𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

ten: Full Kook.

KIE reached out of the hole, holding an envelope which John B quickly took. "That's not gold." Pope says. It was a FedEx envelope that said For Bird on it. Kai helps Kie out who jumps down onto the ground, grunting softly. "Holy shit. This is from my dad." John B looks at Pope.

Kie smiled proudly as she looked at the boys. "Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" JJ said suddenly as he turns around. "Go!" Kie says before they all rush to hide. "It's the guys that robbed your house." JJ says as they all go down. "Lights!" Kie said and they all turn off their flashlights. "Light. Turn your light off, man!" Pope said as he turns off JJ's for him. "John B, your light!" Kie says to the boy.

"Do you think it's them?"

"Homie's got a gun."

"Screw this." Kie got up and started running, they were all quick to follow right behind. All the way to the gate where they climbed over but then Pope got stuck. "Guys, I'm stuck." He says and they all stop. "Pope, come on, man!" JJ shouts as they run over to him to help him. "Pope, don't move, okay?" JJ had taken his gun out and Kai pushed it away. "Are you fucking stupid?" He says.

John B and Kie help Pope, pulling him down which caused his shorts to rip and come off completely. "Nice! Come on, dude." JJ says before they start running again. "It's a little Tootsie Roll." Kie is laughing as she says, "come on!"

At the Château, Kai watched JJ make himself a sandwich. "That bread had mold on it three days ago." He says before walking away. "Yeah, I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism." JJ says and Kai rolls his eyes as he approached John B, Kie and Pope. "JJ!" Kie called out to him.

"Yup, yup, yup! Hot damn! Let's do it." He said as he ran over to stand with Kai who was standing next to John B. John B who rips open the envelope as JJ took a bite of his sandwich, only to moan in disgust and gag, spitting it out.

Kai simply shakes his head, keeping his eyes on John B and the envelope he had in his hands. He takes out a folded paper, unfolding it. It was a map with coordinates on it, and such. "Holy shit." John B says. "Oh. X marks the spot." Pope pointed. "Longitude, latitude." John B points as well, before grabbing the envelope again. "Wait, there's something else in there." He said to them. He reached inside and took out a tape recorder.

"What's that?" JJ asked and Kai looks at him. "A tape recorder..." He says and JJ glanced up at him and nodded slowly. John B pressed the play button. "Dear Bird." It was his dad.

"Who's Bird?"

"That's what my dad called me."

"I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either." Then there was some clattering noises, it was a little silence as the group all share looks to one another before looking back at John B.

"You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, living off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If something happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side." The end of the tape.

John B got up, walking away. "Holy shit, he did it!" JJ says and Kai turned to John B, noticing he was crying as he leaned against the door frame. "Big John, he found the Merchant." JJ said and Kai nudged him. "JJ..." He whispered. "Sorry." JJ says faintly before Kai walks over to John B, wrapping his arm around him. Kie came over and did the same, putting her arms around his waist. John B eventually calmed down in the comfort of his best friends' arms and when he stopped crying, Kai just rubbed his back and they headed outside.

There was some thunder rumbling in the far distance as Kie plays her ukulele. They mostly sat in silence. "How much was it again?" JJ spoke up from beside Kai who was smoking a cigarette. "Four hundred mil." Pope answered.

JJ sighs. "Alright. Let's talk the split." He says and Kai glanced at him. "Now, before we say "evenly," may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us." JJ raised his gun. "Protection? Not cheap, okay?" He added right after.

"You haven't trained." Pope says, looking at him. "He's right. You've done zero training." Kai says as he looks at Pope. "YouTube, bro!" He says and Kai rolls his eyes, looking away. "That's at least a five percent bump right there." JJ says and Kai looks at the blond boy beside him.

"You haven't..."

"Any objections? Didn't think so."

"Yeah."

"I don't hear any, so..."

"What are you gonna do with your 80 mil, Pope?" Kie asked Pope who looks at her. "Pay for college in advance." He nods, staring at the ground. "And also, textbooks. Those are expensive." He says as he looks back over at the girl. "What about you, Kie?" JJ asked and Kai looks at her.

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope says and Kai raised his brows. Kie chuckles, looking away. "Just wanna make a double album." She shrugged her shoulders slightly. "About OBX, the Pogues." She added.

Pope chuckles as Kai looks away, smiling. "You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston." She says as she looks down. "Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing." She continued on before looking over at Kai who was looking at her again, smiling more. "Peter Tosh is dead." Pope says and Kie nods. "I know that, Pope. Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die." She says.

She looks at Kai, "you?" She says and he chuckles, grinning widely. "Pay off my mom's debt and once that's out of the way, get a better house for us and spend the rest of whatever I have on MJ." He nodded his head, smirking.

"I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook." JJ says making Kai look at him right away, furrowing his brows. "You're gonna go full Kook?" Pope asked and JJ nods, smiling faintly.

"Yup." He says and Kai looks at Pope before looking back at JJ with furrowed brows. "Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish—" "I'm never visiting." Kie says to him and Kai nods in agreement. "Me neither." He says as he then takes a swing of his beer. "Says the one with a K—" "shut up." Kai whispered to JJ right away.

"Okay, okay..." JJ says and pretends to zip his lips and throw away the key. "What are you gonna do, JB?" Kai says as he looks over at John B. It's quiet for a while, before John B looks at them. "To going full Kook." He says to them.

"To going full Kook!"

Kie is laughing as they all clink their drinks together. "Speaking of Kooks... I have some news." Kai decided to bring it up and they all look at him, both JJ and John B sending supportive looks. Kai bites his bottom lip. "Uh... I'm dating a Kook. Well, more like hooking up with a Kook and things are getting serious and—" "ooh, what's her name?" Pope said with a smug smile at the boy.

"His name is Sterling..." Kai says and JJ puts an arm around Kai's shoulders. "Wait, really? That's great, and I'm proud of you." Kie says as she jumps off the rail and walked over to him. She wraps her arms around his waist and he hugs back right away. "That's great... he isn't a douche, is he?" Pope asked and Kai shakes his head.

"Then that's great!"

authors note a friend group like them pls-