said to us.

"You gonna hold it for each other?" Kie asked and the two boys just went off.

"I say we don't ask." I said to her and I went back to watching. That's when I looked back. "Shit, Kie. We've gotta go find them. Rafe and Topper are gone." I said to her and it was going down tonight.

"Pope wasn't lying." She said and we went to go find them. They were fighting.

"Rafe, Topper, leave them alone!" I shouted and them but nothing.

"Let go of him, Topper! Fascist asshole!" Kie said and she started fighting them with the bag. I wasn't afraid to use my fists.

"Hey, listen, Pope. All you gotta do..." Topper said to him and I went over to Rafe and JJ.

"Topper, stop!" Kie shouted.

"Rafe, leave him alone!" I shouted at him and he didn't do anything. That's when I started fighting Rafe. He pushed me to the ground and then did the same to Kie.

"Stay out of this, both of you!" Rafe said to the two of us.

"Y/n, please tell me your okay?" JJ asked me and I looked at him and nodded and I got back up again.

"Kie! You okay?" Pope asked her and I helped her back up.

"Come on, man. Just admit it! Admit you did it, bitch!" Topper said as he punched JJ. The fighting didn't I looked back and saw Kie was on the ground still. She has the gun.

"Kie, we have to." I said to her and she looked at me shaking her head. I could hear the pain both JJ and Pope were in.

"I have another idea." She said and she took a lighter out. I looked at the screen.

"I see what your thinking." I said to her. We watched as the fabric went ablaze.

"Guys! Fire!" Rafe shouted and I looked at them.

"Get off of him!" Kie shouted and I looked at them.

"Leave them alone!" I shouted at them but Kelce hadn't let go of JJ.

"Kelce, let go of JJ!" Kie shouted and when he I went over to JJ. I looked at him.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah, I think so." I said to him and I looked him over.

"We'll get you cleaned up when we get home." I said to him, I knew he'd have a few cuts and bruises. When we got back to his house I looked at him.

"How do I look?" He asked me and I looked his face over.

"Handsome but hurt." I said to him and I went to get something clean his cuts. "You know this is going to hurt right?" I asked him as I sat on his lap.

"I know." He said to me and I started to clean his wounds. Afterwards I kissed him.

"And that made all the pain worth it." He said and I shook my head.

"Of course you'd say that." I said to him with a smile. When the next day came around. We went to Heywards. The four of us. I hadn't seen John B since he dropped us back off.

"Don't let it get in your head. Three of them and two of us. That's typical Kook shit right there." JJ said and he was completely right about that.

"Hell, yeah." Kie said with a smile on her face.

"What was your thought process, using your head?" JJ asked Pope and I wanted to know as well.

"I don't know, man. I just kind of acted off instinct. I was a cornered animal." Pope said to us and that's when I looked around the store.

"Hey, Pope, someone here to see you." Heyward said and there he was. Shoupe.

"Evening, Officer." Pope said to him. I took JJ's hand.

"I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property." Shoupe said and Pope looked back at JJ and I.

"What?" Heyward asked.

"Keep the hand on the counter where I can see 'em." Shoupe said and JJ put his hands up. I was hoping that everything would all be okay. "Young ladies, out of my way." He said to us and I had my hands up.

"Whoa. Shoupe, what'd he do?" Heyward asked and I knew what this was about.

"Look at the warrant." Shoupe said and he put it on the counter.

"You're arresting him?" Kie asked and I looked at JJ.

"You're just arresting my boy?" Heyward asked and I looked at Shoupe.

"But what's he even done?" I asked him playing dumb.

"Be careful!" Kie shouted at him.

"Shoupe, are you listening?" Heyward asked and when the handcuffs went on. I wrapped an arm around JJ.

"He's gonna be okay." JJ said and he put an arm around me.

"...you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney." Shoupe said and I knew that Pope's future was gone.

"How much did they pay you, man?" JJ asked and we all started shouting at Shoupe. We then started following them.

"But what has he even done." I said to them.

"It wasn't him! It was me. He tried to talk me out of it, but I was mad because he'd just been beaten up. I was so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I lost my shit. I can't let you take the blame for somethin' I did. You've got too much to lose." JJ said and I looked at him. He was taking the blame. I could see Kie look at me and then JJ. She'd worked it out.

"JJ, what are you doing going?" Pope asked him and I looked at JJ.

"I'm tellin' the truth. For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth. I took his old man's boat, too." JJ said and I took Kie's hand. She looked at me and nodded.

"What the hell?" Heyward asked and I knew I had to keep calm.

"JJ, come on." Pope said to him.

"Just shut up, Pope! Just shut up. He's a good kid. You know where I'm from." JJ said to Shoupe.

"Yeah." Shoupe said and I saw JJ nod.

"This was all me." JJ said and I felt the tears in my eyes. But I wouldn't let them fall. I had to be strong. I saw Shoupe look at Pope.

"That's the whole truth?" Shoupe asked Pope and I was just looking at Pope and JJ.

"Whole truth, swear to god." JJ said to him and I didn't know what to think.

"I know what you think, damn it, I'm asking Pope here." Shoupe said and I saw Pope look at JJ. That's when Pope started to nod.

"Yeah, that about covers it." Pope said and the handcuffs went off of Pope and onto JJ. They put him in the car and then they were gone.

"Pope..." Heyward started but Pope had already thrown his hat on the ground.

"Shit!" Pope said and he walked away.

"Pope? Pope!" Heyward said as he walked away. That's when I started walking away.

"Y/n, where are you going?" Kie asked me as I walked away.

"To bail JJ out." I said to her and I kept walking. I don't know with what money but I'd get him out. I wouldn't let him be in there for something that deserved to happen.