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18 months earlier

The teens managed to catch a ride back home on a boat. All of them had been silent for the most part. Each of them processing the deaths of Ward and Big John. Pope sat on the end with Cleo lying in his lap asleep. John B sat next to her with Sarah at his side. Kie laid her head on Sarah's shoulder with Charlotte doing the same with Kie. Estrella's head had fallen on JJ's shoulder although the boy seemed to be in his own world. His mind reeling with the events that had taken place.

JJ looked to his side as the girl slept on his shoulder. His eyes trailing around her face and admiring how peaceful she looked. She groans in her sleep as she moves to get comfortable. JJ lets one of his legs fall flat before lightly shaking her.

"Star?" He says softly. The girls eyes open immediately as she sits up. JJ immediately calms her, "Hey, no, it's okay. It's okay."

Estrella turns to him and JJ could've sworn his heart melted at how soft her eyes looked. He lifts his arm up, "Lay on my lap. It'll be more comfortable."

Estrella asks no questions and adjusts herself to lay in his lap. As soon as she's comfortable, her eyes shut and JJ's arm comes down and rests on her side. He begins to subconsciously rub his thumb on her side noticing how the girl lets out a deep sigh. His eyes softening as he watches her drift off again.

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"Do we think this is a good idea?" Charlotte asks

Kiara sighs as they walk up to The Wreck, "Probably not, but it's worth a shot."

As soon as they step onto the property, Mike storms out, "Hey! Hey! Stop right there! Charlotte, you are not welcome here. Where do you come off thinking you can walk up here after what you did?

"Mike." Anna says walking out, "She's home. She's safe."

"Don't come back here until she's gone."

"Guys, I'm sorry. We're glad you're back, Kie, but we need boundaries." Anna says as the two walk back toward the restaurant and Mike slams the door shut behind them.

Kie turns around and walks off of the property with Charlotte right behind her.

•••

Estrella sighs as she and JJ stand in front of her house. The For Sale sign stuck in the dirt of the front yard. The house was completely empty from what she could see in the windows. As much as she wanted to cry, she wouldn't. She had a feeling her mom would do something like this. Especially since she escaped from the wilderness camp. She turns to JJ who looks down at her.

"You okay?"

Estrella sighs, "Yeah. Everything is gone, including all of the shit I paid for in the shed. Along with some of the stuff I actually had in the house. Also the stuff I had in John B's house. But I guess I'm technically free."

"Free?" JJ chuckles

"Yeah." She says, "Maybe I can get some clothes or something from Charlotte."

"A shower is what you're thinking about right now when you just found out everything you own is gone."

"Yeah." She shrugs, "If I think about it too much, I'll probably cry and I don't wanna cry anymore."

JJ nods before wrapping his arm around her shoulder, "Let's go bug Pope."

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It had been about a week since the teens made it back to OBX. They were all sat around at the bank as they watch the man weigh the gold they brought back. Estrella let out an anxious sigh as the man placed the gold on the scale.

"Twenty pounds." He says as the teens look around at each other, "98.5%... gold."

"And that translates to...?" John B mutters

"This is money. A whole lot of money."

The teens immediately cheer as the man smiles. Estrella pulls Pope into a hug as she jumps up and down in excitement. John B stands up and shakes the man's hand as Kie pulls Charlotte into a hug.

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"Moment of truth." John B says sliding the card into the ATM, "All right. Pin is 0-0-0-0. Enter."

"You're kidding." Sarah says

"What?"

"Tell me that's a temporary pin." Estrella says

"I thought nobody could guess." John B shrugs

"Change that immediately." Pope says

"I'm sorry." John B nods

"Here it comes." JJ says and as soon as the paper comes out, he snatches it, "That's me. That's me. Let me read it. Let me read it!"

"Hey!" Cleo says as he and John B fight over the paper

"Oh my God." Sarah says as John B takes the paper and runs off

"It's not even the money. It's just the receipt." Pope says as they stand behind him

"Okay. Okay. Our joint account balance..." John B reads

"Mm-hmm."

"...after paying JJ's restitution at 10:04 a.m. on Tuesday..."

"Oh, come on, get on with it!" Cleo rushes

"Our joint account balance is one point one million, seventy-two thousand, five hundred and forty-nine dollars."

"Oh my God." Estrella gasps

"You said mil?" JJ says

"Million?" Pope asks

"Um-" John B turns

"With an M?" Pope says, "That'll do it!"

"What?" Kie smiles as Sarah and Cleo jump up and down. Charlotte shakes her girlfriend's shoulders in excitement.

"Oh my God!" Pope says turning to Estrella, "That's the craziest thing I've ever seen on a piece of paper."

As he turns to Cleo, Estrella looks around noticing JJ had wandered off to the beers. He opens one and immediately downs it.

"We can go on a real date." John B says to Sarah, "We're so rich, we can buy the Canadian mussels. Not the cheap shit ones."

Estrella steps away and approaches JJ as he places one of his hands up on the fridge. She leans on the fridge as he looks down, "You can smile, you know."

JJ looks to her as she smiles, "Look, this doesn't mean we're Kooks. Just means we have a little money now."

JJ tilts his head in acknowledgment as a smile graces his face.

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"Hear me out." JJ starts, "Rally truck with yellow LEDs to replace the Twinkie for right now."

"No. I'm not getting rid of the Twinkie." John B says shaking his head

"But with solar panels, maybe?" Kie says, "If it's in the budget."

"And a bigger boat." Cleo points

"Guys, hold on. Hold on." Pope says standing up, "It's... it's not like we can all go off and buy houses or anything. I mean, split between all of us, that's about $146,500. Minus what we owe Barracuda Mike."

"Let him try and take this." JJ says, "I'll mess him up."

Estrella rolls her eyes as John B looks up, "Just gonna say it. I don't wanna piss off the drug dealer."

"Listen, if we divide this up, we're all gonna blow it." Pope says. The teens all slowly look toward JJ.

"Wow, okay." JJ says, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"But maybe if we pool our money together, we can create something with actual economies of scale."

"Like what?" Charlotte asks

"You remember the island."

"Duh." Kie shrugs

"Of course." Sarah says

"I mean, it was our own island, and we built everything from basically nothing, right?" Pope says

"It was perfect." Estrella says

"The best life." Cleo smiles

"That whole island just to ourselves. All of us together." Sarah smiles softly

"I think we can have that again. Right here." Pope says, "JJ's property is going up for auction, right? So let's buy it back. I mean, look around. A lot of land. Deepwater access. Unless any of you are planning on going back to school, we're gonna need a place to work, a place to stay and live. I think we can have both of those things here."

"First things first, we get the land, right? And then over there, we could build, like, a surf shop." He points, "And then maybe we can make our own dock."

"This place needs a dock." Kie nods

"Ooh, what about a bait and tackle shop?" John B suggests

"Exactly. And... and who knows these waters better than us?" Pope says, "JJ, you can get a new boat and run a fishing charter. We can all live and sleep in the house."

As Pope rambles on, Estrella looks to JJ who stood off to the side with a small smile on his face. His eyes trailing over to her and his smile widening as she looked up at him.

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