THE journey back to the OBX was longer than anyone wanted it to be. 

JJ was still angry over leaving the Routledge behind, so it had been a rather quiet journey. They merely commented on things, Sarah announcing when they'd need more fuel. Otherwise, the Pogues all sit in a tense silence, looking around at one another with nothing to say.

 Eden hasn't been paying attention too much. All she knows is that her fingers are fidgeting around for something to do, and that she misses her best friend; it's her fault they aren't with him, but she can't help but miss his presence. 

There's been no word on John B. in any way to make her lighten up, either. 

Sarah had given him one of their two phones, obviously for him to use to call with an update. Either the Routledge forgot how to use a keyboard or was dead, because since they departed from the island, the phone has been radio silent. 

No text, no call. Nothing. 

At this point, Eden can hope he's dead. She's over his ass and not replying to texts when it matters.

"So this is what we're doing now, huh?" the Maybank boy speaks up, as he'd done for the past few hours. Whenever the felt a spark of fresh irritation, he'd let everyone know then fall quiet until the cycle repeated again. "We're just sailing out?"

Sarah doesn't meet his gaze, merely lowering it to the steering wheel.

"We're just gonna forget about John B?" JJ continues, Kiara lightly shaking her head from where she was sitting. Eden lets out a sigh—she felt guilty enough, the Maybank didn't have to remind her. "We should have never left him, alright? We're turning right back around." 

"No!" Cleo firmly yells at the blonde. "We're all gonna get caught. What type of plan is that?"

"It's a plan to stick together, Cleo!" JJ fires back. 

"Then we are dead together!"

Eden had stopped caring about stopping arguments as soon as they set off to sea. Her nails clicked against the screen of the phone—she'd been holding on to Fenton's phone, almost waiting for Jimmy's contact to pop up. 

It takes all of her might not to open the phone and see what games he had to play. She wishes she had her bracelet kit to stop her fidgeting hands. 

"She's right." Kiara perks up, hair blowing in the salty breeze. "We had to leave, or we'd all be zip-tied in the back of a pick-up."

Eden mumbles, "Or worse." 

"Eden, I don't want to hear—" JJ starts, anger mostly set on the Bexley and Cameron for starting up the boat.

Kiara sides with Eden, sending the brunette a reassuring glance. She shushes the blonde. "We did the right thing." 

Before the Maybank can protest, there's an abrupt ringing. Eden almost jumps as the phone in her hands starts to vibrate, eyes widening as she looks down at the screen to see Jimmy Portis' Caller ID.

Everyone looks at the Bexley. JJ is the first one to ask her, "Who's that?"

"It's Portis." Eden announces, a rush of hope running through her veins. There's a chance that Singh was calling to say he'd gotten John B. but....there was a bigger chance the Routledge himself was calling. "John B." 

"That's definitely John B—"

Eden immediately answers the call, putting the phone up to her ear. At the moment, she doesn't care that it's not on speaker. She needed to make sure her best friend was safe and okay.  "John B?"

"Yeah, no, it's me—"

"You slow-ass asshole, thank God you're okay—"

"Speaker," Kiara grits, wanting to hear the boy. "Speaker!"

"I—"

Eden pulls the phone away, clicking the speaker button before warning. "You're on speaker now, the children would like to speak."

"What do you need!?" JJ immediately snatches the phone from Eden, frantically questioning. He's ready to turn right back around for the Routledge. "Do you need us to turn around?" 

"No, don't—about it." 

"Yo, say it again. Say it again—" 

"—said don't.....about me, okay?" John B.'s voice comes through the speaker, cracking and breaking up due to the little service there was from where the Pogues were. Eden leans forward, trying to listen as hard as she can. "Look.....too hot....OBX." 

"Look too hot in the OBX?" Eden mumbles, knowing that 99% of what the Routledge was saying was getting cut off. "I already do that—JJ give me the phone."

JJ hands over the phone, leaning forward, "We do not copy—"

"No, Eden, give me the phone—" Sarah takes it before the girl can even get a chance to try and translate John B., "John B?"

"Sarah....hello?" 

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Yes, no,  I'm fine. Everything's good. Listen—"

"He's fine. Thank God." Sarah sighs before bringing the phone back to her lips, "What happened?"

"I...ound...d..."Eden's brows furrow as his words start to get more and more broken up, leaving mere endings instead of fully formed words. ".....ve." 

Sarah doesn't process it. "Wait? What did you say? John B?"

"...rah." John B. crackles, "Sarah?

Eden stands up, coming towards the phone. "We can't hear anything you're saying, John B. You're breaking up."

"Eden?...lo?" 

"He could be telling us the secret code to something, and we'd never fucking know." Eden mutters to herself, passing by the Cameron knowing it was no use trying to get through to the brunette. 

At least they knew John B. was alive. 

"...ust...out...here." the Routledge says, "I'll.....eet you on...ildare, okay?"

The Cameron can translate that. "Kildare, when?" 

".....ello?" 

"Kildare—" Sarah can't finish her sentence as the phone cuts off with a monotonous beep.  The Cameron stares at the device with wide eyes. "John B! No, no, no—John B!"

"I have no clue what he said, but I guess we're meeting him in Kildare?" Eden summarizes from John B.'s garbled words. It was more info that they had before, so she can't be too upset. Her best friend was alive, he wasn't mad they left, and he had a way home. 

Sarah turns around, throwing the phone at Eden, who catches it. "Kildare? What the hell?" 

Lowly, Cleo ponders, "You think he found his father?"

"He's been missing for over a year." Pope rings, reminding everyone that no matter how much John B. believed in those bells, there was a little chance Big John Routledge was alive—let alone thriving in the Bahamas. 

"How would Big John have even made it to the Bahamas? It's silly." Eden can't help but question aloud. "I mean, him and Ward fight on a boat. He gets injured and Ward tosses him off. There's no way he could have swam like that." She can't help but continue her little rant. "And even if he did, why would he have stayed quiet in the Bahamas like this? A year without a call or...or a note, or something to prove he was alive is odd."

Kiara glances at the blonde girl, "Sarah, what do you think? Should we go back?"

"Sarah—we're sitting ducks right now." JJ didn't want the Cameron to silently gaze into the water until her friends stopped nagging. It was either they went back, or they went forward. "So, we need to make a decision. Are we turning back around or are we gonna keep going?"

Eden speaks up again, "I know it was all garbled, but I don't think he needs us to turn around. He seemed safe and okay where he was, and he told us Kildare. I trust that he'll meet us there eventually."

Sarah stays quiet. JJ continues, "Sarah, we need to make a decision—"

"I agree with Eden." Sarah snaps, "He said go."

"Hold on, listen—"

"Go." 

"Sarah—"

"Go!"

JJ seethes but follows Sarah Cameron's orders. Eden hopes they're making the right choice.

For the next four days, the Pogues take turns steering the boat. 

There's not much of a routine. They eat when they want too, sometimes share a bottle of something together. When night falls, two teens stay at the herd while others find a place to sleep or relax. In the day, they all wander about, hanging around whoever they deem worthy of conversation.

They argued over how to assign steering. First they did first name order—which would leave them Cleo then Eden—and last name order—again, Eden—and at some point just started picking numbers and whoever got closest to the old driver had to take their place. Ultimately they went with age, which once more, put the Bexley in the front of the line, given she fell after John B. in birth order. 

Currently, Eden stands at the wheel, lazily looking out at the ocean. It seems as if they'd stayed in place, the only way she knows they've actually gone anywhere is because of the stops they've made for fuel and gas, to which Cleo would name them off from the top of her head. 

For the past few days, all she's seen are ocean, water, and sea. It's getting rather old. 

She can't wait to see Kildare. 

JJ was messing around on the helm, keeping the brunette company. He'd been aimlessly chatting with her for however long her shift had been, but eventually, his words came back over to Singh and her kidnapping.

"So, you sure you didn't tell him where the diary is?" JJ asks. He trusts Eden to an extent, but he was sure that Singh could have gotten it out of her if he wanted too.

"No, J, I didn't." the Bexley sighs, voice low. "I think I'd remember to tell you guys—more so get on my knees and ask for forgiveness—if I did." When the Maybank raises his brows, she repeats the words she'd repeated to him for the past few days. "I told him I knew where it was and that I could get it for him. He doesn't have a clue." 

JJ brushes past her to sit on the small lounging area. "So, why does Singh want it so much?" 

"I told you earlier, he thinks it can help lead him to El Dorado, which is, like, his destiny or something." Eden explains points she'd told all the Pogues the past few days, "He thinks the diary has a clue or something, and that the Merchant was just a small—" JJ raises a finger and the Bexley huffs, "Proceed." 

"Okay, so the diary we have leads to a five-hundred year old treasure that no one's ever found?" 

Saying it out loud, it sounded pretty out there. Yet, with everything that's happened, Eden didn't find it that bizarre. It made a lot of sense that an old diary held a clue to a mythical city of gold and that a group of teenagers were the ones with their hands on it. Total sense. 

"Not the craziest thing I've heard, actually." Eden replies.

"I'm in." JJ admits, shrugging. "It's kind of like, my best option at this point, so....." He shifts in the seat before standing up again, "Definitely beats sitting in geometry class."

Eden laughs, "We all know how much you hate triangles." 

"Beating Pope with a protractor again would be pretty fun though...." 

"Mm, no it wouldn't." the Bexley recalls the memory of when JJ started to hit the Heyward boy with his protractor repeatedly, to which Eden had to intervene. "Pope was actually bruised."

JJ shrugs, "Treasure hunting it is then." 

"I guess it beats having to figure out everything with Isla." Eden frowns as her mother pops into her mind. Her deep red fingernails against a wine glass. The way her tightly wound ponytail or braid swung back and forth when she walked.  Her heels clicking against the ground.  Her fake smiles and expectant tone of voice as if she deserved everything. 

For the past month on Poguelandia, Eden hadn't thought much about her mom. The last she'd seen the woman, she was spewing about starting a new life with Eden down in Guadeloupe. Then, Eden had disappeared without a clue....or a care.....where her mother ended up. 

But, going home might force Eden to figure out her feelings and think about the woman. She had no clue if Isla had returned home, if her dad had let her back into their home again. She could be with Ward and the Cameron's. Or maybe she was just living her own life, though Eden doubts her mother would give up the royalty of her name like that. 

"I mean, I don't even know what'll happen when we get back to the OBX." the Maybank rubs the back of his neck. "Nothing good, I can tell you that. Nothing good." 

JJ was dreading his ultimate return to Kildare. While it would be nice to be somewhere familiar, Poguelandia treated him better than the OBX ever did. His father was gone, leaving him with bills to pay and not even a person to greet at his return. The Phantom was at the bottom of the ocean, so he had no escape there. He still had to pay back a restitution for whom he owed for over a month now, yet he had no job to build up that cash. 

Eden had a father who cared and certainly missed her waiting back. She had a mansion and a bedroom and a bracelet kit waiting for her. She had her bills paid for weeks in advance. She had people who were hoping she was alive. 

Everything waiting for him at home was absolute bullshit. 

"Shit's gonna suck for a while." the Bexley admits, though her situation was far better than JJ's ever would be. 

"At least you don't got a restitution though. No job. No parents." JJ reasons,  sitting down again, "Yeah, arrows are gonna be coming in hot. But you know what we do when arrows come flying?" 

He leaps up from his seat, Eden flinching before smiling as the blonde uses his hands to block the pretend arrowheads firing his way. 

"Bing! Ding, ding, ding!" The blonde swings around on the bars of the roof, twisting around before landing on the ground. He lightly hits his palm against the girls forearm like a karate chop."Ding!"

Eden shakes her head at his actions, amused. "You are such a weirdo."

"And you shoot right back at 'em." the Maybank continues, "And that spear comes at you, you plant, grab, disarm, straight into the jugular, finish them off like...." He pretends to stab someone with an imaginary spear. "Just one by one. We'll defeat them all."

The Bexley had thought about what she was going to do when she got home. Obviously, she would go see her dad. Cry, hug, apologize to him—maybe explain what had happened. But afterwards, she wasn't sure what the OBX would have in store for her.

Was she just supposed to go back to school? Live her life like she hadn't been kidnapped by Singh? Live in her pearly white house like she hadn't been deserted and presumed dead on an island for a month? 

Enjoy her privilege while JJ was forced to go back to a life of coming up short with bills and no one who cared?

She didn't love the idea of begging her father to let her friends stay at their house and to borrow his money to help them after being gone for a month without explanation, but Eden knows she'll end up doing it. She'd rather have JJ crash with her then have no electricity and food. She'd rather pay his restitution than have him panic to get a job to do it himself. 

There are light footsteps and both teens look over to see Kiara coming to the helm. "My turn to steer."

"No complaints here." Eden sighs, stepping away from the wheel as the Carrera comes forward. JJ sits back down, and the Bexley walks to the stairs to go and check on her other friends in the lower deck. "You staying here, J?"

JJ nods, "Someone's gotta keep Kie company."

"Ya'll have fun." the Bexley hums before walking downstairs, hoping Sarah, Pope, and Cleo had something interesting to discuss. 

mara's misc!

this chapter is ickily short to me but there's nothing else i can add so yeah!!

the jiara cringeyness is making me ill so my favorite hobby is turning the jiara moments into jjeden moments JUST to make jiara all the more pointless!!! (and to annoy mvybanksss). kie & JJ look cute in s4 tho so.... pates don't fuck them up bc i can't write this cringey ass shit anymore!!!!!

anywho, i'm on a time crunch for this season with like a little over a month to finish it and for reference it took be 5 months to finish s2, and 10 to finish s1. i can't afford another motivation loss because i REALLY want to finish s3 before s4 drops and get to update in the month between the season parts. 

i start dance and little mermaid rehearsals this week and this school year AIN'T playing with homework SEND HELP.

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 69!!