Gold Digger// JJ Maybank- OBX

twelve

THEIR FACES fell as a realisation hit them. John B sighed. "It's not there. Look, just- just pull the drone up."

Scarlett shook her head, turning to look at John B. "This has to be a mistake, right? The gold, it should be there." She ran her fingers through her matted hair. "It- it should be there." Her other hand reached up and clasped her mother's necklace and she could feel herself start to break. "Why, why isn't it there?" Her voice broke as she blinked furiously to stop the tears.

John B walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him. "I don't know, Lottie. I don't know." He said softly.

"Look, we can do another pass." Pope suggested, trying to bring some hope to the situation. "Recharge the battery. We can- we can go back down." Kiara just gave him a look full of hopelessness before turning her gaze to John B, who was still comforting a distraught Scarlett.

"We've done it three times. There's nothing there." JJ input, looking over his shoulder at them.

Scarlett shook her head, pulling herself from John B's grip. "What happens now, then?" She asked, wiping her face with her sleeve. "There's got to be something. It can't just have disappeared. Why don't we try it again?" She looked around at the others, a look of desperation covering her face.

"Red, there's nothing there-" JJ told her, his face falling at how desperate and distraught she was.

"Shut up!" Kiara yelled.

"What? It's true!" JJ yelled back at her.

"The gold could be buried." Kiara suggested, looking between John B and Scarlett. "We don't know."

"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay?" John B told her. Scarlett raised her hand and patted him on the shoulder, knowing he must be feeling similarly to how she was- he was just better at hiding his feelings. "Somebody beat us to it."

"Or it was never there." JJ muttered. Thunder rumbled in the near distance as he began to drive them back towards the shore.

❤❤❤

Borrowing Heyward's boat that morning and then turning up for a work shift was a bad idea, but Scarlett needed the money and Pope owed it to his father to be there. Upon arriving for their designated shifts, Mr. Heyward ranted at them for- as he put it- stealing his boat. The two tried to excuse it with the lie that they had borrowed it for fishing, but unfortunately Heyward didn't believe them. Instead, he put them straight to work, giving them the most boring jobs he could think of. Even their lunch break was boring. In the afternoon, Scarlett found herself working the tills while Pope worked the outside jobs. The sound of the bell ringing brought her back to the room, ending her day-dream about finding the lost gold. She stood up straight, putting on a fake smile before turning to greet the customer. "Hello, welcome to Heyward's. How may I help you?" Her fake smile turned into one of surprise when she saw who it was. "Oh, hi Joshua. What brings you here this afternoon?"

"Just picking up some bits and pieces for the road. Parents want to move on to the next place." He picked up a few packets of crisps and a couple of magazines, placing them on the counter.

Scarlett nodded, starting to ring up the items. "So, you're leaving?" She asked, disappointed that the hunt for the Royal Merchant had stopped her from being able to hang out with her new friend.

"Yeah," Joshua smiled sadly. "The parents want to visit a bunch of places before fall and before I move for college."

"What college are you planning on going to?" Scarlett asked, ringing up the last of the items.