MERCEDES, jj maybank

61.

TRADITION

After getting back from school Trinity was laid across an armchair, texting her brother and keeping an ear out to listen to Pope who was reading an extract from the diary.

" 'August fifteenth, set sail from Port-au-Prince on calm seas. Came upon the Spanish ship San Jose on fire. The entire deck was aflame. And we could hear the screams of men trapped below. The Spanish captain cared about only one thing, his valuable cargo, the Cross of Santo Domingo and countless bars of gold. Once the cargo was on board we went to help the crew, but Captain Limbrey ordered us to pull bayonets and not to let any of the Spanish crew on board. He robbed them and left them to die,' Trinity are you even listening?"

She puts her phone down on her chest, "Yeah, the ship was on fire, people got trapped, Spanish captain only cared about the riches—"

"Okay, okay, you were listening," Pope stopped her once he was proved wrong. So she picked up her phone and continued to talk to her brother, it's not like it wasn't important and she was being ignorant, they were both discussing the disappearance of Charlotte.

JJ, who was laying on a couch and playing with a lighter spoke up, "So it didn't go down off Bermuda,"

"And it was a Limbrey stealing shit again."

Pope nods at JJ and Kiara, "This diary proves that both the gold and the Cross of Santo Domingo were on the Royal Merchant."

"Why didn't we find it in the well then?" Trinity asks not looking up from her phone.

JJ sat up and went off from her question, "Yeah, Pope, if Denmark was able to get this bedazzled cross off of the Merchant to shore why didn't he just hide it with the gold?"

"Because it was too big," John B answers his question.

"You're right. He had to hide it someplace else which means it's still out there," Pope smiles for a second.

"You're welcome for getting your brains turning," Trinity says lazily and puts her legs up and the top of the armchair, and she was almost laying upside down. JJ looked at her and smiled.

Kiara took the printed pictures from the diary and read through them, "Where did he hide it?"

"Right before he was hung, Denmark said he'd buried the treasure at the foot of the angel."

"I thought this was about the key," JJ stops him.

"Right, so what's the connection?"

Pope recites the message that was on the key, "The path to the tomb brings in the island room."

"What is the island room?" Kiara asks, getting frustrated since this was just going around in circles.

"You know what helps me figure shit out?" JJ gets up off the couch, "Smoking beers and drinking weed. The ideas just pour out of me, if we just sit here and try to figure this out, we're gonna get nowhere. But if we get creative and go to this bonfire tonight maybe we'll get somewhere."

"Well, I just got disowned by my parents and I'm an official member of the I-have-nothing-to-lose club," Kiara smiles.

"Pope?"

But Pope shakes his head, "We're so close."

"Look, think about how much you could think if you just gave your brain a rest."

"Okay fine," He gives in. And the three of them cheer.

"Tee, you're coming, right?" JJ asks.

Trinity puts her phone down and rolls off the armchair, "Don't have to ask me twice."

They all stand up excited, "Okay, we gotta shotgun before we go." JJ says going to the beers.

The bonfire was an annual thing that everyone went to, it was basically a tradition so you had to go, and even if you didn't then you would regret it the next day. It was the same weekend every year, and always at the same place, at the fire pit.

It was crazy to think that the last bonfire, the Pogues went but when Trinity went she was with Rafe and all the other Kooks.

But after the Pogues found a fortune, then lost it, lost their best friends and then they magically reappeared it felt good to be back and doing the normal things teenagers at Outer Banks do.

JJ was ecstatic to be here, he got out the Twinkie and put his arm around Trinity's shoulders greeting people as they passed them.

A blonde girl hands JJ a drink with an attempt at a seductive smile, JJ takes the drink. "Thank you," And hands it to Trinity as they walk off. She smirks to herself looking at the blonde girl as they walked off.

John B was also walking with the two and he was still talking about the break-up with Sarah, "She was just like, 'that's it'."

"I know," JJ says. "But dude, her father blew up right in front of her, just give her a minute alright? In the meantime, shotgun right now, like the old days." JJ picks up beer from where they were all placed and hands it to him.

"Hey, derelicts!" A girl throws an empty can at the boys.

"Woah!"

"Hey! There she is!" JJ awkwardly announces. "That's you, we're out of here," JJ intertwines his fingers with Trinity's and leads them away somewhere closer to the fire.

"That was weird," She says.

"Tell me about it." JJ opens his can of beer and takes a sip, "She and JB had a fling like a year back and someone clearly isn't over it...is that your brother?"

JJ points to a group of boys on the other side of the pit. Trinity looks over her shoulder and sees Tyler with the friends that he used to get in trouble with a few years back.

"Yeah, it is." She turns back to face JJ and finished the drink in her red solo cup.

"Can you still surf?" JJ asks her, pouring half of his drink into her cup.

"Probably, I haven't in a while though," She shrugs. "Why?"

"I'll take you surfing,"

"What as a date?" She grinned, tilting her head to the side.

"Well you're my girlfriend right, I thought this was discussed," JJ looks down at her.

"I never said yes,"

"No, but I said yes for you," JJ points to himself, "And you didn't say no to that,"

She looks at the fire as her face turns slightly red, "Come on then, boyfriend." She stands up onto her tiptoes and leans in to kiss him.

JJ pulls back, "Careful, you don't want all you Kook friends seeing this—"

"Shut up," She pulls his head back down and continues to kiss him.