THEY FACED ANOTHER OBSTACLE ON THEIR WAY TO THE CHURCH. Well, actually, it was pretty much the same obstacle. The tide had risen significantly since they left, which was going to make it a lot more risky to drive the Twinkie through it. Pope exclaimed, "Ah, crap! The tide! Oh, this doesn't look good."

"How deep is that?" Kie questioned, and Bree craned her neck to see if she could gauge how deep the water was. It was too murky, though, so she could not see the bottom. It could be anywhere from just a couple of inches to a whole person deep.

"I don't know," the Routledge boy answered before stating the obvious, "The road's gone."

JJ sighed as he, too, examined the water and how deep it was. There was a chance that they would definitely be able to make it, but there was also a chance that they definitely would not be able to make it. "Tide rose faster than I thought it would."

"Just a little bit," the brunette boy muttered.

The Maybank boy turned to his friend with raised eyebrows, trying to do the math to see if there was a way that they could be sure that nothing would happen. "Uh, John B, how high are the spark plugs?"

"They're good. We're fine," John B answered, and everyone furrowed their eyes in confusion because he was answering a question that the other boy did not ask.

Pope questioned again, more clearly and enunciated this time so that his friend understood, "How high are they?"

"Oh, um..." the brunette boy trailed off, sticking his head out of the window so that he could check the back. He responded, "Uh, just above the taillight."

"Okay, so that's, what, three feet?" the Heyward boy asked after thinking for a second.

The blonde boy confirmed with a nod, looking between the two other males in the car while Bree tapped her foot nervously. The longer they sat waiting there, the closer Limbrey would be to finding the cross, but if they went through the water and it was too deep, that would delay them for even longer. "That's three feet. Yeah."

"It can't be three feet deep," Kie insisted, squinting at the water in an attempt to see the bottom. However, she was unable to do so, so she just slumped back down in her seat.

John B questioned with raised eyebrows, trying to pretend like nothing was wrong and that they were definitely going to make it through the water when they all knew that there was a good that there were not. "Then what's the problem?"

"Not a problem," JJ assured him, but it sounded a lot like he was trying to convince himself more than his friends. "No, we're good. We're good. She'll make it."

"This is not going to end well," Bree murmured to herself before grabbing onto one of teh handles that were attached to the ceiling.

John B nodded, taking a deep breath as he prepared. "Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts. Hold on to something. We're going into hyperdrive."

"I'll say a quick prayer," JJ informed them, closing his eyes.

"Three, two, one," the Routledge boy counted down, and Bree held her breath as he slammed on the gas. There was a lot of yelling as they made it almost halfway into the water. Then, she groaned as the vehicle slid down the hill and into the water below. The brunette boy groaned loudly and started freaking out. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

Pope told them, "I think we miscalculated." Sarah made a sarcastic gesture, holding her fingers really close like it was not that big of a deal that they were sinking and had no way out.

"I knew I should have driven," the blonde boy grunted out before turning around and looking at the Callaway girl. "Are you okay?"

"Better than I would be if you had driven," she mumbled in response, and they kind of stared at each other for a second. They had not really spoken since the kiss, and it was still really awkward except the times that she kind of forgot that it had happened, which was almost never. That was not their biggest problem at that moment, though.

They got out of the vehicle and waded through the water so that they could meet up on the same side. Pope sighed, looking around at their surroundings, "Okay, maybe we can walk from here."

"What? And leave the Twinkie?" John B exclaimed like it was the craziest thing in the world, which it probably was to him. That car was his baby. "The... the tide's coming in."

"So then what are we supposed to do?" Sarah questioned with raised eyebrows, looking at everyone to see if any of them had any ideas.

Kie stared at the ground, and she seemed to be thinking about something for a second before she exhaled deeply and informed them, "I can take my dad's truck."

"Kie, are you sure?" John B questioned. He did not want her getting on even worse terms with her parents because of him, no matter what the situation was. Even though she claimed that she had nothing to lose, at least she knew that they were there and safe. The Callaway girl still had no clue where her mother was, and she had no contact with her since she left.

She shrugged defeatedly. "How much worse can it get, you know?"

"We need something to pull her out with," JJ pointed out, remembering the plan to save the Twinkie. "There's the winch at the Chateau. That's, like, two miles."

"I'll come with you guys," Bree told them. There was no way that she would be able to just sit there and do nothing while she waited for them to come back. She had to move and feel like she was doing something to help.

"If you're gonna do it, let's go, okay?" the brunette boy informed them before reminding them about the condition of the Twinkie. "Tide's coming in. Twinkie's going underwater."

They all nodded before wading through the water and toward the land. They started walking up the hills, and JJ was ushering them forward in an attempt to make them move faster. "Double time, girls. We gotta move."

《✵》

"THIS'LL ONLY TAKE A SEC," JJ INFORMED THEM. They had just reached the Chateau, and he was climbing out of the still moving truck. "I think it's in the surf shack. Yeah. It's in the surf shack. I'll be right back."

"Got it," Bree responded with a nod. Just before that, Kie had crept into her house and stolen the keys to her father's truck. The Callaway girl was almost 100% sure that her parents heard them, but they had not stuck around long enough to find out.

"Be right out," he let them know. He was out of the car and sprinting toward the building. He made it about two feet before he tripped and fell flat on his face. Bree snorted in the car as he climbed to his feet once again and yelled to them, "I'm okay!"

The two girls nodded at him through their laughter and made small talk while they were waiting for him. After a couple of minutes, Bree furrowed her eyebrows. "What is taking him so long?"

"I don't know. JJ!" the Carrera girl shouted, honking her horn to get the boy's attention. There was no response, and the brunette girl was starting to get a little worried. After a couple more minutes, he returned, but he was not alone.

His father was with him.

"What the frick?" Kie exclaimed as the two girls climbed out of the car to meet him with confused expressions. She shook her head. "No. Immediately, no. What is this?"

The blonde boy gestured to the door while looking at his father, signaling for him to climb in. "Just get in the truck."

"I'm sorry. The Twinkie's drowning right now, JJ. What is the plan? What is this?" the raven-haired girl questioned, and it was clear that she was angry.

Bree, taking a slightly calmer approach, added, "Yeah, what is happening?"

"Listen to me. Listen to me, okay? I need to get into the marina at the Island Club. There's a boat there he can take. You got the sticker on your truck," the Maybank boy explained to them frantically, and the Callaway girl sighed because she knew that there was no talking him out of this. "Twenty minutes, that's all I need."

"The Twinkie's gonna be a submarine in minutes," Kiara reminded him urgently. Their friends were waiting for them, and they could not just let them down by forgetting about them and being hours late.

He nodded with a sigh. "I know, Kie."

"Hey, JJ, what if we leave him here, and then, we can come back for him once we're done getting the cross," Bree offered, trying to make some sort of compromise so that everything would work out.

"The cops are after him!" JJ yelled, and his voice was desperate and pleading. His eyes were begging her and Kie to just let him do this one thing before they went to rescue their friends. "If I do this now, maybe I will never have to do it again."

Kie just groaned with an expression that told them that she was giving up on arguing. She just climbed into the car, and Bree climbed into her seat with JJ and his father in the back. The Carrera girl glared at the man in her back seat. "Don't talk to me."

"Hey, pull up to Home Food here. I'm gonna need provisions," Luke told them as they passed a market. Kie sighed, pulling to a stop as JJ got out of the car. "Crackers and baked beans and tuna, all right? And some salt and pepper." -

"Yeah. Five days' worth. I know," the blonde boy muttered as he headed into the store, leaving his father alone with the two girls.

They sat in awkward silence for a moment before Kie spoke up despite her better judgment telling her not to say anything. "You're a terrible father, you know that?"

"Yeah, preach it to me. Set me straight," the man murmured with an amused voice.

"Do you have any idea how special your son is?" the brunette girl added, deciding that if her friend got to take her shots, then she should be allowed to as well. It was too late to turn back then. "Like, even a clue?"

Luke responded, "He's a thief is what he is."

"What are you? You're just a wasted local salt who never did shit but get messed up and hustle people. Not exactly impressive," the raven-haired girl scoffed as they both glared at him through the mirror.

"You know, you sound just like your mama. She was just like that in high school. Always thought she was better than everybody else. Kook princess. You know, I bet you're a lot like your mama. Slumming with the bad boys. Are you an ungrateful shit like she was?" He was talking to the Carrera girl, but Bree felt her blood boil as he spoke as well. The bell to the store rang, indicating that JJ was walking out. "I bet you are. Miss Figure Eight, hopping up there on your high horse, riding around in daddy's car."

Because he was leaning forward and Bree had a really good angle, the brunette girl lifted up her elbow and jammed it straight into the man's nose. He groaned in pain, leaning back and checking his nose to make sure that he was not bleeding. Kie smiled at her gratefully turning to him. "Don't talk about my family."

"Hey. Let's get this over with, yeah?" JJ said once he appeared and handed his father his provisions. He raised his eyebrows at the two girls in the front seat, specifically the Callaway girl.

She nodded. "Yeah."