chapter 10.
the runaway.

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"How come i'm always the guinea pig?" maxine questions as she tests out the groups makeshift pulley system the following morning, sitting in a oversized bucket as it sways from a tree.

"cause if you fall you'll just, like, bounce and shit." jj quips, "indestructible."

max cocks her head, "...right."

"how's it feeling?" pope calls up, ignoring the twos banter.

"sturdy." max tugs on the cable.

"alright, i'm taking you down."

"okay."

jj sits perched on the edge of his hotub, "john b pullin' a houdini."

"yeah, where is he?" pope asks, "i got my scholarship interview tomorrow morning, we gotta get this done!" he begins bringing max back down. 

john b suddenly walks out from behind the tree. "speak of the devil," jj calls, "hey! dude, i set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything."

"uh, no he did not." pope argues, "i did that."

"hey, john b," kie calls out as john b goes straight up the steps and into the château. she helps maxine out of the bucket and starts toward the house.

"uh, what's that all about?" pope questions aloud.

jj climbs out of the hotub, "i was gonna ask you the same question."

inside the château, they find john b hurriedly searching for something.

"you all right man? what's up?" pope approaches  him.

"what are you looking for?" kiara asks.

john b grabs the edge of a couch cushion and lifts it, revealing jj's gun hidden underneath.

"john b, what do you need the gun for?" jj rushes over, only to be shoved harshly onto the couch.

"jesus, chill!" maxine shouts. "what's your problem?"

"what are you doing?" kie asks.

pope tries blocking john b's path as he makes his way into the kitchen only to be shoved aside as well. "what, are you jj now?"

"are you okay?" kie checks on pope before rushing outside after their friend, "john b, what the hell are you doing?" they find him on jj's bike, "john b, what the hell?"

"ward knows about the gold." john b calls over his shoulder, "he killed my dad."

the group immediately halts at the base of the front steps, staring after john b in shock as he races away from the château. "john b!" kiara is the first to break out of the initial shock, taking off after him. the boys and max follow suit, but it's too late. john b disappears behind the trees. "shit!"

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"What now? we just gonna go up to the front door and ask, 'hey, have you seen john b? we fear he's gone on a murderous rampage and is out to kill ward cameron.'" maxine sits on the hms pogue with pope, jj, and kiara as they stake out the cameron residence for any sign of their friend-gone-rogue.

"look, he lives at tannyhill now." kie reminds, "it's plausible. we can play dumb."

"hey, jj's good at that!" max smiles, pointing at the blonde who responds with the flick of a finger.

"play dumb? it's pretty late." pope doesn't sound convinced.

"look, i've never seen john b like that." kiara tells them worriedly, "we should honestly be going to the cops."

"okay, sure." max shrugs sarcastically, "and say what? 'we're worried about our friend cause he's goin' off on a rampage 'cause ward cameron killed big john'? no way they'll believe that."

pope picks up a pair of binoculars and spies on the cameron house, "hey, i see ward."

"let me see." kie takes the binoculars for herself.

max looks through them next. "doesn't look dead to me." she shrugs, "let's peel."

"yeah, let's go home." pope agrees.

expecting such a statement with little meaning from maxine but not from pope, kie shoots him a look. "what?"

"obviously mr. cameron is fine, and even if john b was here he isn't now." pope defends himself, "plus i have the biggest, most important moment of my life in six hours."

"yeah, well, our friend is trouble."

"i'm in trouble!" pope argues back at kie, "guys, i haven't been home in three days. my dads probably put all my shit on the street by now."

"so, that's it?" kie asks, "in a time of need you're just gonna bail? you're just gonna walk away?"

"uh, guys, can we not do this right now?" max pitches in. jj nods, pointing a finger at the girl in agreement.

"i have a scholarship interview in the morning." pope continues, "i can't—"

"okay, well, what about john b?" kiara argues back.

pope sighs, getting further worked up. "why is it always about john b?"

maxine sighs and takes a seat beside jj. "well, we're gonna be here a while."

"it's not always about john b. you're so stupid!" kie gestures around the boat, "it would be any of you guys in this situation."

"yeah, pope. you're sounding a bit narcissistic right now." max shrugs.

"oh, bullshit!" pope curses.

"this is about friendship!" kiara yells, "this is about pogues for life!"

pope rises from behind the wheel and steps toward the brunette, "what about forensic pathology, huh?"

"forensic pathology?" kiara in incredulous, "that's your priority?"

"stop with the moral high ground bullshit!"

"pope, come on." maxine tries to step in. "you're bein' ridiculous."

"no. no, you have no room to talk." he spits, whirling around to the teen. "don't think we haven't noticed you have yet to step a single foot inside your 'grandmothers house' and you've been here for six months, max!" he steps closer to the younger girl, pointing a finger in her face. "matter of fact, we don't know anything about you! all you've told us is your parents sent you to live with your sick grandmother, but you aren't even living there!"

"excuse me?" maxine rises to her feet and swats popes finger away from her face. "you don't know what you're talking about."

"why are you still living at the château when john b doesn't even live there anymore, huh? was that your plan all along?"

"oh, give me a break!" max harshly shoves him away. pope shoves her back.

"knock it off, you two!" kie shouts.

they make no move of stopping, continuing to harshly shove each other. jj rushes over to break it up, "hey! yo, yo, yo, cut it out, all right? if i'm the one mediating, we've hit rock bottom." he steps in between the teens, putting an end to the shoving. jj turns to pope, "bow. now." the boy does so, starting up the boats engine. max quietly sits down next to kiara as they drive off, scooting away when the older girl tries to lay a comforting hand on max's knee.

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"You sure he got everything?" max sits down at the dock with jj, kie, and john b, swinging her legs over its wooden railing.

"every bar." john b sounds defeated as he answers kiara, "the whole enchilada."

"fuck ward." max curses, leaping off of the railing. "he just had to ruin our one good thing, didn't he?" little did maxine know, ward cameron was going to ruin a lot more in the near future.

"look, it's not like i expected a happy ending or some shit." laying flat on the dock, john b yanks the cast from his wrist and tosses across the wood.

"john b—"

"what, kie?" he groans, "it's a hairline fracture. who cares?"

"you should care." kiara insists, "your arms gonna be messed up for life."

still perched on the railing, jj turns to an oddly silent maxine as she looks out over the water. "you good, pigtails?"

"what?" max remains staring straight ahead, "oh, yeah. peachy."

"don't listen to pope, alright? he's the only one thinking about that shit." the blonde promises, "we like having you here."

this garners max's attention. she turns her head, "so you admit it! you do like me!"

"alright, no." jj rolls his eyes, "don't be putting words in my mouth." the older boy would be lying if he said he was particularly fond of the girl—he had definitely argued against her joining their group in the beginning. however, he was beginning to dislike her less and less; she has proven her loyalty to the pogues, and that she could hold her own. jj was honestly impressed with the amount of power in such a small girl, and the things coming out of her mouth never failed to shock him. maxine was beginning to prove herself to be quite an asset to the team.

suddenly pope comes sprinting down the dock. "guys! guys!" he stops at the end, panting. "oh god, i ran all the way here."

"how was the interview pope?" kiara inquires, turning her body around.

"don't ask." he breathes, "jb. look...i'm sorry dude. about everything."

"it's fine." john b replies numbly, still laying down on the dock.

"but i don't have a lot of time, and i have information that is tactically relevant." this gathers the groups attention. "so, before i had my interview my dad said he was going down to the private airstrip to cut palms for cameron's big plane. because it was too heavy and it needed a longer landing strip to take off. so, i'm there sitting in my interview thinking to myself, 'hm. why would cameron need a longer airstrip to take off?'" john b finally sits up; jj turns around from his seat on the railing. "'what could be so heavy to way it down?'"

"well fuck." maxine breathes. she snaps her fingers, "gold."

"exactly!" pope makes wild, excited gestures. "guys, this is our chance. but it leaves tonight, and we have to go."

kiara hops down from her seat on the railing, "guys, we can't give up now."

"what's the plan, big man?" jj asks john b.

"we're gonna steal that shit back."

max laughs in excitement, "back in the G-game, baby!" she races off down the dock without so much as looking back to check if her friends were following.

kiara runs after her, "c'mon boys!" she calls out to the remaining three friends.

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"So, what exactly is our plan?" max asks the older kids as the twinkie speeds towards the tarmac. jj continues to stuff bullets into his gun, "we go in there guns-a-blazing and make ward cameron beg for mercy, abscond with as much gold as possible and vámonos, get the hell out of there."

"send that shit right down the intercostal," john b chimes in, not taking his eyes off the road.

kiara adds from the passenger seat, "wait for the weather,"

"and dip to cuba." pope finishes.

jj scoffs. "cuba? nah, man. xcalak, jewel of the yucatán."

"what is with you and yucatán?" max asks.

"lobsters so thick, mangoes, and no word for money." the blonde more or less explains. he cocks back the gun.

"let's do this shit." john b nods firmly.

the crew pulls up to the airstrip and hop out, peering out through the tarmacs surrounding fence.

"what's the plan?" kie asks, "broad stokes."

"i don't think we got that far." john b shakes his head.

pope sticks his binoculars through the fences
holes, "they're loading up the gold."

john b takes them, peering through. he spots ward cameron arriving in his black range rover. "there's ward." slowly, he lowers the binoculars.

"what?" maxine senses something's wrong, "john b, what?"

"it's sarah."

"she's with him?" pope clarifies.

john b lifts the binoculars back up. "wait a minute. he's hurting her! they're fighting." he passes them to kiara and runs to the twinkie.

maxine presses herself against the chain link fence, "holy shit."

"wait, so she—" jj is cut off by the sound of a car door slamming shut behind them. "what?"

"hey!" pope yells, "what are you going?" this gets the other fours attention; they all yell out to john b in an attempt to get him to stop.

their efforts are in vain as john b plows the van straight through the chain link fence and drives out onto the plane tarmac, breaks squealing and dust flying up in the air. "what are you doing, man!"

"come back!" "hey! hey!" his friends anxiously shout as he continues driving straight for the plane containing both sarah and the gold. they watch on in horror as john b guns it, speeding past the plane and turning harshly in front of it. rather reluctantly, ward stops the aircraft at the very last second.

the other four pogues watch from where the chain link fence once stood. sirens are heard approaching from the distance. with his future in mind, pope worriedly crosses his arms behind his head, "guys, i can't get arrested."

jj nods in agreement, "i'm on probation."

"sucks for you guys." maxine shrugs, "but i can. i got nothin' to lose, plus, what're they gonna do? arrest a fourteen year old?"

"yes, max, that's exactly what they're gonna do." kiara rolls her eyes, grabbing the girls wrist. "look, we're no good if we're all in jail. come on!"

jj leans forward to retrieve his hat and gun and the four teens sprint away, leaving john b behind on the tarmac.