𝙎𝘼𝙏𝙀𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙀 || jj maybank

twenty one.

『 a cute art project ! 』

* ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° 。˚𓆛˚。 °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊

THE POGUES WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING WITH THE SUNSHINE BEATING HARSHLY DOWN ON THEIR FACES. They got on the road fast, Pope doing his best to stay at the speed limit as his heart was beating out of his chest. He hated that they were going to be late— and not just by a few minutes. It's been many hours since they were supposed to meet up with C. Limbrey, but they couldn't do anything about it now.

As the teens slowly approached their destination, Liv marveled at the large buildings. "And I thought the Kooks in Figure Eight were rich," She muttered, ghosting her fingers over JJ's knuckles.

"They're fancy people— the Limbrey's. They've had like three governors in the family. They've run Charleston for, like, 300 years," Kiara commented as they pulled up to a huge house.

"Yeah, these Kooks make our Kooks look like Pogues," JJ added, looking out the window. "You sure this is the place, Pope?" He queried.

All four teens were staring at the building in awe and shock, with a bit of fear as well. "Pretty sure," Pope replied. JJ took the initiative to get out of the car first, the rest of the Pogues following his lead. They stopped in front of the tall gate, and Liv immediately noticed how the top was lined with sharp spikes. "Twenty-seven King Street," Pope whispered, holding up the letter as he eyed the house.

"Talk about home security," JJ scoffed, crossing his arms as he looked up to the deadly barrier above the gate. "Are those spikes to keep people out?"

Pope shook his head. "The slave quarters are over there. These spikes were to keep people in."

"People are awful," Liv sighed, frowning at the spikes.

Slowly approaching the gate, Pope pushed on it lightly to reveal it was open. He looked back to his friends and with a nod of his head they all followed him into the property. They stood on the front porch, all waiting for Pope to knock or use the obnoxiously large door knocker in the shape of a lion's head.

With a shaky breath, the boy reached out and knocked with the metal ring a couple times. "Think that was too much?" Pope asked as he stepped back.

"It echoed the entire house. That's for sure," JJ noted, glancing over to Pope. "So, they definitely heard it."

"Maybe nobody's home."

As Pope reached out to knock again, Liv started saying, "I swear, if we came all the way down here and this doesn't even work out—"

The door swung open to reveal a man in an army green shirt, making Liv stop talking and widen her eyes. The man surveyed the teens, stopping when his eyes landed on the Heyward boy. "You must be Pope," He said, pointing his finger at the boy with a small smile.

"Um..." Pope looked nervously to his friends, then back to the man. "Are you Mr. Limbrey?"

"Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday," He pointed out, his tone a bit colder than before.

Pope took in a deep breath. "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry. My car broke down on the way here."

"Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville," JJ continued, a tight-lipped smile covering his lips. "Sorry about that."