hawk's nest
🎶 falling - harry styles
The pouges sat around a fire, just after making their great escape from Midsummers. "Hey, guys. So like, my dads already gonna kill me, so what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked.
"Might as well tell him man, before we're gaffed." JJ said to John B.
"You ready for this?" John B asked."
"Yeah." Kie replied.
"Yep." Olivia nodded.
"So, the gold never went down with the royal merchant." He explained.
"Oh my gosh. Here we go again with this." Pope groaned.
"No, no, hear him out. All right?" JJ defended.
"It's been here the whole time." John B said. "On the island."
"Are you serious?" Kie questioned. "Oh my gosh."
"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope said.
"I'm sure you would Pope," John B acknowledged, "but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?"
"Proceed." Pope nodded.
"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."
"Who the hell is that?" Liv asked.
"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck." He explained. "Check this out." He said, unfolding the papers in his hands. "Here you go." He handed the papers to the girls so that they could look over it. "Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom. After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please because that farm is," The group clapped their hands to their knees. "Tannyhill plantation."
"Tannyhill?" Liv said, in shock.
"Yeah." John B nodded. "So after that, he used his money to buy even more slaves and then he sold a shit ton of rice which pisses off the white planters and then, they decide to lynch him."
"Holy shit." Liv remarked.
"So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."
"Where?" Kie asked.
"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except- there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold." He explained. "Check this out." He put the picture of the gold, which featured a wheat symbol, next to the letter. "The gold is in parcel nine, near the water."
"Holy shit." Pope gasped.
"All we need is an original survey map of the property and we've found the gold." John B smiled triumphantly.
"Okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true." Pope said, being optimistic for once.
"Dude, it's like King Tut." Kie grinned.
"I'm a genius." John B said, embracing a bear hug from JJ. "Fire! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn."
"I'm so proud of you right now." JJ beamed.
"Thank you." John B replied. "That's really sweet of you."
"Okay, so. Guys, what's the plan?" Pope asked.
"Good question, so, Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She's gonna bring an original survey map-"
"Wait." Kie interrupted. "Hold on. Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?"
"This is gonna be good." JJ sighed.
"It's not big deal. Her sister's coming too." John B defended.
"Aubrie? Seriously, JB?" Liv scoffed.
"Sarah, um, she, she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday and that's where I got the letter. As for Aubrie, she just found out and wouldn't let Sarah come without her."
"You we're in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" Kiara responded, fully offended.
"Yeah, um-"
"He was macking on her." JJ announced.
"I wasn't macking!" John B defended.
"You we're definitely macking Sarah Cameron." JJ argued.
"Yeah well we all saw you flirting with Aubrie tonight." John B quipped.
"I was not flirting with Aubrie!" JJ said. "You're the one that macked a Cameron!"
"I wasn't macking on her, okay, I was using her for access." John B explained.
"There was access all right." JJ mumbled.
"Did you tell her about the treasure?" Kiara asked.
"I was just trying to get into the archives!" He defended.
"Is that a yes?" Olivia questioned.
"I- I left out key details!" He said.
"Bro, what!?" Kiara scolded. "You let a kook in on our secret?"
"Two kooks." JJ mumbled.
"What do you mean two kooks?" Liv asked.
"Aubrie knows." He answered. "She told me."
"Two kooks?!" Kiara fussed. "What about pouge life? What about the t-shirt company, bro?"
"I was just using her for information!" John B repeated.
"Why don't I believe you?" Kiara sassed.
"I'm trying to make us filthy rich here." John B defended. "Okay? So that we can pay off a boat, or, or, uh send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies. Look, you guys know me. Do I look like the type of person to fall for Sarah Cameron?"
"Her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club." Pope remarked.
"Rafe and Sarah are two different human beings." John B argued.
"What did they do to you, exactly?" JJ asked Kiara.
"They're like, like spitting cobras. First they blind you, and then-"
"This is a bad analogy." Pope interrupted.
"Listen to me!" Kiara pleaded. "Whatever we get they're gonna try to take."
"It's true." Liv nodded. "They're cold hearted bitches."
-
Aubrie and Sarah tiptoed into their dads office, looking for John B's map. They were looking through the drawers when suddenly Ward appeared. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"I- uh, just wanted a copy of one of the old plat maps." Sarah answered.
"A plat map?" Ward laughed. "Of Tannyhill?"
"Yeah." Sarah nodded.
"You never wanted to look at those things when I tried to show them to you." He replied.
"Well since then we have become much more appreciative of this beautiful property that we call home, and they're so beautiful, we were thinking of getting them framed and hung on our rooms." Aubrie explained.
"Ok, come on, girls, seriously. What is this, a school thing?" He asked.
"No, it's July." Sarah answered.
"A Topper thing?" He asked again.
Sarah sighed. "It's not a Topper thing, but it is a boy thing."
"A boy thing?" Ward said.
"He's a real go-getter." Sarah smiled. "I think you'll like him."
"Hey, who is this mystery history buff?" He asked. "Is he a cartographer or something?"
"Well I could tell you but then he wouldn't be a mystery, would he?" Sarah replied.
Ward laughed as the girls opened the door. "Hey."
They poked their heads back in. "Yes." Aubrie said.
"Make good choices." Ward advised.
"We will." Sarah replied.
"Be careful with that." He ordered.
"Promise." Sarah said, kissing the paper.
"Thank you, bye dad." Aubrie smiled.
-
Aubrie and Sarah were at the Kildare Hawk's Nest, and Sarah had forced Aubrie to stand watch at the bottom so that she could be alone with John B, which utterly disgusted Aubrie.
She was standing there as the wind picked up, and she was really wishing that her sister would hurry this up. That's when, in the distance, she saw someone standing and looking up at the top of the tower. It was Topper. He angrily approached her and Aubrie tried to stop him. "Topper, Topper stop."
He pushed her out of the way, going up the stairs. She chased after him all the way to the top, trying to get the attention of her sister by yelling but a crack of thunder drowned out her voice.
They finally reached the top, and she tried to hold Topper back but he yanked his arm away. He watched as Sarah and John B kissed and Aubrie yelled out one last time to warn her. "Sarah!"
They pulled apart but it was too late; Topper had seen everything. "I knew it Sarah! I knew you were lying to me!" Topper said angrily.
"Topper-"
"You're a stupid, lying whore. You know that Sarah?" He spat.
"Oh so first I'm a prude and now I'm a whore?" Sarah quipped.
"Topper that's enough." Aubrie interjected.
"Yeah, Sarah, you are." He continued, moving closer to Sarah and John B.
John B pushed Topper back. "Stop, man." He reasoned.
Topper slapped his hand away. "No, you don't want to do this right now." He turned to Sarah. "Tell him to back off because I'm about to beat his fucking ass."
"Walk away Topper." Aubrie advised.
"Look man, go home." John B said.
"You know what I'm about to do right now? I'm about to drown you like your old man." Topper threatened.
Aubrie grabbed his arm. "That's too far Topper, we need to leave."
John B pushed him, and Aubrie couldn't blame him. "Tell your little boyfriend to back off!" Topper shouted. He tried to calm down. "Sarah let's talk."
"She doesn't wanna talk man-"
It was all a blur. Topper just pushed him. Then suddenly he was falling. A pit formed in Aubrie stomach and she felt like she was in slow motion as she looked down and saw John B laying there.
"Shit." He cursed. "Sarah-" He looked over to the girl who couldn't quite catch her breath. "Sarah, the, the railing must have been rotten. I hardly touched him, okay, I barely, he lost his bal-"
Sarah and Aubrie went rushing down the stairs. "Sarah!" He yelled, running after her.
"John B!" Sarah cried as she reached the bottom. "John B!" She knelt behind him, cupping his face.
"Did he come here with his friends?" Aubrie asked.
"I- I think so." Sarah cried. Aubrie ran. "Where are you going?"
"I'm getting Pope!" She yelled, running out into the woods hoping to find the pouges. She was turning her head in every direction, until she saw a soft light in front of her. She rushed over to the van, banging on the door.
"What is that?" Liv questioned as they all looked over to the door.
JJ went over, opening it. "Aubrie?"
"It's John B." She said breathlessly.
The pouges looked at her wide eyed, all jumping out of the van and running behind her.
"Sarah what happened?" Pope asked as they reached him.
"He fell." She answered.
"Topper pushed him." Aubrie answered. "Don't you want to be a doctor or some shit, Pope?"
"Where is he?" JJ asked with no hesitation.
"I don't know." Aubrie shook her head.
"I don't care can you just call someone." Sarah cried.
"Go now." JJ pushed. "Liv, go!"
She ran off to the car, trying desperately to find help. "Liv, hurry!" Kiara yelled.
Aubrie couldn't help but notice, even in the chaos, the look of envy on Kiara's face as Sarah knelt over John B.
He still was unresponsive and Aubrie was getting scared. "Why isn't he waking up?" She asked.
"Liv hurry up!" JJ hollered.
-
Aubrie was still in her dress, in the waiting room of the hospital with the rest of the pouges who were definitely annoyed at her presence. Sarah had called their dad, and he was there working out medical and custody issues while everyone sat anxiously waiting on any news at all.
"I think you might have stained your dress, princess." JJ said, hoping to break the undeniable tension.
Aubrie cracked a smile, looking down on the mud stains near her knees. "I'll have the servants fix it." JJ looked at her wide eyed. "That's was a joke. I don't actually have servants, you know that right?"
"I did not know that." He answered honestly.
"Well now you do." Aubrie laughed. "I'll probably just get it dry cleaned."
"Right. That's some real kook shit." JJ replied.
"The dry cleaners is kook shit?" She questioned.
"Only kooks would have clothes expensive enough to need dry cleaning. Or would even be able to afford dry cleaning." He sassed.
"Right." Aubrie nodded.
Ward came over to address them, and Kiara had the nastiest look when glaring at him. "I've talked to the doctors, John B is ok." They all let out sighs of relief. "He's just got some broken bones and a concussion. He'll be staying the night here. As for the rest of you, you can go up to the nurses' station to call your parents to come get you guys."
JJ tensed up at the idea, and Pope turned over to him. "Do you need a ride?"
He nodded. "Thanks Pope."
Aubrie wondered what has happening behind the carefree illusion of JJ Maybank as she glanced over at him. She was about to say something when her father walked up. "Hey, I think it's time we go home, take a shower, change, get some rest. What do you think?"
Aubrie nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."
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