The next morning, the boys came to pick us up. Kiara and I still weren't best friends or anything, but we were civil to each other. I tolerated her, and she was only slightly cold to me. Sarah helped as the moderator between us, as she was the one friend we both had in common. The six of us headed back to John B's to change, and then we hopped in the Twinkie to Ms Crain's house, to finally steal the gold.

It was night time when we stopped outside her property. I clicked on my flashlight, pulled my black hoodie over my head, and followed everyone out of the car. JJ begrudgingly gave me a boost of Ms Crain's stone wall, and soon the six of us were creeping around her garden.

Suddenly, a light clicked on, and we all dove behind a great oak. Apparently, Ms Crain had motion censored outdoor lights.

"She's probably plotting our deaths right now!" JJ said in a high pitched voice.

"JJ, shut up!" I hissed. "Enough with the myths, you're creeping us all out."

"Everyone knows she killed her husband with a pix-ax," JJ whispered.

"Okay, so she has motion-sensored lights. What's the plan?" John B asked urgently.

"Turn them off," Pope said, like 'duh'.

"Thanks, Einstein." Kiara said.

"She has a generator. We used to play hide and seek here as kids, and we just have to sneak on the deck to turn them off." Sarah suggested.

We all turned to her, and for the first time, I was seeing how she could really contribute to this. She had gotten the map from her father's study, and now, she was brave enough to come along tonight.

"Right," John B said, and he gave her a small, secret smile that the rest of us pretend not to see.

"Okay, I'll go," Sarah started to get up, but John B tugged her down.

"No way! We stick together," he said.

"She'll be fine, John B. I'll go with her," I rolled my eyes.

"Same," Kiara said, and stood to join Sarah. I was a little shocked that Kiara was this willing to interact with us, but I guess she was okay with Sarah, so maybe she tolerated me?

"We'll head to the well, so meet us there after," Pope said.

"To get our 400 mill!" JJ let out a loud woop, and we all hushed him.

"Okay. Be safe," John B said to Sarah.

"I'll be so safe," JJ pretended to smooch Pope, and John B shoved JJ playfully while Pope laughed.

Kiara and I followed Sarah as she led us to the porch, silent as a snake. Every scruffle was so much louder at night, and every time a cricket croaked, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Ms Crain's house was creepy, and all those stories that JJ had told us weren't exactly helping.

It turned out, the generator was inside, and that the motion sensored lights wires lead all the way inside the old bat's house.

The three of us crept inside, closing the porch door behind us with a click. Inside, it was nearly pitch black, and it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the dark lighting. We were in an old, antique styled house, in a storage room on the top floor.

Sarah fumbled around the walls, feeling the rough, flower-patterned wallpaper until she found the generator. It was this box that held an array of switches. She clicked one off, and outside the automatic lights turned off instantly.

Kiara motioned silently that we should leave, and we started to creep away, when suddenly I knocked into a vase. In the dark, it was hard to see where I was going, and the vase toppled over, resulting in a loud crash.

"Shit! Sorry, sorry, sorry," I swore, and we all froze, holding our breaths.

Upstairs, there was a sound of a bed creaking, and several heavy steps sounded.

Ms Crain was awake.

We all stared at each other, before Kiara mouthed "Hide!" and she glued herself to the wall, back pressed. I followed her, as did Sarah, and we waited. I closed my eyes, hoping that the ax-marauding lady would go back to bed, but her steps continued.

She was coming downstairs, and into this room.

She appeared in the front entrance, holding a crowbar. "Leon?" She whispered at Sarah, Kiara and I in a ghostly voice. As she stepped into the light, we saw her eyes. There were no pupils, just empty white sockets.

Sarah let out a choked cry, but it was too late. Ms Crain heard her, and swung the crowbar in our direction. Kiara and I ducked, but Sarah was hit and thrown to the floor.

"Sarah!" I picked up the vase I'd knocked over, and smashed it unceremoniously on Ms Crain.

She gave a creepy, inhuman loud wail, and fell over as the vase shattered, sending dust around her in a large cloud.

"Come on!" Kiara grabbed Sarah and I's arm, and she pulled us out of the room and we ran, while Ms Crain was distracted. Kiara tugged us down and down several flights of stairs, leading us to where the boys were.

The basement wasn't really a basement. The ground was plain dirt, and Pope and JJ were holding a rope over a giant, endless hole. It was where they were reeling John B into the well, as he was searching for the gold.

"You have to hurry! Ms Crain's awake and running—nearly killed us!" Kiara gasped as we skidded to a stop.

"Okay—John B, we're pulling you up!" Pope called into the well.

"Just a sec!" John B's voice echoed. "I think—I think I'm almost there!"

"John B! Hurry!" Sarah said worriedly.

Suddenly, Ms Crain came tumbling into the basement, holding a shotgun. She shot it in the air several times, missing us badly, and everyone dove behind an object to hide. Pope and JJ let go of the rope to miss several deadly bullet hits, but with all the yelling, I couldn't hear if John B was okay or not.

"She can't shoot!" I yelled. "She's blind!"

Ms Crain shot right at me, she'd probably heard my voice, and I was forced to run, tuck, and roll out of the way.

I crashed into the well, and started to fall into the deep, endless hole. I grappled with the edges of the stone, until I was only dangling by my fingertips over the dark, endless hole.

"JJ!" I screamed when I saw him run by.

He slowed to a stop, in front of me. "Enjoy the swim," He said coldly, and kicked my fingers so I was forced to let go.

"MERCEDES!" I heard Sarah scream after me, as I fell into the well.

It was a long way down, and when I hit the water it was icy cold. For a second my body was confused, and I tried to breath but I just gulped down water, sinking further. But instinct took over, and I broke the surface, gasping.

I treaded for a moment in the mossy, sewage-like well water, looking around. It was pitch black in the well, and cold, and the stone walls went up for several feet. I couldn't see what was going on up above, but I could hear lots of shouting, and the occasional shot of Ms Crain's gun.

Hot anger shot through me, like fire seeping through my veins, spreading from the tips of my toes to my ears. JJ had pushed me into the fucking well! I was going to kill him—

"Mercedes?" John B called down to me. He was sitting on this muddy ledge, just a couple of feet above me, and was covered in layers of mud.

He gave me a boost up onto the ledge, and we both crouched as he pulled out what looked like a block of mud from his pocket.

"Is that ...?" I gasped.

He just nodded, and cleaned it off a bit. The gold caught a bit of the little light there was, and it gave a flash in the dark hole.

Up above us, the Pogues were yelling, and lots of crashing and banging sounded. John B and I simultaneously looked up, hearing the voices of the Pogues starting to leave. They were running away from crazy Ms Crain.

John B and I had to get out of the well ourselves.

The rope was still intact, and after putting a little bit of my weight on it, it held steady. I hooked my legs and arms around the rope, and started to inch up. John B latched on a few feet below me, and we both started to climb upwards.

"Don't fall on me," John B called up.

"No promises," I said, and continued to climb.

It was dangerous, we both could barely see. If I fell, I took John B down with me, and there was no second guessing if the other's would come back for us. We were on our own, inching up a hopefully stable rope that was starting to burn my hands, and it was hard. Painful.

I reached the top of the well, grappled with the edges of the stone, and latched on. I pulled myself up onto land with a grunt and then collapsed beside the well, gasping. It had been a major workout.

John B soon followed me, but instead of pausing to rest he pulled me to my feet and we ran. It was chaos, and we followed Pope and the others dash out of the basement, even as Ms Crain kept shooting after us.

"Why are we always getting shot at?!" JJ shouted as we ran.

We all ran out of her property, hopped over her property wall and into the Twinkie. We all were laughing like crazy as Kiara started to drive off, at John B who was covered in mud. He pulled out the block of gold, and we all started to go crazy, screaming like nuts.

"FULL KOOK! FULL KOOK! FULL KOOK!" Everybody yelled, and even Pope was sobbing a few happy tears along with John B.

But I didn't join in. I just sat there, staring at JJ. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed my death glare: "Have a good swim?"

"You tried to kill me!" I screamed over everyone, and stood up in the still moving car. Everyone fell silent, staring at JJ and I.

"No I didn't," he said coolly. "John B needed help, so I thought you could help him."

"You're a fucking phsyco," I screamed, and tackled him in the middle of the car. I punched him, hard, and his head snapped back. I could hear everyone shouting, but I didn't actually hear them, I was so focused on attacking JJ ... I wasn't sure what was happening.

Eventually John B pulled me off JJ, and I slowly collapsed in his arms. "I hate you, I hate you!" I said to JJ, and I started to cry, but it was an angry sort of crying. And then I started to sob, right there in Pope's arms. It wasn't pretty crying, it was ugly, snot-filled tears.

The rest of the ride, everyone was silent.

I felt horrible, I'd ruined the whole mood. But at the same time, I was sick of everything. I was sick of JJ being an asshole. What was worse, was that I actually started to believe that we were becoming friends. No, maybe not friends, but that he would start to tolerate me. After the Poge Test, I actually believed they all accepted me, and that I was one of them.

How naive could I have been?

Of course JJ never liked me, he hated me. And the whole time I had been a stupid, idiot, girl. I kept thinking about JJ, of how I loved him, how one day, maybe he would love me too. I drooled over the boy, I wasted all my energy on him, only for him to be a complete asshole to me? And of course I knew that, of course I did.

But it took for him to almost kill me to realize that he wasn't worth it.

JJ wasn't worth it.

Whatever I had been doing; trying and trying, putting in all the effort, wishing like a desperate idiot that one day he would wake up and love me, that was over.

I hated him. I hated him with all my might, and I never, ever, wanted to deal with his piece of crap again.

JJ Maybanks, you've just declared war.

Your fucking on.

a/n: things just got cray-ay-zy!!