Carefree || JJ Maybank

Chapter One Hundred Fifteen

*16 months later*

The Pogues were finally set into their new lives. They were adults. Now, they had homes, cars, boats, and what they would consider a perfect life.

The state of North Carolina insisted that the Pogues had a ceremony to recognize them, and no matter how much they tried to reject it, there was no escaping it.

Everleigh wore a dusty pink dress. The top was lace and the bottom was flowy and fell to the middle of her thighs.

Finally, the man running the whole thing started his speech to Kildare county who all sat in front of a stage to watch the ceremony. "An expedition of one man, John Routledge, and a group of teenagers who are with us today. Locals, who grew up here and who succeeded where centuries of conquistadors, explorers, and admirals failed. And today, we come together to celebrate these teens, friends from both sides of the island who came together to solve this five hundred year old mystery. Let's hear it for them!"

The crowd claps and cheers. All of the teens on stage look at each other with an uncomfortable look on their faces. Everyone stood up, not really knowing what to do. JJ took Everleigh's hand which had a hold on her wrist, he drew shapes on the top of her hand to help calm her, giving her a soft smile.

After a couple minutes, all of the Pogues walked off the stage together and over to the tables. "Okay, I need a reset. I need a reset right now. This is a lot. It's time to celebrate." JJ smiles cockily as he pulls a mint container out of his pocket, opening it to show a blunt and a lighter.

"I'll take one hit." Pope agrees. "One."

"Bad man now." Cleo jokes.

Everleigh, JJ, Pope, Cleo, and Kiara all stood around the table as John B and Sarah went to talk on their own. JJ handed Everleigh the blunt and lighter with a slight bow. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Everleigh stood on her tip toes and kisses his neck before holding the blunt in the air. "To my dad."

Everyone around her smiles and raise their hands like they had a glass, "To Big John."

Everleigh sighs with a smile and puts the blunt between her teeth, flicking the lighter and covering the flame. She lit the blunt and took a long drag, the smoke in her lungs providing a bit of relief. JJ took it from her happily, using it and then passing it on. Everyone took a hit, until it made its way back to Everleigh. But, in the middle of her using it this time, someone approached John B.

Everleigh blew the smoke from her mouth and let JJ take another hit. But when he was done he panicked, and put the blunt in a glass of champagne. Everleigh waved the smoke away and tried to fan out the area.

"Excuse me, I... I don't mean to interrupt." The man says, talking to John B and Sarah.

"Uh, can we help you" Pope asks the man as the group follows him and surrounds the table.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you all it's remarkable what you all did." The man responds. "Royal Merchant, El Dorado, Denmark Tanny. Impressive résumé, impressive." He pauses, but no one says anything. "I was wondering if you would all be so kind as to look at an item of mine."

Cleo being Cleo, she's the first person to speak up. "Oh yeah? What type of item is that?"

The man looks at Cleo, and then scans around the teenagers. "It's a manuscript. I would investigate it myself, but I'm too long in the tooth, I need partners, and you we're all on my list."

JJ and Everleigh share the same nervous look before they both look at John B and Sarah. They looked equally as confused but still so curious as JJ and Everleigh did.

"May I?" Pope asks, putting his hand out and asking for the papers in the man's hand. Everyone looked at Pope and then at the man again.

He slowly handed them over, looking directly at Pope. "I was hoping you would."

Pope flips open the book and skims through some of the pages. He stops once he sees a number. "1718. Jeez, this is old." JJ and Everleigh look over Pope's shoulders. "Exhibition notes, dates."

John B's head shoots up, he came to a realization before the rest of the Pogues had. "This is a captains log. This shows the exact position of the ship."

The man nods and smiles at John B. "The exact location where the ship sailed, and where it stopped."

The leaves that were rustling on the trees seemed to be so much louder. But still, the Pogues could hear all of their own heartbeats.

"Who is the captain?" Everleigh asks, making everyone's eyes shoot in her direction.

The silence that came afterward was sickening. But the man smiled, and then it faded. "Edward Teach."
Everleigh's eyes shoot up, suddenly all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies she'd watched with JJ came out to be helpful. No one says anything, until the man speaks up again, looking around at the group of teens. "Blackbeard."

All of their eyes locked with one another. JJ tosses his arm around Everleigh's shoulders and she smiles at her twin brother, doing the Pogue handshake with him and then sending a wink in his direction.

John B finally speaks up, not very loud, but just enough so that his friends... his family could hear him. The smirk on his face could be heard in his voice just a little too clearly. "Hot damn."

Now it was clear. One last joyride. The Pogues were up for their next adventure.