𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲

XVII. Bird Shit.

LATER THAT night, the five teens were relaxing after their evening of surfing, JJ and Jake on the hammock across one another, Pope and Kie sitting side by side on beach chairs near the hanging hammock with John B sitting down opposite side of them.

"You really think it's out there? Like, no bullshit?" Pope asked, looking at John B. "My father thought it was." He replied and Jake glanced over. "But do you?" Pope asked him again as the thunder rumbled in the distance. "After hearing his voice on that tape... I think I do." John B says and Pope raised his hand.

"Only one way to find out."

After they did their Pogue handshake, Jake glanced at Kie who looked at John B. "Look, we're gonna find it, you know?" She says and Jake smiles. "Yeah. Even JJ believes." He looks at the blond boy across him.

"Oh, my God, JJ, do you really believe?" John B says as Jake glanced at the others. "Totally, wait. Are we talking about four mil?" He asked and looked at the others. "Four hundred mil." Kie and Pope say at the same time. "Jinx." Kie looks at the boy to her left and Jake glanced between them before looking at JJ.

"I'm gonna dream about shipwrecks." He relaxed. "Goodnight, Bird!" He says as he rested his eyes. "Goodnight, bird shit!" John B says right back and JJ raised his hand, flipping him off as Jake rolled his eyes, smiling.

Jake was gonna head home but he's already let his mom know that he was going to stay over at the Chateau. She was free to take care of Evie that night and the next day however long he may take hanging out with his friends.

And so, that night, when all of his friends were asleep, he really stared at JJ for a moment and saw he actually had fallen asleep. Then he glanced over at John B who clearly looked comfortable and then looked at Pope who had his whole head leaning backwards on the chair. That cannot be comfortable.

He looked towards Kiara next. Kiara Carrera. She's always been sort of a puzzle to Jake. He can never quite figure her out and once he thinks he did, she just does something else completely different that throws him off.

She hadn't exactly been around when he had become a father and then John B lost his dad like months after that, so... it wasn't like she knew about him being a dad. Or about Liv since she had her whole Kook year at the time. He still wonders if the guys just never said anything to her about his daughter. Especially since she seems so clueless about it.

So the next morning, the group of teens were on their way and the weather seemed okay. Because of the location of the wreck being a bit far, they took Pope's dad's boat instead of the HMS Pogue. It was a larger boat anyway. "Alright, JJ. Pin it here." John B calls out to their driver. "Roger that! X marks the spot."

The boat comes to a stop and John B takes out the drone. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen. To going full Kook." He looks at Kie and Jake before lowering the drone right into the water which Pope then controls as Jake slowly lets out the tether. "Alright, JJ, we're right over it. Ten seconds northwest." John B tells him. "Got it! Ten seconds northwest." He calls back.

"That's one hundred feet now." Jake tells them as he passed the red mark on the tether. Kie marks it down with a chalk, glancing at him as he keeps lowering the tether. Pope then gasps making John B rush over to him, Jake look over right away but apparently it was nothing. "Don't do that to me, man." JJ says.

"And to quote the Hobbit, "down, down, to Goblin Town. Down, down, you go, my lad." Pope says and Jake furrows his brows but smiles faintly as they then reached four hundred feet so he raised his fingers to Kie who jots down another mark. "Four hundred feet." She tells the others as Jake noticed something. "The tide's turning." He glanced over at the others but kept lowering the tether.

"Hey, JJ?"

"Yup?"

"Ten seconds easy. South-southeast."

"Copy that!"

After JJ moves the boat, John B gives him more instructions, Pope kept controlling the drone while Jake kept lowering the tether. "Keep the tether out of the prop!" JJ calls out to them. "We're trying!" Kie said as she had gone to the other side of Jake and was helping him with it. "JJ, keep going." John B says.

"Okay, it's 700 feet now!" Jake says before he grabs the chalk Kie had to add another mark. As the thunder rumbles in the distance, Jake glanced over at the dark clouds. However they keep going, lowering more of the tether as the waves become more harsh.

"JJ, hold it steady!"

"Okay, 900!" Kie announced to them when Jake added another mark. "JJ, we're gonna turtle in this storm, man." John B calls out as Jake glanced at them. "920!" Kie says.

"Crank it north by northwest! Ten seconds!"

"John B! There's too much current! We're gonna lose it!" Kie started pulling onto the tether as Jake looks at the others, coming to her side. "South, southwest, JJ! Hard!" They keep lowering the tether after the boat was in position above the wreck. "Jake! Kiara!" Pope says when John B told him he should be above it by now. "960!" The two shout back to him.

"970! 980!"

"I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" Pope says excitedly as Jake looks over. "Okay, steady here, JJ!" John B shouts to him. "You should be seeing something, man." He tells Pope as Jake came rushing to Pope's other side. "I know. I know! Wait, wait." And then there it was. "Oh, good God." Pope says.

"See anything?" JJ calls out to them curiously and John B merely chuckles. "It's the Royal Merchant." He says, smiling and Jake looked at the other two boys to his right before looking at Kie, smiling widely. He had felt so excited in that moment they had found it for the sake of John B who had been in search for it, because he has been trying to get rid of the pain of his dad being lost at sea and possibly being, you know, dead, by going on this treasure hunt.

 

 

  

 

  

  

  

  

    

   

AUTHORS NOTE
oh hell yeah. the movies thingy is coming up soon, so excited for that i already know jake will lose his shit over jj bringing a gun there especially with kids around
+ i'll try updating everyday and if i can't stick to it, i'll go back to every 2-3 days 👍