𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 25.

━ 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻.

"𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐘."

The voice only startled me a little bit, but just enough for my eyes so slowly strain open. The curtains on the window were drastically ripped open all of a sudden, which caused the bright sunlight to quickly flood throughout the entire room, lighting up my face, and causing a hand to cover over my eyes to shield out the brightness. I was sunken into the pillows on the bed, my body fully submerged underneath the soft covers, and my hair falling everywhere in wisps.

The night before, after John B left the room, I had closed the door and sat on his bed. I didn't want to be a snoop, but I couldn't help but let my eyes trail around his bedroom, looking at the small pictures on his walls, the few clothes on his floor, stray papers on top of his desk, and his disorganized closet, all while sitting down. I'd never been in a boys room before. My parent's room, which I was never allowed in, was nothing compared to this. It set an odd feeling in my stomach, that I was sitting in a boy's room, a boy that was my age.

I had tried to stop my mind from wandering to John B as I slid my legs under the covers, but I was lying in his bed, in his room, my head on his pillow. It was hard not to think about said-him. When I closed my eyes, and unintentionally breathed in the scent of vanilla and ocean water left on his pillowcases, I felt my stomach twist and wondered what his life was like. I wondered what his parents would have said if they caught a girl sleeping in his bed. I wondered what my parents would have thought if they saw me, fast asleep in a boy's bed. I fell asleep before I could think of anything else, buried in his covers.

"Come on," John B urged, stopping beside the bed, "We're already running late!"

I screeched when he pulled the covers off of my body, which sent a strong chill all the way up my spine. "Stop it." I mumbled out, my voice groggy, while reaching down and grabbing the blankets with both hands, "No more."

"Let's go, Charlie." John B persisted, his arms crossing, like a mom would do.

"Five more minutes." I groaned with an annoyed tone, my voice sounding raspy. I used all of my strength to push myself and over to lie on my other side, away from facing him. "Go without me."

"It's nine o'clock," he claimed, sounding irritated about the fact that we were running late with the organized plan.

I dug my face into the pillow, lightly laughing, "I was born at nine o'clock—"

"Charlie," he whined, angrily sounding very impatient.

I let out a loud huff, my face sinking deeper into the pillow, before I pushed myself up. My eyelids felt puffy and large, along with my cheeks and lips plumping out, and I could just feel my under-eye bags forming. My hair was everywhere, and I struggled to tame it as I turned my head to John B.

"I can see you're not a morning person," his eyes widened.

I glared at him.

"Jokes." He smiled childishly. "You always look good."

"Yeah, bullshit," I said quietly, while placing my hands on the bedsheets beside my legs, before using strength to push myself out of bed. "I didn't bring a brush with me," I said, when I looked at my reflection in his tiny mirror, which hung on the wall next to the wooden desk. I tried to flatten my hair down as I walked around the end of the bed, John B watching me.

"Just like— I don't know," he stepped towards me, looking at my face and then to my hair, "put it back like this, or something," his fingers lightly grabbed a strand of hair from each side of my head, and pulled them back to the behind.

"When did you become such a hair stylist, John B?" I giggled softly.

He looked down at me with a refreshed smile, slowly letting go of the strands, which caused them to fall back into place beside my eyes. I yawned.

"Okay— here, what about this," he realized, and then reached both hands up to his neck, untying the worn-out blue cloth piece I've always seen him wear. He handed it to me.

"What is it?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows, looking down at the small fading patterns along the cloth.

"You don't know what this is?" He asked, slightly in disbelief.

"If I knew what it was, I wouldn't have asked," I answered, laughing quietly.

"It's a bandanna, dummy," he rolled his eyes at my comeback, before grabbing the cloth piece and bringing it up to my head. "How do you not know what this is." He was saying, while placing it on top of my head, and reaching behind my neck to tie it. "Your style must be pretty whack."

"Don't tell me my style is whack," I joked along, ignoring the feeling that skidded through my stomach when his hands touched my neck, "when you can't even tie up more than two buttons on your shirt," I used my finger to flick an open button on his chest.

"Well your face is puffy," he clapped back jokingly, when he pulled away from me.

"Shut up," I placed my palm onto his chest and shoved him back, a laugh falling past my lips, as I turned away and went back to the small mirror. The blue bandanna was on my head, pulling back and covering my hair. The small faded white patterns matched the white colour of my t-shirt, and I found myself to be admiring the way that I looked, which was unexpected. "Hm," I hummed, "not so bad, John B."

"I'll take my money now," he put his hand out in front of him, when I turned back.

"Do you want me to make the bed," I asked, after letting out a small laugh.

"Nah, it's fine," he shrugged, glancing to his bed with the covers in a mess.

"Were you guys waiting for me this whole time?" I asked, with wide eyes, when I thought about it.

"Yeah, but it's okay," he shrugged again, nonchalantly. "You're a pretty heavy fucking sleeper. Jj suggested clinking some pans but Kie wouldn't let him."

I laughed, "Sorry," we were both heading for the door absentmindedly.

"You look good in my bandanna," he suddenly said, a small grin on his plump lips.

"Is that so?" I posed, as a joke.

"Stylist knows best," he went along with it, and put his hands out to his sides confidently.

We both laughed at the same time, now out of his room.

"You can go clean up in the bathroom if you want," He glanced to the washroom right beside us. "And I made you a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich if you're hungry," He smiled, his straight rows of teeth showing, "It's on the counter."

"Okay." I grinned back, my top teeth lightly biting down on my bottom lip, as he smiled once more and turned away.

___

The wind brushed through my hair, which was pinned back by the bandanna, as I sat on the edge of the boat, looking out to the front of the water. While John B prepared to set up the drone in the back, Jj was driving through the water, me sitting at the head of the boat, staring out as we swam past everything.

"Nice bandanna, Charlie," I now heard Jj comment, followed by a small snicker.

"Very funny," I didn't mind the teasing, and rolled my eyes foolishly, even though he couldn't see my face.

"JB give you that?" he giggled.

"What do you think, Jj." I grinned sarcastically, as I turned my body to face him standing at the wheel.

"How many moves has he made recently," Jj asked, continuing with the joking. "And how was the bed, huh,"

I stood up from sitting on the floor of the boat, my hands wiping the bottom of my shorts. "Wouldn't you like to know," a small laugh came from me.

When I stopped beside the wheel in front of him, placing my hand on the side of the window, Pope marched towards us. He was wearing a light pink coloured snapback hat, wearing it backwards, and I could see the bruise on the side of his forehead.

"Hey— uh, Pope?" I said, trying to tread delicately, "What happened to your face?"

Jj glanced to him, a certain look in his eyes.

"I fell." Pope simply mumbled, while bending down to search through a small cabinet.

"You fell." I repeated, looking at him dumbly. "On the side of your face."

"Yeah," he said, monotone.

"I don't buy that." I claimed, popping out my bottom lip.

"I don't care if you buy that or not," Pope was saying, while he shoved and pushed through things on the small shelves.

"Pope, do you hate me?" I asked with humorous tone, leaning my hand beside the wheel, next to Jj.

"I'm not in the mood, right now." he answered back, "Jj, where's the duck tape?"

"I dunno." Jj responded casually, while sitting down on the chair, watching Pope and I unfold.

"Jesus, fuck," Pope spat, angry.

"What happened to you, Pope, maybe I can help," I said quickly, ending the joking-questions and now sounding serious.

"You can't do shit, okay," Pope didn't look at me as he stood up and looked through another cupboard. "It's not your problem."

"I thought Pogues didn't lie to other Pogues?" I said, remembering how John B had mentioned something like that a few days before.

"You're not a Pogue," Pope persisted, shuffling through items in another cabinet, this time quicker.

"She is, dude," Jj said lightly. "You agreed to it."

Pope turned around and slowly marched up to Jj sitting down, "We agreed to not tell anyone about this, remember?" he was speaking very quietly, and glanced over to John B and Kiara on the other side, who weren't paying attention. "Charlie's not any different." he side-eyed me.

"I won't tell anyone," I said honestly.

Pope groaned, like he'd had enough.

"I just wanted to know," I said with a quiet voice, feeling guilty that I'd brought it up, and was being so rude about it. "I can help,"

"Dude, who does she have to tell, like seriously," Jj said sympathetically, looking to Pope. "No offense Charlie, but, Pope, we're her only friends."

Pope looked at his feet. There was a silence for a moment.

"He got jumped." Jj suddenly said, and then his lips quickly closed hard, as if he'd let it slip out by accident.

Pope was still looking down.

"What?" My jaw slightly fell open, "By who? Who did that to you— why?"

"This is why I didn't want to tell anyone." Pope said, angrily.

"Y'know Topper?" Jj looked to me.

"Sarah Cameron's boyfriend?" I asked, my eyebrows sharply narrowed.

"Yeah. And her brother Rafe." Jj nodded, before looking down at his hands. "Them."

"Why did you get jumped by Kooks?" I quickly looked to Pope.

He didn't reply. Before I was about to speak up again, John B called out to us.

"Alright, pin it here Jj," he shouted from the back of the boat.

Jj quickly stood up from sitting down, and gripped the wheel. "Roger that, X marks the spot." He called back.

Pope was walking away, over to the drone. I followed him out.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," John B announced, while holding up the rope of the drone. "To going full Kook."

I was sitting next to Kiara on the side of the boat, as John B let the drone sink into the water carefully. She was responsible for counting every hundred feet, Pope was responsible for controlling the drone, John B was navigating, and Jj steered the boat. I was crowned with 'temporary lookout' again, for nothing in particular.

"Alright, Jj we're right over it," John B said, after a while of letting the drone sink down. "Ten seconds northwest."

"Got it." Jj responded confidently. "Ten seconds northwest."

I didn't know what that meant, but stayed quiet as I looked down into the water, at the drone which was long out of sight.

"One hundred feet," Kiara called out with a smile, when a red tape around the yellow rope came into sight. I grabbed the small piece of chalk, drawing a line on the boat beside my arms.

A loud gasp was heard. Everyone turned their heads.

"What? What, what, what," John B quickly rushed over to Pope, speaking frantically.

"It's nothing," Pope then said, sighing out defeatedly.

"Nice job, Pope." Kiara rolled her eyes.

"Don't do that to me, man." Jj shouted casually from the inside.

"Sorry, I just— I thought saw," Pope gave up in explaining, looking back to the monitor.

I watched the yellow rope go deeper and deeper, while John B sorted his papers and navigated, Pope watching the monitor with a close eye, and Kiara calling out every hundred feet. We were in the middle of nowhere.

"Four-hundred feet!" She shouted, looking down into the water. I drew another line beside the three I'd already made.

My stomach fell when we heard a crash of thunder. They didn't mind. I did. It always seemed to happen this way in movies, teenagers out on the water in the middle of nowhere, a big storm hits, and they all die.

"The tide's turning!" Kiara said loudly, her voice concerned.

I looked to John B as the monitor beeped, and as the water's small waves began to crash harder. I bit on the inside of my cheek, refraining from mentioning the storm overhead.

John B called directions to Jj again.

The wind started to pick up. I could feel my pulled-back hair pushing up to the sides of my shoulders.

"Twenty seconds mid-speed, south." Another order.

"Keep the tether out of the prop!" Jj called to Kiara.

"I'm trying!" She shouted back right away, sounding worried.

Finally, I looked up at the sky on the other side, and I nearly fainted. One of the biggest clouds I'd ever seen, big and grey, was heading straight for our heads.

"John B, is that good?" Jj yelled.

"Yeah! We're good!" He answered.

My hands were starting to shake, but I still drew the lines with the chalk, and kept an eye on the storm.

"Seven-hundred feet!" Kiara called.

I drew another line.

The thunder boomed, my heart skipped a beat, and the boat shook when we collided with stronger waves. Everyone was looking at each other warily, thinking the exact same thing.

"Jj keep in steady!" John B shouted over the loud wind.

"Nine-hundred feet!"

Another line.

"Jj, we're gonna turtle in the storm, man!"

"Nine twenty!"

"Crank it north by northwest! Ten seconds!"

"We're gonna die." I mumbled.

A loud crash of thunder caused my eyes to close in a hard blink.

"The current is too strong! We're gonna loose it!" Kiara yelled.

"South! Southwest, Jj! Hard!"

The waves crashed up onto the side of the boat, roughly.

"So this is it." I finally said. "We are officially going to die."

"Half speed at this bearing, Jj!"

The boat slowed, and the monitor beeped out of control.

"What do you got Pope? Come on, man, what do you see?" John B urged with a frantic voice, standing close beside Pope.

"Nothin'." Pope spat. "A whole lot of nothin'."

"Come on, we should be right above it, bro," John B ran a hand through his hair, over-stressed.

"Nine-sixty!" Kiara screamed.

She kept calling out numbers, and my heart rate increased each time, the worry in her voice booming. I didn't want to look down at the water, but I did.

"I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" Pope screamed.

"Oh my god," I breathed out, my stomach doing flips.

"You should be seeing something, man!" John B nudged his shoulder impatiently, after yelling for Jj to stop the boat.

I stood up and quickly ran over to the monitor, standing next to John B. There was a long silence, and Kiara joined us at the screen, beside Pope.

"Oh, good god." Pope slowly reeled back from the monitor.

"See anything!" Jj screamed.

John B chuckled with disbelief, "It's The Royal Merchant," he whispered out quietly.

"Holy shit," I breathed out.

"Holy shit." Kiara repeated.

"Is that... really it?" I said with a tone of disbelief.

The four of us were watching the monitor with such wide eyes, and no one moved an inch, as the drone trailed over top of a rusted ship, most of it's parts broken and torn through. Pieces of the shipwreck lay everywhere on the bottom, but it didn't fail to take our breath away.

But then, just as we thought we'd found the most revolutionary discovery, found something extraordinary, that no one had ever seen before, we were wrong.

Completely and utterly wrong.

"It's not there," Pope whispered out.

"Just— just," John B huffed out, his jaw clenching roughly, "pull the drone up." He spat. "Shit."

"Look— we could do another pass, charge the battery," Pope was saying, as John B whizzed past me and walked away from the monitor, "We can— we can go back down!"

"Yeah— yeah, we could try it again," I said frantically, watching John B step away from us with an air of rage. "Let's try again,"

"Guys we've been through it three times!" Jj yelled with an angry tone. "There's nothing there!"

"Shut up!" Kiara screamed at him, her voice booming.

"John B," I said quietly, as I pushed away from the monitor's desk and started to walk over to him. He was running both hands through his hair, turned away.

"The gold could be buried! We don't know!" Kiara exclaimed.

"Look— if the gold was there, it would have been found by the metal detector, okay!" John B yelled out, his voice slightly cracking.

I stopped in front of him when he yelled, and he didn't even look down at me.

He swallowed, hard. "Somebody beat us to it."

"Or it was never there." I heard Jj mumbled disapprovingly, as he began to steer the boat again.

John B sat down on the floor, facing the water, his hands pulling up the hood of his sweater. Pope stared out at the water with an angry look. Kiara shook her head from side to side, in a light motion, and looked down at her hands.

I was standing there, not sure what I should do. For one second, when I saw the wreck, I believed it was true. I believed what John B had been going on about for days. But even I could see that there was nothing valuable there, except for the rusty, dead parts of the boat.

I sat down beside him. He didn't look at me, his knees folded up to his chest, as he stared out at the crashing waves, and I figured it wasn't a good moment to talk about it. So, I looked down at his hand, which was gripped onto his knee, and placed my own on top. He didn't shrug it off, so I kept it there.

The boat was quiet, as Kiara and Pope pulled up the drone. It was sad. All the excitement that built up to this point, was thrown into the water, and all that was left was glum expressions, upset looks, and a thick silence that no one was enjoying. The thunder still continued to roar above us, and I tried not to think about it. We stayed quiet for many long moments, my hand on top of John B's, and I eventually leant my head on his body, just below his shoulder as we stared out at the grey sky and dark water.

"So— uh," I swallowed the air in my throat, finally breaking the silence after what felt like hours. Everything was off, and I felt awkward being the first one to speak after what had happened. I looked back at the rest of them. "Is this a bad time to ask for a ride home?"

༄

𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐍 <3

𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 !!