______________________________________

Estrella takes the envelope and hands it through the crack to John B.

"That's not gold." Pope sighs defeated

Estrella pushes herself up. JJ holding his arms out as she comes down. She grunts as she lands in front of him.

"Holy shit. This is from my dad." John B says

Kie smiles as Estrella and JJ look over at the headlights coming into view. He blows out smoke as he slowly backs up.

"Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" JJ says

"Go." Kie says as they start to run the other way

"It's the guys who robbed your house." They run and duck down on the side of the tomb stone.

"Light!" Kie says as she and Estrella turn their light out

"Light. Turn your light off, man!" Pope says to JJ who is putting out his blunt.

Estrella reaches up and turns out the light attached to his head band.

"John B? Your light!" Kie says, "Do you think it's them?"

"Homie's got a gun." JJ says and he and Pope peek around the corner

"Screw this." Estrella says as she runs off. Kie and the boys run after her.

She jumps up and climbs the wall. Kie, JJ, and John B follow her. Pope climbs up the gate. The four of them land as Pope gets stuck at the top.

"Hurry up!" JJ yells

"Go!" Kie says as they start to run toward the van

"Guys! Guys!" Pope yells from the gate

"Shit."

"Guys, I'm stuck."

"Pope, come on!" Estrella yells

"All right, guys-"

"I got you." Kie says as she approaches him

"No. Pope, don't move, okay?" JJ says holding his gun up. Estrella immediately pushes his hand down

"You're gonna rip me. Wait. You're gonna rip me!"

"You're fine. Come on!"

"Pope, come on!" John B yells as Pope finally makes it to the ground. His shorts still stuck on the gate.

"Nice! Come on, dude." JJ laughs as they run to the van

"It's a little Tootsie Roll." John B jokes as Kie laughs.

"Come on!"

Estrella doubles over in laughter as she sits in the back, "Get in!"

"Stupid!" Kie laughs as Pope sits in the back and covers himself. Kie jumps in after him and closes the door before John B drives off.

______________________________________

"That bread had mold on it three days ago." Pope says

"I'll just pull off the bad parts." JJ says, "Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism."

"That's disgusting." Estrella says as she sits at the table. John B sitting across from her.

"JJ!" Kie says

"Yup, yup, yup!" He says running over, "Hot damn! Let's do it."

He takes a bite of his sandwich and immediately gags. Estrella's face scrunches up in disgust as he goes to spit it out. He comes back with his sandwich still in hand as John B opens the envelope.

"Holy shit." He says as he opens up a map with markings all over

"Oh. X marks the spot." Pope says

"Longitude, latitude. Wait, there's somethin' else in there."

"What's that?" JJ asks

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." Kie says. Estrella rolls her eyes as John B hits play.

"Dear Bird."

"Who's Bird?" JJ says

"That's what my dad called me." John B mutters

"I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn."

"And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant."

"If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side."

The room goes silent as the tape ends and the recorder clicks off. John B sighs as he gets up and walks out of the room.

"Holy shit, he did it! Big John... He found the Merchant-" JJ exclaims

"Can you... can you please?" Kie says

"Sorry." He says quietly. Kie walks over and hugs John B. JJ looks over at Estrella who smiles at him sympathetically.

______________________________________

The five teens all sat outside on John B's dock. Kie played her ukulele as she sat on the railing by JJ. Estrella sat by Pope on the bench and John B sat facing away from everyone.

"How much was it again?" JJ says

"Four hundred mil." Pope says

JJ sighs, "All right, let's talk the split. Now, before we say "evenly," may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us." He says holding up the gun, "Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

"You haven't trained. You've done zero training."

"YouTube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there."

"You haven't-"

"Any objections?" JJ asks. Kie and Estrella immediately raise their hands. JJ blatantly ignores them, "Didn't think so."

"Yeah." Pope says

"I don't hear any, so." JJ trails off

"What are you gonna do with your 80 mil, Pope?" Kie asks

"Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive."

Estrella chuckles as she shakes her head.

"What about you, Kie?" JJ asks

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope says

She chuckles, "Just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing."

"Peter Tosh is dead."

"Peter Tosh is dead. I know." She nods as she raises her drink, "Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die."

"Actually, I know what I'm gonna do." JJ says, "I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook."

"You're gonna go full Kook?" Estrella laughs

"Yup." He nods at her, "Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish."

"I'm never visiting." Kie chuckles

"What about you, Estrella?" Pope says elbowing her

"I'm definitely getting the hell out of here."

"Yeah?" JJ says

"Absolutely. Go literally anywhere." She says sitting up, "Hawaii, France, The Bahamas."

JJ smiles softly at her as Pope turns to John B, "What are you gonna do, JB?" He asks carefully. Everyone goes quiet waiting for his answer. After a couple of seconds, he turns to them.

"To going full Kook." He says

"To going full Kook!" They all cheer raising their drinks

______________________________________