Beautiful summer

twenty-four

'I thought I was dreaming when you said you love me' ~frank ocean

"So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Skylar asked sitting down on the log around the fire beside Pope who was in the middle of chewing the skin around his nails off having just ran away once again from helping his father.

"Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ shrugged throwing some more logs onto the fire before joining the circle with the group his arm snaking around Skylar's waist.

"You ready for this? So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John b revealed, Pope and Kiara rolling their eyes at their friends stupid conspiracy theories. "Oh, my God. Here we go again with this."

"No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?" JJ quickly interrupted slapping Popes leg to shut him up. "It's been here the whole time. It's on the island." He smiled the group of teens letting out shocked gasps at his revelation. "Are you serious?Oh, my God."

"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope spoke up once again JJ laughing silently at his friend who refused to believe anything until something was put in front of him to prove it all. "I'm sure you would, Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John b questioned walking over to the front of the group staying stood up as if he was about to make some amazing speech.

"Proceed."

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." He grabbed for his bag pulling out a piece of paper holding it up for the group to see. "Who the hell's that?" Skylar scoffed unable to keep up with all the new names that were getting added to this treasure hunt.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out" he handed her the piece of parchment and she opened it up to read, JJ and Pope leaning over either sides of her shoulder to read it before she passed it on to Beckett and Kie.

"Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom. After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is..." everyone started to create a drumroll with their hands on their knees leaning in excitedly to hear it.

"Tannyhill Plantation."

"Tannyhill?" Kiara exclaimed getting more and more surprised by the revelations the boy was coming out with.

"Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold. Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water."

"Except... there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out." He shone his torch down on the piece of paper over all the wheat symbols, "the gold is in parcel nine, near the water."

"Holy shit."

"All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold." He finished off leaving the group sat speechless JJ standing up to hug his best friend. "Hello! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn."

"I'm so proud of you right now." JJ laughed holding both sides of the Routledge boys cheeks as if he was about to kiss him. "Thank you. That's really sweet of you." John b smiled placing his hands over the blonde boys hands.

"Okay, so, guys. What's the plan?" Pope snapped breaking up the sentimental moment between the two friends. "Good question. Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She'll bring an original survey map..." John b started to explain but Kiara quickly interrupted at the mention of the girls name, "hold on. Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?"

"This is gonna be good." JJ mumbled to himself sitting back down beside Skylar who had remained unusually silent through all of this.

"Sarah, um, she... she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter." John b revealed watching as the girls face fell even more. "You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?"

"He was mackin' on her." JJ blurted out pointing over at the brunette boy who was a little taken aback by what he'd said. "I wasn't macking." John b cried glaring at him because he wasn't making the situation any easier.

"You were totally macking Sarah Cameron."

"I wasn't macking on her, okay? I was using her for access."

"There was access, all right." JJ muttered, Skylar nudging his arm telling him to shut up. "Did you tell her about the treasure?" She asked her face turning up in disgust. "I was trying to get into the archives." John b hissed, Skylar growing more annoyed with the Routledge boy as he repeatedly stated he was only using the Cameron girl.

"Is that a yes?"

"I... I left out key details."

"Yo, what? You let a Kook in on our secret? What about Pogue Lyfe? What about the T-shirt company, bro?" She exclaimed the group of boys all turning to face her as her hand intertwined with Becketts to keep her a little bit calm.

"Oh so I can't let Sarah in but you and JJ can bring along the Conley siblings" he argued back pretending the two siblings weren't even there, "I was just using her for information."

"Why don't I believe you?" She scoffed ignoring his previous comment about Beckett and Skylar. "I'm trying to make us filthy rich here. Okay, so that we can pay off a boat, or... or, uh... send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies. Look, you guys know me. Do I look like the type of person to fall for Sarah Cameron?" He looked around at his friends Skylar looking down at the ground as she tried but failed not to laugh.

"Uh... Do you want us to answer that, or..."

"Look, you don't know her yet. I do! You can't trust her." Kiara continued to slag off the Conley girls best friend, Skylar growing more and more agitated. "Her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club." Pope shrugged siding with Kie on this one which caused John b to groan.

"Rafe and Sarah are different human beings." He defended the Cameron girl, looking across at Skylar who was rolling her eyes repeatedly.

"What did she do to you, exactly?" JJ asked having never found out why she had such a hatred for Sarah Cameron. "She's like a... like a spitting cobra. First, she... she blinds you, and then..." she attempted to explain it but everyone turned to look at her as if she was insane.

"This is a bad analogy." Pope commented rubbing his forehead. "Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's gonna try to take."