Sea Breeze ⚓ JJ Maybanks

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

John B pulled up to JJ's house and Gina felt a weight of anxiety lifted off her shoulders seeing that hadn't been caught.

"Let's ride!" JJ yelled getting in the van.

"This better be good," Pope added.

"Where's Kie?" Gina asked, getting in the van and noticing the other girl wasn't in the Twinkie with John B.

"Her dad picked her up," John B explained. "We're gonna go pick her up from The Wreck right now."

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"She said she's not coming," Pope told them, walking out of The Wreck without Kie.

"Why not?" JJ asked.

"What'd you do to her, John B?" Gina asked, leaning forward from the back seat to glare at him.

"Why do you assume I did something?" John B said defensively.

"Well, you were the last one to talk to her," Gina pointed out.

"Shit!" John B whispered angrily. "Hang on. I'll deal with it.

Gina climbed over the center counsel, into the driver seat, and looked at JJ. "Do you know what that idiot did this time?"

"No clue," JJ sighed as they waited for John B to fix things.

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

Whatever John B had said to make things right with Kie must have worked because they were all friends again as they walked through the cemetery. While trying not to trip on any graves, John B explained what he had realized about the compass. "Okay, so you know how you're trying to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?"

"Yeah?" Kie said, confused to where this was going.

"So Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place, it's a person," John B explained as he held his lantern up to the name on the tomb. It read Olivia Redfield.

JJ rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Voi-effing-la."

"See, my great-great-grandmother, Olivia Redfield, that was her maiden name. Help me with the door, come on."

The three boys tried their best, but the stone door wouldn't budge. "This door's like seven hundrend pounds, man. It's not gonna budge," Pope panted.

"We didn't come this far to get this far, alright?" JJ protested, still trying to move the solid door. A snake slithered out of the crake and hissed, causing the boys to jump away. "That's a moccasin, alright. Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass." JJ began barking at the snake.

"JJ, shut up!" Kie yelled. "Shut up!'

"What the hell are you doing?" Gina asked, slightly annoyed but also trying not to laugh. "Are you trying to get us caught?"

"You're gonna wake the dead, man," Pope told him.

"They're afraid of dogs, everybody knows that," JJ shrugged. "Wait, hold on. If there's one, there's probably dozens. All around!"

"Stop, you're scaring me," Kie told him.

JJ started barking at the door and looking like a total idiot. He was definitely high.

"Stop barking at the snakes!" John B pulled JJ away from the door.

"Just making sure it's clear," JJ said defensively.

"Shut up," Pope said to JJ before turning back to John B. "John, look, we're not gonna get in there, alright? It's not budging. We should probably just go."

"Gina and I can get through," Kie told the boys as she stared at the hole at the top.

"What?" Gina questioned, turning to the girl with wide eyes. "You think my fat ass is gonna fit though that little hole?"

"Oh, be quiet, G," Kie grabbed the other girls hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She turned to John B and said, "Look, this is about your dad. And honestly, I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth."

Gina nodded, trying to put on a brave face. "We'll do it. Come on, give us a boost, JJ."

JJ nodded and then helped Kie in first. "You sure you want to do this?" JJ asked Gina, worry in his blue eyes. She nodded and he helped push her in just like he did with Kie.

"Can we have our flashlights?" Gina called back over the door.

"Yeah, here," Pope said, passing two flashlights to me.

"You two alive?" John B asked nervously. "You got, like a heartbeat and everything?"

"So far," Kie repiled as the girls looked around the tomb.

"That's good, that's good," John B replied.

"Um, can we have some more light?" Gina asked. "I'm blind as shit, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, here," John B said, holding his lantern out through the small hole. "Yeah, I gotcha."

"Did you find something?" JJ asked as Kie started to walk towards something in the corner. "Is there gold?"

Gina followed her and looked at the folder with Big John's hand writing on it. "Oh my god!" Gina pulled it out and took a closer look at it. 'For Bird' was written on the front. Both girls wanted to open it, but thought John B should get to look at it first. Gina passed it through the hole, back to John B.

"That's not gold," Pope groaned.

JJ helped pull Gina out first and then pulled her into a tight hug. "Are you okay? Were there any more snakes?"

"No," she laughed. "I'm all good."

"So am I," Kie said as she struggled to get out by herself. "Thanks for the help, JJ," Kie said sarcastically as she continued to glare at the blond boy.

"Oh, sorry, Kie," JJ said.

"Whatever," Kie smirked. "I get it, your girlfriend's more important than me."

"We're not--" JJ and Gina started to say.

"Yeah sure," she rolled her eyes.

"Code red. Code red," JJ said, looking over Kie's shoulder. "Square groupers! Square groupers! It's the guys who robbed your house."

"Go! Go!" Kie shouted, shoving her friends behind the tomb of Olivia Redfeild.

"Lights! Turn the damn lights off!" Gina instructed, trying to cover JJ's flashlight as he tried to turn it off.

"Do you think it's them?" Kie asked worriedly.

"Homie's got a gun," JJ said, instinctively pulling Gina closer to him.

"Screw this," Kie said, taking off running with the rest of her friends following behind her.

Gina easily climbed the fence and jumped down, but when she turned to make sure the rest of the crew had too, she saw that Pope had gotten stuck.

"Guys!' Pope called. "Guys I'm stuck! I'm stuck!"

"Pope, come on, man!" JJ yelled.

"I got you," Kie rolled her eyes and pulled Pope off the fence, leaving his pants still caught at the top.

"Nice!" JJ laughed as they all piled into the van. "It's a little tootsie roll!"