"THAT BREAD HAD MOLD ON IT THREE DAYS AGO." Pope stared at the Maybank boy who was making some sort of sandwich with the very old bread in disgust. 

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

Bree furrowed her eyebrows at him. "I don't think it works like that."

"Guys!" Kie called from the living room, illuminated by a candle, and beckoned the two to come over to them. John B was sat at a table with the package from the grave in his hands.

The Maybank and the Callaway rushed into the room as the blonde said, "Yup, yup, yup! Hot damn. Let's do it." As the Routledge began to open it, JJ gagged on the sandwich and spit it out.

"Oh, that's disgusting," Bree told him, backing away like he was going to spit it out on her.

John B ignored them and took what seemed to be a map out of the plastic and laid it flat on the table. They all examined it, and there were lines everywhere. What caught their interest was the coordinates written off the coast of the Outer Banks. "Holy shit."

"Oh, X marks the spot," Pope realized, pointing down at a small x that was drawn on the paper.

"Longitude, latitude," the brunette boy said, gesturing to the lines on the map. Then, he grabbed the package. "Wait, there's something else in there."

He pulled out a black object, and JJ questioned, "What's that?"

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass," Kie told him while the Callaway girl beside him just rolled her eyes.

John B pressed a button on the recorder, and a recording began to play. Big John's voice came through the small object. "Dear Bird."

"Who's bird?" quizzed the blonde boy, and Bree had the urge to smack him on the back of the head so that he would stop interrupting the moment.

The Routledge boy sighed, "That's what my dad called me." Then, he started the recording again.

"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."

There were various sounds throughout the recording, but when static was all that came out at the end, John B clicked it off and stood up. JJ exclaimed, "Holy shit, he did it. Big John — He found the Merchant—"

"Can you...Can you please?" Kie whispered to him, and this time, Bree did smack him on the back of the head. When he gave her a confused look, she gestured to the Routledge boy who was sobbing as he leant against a doorframe.

Making an 'O' shape with his mouth, he nodded. "Sorry." The raven-haired girl walked over to John B and gave him a comforting hug from behind as he cried.

As soon as he calmed down, the five of them went out to the dock and sat on the railings, beers in hand. Kie had her ukelele in her arms, and she was playing a simple song in the background as they thought about what they just heard.

"How much was it again?" asked JJ, being the one to break the silence.

Pope was the one who answered him. "Four hundred mil."

"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," the blonde told them, holding up the gun. "Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

"You haven't trained. You've done zero training," the Heyward boy argued.

JJ sighed as the rest of them rolled their eyes at him. "Youtube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there. Any objections? Didn't think so." Kie and Bree raised their hands, but he just looked away. "I don't hear any, so..."

"What are you gonna do with your 80 mil, Pope?" the Carrera girl asked, ignoring him.

Pope thought about it for a second before responding, "Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive."

"What about you Kie?" JJ questioned as all of them made faces at Pope's answer.

The Heyward boy nodded, looking to the raven-haired girl. "Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?"

"Just wanna make a double album," she chuckled. "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," Pope and her said at the same time.

She nodded, "I know. Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die. How about you, Bree? What are you gonna do with your cut of the money?"

"Yeah, even more money piled on top of all the shit you have? Whatever will you do?" JJ added, and the Callaway girl just flipped him off.

"I'm not sure," she replied after a moment of thought. She knew that she would give her mother enough money to pay the bills, but she didn't want to tell them that. "I'm getting the hell off this fucking island. That's for sure."

The blonde boy held his beer up and smiled. "Cheers to that."

"Cheers!" the rest of them repeated, holding up their drinks as well.

"I know what I'll do," he announced to them, dropping his arm back down to his side. "I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook."

Pope raised his eyebrows at the boy. "You're gonna go full Kook?"

"Yup," he confirmed with a nod as the rest of them laughed. "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 told him.

Pope looked over at the Routledge boy who had remained silent that entire time, most likely thinking about his dad. "What are you gonna do, JB?"

"To going full Kook!" he said after a moment of silence, and they all smiled.

"To going full Kook!"

《✵》

"YOU SHOULD'VE HEARD HOW JOHN B TALKED TO ME." Sarah was currently complaining to Sarah, Topper, Rafe, and Bree about something the Routledge boy had said to her. "That kid's got a mouth on him!"

"Well, he showed his true colors, Sarah," Topper told her, and Bree fought the urge to roll her eyes.

The Cameron girl sighed, pulling her gloves on. They were on the beach, helping pick up trash that was washed up during the storm. And of course, they were Kooks, so they couldn't bear to touch a piece of plastic with their bare hands. "He was so rude."

"Stupid fucking Pogues think they can talk to us however they want," Rafe spoke up, and his girlfriend desperately wanted to punch him in the face for talking about her friends like that.

"I know!" Topper exclaimed before turning back to Sarah. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I mean, he's lucky your dad didn't press charges."

The blonde girl nodded, "I know! After stealing scuba from us? It's just...kind of ridiculous to me. After everything my dad has done for him. Just so generous. You'd think he'd be more grateful. Then he yells at me like it's my fault!"

"Did you ever ask him why he needed the gear?" asked the Callaway girl.

Rafe answered for his sister. "He probably would've just given her some stupid fucking excuse like he dropped something in the water and needed to dive for it."

"He's a Pogue at the end of the day," Topper added, "I mean, you can say we're all just people or-or whatever, but it's a totally different mindset on the Cut."

"Yo. You look thirsty," Kelce called as he ran over to them just as Bree was about to say something else. He was holding a water bottle filled with some liquid that no doubt had alcohol in it.

Topper took it from him eagerly. "Okay, what do we — what do we got here?"

"Have some of that, baby," the other boy said, and when the Thornton boy took a huge swig from it, he smiled. "That's how we do it, baby!"

"Come on, Sarah," the blonde boy urged, passing the drink to his girlfriend who made a face when she smelled it.

She laughed out, "What did you do to this?"

"He's not playing around," Topper told her, and she took a huge gulp from it before holding it out to Bree who was standing next to her.

She shook her head, declining it. "I'm good." Rafe was about to grab it from his sister, but the youngest of his siblings snatched it before he could.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" the Thornton boy exclaimed, and they all watched in shock and she downed almost half of it.

Bree's eyes widened as her blonde friend was finally able to pull it away from her, and she swallowed. "Since when did you start drinking?"

"Since today," the young girl shrugged.

"Oh, my God," Rafe groaned. "Dad is gonna kill me for letting you do that if he ever finds out."

Wheezie replied, "Just don't let him find out then."

"You guys got it under control?" yelled a guy walking past them, and Bree wanted to walk away so that she wasn't caught with a bunch of drunk, underage idiots.

"Yes, sir," Topper answered, giving him a thumbs up, and the Callaway noticed how drunk he was already. She couldn't help but wonder what the hell Kelce put in that drink. "It's looking good sir!'

Kelce nodded along. "Just clearing the stretch out!"

"Just hydrating! Almost finished," Sarah added as the boy put the bottle back in the cooler.

"Great job!" the man complimented with a smile. "Keep it up!"

Bree, deciding that the longer her 'friends' talked, the more likely they were to get caught, responded for them. "Will do." 

Once he was gone, she felt her phone buzz, and she looked down at it to see a text from JJ saying that she needed to get to the Chateau quick. She typed out a reply before putting her phone back in her pocket and looking up. "Hey, guys. I gotta go."

"Bye," Sarah waved drunkenly, and all of them were to out of it to even realize that she was leaving.

All except one.

She walked off the beach and to her car, but when she got there Rafe's voice stopped her from leaving. "Where are you going?"

"Um, I'm helping out a friend," she lied, looking down at her feet nervously and hoping he couldn't sense the lack of confidence in her voice.

"Oh," he muttered before quizzing "What friend?"

She looked back up at him as she unlocked her car and threw her bag in the back seat. "You don't know them."

"Try me. Maybe I do," he told her, taking a step closer to her.

She thought anxiously about the text JJ sent and what it could mean. As far as she knew, they could've found something else, and she needed to get there fast. "I really have to go."

She tried to open the door to the driver's seat, but then, she jumped when he slammed it shut. Her hand flinched out of the way just in time so that it wasn't crushed by the door.

"What friend?" he repeated, a little more aggressively than before. He grabbed her shoulder and squeezed it so that she couldn't move.

"Rafe," she whispered, holding her hands up in an attempt to soothe him. "Rafe, calm down."

"WHAT FRIEND?" This time he was yelling, and his grip on her arm tightened. Her heart was beating faster as she grew scared of the boy in front of her.

A voice from behind him interrupted them. "Rafe, what the hell are you doing?"

"Sarah, this is none of you business," the older Cameron stated angrily, and he let go of Bree's shoulder as he turned around to face his sister. The Callaway took this chance to push open her car door and climb in.

She didn't miss his pained face as she drove away.

《✵》

"POPE, WE'RE NOT STEALING THE DRONE," JOHN B ASSURED HIS FRIEND. The famous five were in the Twinkie and on their way to the scrapyard to steal a drone. "We're borrowing it."

While Bree was at her cleaning party, the Pogues had snuck into a hotel that JJ worked at and plotted the coordinates that they found on the map, and they saw that the wreck of the Royal Merchant was on the continental shelf just before the drop off. So, they were going to get a drone that could help them look for it.

"'Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality,'" replied Pope, and they all furrowed their eyebrows at him.

John B asked, "Wait, did you come up with that?"

"No, Albert Bernstein came up with it, but it applies to this whole treasure-hunting thing," he answered. "So, which is it? Fantasy or reality?"

"Why are you so weird, Pope?" JJ asked, not looking up from the blunt in his hands.

Bree, who had been quiet the whole ride, scoffed. "Says you." The blonde boy just stuck his tongue out at her and made a face in response.

"It's fantasy, but possible reality," Kie replied to Pope, ignoring the bickering between the two in the back.

John B took a moment before looking to the Carrera girl. "Reality."

"Virtual reality," JJ said, his voice slightly muffled by the blunt in his mouth. He was about to light it when Pope grabbed it out of his mouth.

He flicked it onto the floor a couple feet away from him while the Maybank boy gave him a look that made it seem like he was about to kill him. "Keep the signal clear."

"You know what your problem is?" questioned JJ as they pulled to a stop and Kie got out of the van.

Pope responded, "You?"

"No. It's that you need to relax, man," the blonde boy told him. "You're always so tense."

"I'm not too tense," the Heyward boy argued.

Bree rolled her eyes as Kie came to the driver's window to talk to John B. "Will the two of you just shut up?"

"Someone's in a crabby mood," JJ pointed out, and the Callaway girl just glared at him. Once Kie was making her way to the booth where the security guard was sitting, the four of them snuck around and hid behind a part of a boat. The Maybank boy looked at his best friend the guard opened the gate. "How's it going with Kiara?"

"It's not awkward, weird, or anything," John B answered, and both the blonde boy and the brunette girl snorted, neither of them believing him.

JJ smiled. "Yeah. Honestly, I did not think you were actually gonna listen to me."

"What?" the Routledge boy asked.

"I was a hundred percent sure she was into you," the Maybank explained, his voice getting a little louder, and John B just sighed. "Pope would agree."

Pope was hesitant. "Eh..."

"So, like, Kie, she, like, definitely gave you the Heisman?" JJ questioned, looking at the brunette boy.

John B nodded. "Oh, no question. Yup."

"Maybe she's just into someone else," Pope suggested, and he was acting like he knew something they didn't. All three of them turned their heads in sync to look at him in question.

"Oh, yeah," JJ spoke up like he just realized something, and he looked at the Callaway girl next to him. "You're a girl."

She stared at him with a confused expression. "Nice observation."

"I'll bet you know all the gossip. Come on, spill the tea Does she like someone else?" the blonde boy questioned with raised eyebrows and a smirk.

Bree just shook her head. "I'm not answering that."

"That sounds like a yes to me. Who is it?" he pried, but their conversation was interrupted when they saw the security guard follow Kie. Now was their chance. "Go! Go, go, go, go."

They sprinted through the gate when the man wasn't looking, and it closed behind them. They followed JJ to a storage unit in the back and stood guard while he put a code in the lock. He pulled on it, and it didn't open.

"Do you have the right numbers?" Pope asked.

After a couple more seconds of tugging on the lock, the blonde boy stopped and looked at the sticky note in his hand. "All right, so I might have the wrong numbers."

"Seriously?" Bree exclaimed in disbelief. They came all this way just for him to have the wrong freaking numbers. All of a sudden, the sound of barking reached their ears, and a very large dog came bounding toward them.

"That's a cougar. Never mind," John B said before taking off as JJ tried to calm it down. 

"Hi! No, stay there! Good boy. No, you're okay," the Maybank boy soothed, and when he reached out to pet it, it almost bit his hand off. He then began running, dragging Bree along with him. When they noticed Pope wasn't with them, he yelled. "Pope, run!"

The Heyward boy grabbed a metal pipe from a table next to him and waved it at the canine. "Back off! Back off!"

"I got a toy, boy!" JJ told it, holding up a dirty, red bandana. When the dog came running toward them, they took off. "Wait, no. I was just kidding. Shit! Okay, sit!"

It chased them across the scrapyard, and finally, Bree had the sense to start climbing. JJ followed her up a ladder that was propped up against a big boat. Once they were up, she sat down and leaned against the side of the boat as the boy crouched over her. They were inches apart, and he brought a finger to his lips to keep her quiet.

"What's that, huh? What's that, Tebow? What you got? What you got?" The security guard's voice came while the dog barked up at the teenagers. "Whoever's up there better come on out! I mean it! Don't make me go up there and get your ass!"

"Wait, Bobby!" JJ called, putting his hands up in surrender as he stood up.

Bree looked at him like he was crazy. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just follow my lead," he whispered back to her, and she, too, climbed to her feet so that he could see them.

"Don't shoot," the blonde boy said, talking to the guard who had a gun in his hand. "It's me, JJ. Luke's kid?"

Bobby looked back up at them. "What are you doin'?"

"I swear, okay? I didn't want to, okay?" the teenager told him, tears forming in his eyes as Bree just stayed quiet next to him. "My dad made me, and I just dragged her into it."

"Don't you lie," the security guard ordered with a stern voice.

JJ's voice cracked as he explained. "He told me Captain Leo kept his cutting torch. You know, after he got fired. He said if I didn't get it for him, he was gonna...he was gonna hit me again."

"Son of a bitch," Bobby scoffed, but the Callaway girl could barely hear him. She was staring at the blonde boy with a pained expression. He may be lying to that man, but she could tell that the 'again' definitely was the truth.

The Maybank boy glanced at her to read her face before looking away. "I'm sorry."

"Come on down, both of you," the guard told them, and they began climbing down the ladder. "I almost killed you!"

"I know. I'll just come up with something. Tell him I couldn't find it," JJ sniffled.

They were on the ground now, and Bobby nodded. "All right."

"Sorry," the blonde told him, and the two teenagers began making their way back to the van, neither of them saying a word about what just happened.