THE REDHEAD ☾ jj maybank

35 | poguelandia

"How are you guys feeling?" John B asks them.

"Little dizzy." JJ admits.

"I've been better." Delilah replies as she fiddles with the blond boys rings. "But I'm okay."

"Anyone know where we're at?" Kie questions.

Pope shrugs. "Deserted beach. Unknown island."

"I'll take that as a no then." Sarah says, sighing.

"Plan A, huh? That went well." JJ comments.

"This is the lowest we can go." Pope states.

"It's probably our fault for saying that we don't have anything left to lose." Delilah tells him.

"Okay, but we literally have nothing else to lose now. The cross is gone. The gold is gone." Pope reminds.

"Seriously, if we had a nickel for every time we got beat up, I'd say we're at a dollar fifty." JJ informs.

"That's more than I've got on me." Kie says.

"That somehow doesn't make me feel better." Sarah replies.

"You're right." John B agrees. "But we've had some good stuff happen, right?"

"Name something." Pope challenges.

"Um... The boiler room." John B replies, turning to look at the new girl of the group. "If the boiler didn't explode, i'm I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe. I couldn't have gotten the Zodiac and gotten us all out of there."

Cleo shakes her head. "That wasn't luck. That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it."

"Stealing my thunder, Cleo." John B mutters before pausing slightly. "Okay then. Pope, you're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy!"

"And I lost all of his inheritance." Pope fires back.

"That's an extremely cheery mood you've got there, Pope." Delilah jokes.

"I can name one." Kie informs, grabbing all of their attention. "Lila and JJ finally got together during this whole treasure hunt thing."

"Wooo!" The couple cheer in unison.

"They weren't already a thing?" Sarah questions in confusion. "Oops, I thought they were."

"See, this is how much people thought you guys were already together." Kie tells the two. "It's been a long time coming."

Laughter then proceeds to fill the peaceful air of the night as wide smiles spread across all of their faces. To Delilah, it's relaxing to see every single one of her friends look so happy when they're together like this. They've all been through so much together, and yet, nothing has broken the power of their friendships.

"Guys." John B begins. "This is it. This is the Pogue life. We're stuck in the Caribbean. And it's our own little slice of paradise. With my best friends, with my family. I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else."

"I'm gonna have to agree with you on that." Delilah tells him with a smile. "JJ? John B? What do you think about those burly lefts out there?"

"There's some slabs out there." JJ states

"Read my mind, Red." John B informs.

"Kie, you in?" Delilah questions.

"There's no boards." Kie reminds.

"Well, we can just bodysurf until we make some boards." John B reasons.

"Lame." Kie argues.

"Pope?" Delilah calls.

"They do look pretty tasty." Pope admit. "And there's nobody around. I guess we could squat here for a bit. Kind of belongs to us now."

"You've got a point." Sarah agrees.

"Seven-way split?" Pope questions, receiving nods in response. "It's settled then."

"Poguelandia." JJ declares.

"Oh, boy." John B mutters.

"i claim thee poguelandia." JJ informs with a thick accent, switching back to his normal voice. "I like the ring of it. I'm gonna make a flag. It's gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra, smoking a J, while wearing crocs."

More laughter fills the air as the blond boy gives out his ideas for the island, finding amusement in it all. JJ smiles at the fact that he's managed to make them laugh, but still remains completely serious about his suggestions for 'Poguelandia'. Delilah just shakes her head at her boyfriend while a smile reminds etched upon her gleeful face.

"Can you wear a coconut bra?" JJ suddenly asks, a grin on his lips. "I think you'd look hot."

"I'm not wearing that shit, J." Delilah refuses with a laugh. "I love you, but no."

"Come on, love birds." Kie urges as she turns to look at them both. "We've got work to do."

"What happened to relaxing?" Delilah complains, groaning loudly.

"We can all relax after everything is set up." Pope assures. "We need stuff to eat and places to sleep."

Meanwhile, as the group of friends begin to work on building a temporary new home, every single person back on Outer Banks have suddenly been sent into a frenzy. Missing posters are plastered all around the island with contact details sprawled across the very bottom of the printed papers. Six teenagers are said to be missing right now, and those same six are the ones that happen to have their faces on the posters.

"The missing teens were last seen on the night of September 27th on the road leading out to the point. No foul play is expected at this time. We've set up a hotline. If you happen to have any information that can lead to their whereabouts, then please give us a call." Shoupe announces to the public.

✦ ·  ·  ·  · ──────────── ·  ·  ·  · ✦

The full moon casts a natural lighting down onto the island where the seven teenagers are situated in this moment of time. It reflects off of the oceans waves as it gently crashes against the rocks that are resting on the edge of the sandy shore. The stars twinkle within the pitch black sky, showing that there's still hope it can all be resolved and a happy ending will happen.

Seated in a circle around a roaring campfire, fallen logs have been placed down that the group of friends find themselves sitting on top of. The orange flames create a bright light upon the lonely island and only provides warmth for the seven teens. Twigs are held in their hands as they cook their meal over the fire, the boys having caught some fish and killed. As they do this, Delilah takes a seat beside JJ and allows her head to rest upon his broad shoulder. In response to this, an arm snakes around the redheads waist as her body is pulled closer to his own.

Smiles are etched upon each all of their faces as the sound of laughter can be heard for the thousandth time tonight. Multiples jokes are made to lighten the situation that they all find themselves stuck in, just trying to take their mind off of the recent events and relax in the moment that they've been given. They all have the island to themselves, and this is something that not everyone gets to experience in their lifetime.

Even though they've all technically hit rock bottom, this is the happiest the teens can be; with each other.