On Top//Topper Thornton

twenty six

I'm sitting in the middle of math again when I get a text from Kie. "Call me now."

I get up from my seat and walk out of the room. Ms Wilson doesn't even try and stop me this time. Topper follows me out into the courtyard like last time.

"Kie? What is it?" I ask.

"Pope got a letter today from some C. Limbrey," Kie tells me.

"Okay? And?" I ask.

"We think it has something to do with the gold," Kie tells me. "We're headed to Charleston."

"Like now?" I ask.

"Yeah. Are you and Topper in?" Kie asks.

I look at Topper and smile. "Of course."

After dropping Topper's car off at the chateau and getting Heyward's truck we head to Kie's house. She's going to try and explain to her mom why she's gotta go to Charleston on a school night. We can see Kie and her parents arguing.

"They're taking it really well," JJ remarks.

Pope nods. "Mm-hmm."

"How'd you get this rig?" I ask Pope. "I know your dad didn't let you have it."

"I undid the intake valves on the carburetor. Made it start pinging," Pope tells me.

"And now you're just gonna take it to your cousin Jeff's house. Just gonna get it fixed," JJ says.

"Crash overnight," JJ and Pope say at the same time.

"I think I'm rubbing off on you, Pope," JJ teases. "Lying to your old man, stealing his truck. Kinda sounds familiar." JJ throws his hands up. "All right, that's a sore subject. My bad."

"I'd say we have about 18 hours before he absolutely loses his shit. So as long as we get it back before then, I think we're good," Pope states.

Kie starts shouting about going to boarding school. JJ gets out of the truck so Kie can get in.

"Look at your life right now! Look at your life!" Mr Carrera shouts.

JJ waves at Kie's parents. "It's good to see y'all, Mr. and Mrs. Carrera."

"Hi, uh, ma'am, sir. I... I promise to have her back at a reasonable hour and safe," Pope tells them.

"What are you doing?" Kie questions.

"Kiara, listen to me. You wanna go, then you can go. But if you don't come back at the proper time, then don't come back at all!" Mrs Carrera shouts.

"She's bluffin'," JJ insists. Kie gets into the truck. "Y'all have a good day." JJ gets back in the truck.

"This shit would be so much easier without parents," Kie states.

We start the long drive to Charleston. The first part of our trip is the ferry.

"My parents are so paranoid of me being a Pogue, like it's the worst thing that could ever happen," Kie tells us.

"Hey, I hear they got good weed at boarding school, though," I offer.

"I'm not going to boarding school," Kie insists. "They're gonna have to kidnap me, tie me up, and throw me in a van."

"Well, I say..." JJ takes a hit of a blunt. "...we just crumble

some herb right now."

"Hey, Kie, have you tried to hit John B back on that number yet?" Pope asks.

"Like, twenty million times," Kie tells him.

"That's quite a few times," JJ says with a laugh.

"Some random lady at a hotel keeps answering," Kie explains.