"Don't you dare fucking talk to me like that." I snapped at the seething boy in front of me.
"Like what, princess? Like you're full of shit? Someone had to say it!" He yelled back.
"No, don't talk to me like you're better than me! You and I are the...
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★★★
After a heart-breaking moment of weakness for John B., we all needed a game plan. The recording was from his dad explaining that he would have to "disappear" for a while. Jesus, how cryptic. He said if anything ever happened to him, that John B. should go for gold, and I knew from then on that was exactly what he planned to do. No matter the cost.
He cried too. I had never seen him cry, but now he was. It made sense, this kind of thing could tear a person apart. Kie went to comfort him, and while she did, I tied my blonde hair up. His father left coordinates in the package, and I looked at them again. He really had found the Merchant.
We all sat around talking about the money for a while after out on the end of the dock behind the Chateau. "Four hundred mil? That's gnarly," I said. "Four hundred mil," John B. confirmed. "Alright, let's talk the split," JJ said with a sigh, and I chuckled. Of course, he would think about that so prematurely. "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. Protection? Not cheap, okay?" JJ continued, but Pope wasn't having it.
"You haven't trained. You've done zero training," He remarked, and JJ scoffed, "Youtube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there."
Everyone announced what they'd do with their share, Pope wanted to pay for college and all the commodities that came with it, and Kie wanted to make a double album with the help of the spirit of Peter Tosh. "What would you do, Stevie?" Pope asked me, and I thought for a second.
"Mmm, I'd move to Hawaii and open a surf shop somewhere and design boards. Maybe Honolulu, maybe Kaneohe, I don't know. I'd have the best shop on the island, people would come from all over the country to buy my custom boards, and then I'd donate a few million each to different charities. God knows I'd be able to afford it," I said.
JJ said he'd go full Kook. "You'd be a wolf in sheep's clothes," I joked, and he stood up, pretending to adjust an imaginary jacket he was "wearing". "Yeah, but at least the sheep's clothes will be Gucci," He said, and we all laughed. "To going full Kook," John B. said when we asked what he'd do with his money.
"To going full Kook," We all cheered.
Soon, we all dispersed. Kie and Pope had to go home, like usual, and JJ stayed over again. He had been on the couch for days, and he was getting set up out there again when John B. went in his room for the night, saying goodnight to both of us before shutting his door.
"How's your California King?" I asked, and he sucked in a breath, patting it with his hand. "Cushy. I like the way I feel ten years older when I wake up, you know, in the spinal region," He said, and I laughed, resting on the couch's arm. "How are you doing?" He asked, referring to what had happened earlier today.
