(I would like to thank my friend nicole aka -minelske  for making this gif for me, it is fantastic and you are amazingly talented so tyyyy!! There are a bunch more which are just as amazing and I will put them in the coming chapters!)

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It was a beautiful, sunny day and the Pogues decided to go out for a ride on the marsh in the morning. While they were out, Claire was enjoying the sun and cool breeze like always.

"You guys see that?" JJ asked, pointing to an expensive looking boat coming up past them. "That's the Malibu 24-MXC, the world's finest wakesetter. Number one in luxury, quality and performance. 200k, easy."

"We picked the wrong parents." Pope muttered.

"I hate it break it to you guys, but that's Topper and his girlfriend." Kie said.

Sarah Cameron lifted her sunglasses to her head and looked the group up and down as she and Topper rode past them.

"You don't have to act like you don't see us, bitch." Kiara muttered. Claire chuckled as she watched Sarah completely ignore their presence.

One of the only times Claire actually had a conversation with Sarah was the night of the kegger and that wasn't even a proper conversation, that was more Sarah yelling at them all to stop JJ from shooting Topper's brains out. Claire didn't hate her personally, but she did think she was a bit of a stuck up daddy's princess who didn't care about anything but her manicured nails and perfect tan.

But it's whats on the inside that counts, right?

After their ride on the marsh, they headed back to the Chateau to change before going to the hotel on Figure Eight where JJ worked to use the internet and figure out the coordinates left on the map John B's dad left him.

"Alright, keep a look out. We're behind enemy lines." JJ said, then proceeded to pull out his gun.

Claire sighed. She really thought he'd learned not to bring it with him from the amount of times the group had told him off for it.

"Yo, come on, man. Just put it back." John B said.

"What?"

"JJ."

"You can never be too careful."

"Hey, I predict that bringing a weapon to a four-star hotel will likely cause more problems than they solve." Pope said.

"Thank you, Pope."

"I swear to God, I'm gonna throw that thing in the ocean, JJ. Put it back." Kiara said.

"Yeah, I'd like for us not to be arrested before lunch." Claire added.

John B snatched it from JJ's hands and put it back in the glove compartment.

"You can't grab a gun like that." JJ said. "Can't forget my badge. Professional busboy."

"So, where are we going now?"

"We're getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now." JJ said. "This way."

They followed him through the kitchens, and Claire couldn't help but chuckle as he got scolded by a lady named Mama L, for pinching some food.

"See, they got the backup generators going. Kooks don't miss a beat."

They walked through the building all the way to an empty room where a bunch of computers were.

"Sweet Lord, the internet!" Pope exclaimed as he ran to a computer. "I've missed you."

Claire stayed by the door to keep lookout, while the others followed Pope.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! I got the map." John B said.

"Coordinates, please?" Pope asked.

"Thirty-four, fifty-seven, thirty, north. Seventy-five, fifty-five, forty-two, west."

"Okay, boom, continental shelf right there."

"Well, if it's off the deep end, this is not gonna be much of a treasure hunt, is it?"

Suddenly there were voices coming from out in the hallway, followed by footsteps and laughter so Claire hid out of sight.

"Guys, hurry up." She said.

"Shit, it's on the high side. It's only nine hundred feet."

"That's not too deep." JJ said.

"Is that doable or something?" Kie asked.

"Yeah, totally doable."

Claire walked over to her friends and stood between JJ and John, starting to feel slightly left out of the conversation while she was on lookout.

"Okay, will we be taking your personal submarine?" Pope asked sarcastically.

Claire looked at the blonde boy next to her. "How do you know it's totally doable?"

"The salvage yard." He responded. "They got a drone that can drop one thousand. It has a three-sixty camera and everything. It's for like, deep dives and stuff. It's exactly what we need."

"And can your dad get his grimy little hands on that?" John B asked.

"Well, my dads grimy little hands got his ass fired. I guess the salvage captain frowns on showing up shitfaced, turns out." He said. "But the drone's there. It's in the impound yard out back."

"How much did you say was on the Royal Merchant again?" Kie asked.

"Four-hundred mil." John B and JJ said simultaneously.

Pope got out of his chair and ran towards the door.

"Four hundred million dollars?" Kie repeated slowly.

"Yep."

Kiara got up and power walked to the door that Pope was now blocking.

"No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. No!" Pope said.

"Pope! Move." Kie said.

JJ and Kie moved Pope out of the way and walked out, while John B and Claire shared a look as he grabbed his backpack and they followed their friends out.

"Can't we do anything legal for money?" Pope muttered.

"Would you just shut up and go." Claire said, pushing him out and rolling her eyes.

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"Pope, we're not stealing the drone. We're borrowing it." John B said.

"'Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality.'" Pope replied.

Claire watched JJ amusedly as he was concentrating really hard on rolling his dart. JJ raised his eyes and smirked as he caught her watching him, then offered her the dart but she shook her head.

"Did you come up with that?"

"No, Albert Bernstein came up with it, but it applies to this whole treasure hunting thing."

"Oh."

"So, which is it?" Pope asked, turning his body to face John. "Fantasy or reality?"

"Why are you so weird, Pope?" JJ asked, still rolling his cigarette.

"It's fantasy, but possible reality." Kie said.

"Reality." John B added.

"Virtual reality." JJ muttered, preparing to light the cigarette but Pope snatched it from his mouth and threw it away.

"Keep the signal clear."

JJ glared at Pope indignantly before putting his lighter away. John B came to a stop and both girls got out of the van and walked around to the driver's side, choosing to ignore JJ and Pope's bickering.

It was up to both of them to distract the security guard while the boys went to search for the drone.

"You know what your problem is?" JJ asked Pope.

"You?"

"No! It's that you need to relax, man. You're always so tense."

"I'm not too tense."

"Hey, don't worry. You guys have got this." John B assured the girls.

"It's not us that I'm worried about." Kiara replied, before walking off to the car.

John B held out his hand for Claire and the two did the secret handshake. She winked with a smirk before walking off. Kiara drove to the salvage yard and the girls headed over to the gate.

"You ready?" Kie asked.

"Sure." Claire replied.

She definitely wasn't ready but they really had no other choice.

"Excuse me!" Kie called, waving to the security guard who was sitting inside his office.

The two girls waited as the guard came out to meet them. "Can I help you?"

"Hi! Um, we actually have a flat tire. I was wondering if maybe you could help us out?"

"Yeah." The man said.

"It's too easy." Kie muttered when he left. Claire chuckled quietly.

The security guard returned and the girls lead him over to the back of the boat.

"It's just this back one here. I mean, it must've been a slow leak or something."

Claire looked around as subtly as she could and spotted the boys hiding from a fair distance away. She nodded once and turned back around when she saw them run off.

"Probably just been sitting in the yard too long. I got this."

"Thank you."

As the guard tended to the tire, Kie and Claire glanced at each other then back to him. He looked up at them, so they smiled.

"Got it?" Kie asked.

"Almost." He said.

Suddenly a distant barking made Claire's ears perk up.

"Do you hear that?" The guard asked.

"Hear what?"

"Oh, Tebow's got somethin'."

Claire started to panic then. "I'm sure he just saw a wild animal or something. Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah."

Kiara walked to the other side of the boat, Claire wasn't sure to do what, but she had no other choice but to distract the guard.

Her best solution to that? Start talking about random shit and hoping it would work in her favour, and that he wouldn't notice Kiara was missing.

"So, busy day?" She asked.

The guard thankfully didn't look up. "Not really."

"I 'spose you don't find too many kids like us around here very often."

"It's more common than you think."

There was more silence and Claire racked her brain to try and think of stuff to ask him. Luckily, he asked her the next question and again, didn't look up.

"So, judging by the accent, you're not from around here?"

"No, I'm from Australia. Is it that obvious?" Claire replied, looking over at Kiara who was still doing god knows what with the other tires.

"Just a little. How long have you been here?" When she didn't answer him, that's when he looked up. "What are you looking at? Hey, where's your friend?"

A loud hissing sound caught their attention and the guard looked at Claire suspiciously, before quickly walking around to the other side of the boat. The dog's barking was also getting louder and Claire knew they were royally fucked.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"This one looks a little low too." Kie attempted but the guard ran off. "Shit!"

The girls got back into the car and Claire sighed. "That went well." She muttered sarcastically. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"I don't know!"

Fuck, Claire thought.

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"Stealing drones makes you hungry." Kie said as they pulled up outside The Wreck.

John B managed to find the drone and Claire was amazed that they managed to pull that little heist off so well. Maybe she and her friends were getting a little too good at illegal activities.

"What I would do to a beer and shrimps and grits right now." JJ said, getting out of the van.

"It would not be pretty." Pope added.

"I could go for a good ol' snag and some chips."

The others stared at Claire blankly and she rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Sometimes I have no idea what you're saying but I love it anyways." Kiara chuckled as they walked up the stairs.

JJ slung an arm around Claire's shoulders and said, "You're the most Australian person I've ever met."

Claire rolled her eyes and shrugged him off as they entered the restaurant. "I'm the only Australian person you've ever met."

"Hey, Dad." Kiara greeted.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi, Mr C!"

"Hi, Claire."

Claire and the boys stood in a far corner as they waited for Kie to finish talking to her dad. When she and Mike looked at them, they waved awkwardly and eventually Kiara gave them a thumbs up.

"Sit down!"

"Oh, yes!" JJ grinned.

As the food was served, Claire helped herself to bits and pieces of the food, stuffing her face mostly with fries and washing them down with a soda. JJ and John B kept throwing food at one another and ignoring Claire's protests of wasting good food. Kie put on some music and started to dance, calling over John B to join her. Claire watched amusedly as they grooved to the beat, smiling and laughing, but she also noticed Pope hadn't taken his eyes off Kiara all night.

Her staring was interrupted however, when a fry hit her in the face and she saw JJ nodding his head, motioning for her to dance with him.

She smiled and agreed, getting up from her chair and joining the blonde boy for a dance. JJ bowed and Claire curtsied, then they broke into an old fashioned waltz and both of them giggled the whole time. JJ spun Claire on the spot a few times and then they swapped, Claire spinning JJ on the spot before he unexpectedly finished with a big dip and she nearly dropped him. Then they went back to dancing normally and joining in with John B, Kiara and Pope.

It was truly the most fun Claire had had in a long time, and she didn't want to ever have to leave them or this place.

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Hiii sorry I've taken so long to update this one but idk I guess I just wanted to work on other books but I did miss writing this one so since my city has gone on lockdown for the weekend cause of covid stuff, I'll be updating this one a bit more!

It was a bit of a choppy chapter but I really enjoyed writing the ending and I hope you enjoyed reading it <3

Love u guys! Don't forget to vote and comment etc etc <3