PAPER RINGS | jj maybank

59 | ITS GENIUS

"Shut up!" JJ cut into the five arguing, their eyes turning his way to see him red in the face with and overly stressed expression. "Seriously, guys, I can't take it anymore, all right? Everyone just cut it out for a second."

Athena bit the inside of her mouth as JJ leaned against the tree and began again, "Look, I just helped my dad leave this island for good. Like, he's never coming back. He straight up like the Spanish, just, 'bon Voyage.'"

"That's French."

"That's not the right language..."

"All we got, and I know for a fact all I got is you guys, okay? You're it." JJ waved his arms as he looked around at the group, stopping on Athena a little longer, "And I've come too close to losing, all of you!"

He pointed towards Kie, "I mean, shit, you almost drowned! Pope you were kidnapped. Sarah you've been shot. John B, you were almost dinner for a freaking gator, bro. And Attie, jesus Christ, I can't even keep up with the amount of shit that's happened to you anymore."

Athena laughed slightly, sending a sad smile to JJ as he continued with his speech, inhaling a second. "So, this blaming each other is some Kook-ass bullshit, all right? We don't do that. Okay? We're pogues. Sorry, that was a lot right now."

The group shared a look before they slowly to applause him, JJ scoffing in disbelief, flipping them all off with a shake of his head.

"That was the best freaking speech you have ever given." John B announced his way.  "Also, you should think about, like, a Rosetta Stone because your Spanish and French are flip-flopped."

"We should bon voyage out of here." Sarah spoke loudly.

"Okay, you're telling me Denmark Tanny decided to hide the cross here?" JJ asked in disbelief, looking around at the abandoned and beat down church.

"It's pretty genius actually." Athena shrugged. "I mean the first place I said he would have hidden it was a church and none of y'all believed me because it was too obvious."

"Everybody just spread out." Kie encouraged.

"Okay, well, if I was a cross and wanted to be hidden in an old church, where would I hide?" John B spoke aloud in questioning.

"Are you sure Denmark hid the cross here, Pope?" JJ asked. "Like, are we at the right church?"

"It's gotta be here somewhere, guys." Pope shook hid head, standing at the alter.

"What if we gave to push a secret button or, like, okay, like a... a certain chord, and then all of a sudden, the ground beneath us reveals the catacombs or something on which we stand?" JJ spoke up as he looked down at the ground, standing near the piano.

"Why don't we look for more obvious clues?" John B suggested.

"It's not an escape room." Kie rolled her eyes.

"It's gotta be in here!" Pope snapped suddenly.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." JJ rose his hands in defense.

"You could get actually married here." Athena whispered to Sarah as they looked around.

"We're not even together." Sarah deadpanned.

"Not yet..." Athena trailed off. "You will be... again. Just like at the beginning of summer when I predicted you two would get together I know this. Twin tuition."

"Shut up." Sarah stifled her smile.

"I cant see where they'd hide a giant cross here." John B said, taking note of the lack of hiding spots around them.