Carson Keller used to think her biggest problem was their rivalry against the Kooks, but that was until buried secrets rose to the surface. Now her biggest problems included a dangerous treasure hunt and a hot-headed teenage boy.
✰ season 1-3 ✰
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THEY STILL HAD A CHANCE to prove to Shoupe that they were telling the truth, and that was by getting the gun. If the gun went down the drain, then their best bet was to find the way that it would have gone.
"This is the north drain. It should've gotten washed into the gully," JJ said as they approached the drain. "So, if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to, like-"
"Somewhere in this trash," Pope said.
"Correct."
"Oh my God. People who use plastic should be shot," Kiara sighed.
"Do you think Gavin used plastic?" Carson joked. She looked up at them to find Pope and Kiara staring at her with looks of disbelief on their faces while JJ looked like he was trying not to laugh. "Too soon?"
"Definitely too soon," Pope said. "Anyway, I thought you'd say something like that, so, trash bags."
"Did you just proactively protect the environment?" Kiara said with a smile on her face.
"Maybe."
"You want us to leave you two alone, or what's going on?" JJ asked. Pope threw the trash bags at JJ as if to tell him to shut up.
"Just pick up the trash," he said. They got to work on collecting the trash, but unfortunately with that, the gun did not appear. "If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be somewhere in the storm drain."
"It's in the drain," JJ agreed.
"Of course it is," Kiara said.
"Nothing will ever be easy for us, will it?" Carson said.
"Good thing I brought the crow," JJ said.
"So, are we gonna do, like, rock, paper, scissors?" Kiara asked. "Or alphabetically? Or, like, the oldest goes?"
"In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there. It gets into your blood and then it has to come out your pecker," JJ told them. "So, uh, that would be a hard pass for me."
"Yeah, that's gonna be a no for me," Pope said.
"No, I get it. I get it. You guys are scared," Kiara teased, to which they immediately started arguing against. "It's kind of cute. You should've just led with that. You don't have to be scared, I'll do it."
"Oh, for fuck's sake, move out of our way," Carson said as she pushed past the boys. She would do whatever she had to clear John B's name so if that meant going into the drain to get the gun, she would. "We really have to do everything, don't we? First, crazy Crain's house and now, the sewer. You boys better check to make sure you even have any balls left."
"That's, uh, real cute, Carson, thank you for that. Really know how to humble a guy," JJ said. She just shrugged in response and tapped his chest before walking forward.
"Okay, just, you know, be careful," Pope said as Kiara headed into the drain first.
"I'll be so careful," she said sarcastically.
"I deserve that." Carson knelt down to crawl into the drain behind Kiara, trying not to even think about what they were crawling through.
"At least it's a good view from out here," JJ joked. Carson turned around and flipped him off, annoyed that the two girls were stuck trudging through the drain while the boys just got to stand back and watch them go. "Okay, yeah, that's the response I was expecting. So, just, uh, holler if you need anything, okay? We'll, uh, we'll holler back."
"Very helpful, thank you," Kiara replied. Once they were a bit of the way in, Pope called out to them to see if they had found anything yet.
"Just a bunch of shit," Carson called back. "No gun yet."
"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin," Pope told them.
"They owe us big time for this," Carson said when her and Kiara began searching through the dirty water for the gun. Kiara picked up a crushed soda can and threw it to the side.
"People are so shitty," she said.
"Wait, what's that?" Carson pointed at an object floating nearby Kiara.
"Guys, I think we found something," Kiara called out to JJ and Pope. She picked it up and when she realized what it was, which was most definitely not the gun, she accidentally threw it towards Carson in shock. "Oh my God!"
"Kie!" Carson screamed as she threw it off of her.
"You guys, there's something dead in here!" Kiara screamed.
"Like a person?" Pope questioned.
"I repeat, there's something dead!"
"And she threw it at me!" Carson screamed.
"I'm sorry, okay!" Kiara screamed.
"Hey, Car, what's happening?" JJ yelled as he heard the two girls screaming about whatever dead thing was down there with them. "Don't touch it! That's how you get the worms!"
"Did you get the gun? Is it Gavin?" Pope asked. Carson and Kiara were so distracted by the dead whatever-it-was and finding the gun that they couldn't even focus on answering all of their questions.
"You guys owe us for life!" Kiara screamed. All of a sudden, the water began rapidly moving.
"Guys, the water!" Kiara said.
"Kiara, Carson, get out of there now!" Pope yelled. Carson went to look at the drain that they had come through but the water was moving way too fast and hard that there was no way they would be able to get back through it.
"Kie, climb up the ladder, quick," Carson said, pushing her friend to go. They could hear JJ and Pope screaming their names as they ran towards the other end of the drain to find another way out for them. Carson had her arms wrapped around the ladder as the water quickly rose and started surrounding them.
"Please, Pope! Guys!" Kiara screamed.
"JJ, get me out of here!" Carson cried out. "Please, hurry!" She was a few ladder rings below Kiara so the water was already almost up to her chest and quickly rising.
"We're coming, just hang on!" JJ told her. By the time that the boys finally got over to the drain, the water had gone above Carson's head. She took a big breath before she went under, but she wasn't so sure how long she would be able to hold it before it became too much.
"Guys, hurry, Car's already under!" Kiara screamed. Hearing that made JJ hurry up what he was doing but his knife broke off, so they were left just to try to pull the heavy cover off. They were able to pull the cover off in just the nick of time because Carson was starting to feel herself losing her breath. The second Kiara was out, JJ reached down and helped pull Carson out of the drain. She collapsed onto the ground and started coughing up water. JJ leaned over and rested one hand on her back while he used the other to collect her hair and pull it away from where it had been dangling in her face.
"Are you okay?" he asked desperately. She coughed up a bit more water before looking back at him.
"You're lucky I have strong lungs," she said. He let out a laugh that was a mixture of humor and relief before moving his hands down to her waist to help her up. Once he made sure Carson was fine, he glanced back down.
"Kie, you good?"
"Never better," Kiara replied sarcastically. She leaned up and reached behind her back to pull the gun out. "This wasn't what we were looking for, right?"
