𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 32.

"𝐒𝐎, 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐃'𝐒 already gonna kill me," Pope said, "So what's this mandatory meeting about."

The five of us were around a fire in the middle of the forest, sitting on old fallen logs, our faces orange from the light of the flames. John B sat next to me, while Pope settled in next to Jj, and Kiara sat, still in her dress, across from us. I was still wearing my dress too, my flower crown still on the top of my head, and Sarah's small bag still on my shoulders.

Running from Midsummers reminded me of running away from the graveyard. Except, the cemetery, was the first time I really hung out with all four Pogues, and felt something. When Kiara had grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her, both of us running from all those Kooks— including Sarah— I felt like I was breaking so many rules. If my parents would have seen me then, seen their daughter completely embarrass herself with such absurd manners in front of so many people, they would be truly enraged.

But I couldn't care less. My parents, were somewhere in Europe, filming a show, and couldn't even spare a minute to say hello through a phone. I suddenly felt like I should stop thinking about them— and what they would do, seeing me with these Pogues— because, for anything, they weren't in my life anymore. I enjoyed running through the wind, laughing hysterically as the rich people gawked, running into John B's arms, and not giving a shit of what anyone else thought.

Now, John B gave me a glance, a sly smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. He placed a hand on my knee, and sighed out happily, preparing to tell everyone what I already knew.

"Might as well tell him, man," Jj spoke slowly, looking to Pope for a second. "Before we're gaffed," he threw a stick into the fire.

"You ready for this?" he gave everyone a sly smile, his eyes lingering on every face.

We made eye contact when he looked down at me. For a second I stared up at his face, illuminated by the orange glow of the fire, looking at the tinniest of freckles along his cheeks, and the shining green colour of his eyes. I felt a wave of excitement rush through me, causing me to bite down on my bottom lip to contain it, my hand gripping onto John B's— which was still resting on my knee. Our fingers intertwined.

"Yeah," Kiara said quickly with a tone of impatience, as if he were dumb. She folded her hands together.

"So," John B paused, indicating that his next words would be stunning, "The gold never went down with The Royal Merchant." He finally said, with confidence.

"God, here we go again with this shit," Pope scoffed.

"It makes sense," I interjected, "just wait," I sent him a small smile for reassurance.

"Yeah, dude, wait. Just hear him out, all right?" Jj tapped Pope's shoulder with the back of his hand.

John B put a finger up to his lips, "It's been here the whole time," he grinned. "And it's on the island."

"Are you serious," Kiara said uncertainly, and with disbelief, shifting her eyes between John B and I. I gave her a solid nod. "Oh my god," she laughed.

"I would like to voice my skepticism." Pope lowered his eyes at us, folding his hands together.

"I'm sure you would, Pope," I let out a small laugh.

John B stood up, and sighed happily, "Can I please present you with my evidence, sir." My hand fell from his as he then slowly trotted around the logs, stopping in front of everyone.

"Proceed." Pope waved him off.

"Alright, so," John B spoke excitedly, "In my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."

"Who the hell's that." Kiara replied quickly.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck," John B said. "Check this out," he stepped over to hand Kiara a thick pice of parchment.

Pope looked to me with narrowed eyebrows, for clarification. I nodded.

"So, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest." John B explained, looking to Pope. "So, Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom."

Kiara whistled, handing the paper to Jj.

"After that, he bought his farm." John B looked to everyone, "drumroll please," we all started to pat our knees with excitement, "because that farm is...." he looked down at me.

"Tannyhill plantation." I finished.

"Tannyhill?" Kiara repeated, in disbelief.

"Tannyhill," John B nodded firmly, "So then, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, then sold a shit-ton of rice— which pisses off all the white planters— and then, they decided to lynch him." It went quiet for a second, only the crackling sounds of the fire being heard.

Pope looked up from the parchment, his flashlight shining down on it.

"And on the day they were coming to get him," John B looked down at me to continue.

"He writes a letter to his son as a farewell," I told everyone, while running my hands over the soft silk of Sarah's dress, which I was still wearing.

"In the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold." John B grinned brightly.

Kiara was grinning from ear-to-ear, "where," she whispered with anticipation, her eyes twinkling at me and John B.

"Harvest the wheat, in parcel nine, near the water." John B said slowly.

While everyone listened with curiosity, he went on to explaining how the coded message was connected to the gold, and where it was hidden. Jj stepped over to give John B a bear hug. Everyone was in disbelief when it clicked together.

"And all we needed was an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold!" John B put his arms out to the side. "Charlie got the plat map from Sarah Cameron— and now all we need to do is-"

"Wait, wait, hold on." Kiara interrupted him, her voice stern, "Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?" She looked from me to John B with serious eyes.

I bit on the inside of my cheek, and looked down at my folded hands. John B cleared his throat.

"This is gonna be good." Jj added quietly.

"Sarah, um she— she," John B kept shifting his eyes to me, "got us into the archives at Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where we got the letter." He said lightly.

"You were in Chapel Hill, yesterday, with Sarah Cameron," she lightly raised her voice, growing angry at what he'd said.

"Yeah— um," John B lost his voice.

Jj hummed. "They had a threesome."

My eyes rolled to the back of my head as Pope stifled a giggle.

"Kie— we were, we were just using her for access!" John B quickly defended himself.

A sharp feeling of guilt stabbed into my chest, at the fact that we were talking about Sarah so badly. I then grew a little angry at what John B said, because I certainly wasn't just using her for access. I told myself he was just saying that.

"There was access all right," Jj said through slightly closed lips.

"Why the hell were you with Sarah Cameron?" Kiara asked with a serious tone, speaking more to John B. "Look— Charlie, I have no right telling you to not be her friend, but John B— I swear to fuck, did you tell her about the treasure?" She asked with an upset tone of voice.

I softly smiled at what she'd said to me.

"We were just trying to get into the archives!" John B persisted, his tone angry.

"Is that a yes!" Kiara shouted louder.

"We— I left out key details!" John B tried to reassure her, but when she looked down to me sitting there uncomfortably, my teeth biting down onto my bottom lip, she knew what I didn't want to say.

"Yo, what!" She shouted, "You let a Kook in on our secret?" She said with sad eyes, "what about Pogue Lyfe? What about the t-shirt company, bro?"

I sat there, guilty for some reason. When I looked up, as Kiara and John B shouted at one another relentlessly, Jj sent me a glance from across the fire. He nodded and gave me a soft smile, silently telling me that it wasn't my fault. I still felt bad, though.

"You don't know her yet, I do!" Kiara yelled. "She's like a— spitting cobra!" She continued, speaking with a strong tone of hatred. "Look, she's gonna take anything that we get!"

John B scoffed loudly. "How do you know that, Kie!" His voice was loud.

"Bad analogy," Pope sighed.

"I know her, okay!" Kiara stood up angrily.

The two of them continued to shout against one another, and my ears began to hurt. I rubbed my hands over my head.

"Shut up!" I yelled over both of them, "Just top yelling, please! You sound like children, Jesus Christ!"

Everyone looked at me with wide eyes, as I abruptly stood up. I was much shorter than both Kie and John B, but I stood strong.

"I don't know what happened to you and Sarah, Kie, but I need both of you to tell me what's more important, here," I said sternly, looking at both of them, "Sarah Cameron, or the fucking gold."

Jj quietly whistled at my outburst.

I tried to act like Sarah didn't mean something to me, and I was— like John B had said— just using her for the information. Even though I wasn't. Not even a little bit.

"Sarah's not apart of the mission, okay," I reassured Kiara with a calmer tone, as she sat back down. "We're talking four hundred million, four hundred! I'm not even getting a fucking cut, but I know the four of you damn well deserve it. And you're not gonna find that shit if you keep arguing like this," I looked to Jj and John B, hinting at their fight earlier, and then to Pope, hinting at his constant denial.

It was very quiet for a few long moments.

"Damn, Charlie," Jj breathed out, and sat back down.

"Someone had to say it." I spoke in a low tone, crossing my arms over my chest.

Kiara was looking at her feet, letting what I had said, to sink in. Pope rubbed his lips together.

"She's right," John B admitted, speaking lowly. "The gold is out there, guys."

Slowly, everyone grinned, Kiara being the last.

I laughed quietly. "And we're gonna find it."

___

"And then you can just tie it like this," John B looped the two ends together, to keep it in place.

A soft smile arose to my lips, causing my cheeks to crease as I looked down at the worn-out bandana, tied around my wrist. For some reason, before I arrived at Sarah's house for Midsummers, I had put the bandanna, the same one he'd given me before, in my back pocket. I wasn't wearing it, but I just liked to have it with me. When I had put on the dress, I stuffed it in the small bag she had loaned me, along with the map.

Now, we were back at the Chateau. No one wanted to go home to their houses, afraid of the punishments they were going to endure for running away from the party like a pack of hooligans, so we'd agreed to all stay at John B's for the night. Kiara had a bag of extra clothes, stored in his room for unexpected times, and so she let me borrow a pair of cloth shorts and a tank top. The way home was quiet, but we were all thinking the same thing— the gold was out there and we knew it for sure.

I was sitting on John B's bed, my yellow dress draped over his desk chair. I enjoyed the mood in the air, just the two of us sitting in his room, talking quietly, calm.

"I love it," I breathed out, trailing a finger over the soft material of the cloth.

"It looks good on you, Charls," he said with admiration, and then leaned back against his headboard.

"Why do you keep calling me that," I finally asked, and let out a laugh, turning my head to look at him. I was sitting cross-legged in front of him, his legs extending on the side of my body as he half-sprawled out.

"I don't know," he chuckled, "everyone else calls you Charlie,"

"Oh, so you wanna be special," I said, jokingly mocking him. I lightly hit his leg with the back of my hand.

"Charls is better than Cherry Cola," he rolled his eyes at the ridiculous nickname, cringing. "But it was a good substitute for a while."

I thought about when he used to call me that, which was back when we didn't know each other's names. It only then occurred to me how much things have changed. I looked down at my hands.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He nudged my thigh with his knee, his eyebrows narrowed.

"Nothing," I assured, softly smiling, "Just thinking."

"Bout' what," he folded his arm behind his head, leaning back onto it.

"Everything," I said vaguely. I let out a small laugh.

"You can talk to me, Charlie," John B said with a calm voice, "you know that, right?"

"Yeah," A sweet smile met my lips. "It's just like, crazy, I guess."

"What's crazy," he looked at me meaningfully, speaking softly.

"What do you think," I said with a growing smile, while moving to sit closer to him, "I would be doing right now if we never met," I bit down on my bottom lip, smiling.

He looked away, thinking for a second, "Probably at home, reading something, with your grandparents."

I let out a loud laugh, at how accurately he imagined me. "Probably." I said.

"Are you glad that you met me?" He nudged me with his leg again, speaking humorously, because he knew it was a cheesy question.

"Of course," I said, with a sarcastic tone to play along, "So glad."

He reached forward and grabbed my hand with his, in a delicate motion. A good feeling started to swarm in my stomach when he twisted our fingers together, fidgeting.

"So, um," I spoke out, "where am I sleeping tonight?"

He looked at me, "You can sleep in here again, if you want."

"Where are you sleeping, then," I narrowed my eyebrows.

He shrugged nonchalantly, "hammock probably," he nodded. Then, a smirk appeared on his face. "Unless you want me to stay with you," he said jokingly.

With his hand gripped onto mine, he slowly pulled me forward. "My parents would kill me if they saw me sleeping in the same bed as a boy, " I said with a wide smile, as I slowly laid down, my hand on his chest.

"I don't see your parents anywhere," he looked around the room with his bottom lip popped out.

"I don't mind." I said quietly, looking up at him.

"Mind what." He replied distractedly, as he twirled a finger around a loose strand of my hair.

"You can sleep in here," I told, with a soft voice, "I don't mind it."

He looked down at me with a foolish smile, staring at him. We both laughed at the cheesiness of it all, while he examined my face. My hand was still gripped with his, resting on the material of his shirt, while he played with the strand of my hair softly. He looked at me with that look again. Before he could do anything, once our eyes clicked together, I placed my unoccupied hand on the side of his face, figuring I knew what to do, and leaned in.

As soon as our lips attached onto one another, the same whirl of butterflies erupted in my stomach. When he let go of my hair and trailed his hand down my back, our lips moving together, and stopped it at my waist, a rush shot through all of my veins. I latched onto his top lip, and he kissed back, my nose pointed into his cheek. Both of his hands circulated on my body, before he delicately grabbed both sides of my waist and maneuvered me to sit on top of him, all while not breaking contact. Our kids deepened.

The butterflies in my stomach, were going absolutely crazy. There were sparks in my chest, and each time he reattached our lips together, a firework crackled. My heart rate was sky-rocketing when his hands stopped on the back of my thighs.

Two weeks ago, I had never kissed a boy. Now, I was in his room, on his bed, laying on top of him. John B pulled my hair back with a soft hand, and an uncontrollable smile smoothed over my lips when he touched the back of my neck, my body leaning into his even more. The tips of my fingers were tangled in the ends of his own hair, while he kissed me repeatedly, our pace quickening. A strong chill scattered down my spine when the bottom of my shirt lifted up only an inch, his fingers wrapped around the hem of it.

Before I could say or do anything after that, his bedroom door suddenly swung open.

"Holy shit!" Kiara's jaw fell open with shock, and fear, as she stood in the open doorway.

A strike of fear pierced into my chest as John B immediately sat up, causing me to straddle him for a split second before I practically jumped right off of his body, startled.

"I'm so sorry," Kiara let out a loud laugh, but seemed embarrassed, as she quickly grabbed the door handle and shut it closed.

The only sound heard after that, was our heavy breathing. There was a long moment of silence before I cleared my throat.

I looked at him for a small second, "We should go back out," I said uncomfortably, sadly coming back to reality that his friends were right on the other side of the wall. I missed the feeling of him already.

"Yeah, of course," he quickly answered, and then pushed himself off the bed, following me. His hand was on my back as I grabbed the knob.

Immediately when the door opened again, Jj and Pope spilled at our feet, from previously leaning against it. They stumbled in, Jj running into my knees.

"Seriously, guys?" John B let out a loud laugh, at his friends who were eavesdropping.

I rolled my eyes, but found it quite hilarious, and wiggled past the two of them. I spotted Kiara sitting outside the back door, by herself, with the ukulele in her hands. While Jj and Pope asked John B questions about us, if we were mackin'— as they said it— I walked over to the back door and stepped outside into the cold air.

"Hey," I said to Kiara with a quiet voice. She was sitting on the porch steps, so I sat next to her.

"Hey," she answered, seeming surprised to see me sit beside her. "I'm sorry— for walking in on you guys," she instantly apologized.

"It's okay," I laughed, and folded my knees up to my chest. "It was bound to happen," I said, referring to how they were all in the house.

She laughed too, looking down at the ukulele. "I knew y'all had a thing for each other." She said humorously.

A heat rose to my cheeks, causing me to look down as I blushed. There was a silence for a moment.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about Sarah," I figured I needed to get it out, so I finally said it, my voice soft. We could hear the boys cheering and laughing inside behind us about something else.

"That's okay, Charlie, it's not your fault," she looked over at me, softly smiling. "I don't care if you guys are friends, or whatever. I just don't want her in on this," she told, talking about the Merchant.

"I get it." I nodded softly, a small smile on my lips. "And you don't have to, like, tell me why you hate her and everything."

She lightly laughed. I looked over to the side, to see her staring down at her wrists, which were full of bead-bracelets and friendship bracelets. She noticed me looking down at them, "Do you want one?" She suddenly asked, and began to pull a blue one off her wrist.

"Really?" I said with a tiny laugh. No one had ever given me a friendship bracelet before.

"Of course, this'll match with the bandanna," she said, placing the blue bracelet in the palm of my hands.

"Thanks, Kie," I genuinely smiled over at her.

She picked up the ukulele, "Hey, remember how I said I'd teach you how to play?" She suddenly said.

"Yeah," I laughed.

"How about right now?" She asked with a smile. A feeling of happiness began to swirl inside of my stomach, and I instantly nodded. "Cool." she grinned excitedly, "so this is a C chord,"

And then we went on, Kiara teaching me how to play the ukulele as the crickets chirped around us, the boys wrestled on the couch inside the house, and the breeze brushed past us.

✰༄✰

𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞

𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧

𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩

𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 💗

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐅

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏. 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐌𝐘

𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃.

𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐢 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞... 𝐢𝐝𝐤... 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐁? 🥺

𝐈 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐔𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒

𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐏𝐀𝐃 😡😡

𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐒 🥰

𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 !!