EDEN hopped out of the Twinkie with an unsure expression. 

The next day, the group had all met back up at the chateau with money on their minds.  This gold was their chance at getting rich—of course it was at the front of their minds.  Eden practically dreamed about what her Kook life would be, and woke up praying that today would be the start of many days of pawning.  The start of plan Full Kook.

The first hour or so was spent discussing how they'd get the rest of the gold—a map drawn out by none other than Pope diagramming how they'd send a bucket down to haul up all of the gold with John B.

The second on the other hand was spent melting down the few blocks they'd scored, creating a larger monstrosity with an obnoxious symbol in the middle.  Now, Eden knew she couldn't do any better smelting the thing but.....Kie hadn't done great.

The Bexley hoped whoever they tried pawning it off too took it without a fight.

"Hell of a job melting it down, Dr. Frankenstein." JJ remarked as he too filed out of the Twinkie, smelted gold being held in a towel in the palm of his hand.  Eden gave her usual eye roll—he'd complained the whole ride to the shop about having to be the one to pawn it off, clearly displeased with the Carrera's work.

Kiara followed, unimpressed. "Like you could have done any better."

"I could have done much better." the Maybank stated firmly, "I took a welding class."

"You did? When?"

Eden sighed, the tired mother coming out of her, "No complaining, please. JJ already did enough on the way here. Besides, I don't even understand why we smelted it in the first place..." She glanced at the gold in JJ's hand, which looked less believable than before, "It looked more believable the way JB found it—even if it was three smaller blocks."

JJ pointed at the Bexley, "See, Eden agrees. And, mother's opinion is the only correct one, so—"

John B. came in between the blonde and Kiara, who was about to fire something at JJ, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey. Sh." The two went quiet and stared at him.  The brunette added, "Chill out, okay?"

"S'easy for you to say that." JJ held up the smelted gold in his best friend's face, "You're not the one who has to pawn this piece of shit off." Kie's mouth dropped, and Eden put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.  The blonde didn't care and continued, "How did I get this job, anyway?" He then leveled his back pack, sulking towards the pawn shop like a sad middle schooler.

Pope shrugged, "'Cause you're the best liar." 

The group of six then entered the pawn shop, JJ heading straight towards the front desk while everyone else filed in after him, spilling out within the shop to look less like nosy than they really were.

"Afternoon, ma'am." JJ greeted, trying to sound casual as possible.

The woman at the front desk sent him a weary expression, "Afternoon."

"I see you buy gold."

"That's what the sign say, don't it?" the woman fired back, eyebrow raised.

"Well, I sure hope you buy a lot of it, because I'm about to blow your mind." 

The woman seemed unimpressed, "I ain't got much mind left to blow, so have at it."

The Maybank reached into his back pack and and pulled out the smelted gold nugget, setting it down on the table. "How about them gold apples?"

The woman laughed, "That ain't real."

"That ain't real?"

"It can't be."

JJ paused a moment, looking back at his friends.  Eden shrugged, knowing this woman knew better than their games—she'd probably been through a lot of teenagers scavenging for some easy cash—and acted like she was holding something in her hands to mimic heaviness.

"Feel how heavy it is." JJ turned back towards the pawn woman.  The woman listened, and tried to pick up the item, failing to get it up off the counter a few times before finally picking it up, hands, a slightly shocked expression on her face.  "Mhm. Mhm. Here, let's get some light on that."

Eden watched as the woman examined it with a magnifying glass, turning on a small light to see it better before determining, "Spray-painted tungsten."

"Spray-painted tungsten. Really? Okay." the Maybank frowned.  Eden sighed, leaning against the small shelf behind JJ in case he needed help with more ideas on how to convince the woman this was indeed real gold. "Why don't you see, uh, how soft it is."

 She held up a small hammer and pick, "You mind?"

"No, go for it."

The pawnbroker chipped into the gold, placing her finger in the small dent that was left.  Amused, the blonde boy smirked, "Wow. Would you look at that."

"Hold your horses." The woman replied, "We ain't got to the acid test yet."

"Ooh! The acid test." JJ exclaimed awkwardly, looking back at his friends—who were now all watching the interaction curiously—before adding, "My favorite, guys."

The woman dropped a small amount of acid on the gold, watching as there was no reaction. She mused, "Well it ain't plated, and it ain't painted."  By the confusion and surprise in her tone, Eden supposed it had been a while since real gold was brought into her shop.

"Ma'am, I'm telling ya, this is real as the day is long." JJ reassured.

The woman commented, "It looks like somebody tried to melt it down."  

At the stare he was getting from the pawnbroker, JJ lied. "My mom."   The woman sent him another look at the Maybank continued, "She had all this jewelry lying around the house and thought it was best to—to melt it down.  To 'consolidate' it."

The pawnbroker set the nugget down on a scale, eyes wide as she looked at the weight. "Seven pounds? That's a lot of earrings."

"Okay, to be honest, ma'am...." JJ cleared his throat, and Eden could already smell the fake act he was about to put on. ".....it's really hard to see my mom fall apart with Alzheimer's."

"Mhm." the woman turned around to walk away, "Give me a minute."

"Take your time, ma'am."

The woman walked away and all of the Pogues burst into light laughter at JJ's sob story.  Eden shook her head, "Alzheimer's, really? Jewelry? Not even Sarah owns seven pounds of jewelry, J."

Sarah shakes her head. "I don't."

JJ raised his hands in defense, "She was asking about Kie's shit smelting job.  What was I supposed to tell her?"

Kiara gave an unimpressed look, "Get over my shit job. Next time, you do the smelting instead, yeah?"

"I will, thank you."

"She's coming out." Pope whispers causing everyone to fall silent, acting as if they'd been cruising around the shop rather than commenting about JJ.  

"So, I uh....I talked to my boss." the pawnbroker starts.

"And?

"And, uh, this is what I can do." the woman hands over something, though Eden can't tell what it is because of JJ's figure standing in the way.

"Fifty thousand?" JJ stated, earning a raised brow from the worker, "You think I walked in here not knowin' the spot price? Ma'am, I know for a fact that this is worth 140, at least."

The woman didn't seem sympathetic, "Well, sweetie, you in a pawn shop.  This ain't Zurich.  Do I look Swiss to you?"

"Ninety, or I walk."

"Seventy. Half price and....uh.....I don't ask questions about where you got this."

JJ turned back towards his friends, who tried to hide their nods in different actions.  Eden sent him wide eyes, trying to tell him to take the deal before this got taken any further.  The Maybank understood and looked at the pawnbroker, "I'm gonna need that in large denominations, please."

Everyone gave small smiles at the pawnbroker.  The woman instead draws, "Well, here's the snag.  I don't have that much denominated, not here anyway.  I can write you a cashiers check."

"Cash...No, ma'am, I want the cold hard—that's what that sign says." JJ shakes his head, pointing at the sign hanging in the doorway, bold lettering for everyone to say.  "Cash for gold, and that's what I expect.  I'm gonna get it in cold hard."

"Well I have to send you to the warehouse.  I have the money there. Is that alright?" 

The two stare at one another a moment before JJ speaks up, "Where's this warehouse?"

EDEN was second guessing her thoughts on John B.'s side of the Cut as they drove towards the warehouse.

Now, she was never one to judge living situations—The living situation never described the person, (John B. and JJ were two of her closest friends despite having shitty places to call home)—but this.....this was just bad.

Looking at all the deteriorated houses and overgrown grass made the Bexley feel even more sick.  She lived in a two story house with a bathroom and a great view of the OBX while these people couldn't afford to cut their grass or fix their worn down places.

She couldn't wait until she got her share of money to help some of these people out. 

"So they keep money out here?" Pope seemed suspicious of the deteriorated houses, unsure of how they'd keep so much money bundled up in one.

"That's what she said." JJ shrugged, before double taking himself.  He let out a chuckle, "That's what she said—"

Pope deadpanned, "Stop."

Sarah changed the conversation from the passenger seat, "I've never even heard of Resurrection Drive."

JJ scoffed, "That's 'cause you're rich."

Kiara came to the Kook's defense, shooting the blonde boy a stern look, "You've never heard of it either."

"Thank you." the Cameron quipped.

Eden looked out the window of the Twinkie with furrowed brows , "Resurrection Drive sounds sketchy as hell.  Not to mention this whole place.   Like, I thought the Chateau looked bad—no offense, John B.—but......"

Kiara nodded, "Yeah, there's nothing but weeds back here."

"And not the good kind." the Bexley added.

JJ looked at the two, "Alright, just 'cause it's weeds, doesn't mean it's like—"

The Maybank was cut off by the sound of a siren.  All six heads turned to look behind them, Eden's eyes narrowing as she was met with a blue Dodger Charger, lights flashing blue and red on top of the vehicle.

Cops.

"Cops? Out here?" the Carrera exclaimed, surprised at the familiar sounding sirens.

JJ groaned, "God! Are you kidding me?"

"We should really stop expecting things to go right, guys." Eden sighs, tired of shit not going their way.  All they wanted to do was find the money the pawnbroker owed, and get the hell back to their side of the cut.

Sarah was confused. "What did we do?"

"Why are we getting pulled over?" Pope questioned, looking around for a reason for the Twinkie to be getting stopped by the cops—they were going the speed limit, the license was in sight, everything was fine.

John B. twisted in his seat to face JJ, nodding towards the smelted gold, "Stash that."

"Chill, guys."

"Put it—"

"I hate cops." JJ mumbled, wrapping the gold nugget in the cloth.

The Routledge boy's eyes widened, and he quickly hit the boy on the shoulder, "Did you bring the gun?"

Eden hadn't even thought about the stupid weapon—it had gotten them in trouble enough, and the last thing she needed was the cops finding them illegally carrying a weapon. "Oh, JJ, please tell me it's at the Chateau. Tell me you don't have it."

"No. Okay." JJ huffed, continuing to wrap up the gold, "Everybody told me to leave it back at the place." 

Kiara sighed, "Thank God."

Eden's eyes scanned around the inside of the van, making sure anything else that could get them in trouble was hidden—beer cans and bottles, joints, vapes. "Yo, J, do you have your vape on you? Or a joint? Or like......anything of that kind that could get us in trouble."

"I don't know—"

"Just—anything in your pockets, in the bag." the Bexley rushed.  She quickly smelled the car to see if it smelled like they had weed on them, or any sort of product for that matter. "Should I spray perfume or something in here?"

"No, I....JJ how much weed do you have on you, bro?" Kiara questioned firmly, watching as Pope and the blonde boy scrambled to shove JJ's back pack into the compartment under a seat.  Eden put her face in her hands, praying they got their shit together before—

Eden's thoughts were halted by the cocking of a gun.

The Bexley's throat went dry as she peeked forward to see a man with a skull mask over his nose and mouth, some kind of shot gun in his hands.  It was pointed directly at John B.'s face, which had Eden even more on edge than the sound of the gun had.

"Why don't I just go ahead and see them hands up in the air right now?" the masked man instructed.  The four in the back of the Twinkie shared a worried look, causing the man to yell, "All of y'alls hands up in the air right now!" 

John B. and Sarah did as they were told, raising their hands up.  The man continued to instruct as they did, staring daggers at the boy in the drivers seat, "You, out of the car, let's go!" The Routledge slowly opened his car door, cautious, which the man didn't seem to like. "Out of the car! Let's go! Hurry!"

"Let them out." the man pointed towards the door, growing more demanding when John B. walked over to him instead.  "What are you waitin' on?  What are you waitin' on? Let them out!" The brunette boy slid open the Twinkie door, everyone filing out as the masked man hurried them, "All y'all. Go on! Go on! Let's get out of the car! Let's go!" 

Sarah calmly exited first, hands raised in the air. 

"There you go, pretty girl." the man mused as Sarah calmly exited, hands raised. The man then continued to bark at them, ushering them to leave the comfort of the Twinkie, " Here we go! Get out of the car, let's go! Hurry up!" He eased as Pope came out, Eden and Kiara following cautiously.

JJ was the last out, trying to defend the group. "We're broke—"

"Shut the hell up!" 

"Alright!" JJ screamed, the two boys yelling over top of each other, "Just relax!"

"Shut up! Shut the hell up! I'll blow your damn head off!"

Eden put a hand over her mouth at the small threat.  She didn't know whether or not he was just threatening to get them to comply, or threatening because he was being real, and she didn't want to be here to find out the answer.  She just wanted to go home.

"Lay down in the ditch! Lay down in the ditch!" the masked man demanded, yelling at them as if they were dogs being trained.  The group slowly leveled down to their knees, the man continuing to instruct, "On your goddamn hands and knees! Down!" Everyone did as told, placing their hands on the back of their heads as if it were a school tornado drill.  "Put your face on the ground!"

Everyone did as instructed, minus Eden, who looked at the masked man with a deathly glare in her eyes.  He was going to fucking regret ever messing with the Pogues—or Eden, for that matter.  One word to her mother and this kid was going to have consequences following him for the rest of his life.

"Face in the ground, bitch!" the man blared forcefully, tightly grabbing on to the back of the Bexley's neck and shoving her face towards the ditch.  Eden let out a small whimper at the action, her face making contact with the dirt and leaves of the ditch—he'd shoved her farther down to further imply his point.  When the brunette girl stayed in place, he let go. "Stay here just like that!"

The masked man paced away, still screaming, "Don't let me see you look up! That's all y'all gotta do." 

Eden did as she was told for once and kept her face against the ground, trying to keep her breathing steady before she lost herself to anxiety over this masked man and his stupid gun.  Her cheek was mashed against the leaves, but she didn't even care.  She just wanted this to be over.

Kiara cried out after a moment, "It's a set-up, guys."

"That old bat shanked us." JJ punched the ground beside him in fury, angry at himself for giving in to her tricks. "Fuck! Goddammit!"

"Wait. No, no, no, no, no." Sarah's whimper of a voice caused Eden's head to automatically perk up, the inner protectiveness and concern she had coming through. Her eyes widened as she watched John B. slowly rising, the Cameron pleading for him to stay down and let the gold get taken. "John B....no."

"John, what the fuck? Do you want a bullet through your skull?" the Bexley breathed, staring at the brunette boy.

Pope hissed, "John B. Don't be a hero, man."

John B. shushed the three and stalked towards their attackers car.  Eden squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that the boy knew what he was doing.  The man whose car was currently being stolen didn't seem to notice, because he soon exited the Twinkie, cloth of gold in his hand.

"Alright, y'all just stay just like that." the masked man instructed, slightly calmer now that he had found what he wanted. "Unless you want your brains blown out all over this road, don't move your goddamn heads, okay?" The man turned around and ran back to his car, unaware that someone was missing from the group in the ditch.

John B. quickly shot up from the backseat and the Pogues watch as he attacked the man, the two wrestling for a moment before the Routledge exits the vehicle with the shot gun, grunting,  "Guys, I got the gun!"

JJ was already on his feet and raced towards the blue vehicle, throwing a punch towards the man, only to be met with an identical one to his cheek.  The blow sent him down, and Kie was quick to fight next, but was easily shoved down too.  Eden watched from the sidelines, ready to make a move but was unable to have her chance as the back of the gun met the masked man's back, sending him down to the dirt with a groan.

"I got the gold!" Pope exclaimed, holding the item in the air for the group to see for a mere second.

With the man still on the ground, Sarah and Eden made eye contact and were quick to rush to either side of the attacker.  The Cameron girl started slamming the car door against the side of his head, the Bexley kicking the boy on the other side of his body causing painful groans to leave his lips.

Kie managed a good kick in the side too, Pope landing a kick that had him falling against the door causing it to close.  The now weak attacker leaned against his car door, the Pogues standing in front of him—he was overpowered, now.

"You son of a bitch!" Sarah spat. 

Eden knelt down beside the man, pulling down his face mask to reveal his features.  

"I know this piece of shit!" JJ shouted, angrily,  "He's a basehead!"

Sarah ran a hand through her blonde hair, "Probably knows my brother."

"He sells coke to my dad."

The man looked at them,  weakly exclaiming, "Listen, I could have hurt any single one of ya'll—" His words were cut off as JJ slammed the butt of the gun against his rib cage, knocking the wind right out of him. 

"JJ!" Kie shouted.

Pope tried to create a barrier, "Dude, chill, man."

As the man wheezed from the blow, the Maybank bent down and picked his wallet out of his pocket.  John B. looked displeased, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Pulling the man's ID out, JJ shoved the Routledge out of his way, "We got one last stop."

"Hey!"

"Let's go see where this son of a bitch lives."

The rest of the Pogues followed after JJ towards the Twinkie, except Eden who slowly stood back up from where she'd been beside the man.  He'd started to get on his hands and knees, and was angrily shouting, "I'm gonna remember this shit! You can't hide from me! I know exactly who ya'll are! Huh? You gonna see me again!" John B. tossed the man's car keys far into the woods, "You hear me? I'mma see you again!"

Eden looked down upon the crawling man with a dark smile, "And I'll be looking forward to it, asshole." Without hesitation, she kicked him back down with force, causing another grunt to leave his lips. "Have a nice goddamn day."

"Yo, Eden, let's go!" John B. called.

The Bexley didn't hesitate before ditching the man and joining her best friend's side, the boy wrapping an arm around her as they walked back to the Twinkie.

mara's misc

heyyy

barry making his debut in this chapter by pulling a gun on the pogues. first impressions 101. 

today was my first musical rehearsal. lots of giggles and mess-ups.  it was fun and i really think we have a good and talented cast (i feel honored to be in it given that we had 70+ kids audition—we can fit like 30 or so on stage—and half got in.  like how am i here?????) and lot's of fun will be had.  bye bye free time, hello theater kids.

i like this chapter, it was chaotic and barry appeared.  his ass can go away please and thank you. 

as per usual, this was posted at the request of surf-style.  these barbies make deals with one another to publish because we don't have set update schedules and we can't stop! go check out any of her fics (specifically tidal/waves tho) or else the demons will drag you by your toes under ur bed when ur sleeping!!!!!  love u kens <3

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 21 (shits starting to get real....)