"WHAT NOW?" JJ QUESTIONED, LOOKING AROUND AT HIS FRIENDS. They were outside of the Cameron's house, in their boat next to My Druthers, the huge boat that was owned by Ward. "We just go up to the front door and ask, 'Hey, have you seen John B?'"

They hadn't heard from the Routledge boy since he stole the gun and left the Chateau. Kie responded hesitantly, "Look, he lives at Tannyhill now. It's plausible."

"I seriously doubt he would come back here unless it was to kill Ward," Bree piped in, not that she thought John B was truly capable of murder, but she was trying to think about what she would do in that situation.

Kie suggested, "Look, we can play dumb."

"Play dumb?" JJ asked, confused. Maybe if they pretended like they didn't know that Ward killed Big John, then they might stand a chance of not making the man suspicious if they asked where their friend was.

"Look, I've never seen John B like that," Kie said, glancing at all of them who could say the same. That was the first time they had seen the boy act like that. "We should honestly be going to the cops."

The Maybank boy scoffed. "The cops — Yeah, and say what, Kie? We're worried about our friend because he's going off on a rampage because Ward Cameron killed Big John? Like, they're not gonna believe us!"

"Hey, I see Ward," Pope announced, and they turned to him to see that he had some binoculars held up to his eyes, and he was pointing them toward one of the windows to the house.

The Carrera girl walked over to him and reach out her hand, taking them away from him and holding them up to her own face so that she could see what he was seeing. "Let me see."

"Doesn't look dead to me," the Heyward boy shrugged, and he sounded like he was in a rush. "Let's go home."

"Wait, what?" Bree asked him as the others furrowed their eyebrows and whipped their heads around to watch him as he got behind the wheel. Why was he brushing this off like it was nothing?

He just threw his arms up in the air in frustration. "Uh... Okay. Obviously, Mr. Cameron is fine, and even if John B was here, he isn't now, okay? Plus, I have the biggest, most important moment of my life in six hours."

"Yeah, well our friend is in trouble," Kie argued.

"I'm in trouble," he countered before explaining to them his situation. "Guys, I haven't been home in three days. My dad's probably put all my shit on the street by now."

The Callaway girl got where he was coming from. She had been home since Midsummers while he hadn't, but she still didn't know what she was going to tell her mother when she got home. Kie seemed hurt. "Okay, so that's it? In a time of need, you're just gonna bail? You're just gonna walk away?"

"Okay, yo, guys, can we not do this right now?" the Maybank boy pleaded, repositioning his hat so that he had something to do with his hands. The arguing was making him a bit uncomfortable.

"Hey, I have a scholarship interview in the morning," he reminded them as if he hadn't been talking about it for the last couple of months, and they got it. It was a very important moment in his life. "I can't—"

Cutting him off, the raven-haired girl yelled, "Okay, well, what about John B?"

"Why is it always about John B?" the Heyward boy questioned, and Bree could tell that this question was coming from somewhere deep inside. It wasn't just about this particular situation.

"It's not always about John B," Kie replied after a moment of silence and a sigh from JJ. "You're so stupid. It would be any of you guys in this situation! This is about friendship!"

Scared that they were going to alert someone that they were there, the blonde boy glanced at the brunette girl nervously before muttering, "Bring it down."

"Look, this is about Pogues for life," she added.

"What about forensic pathology, huh?" he quizzed angrily, talking about what he wanted to study and got to school for, what his future was. "It's my life. Everything I've worked for."

The Carrera girl scoffed, walking around the wheel so that her and Pope were face-to-face as they argued. "Forensic pathology? That's your priority?"

"Stop the moral high ground bullshit!" he ordered, and both Bree and JJ looked at each other in panic, knowing where he was about to bring the conversation. It was not going to be good.

Bree groaned, "Pope, come on."

"Excuse me?" Kie seemed taken aback by his comment as he shook his head at the Callaway girl.

"No, no. She has no room to talk. Where were you when Big John went missing?" he asked her with raised eyebrows, and the Maybank and the brunette winced. Low blow. "You weren't there. You weren't there for John B. You weren't there for any of us. Remember your Kook year?"

JJ spoke up, "Dude."

"Yeah, you forgot about us. Now you feel guilty," the Heyward boy continued, ignoring his friends trying to stop him from going a place that he didn't want to go, but it was too late.

The curly-haired girl stared at him with pain in her eyes before shoving him so hard he almost fell off the boat. "Give me a break." That began a physical fight composed of shoving between the two. "Is that what you need? You need a break? Move."

"Hey!" Bree shouted as her and JJ stepped into the fight.

"Hey! Yo, yo, yo, cut it out, all right? If I'm the one mediating, we've hit rock bottom," he told his friends, pushing them apart so that they couldn't touch each other anymore. Then he pointed at Pope as Kie sat down behind him. "Bow, now. Go! Pope, I'll drop you off."

After separating them like they were two little kids fighting about something stupid, Bree sat down on the ground in the middle while JJ drove. They spent the rest of the drive in silence.

《✵》

BREE WAS WALKING UP TO HER HOUSE WHEN SHE SAW IT. Her keys were in her hands, and she almost dropped them, her eyes widening, when she caught sight of the 'For Sale' sign smack dab in the middle of her yard.

She froze and blinked for a second, worried that maybe she was hallucinating after the long couple of days she had had, but when she opened her eyes again, it was still there, almost like it was mocking her. After she snapped out of the small trance it put her in, she walked over to it, yanked it out of the ground, and stormed inside.

She found her mother sitting on the couch and watching TV, and she held up the sign so that the woman could see it just in case she hadn't known that it was there. "What the fuck is this?"

"Language, Gabby," Allison scolded, still not looking away from the screen in front of her that was playing an episode of Grey's Anatomy.

So, the younger Callaway took matters into her own hands, and she reached over to the remote on the coffee table and pointed it at the screen, turning the television off before turning to her mother again. "Mom."

"We're selling the house," Allison announced, and Bree's jaw almost dropped in shock. She didn't not expect it, but she had been hoping that it was a mistake and someone put the sign in the wrong yard. "I can't afford it anymore, so we're going to sell it."

After a moment of taking the information in and processing it, the younger female muttered, "What?"

"God, Gabrielle. You have to listen to me sometimes. We are selling the house," her mother sighed after rolling her eyes in annoyance at the girl.

Bree stared at her in disbelief, her mind flooding with a million thoughts at once. She was desperate not to lose that house. It was the house that she grew up in. All of her childhood memories took place in that house. "I'll pick up longer shifts at work. We can find a way."

"No, Gabby," the woman ordered, standing up and putting her arms on either one of her daughter's shoulders, forcing her to look her in the eyes as she spoke.

"I have a plan," she informed her, and her breathing was getting a little heavy because she was freaking out. They just needed to get the gold. If they got the gold, everything would be fine. "I just need some time. Buy me some time."

Allison sighed, shaking the girl so that she would snap out of her panic mode. "Gabby, stop! There's nothing that we can do!"

"Don't say that. There's always something we can do. I'm telling you. I can fix it," Bree assured her. They were going to get the gold as soon as they possibly can. Everything was going to be all right.

"Will you just shut up?" her mother exclaimed, finally releasing her shoulders and pointing an accusing finger at her as her face contorted with anger. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

The younger Callaway furrowed her eyebrows, freezing for a moment to listen to the woman. "What the hell are you talking about, Mom?"

"You wanted to be a Pogue so badly? Well, guess what side of the island we're going to be living on."