𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

twenty: Meeting.

THE two were starting to be handled harshly, the guard also now holding onto Kai's arm tightly. "I can walk myself, I got legs. Can you see that, brother?" JJ said as he gestured to his legs. "Come on." The guard just said as JJ looks at the man. "I really appreciate what you did back there. Let me just walk out by myself." He says to him.

"Oh, what did he do?" Sterling grabs a hold of Kai, looking at the guard. "My mistake, is he with you? I thought he was with this juvenile." He nodded to JJ who looked at Kai right away. "Yes, I-I invited him..." He says and the guard nods, letting go of Kai. "I apologize then, Mr. Conner." He says before walking off, holding onto JJ who was still making a big scene, disturbing the party.

"What the fuck did you do?" Sterling whispers to Kai who's eyes never left the guard leading JJ away. "Nothing! Hey, I gotta go, okay? JJ is being fucking kicked out and I need to go with him." He says and Sterling just stared at him.

He nods slowly, "just ditching me at this party?" He asked and Kai sighs. "I know what's happening here, okay? Sterling, I know that I'm not the only guy, there's Ryan and probably other Kook guys you got wrapped around your finger, and hey, I'm a Pogue. I'm not gonna be one of them, okay?" He says to him as he started backing away.

JJ shoves the guard away suddenly and Kai ran over, grabbing his hand as JJ pointed over at Kie. "Hey, mandatory power hour at Rixon's, Kie!" Then he turned the other way. "Pope! You as well, alright?" He says as the two walk away. "Rixton's Cove. Let's roll." He says and Kai smiles.

"Come on! Kie!" Kai waved his hand at the girl and JJ cups his hands over his mouth. "Workers of the world unite." He shouted and Kai looks at him, staring for a while. John B whoops as JJ and Kai approach him. "Captain!" He says as he raised a hand to his forehead in a salute. "Mission accomplished, sir!" JJ says.

"You guys are so dorky..." Kai said and gave John B a side hug as Pope and Kie joined them, running over to them. "Where in the hell do you think you're going?!" Heyward shouts as Pope embraced JJ in a tight hug and Kie ran over to Kai who hugged her tightly and they all ran off.

At the Rixton's Cave, they had gotten a fire going and were sitting in a circle together. "Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope said as he sat down and John B points at JJ. "Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ says to John B. "You ready for this?" John B asked and Kie looks at him the same time he looked over at her, "yeah."

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B says as he looks over at Kai and Pope. "Oh, my God. Here we go again with this." Pope says and JJ looks at him. "No. Alright, wait. Hear him out, alright?" He says and Kai looks to the blond boy sitting with him.

"It's been here this whole time." John B said as Kai looks over at him now. John B then looks over at Kie. "It's on the island." He says and Kai furrows his brows together, glancing at Kie. "Are you serious?" The two, Kie and Kai, say in sync.

Kie looks back at John B as Kai looks at JJ. "Oh, my God." Kie says, smiling. "I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope says and Kai looks back over at John B. "I'm sure you would, Pope," he said as he stood up, "but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" He then asked.

"Proceed."

"Alright. So, in my backpack," John B says as he then turns back to them, holding a folded up paper, "I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." He says to the group. "Who the hell's that?" Kie asked right away and Kai glanced to the girl.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out." John B says as he then unfolds the paper. "What?" Kie says and John B hands her the paper. "Here you go." He says and walked back. "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." John B says.