EDEN woke up to the sun hitting her face.

Putting a hand in front of her face to block out the bright light, the girl lightly opens her eyes. The light still glares in her face, but Eden can see enough to know that she was still on John B.'s dock—the calming sound of the tide, the humid summer air against her face, the soft orange reflecting on to her skin from the rising sun.

With a soft groan—if she's being honest, she could have slept in for another hour or so—the Bexley sits up, hand still placed over her eyebrows.  Her body felt stiff from sleeping on the wooden dock, and she doesn't even remember falling asleep in the first place in such a cramped position. The last thing she remembers was staring idly into the sky with John B.....

John B.

At the thought of the boy, she realizes he wasn't next to her anymore. There's an indent in a nearby life-jacket that showed he had been next to her at some point, but there's no sight of the Routledge boy.

The no-show of John B. starts to worry Eden because, well, after last night with the gun and with how broken he'd been, she was unsure if he was okay to venture off by himself right now, but before she could really start to panic, her eyes spot a bright pink sticky note stuck to the beam across from her.

The messy, uneven, handwriting is clearly John B.'s—the boy's handwriting never changed from when he was a third grader, so Eden could notice it anywhere—and she's quick to read the words quickly scribbled upon it.

Don't worry about where I am, I've gone to get the rest of the gold.

Thanks for last night.....I really needed it.  Actually, thanks for being here since my dad got "lost at sea."  I've been so involved with trying to finish what he started, with trying to find him, that I never realized how much you helped me.  You were always the shoulder I needed to cry on, and  I really appreciate it, Eden.

-JB

Eden couldn't help but smile.  Even though she didn't need a thank you for all her comforting actions—she'd always help anyone out, it's just who she was—it did feel good to know that John B. appreciated all the hugs and reassuring words she'd given over the year. 

Her smile didn't last for long though, the sound of her ring-tone ruining the small moment she was sharing with the Routledge's sentimental words.  She scanned around the deck for her phone—she didn't know where the hell she'd left it, honestly—quickly grabbing the item once her eyes spotted it beside the blow torch.

Looking at the screen, she looked to see she was getting a FaceTime request from none other than Pope—or as her phone read, Bubs.

At first, she was confused on why Pope was calling her so early on, but when it occurred to her that today was his day—the day of his scholarship interview, his chance at having a future—she didn't hesitate to accept. 

"Yes, Pope?"

"Hey, Eden, uh...." Pope set his phone against his dresser, backing up so the Bexley could get a full view of his outfit.  He was wearing a nice suit, and was currently tying a light blue tie around his neck.  He looked nice. "Do I look okay? My dad lent it to me from when he was a teenager but, like, I don't know.  I don't want to look bad because this is my only shot and if they don't think I look presentable enough for—"

Eden cut him off, "Whoa, Pope, relax. You look great, man. Who told you otherwise?"

"No one did, I just.....Kie and I, we had an argument last night when you were at the Chateau." Pope states, looking at himself in the mirror to make sure his tie looked okay.  He then glanced back at his phone, "Kiara went off on me for ditching this whole situation for my interview.  That I was bailing on John B. in a time of need for a selfish reason." He sighed, "And I defended myself at the time but now I'm starting to ask myself if she's right?  John B. needs us, and I'm going to a stupid college interview...."

Eden shakes her head at his words. Kiara must not have been thinking straight because there was no way Pope was skipping this college interview.  He'd been working himself up to this moment for years, and she was insisting he was selfish for not wanting to miss it? Bullshit.

"No, Pope, you're going to this interview." Eden states firmly, "You've been working up to this interview since middle school—hell probably before then.  This is your chance at getting out of the OBX, of becoming important in the world, and you deserve to go.  So what if Kiara thinks you look selfish? She took a Kook year and ditched John B. when he needed her too." 

Pope nodded, "Yeah, you're right, Eden."

"Besides, you know JB would want you to go to this.  We all want to see you make your mark in the world and this interview is the only way you're going to get there."

"You're right." Pope nodded again. He stepped forward and picked up his phone again, "Thanks, Eden."

"Always, Pope." Eden softly smiled, before encouragingly adding, "You got this, okay? Just go with the flow, and if they don't like you, they're really missing out on an interesting, extraordinary boy."

Pope gave a genuine smile, "Okay, I'll tell you how it goes."

"Sounds good, you're gonna do great."

Pope smiled again and hung up the phone.

Eden had really become the reassurer of the group, hadn't she?

A few hours later, John B. returned to the Chateau in a fit of rage. 

Eden didn't even have to ask to know what had happened because the moment the boy returned to his house, he angrily yelled it out loud. 

The gold was gone —Ward had stolen all of it.

Now, Eden didn't want to say 'I told you so'  but she told him so. The Bexley hadn't trusted Ward Cameron from the moment he welcomed the Routledge into his home with open arms—scratch that, Eden had never trusted Ward Cameron.

She just hoped that she could still trust Sarah because if Sarah ratted the gold out to her father, if she was letting this happen without a fight—ruining John B.'s dream, ruining the final way he could reconnect with his father—then she would no longer call the girl a friend.   Hell, she'd probably yell at her just as she'd wanted to back when John B. announced they were dating.

Currently, the girl was sitting against a beam upon John B.'s deck, the rest of the Pogues—minus Pope, who was at his interview, of course—spread among the wooden area. She dangled her feet above the water, listening as Kie questioned on the situation which the Routledge had announced to everyone.

"You sure he got everything?" Kiara glumly asked.

"Every bar. The whole enchilada." the Routledge breathed in response.  From his lying position near the edge of the deck—his head was propped up against a life buoy, feet locked upon the ladder descending into the ocean—the boy begins to tug off his arm cast with a grunt, tossing it to the side lazily, "Look, it's not like I expected a happy ending or some shit."

At the careless action, Eden raises a brow. "John B., just because you're in denial about the gold does not mean you get to be careless about your arm. There's a cast on it for—"

"What, Eden? It's a hairline fracture." John B. could care less about his arm, "Who cares?"

Kiara sent him a look, "You should care. Your arms gonna be messed up for life."

"It's fine." John B. wiggled his fingers around, "See."

Eden opens her mouth to make a comment but get's cut off by a yell.

"Guys!"

"Guys!" The four heads on the deck turn to see Pope jogging towards them, sweat staining the front of his shirt. The Heyward slowed his pace, coming to a halt in the center of the dock, panting with his hands on his knees. "Oh! Oh! Oh, God. I ran all the way here."

John B. lazily turned his head to the side, "You alright?"

JJ—who'd been awfully quiet for being JJ Maybank —took a joint from his lips, quietly asking, "How'd the interview go, Pope?"

Eden hummed, "Well, I assume?"

"Don't ask." Pope panted, causing Eden's brows to furrow.

John B.—who'd put a thumbs up in the air—put his hand down, "Awesome."

The Heyward turned back to the Routledge, voice exhausted, "JB....Look, I'm sorry, dude. About everything."

"It's fine."

"But—but I don't have a lot of time, and—and I have information that is tactically relevant." Pope begins, watching as everyone's faces turned more intrigued at his words. "So, before I had my interview, my dad said he was going down to the private airstrip to cut palms for Cameron's big plane. Because it was too heavy, it needed a longer landing strip to take off.  So, I'm there sitting in my interview, thinking to myself, 'Hm. Why would Cameron need a longer airstrip to take off? What could be so heavy to weigh it down?""f?"?"

Everyone seemed to realize the same thing, Pope's words clicking on a light bulb in their heads. John B. sat up right, and Eden looked at the Heyward boy with the glimpse of a smile because he'd just saved them from losing their dream.

JJ was the first to say the answer out loud, "Gold."

"That's right." John B. lightly agreed.

"Exactly!" Pope exclaimed, hands moving around wildly. "Guys, this is our chance, but it leaves tonight and we have to go."

Kiara hops off the edge of the dock, "Guys, we can't give up now."

JJ looks towards John B., "What's the plan, big man?"

"We're gonna steal that shit back." the Routledge boy gleams.

With excitement flowing through their veins, JJ, Kie, John B., and Pope all turn to look at Eden—just as they always did when a decision had to be made.  She was the finalizer, and would be the one who decided if they gave up or kept going.

And, of course, Eden Bexley was not giving up—who do you think she is?

"Let's go get some fucking gold, baby!" the Bexley cheers, causing the group to reply in cheers and celebration sounds of their own. 

Plan Full Kook was back on.

NOW in the back of the Twinkie, the Pogues traveled to the airstrip to steal their gold back. 

Eden stares out the window in the back, hopeful that they'd be able to get it back. This gold was Big John's final mission, and now it was John B.'s to finish. His dad died trying to find the Royal Merchant and its treasures, and John B. was not stopping until the fold it was his.  Until it was the Pogues. 

 This was his way to avenge Ward for his dad's death. 

JJ starts to load some ammo into his gun—yes, for once the Pogues actually allowed him to bring the weapon—explaining with a smirk, "We go in there guns-a-blazin', make Ward Cameron beg for mercy, abscond with as much gold as possible, and vámonos, get the hell out of there."

"Send that shit right down the Intracoastal." John B. adds from the drivers seat. 

"Wait for the weather." Kiara rings.

Pope shrugs, "Exit to Cuba."

"Cuba?" Eden raises a brow. 

JJ also gives an odd look towards the Heyward, "No, man, Xcalak, Jewel of the Yucatan." The blonde continues, "Lobsters so thick, mangoes, and no—" the boy cocks his gun, a small click sounding, "—word for money."

"Sounds lovely, J." the Bexley smiles, imaging her and her friends in such a position.

John B. speaks up again from the drivers seat, "Let's do this shit."

After a another few minutes of idle chit-chat, the Twinkie comes to a halt in front of a gate, the teens all scrambling out—Eden doesn't bother doing a head-count for once.  The metal gate isn't too terribly large, and could probably be jumped if they tried, but the Pogues still halt in front of the private property to think everything through.

"What's the plan?" Kiara asks loudly, "Broad strokes?"

John B. mutters in response, "I don't think we got that far."

Pope pulls a pair of binoculars and Eden sends him a very confused expression, because when the fuck did he have time to grab a pair? "Did you pull those out of your ass?"

"No." the Heyward  heavily sighs before squinting into the binoculars, spying upon the people within the private property.  Spotting Ward's plane, Pope announces, "They're loading up the gold."

John B. suddenly has a pair on his face too, and Eden looks at him with the same confused expression, "I'm not even kidding where did we get those? Where did the binoculars come from and why don't I have a pair?" 

"There's Ward." the Routledge ignores his best friend's question, instead continuing to watch the events unfold through the lenses of the binoculars.  After a few seconds, the boy slowly pulls the item away from his eyes, an almost shocked expression on his face.

Kiara looks at him, "What?"

With no answer, Eden pushes on, "What is it, John B.?"

"It's Sarah." the brunette boy whispers.

The Bexley feels slight anger grow in her, "She's with him? That bitch."

John B. continues to hold the binoculars up to his eyes, narrating what he was seeing, "Wait a minute.  He's hurting her." His voice grows more angered and concerned as he adds, "They're fighting."

"No! No, I don't wanna go!"

Any anger towards the Cameron girl transferred over to her father as she grabbed the binoculars out of John B.'s hands and placed them up to her eyes, watching as Ward grabbed a hold of his daughter, shoving her towards the plane as she refused and denied wanting to go, trying to fight back.  "Ward's forcing her to come with him."

"Wait, so she—What? I had no—" JJ rambles in confusion, though he gets off by Pope.

Pope looks towards the Twinkie, where John B. sits in the drivers seat, "Hey! What are you doing?"

"John B., where are you going!" Kiara calls out, concern in her tone.

Realization sets in to Eden and she shakes her head, "John, don't do it!"

The engine starts and suddenly chaos ensues.

Eden, JJ, Kie, and Pope calls and wonders about what the boy is doing are all mixed together in a cacophony of his name.  The Bexley's eyes are wide as the Twinkie starts moving, and suddenly, JJ is yanking her out of the way as it speeds at them full force, slamming right into the metal chained fence.

"Holy fuck!" Eden breaths, eyes still locked on the Twinkie as John B. continued to drive as if he hadn't just driven right through a fence. "Did he just do that? Like am I going crazy or did John B. just plow through that fence?"

Kiara looked horrified, "He just fucking did that!"

Everyone is quick to start chasing after the vehicle, stopping when they hit the collapsed fence. 

"What are you doing!?" JJ yells.

"John Booker Routledge! Come back!" Eden screams, wide eyed as the Twinkie sped towards the runway.

"What are you doing man?"

"John B.!"

"Hey! Hey!"

The four Pogues watch helplessly from the demolished fence as the Twinkie speeds towards the Cameron plane, driving right beside it as if it were a highway and not a runway.  Eden knew John B. could do reckless things when he was angry but this had to top the cake. 

 Driving into a giant runway for a heavy plane which wouldn't be able to stop in the scenario that John B. does? He was asking to be killed at this point —this was a suicide sentence.

Even if Ward attempted to hit the brakes, there was no way that the plane would be able to stop before John B. was crushed to bits. 

Eden knew he was doing this for Sarah, but she thought he was taking the name of love too far? Was he really willing to get killed for the Kook princess? 

As if his reckless moves couldn't get more reckless, John B. starts to speed ahead of the plane before swerving right in front of it, hitting the brakes so he was positioned  somewhere that could end in only two ways.  Either Ward stopped the plane and he got Sarah back, or Ward hit him and he ended up dead.

The plane was coming to a slow meaning Ward was trying to stop, but he was gaining up on the Twinkie fast, too fast. Eden grabbed on to JJ and squeezed her eyes shut because if this was it for John Booker Routledge she really didn't want to see it.

But there was no horrific crashing sound, or a ragged scream from any of her friends, or even Sarah's familiar cry. It's actually completely silent, and Eden isn't sure whether that's supposed to make her feel better or worse.

Slowly, the girl opens her eyes to look at the commotion, expecting the worst only to see John B. standing in front of the Twinkie with Sarah in his arms, Ward standing a foot away with his plane barely missing the van.

With Pope in her chest, Kiara and Eden—who was still hanging on to JJ, the boy having a protecting yet comforting hold on her—meet gazes.  John B. was okay, he hadn't been killed.  Sarah was okay, she was with John B. 

Before any comment can be made, the sound of sirens ring throughout the runway.  The four Pogues look at one another knowingly—they had to leave the scene before they got in trouble too. 

Pope quickly turns to his friends, "Guys, I can't get arrested."

Staring at the ground, JJ adds, "I'm on probation."

They all fell quiet again, because no one wanted to leave John B.  He could get in trouble and Pogues didn't leave Pogues behind like this.  Eden too wanted to stay and get John B.—as well as Sarah, who'd grown on her and the rest of them—to safety, but they weren't going to get anywhere if they got arrested.  Leaving now was the best option.

"I get that Pogues don't leave Pogues behind—believe me, the last thing I want to do is leave him and Sarah out there—but we're not getting anywhere if we're all behind bars." Eden stated firmly, eyes glancing between the others.

Kiara seems to agree, "Eden's right. We're no good if we're all in jail."

With that, the Pogues sprint away from the scene, unknowing of what was happening back on the air tarp as they did.  Of the chaos that was about to ensue. 

mara's misc

the end of this episode is so tense and for what???? i had to take so many walking breaks over the course of the final two episodes it wasn't even funny how scared i was (outer banks had me feeling all the emotions). 

john b decided to wake up in a new bugatti with that whole fence maneuver, (i'm sorry, i only hear that song when he does it i can't help it).

also i literally loved writing the first section of the chapter with eden and pope's call and with jb's sticky note.  writing the pogues being so close knit and dependent on each other has been so fun, and imma miss my jb and eden moments for the first bit of s2......cuz yk

back to making deals with surf-style for updates after posting one chapter on my own time.  go give her a follow and check out tidal, (as well as her other fics!!)

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 24