THE MORNING WAS HOT.

it didn't help that emery and john b had fallen asleep in the hammock that night, the two of them laying out late into the night until the both fell asleep, john b's head on emery's chest as she played with his hair.

jj and pope had left early in the morning to go do grocery deliveries for heyward to earn some extra cash- at least, for jj, pope wasn't paid- leaving mara, john b, emery, and levi at the chateau where the group planned for a full day of surfing once the surf picked up, since kiara was stuck at the wreck again.

emery woke up to no john b laying next to her, looking around as she slowly recalled yesterday's events, the drone in the back of the twinkie, and her brother's love island crisis with rafe and ainsley, the girl smiling as she remembered how she had broken the kook's nose.

she stood up, stretching, john b's t-shirt falling just above the hem of her shorts, the blonde look starting for the chateau after slipping on the flip flops that had been left outside the previous night.

"morning, sunshine." levi called from the kitchen where he was attempting to put bread in the toaster.

"it only works on the left side and then you have to flip the toast because it only toasts on one side." emery explained, levi doing as he was told and putting the bread on the left side of the toaster.

"i need to talk to you about yesterday." he laid, cutting straight to the point, emery leaning against the fridge and folding her arms.

"talk to me about what?"

"you can't punch people because of me." levi pressed.

"he grabbed my arm, lee. he threatened me." emery replied exasperatedly. "i had to show that asshole that i'm not a little kid anymore and he can't do whatever he wants to me."

"emery, you hit him going upward, right?" levi confirmed, emery nodding slowly. "you hit him too hard you'll kill him, ems."

"what's the issue?"

"emery, stop!" levi shouted. "you can't go around punching people because of me and ainsley, you especially can't go around punching rafe."

"again, it had nothing to do with you and ainsley." emery yelled back. "rafe grabbed my arm and told me to watch my back- y'know when the last time was he told me that? when he beat the shit out of me in my own house."

"emery..." levi trailed off.

"and even if it was because of you and ainsley, i'd do it again. because like it or not, you're my brother, and i care about you, you piece of shit."

"seems like a backhanded compliment to me." levi replied sarcastically with a smile, emery smiling back at him.

"by the way, your toast is charring right now. i forgot to mention you have to open the toaster yourself." emery said as she started to john b's room, the smell of burnt toast filling the kitchen just as she left, levi shouting a long string of curses, making emery laugh as she walked into john b's bedroom, grabbing the white bikini and jean shorts on the nightstand and changing in the bathroom.

when she was ready, emery went back to john b's room and flopped onto the mattress so mara could get ready, levi still audibly frustrated with the toaster in the other room.

"when we get this gold, you're updating your household appliances." emery said, john b raising his eyebrows.

"since when do you have such a diverse vocabulary?" he asked, emery wrinkling her eyebrows.

"since when do you know what diverse means?" emery taunted, john b shoving her shoulder playfully as emery dramatically tossed herself off the bed and onto the floor, sitting back up to grab her phone off the bed, checking the weather.

"let's head out to the surf." she said, pulling herself back up and nodding towards the door. mara had gotten dressed in one of jj's dark green cutoffs, a black bikini, and a pair of levi's dark gray niki shorts, and was sitting on the pullout as levi continued to battle john b's toaster.

"we're going surfing, last call, losers." john b told the two, he and emery going out to the porch to grab their surfboards from where they had been stored in the rafters above the porch, emery also pulling one down and passing the board to her brother, who was standing below her in a pair of board shorts and one of john b's t-shirts.

"are we all incapable of wearing our own clothes?" she asked as she looked mara up and down. "like that is my bathing suit. i paid for it."

"you snooze you lose." mara replied, pulling her board down from the rafters and securing the fins as emery climbed down from on top of the sofa, her board tucked under her arm.

"go write jj and pope a note to meet us at the surf when they get home, they'll be losing their minds if they find out we surfed without them." emery told levi, who went into the house and emerged a couple minutes later so everyone could secure their boards on the roof of the twinkie.

"says the surf's up right now. absolute slabs." emery was telling john b as levi and mara climbed into the backseat, the girl in the front looking at her phone.

"you gonna let me out-carve you today?" levi asked, emery rolling her eyes at her brother.

"you wish, you can barely even surf. besides, mara and i have aerials to practice, you have fun with your carving though." emery taunted, levi flipping his younger sister off and leaning back in the backseat.

"those look tasty." mara commented as they stopped in front of the surf, watching the waves roll in, one after the other.

"there's some slabs out there." emery added.

"pro scores?" john b asked, emery looking at mara and nodding.

"pro scores."

THE SURF RAN FOR HOURS.

after deciding to play with pro scores for fun, emery- having surfed competitively when she moved to australia for a year with her grandparents when she was ten- scored a 9.3, mara a 8.7, john b a 7.2, and levi a 5. jj and pope joined them after awhile, and they spent the rest of the afternoon having emery show them aerials while levi was just trying to learn how to surf to begin with.

with ainsley and kiara's absence, the group felt slightly lighter in the essence of there being no contradicting outside force. no one had to worry about pissing kiara off so badly she ran back to the kooks, and they now knew their every word wasn't being reported back to rafe cameron.

"i absolutely destroyed you." mara was telling jj as the boy strapped his board onto the roof of the twinkie before taking hers to do the same.

"oh, did you really?" he taunted.

"i ate every single one of you alive." emery shot, john b strapping her board to the other side before strapping his, levi rolling his eyes.

"we get it, you can flip in the air." he replied annoyedly.

"hey, your carves are getting really good." mara assured him, smacking the boy on his shoulder. "maybe one day you'll be as good as emery."

"twelve years of surfing and you think he's gonna catch up at sometime soon? you're hilarious." emery replied as she climbed into the twinkie's passenger side, john b getting in the driver's while levi, jj, mara, and pope got into the back.

"jj, did you get the text from kie?" emery asked, jj nodding as he checked his phone.

"you guys want to go to this summer movie thing in the park?" he asked, emery shrugging and looking at mara.

"i have nothing better to do." mara replied.

"do i need to remind you we're about to go find four hundred million dollars in gold?" john b asked the group.

"okay, but like... life moves on after we find it." emery replied with a smirk.

"okay, well, we have to find it first." john b replied as he stopped in front of heyward's. "so jj and pope are gonna put that drone on the boat, and we're gonna go jack some loot."

jj and pope grabbed the drone out of the back of the twinkie, hauling it onto the boat. kiara met them soon afterward, all of them climbing onto the boat and before they knew it, they were on the water while john b and emery worked the nav system, jj and levi attempted to steer the boat, and mara and kiara did their best to lower the drone without catching the chord in the propellor.

"alright, pin it here, guys!" emery called into the cabin as the wind picked up.

"to going full kook." john b exclaimed as he lowered the drone into the water, mara marking in chalk for every hundred feet the drone went down while pope attempted to steer the drone through the water against the current.

pope was saying something to reference the hobbit while mara and kiara continued to lower the drone into the water, but emery wasn't paying attention. she and john b were both focused on the navigation system in front of them, knowing a slip up could jeopardize the entire operation- they would have to wait days for the drone to recharge to the extend of going back to the bottom of the continental shelf.

pope gasped suddenly, john b rushing over to him while emery's head snapped in his direction, but it had only been a fish, the dark haired boy apologizing profusely as john b scolded him angrily.

"don't do that!" he shouted.

"northwest guys, hard!" emery called to jj and levi, who began attempting to turn the wheel of the boat.

"tides turning!" kiara added, mara marking a chalk line on the side of the boat.

"six hundred!" the blonde girl called as they continued to pull more of the tether out, the carrera and stevens girls struggling to keep the tether out of the motor.

"go help them." john b murmured in emery's ear.

"keep it out of the prop!" pope yelled, the three girls tugging on the line.

"we're trying!" emery snapped.

"eight hundred!" mara yelled over the wind that was only getting heavier by the second.

"jj, we're gonna flip!" emery yelled as the boat swayed dangerously, the girl stumbling as she attempted to keep her balance on the edge of the ship where she was holding the tether to ensure it stayed out of the propeller.

"we're gonna turtle in this storm, man!" john b added.

"nine-twenty!" mara yelled.

"crank it north by northwest, ten seconds!" john b told the boys in the cabin.

"there's too much current, we're gonna lose it!" kiara shouted to the boys.

"emery, get down!" mara yelled to the girl a strong gust of wind knocking the blonde off balance and sending her tumbling onto the floor of the boat.

"shit- ems, you okay?" levi yelled from the cabin.

"i'm fine!" emery yelled back as she limped over to the gps since john b was watching the camera now. "south, southwest, hard!"

"pin it!" john b yelled once the montier started beeping, mara and kiara continuing to let the tether down into the water.

"nine-sixty!" kiara yelled to pope, who was upset at the lack of visuals on the drone.

"i'm at the bottom!" pope announced immediately after kiara called out that they had reached nine hundred and eighty feet below the ocean.

"you should see it." emery murmured as she looked over the boys shoulder.

"i know, i know." pope replied, but it was coming into view, the angel playing the trumpet on the front of the ship.

"holy shit." emery whispered. she had been joined by mara and kiara.

"what is it?" levi yelled.

"it's the royal merchant." emery breathed, wrinkling her eyebrows. "but no gold."

kens speaks 🪐

updating on my own accord is so hard fr