A MORNING IN THE CHATEU was always something Sierra found strangely comforting. She didn't know what it was about the cool breeze that drifted in from the variety of open windows, or how the warm sunlight poured in through the curtains to illuminate house. JJ was wrapped in her arms, face either squished into her chest or drooling on the pillow, the birds chirping replaced the usual tune that would hum from the radio Big John always had out. Sierra found herself at peace as her eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the environment around her. Her body moved, stretching to get herself prepared for the day, but before she could think about leaving the bed JJ tugged close.

He let out soft groans and murmurs that Sierra could hardly make out but she managed to hear a quiet good morning. The girl chuckled, ruffling his golden hair before soothingly running her fingers through it.

"Jay." Sierra softly let out, her voice slightly hoarse from the laughter. She was met with silence, JJ hardly moved, if anyone was to walk in they'd assume he died somehow. "Jay."

"Hmm." He out a muffled groan in response, one eye peaking open.

"You gonna get up?"

"Probably not."

"Thought so." Sierra pulled her hand away from his grasp and begun her usual routine of having to drag him out the pull out couch. "Up, up and away, JJ."

"It's too early for this!" He protested, dragging the blanket with him.

"If I had a clock right now, it's probably be at least twelve by now." Sierra replied back, after some more fighting she dropped JJ's arm and huffed. She nearly accepted defeat before her eyes glanced out the open door, landing on the vacant hot tub. The Ray girl let out a chuckle as her footsteps disappeared into the room.

JJ didn't pay much attention, half of his body dangling out the pull out couch while the other half hung on. Sierra's footsteps came back but instead passed right by him, JJ furrowed his brows, squinting to focus on her retreating figure. Her hair up and her comfortable pajamas stripped away, only a bikini covering what was necessary as she made her way to the hot tub.

"Now wait a minute, wait a minute." JJ quickly scrambled himself up, untangling his body from the blankets as he followed after her. "I mean, if you would've mentioned this I might've gotten up."

Sierra turned around, watching as JJ quickly pushed the door open and trudged towards her, a clear smirk imbedded into her features. "Well look who's up."

"Can I just say that you look amazing." He examined her figure taking his time to look at every single detail about her.

"Thanks." Sierra smiled, turning her body to climb into the hot tub. "Care to join me?"

"Care to join you?" JJ scoffed, "Care to fucking join you, of course i'm gonna join you!" He climbed in, relaxing as the warm water met his tanned skin. "Nice morning don't you think?"

"Mhmm." Sierra hummed, resting her body against the end of the hot tub, relaxing her body into the luxury tub. She glanced over at him, he just watched her, his eyes not leaving her figure even after being caught, his lips twitched up, his hazy eyes had brightened once more. JJ looked like he was okay, his mood was much more genuine and free than the night before. "How are you?"

"Better now that me and you together, in a hot tub, alone, and totally not five feet apart." He leaned in closer, his smile getting wider.

"I'm serious, Jay, how are you feeling?"

The blonde rolled his eyes, "I hate when you do that thing, worrying too much about me, just chill, live life." He sighed quietly, he was tired, simply tired, not only physically but mentally. Sierra knew that JJ lived through shit that no teen should live through and knew how exhausted he got of having to fake happiness until he was numb of all feelings. "I don't want people to worry about me."

"I can't ever not worry about you, Jay." Sierra replied, fiddling with her fingers as her soft eyes gazed at him, throughout the years of being his friend Sierra always cared more about JJ then anything else. She had learned to pick up on subtle cues that indicated if he was stressed, scared, worried, angry. When he fidgeted with his rings, ran a hand through his hair, bit his lips till they bled, or even a quick flash of emotion in his eyes signaled that something changed.  JJ was tough to get to, but she had also learned how to help. It wasn't easy, the blonde had created a nearly indestructible wall around himself that protected from all, yet Sierra had somehow managed to get passed it. "You know I love you." JJ looked up at the sound of her soft words. "And I always will, and I'll always care."

JJ smiled, Sierra leaned over hugging him tightly before planting a quick kiss onto his lips. "I love you too." JJ softly whispered, his eyes quickly looking down. "And your boobs are making me really horny right now."

Sierra threw her head back in as her throat ignited with loud giggles, her smile wide while her arms hung around JJ neck.  "You have a serious issue, Jay."

"I know, I'm sorry." He mumbled back, admiring her glowing state. "I can't help it."

—

An hour had drifted by, JJ sat on the edge of the tub, his feet kicking around in the water as Sierra dried off. Pope and Kiara pulled up not too long ago with supplies ready, the Heyward boy looked stressed as always as he laid out the tools onto the large yard.

"Where the hell is John B!" Pope immediately asked as Sierra stepped out the Chateu in a a new pair of clothes.

"Good morning to you." Sierra replied as Pope his eyes, instead opting to distract himself by setting up the pulley. The smart adolescent planned out everything, ready to put into action except for the minor issue, John B had been gone with out word for a too long.

"John B pulling a Houdini." JJ announced a thirty minutes passed by and nothing had changed except for the fact that Kiara was now inside a large bucket whilst Pope tugged on a long rope, directing her up and down.

"Do you think Ward drowned him for macking on his daughter?" Sierra smirked, reaching for the beer that JJ had in his hand.

"All alone, in the middle of sea with your girlfriends dad? We should probably be planning a funeral by now, especially since it's Ward of all people." JJ added out, snatching by the beer that Sierra took from him.

"Ward is intense, and rich, he could cover it real quick."

"How's it feeling?" Pope loudly questioned, attempting to ignore the duos teasing comments which only fed in his growing anxiety. "I bet John B's gonna be real impressed, since he's definitely coming soon." The prayer was more to reassure himself more than to convince everybody else.

"Feels good."

"Alright, I'm taking you down." Sierra approached the practice area, as Pope called it, placing a hand on the boys shoulder.

"Sooo, how's the plan going?" Sierra asked, "Looks pretty sturdy to me."

"It's going fine, thank you for asking, I just wish that John B could be here. I got a scholarship meeting tomorrow, we gotta get this done!" Pope replied, his voice getting progressively louder with each word as the ticking in his head nearly exploded. "I calculated it all this morning, if he isn't here in the next thirty minutes that'll only give us five hours till sundown and by then-"

"Pope." Sierra interrupted, "Respectively, shut the fuck up, all this stress is gonna make your hair line recede, do you really want that?"

Pope lifted a hand, running in through the short curls, gulping softly. "No."

"Then take a chill pill, go to a spa or something." Sierra smiled as the boy rolled his eyes. "He'll be here."

"Only if he isn't wrestling in the sheets with Sarah right now." JJ remarked as footsteps marched the grass, crunching the leaves under their bare feet. "Speak of the devil. Hey!" John B emerged from behind the trees, walking right past the group, not acknowledging any one of their presence. It didn't help that he looked terrible, his clothes were messy, wrinkly, his hair thrown around in different directions, he didn't even have shoes on and his face was unreadable. "Dude, I set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything."

"No, he did not, I did that." Pope immediately corrected, glaring at JJ's beaming face. "You sat there, checking Sierra out for the past hour, and occasionally sipping beer. Which by the way, is a stupid decision given how early it is!"

"Oh, well, I contributed at least a little bit, I passed you a wrench!"

"Hey, John B." Kiara called out, taking note of his blank expression and silence towards the group.

"Oh, great he's in one of those moods." Sierra groaned watching as he entered the house, slamming the screen door behind him."I'm just gonna assume that the fishing trip went very well." She added on dryly.

The four began to follow, glancing at eachother in confusion. "What's that all about?"

"I was gonna ask you the same question."

As they entered the home they found the boy rummaging through different drawers, cabinets, searching underneath the furniture. His eyes clouded with anger, he disregarded each of them was looking for something and was determined to find it, yet he continued to ignore his friends questions. Suddenly, he reached under the cushion of the messy pull out couch, turning around John revealed JJ's gun tightly gripped in his hand.

Based on the look of his face the gun was exactly what he needed, it wasn't hard to figure out what he was going to do with it. The blonde pogue cautiously approached the boy, slowly glancing down between the gun and the cloudy eyes of his bestfriend. "John B, what do you need the gun for?" He planted his hands onto his shoulders. "Talk to us!"

There was no way of changing John B's mind that was twisted by fury and emotion, his intentions were set on leaving and using the gun on god knows what, or who. He plowed through JJ by shoving him harshly to the side before trudging towards Pope who also made an attempt in barricading the door. Kiara made the smart move of moving away whilst begging him to speak on what upset him so much.

"What are you doing?" Pope asked, arms extended outwards in a weak attempt of keeping him in. The Routledge boy gripped his shirt and pushed him away, sending Pope into the table with a loud crash. Kiara was quick to assist the boy, quietly cursing while her eyes examined for any injuries.

"JB, chill the fuck out, whats going on." Sierra questioned, blocking the door as John B paused, breathing heavily. "Come on, talk to us, we can help."

"There's no fixing what he's done." The boy finally spoke, his voice shaky and raspy. Before Sierra could question what he meant she was also pushed aside as he rushed towards JJ's bike, the group hurried after him but their protest were blocked out by him revving the engine loudly.

"John B what the actual fuck—"

"Ward knows about the gold." The Pogue's fell silent as his next words sank Sierra heart down to her stomach. "He killed my dad." For a split second his eyes flashed towards Sierra who's mouth hung open. "Not just mine."

The words pierced through Sierra, a chill ran down her spine as the boy left, leaving the news to sit in Sierra's mind. The sound of the obnoxious engine disappearing off into the distant as Kiara attempted to chase after it. Sierra's feet remained planted on the same dirt, practically stuck as she stared blankly, his words repeating in her mind.

—

There's was a lot of pacing, a lot. Sierra was sure that her mind had shut down because she felt numb, her vision blurred while the noise around muffled. The only thing that occupied her mind was the final words John B had left behind, she didn't know what to believe or how to separate the wrong from right anymore. Everything had just scrambled and now Sierra had figure out where each piece went once again. Ward Cameron, she knew that the wealthy man was capable of dangerous things but the murder of both John B and her father nearly made her collapse.

As if he wasn't already hated because of his greed and ignorance, now he had the stained blood of two admirable men on his hands. Sierra was told that her father was killed in a robbery gone wrong, period, case closed. Some guy just pulled the trigger, fled the scene, and left him to bleed out. Coincidentally it was Ward Cameron's house that'd been broken into, though there was no 911 call to report the incident, it just so happen to be that Robert Ray was at the right place at the right time. Or perhaps at the wrong place at the wrong time, Sierras whole point of you had begun to shift, she simply didn't know if it was reality or all some sort of fucked up nightmare her mind conjured up.

Maybe she was just a  marionette, strung up on a stage by some fucker in the universe who believed her whole life was a cruel joke that he could continuously mess with just for some laughs. The big joke of it all was that Sierra Ray would never get a single break in her life, just as things got better it immediately topple back down with a simple tug of the string.

"Sierra, we're leaving." Kiara announced, looking at the girl who hadn't stopped pacing, surely she must've been dizzy or tired. "Sierra." The girly haired girl let out a sigh, her words being ignored by her seemingly lost friend.

"Sierra." JJ spoke up, stepping up to stop her, his firm hands placed on her shoulders as she continued to stare at the ground. "We're going to look for JB, you comin'?"

"You guys go, I'll stay here just in case he comes back." Sierra finally spoke glancing up to look at the three, "I promise that I won't do anything rash, I'll just, lay down or something."

"Are you sure" Pope questioned, looking directly into her eyes, the Heyward boy was a fan on eye contact. He was your typically nerdy, shy boy who had no idea what being kissed by a girl even felt like, he coward away from eye contact like it was a disease. Anytime JJ hyped him up enough to talk to a girl Pope just ended up stuttering and blushing every time he'd even look at the girls eyes for two seconds. Yet with his friends he's manage to speak the most words through his gaze, his beaming dark eyes saying more words then his mouth could ever mutter.

"Yeah." Sierra nodded back, a small and slightly unconvincing smile pulling at her features. They all seemed hesitant and it was clear through the suffocating silence, leaving someone in such a state could lead to many outcomes, JJ especially was worried that Sierra thoughts would overflow her brain and he wouldn't be there to help let it out. "Please, go, I'll be okay!" Sierra ushered, pushing them out towards the dock as Kiara began to untie the boat from the wooden bridge. JJ began the loud motor and sat down behind the wheel. He gave the girl a look, one only she understood yet could never define with words. "Please don't fight, I know how stubborn each of you are so make sure to communicate and love each other."

As the boat faded off into the disappearing horizon Sierra began to walk back into the Chateau, she doesn't remember the last time it was so quiet. There'd always be some sort of noise, like a song blasting through one of the speakers, loud chatter clamoring over each other, the mix of JJ and John B's horribly loud snores, or even something as simple as the buzz of the lightbulb in the kitchen. One thing that always remained the same was the messiness, beer cans on the floor, soda stains on the carpet, opened cabinets, piled up dishes, maybe that's what made it feel so much like a home, it's strange but constant familiarity.

Sierra looked at the photos she kept on top of her drawer, John B and Sierra, wrapped up in each others arms with wide grins, young and innocent. She even reached for the scrapbook she'd made during freshman year so she could be like one of those cliche main characters in a coming-of-age movie. The photos had begun to peel off due to the cheap glue she used but most of it was intact. The pineapple stickers that framed the paper as her eyes wandered the page.

How she wished things could back to being so simple, no treasure hunt, no fighting, no deaths of any parents, just dumb kids. The backdoor had squealed open and slammed shut, footsteps trudge through the house quickly. "Pope, Kie? Hello?" It took Sierra only seconds before she ran out the room and searched the small house for the source of the weak calls.

She found a trembling John B on the verge of tears, a small flashlight in his hand, his head desperately looking around for any of his friends. "John B!" Sierra breathed out engolfing the boy in a tight hug, she felt his labored breath in her neck as he wrapped his arms around her. "I was so worried." Soon his breaths got heavy and turned into a sob, hot tears streamed down his sweaty face and onto Sierra's shoulder.

"Ward killed my dad, both of our dads, I tried to tell Sarah—I really did but...she wouldn't believe me." He explained through cries and hiccups, Sierra simply held onto his shaking body.

"It's alright, I believe you." Sierra felt her own tears well up, it was surprising that she'd only begun crying in that moment, before her mine was too preoccupied to even think about letting down anything, but now the seriousness of it all hit her, and uncontrollable tears begin to stream down her face.

"Everything is fucked, Sierra, it's so fucked." The boy mumbled sniffing loudly and pulling away from her grip. "I just, I wish got to say goodbye to him, but I fucked this whole thing up."

"Don't blame yourself, bird, none of this could've been prevented by either us." Sierra wiped her tears and dragged the boy into the Big John's office. On the old, small bulletin board was a picture of the two fathers smiling while on a fishing trip. "A proper goodbye, for the both of them."

—

The two sat on the edge of the dock, staring at the small raft they'd made with a picture of their fathers and a tiny candle. Sierra reached for the lighter in her pocket and ignited the candle, a sad smile on her face as John B planted it onto the dark water. "Goodbye dad."

"Goodbye, dad." Sierra repeated herself, pushing back the curly pieces of hair that fell on her face as the wind lightly whipped through the island. The small waves pushed the raft far into the marsh while the teens watched, Sierra heard a quiet sniffle beside her as she glanced over at John B. He tried to hold back his tears but couldn't help the few that slip down his face.

All Sierra could do was wrap an arm around his shoulder, his head falling to rest into her own. "We're gonna be okay."

—

(Ignore the fact that this part is in 1st person POV, I'll fix it soon.)

The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon, enough of it's light glared into Sierra closed eyes, slowly she awoke. Her neck and back aching as she sat up and looked around in confusion, she rubbed her tired eyes and once again stared into nothing in an attempt to remember what the hell was going on. Finally, it clicked, John B was fucking gone. The two had fallen asleep together and now he was missing, again. Sierra groaned but couldn't find it in herself to get up, she took the seemingly better option of laying back down and soaking in the rising sun.

It was peaceful, to say the least, something Sierra hadn't been able to recognize in the last few weeks. All the havoc and anguish that came with something that seemed like a kids game, it had Sierra head swirling with emotions that she was unable to process. It was happening all too quick, Sierra wasn't sure if she was even living in reality or just a horribly long nightmare.

"If we weren't fucked already, we definitely fucked now." John B loudly announced, his foot does trudging down the bridge and onto the dock. Sierra snapped her head in his direction, her brows scrunched together in confusion.

"What happened."

"Ward, he took all the gold." He replied, voice devoid of emotion, his expression unreadable. John B had grown tired of chasing after the gold, every day something new went wrong and cussed them to go back to square one. It became exhausting, running a crossing the Outerbanks so he could fulfill his fathers dream but John B wasn't sure how much fight he left to continue. They're Pogue's, there isn't much the could do with the little money they had, the bars of gold were their escape and now it was gone.

"What, no—how could he possibly know?" Sierra questioned frantically, John B simply shrugged his shoulders. "There isn't a single bar left, not one?"

"There's nothing, Si, that shithole was empty." The boy muttered, resting his head onto the life jackets. Sierra for need deeply and stared down at the water, she was lost, her mind even more scrambled, how is it possible that everything that could've possibly gone wrong, went wrong.

"Fuck." The girl whispered, her gazed fixed onto the wavy marsh until it tríales up to the orange sky. Maybe if she tried hard enough she'd find an answer in the clouds or some stupid shit like that, perhaps a sign from the big man himself. "We have to do something, anything!"

"There isn't something's we can do, Sierra, Ward Cameron won, he's got the gold is probably gonna pawn and buy some stupid rich people shit."

"He's a murder, JB, he fucking killed our dads. My life was ruined because that shit head didn't wanna get caught for his dirty work he was doin' on the down low!" Sierra let out a large sigh exasperation, her breath nearly running short from her mini rant. "I'm not just gonna let this go."

"Are you done?" John B questioned, glancing up at her as she glared at him.

"You know I have the power to kick your arm right now, your bad one, and I will laugh as you cry in pain." Sierra threatened, her hands planting themselves onto her hips as John B retracted his arm and protectively held by his chest. Sierra once again groaned and begun pacing, glancing up at the sky once more. Nothing, just a constant buzz of in the distance that begun to get louder as the seconds passed by, Sierra glanced over and saw a boat approaching. She smiled softly, standing near the edge as John B flinched, pulling his arm away. "Relax, I'm not gonna do anything."

"Right." He muttered looking over to where she was staring, "Where have they been?"

"Looking for you dickhead."

"Good morning." JJ loudly yelled, stopping the boat next to the dock as Kiara tied it off. "Glad to see that we made to the family reunion."

"You're a little late, Sierra just had this huge freak out and wouldn't shut up." John B smiled, reaching over to hug his best friend while Sierra slapped his shoulder.

"I'm glad that your safe." Kiara said, also pulling him in for a tight hug. "Where we were looking for you, we went to Sarah's and—"

Sierra quickly flashed her a look and signaled with her hands, Kiara paused and looked over at John B who'd grown tense at the mention of the blonde's name. "Yeah, shit's has officially hit the fan with that whole family."

"What do you mean, bro?" JJ questioned, watching as John B's expression scrunched up. For the next thirty minutes John B explained what happened and then the extra twenty minutes were Kiara and JJ yelling in anger. John B had gone back to lay down in the floor while Sierra tried her best to calm the two down. In the end Kiara did get better and JJ got silent, still fuming, but silent.

"You sure he got everything?" Kiara asked on me again as John B sighed and tugged at the dirty cast that was wrapped around his wrist.

"Every bar, the whole enchilada." He replied monotonically, grunting as he struggled to pull the bandage off his arm. Kiara watched, unamused and concerned, of all the Pogue's John B was the only one who hadn't freaked out.
"It's not like I expected a happy ending or some shit." He arm was finally free as he tossed the cast off to the side.

"John B—"

"What, Kie? it's a hairline fracture, who cares?" John B snapped back as Kiara glared at him.

"You should care, your arm could get messed up for life."

"It's fine you see." The boy lifted his arm and wiggled his fingers, confirming that he arm was fine. Sierra raised her brow and leaned down, squeezing his wrist, the boy quickly pulled back his arm and winced. "Hey, it's fine."

"If you say so." The girl shrugged, walking towards JJ who'd pulled out a blunt and begun smoking it while staring at the water. "You okay?"
The blonde looked over, his eyes already having a red tint glazed over them as he nodded, offering it over to Sierra.

"Guys!" Pope shouted, his figure sprinting down the dock as their heads turned to watch as he stopped in the center, his breaths heavy as a large sweat mark stained on the back of his dress shirt. "Oh god, I ran all the way here." He heaved, hands on his knees as the group watched in confusion.

"How was the interview, Pope?" JJ questioned as the boy regained his composure and quickly dismissed him. "Awesome." JJ rolled his eyes, taking another hit and wrapping an arm around Sierra's waist.

"JB, look I'm sorry dude, about everything."

"It's fine."

"B-But, I don't have a lot of time, and-and I have information that's tactically relevant." Pope began, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead. "Before my interview my dad said he was going to the private airstrip to cut Palms for Cameron's big plane. Because it was too heavy and it needed a longer strip to take off." He looked like a manic as he bounced around the dock, looking at all of their expressions. "So I'm sitting there in my interview thinking hmm why would Cameron need a longer airstrip to take off, what could be so heavy to weight it down?"

JJ pulled the blunts away from his lips, letting the smoke out as his red eyes widened, "Gold."

Pope jumped and clapped in excitement. "Exactly!" He smiled widely, looking at his friends. "Guys, this is our chance, but it leaves tonight, and we have to go."

"Guys, we can't give up now." Kiara got down from the little table she was sitting on as Sierra stood next to her.

"We can actually do something about this, we need to do this."

"So what's the plan big man?" JJ asked, smirking as he watched John B form a plan in his head, a crazy one most likely.

"We're going to steal that shit back."

nataly speaks!!
If y'all couldn't already see the last few parts were very rushed, finals are coming up and I'm procrastinating so bad that I actually need to be strapped down to a chair and forced to study atp. If u see any first person from here on out pls ignore it bc I'm in the process of fixing that up, i' so close to finishing this story!!
Love y'all sm thank I for supporting this story, taking care of yourself and have an amazing day/night/afternoon.

—XOXO, nataly