THE GROUP WAS AROUND A CAMPFIRE.

after everything that had happened at the country club, all the pogues and ainsley had gone to rixon's cove, levi not wanting to leave her with rafe for the rest of of the night. she was currently wearing a hoodie from the back of emery's car and was leaning into levi, her head on his shoulder while his arm wrapped protectively around her waist.

"okay, john, why are we here?" emery asked. the girls had all taken their heels off and left them in the back of levi's truck, swapping them out for the shoes they had brought with them to wear about halfway through the night.

"i got the letter translated." he announced. "and the gold never went down with the royal merchant."

they had been right.

"here we go again with this." pope deadpanned, jj stopping him.

"no, no, hear him out." he added.

"it's been here this whole time." john b explained. "it's on the island."

"you're shitting me." emery breathed. "you're telling me i sat in that engine room for four hours just for the gold to have been here the entire time?"

"about that- where the hell did you guys even go?" mara asked.

"chapel hill." emery deadpanned.

"i'd like to voice my skepticism." pope cut off the side conversation, looking at john b.

"i'm sure you would, pope. but, can emery and i please present you with our evidence, sir?"

"proceed." the boy said flatly, emery smirking as john b motioned to her.

"okay, so, john b and and i went to chapel hill and we found the last correspondence of denmark tanny." emery explained.

"who the hell is that?" kie interrupted.

"he was a slave who survived the royal merchant wreck. since slaves weren't mentioned as crew members, it appeared that there were no survivors."

"my dad found the complete manifest, that was his big discovery." john b added.

"so denmark used the gold to buy his freedom, and then he bought his farm. drumroll please, because that farm, ladies and gentlemen is... tannyhill plantation."

"tannyhill?" kiara asked in shock. john b nodding and taking over the storytelling for emery.

"yeah. so, after that he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him." john b finishes dramatically. "so, on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."

"where?" kiara whispered excitedly.

"harvest the wheat in parcel nine near the water. except.. there is no wheat. you see. wheat is code for gold. check it out." john b instructs, showing everyone but emery the letter where the wheat symbol sticks out like a sore thumb at the bottom, the ink appearing to be brand new. "the gold is in parcel nine, near the water."

everyone's eyes collectively widened in joy and excitement, mara pulling emery into a hug, ainsley smiling for the first time since they got there.

"all we need is an origin survey map of the property, and we've found the gold!" john b exclaimed, jj standing from his seat on a log and walking over to john b, hugging the boy and lifting him up off the ground in the process.

"okay, so this might have a small chance of actually being true." pope exclaimed as he read the letter for the millionth time, mara and emery exchanging excited glances.

"woah! hello! fire! you're near the fire. you're gonna burn!" john b exclaimed, but never unwrapped his arms from around jj.

"i'm so proud of you right now." jj told his brunette friends who grabbed the blonde's shoulders.

"thank you. that's really sweet of you." he replied, holding the side of the boy's face, making emery wrinkle her eyebrows.

"that's zesty." she deadpanned, mara nodding.

"your girlfriend is right there." she added, pointing at emery who was right next to her

"okay, so, guys, what's the plan?" pope asked.

"good question, so, sarah cameron's coming tonight. she'll bring and original survey map-"

"here we go." emery breathed, noticing kie stiffen at sarah's name.

"hold on." the brunette cut john b off. "sarah? wh- why sarah?"

"kie, she lives on tannyhill." emery explained. "her family donated all the archives, she's the only one with the original maps."

"you've been talking to sarah cameron?" kiara asked offendedly, making emery roll her eyes.

"don't worry, he's not going to ditch everyone for her, he isn't you." she retorted, kiara looking visibly hurt by the girl.

"did you tell her about the treasure?" kiara asked quietly, emery shaking her head.

"kiara, look, we can talk to who we want. and i don't understand why you're being so overprotective of john b right now, it's not like she's his cheat-girl or something." emery replied flatly.

"i left out key details." john b added, emery slowly turning to him.

"i take back all the defense i just gave you."

"dude, what!" kiara exclaimed. "you let a kook in on our secret?"

"you've gone back to them more than me and emery combined." mara muttered so only emery could hear, making the melville girl laugh.

"we're just... using her for information!" john b exclaimed.

"why don't i believe you?" kiara sassed.

"what're you trying to say?" emery spat at kiara, who rolled her eyes.

"emery, come on, they've obviously been hooking up." kiara deadpanned, emery wrinkling her eyebrows.

"john b isn't cheating on me- what is wrong with you?" emery yelled, mara grabbing her wrist to stop her from jumping across the fire to murder the carrera girl.

"i'm trying to make us fithy rich here!" john b exclaimed.

"this is our thing! a pogue thing!" kiara added, emery rolling her eyes at the girl.

"that's real rich coming from you." she retorted.

"emery, you're a kook too." kiara reminded the girl, who shrugged.

"really, i'm a kook?" she asked. "let me asked, which one of us ran back to the kooks the first chance she got? who abandoned us when we needed her most? y'know, rafe was killing me in my basement and you were out getting chummy with his sister." emery spat. "so don't give me shit about being a kook, because all you've proven to me is you're only a pogue when it's convenient for you."

"guys, shut up!" jj yelled, emery and kiara both glaring at the maybank boy.

"we're gonna send pope to autopsy school so he can study dead bodies, we're gonna get emery entered in so many surf comps across the country that four hundred mil is gonna sound like pocket change one day, we're gonna get mara out to new york so she can start singing- guys, i'm trying to help us!" john b exclaimed.

"look, you don't know her. i do!" kiara exclaimed.

"her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club." pope commented.

"he also like... almost killed me." emery added.

"rafe and sarah are two completely different human beings." john b deadpanned.

"look, you can't trust her!" kiara yelled.

"what did she do to you, exactly?" jj asked. it was true, no one had ever really heard what sarah had done to kiara. the girl had just shown up at the chateau one day asking for forgiveness, which the boys gave her. emery and mara? absolutely not.

"she like a spitting cobra." the carrera girl spat. "first she blinds you, and then-"

"this is a bad analogy." pope said flatly.

"listen to me!" kiara shouted. "whatever we get, she's gonna try to take."

emery looked at mara, who shook her head, the melville girl turning to kiara.

"shove your grudge down your throat, i care more about four hundred million dollars than your little freshman year feud. let's go." she said, nodding towards the boat, everyone following her with kiara in the back.

IT WAS HOT IN THE TWINKIE.

"okay, ready for this?" emery asked as john b stopped the van in front of the hawks nest tower.

"okay, i think im gonna do this on my own." john b said suddenly.

"what, why?" emery asked.

"i just don't wanna spook sarah with the peanut gallery!" he exclaimed, kiara shrugging from the back.

"i just don't understand why we're involving her at all." the mentioned, emery glaring at the girl.

"y'know, you haven't done much this whole time, so if it's that bad, you can always leave." she spat, the carrera girl slumping back in her seat.

"kie, we're not involving her." john b said. "it's just like a business meeting, get a map and cut her loose."

"besides, john b may be an idiot but he's not a cheater. it's not like he's hooking up with sarah behind emery's back." mara defended.

"just go while her mouth's still shut." ainsley told john b, the boy stepping out of the van.

"i'm gonna go handle business." he said, walking over to the passenger side and kissing emery's temple lightly.

"you're gonna handle it so well." pope deadpanned.

"we'll just fry inside your hot ass car." emery said to him.

"you got to change, i don't wanna hear it." mara told the girl. emery had had clothes left in the twinkie, and had taken the personal liberty to climb into the trunk and change when they got to the van, and was now wearing a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt she had taken from john b.

"kiara, holding onto your grudge is like drinking poison and hoping sarah will die." pope explained, emery nodding.

"it's honestly really childish that you're still pressed over it. like, i have a reason not to forgive rafe for what happened when i was fourteen, but considering you never ended up in the hospital, whatever sarah did couldn't have been that bad." she explained, mara nodding.

"even i'm decent to sarah, she seems like a nice person. i just can't figure out what she could've-"

"help!" someone screamed in the distance.

"did you guys hear that?" levi asked.

"help!" they screamed again.

"i heard that." jj said, quickly getting out of the van and opening emery's door for her, the teens all running down the beach. sarah cameron was sitting on the sand next to someone.

john b.

emery skidded to a stop, her breath hitching in her throat.

"sarah, what happened?" pope asked.

"please call help, i don't care who, just call someone." the girl said through choked sobs.

"pope, go get my phone." mara instructed. sarah looked up at emery.

"nothing happened, i promise, we didn't do anything. topper thought i was cheating, he shoved him." sarah explained, but emery didn't move, she was in a state of complete shock.

"pope hurry!" jj screamed, mara was attempting to help john b as best as she could while levi wrapped his arms around emery's shoulders, resting his head on her shoulder.

he was going to be okay.

he had to be okay.

THE HOSPITAL WAS TOO LOUD.

the lights were too bright, the fluorescent beams striking emery's tired eyes like flares, providing no help for the melville girl's throbbing head. levi had called amelia, she had brought clothes for mara,
jj, and levi. amelia was standing at the receptionist's desk, trying to get any information she could while also trying to get ahold of peterkin to see if there was any update on a custody transfer.

"john routledge?" a nurse asked, emery standing up quickly, same with jj, pope, and mara and rushing over to her. "your friend is fine, he has a concussion and a broken wrist."

"thank god." pope breathed.

"can we see him?" mara asked.

"one at a time, he's not awake yet, but when he does we don't want him overwhelmed." everyone turned to emery, who nodded and followed the nurse back through the door while levi hurried to update amelia.

emery pushed open the door of john b's room once the nurse walked away. the brunette boy had a cast on one arm and was strapped to lots of beeping machines. she slowly sat on the chair next to the bed, brushing his curly brown hair away from his forehead.

his eyes opened slowly, his head rolling over to look at emery.

"hi." she muttered, her voice hoarse.

"why have you been crying?" john b whispered, looking at emery's puffy and bloodshot eyes.

"because of you, dummy." she whispered with a laugh. "you fell off the hawks nest."

"where am i?" he slurred.

"saint olives, you have a concussion and a broken wrist." she explained, john b looking at the black cast on his arm.

"woah." he said flatly, it was apparent he was still tired.

"pretty cool, isn't it?" she asked, john b rolling his head back over to her and smiling, emery shoving his hair out of his eyes again.

"how long have you been here?" he asked, emery looking up at the clock on the wall.

"fifteen hours and... nineteen minutes." she said, john b moving over and holding his arm out, emery slowly climbing into the bed next to him. john b laid his head on emery's chest, the girl's hand moving itself into his hair and massaging his scalp.

"they called dcs, didn't they?" he mumbled, emery shaking her head.

"my mom's practically kissing peterkin's feet out there to make her your legal guardian, there's no reason for her to say no." emery explained, laying her head on john b's and sighing heavily. "i'm glad you're okay."

"me too." he muttered, the door slowly creaking open, making both of them look up as amelia stepped into the room.

"did you do it?" emery asked, suddenly alert. "did she say yes?"

amelia was looking glum, john b closing his eyes and breathing deeply, emery's jaw hanging slightly slack.

but the woman nodded, smiling. emery sat up straight, john b sitting back up and looking at amelia, who was beaming down at him.

"wait- are you serious?" he exclaimed, smiling widely as he looked at emery the girl grinning widely. john b laughed, using his un-casted arm to pull emery into his chest, still smiling happily as amelia rested her hand on his shoulder.

"we did it, kid." she whispered as tears of happiness fell from his eyes, amelia walking out as emery pulled away from john b, wiping under his eyes.

"what's wrong?" she asked, john b shaking his head.

"it all worked out, just like she said it would." he explained, wiping under his eyes and pulling emery into him, kissing her softly on the lips, the girl reciprocating the motion.

"what're you doing, stepbro?" someone asked from the doorway, emery and john b pulling away to see levi and jj in the doorway, mara behind them.

"get out!" john b yelled, kissing emery again, everyone laughing as they surrounded the bed.

in that moment, they felt that everything was perfectly right.

kens speaks 🪐

my happy babies 🥹🥹

melledge and levi and emery make me so happy.

living for kie slander every day.

leave me some headcannons, i love them sm

anywho im lowkey starting to lose motivation for this book, but the midsummers episode has been my saving grace for writing in the past, so that's good.

me and mara are back at at again, this is our first bargain for season two of summertime sadness (go read it or you smell like cheese!!) and im so excited for what she has. i posted my chapter first for once and that's only ever happened before on one other occasion so look at me go