❝if i had only felt the warmth within your touch
if i had only seen how you smile when you blush
or how you curl your lip when you concentrate enough
i would have known what i was living for all along❞
-turning page, sleeping at last
✿
chapter twenty eight, SOMETHING'S DIFFERENT
When AJ returned to the Chateau at the end of the night it had felt like a million days had passed since that morning. The girl's adrenaline had faded and she was now feeling the full extent of the day bearing down on her.
Her head pounded with each step she took, she made a mental reminder to find some Advil or Tylenol in the house when she got inside. As she rounded the corner of the house she could make out a figure.
"Hey, did you find him?" She couldn't see that it was him but she knew it was JJ.
"yeah, he's home now. He'll be okay" She got closer, seeing the boy sitting on the outdoor couch. He reached for the pillow and moved it to make space for her to sit. "I'm worried about him though" She voiced, leaning her head on JJ's shoulder as she sat.
"you? worried for Pope?" The smirk on JJ's face was enough for the girl to want to hit him. "how's your face feel?" He poked at the freshly formed bruise and she winced at the contact.
"Okay asshole" AJ pulled her face away, sending the boy a look.
"somethings different" JJ let out, his eyes scanning the girl's face. Her brows furrowed at his determination. "Oh my god, you and Pope. What happened?" JJ asked, trying to watch her face for his answer.
"JJ you are the weirdest person I've ever-"
"Kissed?" JJ prodded and she scoffed. "Oh my god! I'm right, you and Pope kissed" JJ started obnoxiously making 'kissing faces' at the girl and she shoved his shoulder to try to get him to stop.
"did you talk to him?" His reference to her conversation earlier made her realize the others heard her say that to Pope.
"No" she shook her head. "I told him we could talk about it another time and then he stopped me from leaving and kissed me" AJ spilled to the boy and he nudged her arm.
"got that boy wrapped around your finger"
"I don't know."
"Are you blind?" JJ scoffed.
"A lot happened tonight, I think it was just a buildup of all that. It, I don't think it was more than just getting caught up in the moment" AJ said, leaning her head back on the couch cushion.
"you my friend, my very good friend, are blind" He repeated the phrase from the other day and she rolled her eyes.
"You my friend, my very good friend, are stupid" She let out.
"You should tell him how you feel AJ" JJ told her, trying to meet the girl's eyes.
"You should tell her how you feel JJ" She repeated his words back and he scoffed again.
"That is not the same thing, Kiara and me are just-"
"the fact that you knew who I was talking about proves I'm right."
"no, it just proves that apart from you and Sarah there is only Cleo and Kiara left for girls in our group"
"Well you knew I wasn't talking about Cleo" AJ shrugged her shoulders.
"you are insufferable"
"but you love me" She hummed, placing her head in her hands.
"debatable" AJ scoffed at his words before grabbing the pillow from the couch and hitting the boy with it.
"how about this, I tell Pope about my feelings if you tell Kiara about yours" She proposed the deal and he shook his head.
"deal" He let out before grabbing the pillow she threw at him and tossing it back at her face.
"fuck you" She got out through laughter, grabbing the pillow and hitting him too.
The pair were in a fit of childish giggles as they hit each other with the pillow when they heard a vehicle pull up to the house.
Silence returned to the Chateau as both JJ and AJ stopped, the pair sharing a look. JJ leaned over to try and get a view. "Well look who it is" At JJ's words AJ stood and looked over too, John B getting out of the twinkie.
"It's after curfew young man" AJ playfully scolded.
"Yeah, it's nice of you to show up. You gonna spill the beans?" JJ asked.
"Yeah like how about telling us what's actually happening?" AJ raised a brow and John B sighed.
"Look I know I've been a little shady and uh, stretched the truth a little bit," John B said, walking over.
"Yeah that's called lying"
"Yeah, I know" John B shook his head.
"John B what's going on?" JJ questioned.
"My dad killed two guys. He was trying to protect me" AJ stared at him in shock.
"no, no, no. hold on, okay? You serious?" JJ stepped forward, both he and AJ sharing a shocked look.
"Yes. It was the guys from the coastal venture. They came here looking for Denmark's diary"
"Your dad capped them for that?"
"Yes," John B said and AJ looked from him to the van, a thought coming to her mind.
"where's Big John?" She asked and John B rubbed at his temple.
"Singh showed up, and they took my dad and then they tried to kill me. They took him to South America. All right" AJ couldn't process the information fast enough.
"Whoa, South America?"
"They're on the way to South America"
"Hold on" AJ put her hand up, trying to get everything through her mind.
"Then what? Then they're gonna off him? I don't know" John B was starting to freak out.
"John B, stop!" JJ sort of yelled to get his attention. "Just breath for a second" Another pause and in the silence AJ tried to run over everything. "I need to think" JJ let out. He moved from where they were standing to the porch stairs.
The blonde sat down before patting the spots on both sides of him. The Routledge cousins shared a look before walking over and sitting next to him, AJ on his left and John B on his right.
"I don't know what to do, JJ. How the hell do we get to South America?" John B rambled.
"No clue" JJ voiced.
"I got nothing" AJ shook her head.
"But, we're gonna figure it out," JJ said as he wrapped his arms around both the cousin's shoulders.
"Yeah" John B nodded, trying to believe him.
"We're pogues man. We always do" JJ patted John B's back before retreating into the house. Soft snores coming from the living room couch about ten minutes after. AJ couldn't even think of sleeping and instead stayed on the steps while John B went inside.
She wasn't sure exactly what he was doing but she stayed on the steps, staring forward. The girl was exhausted but wide awake. The day still not over yet.
"here" The porch creaked behind her and she turned to find John B holding out a beer for her. She accepted and cracked the lid against the step as John B sat down next to her.
"We're gonna figure it out" She rested her head against his shoulder as she sipped on her beer.
"Your eye looks great by the way" John B changed the subject and she couldn't blame him for wanting to.
"Yeah, courtesy of Rafe and your little cousin" She answered.
"Ouch" John B winced as he took a better look at her face.
"You've kinda missed a lot" She shrugged.
"I know, I'm sorry," He told her and she could tell he was being honest.
"What's happening? Is it El Dorado?" She asked, hoping his honesty wouldn't vanish.
"yes" John B breathed out and she nodded. "we never lost it, my dad just thought it should be me and him, but-" The boy's words stopped and she picked her head back up, looking at him.
"I don't know" He shook his head and she nodded.
"I promised I'd go to see Pope tomorrow. It was a not great night, I'm kind of worried about him. Rafe melted the cross and uh, he's having issues with school so I said I'd go to weekend classes with him" John B tried to process everything she said all at once.
"We can do this without you," John B told her and she playfully scoffed.
"Okay, fuck you too."
"You know I didn't mean it like that" John B rolled his eyes at her and she shrugged.
"I know, and thank you," She said, tilting her head to look at the scattered stars in the sky.
"you really think we'll find my dad?" John B asked, copying her actions.
"We found him once before. And I mean, what were the odds of that? At least now we know we're looking for him" She answered honestly and he nodded, not much more could be said.
The morning light was the only thing that signified to AJ that time had passed. The girl was lying on the porch couch staring off at the dock for what felt like a lifetime just waiting.
Once the sun rose she turned to look inside the Chateau at the clock on the wall, still a bit too early to go Pope's. She let out a sigh and leaned back, John B and JJ left what AJ would assume was thirty minutes ago but she couldn't be sure.
She let out a sigh before getting up and going inside the house. She had enough time to get changed and go get something to eat at a coffee shop between Figure Eight and the cut.
AJ wasn't usually a coffee drinker but after the sleepless night she had experienced it felt like a necessity. She grabbed the bike she took from the Chateau as she left the cafe and rode to Pope's.
As she slowed Cleo came into her view. "Morning, how're feeling?" Cleo approached her as AJ got off the bike.
"I'm good" She answered, not the entire truth because the girl felt like shit but it was good enough.
"morning AJ" Heyward greeted and she smiled.
"morning" She waved at the man as he cooked on the grill.
"did you want something to eat?" She rested the bike against the side of the building before looking back over.
"oh no, thank you, I just grabbed something at that cafe two streets down" He nodded before returning to what he was doing.
"Hey, where you headed to killer man" Cleo's words made AJ turn, and Pope walked out.
"school, on a Saturday. Sucks but I got no choice." Pope answered and AJ smiled.
"That's what I'm here for." AJ let out, meeting Pope's eyes for the first time since the night before.
"Nah, who needs school when you have that El Dorado gold making up for your scholarship" Cleo playfully scoffed.
"Yeah, I don't have it yet"
"Come on. I'll even do it with you. I'm not a runaway orphan anymore. Well I still am, but I'm a Routledge"
"yes you are AJ" Heyward nodded at the girl.
"Now I want straight a's this semester, both of you" Cleo pointed at them.
"I think we raising them right" AJ could hear Cleo say as she and Pope started walking towards the truck.
"I think we raising them right too Cleo" Pope shook his head with a laugh as the pair got into his dad's truck and started off towards the school.
The ride was quiet, but it was also short so it made up for any awkwardness that could've occurred. She wanted to tell him about everything John B had said earlier but she didn't want it to distract him from his school work so she decided to wait.
She stared at the school as they stopped and she took a breath in. "nervous?" Pope asked, an amused tone lacing his words.
"not nervous, just, school is not my favourite place" She shook her head before getting out of the truck.
"do you have a bag?" Pope asked and she sent him a sheepish smile. "I'll let you use some of my stuff, come on" He showed her the way through the school, the only other time she had been there was when they got the copy of Denmark's diary.
They took two seats in the back of the class and Pope pulled out two notebooks, passing one to her. She raised a brow at his preparedness before she remembered the boy was all about his scholarship and school and of course he would have two notebooks in his bag.
Without words, the boy pulled another item from his bag and put it on AJ's desk. The yellow and green bag catching her eyes. She looked over at him, the boy staring forward as the teacher began to speak.
A smile ghosted on the girl's lips as she stared at the candy bag. "So if you just follow along with me. So we have a normal triangle here" She turned her attention back to the teacher who started to draw on the board. "and every triangle has three medians."
AJ opened the bag as quietly as she could, grabbing a small handful of the colorful candies and eating a few. She looked back over at Pope to see him doodling in his notebook. Specifically doodling about the gold, the cross, and the royal merchant.
Telling him about El Dorado rushed back into her mind and she had to bite down on the inside of her lip to stop herself interrupting the class to tell him. She couldn't have him walking out of the school in the hope of finding the gold.
Nor could she have him throw away his future for it. So she stayed quiet, she could tell him after their classes that day. Though, the class seemed to drown on for hours and hours.
As soon as their class was over Pope stood, waiting a few seconds for AJ to stand before rushing out of the class. AJ followed behind him as he made his way to a more familiar classroom for AJ.
Mr. Sunn, the teacher she met before the bonfire. "always Denmark Tanny. Elaborate, Mr. Heyward" When AJ stepped inside the classroom Pope was already sitting and talking with him.
"ah, Ms. AJ, right?" She nodded at the recognition and slid into a desk next to Pope.
"Did Denmark Tanny ever write about the exact origins of his wealth? Denmark bought his freedom, with a bar of gold, right? And now that we know he was on the Royal Merchant, it's safe to assume that his fortune and the Royal Merchant gold are linked, right?" Pope spewed out.
"That would be a fair assumption. Yes," Mr. Sunn nodded.
"Have you ever wondered exactly where all that gold came from? Like what mine produced all of that?" AJ looked from Pope to the teacher.
"You know, I never thought of it"
"I mean, that gold changed his life, and Denmark Tanny was on a ship with the priest who was the last living person to see the origins of that gold"
"Starting to see that the diary might not have been stolen for historical reasons"
"Have you ever come across anything of Denmarks that might have been South American in origin?" Pope asked and she knew he was trying to connect Denmark with El Dorado.
"No, but given your heritage, Mr. Heyward, I assumed you've searched your own family archives" At the teacher's words AJ looked to Pope. Unless he had done it on his own without the pogues knowing, he never did.
"Yeah, I mean that's like the first thing I did." He lied. "thank you so much, Mr. Sunn. Great to see you again" Pope stood and AJ copied his actions, ready to follow after him again.
"Good to see you, Mr. Heyward, AJ" He barely waved at them before AJ was pulled by Pope outside.
"Pope wait" AJ let out as they got into the truck. "I have to tell you something" She tried to catch her breath from running. "Last night big John was kidnapped-"
"What?"
"and John B told me and JJ that El Dorado was never off the table and that big John told him to lie to us about it. There's this gnomon thing and John B said Singh kidnapped Big John to force him to get to El Dorado. JJ and John B are trying to figure out a way to get us to South America, right now"
"okay" AJ could tell he was trying to process the information. "why didn't you tell me this morning?" He asked, meeting the girl's eyes.
"Because, because if I did, you would have blown off school and John B and JJ are handling it" She let out her breath before speaking again. "I knew you wouldn't have gone, and if we didn't go then we wouldn't know to look at your family archives, so you can't even be upset with me" She shrugged after she spoke and Pope shook his head.
"come on, let's get Cleo and go check the archives out" AJ urged the boy and he nodded after rolling his eyes.
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