THE FIRE CRACKLED BEFORE THEM AS THEY SAT IN A CIRCLE AT RIXON'S COVE. Apparently, John B had some big news to tell them, and that was why they called the mandatory meeting. 

"Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me," Pope announced, trying to move the conversation along. "So, what's this mandatory meeting about?"

"Yeah, I am so dead when I get home," the Callaway girl agreed, remembering how furious her mother was when she saw her run off with the Pogues after Midsummers.

The Routledge boy shot finger guns at his best friend, and Bree glanced between them, confused. The blonde boy said, "Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed."

"You ready for this?" the brunette boy asked his friends, looking around at each of them.

He paused for dramatic effect, and when she realized that he wasn't going to continue unless someone answered him, Bree responded eagerly, "Yeah."

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant," he informed them.

"Oh, my God," the Heyward boy groaned while the rest of them other than JJ rolled their eyes. They thought he had given up on this adventure. "Here we go again with this."

JJ stopped him. "No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?"

"It's been here the whole time," the Routledge boy explained, and they could tell that he was trying to hold in his excitement. "It's on the island."

"Are you serious? Oh, my God," Kie asked with raised eyebrows, turning to him.

Pope was still not convinced, and Bree was also a little iffy herself. As much as she wanted to believe the gold was out there, she didn't want to feel the let down that she felt on the boat with the drone again. "I'd like to voice my skepticism."

"I'm sure you would, Pope," John B said, standing up and hopping up onto a log so that he was a lot taller than the rest of them. "But can I please present you with my evidence, sir?"

"Proceed," the Heyward nodded.

The brunette boy continued, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his backpack and holding it in front of them. "All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny?"

"Who?" Bree questioned, confused. She had heard the name before, but she couldn't remember where.

"Good question," John B told her before informing them, "Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out."

He unfolded the paper and handed it to Kie as she quizzed, "What?"

"Here you go. Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So, Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom," the Routledge explained as Kie passed the paper around so they could all look at it. John B whistled, "After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is...Tannyhill Plantation."

"I knew that name sounded familiar," Bree exclaimed. Sarah had probably told her a million times. The man's portrait hung in Ward's office.

The Carrera girl stared up at him in shock. "Tannyhill?"

"Yeah," John B confirmed. "So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. So, on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell,  and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."

"Where?" Kie whispered as the boy approached her.

He replied, "Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except, there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out." He walked over to Pope who had the paper and shined a flashlight on it. Bree leaned over to see what he was showing him. "The gold is in parcel nine, near the water."

The raven-haired and brunette girl laughed in disbelief as the Heyward boy muttered, "Holy shit."

"All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold," John B informed them. Bree ran a shocked hand through her hair. She didn't want to believe it until she was sure he was right, but this was pretty solid proof.

Pope agreed. "Okay, so this might actually have a small chance of being actually true."

"It's like King Tut!" Kie exclaimed with a smile.

"I am a genius," the Routledge announced, and JJ walked over to him and wrapped his arms around his torso, picking him up in a hug. "Hello! Fire! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn."

The blonde boy released him, but kept his hands on his waist. "I'm so proud of you right now."

"Thank you. That's really sweet of you," John B responded, putting his hand on his best friend's cheek, and Bree honestly would not be surprised if they kissed right then and there.

"Okay, so guys," Pope called, catching their attention as the two boys let go of each other. "What's the plan?"

The brunette boy pointed at him before answering, "So, Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She's gonna bring an original survey map—"

"Wait, wait. Sarah? Why Sarah?" Kie asked in confusion, cutting him off.

The Callaway girl nodded along in agreement, but for a different reason. Kie hated Sarah and didn't want her in on their secret while Bree was more concerned for her friend's safety. "Yeah, what does Sarah have to do with any of this?"

"This is gonna be good," JJ told them, which confused them even more.

John B glared at the blonde boy before turning to Kie to explain. "Um...Sarah, um, she...she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter."

"You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" the Carrera girl yelled, while Bree was surprised that her blonde friend didn't tell her anything about this, especially since she knew about the brunette hanging out with the Pogues.

While the Routledge tried to stutter out a response, the Maybank boy informed them, "He was macking on her."

"I wasn't macking," John B argued, rolling his eyes at his best friend for making it worse than it had to be.

The blonde insisted, "You were totally macking Sarah Cameron."

"You were macking on my friend?" the Callaway girl asked loudly with raised eyebrows as her head whipped toward John B who had his hands up in defense.

"I wasn't macking on her, okay?" the Routledge told them, glancing at Bree as he said the next part. "I was using her for access."

The Callaway girl's eyes widened, and JJ nodded, looking down at the ground as he muttered, "There was access, all right."

"Did you tell her about the treasure?" Kie questioned angrily, not wanting a Kook to become a part of their perfect group, especially one that she absolutely despised.

John B sighed, "I was just trying to get into the archives."

"Is that a yes?" she exclaimed, her jaw dropping in anger and shock. "You let a Kook in on our secret? What about Pogue Lyfe? What about the T-shirt company, bro?" JJ reached over and patted Bree on the back jokingly. "No offense, Bree. You're basically a Pogue now."

"Thanks," the brunette girl replied, her lips curving up into a quick smile.

John B was desperately trying to defend himself. "I was using her for information."

"Why don't I believe you?" Kie asked in a slightly mocking voice, her head moving back and forth as she spoke.

"Hey, guys," the Callaway girl spoke up, and the two turned to her. "Might I remind you that you probably shouldn't be having this conversation in front of me?"

The Maybank boy reached one hand over her shoulder and the other on the other side on her face, and then he put his fingers in her ears to plug them. It didn't even muffle the voices though. "Proceed."

"I'm trying to make us filthy rich here," John B told the Carrera girl. "Okay, so that we can pay off a boat, or — or, uh...send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies." He gestured to Pope for that last one. "Look, you guys know me. Do I look like the type of person to fall for Sarah Cameron?"

Bree shrugged. "She is pretty hot."

"Do you want us to answer that, or—" Pope questioned with raised eyebrows as he played with the flashlight in his hands.

"Look. you don't know her yet!" Kie exclaimed, causing all of them to stop and look at her. "I do! You can't trust her, no matter what Bree says."

The Heyward boy pointed out, "Her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club."

"He also hit Bree," JJ added, causing John B and Kie to whip their heads around to look at her in shock since they hadn't heard the real story behind the black eye yet. 

The Routledge sighed, "Rafe and Sarah are two different human beings."

"That is true," the brunette girl agreed, glad that he took the attention off of her.

The blonde boy looked over at his friend that hated the Cameron girl with a curious look on his face. "What did she do to you, exactly?"

"She's like a — like a spitting cobra," the Carrera girl informed all of them, and Bree fought the urge to roll her eyes. She had heard about the fight from both sides, and to be honest, both of them were wrong in her opinion. "First, she — she blinds you, and then —"

"This is a bad analogy," Pope muttered as the rest of them furrowed their eyebrows at the girl.

Kie groaned. "Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's gonna try to take."

《✵》

"ALL RIGHT," JOHN B SAID AS THEY PULLED UP TO THE MEETING PLACE. It was some random old tower nest thing that Bree saw when she went on a really boring field trip in fourth grade,

"Hit it, boys! We're going," JJ announced as he slid the door open, and they began to climb out. The girls were still in their dresses, so they doubted they would be too much help if they got caught. "Recon mission."

The Routledge boy turned around in his seat before they could get out, though. "You, uh...so, uh, I think I'm gonna do this one by myself tonight." Kie just stared at him with an annoyed expression.

"Really?" the Maybank boy asked, and they flopped back down against the seat.

"What?" the brunette boy questioned, and when they all just shrugged it off, he continued, "Look, I just don't want to spook Sarah with the peanut gallery."

The Carrera girl rolled her eyes. "I just don't understand why we're involving her at all."

"Kie, we're not involving her, okay? It's — It's just, uh, like a — a business meeting thing," he trailed off, and he didn't sound very confident in his answer as he told it to her. "Bree, cover your ears."

"I got it," the blonde boy assured him before reaching over and doing the same thing he did about half an hour earlier, plugging her ears and failing miserably.

John B sighed, "Look, once we get what we need, we cut her loose, all right? Plus, we need the map."

"Promise me nothing's happening between you," Kie ordered, and Bree knew that this wasn't going to end well for either of them because he couldn't promise that without lying. She could see it in his eyes.

The boy rolled his eyes, glancing away as he responded, "Nothing is happening."

"I'm being serious, okay? This isn't about you, and this isn't about us. This is about her. Dude, she's gonna get inside your head. Just promise me nothing's happening between you guys."

The Routledge nodded, "I promise."

"That was really believable," JJ told him sarcastically, and Pope repeated what he said.

Bree nodded. "I know I believed it."

"How could you hear?" the Maybank explained in shock, removing his fingers from her ears and staring at her with furrowed eyebrows as she just sighed at his stupidity.

"Anways, um..." John B trailed off, looking around awkwardly. "I'm gonna take care of business."

The blonde boy nodded as his and Pope's voices overlapped. He said, "You're gonna take care of business so well," at the same time as the Heyward boy said, "We'll just sit here...in the hot-ass car. While it's lightning."

The Routledge climbed out of the car and began walking as the rest of them sat there in silence, waiting for him to come back. Pope was the one to break it.

"Kiara, holding onto your grudge is like drinking poison and thinking Sarah will die," he informed the Carrera girl.

She nodded. "Exactly."

JJ began telling the story of him being chased by the Kooks at Midsummers, and Bree rested her head on his shoulder. It had been an extremely long night, and she was exhausted. What she wouldn't give to be curled up in her bed at that moment.

"Wait do you guys hear that?" Kie asked after a minute, and when the Maybank boy kept talking, she ordered, "Sh."

"What?" the two boys questioned, and the Callaway girl lifted her head up so that she could hear better, and her eyes widened when she realized what her friend was talking about.

A familiar and desperate yell came from the direction that John B went. "Please, somebody help!"

"Oh, wait no. I hear that," JJ told them, and they all began to scramble out of the Twinkie frantically. "Shit." They ran into the forest, Kie and Bree behind because they were running barefoot after they took their heels off.

The reached the clearing, and Sarah was kneeling over an unconscious John B below the tower. There were pieces of wood surrounding them, and the Cameron girl was sobbing. Pope asked, "Sarah, what happened?"

"I don't know what to do," she sobbed as they all surrounded the two. She looked up at the nest, and the Callaway girl had a pretty good guess as to what happened. "He needs help. Topper shoved him." 

"Where the hell is he?" the Maybank boy questioned angrily, looking around for the Thornton boy.

The blonde girl shook her head, signaling that that was not their biggest issue at the moment. "Oh, please, please, please get help. I don't care who. Just call someone."

"Go, go!" JJ told Pope, and the boy ran toward the van.

The brunette girl backed into the blonde boy, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder in comfort. Kie shook nervously, and tears were beginning to form in her eyes. "Pope, hurry!"

"John B, stay with me," Sarah begged, looking back down at the boy in her arms. She leaned down and gave him a kiss before resting her chin on the top of his head. "Please don't leave me. John B?"

"Pope, come on!" JJ shouted.

However, the two girls were more focused on the couple in front of them, because it was very clear that they actually cared about each other, or, at least, Sarah cared about John B. They all knew it, and even Kie couldn't deny it no matter how much she wanted to.