𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

chapter eighty-one

"Plan A, huh, Pope? That went well."

"This is the lowest we can go," Pope says. "We literally have nothing else to lose. The cross, gone."

"The gold, gone," Sarah says. Pope falls back against the grass in annoyance at this whole situation.

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

"That's more than I got on me." That's more than anyone had on them.

"It somehow doesn't make me feel better."

"Yeah, you're right," John B says, looking up from the grass to his friends. "But, I mean, we've... We've had some good stuff happen, right?"

"Name something," Pope says, not feeling enlightened in the slightest.

"Um... Uh, the boiler room," he says, but no one understands what he means. "What? If the boiler didn't explode, I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe. I couldn't have gotten the Zodiac and gotten us out of here."

"That wasn't luck," Cleo tells him. "That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it."

"Stealing my thunder, Cleo."

"Sorry."

"Um... Okay, Pope," He turns his head to Pope and says, "you're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy."

"And I lost all his inheritance," Pope says.

"Okay, this isn't a fun game," Brooklyn says loud enough for them to hear.

"You know what?" John B rose to his feet. "Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life. We are in the Caribbean. It's our own little slice of paradise. With my best friends, with my family." The group all looked up at John B with a smile on their face. "I don't know. I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else. Look, and while you guys were complaining about every little thing... JJ?"

"Hmm?"

"I was looking at those burly lefts," he says, pointing a finger over at the waves.

"There's some slabs out there," JJ says, turning to John B with a smile.

"Just a few." He stepped away from JJ and looked down at Kiara. "Kie, see that? I know you wanna get out. Brooke? Come on."

"No boards," the girls say.

"Well, we can bodysurf till we make some boards."

"Lame."

"Pope? Come on, man."

"They do look pretty tasty," he says, looking out at the water.

"Oh, yes, they do."

"There's nobody around. We could squat here for a bit. Kind of belongs to us now, huh?" He rises to his feet and steps beside John B.

"You got a point."

"Seven way split?" Pope and John B share the Pogue handshake.