book 1 of 4
ever since bianca 'b' prescott was born, she was told that she was the fairest of them all. and like any, the island's very own kook princess had a reputation- she was stubborn and shallow and most of all, she was a spoiled bitch. but ev...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Bianca bought the dress and the bowtie, against JJ's protests, but what really pissed him off was the fact that she kept referring to him as her "sugar baby." Not to mention that they were wasting precious, gold-searching time all to satisfy her whims and JJ Maybank was nobody's bitch.
"This is a waste of time," JJ mumbled, his jaw clenched just as the waiter placed their meals on the white tablecloth.
They were sitting in an expensive French restaurant Bianca had picked out called 'Atelier' after she claimed she was hungry and JJ couldn't deny a free meal. The girl ignored the comment, "Merci," she said appreciatively while the waiter nodded back at her.
"Parlez-vous francais?" JJ hummed, practically salivating over the steaming food.
"Oui, monsieur. Et toi?" Bianca said teasingly across from him.
"Uh- no," JJ scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "No, that's it."
Bianca laughed at the boy– he looked so starkly out of place and yet he was the only interesting person in a sea full of seersucker and plissé. She smiled softly as he narrowed his eyes at the many pieces of cutlery on the table, a scowl on his face as he tried to figure out the 'proper' way to eat.
"This place is so fancy I don't know which fork to kill myself with," JJ scoffed, glancing at the vast array of silver.
"Here," Bianca hummed, picking up the correct fork to show him, "Okay, JJ- my turn again."
The boy glanced at her fork and picked up the same, "Again?"
"Why the hell are we sneaking into my dad's office?" Bianca narrowed her eyes at JJ who began digging into the food almost immediately.
"Look, B," He said in between mouthfuls, "I already told you- I can't tell you."
"Intel on the mission is the price of the ticket and I'm the only way you're getting in," She regarded him with a scowl, "It's your choice, I have to know."
JJ narrowed his eyes at her, deliberating whether he should spill the Pogue's biggest secret. The idea of letting a Kook in on the Pogue's biggest secret physically repulsed him to the point where his coq au vin looked extremely unappetising. Not to mention, Kiara had some weird, unspoken vendetta against Bianca and yet, without her they had no way of translating the letter. Though, weirdly enough, there was something, somewhere deep inside the boy that kind of, sort of, maybe wanted to tell her, even if she was a kook.
JJ sighed softly, placing his fork back down before leaning forward to whisper dramatically, "We're on a treasure hunt."
Bianca giggled at this, but when JJ didn't laugh with her, her amusement quickly died down. She finally took in his narrowed eyes and pursed lips before her smile dropped into a frown, "Oh shit- you're serious."
"Look- the guy who bought Tanny Hill- Denmark Tanny was the sole survivor of the Royal Merchant wreck-" JJ continued, his hands moving animately around him as he tried to explain.
"The Royal Merchant?" Bianca mumbled softly, she always thought that was her father's twisted idea of a bedtime story, some sort of myth her class would joke about in history– she didn't think it was actually real.
JJ's jaw ticked, "But whatever is on this letter could lead us to the four hundred million in gold. And I need your dad's translations to figure it out, that's why we're doing this."
Bianca hesitated for a moment as if contemplating the whole idea, "You said four hundred million?"
JJ nodded slowly, holding her gaze from across the table. Only when the waiter came back and placed two bowls of water between them did he turn away, "Thank god, I'm so thirsty."
"No- JJ-" Bianca whisper-yelled, but it was too late, the boy had already starting drinking from it.
"What?" He chided back with an attitude, completely unaware of his surroundings.
"That's a finger bowl.." She trailed off, glancing around the room with dismay where a few patrons were giving the boy dirty stares.
His face shot up, watching as Bianca dipped her fingers into the bowl and he sputtered, some water falling past his lips, ears reddening once again while the girl giggled at his expense. Even though she was making fun at him, he couldn't help but listen to the way she laughed– he never thought that the human embodiment of The Devil Wears Prada could sound so angelic.
