"He got arrested, Bird." She says quietly, chewing at her lip.
He internally face palms, hating himself for not being there with her. He looked over at Pope who was stressing out in the corner of his room, before sitting down with his little sister.
"It'll be fine. He's JJ, he'll always be fine." He says, wrapping his arm around his sister.
"I thought you were fucking dead.." She says sadly, laying her head on her brothers shoulder.
"Don't disappear like that again." She says firmly.
"I won't- I'm sorry Emi." He says, playing with her hair.
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"You two sure you wanted me to take y'all to school?" The man in the front of the truck the two Routledges were sat in asked.
"Uh, yeah. This is it." John B laughs, hopping out the back, attempting to give his little sister a hand who just playfully rolls her eyes at him and jumps out.
She wasn't going to be babied. Not anymore.
"Whatever you say..." The man sighs, looking at the two. Melia shrugging a backpack onto her shoulder.
"Thanks, homie." JB dabs him up, grinning as the two walk into the school. Melia runs her non-burnt hand through her blonde curly locks.
"Who even was that?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows. Her hand now resting on the strap of her backpack.
"Oh, just some guy, y'know?" John B smiles mischievously at her.
Was the guy a drug dealer? Probably.
Did Melia give two fucks? Nah.
After strolling through the school, they find their way to the desired class. John B slowly opening the door and peeking in.
"Hell has frozen over.." The man by the window muttered, looking at the brunette boy in disbelief.
"I guess it has, uh... I couldn't stop thinking about your class, Mr. Sunn." John B says, signalling for his sister to follow him in. She smiles awkwardly at the man, he's never taught her but he's caught her bunking and smoking multiple times.
"You two must need money." The man sighs, glancing between the two routledges.
"How much could you spare?" Melia asks, winking at the man. JB slaps her on the arm, stifling a laugh.
"Sorry, she's just kidding." He says, biting his lip to try contain his laugh.
The two of them walk closer to the man, Melia shrugging her backpack off and onto a desk, which she hops up and sits on.
"Actually, we were going through some of our father's stuff, and, we found... this letter?" John B explains.
Melia shifts and pulls it out the back pocket of her dirty cargo's, passing the piece of paper over to her brother.
"I think it's from a local landowner." She shrugs.
"We were wondering if you could translate it. Uhm, it's in Gullah, and I remember that from our local history unit." John B says, leaning onto the counter Mr. Sunn was sat behind.
"It's gratifying to know some of it sunk in." He says, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, some of it..!" John B laughs nervously, running a hand through his hair.
"Even though you spent half the class on a 'surf break'." The man deadpans.
"Can't miss the big swells." Melia shrugs, lying out of her arse.
"Oh, yeah." Mr. Sunn sarcastically nods, laughing slightly at the two.
"So, the letter!" John B says, standing up straight again.
"Aah... dated... 1844?" The older man says, pulling his glasses on and holding the paper closer to his face.
"To my beloved son Robert." He recites. "I am awaiting the... hour of my public murder... with, great composure of mind and cheerfulness." He furrows his eyebrows, looking up at the two before carrying on. "Knowing I am soon bound for glory."
"He was lynched..?" John B mumbles, waiting for the man to carry on - who was simply staring at him to say, seriously..?
He takes a deep breath in, shaking his head, beginning once again. "Do not nurse grief to vengeance, but instead trust in God with all your heart, for He doeth all things well." He smiles slightly.
Melia frowns, looking at her brother, this shit was a massive let down..
"Until we meet again in heaven, your loving father, Denmark Tanny." He finishes, looking up at the two.
Melia slides off the desk, walking over to the window angrily. "Thats seriously it?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows.
"There is a post script- but it's just a planter's log." He shrugs.
She groans, not knowing what anything this man was saying even meant. She really should've gone to classes more... But she spots her brother perking up from where he was stood through the corner of her eye.
"Yeah. Yeah, yeah! Can you read that for me, actually?" John B says, walking quickly up to him. He turns and grins at Melia.
"Dude what the fuck is happening.." She mumbles, dragging her feet over to her brother.
"Matters applicable... to the property and the estate. But lastly, to Robert..." The man pauses, "that's his son." He explains to Melia.
"Yeah I know that I'm not that stupid." She quips, rolling her eyes - earning a kick from her brother. He grabs a pencil and a piece of paper from on Mr. Sunn's desk.
The man glares at her, clearing his throat before looking down at the letter once again. "Harvest the wheat near the water.. in parcel nine forthwith?" He finishes, pulling his glasses off his face. "That's it."
"So on the day that he dies, he writes a letter to his son telling him to harvest the wheat?" John B sighs, putting his pencil down.
"It's a little odd, to be honest, but look..." Mr. Sunn states, pointing to the letter.
The gold symbol.
Melia looks up at her brother, all wide-eyed, everything clicking.
"I- Mr. Sunn, I can't tell you how much this means to me." John B says, looking down in shock.
"You just... you just helped us out so much. Thank you. Uh... I-I hope you have a great summer, and I'll see you this fall!" John B says, grabbing the letter and his sister's arm, walking out of the classroom.
"Thanks man, you're a G! Always liked you!" Melia yells from the door as their walk picks up to a run. Sprinting through the school hallways.
—————————————————
The two Routledges were walking up to the chateaux when JB got grabbed, his mouth being covered and pulled back. Melia turned around, quickly balling her hands up into fists - relaxing after seeing JJ and her brother wrestling on the ground.
"Relax! It's only me. Stop!" He whisper yells, throwing John B off of him and getting up.
"What are you doing bro?!" One voice shouts.
"Your back?!" The other one says, smiling widely.
"Shut up!" He whisper yells, though his eyes soft, he pushes the two against the wall of their house, pointing over at some random car?
"See that..?" He whispers, looking between the two. "They're watching us, okay?"
"Who..?" Melia asks, furrowing her eyebrows. What the fuck is happening..?!
"I don't know. Let's go. We can sneak around to the dock." JJ hurriedly replies, crouching down and creeping.
"I'm not getting my nice cargo's wet." Melia says, scowling at the marsh they supposedly had to walk through.
"Emi." Her brother hisses, rolling his eyes.
"Fine, princess, get on my shoulders." JJ sighs, getting on one knee for her to climb on.
"Awwh, Jay, proposing already?" She jokes, walking closer to him.
She internally cringed as she put her legs over his shoulders. "I'm heavy as fuck, sorry.." She mumbles, feeling JJ grab onto her legs and slide down into the marsh, keeping her above water.
"Lia, what? You're literally light?! I-"
"Guys, come on!" John B whisper calls from ahead, trudging through the muddy water.
JJ sighs, following along behind him, Melia just watches her surroundings.
"Wait... has anybody got the keys to the pogue?" Melia suddenly asks, looking at the boat a short distance from them.
"Yeah, I got it." JJ replies, quickly jogging to the boat and giving Melia a boost up - who clambers on and lends out a hand for him and her brother, both making the boat all soggy and gross.
She crouches down to make sure she is hidden, and hears the two boys whisper yelling at each other to hurry up.
The engine starts off and they quickly drive off.
—————————————————
"First, I almost get strangled to death by Kooks, and now I'm on the hook for 30 grand?!" JJ yells, they were all sat on the rocks by some tree they found themselves to.
Melia was sat beside JJ, John B across from the two. Melia was rubbing some kind of ointment on the bruises that lay down the side of JJ's face, a sad look painted on her own.
His dad.
"We should just dip." JJ sighs, shrugging.
"Hold still a sec.." Melia whispers, cleaning out the cut that was on his lips. Her soft blue doe eyes occasionally glancing up to his.
"Okay, where do you wanna go then? Huh?" John B asks, rolling his eyes.
He pauses for a second, his eyes meeting with the small blonde girl bent down beneath him. His breath hitched slightly, he needed to look away before something happened.
He was not gonna get bricked right now.
"Y-Yucatan." He shrugs, looking back over at John.
Melia - oblivious as ever - smiles softly at him before throwing out the cotton she was cleaning his face with and sitting back up on the rock.
"Yucatan.." John B laughs, shaking his head.
"No, I'm dead serious right now." JJ says, looking around pleadingly, for somebody to just agree with him. "Surf all day, then we can just live off lobsters we catch with our bare hands!" He exclaims.
Melia sighs contently, smiling softly. "It does sound nice.."
"You just wanna leave cause you got your ass beat?" John B says, furrowing his eyebrows at the boy.
"Bird, stop. Too far." Melia says, shooting daggers over at her brother. She feels JJ tense up beside her.
"You didn't see the photos." JJ says angrily, looking down at the ground. Melia bites her lip, hesitating before resting her head on his shoulder in attempt to calm him down.
JJ would never act the way Rafe did. She would be fine.
And she was, he simply let out a breath and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Think about it!" John B exclaims, sitting up from his rock. "They're willing to kill for the gold, then it's gotta be out there!"
"Oh my god, have you lost your mind?!" JJ suddenly yells, making Melia flinch slightly. She sat up, JJ's arm staying wrapped around her.
"One hundred years, man. One hundred years, people have been tryin' to find this Royal Merchant." JJ says, shaking his head.
Melia purses her lips, she knows he's right. But she needed this, she needed to find the gold. For her, for her brother, for her friends. But most importantly? Her dad.
"And guess what? Nobody has succeeded! And you seriously think we are gonna be the ones who find it?!" He yells, removing his hand from Melia's shoulder and walking over to John B.
"When are you gonna get it in your thick skull? If you keep going down this road, you're gonna end up just like your dad!" He finishes, letting out a sigh. He runs an angry hand through his hair.
Melia bites her lip, looking down at her bandaged-up, blistered hand. All this yelling was stressing her out. She picked at the bandage, trying to take her mind off everything said.
"I can't give up, JJ!" John B screams, shoving him backwards. Melia clenches her jaw.
"The last time I saw that dude, we got in an argument. Me, him and Melia. And then he took all of our rent money and dipped for this Royal Merchant." JB spits, right up in JJ's face.
"And then I told him he was a shit father.." Melia pipes up, looking at the two of them. Laughing softly.
Nothing was funny, no clue really why she laughed. But she did, earning weird looks from the two boys.
"And you know how the rest of the story goes." John B says, looking right into JJ's eyes.
"That wasn't you two's fault.." JJ mumbles, watching the brunette boy pace around.
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is, JJ!" He yells once again.
"Oh my god, stop fucking yelling!" Melia says, sitting up from her rock. "Stop it!" She groans, rubbing her face. The bandage on her hand had come off due to her picking at it, she easily had 2nd degree burns covering her entire palm.
"Sorry.." The two mumble.
"Do you honestly not understand that? I can't give up on the hunt, man. And although Emi puts on a brave face, I know she can't either." John B says with a sigh.
"I don't care who's out there, or who's gonna try to kill us! Do you understand that?"
"You know that.." John B finishes, a lot quieter now. He walks off, grabbing his things and dipping.
"Bird.." Melia tries to yell, but it just comes out as a whisper, she knows she needs to just let him cool off.
"Look, I've got a plan. You two coming or what?" He asks, stepping back over to the water.
"Four hundred MILLION, JJ. How much do you owe in restitution?" JB says, watching the blonde boy finally give in and wander over.
"I need to go to Kie's, get ready for midsummers." Melia says awkwardly, biting her lip. "I'm sorry guys, I'll catch up with you after."
And they part their ways.
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NOTE FROM EMI: hey guys! two chapters in two days #pro
yall cant get mad at me for not posting now ❌❌
IMA MAKE SOME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY SHIT HAPPEN NEXT CHAPTER JUST WAIT BRO
ignore jow i almost gave jj a boner for melia🥰🥰
SEE U GUYS IN THE NEXT CHAP AND TYSM FOR 2K READS !! 💕
just an added notice - if i spell anything wrong (not in author notes) please lmk! i havent been proof reading or editing so if sum bugs u just pls tell me😭