"THERE'S JUST NO GETTING THROUGH
WITHOUT YOU"
- harry styles, grapejuice

The next morning at about ten, John B and Pope had come over to join JJ and Avery for biscuits and gravy before going to pick up Kiara and Sarah- or whatever was left of the two girls. Avery packed two servings of the warm sausage gravy with biscuits into plastic containers, as well as grabbed plastic silverware for both girls and put them into a hot bag, keeping them warm for the two. It was the least she could do after what the boys had done to them the day before, and to make up for the fact she hadn't joined them.

"Where were you guys yesterday? JJ was supposed to bring you to get on the boat and never did." John B questioned as he shoveled a mouthful of biscuits and gravy into his mouth, Avery putting her plate in the sink and grabbing her Lexapro, washing it down with a drink of her apple juice.

"We got busy." She said shortly, winking at JJ as she did- the two had agreed to not tell the others about what JJ and Avery had discussed the night before, wanting to wait until the Decker was ready for everyone to know.

"Gross." Pope commented.

"My boyfriend also doesn't feel like stranding me in the middle of the marsh." Avery deadpanned, giving John B a look as she did. "Someone clearly doesn't want his relationship to last."

"My relationship is just fine, thank you very much." John B replied to the Decker pointedly.

"If she survived the night on the boat with Kie- I think I'd actually drown myself if you guys stranded me on a boat with Kiara. Like, don't get me wrong, she's my friend, but she loves to push my buttons." The brunette explained. While the Carrera had become more tolerable in the last couple months, Avery still got a sour taste in her mouth thinking about how quickly the curly haired girl had up-and-left her friends to go to the Kook academy her freshman year, how she completely ditched the boys for Sarah Cameron and her group of minions. While Avery had grown quite fond of Sarah due to the girl's eagerness to help and her lack of judgement of the Pogues when she came over to the Chateau for the first time, Kiara continued to agitate her with judgy remarks and snide comments.

"Okay- we should probably get going and check out the carnage." Pope said bluntly, putting his plate in the sink along with where Avery's had gone. JJ licked the remainder of the loose gravy off his plate, swiveling his tongue around the circular shape of the plate before also putting it in the sink. John B followed suit, the three boys all starting downstairs towards the front door that went to Avery's dock, pausing to put their shoes on.

"I'll be right there, guys!" Avery called, quickly walking to her room and grabbing a cut-off 'Wrangler' t-shirt from on top of her dresser and tossing it on over her bikini, the whale shark tattoo on her spine peeking out from a low spot on the sleeve where it rode back further on her torso. She practically ran down the stairs, slipping on her 'Birkenstock' sandals and dashing out the door towards the dock where the boys were waiting for her.

"I grabbed the biscuits and gravy you made for Kie and Sarah." JJ told his girlfriend as she began to undo the bowline. Avery smiled at him gratefully, tossing the rope onto the floor of the boat and sitting in the seat in front of the steeling wheel, JJ sitting between her legs and wrapping his arms around her calves and the Deckers hands weaved into his hair.

"So, do we think one of them's gonna be holding the other's head up when we get out here?" Avery questioned as the boat glided over the water into the marsh. "Because honestly, I wouldn't put it past Kiara."

"Nah. I think they'll be fine." John B said nonchalantly. "Maybe a couple bumps and bruises, but that's the worst case scenario."

"I think it definitely gets worse than that." Pope deadpanned as the boat the boys had stranded the Carrera and Cameron girl on came into view, and Avery recognized it as Heyward's boat that she, JJ, and Pope did grocery deliveries on.

"Well, look who we have here!" Avery exclaimed jokingly as she saw Sarah and Kiara perched on the side of the boat.

"Uh-oh!" Pope yelled jokingly. JJ was standing on the front of the HMS Pogue, twirling the bowline around like a lasso.

"You forget your keys or something?" The Maybank taunted.

"You guys need a tow?" John B added, smiling at his girlfriend as JJ tied the bowline off.

"You were in on this?" Sarah asked Avery, the Decker shaking her head, her brown hair bouncing off her shoulders as she did.

"Nah- I was supposed to be, but JJ and I got distracted. I've got the plugs for the alternator, who wants to help me put them back?" She questioned, having been asked a few too many times about the night before for her own comfort. She didn't want to think about her conversation with JJ, as just thinking about how understanding he had been when Avery didn't feel like she wasn't understandable in the slightest made tears come to her eyes.

"I'll help." Sarah offered cheerfully, climbing up from her spot on the edge of the boat and tossing her bikini to John B, the boys attempting to convince Kie that their plan wasn't nearly as bad as she was making it out to be.

Despite their early start out to the boat where Kie and Sarah were, the sun was already beating down into the cabin of the boat and the air was already becoming unbearably humid, beads of sweat sticking to Avery's skin and making her baby hairs lay flat and wet on her forehead as she and Sarah bent over the alternator.

The sound of water hitting the boat, as well as the laughing of their friends while they talked provided a nice background noise for the pair. Avery tied her hair back into a braid to pull it off her neck as she leaned back over the alternator- Sarah was more there to hand her a wrench when she needed it.

"So," the Cameron started, "John B mentioned your parents had been giving you trouble. What's up with that?"

Avery never looked up from the frayed wire she was fiddling with. "Why the hell would they cut it- they're whatever." She said bluntly. "Dad's planning his wedding and picking paint swatches for his secretaries baby, while mom is trying to hustle him out of fifty grand a month in alimony."

Sarah nodded slightly, Avery glancing up at her before immediately turning her gaze back to the alternator.

"Why? You spend a night with Kiara and suddenly you care about me?" The Decker prodded. Sarah had asked her questions, it was Avery's turn now.

"Just making sure there's no bad blood between us. I know Kiara's your friend and she wasn't too happy with me being involved." Sarah explained. "And after... all this... I'm just making sure."

"You mean our boyfriend's stranding you in the middle of the ocean with Kie?" Avery asked, her lips slightly twitching into a smile. "Because I had no idea about that until about two in the morning."

"Touché." Sarah admitted, passing Avery a pair of pliers and smirking. "But you're not not siding with them."

"That's my boyfriend, my best friend, and... Pope." Avery defended herself. "Sarah, my alliance is with them, they're my friends. Kiara is... iffy. But mainly JJ and John B- they're the reason I'm out here going full Goonies to begin with. But, if what you're asking is if I hate you, no. And I never have."

"That's good to hear." Sarah replied, watching Avery splice the frayed wires and move on to the next set. "So there's no hard feelings about the whole 'dating your best friend' situation?"

Avery was caught off guard by the question, causing her hand to slip and her finger to touch the live wire, causing a small spark and a burn on her index finger.

"Fuck-" She exclaimed quietly, sucking on her finger in an attempt to alleviate the pain in her singed fingertip. "Good diversion, by the way- and no, it's not weird. JJ and John B are like brothers, and John B treats me like an older sister. But those two are competitive at everything."

"Dude, you have your hands full with JJ, he's like a golden retriever." Sarah told Avery, who shook her head and was unable to hide her small smile.

"Tell me about it. He's really impulsive and really reckless but he's also super loyal and the only person who can make me happy when I'm going through absolute hell, so I guess I'm gonna have to keep him."

"Spoken like someone who's completely and utterly smitten." Sarah taunted.

"Okay, Ms. 'Love just walked in'- that was corny as hell by the way, please tell John B I said that." Avery tossed back, splicing another wire and starting on the final set.

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Sarah asked, eyebrows raised, but a smile on her face.

"It is an insult." Avery deadpanned. "You guys basically walked right out of a 90's rom-com. It's literally nauseating."

"Sounds like someone's jealous." Sarah retorted. Avery looked up at her, a crease between her eyebrows.

"John B showers like twice and week and lives in the same pair of board shorts for days. Like sleeps in them, swims in them, wears them all day, repeat." Avery told the Cameron girl bluntly. "As long as I keep JJ on his regular shower schedule and keep doing his laundry, I'm just fine where I'm at."

The two sat in silence as Avery spliced the last wire, but Sarah was the one to break the silence between the two, looking out the doorway of the cabin when Kiara was over-dramatically telling the story of the night before. It was clear the two girls had made a plan to not let the other Pogues think their plan had worked.

"Y'know, I think you're a lot tougher than you give yourself credit for. They're lucky to have you." Sarah stated, Avery following her gaze to where the Pogues were standing.

"If you're trying to make me cry, it's not gonna work." Avery told her bluntly, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at Sarah's comment.

"I'm just expressing my feelings!" Sarah replied, her hands held up in mock surrender. "I'll keep all the sappy shit to a minimum- for now."

"That's a relief." Avery replied sarcastically. "Go try and crank the boat, I think I got it."

Sarah made her way over to the console and turned the key, the engine sputtering for a few seconds before firing, making Avery smile as she tugged off her shirt that was now soaked in sweat, using it to wipe the grease and oil off her hands and forearms, wiping her brow with her arm and leaving a large, black smudge across her forehead.

"Nice work, Ricky Bobby." Sarah quipped, holding a hand out to Avery to help her up.

"Don't act so surprised." She told the blonde bluntly, tightening the braid in her hair. "I'm good with my hands, y'know?"

"Yeah, I bet JJ loves that." Sarah said quickly, walking past Avery, who was unable to hold back the smile that was tugging at her lips.

"Yeah, I walked right into that, didn't I?" She asked, shaking her head despite herself as they rejoined the rest of the Pogues. "So? What now?"

"Alright- shut up." John B said to JJ and Pope. "You guys ready to jack some loot?"

"Alright, you guys got rope?" John B asked, Avery looking through the large duffel bag full of supplies JJ had haphazardly tossed into the van and almost hit her in the head with.

"Got it." Pope confirmed.

"Grappling hook?" John B questioned.

"We don't have a grappling hook." Pope deadpanned. "We're not Batman."

"I don't have parents and I'm about to be rich, I could be Batman." JJ added.

"Pulley?" John B continued down his mental checklist as if he hadn't made them go through this list before they even pulled out of the driveway of the Chateau.

"Check." Said Kiara.

"Dark clothes?"

"Literally what are we all wearing right now- also, I'm killing whoever stuck me in a hoodie, I'm baking back here." Avery deadpanned, pulling the thick fabric of what she assumed was John B's hoodie, given that she had seen the Routledge wear it a number of times, but also didn't recall him being a member of the Kildare County Track and Field team.

"Flashlights?"

"Check." JJ told his friend.

"Alright, good." John B said bluntly. Avery pulled the back door of the van open the minute it stopped.

"Literally how is it cooler out here than it is in your car- holy fuck-" The Decker exclaimed, panting heavily as sweat was already beginning to bead on the tanned skin of her forehead. John B rolled his eyes, tossing an arm over Avery's shoulders and pulling her back over to the van, preventing the rest of his friends from getting out of the vehicle.

"Wait, wait, wait." John B stopped his friends, who were giving each other mini pep-talks in the back of the van. They all turned to look at him, Avery included. "I wanna say thank you, guys. Seriously. It means a lot to me that you're here tonight."

Kiara slightly roller her eyes at the snappiness of her friend's speech. "Always."

"I wouldn't wanna sweat my tits off with anyone else." Avery told her friend with a small smile.

"Of course, man." Pope said to his friend, doing the Pogue handshake with the Routledge boy and giving him a smirk. John B made eyes at Sarah from across the van, but JJ interrupted the sweet moment between the group.

"Alright- we done with this circle jerk?" He asked, voice monotone. "Can we go do this?"

"Yeah." John B said, releasing Avery, who immediately began tugging the fabric of the hoodie away from her body again.

"You are a human heater, dude. Don't ever do that again." Avery grumbled, giving John B a lighthearted smirk as she did.

"Let's go get that wheat in the water." Pope announced to his friends as he and JJ emerged from the back of the van, a large bundle of rope over the Maybank's shoulder, and an eager smile on his face at the Heyward's words.

"Weed? I'm up for weed." He replied enthusiastically as the group made their way to the stone wall surrounding the Crain house.

"Wheat. I said wheat." Pope corrected, not picking up on his friend's sarcasm.

"I heard weed too." Avery said, taking the bundle of rope from JJ and tossing it over the wall, jumping up and hoisting herself on top of the wall, giving Sarah her hand as Kiara boosted the Cameron girl up.

"After you." Kiara said, mock chivalry in her voice.

"Ladies first." Sarah added as Avery helped pull her over the wall.

"Alley-oop." Kiara added as Avery helped her over before jumping off the wall herself, the three girls waiting for the boys to join them before starting towards the house. Avery had to admit, since hearing JJ's axe murderer story about Mrs. Crain burying her husband's head in the outhouse, she was a little more weary of the house than she had been the first day the Pogues had gone there, and now that it was night, and she was walking through the overgrowth in what was essentially pitch black, the pit of unease in her stomach definitely didn't feel like it would be going away soon.

She didn't have to worry about the darkness much longer, as the second the Pogues stepped into the clearing in front of the house, a floodlight came on, blinding the Decker as she looked up at the big bay windows that overlooked the property.

"Shit!" All of the teens exclaimed collectively, immediately running back into the overgrown bushes and weeds they had just come from, Avery stumbling to the ground and sitting propped up against a stone birdbath.

"Flashlights!" Kiara whisper-shouted to her friends, who all immediately went to turn off their lights. JJ, however, had one of John B's old camping lanterns that, for some reason, the designers at Ozark Trail decided needed to have a strobe option, which was activated the second time you pressed the power button, which only made the Maybank's light appear brighter.

"It's on strobe!" He stated in a panicked tone, passing the light off to Avery, who gave the power button a couple more clicks before the light finally went off. Pope pulled the ski mask he was wearing off his face, and at that moment, Avery realized how unethical this whole situation was- breaking into some old woman's house in the dead of night for something she probably doesn't even know is on her property.

"Okay, so she has motion sensor lights." The Heyward boy breathed.

"We could... uh... move really slowly, maybe?" JJ tossed out, making everyone look at him.

"What?" Sarah asked, eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the blonde boy.

"Yeah, baby, I don't think that's how it works." Avery mumbled, giving his knee a pat. "Good idea, though, really creative."

"Oh, shit!" John B exclaimed excitedly, as though he had just found the gold on the ground next to him. "Let's throw a rock at it!"

"What?" Pope asked, voice high with stress, clearly fed up with his friends and their stupid suggestions.

"Yeah, no, I like JJ's idea more if I'm being honest." The Decker told her brunette friend bluntly, looking at him like he had three heads- did he really think his friends would respond well to this plan?

"That's a really good idea, actually." Kiara told the Routledge sarcastically. "Let the axe murderer know that we're here."

"Throw a rock at it?" Pope asked in disbelief- he clearly didn't think anyone could come up with a worse idea than JJ, yet here they were.

"Okay, you guys got a better idea?" John B asked, clearly tired of the judgement he was receiving from his friends despite his absolutely wonderful and highly constructive ideas.

"What about the breakers? They're in the circuit box on the porch." Sarah suggested. Everyone turned to the Cameron- how did she know where Mrs. Crain's breaker box was, and better yet, was she going to give them an answer? Noticing the way the Pogues were staring at her, Sarah continued. "We used to play hide-and-seek here as kids. And if we were brave enough we'd go all the way up to the porch. I've seen it."

"No, no." John B told his girlfriend immediately, quick to shut down her idea. "You're not going in the house alone."

"Watch me." Sarah deadpanned.

"Crain chops people into pieces." JJ reminded his friends.

"Stop telling us scary shit before we go around this house or I'm gonna smack you." Avery told her boyfriend bluntly, shivering slightly at the thought.

"Yeah, if you believe that. But she's like, what, eighty-five?" Sarah asked. "She's probably barely still kicking."

"Here. I'll go with you." Kiara offering, tucking her flashlight into her shorts.

"Yeah." Sarah mumbled. "You coming, Avery?"

The Decker glanced up from where she was propped up against the stone birdbath, shaking her head. "I'm gonna be honest, if I leave JJ right now, I'm probably gonna have a panic attack and that will definitely set us back."

The Cameron girl gave the brunette a reassuring smile, nodding her head in understanding. She looked up at John B, Pope, and JJ.

"We'll wait for your signal." Pope told the two girls as they walked towards the edge of the overgrowth, Sarah giving Avery one last sympathetic, yet reassuring smile as she made her way closer to the clearing.

"Okay, cool." The blonde said nonchalantly, clearly nowhere near as concerned about her safety as her boyfriend was, as the Routledge spoke up just before Sarah got to the clearing.

"Hey!" He whisper-shouted. "Be safe."

"We will." Sarah replied back dryly, as though it was obvious, she and Kiara finally making their way away from their friends. JJ checked to make sure the two girls were out of earshot before turning to Pope, grabbing the side of the dark-haired boy's face.

"Be safe." He whispered seductively.

"I'll be so safe." Pope said eagerly. "I'll be safe for you."

"Can you guys stop?" John B asked, clearly not in the mood for his friends teasing, before whisper-shouting at the two boys. "Stop!"

Avery was grinning and JJ and Pope's antics, the Maybank shooting her a wink before he and Pope turned their attention to John B, who was glaring at them.

"I'm gonna kill you guys." He deadpanned.

"But how would that keep us safe?" Pope whispered back, earning laughs from both JJ and Avery, as well as the Heyward himself. The four turned towards the clearing so they could see the large bay window that overlooked the whole Crain estate, which Avery can only imagine was, at one point, a nice home and place where a happy family lived. Not axe murdering, husband killing psychopaths, right?

"They said when Hollis disappeared-" JJ started, looking at the house with wide eyes, but Pope quickly cut him off.

"That you should shut the eff up!" The Heyward exclaimed as his blonde friend, JJ whistling under his breath at the outburst from his friend. A few more minutes passed by in silence before the whirring of the generator was suddenly cut off, and with it, the light from the floodlight.

"They did it." Avery mumbled, standing up with the boys and gathering all their supplies, which now included everything Kiara and Sarah had left behind. The four made their way to the door on the side of the house John B had found, crawling through it and making their way to the well they had uncovered only days before. JJ and Pope began to start setting up their pulley system while Avery tied the rope into a sort of harness for John B so he could get down the well.

"Holy crap- y'know what this is?" JJ asked his friends, looking around the basement at the three of them. "This is C.H.U.D. Full C.H.U.D."

"What is he talking about?" John B deadpanned to Pope before looking at Avery, both of them shaking their heads and looking at JJ in confusion.

"Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers? Have you guys not seen that film?" JJ asked again, mainly looking at Avery. "You've seen it, we watched it in like November, remember?"

"Unfortunately, I do." Avery replied as though the simple mention of the movie left her tongue sour.

"No." John B deadpanned in response to JJ's question.

"Can't say I have." Pope mumbled. Avery felt a little bad for JJ at how quickly his friends were being to brush off his interests, but at the same time, it wasn't really the time or place.

"It's actually a good film. It's about cannibals that live in the sewers under New York City and it's like-" The boy started, and normally, Avery would have listened to him gush, but now wasn't the time.

"Baby, I love you, but we need to focus, 'kay?" She asked. "I'll watch it again with you tomorrow, promise."

JJ practically beamed at Avery's promise to watch his favorite movie with him, and nodded, immediately stopping his talk about his movie to help prep John B to go down the well. He went to the back end of the rope, where he would feed rope to Pope. Avery sat next to the well, her job to listen from John B if he needed help or found something, and also to reassure him that everything would be okay.

"How deep do you think this is, Pope?" John B asked uneasily as he stepped closer to the well.

"I don't know." Pope breathed. John B stepped into the makeshift harness Avery had fashioned for him out of rope, hovering over the well as JJ and Pope held him in the air.

"Guys, I have one request." John B told the two boys. "Don't drop me."

In response to that request, JJ let go of the rope just enough for John B to fall a few inches, the Routledge glaring at him, but it was half-hearted. "Got ya." The Maybank said smugly as he and Pope began to slowly lower the rope and their friend into the well.

"Okay! You're gonna die first." John B said to JJ as his head slowly disappeared from view of anyone looking down into the well. "Keep going!"

At one point, JJ became almost tangled in the rope, and Avery could tell he was struggling to keep ahold of it. The Maybank was close to losing his balance, and was struggling to even stay standing.

"Wait- hold on one second. I'm gonna get situated." The blonde told Pope. However, in his efforts to 'get situated' as he had called it, he ended up losing his footing and falling flat on his ass- and as a result, letting go of the rope entirely. This left Pope the only person holding the rope, and JJ immediately scrambled to get a hold back on the thick, woven material, but John B was already yelling in terror from down the well. Finally, Pope managed to get a hold on the rope and JJ was able to grab it once more. Avery's eyes were wide as she watched the situation unfold, and the Decker could hear the Routledge boy's panicked breathing from down the well.

"John B?" She called. "You okay?"

"I told you not to drop me!" The brunette practically screamed back.

"You good, man?" Pope repeated Avery's question down the well, he and JJ holding the rope steady once more.

"What the hell was that?" John B asked, his voice slightly shaky as Avery listened to his breathing, which was definitely heavier than normal now.

"Technical difficulties." Pope explained bluntly.

"Keep going- slow!" John B demanded, Avery nodding to JJ and Pope as they continued to pay the rope out, John B calling up once more that they needed to keep the rope coming.

"Hey, John B? We only have about fifteen feet of rope left, are you almost at the bottom?" Avery asked, looking at the dwindling bundle of rope that was sitting next to JJ's feet.

"I can't tell, just have them keep going." The Routledge boy replied, Avery nodding at JJ and Pope once more. After about five more feet of rope had been lowered into the well, John B called up to his friends. "Hold on, stop! I'm hanging over some sewage water looking shit."

"You want back up?" Pope questioned.

"Keep going, I guess?" The brunette replied, sounding unsure of himself and completely disgusted with the situation as a whole. Avery could hear her friend's shaky breathing and almost gagged at the echoing sound of water lapping up over his body.

"You could not pay me enough to go down there- four-hundred-million in gold, my ass." The Decker told JJ and Pope bluntly.

"Hey! Hey, I'm at the bottom!" John B called up.

"How is it down there?" Pope questioned.

"It's worse than I thought." John B answered after a minute of silence.

"You gonna make me richer anytime soon?" Avery called down the well, examining her nails- she really needed to get them redone, it had been a couple weeks.

"Nothing yet- wait. I feel something." John B announced. There was a beat of silence before Avery heard water gurgle and a slight splashing.

"You're gonna make me throw up- he didn't just go into that water." The Decker breathed, holding the back of her hand over her mouth as the thought of John B diving into water that had been sitting for years- no, decades- made her skin crawl and her stomach twist.

However, John B began to frantically tug on the rope seconds after, clearly scrambling to get out of the well. "JJ! Hey! Pull me up! Come on, man! Go!"

"We've gotta get him out." Avery told the two boys, running over to help JJ pull the rope up out of the well.

"Go! Man, come on! Pull me up!" John B screamed, clearly something in the well had absolutely terrified him, as he sounded more panicked than Avery had ever heard him before, and she began tugging on the rope with JJ and Pope. She could hear splashing in the water, implying that John B was either thrashing around or trying to climb out of the well and destroying the rock lining of the well wall.

"Wait, wait, wait!" John B called suddenly, all panic and fear gone from his voice, and instead, replaced with curiosity. "Hey, I think I found something!"

His voice was surprisingly nonchalant for someone who had just been panicking and screaming to be let out of the well, but if he had found something, maybe it was for the best he had found whatever he did.

"What'd you say?" Pope asked, attempting to confirm what John B was telling them.

"Just give me a minute, hold on." The Routledge spoke, Avery slumping down against a support beam in the basement and looking up at JJ, giving him a small smile as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"You doing okay?" The Maybank asked, sitting next to his girlfriend and tracing patterns on her knee with his index finger, Avery nodding in response.

"I'm sweating like a whore in church, but aside from that, I'm pretty good." She explained. "I'll take another Lexapro before I go to bed, promise."

"Yeah? You trying to get more regular with that stuff?" JJ asked. He knew for a while, Avery hadn't exactly taken the care to take her anxiety medication every day, and it had clearly had its effects on the Decker, both mentally and physically, and all JJ wanted was for Avery to be happy and healthy.

"Yeah. It's been hard but... I wanna be normal again." Avery elaborated, pushing her hair back off her face. "I'm not gonna be completely normal for a while... but I want to feel normal."

JJ nodded, opening his mouth to reply, but Sarah and Kiara came running into the basement from the opposite end of where the little door leading outside was. Avery looked up and between the two girls, noticing their heavy breathing and the sweat pouring down their foreheads, and the way they were looking around at her, JJ, and Pope with wide eyes.

"Guys! Guys!" Kiara was shouting in a panic, she and Sarah looking between the trio that was visible, the well, and the stairs frantically.

"Woah, what's going on?" JJ questioned, voice full of concern.

"Mrs. Crain, she's up there!" Kie explained in a panic.

"Obviously, it's her house." Avery deadpanned.

"No, Avery- she tried to kill us with a fire poker." Sarah elaborated, looking down at the Decker with wide eyes. "We locked her in the parlor."

"Guys, we gotta get the fuck out of here." Kiara stressed, Avery climbing to her feet as JJ began to untie the rope from where he had secured it to a beam in the basement, the three girls as well as Pope getting ready to pull John B up out of the well.

"John B! You've gotta get on the rope- we gotta go!" Avery shouted down the well, standing in front of JJ and grabbing onto the rope. All of the Pogues pulled at once, but there was no weight on the end- John B wasn't on the rope. This, unfortunately, lead to all the teens falling flat on their asses into a pile of limbs.

"Where the hell is he?" Kiara exclaimed.

"John B!" JJ shouted loudly.

"John B! Get on the rope- we gotta leave! We need to get out of here!" Avery yelled down the well.

"I found the gold!"

Avery's breath hitched in her throat as she heard the echoey voice of the Routledge boy. Her brunette friend had found the Royal Merchant fortune- he had actually done it. Four hundred million dollars in gold- all in an old bat's basement, which she probably didn't know she was sitting on. The Decker's eyes widened as she processed John B's words- they had done it. They had found the gold after two hundred and fifty years of it being a mystery.

Kiara, unfortunately, had not processed his words.

"Yo, he's drowning!" The Carrera exclaimed, Avery rolling her eyes.

"Not what he said, but whatever." She mumbled. "John B! Get your ass back on the rope!"

The five teens began to actually do a decent job of getting John B pulled up, much easier than just JJ and Pope holding John B up in an effort to not let him fall. However, their progress was halted at the loud 'bang' that came from the opposite end of the basement.

"Holy fuck!" Avery exclaimed, dropping to the ground and scrambling to hide behind a dresser, JJ following suit only after he had tied the rope off.

"She can't aim for shit." Kiara said, the light from her flashlight hitting the woman in the eyes for a second, Avery looking up from where the back of her head was cradled in her hands. The woman's eyes were blue, but not a normal blue. No- they were blue all over.

"She's blind." Avery practically whispered to JJ, who was next to her. Another gunshot went off, the BB's peppering the assortment of old furniture and other antiques piled haphazardly around Mrs. Crain's basement.

"I don't care if she's blind, Ave, that's buckshot." JJ breathed, the boy grabbing his girlfriend's hand and pulling her to her feet. The old woman had her back turned to the two teens, and Avery took the opportunity to dash behind her to the basement door that led directly outside, checking behind her to make sure JJ was following suit before Theo two dashed for the stone wall where they had come over.

"That was full-choke- holy shit!" Avery exclaimed as she jumped the stone wall with ease, climbing into the passenger seat of the Twinkie while JJ barreled into the driver's side door. They were soon joined by Sarah, Kiara, and Pope, who all clambered into the back of the van and didn't bother to close the door.

"Where is he?" Kiara asked, Avery panting heavily, both from heat and exhaustion from the wear-off of adrenaline.

"Why are we always getting shot at?" Pope asked as a cluster of lead shotgun shot beads struck the top of the stone wall where John B was climbing over, the Routledge boy practically diving into the backseat and pulling the door closed behind him.

"Is anyone shot?" Avery asked her friends.

"I think I'd know if I was shot, right?" Kiara clarified, feeling around her vital organs.

"You look disgusting." Pope breathed to John B- who did, in fact, look pretty gross. Avery hadn't realized it when he climbed into the back of the van, but the Routledge boy was covered from head to foot in some of the worst smelling muck-like substance the Decker girl had ever seen or smelt in her life.

"God- you smell like ass!" Kiara added, Avery rolling down her window and practically hanging out of it.

"What the hell just happened?" Sarah breathed.

"All-time Pogue hall of fame, baby." JJ answered.

"Yeah, this is literally a normal Tuesday." Avery told the Cameron girl.

"Hell yeah." Kiara agreed. "That bitch is possessed."

"That bitch can't aim." Sarah corrected.

"Those were straight hip-shots and they were pretty close, that would've been badass if she wasn't shooting at us." Avery stated, turning around in her seat and wrapping her arm around the headrest, laying her head on the top of the seat.

"How does she move that fast?" Pope questioned.

"She's possessed!" Kiara exclaimed.

"She's like master Yoda." Pope joked. Avery looked down at John B, noticing something that stuck out against the mud caked across his body.

Something shiny.

"What is that?" The Decker asked.

"Is that-" Kiara started, her jaw dropping in shock as she saw what John B was holding.

Gold.

"You did it!" Avery cheered, hitting the back of her seat repeatedly, JJ turning back to see what all the commotion was about. When his eyes fell onto the gold, they practically lit up.

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" The Maybank exclaimed in pure glee, punching the roof of the van repeatedly as he whooped in excitement, similar screams and cheers being made by the rest of the teenagers in the van.

"Wait, wait- guys, we're gonna be rich." Kiara breathed, looking around the van.

"Hell yeah, we are!" Avery added.

"Full Kook, full Kook, full Kook!" John B started, and was joined in by the rest of his friends in an assortment of cheers and chants of victory. The Pogues had finally won.

— || 🪼 || KENSIE'S YAP !!

this update is in fact bc it is my wifey harringtonssss birthday today.

basically if you don't know who mara is you must be new here. she is my absolute best friend and the namesake of two of my oc's. its been a wild two years as her friend but i'd like to go out on a limb and say that in 2024, we got closer than we were before (this is because wattpad got rid of private messages and we had to exchange phone numbers bc her tiktok kept getting banned- this also means we lost a good four-ish months of convos from when tiktok was out main source of communication)

like she's tagged in every authors note for a reason- like that is literally my best friend.

with that being said, mar, you are literally the BEST friend i could have ever asked for and i'm so grateful for the last two years i've had with you as my best friend. i can honestly talk to you about anything without feeling judged and you never ever give me the impression you love me less than i love you. you're the funniest person i've ever met and fourteen better treat you good.

thank you for being my person- it's absolutely wild to see how our friendship has evolved from my first comments on summertime sadness to now, and i'm so so glad to call you my platonic soulmate. you are the best friend i could have ever asked for and i'm so grateful to have you in my life. i love you so much mara jae 🩵

we literally have our future planned together guys like we're getting a house on a lake

anywho enough of this sappy shit if that was tldr basically happy birthday mara i love you thank you for liking me GO TELL MY MARA BEAR HAPPY BIRTHDAY OR YOU SMELL LIKE CHEESE

okay so about the actual chapter

this whole episode has been a DRAG for me to write and that's partially why i went MIA for a while- i literally hate this episode so much bc i feel like the focus is too much on the kie/sarah friendship thing and less on the fact that they found the freaking royal merchant?? like i feel like the feud kiara and sarah have because of kiara not being invited to a BIRTHDAY PARTY when they were fourteen is wayyy less important than the fact that they found a centuries-old treasure in like two weeks. idk maybe that's just me as a kiara anti but whatever

anywho strap in for the next three or so chapters bc episode seven is my favorite episode of s1 by far!!