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(S1 E3)
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Kiara hoists herself back through the hole, this time with a FedEx package in hand. John B quickly snatches it out of her hand, examining it. "Holy shit. This is from my dad."
Suddenly, they hear vehicles approaching. JJ starts to whisper aggressively. "Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" Kiara pushes them to go, but not before Parker leans back to try to catch a glimpse of the men.
"Oh shit. It's the guys who robbed the Château. It's the guys who robbed the house!" They squat down behind a tombstone, Kiara and Parker both quickly noticing John B's light reflecting. They all angrily whisper for him to turn it off, but he struggles to do so.
One of the square groupers yells, "I see something!" They hear footsteps getting closer, and Kiara asks, "Do you think it's them?" JJ quickly peaks around the corner before whipping back. "Homie's got a gun."
He seems to be making a decision in his head, and a little to late, Parker realizes what he is about to do. She tries to grab him, but he pops up to fast with a quick mutter of, "Screw this." He then takes off towards the fence that they climbed over to get in.
Kiara takes one look at Parker and grabs her arm. "I swear to god, P. Don't do it." Parker glances at her before yanking her arm out of Kiara's hold. "If he's going, I'm going. It's twin code. I'm sorry." Kiara sighs in resignation.
Parker sprints in the same direction as her brother, and the rest of her friends follow behind. This causes the square groupers to turn to them spot them, and run after them.
They all try to hop over the fence as fast as they can, with JJ already over and Parker easily leaping over. They turn around so that they can help the rest of their friends over the fence, but as Parker helps Kiara, she notices that Pope's pants got caught.
The square groupers are clearly getting closer, but Pope can't get himself unstuck. JJ continues to urge him on, and starts to try to pull him down. "You're gonna rip me. Wait. You're gonna rip me!" He finally gets pulled down, his pants tearing. They run the rest of the way to the Twinkie and peel out as fast as they can.
Once they catch their breath, JJ mutters, "It's a little Tootsie Roll." The group laughs and they head back to the Château as fast as they can.
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At the Château, Parker watches her brother make a sandwich with mold-covered bread. John B sees what he is doing and comments, "That bread had mold on it three days ago." JJ shrugs, starting to pull the fuzzy spots off. "I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism."
Kiara calls JJ over from the couch, and JJ jogs towards her. "Yup, yup, yup! Hot damn! Let's do it." He takes a big bite out of his sandwich before gagging and spitting it out. Parker laughs at her brother while John B opens the package.
He reaches inside and pulls out a map. "Holy shit." Pope takes a look at the map and sees some markings on it. "Oh. X marks the spot." John B looks towards the writing on the sides of the X, trying to figure out what they were. "Longitude, latitude."
JJ grabs the package and realizes that it isn't empty. "Wait, there's somethin' else in there." John B dumps it out and holds up a device. JJ looks at it, confused, before quietly asking his sister, "What's that?"
She takes a quick look at it before whispering back, "I think it's a tape recorder." JJ nods in appreciation, knowing that no matter how much Parker teases him, when he is confused she will do her best to help him.
The tape recorder suddenly starts playing, with a deep voice coming from it. "Dear Bird." Once again, JJ looks confused. "Who's Bird?" John B spacely answers, "That's what my dad called me."
The man's voice continues to play over the recording. "I hate to say, 'I told you so,' but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either." The Pogues look at each other, each of them gaining an excited look on their faces.
On the recording, it sounds like Big John is shifting stuff around as things clatter. "You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits."
Big John sighs loudly. "If not, and you find this for less than than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it."
The Pogues can hear a vehicle in the background of the recording before Big John finishes, "I'll see you on the other side." They hear static, and then the tape recorder clicks off.
John B sighs before he suddenly starts sobbing. Completely oblivious, JJ whoops. "Holy shit, he did it! Big John-- He found the Merchant--" Parker quickly pulls her brother down as John B struggles out, "Can you... can you please?" Parker grabs her brother and yanks him outside to yell at him.
"Could you be any more insensitive, Jayje? I mean, come on. Johnny just found out his father died. You can't fucking celebrate that, it isn't the time!" JJ looks at her like a wounded dog, hating it when she scolds him. He finally glances down at his feet and mutters, "Sorry."
Parker nods angrily, spitting out, "You better be."
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The group settles down on the dock, Kiara pulling out her ukulele and Parker pulling out her guitar. She started strumming a random tune and humming until she started playing Are You Bored Yet? by Wallows and Clairo. Kiara joins in shortly after, adding her ukulele to the mix.
They hear thunder rumbling in the distance, and they sit peacefully for a short while. JJ finally sits up and turns towards John B. "How much was it again?" John B doesn't look back from where he is sitting at the edge of the dock. "five hundred mil."
JJ sighs, before turning back towards the rest of the group. "All right, let's talk the split. Now, before we say 'evenly', may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us. Protection? Not cheap, okay?"
Pope rolls his eyes, saying, "You haven't trained. You've done zero training." JJ thinks about it for a second before exclaiming, "YouTube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there." Pope tries again, snapping, "You haven't-" JJ interrupts him and looks around. "Any objections? Didn't think so." Pope raises his hand, muttering, "Yeah."
The blonde pretends to look around and ignores Pope's hand. "I don't hear any, so..." Parker rolls her eyes at her brother and turns to Pope. "What are you gonna do with your 100 mil, Popeye?" The boy smiles at her slightly, thinking about his response. "Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive."
Parker nods, turning to Kiara. "How about you, Kiester?" JJ turns to look at the girl as well, joking, "Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" The Pogues chuckle slightly before Kiara answers. "Just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing."
Pope looks at her, slightly confused. "Peter Tosh is dead." At the same time, Kiara says, "Peter Tosh is dead. I know. Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die." She then looks over at Parker, who looks deep in thought. "What are you gonna do with it, P?"
Parker looks up, hesitating a little. "I'm gonna pay Sheriff Peterkin back for all the money she spent on my bail. Then, I'm gonna buy myself a new surfboard and go surfing all around the world. Oh, I also want a Ferrari."
JJ raises his bottle up and takes a swig before exclaiming, "I know what I'll do. I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook." Pope looks at him, slightly surprised. "You're gonna go full Kook?" JJ nods enthusiastically. "Yup. Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish--"
Kiara jokingly raises her hand, saying, "I'm never visiting." She then glances over at her secluded friend, asking, "What are you gonna do, JB?" He doesn't answer for a while, before finally turning to face them. Raising his glass and with a small smile on his face, he quietly says, "To going full Kook."
The rest of the Pogues raise their glasses as well, all of them exclaiming, "To going full Kook!" together.
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The next day, the group of friends sit on the HMS Pogue, watching the boats go by and relaxing in the sun. JJ whistles at one of the boats, exclaiming, "You guys see that? That's the Malibu 24-MXZ, the world's finest wakesetter. Number one in luxury, quality, and performance. 200K, easy."
Parker groans, tilting her head up. "What I would give for that boat." John B nods, adding, "We picked the wrong parents." Pope takes a closer look at the boat, spotting who was driving it. "I hate to break it to you guys, but that's Topper and his girlfriend." The boat pulls a little closer to them, but Sarah tries not to look on board.
Kiara notices her trying to avoid eye contact and snaps, "You don't have to act like you don't see us, bitch." She then flips Sarah off, who finally gives in and looks at Parker. She can't help but admire how the Maybank girl's swim trunks sit just right on her hips, and how her abs are shown off because the girl was just wearing a sports bra. She gives her a little wave, and Parker waves back, slightly smiling.
Topper then speeds off, noticing the little interaction and getting jealous. He seemingly starts ranting about the Pogues to a slightly uncomfortable Sarah.
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The group sneaks towards JJ's place of employment, a hotel on Figure Eight. "All right, keep a look out. We're behind enemy lines." JJ pulls the gun out of his bag, making the rest of the Pogues groan.
"Yo, come on man. Just put it back." JJ looks slightly wounded, aggressively asking, "What?" Parker gives him a look that makes the Maybank boy roll his eyes but slightly cower. "You can never be too careful." Pope then pipes up, saying, "Hey, I predict that bringing a weapon to a four-star hotel will likely cause more problems than they solve."
Kiara nods, exasperatedly saying, "Thank you, Pope. I swear to God, I'm gonna throw that thing in the ocean, JJ. Put it back." Pope grabs the muzzle of the gun, taking it from JJ's hands. "There you go."
JJ throws his hands up in the air, muttering, "You can't grab a gun like that." He then moves on almost instantly, and heads up towards the back enterance of he hotel. "Can't forget my badge. Professional busboy."
They all follow JJ through the back door. "So, where are we going now?" John B asks. JJ gestures for them to follow him towards one of the main rooms. "We're getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now. This way! Andrew!"
JJ greets various people before they finally make it into the main part of the hotel. Inside, all the lights are on and everything that runs on electricity is working. "See, they got the backup generators going. Kooks don't miss a beat." He suddenly yanks them to the side into what seems to be someones office.
Sitting on a desk is a computer that is working at full function. "Sweet Lord, the internet! I've missed you." JJ practically shoves John B out of the way, saying something about checking on his Instagram models. Parker rolls his eyes, elbowing him and getting in front of the monitor.
"Okay, okay. What are the coordinates?" John B gets the map out of his bag and reads them off to the girl. "34" 57' 30" north. 75" 55' 42" west." They impatiently wait for it to load, and as soon as it does, JJ exclaims, "Boom, continental shelf right there." Pope rolls his eyes, taking Parker's place so that he can check the depth. "Well, if it's off the deep end, it's not gonna be much of a treasure hunt, is it? Come on, baby. Come on."
Outside the office, they hear footsteps and laughter getting closer. It finally loads, and Pope groans. "Shit, it's on the high side." Parker shakes her head, making eye contact with her brother so that they get on the same page. "It's only 900 feet." JJ nods, adding, "That's not too deep." John B looks at them for reassurance, asking, "Is that doable or something?"
JJ answers quickly. "Yeah, totally doable." Pope looks at the twins as if they are stupid. "Will we be taking your personal submarine? How do you know this, Mr. Dive Master?" Parker answers this time. "The salvage yard. They have a drone that can drop to about a thousand. Has a 360 camera and shit. People used it for deep dives. It's just was we need." Pope finally looks elated, but then he realizes something.
"Can your dad get his grimy little hands on that?" Parker cringes, and both her and JJ try to cover for the shame of yet another loss of income. "Well, our dad's grimy little hands got his ass fired. I guess the salvage captain frowns on showing up shitfaced, turns out. But the drone's there. It's in the impound yard out back." Parker nods, backing him up. "There is 500 mil on the Merchant." Pope finally gets what they are trying to say, and he immediately tries to back out.
"No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. No! Guys, that's too-" Kiara tries to push Pope out of the way, but he continues to complain. "Can't we do anything legal for money?" Parker pats him on the back, muttering, "No can do, Popeye. JJ somehow is the only Maybank who hasn't gotten fired recently, so we gotta do what we gotta do."
They finally get him out of the way and run towards the back door, making their escape.
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Pope continues to complain as the pack of them makes their way through the outskirts of the junkyard. John B finally gets fed up enough to snap at him, saying , "Pope, we're not stealing the drone. We're borrowing it." Pope pauses for a second before retaliating, "'Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality.'"
Parker looks at him, mildly impressed, and John B clearly feels the same way. "Did you just come up with that?" Pope rolls his eyes. "Albert Bernstein came up with it, but it applies to this whole treasure-hunting thing." John B and Parker look disappointed that their friend hadn't made up the quote. "So, which is it? Fantasy or reality?"
JJ gives Pope a look before asking, "Why are you so weird, Pope?" John B ignores the blonde boy, thinking about his answer. Kiara answers quickly before anyone else can. "It's fantasy, but possible reality." John B hesitates before saying, "Reality." JJ makes fake laser noises before finally stating, "Virtual reality." Parker quickly mutters "ditto" to her brothers response.
JJ then lights up a blunt before offering it to Pope. He shakes his head as per usual, saying, "Keep the signal clear." Parker snatches it from his hands, quietly stating, "No signal to keep clear here." JJ ignores her and looks at Pope with mild annoyance in his eyes. "You know what your problem is?" Pope pretends to think before answering, "You?" and making Parker burst out into quiet laughter.
"No! It's that you need to relax, man. You're always so tense!" Parker tips the joint in agreement, and Pope quickly defends himself. "I'm not too tense." Parker notices John B pulling Kiara to the side, but she decides to give them privacy and instead continues on with the two bickering boys.
They quickly make their way towards where they are supposed to hide, and squat down while Kiara calls the security guard over. JJ laughs to himself, whispering, "It's too easy." He then thinks of the conversation he had with Parker earlier, making him turn towards John B. "How's it going with Kiara?"
John B gets an uncomfortable look on his face, and he mutters, "It's not awkward, weird, or anything." JJ snorts in amusement, clearly able to see through his best friend's lie. "Yeah. Honestly, I did not think you were gonna actually listen to me." John B snaps his head towards the blond boy, slightly shocked. "What?" JJ shrugs, slightly disappointed that he was wrong. "I was 100 percent sure she was into you. Pope would agree."
Pope makes a noise of disagreement, tilting his head to the side. Parker pats the brunette boy on the back comfortingly. "She really rejected you, didn't she." John B nods sadly. "Oh, no question. Yup." JJ chuckles at the dejected look on the boys face. Pope gets a noticeably hopeful look on his face before carefully saying, "Maybe she's just into somebody else." Parker is the only one who seems to notice the look he developed, making her put two and two together.
Before she can say anything to her friend, they get the signal from Kiara and they notice that the gate guard is successfully distracted for the time being. JJ shoves his sister and the two other boys towards the gate, passcode in hand. They run through the opening and towards the storage shed that holds the drone. JJ tries to punch the code in, but it doesn't accept it. He tries to shove the door open, but it doesn't work.
"Do you have to right numbers?" JJ pauses for a second, looking over the numbers on the post-it in his hand. "All right, so I might have the wrong numbers." John B punches the wall of the shed, muttering angrily under his breath. Suddenly, a dog starts barking, startling all of the Pogues. JJ yelps in surprise, then he tries to talk the dog down. "Hi! No, stay there! Good boy. No, you're okay!" The dog slows for a second before charging, causing both of the Maybanks to yell or Pope and John B to run.
They then try to get him to run away by throwing a stick, but it only turns towards the wood for a second before refocusing on the twins. They look at each other for a second before taking off towards one of the big ships in the junkyard. They climb up to the top and hit the deck as fast as they can, but the dog continues to stay at the foot of the boat and bark.
Soon, it is joined by one of the workers, who quickly yells, "Whoever's up there better come on out! I mean it! Don't make me go up there and get your ass!" The twins sit in silence before JJ pops up with his hands in the air. "Wait, Bobby! Don't shoot. It's me, JJ. Parker is here too." Parker slowly stands up, morphing her face into one of guilt.
Bobby looks up at the two of them, confused. "Luke's kid? What are you doin'?" JJ glances over at Parker, hinting at her to just play along. "I swear, okay? We didn't want to, okay?" The dog continues to bark until Bobby snaps, "Tebow, quiet!" Parker takes a deep breath before continuing the story. "Our dad made me." Bobby gets a suspicious look on his face, saying dangerously, "Don't you lie."
JJ enthusiastically shakes his head, shakily saying, "He told us that Captain Leo kept his cutting torch. You know, after he got fired. He told Parker to go get it." Parker nods, forcing tears to fill her eyes. "He said if I didn't get it for him, he was gonna... he was gonna hit me again. I made JJ came along so that he wouldn't be at home while dad was angry."
Bobby scoffs angrily, muttering, "Son of a bitch!" The two Maybanks climb off of the boat carefully, both apolegizing profusely. Tebow barks agressively at them, but Bobby gets him to heel. He leads the two of them to the exit as JJ sadly states, "We'll just come up with somethin'. Tell him we couldn't find it." Bobby makes a slightly disbelieving look before shoving their shoulders towards the gate.
They walk out as sadly as they can before finally disregarding their act and walking the rest of the way chatting about random shit and hoping that the rest of their friends had gotten away safely.
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A/N: Finally, here it is. Hope y'all enjoy it!
Don't forget to vote and comment what you think!