Alone Together • JJ Maybank

Forty Five.

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"You sure he got everything?" Kiara asked from beside me.

We had joined John B at the end of the dock. Completely down-heartened after he had confirmed that Ward had found the gold and taken all of it. The treasure hunt was officially over and we were the ones left with nothing.

"Every bar. The whole enchilada." John B groaned from his spot laying on the ground. Kiara and I shared a sad glance before I looked over at JJ who was still sat with his back to all of us, looking out over the rippling water.

"We're the lowest on the pecking order, guys. Always have been, always will be. We were stupid to think we really had a way out of that." I said, mentally scolding myself for truly believing things would change for us all.

"It's not like I expected a whole happy ending, or some shit." John B spoke sarcastically, agreeing with me.

The tranquil sound of the water and birds surrounded us as we all remained silent, individually coming to terms with the fact that we had lost. But the sound of fast footsteps on gravel coming from behind me made me spin my head around, Kiara mirroring me when she noticed my sudden movement.

"Guys!" Pope yelled for our attention as he ran quickly down the dock towards us. His feet were heavily slapping against the wooden boards as he panted, coming to a stop in front of us. "Oh, god. I ran all the way here."

"Clearly." I mumbled, noticing his shirt and trousers that I am sure looked a lot neater and smarter before his spontaneous run in the summer heat. He hunched over, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"How was the interview, Pope?" JJ asked, glancing over his shoulder briefly.

"Don't ask." Pope said between heavy breaths. My eyebrows furrowed at his odd behavior as I looked from John B to Kiara, hoping one of them understood what was happening. All Pope had spoken about these past few weeks was his scholarship interview, and now he didn't want to talk about it.

"JB..." He stood up as his breathing calmed. "Look, I'm sorry, dude. About everything."

John B was still laying on the ground, apparently not as alarmed by Pope's erratic behavior as I was. "It's fine." He mumbled.

"But I don't have a lot of time, a-and I have information that is tactically relevant." Pope stuttered out in a rush. He didn't wait for John B to react as he carried on rushing his words out. "So, before I had my interview, my dad said he was going down to the private airstrip to cut palms for Cameron's big plane."

John B slowly turned his head to look at Pope as I sat forward from my slumped position at the mention of Ward, as Pope carried on. "Because it was too heavy, it needed a longer landing strip to take off." I glanced at JJ who still had his back to us. My mind was running crazy with jumbled thoughts trying to make sense Pope's words.