"JJ, I think you're a really good person." Layla words made him look at her oddly, the pair going into the store together to get whatever Luke needed, "I'd never do this."

JJ laughed slightly, "Yeah, you would. That's where I learned it from."

Layla handed him the packs of tuna, JJ's hand clasping her wrist as she gave an alarming look, "I'm really, really, sorry I wasn't there for you last night."

"It's not like you knew." Layla said back, feeling guilty, "What I said wasn't me, I was just so angry."

"But you weren't there and I should have know something was wrong." JJ sighed as he let her wrist go, "That's what you'd do if it was me."

Layla frowned slightly as she kicked his foot lightly, "You showed up in the end, didn't you? You were there, it just took a second for things to sink in. That's all that's matters."

JJ nudged her with his shoulder, "Next time your dad tries to kill you, i'll be there immediately."

"Very comforting, thank you." Layla hummed as they laid the items on the counter, "Whats the dam-"

Layla stopped as she met Florences eye behind the counter.

"Oh, yo." JJ's eyed widened as well, "You're working here?"

"I have been for a year now." Florance gave him a odd look, "Considering I always let it slide when the two of you would steal alcohol."

Layla snorted, "Wasn't for us, of course."

"Right." Florence hummed as she began scanning the items, "You two going on a fishing trip?"

"No."

"Yes."

The duo shared looks of disbelief together as Florence looked oddly between the pair.

"I am, JJ is just helping me pick out what i'll need." Layla gave a forced laugh, throwing her thump JJ's way, "Knows me better then I know myself, am I right?"

JJ also forced a laugh.

Florance looked between the pair oddly, "7.08."

"Where the hell were you guys?" Pope hollered as the truck parked, the trio jumping out.

"Sarah!" Layla yelled, throwing a pack of sunflower seeds at her, "I know you like em."

"Luke was at the Chateau." JJ spoke, reaching into the back while Layla pulled down the tailgate.

"Oh, great! While you were having family time with your pops, John B got bit by a gator!" Pope yelled, the trio looking over with wide eyes.

"Like, for real?" JJ rose his eyebrows.

Sarah pointed at John B's leg, "Does it look like we're joking?"

"Hold up, I think I have tylenol on me." Layla dug into her pockets.

Kie pushed past her, "What the hell even happened?"

"He got bit by a gator!"

"I got bit by a gator!"

"I dunno why i'm being yelled at. I put my ass on the line." Kie shouted back at him.

"You said twenty minutes!" Pope shouted.

"We got here as fast as we could!" Kie argued back.

"Oh- yeah, great, great-"

"Shut up!" JJ cut into the five arguing, their eyes turning his way to see him red in the face with an overly stressed expression, "Seriously, guys, I can't take it anymore, all right? Everyone just cut it out for a second."

Layla bit the inside of her mouth as JJ leaned against the tree and began again, "Look, I just helped my dad leave this island for good. Like, he's not ever coming back. He straight up like the Spanish, just, 'Bon voyage.'"

The group shared a silently odd look at his words but choose not to call him out for once.

"All we got, and I know for a fact all I got is you guys, okay? You're it." JJ waved his arms as he looked around at his group of friends, "And I've come too close to losing you, all of you."

He pointed toward Kie, "I mean, shit, you almost drowned! Pope, you were kidnapped. Sarah, you've been shot. John B, you were almost dinner for a freaking gator, bro. Layla, you almost died in a freaking sauna room, sick way to die, but i'd loose my shit if you actually did."

Layla rubbed his back slightly as he went on, "So, this blaming each other is some Kook-ass bullshit, all right? We don't do that. Okay? We're pogues. Sorry, that was a lot right now."

The group shared a look before they slowly began to applause him together.

"Okay." JJ waved them off, flipping each of them off as they continued on.

"JJ, love, I think you've got your languages mixed up." Layla patted his back.

"Let's Bon Voyage out of here." Sarah encouraged as she slide down the side of the Twinkie.

"Okay, you're telling me Denmark Tanny decided to hide the cross here?" JJ asked in disbelief.

"Everybody, just spread out." Kie encouraged.

"Okay, well, if I was a cross and wanted to be hidden in an old church, where would I hide?" John B spoke out loud in questioning.

"What a good mindset you have, John B." Layla hummed sarcastically, kicking a branch out of the way for Sarah.

"So, do you get your dads church now or what?" Sarah asked her as she looked over at her.

"Yeah, well, Henry's name is on the lease but it's mine." Layla exhaled as she looked over at her, "Maybe I should turn it into a sapphic shop and I make a bunch of drawing with your face on it."

"Sounds good." Sarah grinned at her.

"Are you sure that Denmark hid the cross here, Pope?" JJ spoke up in questioning, "Like, are we at the right church?"

"It's gotta be here somewhere, guys." Pope shook his head, standing at the alter.

"What if we have to push a secret button or, like, okay, like a..a certain chord, and then all of a sudden, the ground beneath us reveals the catacombs or something on which we stand?" JJ spoke up as he looked down at the ground, standing near the piano.

"It's not an escape room." Kie rolled her eyes.

"It's gotta be in here!" Pope snapped suddenly.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." JJ rose his hands in defense.

"I can't see where they'd hide a giant cross here." John B said, taking note of the lack of hiding spots around them.

"Maybe it's under the church?" Layla suggested, "Like, a tunnel?"

"No, no. There's no way he would set us up on a freaking goose chase that would lead us to a church that has nothing." Pope stressed as he threw his arms around, eyes wide.

"Yes, I get it. I don't know what to tell you, man." John B shook his head.

"The clues led us here. The cross is in this church." Pope repeated as if he was talking to a three-year-old.

"Pope, it'll be all right." John B stated as Pope threw himself onto one of the benches, "We've had setbacks in the past, and we figured it out."

"We've just gotta think about this logically, all right?" John B took on his role as calming them down, "Where else would you hide a seven-foot-tall cross made of gold?"

"I'd jump off a cliff." Layla answered his question.

"Layla." Sarah gave her a look of disbelief.

"Sorry, i'd hide in a church where a bunch of teenagers will find me." Layla corrected herself with a cheeky grin, "Better?"

Pope lowered the eyeglass, staring up at the ceiling.

"What?" JJ asked as Pope stood up.

They followed his gaze to, what appeared to just be part of the wood built on the ceiling. With a harder look, it had been clear it was shaped like crosses.

"Oh my god. Look at that." Kie gapped.

Pope began to climb up on the side of the wall.

"Hey, no!" JJ shouted at him.

"Now Pope's climbing the wall." John B voiced.

"I'm surprised he didn't take JJ with him." Layla hummed.

"Yo! This church's got to be at least two hundred years old." JJ called as Pope crawled to the top.

"He's right, Pope. It's too dangerous." John B added in.

"Pope!" Kie yelled out.

"All right, this one solid wood." Pope said as he hit one of the ceiling posts, "I'm gonna try the other beam."

"Pope, that's rotten as shit right there, okay?" JJ spoke up.

"Pope, please come down. I feel like my heart is about to jump out of my chest." Layla called up to him.

Pope knocked on the next post.

"Pope, I hate to break it to you, but that's wood." JJ scratched the back of his neck.

"It has to be here. I know it." Pope spoke as he rose to his feet on the beam. He walked around the post in the middle.

"Bro, just watch out for that giant wasp nest right above your head," JJ called out to him, taking notice.

"Yeah, Pope. Don't you remember when I ran into that bee hive last winter? You had to put ointment on my face for almost a month." Layla called up to him, missing the odd look Sarah was sending her.

"Just move slow, all right? Nice and easy." John B added in.

Pope stumbled.

"Woah, hey!" JJ hollered out.

"God!" Sarah huffed.

"Look." Pope gasped as he looked at the post, "It's hallow. Go get me a crowbar!"

"What are you gonna do, Pope?" JJ asked as Sarah hurried toward the twinkie, "I don't want this entire church to collapse on top of us."

"Hey. Pope." Sarah called as she walked back in with the it.

"Throw it." he encouraged.

"Everybody watch your head." John B said as they all back up. Layla backed up, yanking Sarah's arm the second she tossed it into the air.

"Pope, there's the wasp nest right up there, okay?" John B pointed by Pope's head, "Just move slow, all right?"

Pope began hitting the wood with the crowbar, wood falling down toward them.

"What is that?" Sarah questioned as they noticed something was inside of the wood.

"Oh my god." Layla laughed.

"It's here." Sarah gasped.

"You did it, bubby." JJ grinned up at him.

"What is that?" Sarah laughed.

"Holy shit!" Kie cheered with a laugh of her own, her and Layla sharing a gapping look.

"We did it!" JJ yelled as he wrapped his arms around John B.

Pope yelled as his shock and excitement.

"We did it! We did it!" Pope called down to them with a huge smile across his face, "Okay, they're stringing now. Ow!"

The crowbar came down, Sarah put a arm over Layla's head to block her. Pope began hitting his skin, the wasp swarming him in harsh bites. Pope suddenly lost his balance, falling over the side and holding onto the wood for dear life.

"Hold on, Pope!" Kie yelled in a panic.

"Cushions!" Sarah yelled as they all spread out, moving things and grabbing all the cushions.

"I can't hold on!" Pope called.

"Hang on, Pope, we always got it!" the Winters girl encouraged.

"I'm slipping!" Pope hollered as they stacked the cushions under him, his hand letting go as he plummeted down onto the cushions.

"Pope, are you okay?" Kie asked as they all hurried to help him up.

Pope's eyes went wide as he stared directly above him, rolling over quickly as they all backed up. The golden cross fell down, hitting the cushions suddenly as they all barely got out of the way.

"Pope, are you okay?" Kie repeated as JJ went to his side.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just give me, like, one second to, like, catch my breath." Pope breathed heavily on the floor. Layla sighed in relief as she rubbed his head.

"You did it, Pope." John B gushed as they all looked mesmerized by the cross.

"Pope, she's beautiful." JJ gasped as he looked over it.

"I've never seen anything like it." Sarah laughed.

"Well, here's why Limbrey wanted that key so bad." John B said as he looked at the keyhole.

"How much you think she's worth? Like, if we melted her old bones down, dude, I'm talking like high billions." JJ spoke quickly as his excitement got the very best of him.

"No, this belongs in a museum." John B stopped him.

"So no one sees her?" JJ asked John B in disbelief.

"In a museum where everybody sees it." John B shook his head.

"Are you kidding?" JJ asked.

"Hey! It's my ancestors' cross." Pope cut them both short.

"Right, okay. All right, all right." JJ nodded.

"This is bigger than money, and the worlds gotta know the truth." Pope breathed heavily as he gripped the base of the bench.

"Yes. And if we don't get this shit out of here before Limbrey gets here, nobody's gonna know. So saddle up." John B announced.

"Bob the builder time, baby." Layla rubbed her hands together and rolled up the sleeves of the bright green sweater.

JJ nodded as they all grabbed different sides of the cross, "John B, you're gonna pull, all right? Pull down."

"I'm gonna pull down. You guys pull up. Ready? One, two, three." John B spoke as the six all attempted to move the cross, lifting and pulling as hard as they could.

"Who's not lifting right now?" JJ spoke up as they all carried a heavyweight, moving it a few feet forward.

"Okay, guys. I can't, I can't." Pope said quickly as began to lower.

"No, no, no, no!"

"Pope! Hang in there! No, no, no."

They all dropped it when Pope let his side go, the cross falling back on the floor.

"Damn it, yo! You almost dropped it on my foot!" JJ shouted at Sarah suddenly.

"JJ, your tone." Layla gave him a look.

"Cause I'm the only one lifting it!" Sarah defended herself.

"Okay, okay, okay! Listen, we'll make like a sling, like a little-" John B began trying to reason.

"Yeah, and then we put it on the tail hitch." JJ nodded alongside him.

"Guys! I'm not okay. I'm not okay." Pope announced as he clutched his chest.

Pope sat down, looking up with swollen eyes and cheeks.

"Shit, I gave all my tylenol to John B." Layla felt around her pockets.

"You don't look too good bro." JJ said as they crowded him in a panic.

"I can't-" Pope began gasping for air.

"It's an allergic reaction." Kie panicked

Pope suddenly collapsed.

"Oh my god, okay, cheer his air way." Layla gapped.

"Get his legs!" Sarah encouraged alongside her.

"JJ, try and hide it." John B said, referring to the cross as they all lifted Pope off the ground.

"JJ! We gotta go!" Kie called out as JJ ran out of the church.

"Pope, what do you need, buddy?" JJ called out to him in a panic. Pope began hitting his arm.

"I know where to go! Give me the keys!" JJ yelled over toward Kie.

"They're in the ignition!" Kie answered for her as JJ jumped in.

"Hang on, Pope! We're going!" JJ called as he stepped on the gas.

•

kylie speaks

raymond owning a
homophobic church that
now belongs to his lesbian
daughter is the most iconic
and ironic thing to ever happen.