ch 19. the bonfire.

"He deserved it, right?" jj casts his fishing line over the wooden railing of john b's dock, max standing to his left.

standing on the boys other side, kie scoffs. "are you joking? of course he deserved it."

"never seen anyone blow themselves up like that." pope speaks up from the dock ramp.

"cross that one off the bucket list." maxine shrugs nonchalantly.

"max!" kiara scolds, walking down the ramp to seat beside john b on the hms pogue.

"sucks for sarah." jj remarks.

kie places a hand on an oddly silent john b's back. "are you okay?"

"it's not me i'm worried about."

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

"Hot potato, hot potato!" max and jj shout in delight as they toss cans of beer down the dock to pope and john b. kiara stands beside them, a joint poised between her lips, "impressive catch, impressive catch."

"oh! he shoots!"

john b holds out his hands, "i need another one."

"one, two. one, two." jj tosses another beer.

john b catches it smoothly, cracking open the can. "i'll take that."

"what are you guys doin' down here?" max asks, "havin' a good cry?"

"cry? what are you talking about—we don't cry." john b scoffs, running a hand through his hair.

"you know it's not your fault, right?" kiara reminds the boy.

"you think she'll come around?"

"i mean, i was skeptical at first but..." max scoffs, "yeah, dude. she's one of us."

john b scratches at the back of his neck, "sarah's a pogue. she'll come around. you know, she'll come back to me." he gestures to the water below, "you know, i was just thinking about it. i'm gonna do a backflip."

maxine points an accusatory finger, "you're lyin'."

"oh, i won't do it?"

"you won't."

"if i had money, i'd totally bet that you won't." kiara waves around her joint.

"i wanna see you do it." pope chimes in.

"hold my beer that you already dropped." john b holds the can out to pope before launching himself into a backflip and crashing into the water below.

the group whoops in delight. "yeah!" "that's my boy!" "woogity-woogity, baby!" "john B!"

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

"Hey, we gotta go to school man." pope nudges a sleeping john b with a tower of empty taped-together beer cans, only eliciting a small grunt of disagreement. maxine groans from her spot on the couch. "shut up, pope! no one cares."

"i do, actually." he continues waking john b, "we have a geometry test in thirty minutes. max, get jj."

maxine voices her annoyance but complies nonetheless. she climbs over to jj's spot on the couch, gently slapping him across the face. when the blonde boy makes no movements, max calls out to john b, "is he alive?"

"i don't know." john b groans, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

max socks jj one last time, "jj. get your shoes, dickhead." she rises from the couch and snatches her backpack from the hardwood floor.

john b passes kie as she enters the room, "hey kie."

"um...i will meet up with you guys later."the brunette informs.

"k." maxine goes to head out the door when kiara grabs her backpacks handle and yanks her back inside the château. "uh, never mind. i'll meet you guys later too, i guess."

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

"Guys, this is from denmarks diary." pope reads after the group gathers at the château after school, "august fifteenth, set sail from port-au-prince on calm seas. came upon the spanish ship san jose on fire. the entire deck was aflame, and we could hear the screams of the men trapped below. the spanish captain cared about only one thing, his valuable cargo; the cross of santo domingo and countless bars of gold. once the cargo was on board we went to help the crew, but captain limbrey orders us to pull bayonets and not to let any of the spanish crew on board. he robbed them and left them to die."

jj flicks his lighter off and on, "so it didn't go down off bermuda."

"and it was a limbrey stealing shit again." kie pipes up.

maxine scoffs. "shocker."

"this diary proves that both the gold and the cross of santo domingo were on the royal merchant." pope continues.

"why didn't we find it in the well then?" jj asks, turning around to face his friends, "i mean, if denmark was able to get this, like, bedazzled cross off of the merchant to shore, why didn't he just hide it with the gold?"

"because it was too big." john b puts together.

"you're right. he had to hide it someplace else." pope agrees.

maxine chimes in, "but where?"

"right before he was hung, denmark said he'd buried the treasure at the foot of the angel." pope recalls.

"wait, i thought this was about the key."

kiara nods, "right. so what's the connection?"

"the path to the tomb begins in the island room." pope recites.

max tosses her head back in frustration, "but what is the island room?"

"you know what helps me figure shit out?" jj stands, "smokin' beers and drinkin' weed. the ideas just pour out outta me. if we just sit here and try to figure this out, we're gonna get nowhere." he paces across the porch, "but if we get creative and go to this bonfire tonight, maybe we'll get somewhere."

kie shrugs. "well, i just got disowned by my parents, so i'm an official member of the i-have-nothing-to-lose club."

"hey, you know i'm always down." max raises a hand.

"pope?"

"we're so close."

"look, look." the blonde bends down to popes level, "think about how much you could think if you just gave your brain a rest."

"philosophical." max hums.

pope rolls his eyes, rising from his chair. "okay, fine."

"wait. we gotta shotgun before we go." jj pauses his friends, grabbing another beer and pulling a pocketknife from his pocket.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

"The bonfire—an outer banks tradition. it was the same weekend every year, and everyone went. after finding a fortune and losing it, and sorts being a fugitive, it felt good to be back."

"look, i'm just saying that if you talk with your parents and, like, actually let them talk and listen to them, maybe they'd let you back." pope advises kiara as the group arrives at the bonfire. jj and john b immediately rush off to find drinks, leaving the other boy with maxine and kie.

"okay, but i feel like you're not listening to me. you sound like my dad." kiara scoffs, dragging maxine into the crowd and leaving pope behind.

a few minutes later, the younger girl is in the middle of talking up a boy in the grade above her when they hear raised voices coming from closer to the fire.

"oh, snap." maxine mutters, noticing topper being shoved around by some girl who was all
over john b earlier.

max finds kiara doing her own flirting and the two watch together as topper tries pulling sarah away from her ex before their fight escalates.

suddenly, the blonde girl shoves john b, raising her voice. "shut the hell up!"

unable to resist himself, topper joins in. "you wanna start shit right now?"

"do i wanna start some shit?" john b regains his balance after being shoved.

sarah pushes him again, "just get out! just go!"

maxine and kiara push themselves toward the front of the crowd forming around the three just as kelce feels the need to instigate, "what are you gonna do? you gonna kill me like you killed sheriff peterkin?"

john b promptly hauls off and socks the teen right in the face. the crowd of blood-thirsty teens roar in anticipation, repeatedly chanting, "fight!"

"this ain't gonna end well." max shakes her head, looking up at kie.

right on cue, topper lunges at john b, throwing him to the ground. somewhere within the crowd another fight breaks out, causing a chain reaction of fists being thrown every which way.

"we need to do somethin'." maxine steps forward, calling back to kie, "use your elbows!"

kiara follows suit, taking this advice and elbowing her way through the crowd. "move! move!"

as kie goes to help john b, maxine watches sarah be shoved to the ground by the girl who started this whole thing. max promptly places her hands on the seniors shoulders and harshly shoves her backwards, "move, bitch! what is your problem?"

"what the hell!"

max rolls her eyes, hurrying over to reach a hand out to sarah. "you alright?"

"who's side are you on?" the girl shouts after her.

"she's my friend!" maxine doubles back, pointing at a proud-looking sarah.

"you belong with us!"

"and you belong in a psych ward!" max easily retorts, heading back to sarah. "you sure you're okay? that was a harsh fall."

the older girl smiles gently, "friends, huh?"

maxine scoffs. "yeah, don't push it."

"max, come on!" kie yells as she and the boys rush toward the twinkie. max smiles once more at sarah before running to catch up with her friends.

"well, that was a little unexpected." jj burps, tossing an empty beer can into the backseats.

kiara quirks an eyebrow. "was it though?"

max notices a somber-looking john b holding a cold soda can to his forehead. "hey, she'll come around. it's sarah."

"it's like everything that happened to us didn't matter." john b sighs.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

The pogues gather back at the château, roasting s'more's in the backyard. "i've had more black eyes in the last month than i've ever had." pope remarks, holding his stick over the open flames.

"that was building up for years."

"rumble in the jungle." max adds to jj's statement.

john b turns to the younger girl, "hey, did you really stick up for sarah?"

"course i did." max takes a seat next to jj, "she's not a real kook."

"yeah, tell that to topper." pope chimes in.

"i just want one bite, that's it." john b grabs kiara's hand, taking a bite from her smore.

"what are you doing—" kiara gasps, "no! stop!" in her struggle to keep the boy from stealing her dessert, it drops out of her hands and lands in the grass behind them.

"i thought you were gonna share." john b turns around, eating the treat from the ground.

max scoffs, "since when does kie share?"

kie throws her hands up. "i spent the last of my money on that."

"you're not having any of mine." pope immediately tells her.

"well, i'm stealing your marshmallow." kiara promptly plucks the boys marshmallow straight from his stick.

"thats not even a fair trade." pope defends.

"it's not at all." kie agrees, popping the treat into her mouth, "not even close."

"hey, hey!" john b shushes, "somebody's here."

"you don't think that topper would..." max trails off, rising from her seat.

"wouldn't put it past him." jj scoffs.

kie turns to the blonde, "you have your gun?"

jj throws his hands up, "oh, now she wants the gun."

"oh, now you don't have the gun?" she retorts back.

"no! john b hates it!"

maxine chimes in, "isn't that your 'secret weapon?'"

"shut up!" pope hisses as the crew slowly steps further out into the yard.

"goddamn, now she wants the gun." jj continues muttering. he grabs a large stick from the ground, holding it in front of himself for defense.

max gives him a look, urgently whispering, "really think that's gonna do much?"

john b calls out, "hey, who's out there?"

"you kooks better not try anything!" kiara adds in.

"who's there?"

suddenly, none other than renfield steps out from the shadows. "how y'all doing? lovely evening we're having."

"oh, you gotta be shittin' me."

"it's this piece of shit."

renfield holds up his hands, "look, i don't hold a grudge with any of y'all, all right? but this can go hard," he opens his jacket and spins around, proving he has no weapons, "or this can go easy. you know what i'm here for."

"let me give you a little demonstration." renfield points to the tree holding up john b's hammock, "you see that swing over there? i got the best bow hunters army in the army rangers with me. hidden." he whistles, and and an arrow immediately whizzes right past the teeens and straight into the trunk of a tree. "they're out there, and they'll stick you just as soon as i say so."

noticing the man approaching pope, jj immediately takes a step forward. renfield whistles again, and an arrow just narrowly misses the blondes feet.

"uh uh uh." he turns back to pope, "now, i'm not gonna give you a countdown or any bullshit like that. i'm just gonna whistle."

after a moments hesitation, pope retrieves the key from his pocket. "this key belongs to my family."

renfield is not amused. he laughs dryly, "i'm losing my patience with you, pope." he sticks his fingers back in his mouth, preparing to whistle. pope hands over the key. "you did the right thing, kid. knowing when you don't have a choice is an under appreciated talent." renfield waves the key around and heads off, "y'all have a good night."

pope breathes heavily. "i am so sick of this shit."