CHAPTER TEN: THIS IS WAR!

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"2020 malibu, 24- mxc. the world's finest wakesetter. number one in quality, luxury, and performance," pope described the expensive boat as we laid our eyes on it.

"this is war,"jj glared, "they hit us, we hit them."

"believe me, i'm all about revenge, but sinking a kook's boat?" i tried to be the voice of reason that kie would be if she were there.

"elsie, you're never like this, stop," jj said in a harsh tone as i walked away from him angrily, still limping with my bad foot. he looked at me and rolled his eyes. "do it," he asserted. pope dove into the water and swam to the kook's boat.

"i get it, you're angry, but this is gonna cause more problems than solve," i attempted to mend things with jj, but he was still not hearing me out.

"listen, those bitches caved pope's face in. not to mention, they broke your ankle. hell, rafe practically assaulted you! you think we're going to let that slide?" he let out a sarcastic laugh.

"you're not listening to me," i denied as i shook my head, "i get that you want to get even. but i'm just saying, the boat? that's gonna get us mixed up with the police. and besides! they're kooks, they're just gonna buy a new one anyway!" i objected.

"elsie, it's the principle of the thing. if i get sent to jail for defending my best friend and girlfriend from getting beaten and assaulted, so be it," he shrugged, not wanting to argue anymore. just then, pope climbed back up onto our boat, finished with the deed.

"wow, you did it! i'm so proud of you, holy crap," jj took off his bandana while i sat there, unimpressed that pope wasn't being his usual, logical self.

"jj? you can't tell anybody," pope said.

"oh yeah, no. totally dude," jj replied, overwhelmed that pope actually did it.

"not kie, not john b, nobody. and even if you agree, what about her?" pope signaled to where i was laying, soaking up the sun with my sunglasses on.

"are you serious? sure, i don't think it was the most smart way of going about it, but i'm still on your side. always," i propped myself up to look at the boys, a proud smile secretly creeping up on my face.

jj threw the cap into the water, "okay! let's get out of here."

"wanna meet up with kie and john b to catch some waves?"

"can't," i replied, gesturing towards my foot, "going to get it checked. but maybe after, i'm sure it's nothing."

"elsie, you probably won't be able to surf for a bit if you get a boot on it," pope responded. i pouted, thinking about how i wouldn't be able to surf with my friends. what a joke.

"noooo, i wanna fucking surf," i cursed, "you know what pope? those goddamn kooks deserved it. nice going." the boys laughed at the remark.

a while later, i went to get it checked out. sure enough, a mild stress fracture. great. exactly what i need while us pogues are on a treasure hunt. i wasn't positive as to where they were, but it was logical to assume that they were at john b's.

"there she is!" kiara cheered as i walked up to the hammocks that they were all laying in, "woah, what happened?" they all looked down to be met with the hideous black boot i was wearing.

"well earlier, when jj, pope, and i were delivering groceries, i tripped and twisted it the wrong way. i'm such a dumbass," i chuckled lightly, swiftly lying about the entire thing, "luckily though, it's mild. boot is optional after a week of wearing it, but i might just ignore that. i can walk fine. whatcha guys talking about?"

"the gold," pope answered.

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the next day rolled around, and the weather was perfect. we were going to launch the drone. after hours, we finally reached the coordinates.

"all right, jj. pin it here," john b called to the blonde.

"roger that, x marks the spot!"

"all right ladies and gentlemen," john b grabbed the drone and placed in gently in the water, "to going full kook."

we all watched in silence as the drone went further down into the water.

"all right, jj, we're right over it. ten seconds northwest."

"got it! ten seconds northwest."

"one hundred feet!" kie paused.

"and to quote the hobbit, down, down, to goblin town. down, down, you go my lad," pope watched the monitor.

time went by as we continued to lower the tether deeper, "four hundred feet! the tide's turning."

"hey jj?" pope called out.

"ten seconds easy. south-southeast," john b called to him.

"copy that!" he understood.

"i feel like i'm not doing shit," i mumbled, feeling like i wasn't contributing.

jj laughed and grabbed my hand, "you're keeping me company gorgeous! i'd say that's somethin' important."

"jj, 20 seconds mid-speed alright? south," john b interrupted the thought.

"copy that! aye, aye," jj listened to his instructions as he shot me his award-winning smile.

"you're insane," i giggled.

"keep the tether out of the prop!" he yelled out to kie.

"i'm trying!"

"jj, keep going."

"john b, is that good?"

"we're good!"

"okay, 700 feet!" kie used the chalk to swipe another line on the side of the boat, keeping track. thunder began to rumble; so much for a perfect day to do this shit.

"okay," jj faltered, gripping on the wall.

"jj, hold it steady."

"okay, 900!" kie announced.

"jj, we're gonna turtle in this storm, man. crank it north by northwest. ten seconds."

i heard kie call out nervously, "john b, there's too much current, we're gonna lose it!"

"south, southwest, jj, hard!" john b grew a bit anxious, "half speed, steady at this bearing, jj!"

"i'm at the bottom!" we heard pope yell.

"okay, steady here, jj! steady here, quarter speed, all right?"

"oh good, god," we heard pope, and we both looked at each other excitedly.

"see anything?" i yelled.

"it's the royal merchant," john b grinned.

"holy shit!" i yelled, walking down to the others. it was surreal to say the least, but then, it was all ruined.

"it's not there," john b sighed, and everything we worked for went down the drain, "look, just, pull the drone up."

"look, we can do another pass. recharge the battery," pope suggested.

"we've done it three times, look there's nothing there," jj yelled.

"let alone 400 mil in gold," i added.

"shut up," kie argued.

"what, it's true!"

"the gold could be buried, we don't know!" kie countered.

"if it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? somebody beat us to it," john b clarified. for once, he was facing facts.

"or it was never there," jj spat.

and just like that, our dreams of what we would do with 400 mil became a screwed up dream.

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