John B sighed, hitting the steering in a slight annoyance from Popes worried rambles. "Pope, we're not stealing the drone. We're borrowing it." Pope sighed from the backseat, leaning his head back on the wall of the van beside Quinn. "Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality."

John B squinted his eyes before slowly turning around to Pope. "Did you come up with that?"

Pope rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Albert Bernstein came up with it, but it applies to this whole treasure-hunting thing." Quinn let out a small laugh, nudging his leg with hers. "I think you mean Albert Einstein." Pope looked at Quinn for a few seconds with an 'are you kidding me?' look before shaking his head. "No... I meant Bernstein. Aren't you supposed to be smart?" Quinn mumbled a few cuss words under her breath as she pushed him slightly.

"So, which is it? Fantasy or reality?" Pope asked and JJ sighed, shaking his head. "Why are you so weird, Pope?"

"It's fantasy, but possible reality." Kie said before everyone turned to John B who didn't look up from the road. "Reality."

"Virtual reality." JJ said, trying to be a smartass. "Fantasy." Quinn said, making the group turn to hurt, John B looking slightly hurt, making her quickly shake her head. "Only because if we're doing all this shit, I wanna see a fucking unicorn or something." Pope snickered at her words as JJ lifted his joint in the air.

Pope hit JJ's hand slightly when he offered him a hit of his joint, making JJ groan. "You know what your problem is?" "You?" Pope quickly asked, making Quinn snicker.

JJ groaned, shaking his head. "No! It's that you need to relax, man. You're always so tense!" Pope scoffed, looking away from the boy. "I'm not too tense."

Quinn smiled as John B parked, she patted Pope's shoulder playfully, making the boy push her hand off of his shoulder

As they got out of the van, Quinn, Pope, JJ, and John B all hid in the bushes as Kie went to stall the man working at the gate.

"How's it going with Kiara?" JJ whispered from the other side of Pope, looking at John B. The Routledge sighed, shaking his head. "It's not awkward, weird, or anything."

JJ and Quinn snorted at his words, Pope elbowed her slightly and she just turned to him, still silently chuckling, making him smile.

"Yeah. Honestly, I did not think you were gonna actually listen to me." JJ said and Quinn immediately nodded, not knowing what the two boys were talking about but butted in anyway. "Yeah. I mean. Who does that willingly?" Quinn muttered, making JJ scoff, leaning back to get behind Pope and push Quinn over. Pope quickly wrapped his arm around her waist before she fell over, making Quinn smile at him gratefully, sitting herself back up properly.

But Pope kept his hand on her waist.

JJ sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose before turning to John B. "I was 100 percent sure she was into you. Quinn and Pope would agree." "Ehh..." Quinn started as Pope instantly shook his head. "Not really."

Quinn looked off to where Kie was, waiting for the guard to open the gate as she felt herself smile at Pope's arm still around her waist.

"So, like, Kie, she, like, definitely gave you the Heisman?" JJ whispered and John B smacked his lips. "Oh, no question. Yup." "Gotcha." JJ muttered.

Suddenly, the gate opened at Quinn shot up, making Pope's hand, that was once on Quinn's waist, run down her side until his hand stopped at her knee.

Pope awkwardly coughed, standing up after her as John B and JJ chuckled, running into the lot, Quinn right after them as Pope tried to compose himself. Once he was okay, he ran into the lot after his three friends.

...

They watched as JJ struggled for five minutes to unlock the shed the drone was in when Quinn finally started to get annoyed.

"Do you have the right numbers?" Quinn scolded and JJ sighed, dropping his hands from the lock as he ran a hand through his hair. "All right, so I might have the wrong numbers."

Quinn groaned, throwing her head back slightly as she groaned and kicked the metal shed, a loud clang bursting through the air. The four cringe as Pope aggressively shushed her and John B wrapped his arm around her waist, lifting her up and throwing her over his shoulder so she couldn't make more noise.

The sound of a dog barking made the four freeze slightly and look up as a huge dog came barreling towards them.

"Oh! Hey!" JJ said, going to walked towards the dog before his eyes went wide and he quickly shook his head. "That's a cougar. Never mind."

"Hi! No, stay there! Good boy. No, you're okay!" Quinn said as she wiggled out of John B's grip, taking slow steps towards the dog but once she was about a foot away from it, he tried to bite her hand, making Quinn yelp, jumping back as her back rammed into Popes chest.

Quinn immediately grabbed his hand as John B ran away, leaving JJ, Quinn and Pope with the dog. JJ looked around for something to distract him with when he finally found a bright red handkerchief, raising it in the air. "I got a toy, boy!"

The dog immediately spun around to JJ at his words, growling, making JJ's smile drop as he started to run, the dog chasing after him. "Wait, no. I was just kidding. Shit!"

As soon as the dog was gone, Quinn squeezed Popes hand tighter, running him in the opposite direction. "Come on! Pope, run!"

...

"What's this?" JJ asked, going to lean over between Quinn and Pope to touch something in front of Quinn but the girl just his hands, making him wince as Pope shook his head. "Don't touch that. I'm trying to work out this thing."

JJ smiled, hitting their shoulders as he looked at the screen of John B and Kie underwater to test the drones camera. "God bless geeks, you two. Truly, man."

John B and Kie started to float back to the surface as JJ sighed, looking over Quinn and Pope. "What would we do without you to control the drones?"

"It's not a drone. It's an ROV-" "Shut up. Shut up. It's too early for that right now." JJ quickly interrupted Pope, making him sigh as John B and Kie climbed onto the dock.

"Hey, once we get footage of the wreck, we'll bring it to a lawyer in town and file a formal claim." John B said and JJ scoffed. "It's bullshit. Why do we have to do that?"

Kie looked at him weirdly, shaking his head slightly. "Well, there is maritime salvage law. You can't just go to the ocean floor and scoop a bunch of stuff up." Pope let out a hum of agreement, making JJ sigh. "I know. I know. It's just lawyers aren't cheap, bro."

"As soon as they see the footage, they'll work for a comp." John B said, causing Quinn's brows to furrow. "How do you know all of that?"

John B turned to her and shrugged. "Cause my dad said it, like, a million times."Kie looked at him for a few seconds before pursing her lips and nodding. "Yeah, that's fair."

"This tether is, like, really long. In the wrong weather, it could get pushed around." Pope said as he pulled up the drone, making John B shrug. "Then we'll go at dead calm."

The sound of thunder clashed through the air, making Quinn cringe as she turned to him. "At slack tide?"

Kie sighed, throwing her hands in her pockets. "So now, we just gotta wait around for the right weather." Pope leaned out of the dock to look at the storm, shaking his head. "And today is not that day."

...

"You kids get these groceries over to Figure Eight. Get straight back here when you're done. No fishin'. I promised delivery by this afternoon. Rich folks don't wanna wait for you lazy sons of-" Heyward cut himself off at Quinn and JJ, their arms outstretched to grab some bags. Heyward smiled, hanging them the bags. "Oh, thank you, kids... Sons of bitches."

"Doesn't even look like the storm hit there." Pope sighed and JJ scoffed. "That's because they got generators, bro. Get used to it. And then they say the juice will be out all summer at the cut."

"It's nice to be a Kook." Pope sighed as JJ nodded. "Lucky bastards."

Quinn frowned slightly at his words, slumping in her seat as she looked off at the water. Pope looked at her sadly, realizing their words might've offended her. He places his hand on her knee, rubbing it.

Quinn looked down at his hand and smiled slightly. She looked up at him and smiled, making him smile. Quinn felt a small flutter in her chest at the action but quickly shook it off, looking ahead.

...

"Pope!" Quinn cheered as she and JJ ran towards the dock the Heyward delivery boat was parked. JJ let out a loud laugh as he ran onto the boat, Quinn right after him. "Dude, you are not going to believe what just happened to me, man! Whoo! That was the best 100 bucks I've ever made! When I say count me in on all these grocery deliveries, Pope, I mean it." JJ cheered.

Quinn laughed along with him until she turned to Pope. "What's up with you?" Quinn asked, frowning slightly at Pope's dampened mood. JJ turned to Pope at Quinn's words, his brows furrowed. "Bro, you good?" After Pope didn't answer, JJ ripped Pope's hat off of his head, revealing his bloodied up forehead. "Yo, what happened to your face!?"

Quinn grew defensive, looking Pope in shock. "Jesus, Pope! What happened?" Pope glared at the water ahead of them as he answered. "Rafe and Topper jumped me. They said no Pogues on their side of the island."

Quinn scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest as JJ sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What are you gonna do?"

An idea immediately popped her head, turning to the boys with a small smirk. "I know."

...

"2020 Malibu, 24-MXC. The world's finest wakesetter. Number one in quality, luxury, and performance." Quinn said, putting her sunglasses down as she smirked at the boat. JJ sighed, patting a hand on Pope's shoulder. "This is war, Pope. They hit us, we hit them. Do it."

Quinn pulled her hair up into a ponytail, smirking slightly. "Karmas a bitch." She mumbled before diving into the water, faintly hearing Pope jump in after her.

Pope climbed into Toppers boat, sticking his arm out for Quinn to climb in. Quinn smiled at Pope as he helped her climb in. She looked around the boat until she found the cap of the drain. "There it is."

Quinn went towards the cap to untwist it but Pope got their first. She looked around a little longer and smirked at a pair of black Ray-Bans. "Can't let these get ruined." She cheered sweetly, putting the glasses on her face. Pope smiled at her, finally getting the cap off and the two quickly jumped out of the boat, Quinn holding the glasses to her face so they didn't come off as she swam.

"Wow, you did it. I'm so proud of you right now." JJ screamed, sticking his hands out to help them onto the boat. "Holy fuck." Quinn gasped before chuckling as Pope sighed, turning to his two blonde friends. "Quinn? JJ?"

Quinn turned her head at Pope panicked voice. "Yeah?" Pope shook his head, shaking his hands back and forth as he started to grow more nervous. "You can't tell anybody."

JJ immediately nodded. "Oh, no, yeah. Totally, dude."

Pope shook his head. "No, I'm serious, dude. Not Kie, not John B, nobody." Quinn frowned slightly at Pope, grabbing his hand in hopes to calm him down. "Pope, our lips are sealed."

JJ nodded with Quinn, sticking his hand out in front of them. "Give me that. Give me that." He quickly took the cap out of Pope's hand, throwing it into the water. Quinn sighed, nodding her head as she walked towards the steering wheel of the boat. "Okay! Let's get outta here."

...

"You really think it's out there? Like, no bullshit?" Quinn asked as she laid squished in a hammock with Pope. John B sighed, throwing a hackey sack in the air. "My father thought it was." Pope lifted his head up, slightly moving Quinn as he turned to John B. "But do you?"

The thunder rumbled as John B sighed. "After hearing his voice on that tape... I think I do." Pope sighed, resting his head back down on Quinn's head as JJ hummed. "Only one way to find out."

"Look, we're gonna find it, you know? Even JJ believes." Quinn said, pointing to the hammock JJ was in beside her. John B let out a playful gasp. "Oh, my God, JJ, do you really believe?"

JJ hummed as he nodded. "Totally. Wait. Are we talking about five mil?" He asked, making Quinn roll her eyes. "Five hundred mil." Kie and Quinn said at the same time, making Quinn let out a loud laugh, leaning back into Pope's chest slightly. "Jinx."

JJ let out a happy sigh. "I'm gonna dream about shipwrecks. "Good night, Bird!" JJ called out and John B snickered. "Good night, bird shit!"

—I love them sm❤️😫