ˢᵘᵖᵉʳ ʳⁱᶜʰ ᵏⁱᵈˢ, ʳᵃᶠᵉ ᶜᵃᵐᵉʳᵒⁿ

009

009 - set it off

ROUTLEDGE HOUSE
outerbanks, north carolina
monday
july 17, 2024
2:15pm

"this better work." jj said as he placed the gold bars in a container and started to melt it down with a torch.

"it's gonna work," kie admitted.

"hey, what's planned for today?" hailey asked.

"we have to take the gold to the pawn shop see if we can get something off of it." i answered.

she bit her bottom lip and nodded, "you guys alright if i bail? i have this thing with justin." she said.

"yeah, don't sweat it." jj replied.

"okay great, i'll see you guys later?" hailey said as she started to leave but was stopped by my stepdad.

he whistled to get her attention. "hey, hailey?" he said.

"yes?" she replied with a smile.

he looked in his pockets and threw her a set of keys. "i figured it's only fair if you have your own set of wheels yourself," he said with a smile.

"are you kidding me?" she said as she looked at the bronco keys before walking up to him and hugging him. "thank you so much!"

he hugged her back and pulled away. "not a problem at all. go have fun." he said with a smile as she ran to her new all black bronco sports. "and what are you kids doing?" theo asked as we all stood around the gold, hiding it.

"experimenting!" john b replied.

"using a blow torch?" theo asked with raised eyebrows.

i nudged pope, "yeah uh, with this new science thingy i wanted to try it out so i just figured why not do it now why we're all together." pope said with a goofy smile.

"ah, well have fun and juniper?" theo said.

"yeah?" i replied.

he cleared his throat, "your mom...i don't know how she's been adjusting well to this move so i was thinking about taking a small trip to california, let her get back to her roots." he said referring to the fact that my mom is from san francisco.

"she'd love that, yeah." i said with a nod.

"so would you and cara want to go?" he asked.

i shook my head, "i don't, but you'll have to ask caramia about herself. i want mom to have a good time without me, give her a break." i said with a small smile. "it's a nice thing for you to do for her, theo."

he smiled and nodded. "well, get back to your experiment." he replied before walking back into the house.

"see, now that was some kook shit." jj said.

i raised my eyebrows, "what?"

"oh c'mon, a new bronco for a girl that isn't his daughter? and then taking a random trip to california." he said. "kook shit." he repeated.