𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋'𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 || 𝐣. 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧

"You must be Pope," he gathered, his eyes scanning all of the other teenagers around him. The brunette girl felt uncomfortable when his eyes landed on her before he looked back to the person he actually cared about.

Pope raised his eyebrows at the man in question. "Are you Mr. Limbrey?"

"Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday," the man corrected, and all of their eyes widened when they realized that they had been calling her 'he' that entire time. They had just assumed that she was male for some reason.

The Heyward boy scramblde to explain himself and apologize. They needed to be extra nice to these people since they were freeing their friend. "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry. My car broke down on the way up here."

"Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville," JJ added, causing the blonde man to look over at him with an uninterested expression. He also seemed angry, and the Callaway girl guessed that it had something to do with the fact that Pope was not the only one there. "Sorry about that. "

"Yeah, she was, uh, real upset when you didn't show up," he informed them.

Kie was trying to get him to understand so that he was not mad at them. She let him know, "We tried to call, but there's no number on the invitation."

"Yeah, we got here as fast as we could," Bree said.

Nodding to the Heyward boy's friends all around him, the man explained to him, "She also expected you to come alone."

"I mean, these are my friends," Pope scoffed, glancing at the other three before turning back to the man at the door. They still had no idea who he was and what he had to do with anything, but they figured that if he knew Ms. Limbrey, they should listen to him. " They helped find the Royal Merchant too. I—"

"The instructions were explicit. Your friends can stay outside," he cut the boy off, shaking his head.

The Maybank boy cut in before Pope could respond. "We're kind of a package deal, man."

"JJ. It's okay," his male friend stopped him from saying anything that they might regret since that was what he usually did. He then turned to Kie, shooting her a small smile. "I got this. I'll be good. "

"Yeah. We'll be right here," she assured him, returning his expression.

He reached out for her hand, and she grasped it between her fingers. He told her, "Keep the car running." Bree was not sure if he meant to keep it running in case they needed a fast escape or what, but she assumed that that was what he meant.

"Yep," Kie responded with a nod.

Then, Pope stepped inside the house, and the man closed the door behind him. The other three stood on the porch awkwardly for a second, wondering if they should wait or get back in the car. Bree was the first to ask. "Should we go back then?"

"Yeah, let's go," the Carrera girl answered.

They began walking down the driveway and through the gates again. As they climbed back in the car — JJ in the driver's seat this time with the Callaway girl in the middle and the raven-haired girl on the other side of her — the blonde boy spoke up. "You know, I kind of assumed that Limbrey would be a dude."

"You know what happened when you assume," the brunette girl told him with a sigh, and when both of the other Pogues looked at her with confused expressions, she continued, "It makes an ass out of 'u' and 'me.'"

That made them laugh.

《✵》

"LOOK, IF LIMBREY IS LEGIT..." KIE STARTED. They were still waiting for pope to come out of the house, and they were starting to get a little worried. "...then Ward gets arrested, and maybe Sarah gets the gold." Then, something moving bby the house caught their eye.