"He deserved it, right?" JJ asks. The five are at the dock and JJ is fishing with Kie standing one one side and Cordelia sitting on his other side. Pope is standing on the ramp and John B is lying on his stomach in the boat.
"Are you joking? Of course he deserved it." Kie says.
"Sarah didn't." Cordelia says.
"Never seen anyone blow themselves up like that." Pope says.
"Cross that one off the bucket list." JJ says.
"JJ!" Kie scolds. She gives him a look as she gets on the boat and sits next to John B.
"Really, dude?" Cordelia looks up at him.
"Sucks for Sarah." JJ says.
"Are you okay?" Kie asks John B.
"It's not me I'm worried about." He answers.
+++
The pogues spent the previous night drinking and getting high. Now Kie, Pope, and Cordelia are ready for school while JJ and John B are still passed out in the living room.
Pope uses the taped together beer can stick they made last night and uses it to tap John B's cheek.
"Hey. We gotta go to school, man." Pope says. "We have a geometry test in 30 minutes." He says, trying to help John B up. Pope goes to JJ and repeatedly slaps the boy's face back and forth lightly. "Get up! JJ! Is he alive?"
"I don't know." John B mumbles.
Cordelia walks over and squishes JJ's cheeks together.
"JJ!" She screams in his face making her brother jolt awake, his face slipping out of her grip. "He's alive." She grins at Pope.
"JJ, get your shoes." Pope orders, rolling his eyes at the siblings' antics.
"Hey, Kie." Pope greets. "We're going this way." Pope drags the boys towards the door.
"Um... I will meet up with you guys later." Kie says, grimacing at their smell.
"Delia, a little help." Pope says as he continues to drag John B out.
"Yeah, yeah." Cordelia says, grabbing onto JJ's arm. "Hey, boy. We get to go for a ride." He says in a high pitched voice.
"He's not a dog." Pope mutters.
"Ooh, a ride sounds fun." JJ says.
"Yeah." Cordelia grins, gently dragging him to the door.
"I'm starving. I need some pizza." JJ says, reaching out for the leftover food on the table.
"No. Nope. Breakfast time is over. You missed it. You snooze, you lose." Cordelia says, gently pushing him out the door.
"No, no, Cordi, pretty, pwetty pwetty pwetty please." JJ pouts and giving her puppy dog eyes. The girl rolls her eyes before grabbing two pieces of pizza and shoving them into JJ's chest and he grabs them.
"Oh, yes, I love you so much." JJ says, stuffing his mouth with one of the pizza slices.
"Yeah, that's great. Go." Cordelia shoves him out the door.
"I was talking to the pizza."
"I know."
+++
JJ fell back asleep the minute he finished his pizza. He had played with Cordelia's rings while eating, ogling over the purple in one of them.
His face is currently smushed against the window as Pope enters the school parking lot. When Pope hits the brakes to park, JJ flies forward and hits the back of the passenger seat, barely even stirring awake making Cordelia giggle.
"Come on." Pope says, getting out. "Let's go. Up and at 'em, boys."
Cordelia pinches JJ's nose shut, the boy staying asleep until he jumps up, swatting at her hand.
"That's evil." He mutters.
"Yeah, well, I don't really care." She smiles. Pope slides the door open and Cordelia jumps over JJ to get out. They both help JJ out and John B gets out on his own.
JJ wraps his arm around Cordelia's shoulders and ruffles your hair.
"You're so tiny." JJ grins.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's great, Jayje." Cordelia lightly rolls her eyes as JJ giggles.
"You have a princess Band-Aid on." He laughs.
"Are we certain he's not still drunk?" Cordelia asks.
"I got him. Go to class." Pope says, taking JJ off of her hands.
"No. No, Pope. I want my baby sister." JJ whines.
"Yeah, well, you can see her later." Pope assures only getting an eye roll from the blonde. "Why are you so affectionate big brother today?"
"She gave me my pizza." JJ points out.
"Yeah, you're welcome. That's great. I'll see you when you're sober and less weird." Cordelia says.
+++
The group are on the porch at the chateau as Pope reads them Denmark's diary. Pope is standing up, John B and Kie are on chairs, and the siblings are on the couch. JJ is lying down with his legs bent so Cordelia has enough room to sit down.
"Guys, this is Denmark's diary. "August 15th, set sail from Port-au-Prince on calm seas. Came upon the Spanish ship San Jose on fire. The entire deck was aflame. And we could hear the screams of men trapped below. The Spanish captain cared about only one thing, his valuable cargo, the Cross of Santo Domingo and countless bars of gold.""
""Once the cargo was on board, we went to help the crew, but Captain Limbrey ordered us to pull bayonets and not to let any of the Spanish crew on board. He robbed them and left them to die.""
"So it didn't go down off Bermuda." JJ says as Pope sits next to John B.
"And it was a Limbrey... stealing shit again." Kie says.
"This diary proves that both the gold and the Cross of Santo Domingo were on the Royal Merchant." Pope says.
"Why didn't we find it in the well then?" JJ asks before sitting up. "I mean, if Denmark was able to get this, like, bedazzled cross off of the Merchant to shore, why didn't he just hide it with the gold?"
"Because it was too big." John B says.
"You're right." Pope tells him. "He had to hide it someplace else."
"But where?" Kie asks.
"Right before he was hung, Denmark said he'd buried the treasure at the foot of the angel." Pope says.
"Wait, I thought this was about the key." JJ says.
"Yeah, so then what's the connection?" Cordelia asks.
JJ lays back down and lays his legs out so they're on Cordelia's lap. She gives him a look and he innocently smiles. Cordelia gives him a fake smile before shoving his feet off of her.
""The path to the tomb begins in the island room."" Pope says.
"But what is the island room?" Kie asks.
"You know what helps me figure shit out?" JJ asks, standing up.
"Oh, boy. Here we go." John B says.
"This is always entertaining." Cordelia says.
"Smoking beers and drinking weed." JJ states.
"You did that on purpose, right?" Cordelia asks.
"The ideas just pour out of me." JJ says. "If we just sit here and try to figure this out, we're gonna get nowhere. But if we get creative and go to this bonfire tonight, maybe we get somewhere." He says, grabbing the stick of beer cans.
"Well, I just got disowned by my parents, and I'm an official member of the I-have-nothing-to-lose club." Kie smiles.
"Pope?" JJ asks.
"We're so close." Pope says.
"Look, look, think about how much you could think if you just gave your brain a rest." JJ says.
"Okay, fine." Pope quickly agrees, earning small cheers from the other four.
"Wait, we gotta shotgun before we go." JJ says.
+++
The group arrived at the bonfire, all splitting away from each other, occasionally meeting back up for a bit.
Cordelia is very drunk, having much more alcohol than she usually does. She wants to forget everything for one night and the amount of alcohol she's consumed has even made her forget about the pain in her ankle.
"Hey." Cordelia hears and turns to find Fletcher.
"Fletchy!" She cheers.
"Hey." He laughs as she crashes him into a hug. "Hey, how's your ankle doing?" His words slur letting Cordelia know he's at least somewhat drunk.
"Mm. It's going amazing. It's smaller, but it ain't normal size." Cordelia says. "How you been, man?"
"I've... I've been good." Fletcher says. "You know, I've been thinking about you lately."
"Really?" Cordelia asks.
"Yeah. You, uh... you aren't answering my texts or calls." Fletcher says.
"Oh. I got attacked by Rafe and he, um... he threw me in the water and I had my phone in my pocket so, uh... phone is broke." She says, laughing. "I tried rice, but to no avail, RIP phone."
"Dude, how wasted are you?" Fletcher laughs.
"Very." Cordelia giggles.
The two continue to have a drunken conversation, each still consuming more alcohol. Fletcher is in the middle of telling a story, but Cordelia can only focus on his lips.
After staring at his lips for a few solid minutes, she glances up at his eyes before looking back at his lips. Cordelia takes the chance and leans forward, smashing her lips against his.
Fletcher freezes for a moment before he starts kissing back. His hand finds her waist and she cups her hands on the back of his neck. They stumble back until Cordelia's back is pressed against the wall.
The two occasionally break apart for air, but only completely stop when they hear yelling and fighting. They look over to see Topper pinning John B to the ground and everybody somewhat fighting.
"Shit." Cordelia mutters, immediately running over as best she can. Fletcher is quickly behind her. Cordelia rushes to Sarah who just got knocked down.
"Hey. You okay?" Cordelia asks. She tries to stay balanced on her heels, but she falls on her butt.
Sarah doesn't answer her question, but Cordelia doesn't even realize as her attention is dragged to John B, JJ, and Pope fighting Kelce and Topper.
"Aw, shit." Cordelia mumbles. She tries to get up, swaying, and attempts to go help, but Kie holds her back.
"Hey. No." Kie orders.
"Oh, come on. They need help." Cordelia whines.
"How drunk are you? No." Kie says. "Guys! It's not worth it!" After the boys manage to beat Kelce and Topper the five pogues rush off. The boys jump off the wall, Kie supporting a wobbly Cordelia.
"Kie, let's go!" Pope calls.
"Kie." John B calls. JJ rushes back and holds his arms out.
"Cordi, come on." JJ grabs her hands and helps her jump down.
"Ow! Ankle pain is back!" Cordelia cries out.
"How much did you drink?" JJ asks, helping her move as John B helps Kie down.
"A lot." Cordelia mutters.
~ ~ ~
Pope, John B, Kie, and Cordelia are in the van and JJ walks up. JJ crushes a beer can he finishes and burps.
"Well, that was a little unexpected." JJ comments.
"Was it?" Kie counters.
"Hey, maybe she'll come around." JJ says.
"It's like everything that happened to us didn't matter." John B mutters.
"oh, no." Cordelia mumbles.
"What?" Kie asks, looking back at her.
"Fuck." Cordelia whispers, putting her hand over her mouth and quickly shoving JJ out of the way. She falls to her knees on the ground and vomits.
"Okay, now that was unexpected." JJ says, pointing to his sister.
"Was nobody watching her alcohol intake?" Kie asks. The three boys share awkward looks. "You left the 15 year old unsupervised?"
"Well, we were all busy." JJ defends.
"Delia, what did you drink?" Kie asks.
"A lot of everything." Cordelia says through a groan of pain.
"Not it." Kie says.
"Not it." Pope and John B quickly echo.
"Oh, come on. Really?" JJ groans.
"She's your sister. It only seems fair." Pope says.
JJ rolls his eyes but walks over to Cordelia. He squats down next to her, grimacing when she pukes up more of her stomach's contents. JJ lazily gathers her hair into a makeshift ponytail and holds it back for her.
After a few minutes, Cordelia seems to be done so Pope helps JJ get her in the van.
"Do we have a bucket or anything?" Pope asks.
"We could let her use her shoe." JJ says.
"Even if that were a good idea, it probably wouldn't last long." Pope says.
"We might just be pulling over a lot." Kie says.
"We'll see how it goes." Pope says. JJ gets in the back next to Cordelia and he shuts the door while Pope gets in the passenger seat.
Kie starts driving making Cordelia groan and grab onto the nearest thing which is JJ's arm.
"Whoa. Whoa, whoa. What is happening?" Cordelia asks.
"We're moving." JJ tells her making her groan.
"It hurts. Moving is too much." Cordelia whines.
"Just hold out for a little longer. And if you puke make sure it's not on me." JJ says.
"Actually, do. I would love to see that." Pope says earning a smack on the back of the head from JJ.
"Can we stop talking about that?" Cordelia asks.
"Nobody talk." Kie orders.
"Geez." JJ mutters.