➸

They got to Rixon's Cove and the five friends were still on a high after how they left Midsummers. Claire's smile hadn't left her face.

"So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me, so what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked as they sat by the fire.

John B looked at JJ and have him finger guns. JJ looked at Pope and back to John and said, "might as well tell him man, before we're gaffed."

"You ready for this?" John B asked.

"Yeah." Kie nodded. Claire watched John intently.

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant."

"Oh my God, here we go again with this." Pope muttered.

"No, alright, wait. Hear him out, alright?" JJ insisted.

"It's been here the whole time." John continued.
Claire's eyes widened.

"As in here on the island?" She asked, bewildered. John B nodded and Claire scoffed. "And all this time we thought it was with the boat."

"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope said.

"I'm sure you would, Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B asked.

"Proceed."

"Alright, so. In my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." John announced, holding up a piece of paper.

"Who the hell is that?" Kie asked.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out."

"What?"

"Here you go."

He handed Kiara the letter and Claire leaned over to read it too.

"Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom. After that, he bought his farm." John B explained as Kie passed the letter to Pope.

"Drumroll, please," he continued. The group started slapping their knees amusedly, "because that farm is...Tannyhill Plantation."

"Tannyhill?" Kie asked.

"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. 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." John B grinned at the two girls, and Claire couldn't help but chuckle.

"Where?" She whispered.

"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except...there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out." He walked over to Pope and pointed to what he was referring to on the letter. "The gold is in parcel nine, near the water."

Kie laughed excitedly.

"Holy shit." Pope said.

"All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold." John B said excitedly.

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of actually being true." As Pope said this, JJ stood up and walked over to his best friend.

"Dude, it's like King Tut." Kie said.

"I am a genius." John said, then laughed as JJ engulfed him in a big bear hug. "Hey, whoa! Hello! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn."

"I'm so proud of you right now." JJ said.

"Thank you. That's really sweet of you."

"I hate to interrupt this sentimental bromance moment you two have going on over there, but what's the plan now?" Claire asked.

"Great question, Claire." John B said. "So, Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She's gonna bring an original survey map–"

"Wait, wait, hold on. Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?" Kie asked.

"Um..."

"This is gonna be good." JJ muttered. Claire found herself staring at John B in confusion.

"Sarah, um...she–she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter."

"You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" Kie asked, bewildered. Claire noticed a slight hint of disgust in her tone.

"Yeah um–"

"He was mackin' on her." JJ said.

"I wasn't macking."

"You were totally macking Sarah Cameron."

"I wasn't macking on her, okay? I was using her for access."

"There was access, alright."

"Did you tell her about the treasure?" Kie asked.

"I was just trying to get into the archives!"

"Is that a yes?"

"I left out key details!"

"Yo, what?! You let a Kook in on our secret?" Kie exclaimed. "What about Pogue Lyfe? What about the T-shirt company, bro?"

"I was just using her for information."

"Why don't I believe you?"

Claire rubbed her hands over her face in frustration. She understood that the Kooks were mostly horrible people, but hearing Kiara rip into John B for hanging around–doing whatever he did–with Sarah Cameron to get information, and hearing her go on about the Pogue life and rules and betrayal and all that, just made her head hurt.

"I'm trying to make us filthy rich here. Okay, so that we can pay off a boat, or–or, uh, send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies. Look, you guys know me. Do I look like the type of person that could fall for Sarah Cameron?"

"Do you really want us to answer that?" Pope questioned.

"Just–just stop."

"Look, you don't know her yet. I do!" Kie exclaimed. "You can't trust her."

"Her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club. And not to mention he's hurt Claire one too many times."

"Rafe and Sarah are two, very different human beings." Claire interjected, then turned to Kiara fiercely. "What exactly did she do to you, Kie? Why do you hate her so much?"

Kie looked taken aback at Claire's tone, but she answered nonetheless. "She's like a–a spitting cobra. First she–she blinds you, and then–"

Claire rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"This is a bad analogy." Pope said.

"Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's gonna try to take."

"You don't know that." Claire said.

"Yes, I do. Claire you have no idea what it's like to know her. One minute she'll be acting like your best friend and the next it's like you just disappeared off the face of the earth."

"We don't have to be friends with her, Kie!" Claire said.

The boys watched the two girls argue with cautious intent; all three were shocked that Claire had called Kiara out, but John B was secretly glad that she did so he didn't have to, and end up being a total asshole to one of his best girl friends. Claire on the other hand wasn't entirely sure where this outburst of frustration was coming from. Maybe it was from being surrounded by Kooks all night and hearing Kiara constantly complain about them, or maybe it was just because she'd had enough of just everything lately and needed an excuse to yell at someone. She wasn't intentionally trying to hurt Kiara, but part of her meant what she was saying.

"All John B did was use her for information and, whaddya know? It worked. You need to get over all this stupid bullshit about Kooks being the worst and Sarah being a bitch. You're such a bloody hypocrite sometimes!" Claire exclaimed, her accent coming through thickly.

"Yo, what the fuck? Why are you getting angry at me, Claire?" Kie yelled.

"Because, Kie, you're being stupid and petty and holding onto a pointless grudge!"

Kiara opened her mouth to respond but closed it immediately and looked away from Claire in a huff.

After that, the group of friends remained in a tense silence.

➸

"Yo, uh...so, I think I'm gonna do this one by myself..." John B said awkwardly when they arrived  at the Hawk's Nest.

Kie rolled her eyes.

"Really?" JJ asked.

"What?"

"Nothin' brother,"

"Look, I just don't want to spook Sarah with the peanut gallery."

"I just don't understand why we're involving her at all."

"Kie, we're not involving her at all, okay? It's just, uh, like a business meeting...thing."

JJ mimicked a blow-job causing Claire and Pope to laugh quietly.

"Look, once we get what we need, we cut her loose, alright? Plus we need the map."

"Promise me nothing's happening between you two."

"Nothing is happening, Kie."

"I'm being serious."

"Okay!"

"This isn't about you, and this isn't about us. This is about her. Dude she's gonna get inside your head."

Claire chose not to comment and just let Kie go on.

"Just promise me nothing's happening between you guys."

"I promise."

"That was really believable." JJ said.

"A hundred percent believable." Pope added.

"An Oscar winning performance, truly." Claire muttered.

"Anyways, um...I'm gonna take care of business." John B said, ignoring them and getting out of the van.

"Yeah, we'll just sit here...in the hot ass car." Pope muttered. "While it's lightning."

Uncomfortable silence took over the van once John B left. Claire shifted and played with her fingers nervously. She and Kiara hadn't said a word to each other since their little argument and although Claire meant what she said, part of her wished she'd gone about it in a different, less bitchy way. But she didn't think it would've had the same effect to get through to Kie if she'd been nice about it.

"Alright." JJ spoke after a while. "I can't take it anymore. You girls need to sort out your shit from before because it's literally making me so uncomfortable to the point where I want to cry."

"Yeah, I have to agree." Pope said. "It's weird not seeing you two get along."

"Not a vibe."

Claire rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine. Could you guys leave us alone then?"

They agreed and stepped out of the van, walking a fair distance so they weren't able to eavesdrop.

Simultaneously, Claire and Kiara turned to each other and said, "I'm sorry." They chuckled and Kie added, "You go first."

"I'm sorry I got mad at you. And I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings after what I said."

Kie shook her head. "No, don't apologise for what you said. You were right. It doesn't mean I'll change my mind and I hate to admit it, but you're still right."

Claire stifled a laugh, "I'm not saying you have to be best friends with Sarah, but if she's our best shot at getting closer to the treasure, then we've got to trust John B. He says there's nothing going on–even though he's not very convincing–but we have to trust him as his friends."

"Yeah, I know. But if he is lying, I'm gonna beat his ass."

"And I will fully support you on that."

JJ and Pope suddenly laughed really loudly which caught the girls' attention and they looked out the van to see the boys play fighting. Claire couldn't help but smile at hearing JJ's laugh.

"Quick change of topic, what's going on between you and JJ?" Kie asked.

Claire looked at her and shrugged. "I dunno. Nothing, really."

"I've been watching you two and it doesn't look like nothing."

She sighed, "It's complicated. He's been a little distant since I told you guys about my mum selling the house, but he's also been super protective over me at the same time. He's always protective of us though, so that's not really news."

"Well, how do you feel?"

"I honestly don't know. Like, I don't want to commit to anything because I might not have a choice to stay here. And I don't want to ruin our friendship by getting involved with him that way, but I also know that he's literally all I think about and it's driving me crazy. I couldn't even go a second of talking to all those guys at Midsummers without thinking how hot JJ would've looked in a tux. And then he shows up wearing that damn waiters outfit and I just...I wanted to kiss his stupid face right there and then. But I didn't, obviously."

Kiara had the biggest smile on her face and Claire eyed her suspiciously. "What? Why are you smiling like a psychopath?"

"You're so freaking whipped, Claire! That's why!" She laughed. "I've never seen you smile so much talking about something the way you just were."

Claire hadn't even realised she was smiling. It made her blush hard.

"JJ obviously likes you too, he just won't admit it." Kie added.

Claire groaned. "Why is this stuff so complicated?"

Kie shrugged. "Because it just is."

"Yo!" JJ called suddenly, making his way back over to the van. "You two best friends again yet? I'm getting tired of beating Pope's ass and need a joint."

"We're done." Kie said, rolling her eyes.

"Fantastic." He clapped and hopped in, reclaiming his spot on the floor. Pope got in shortly after.

Claire watched JJ amusedly and he caught her staring. "Something wrong?"

She shook her head and gave him a small smile. "No."

His eyes lingered on hers for a moment longer before she looked down at her lap and played with her fingers nervously.

The group sat in a comfortable silence for a while until a scream made Claire's ears perk up.

"Wait do you guys hear that?" Kie said.

"Yeah..." Claire said, at the same time the boys asked, "What?"

"Please, somebody help!"

It was Sarah's voice calling out in the distance.

"Oh, wait, I hear that."

"Shit."

"What the fuck?"

The four quickly left the vehicle and ran to find Sarah.

"Sarah, what happened?" Pope asked when they found her.

She was kneeling and sobbing over John B's body on the ground.

"I don't know what to do. He needs help. Topper shoved him."

"Where the hell is he?"

"Please, please, please get help. I don't care who. Just call someone."

"Go, go!" JJ said to Pope. He ran off back to the van.

"Help, please."

"Pope, hurry!" Kie yelled.

Sarah looked up at Kiara and Claire saw the hurt flash in Kie's eyes.

"John B, stay with me." Sarah begged, pressing a kiss to his lips. "Please don't leave me."

Kiara looked even more betrayed, and honestly, Claire couldn't blame her.

John had lied to them and she all of a sudden felt like an idiot for sticking up for him the way she did.

➸

Sorry it took me a while to get this one out, uni just started back up for me this week so it's been pretty tiring and intense and I haven't had much time to write but I finished it and I hope you enjoyed!

Let me know what you thought in the comments! I really appreciate your feedback xx