PARADISE ON EARTH | jj maybank (DISCONTINUED)

1.17

LAURA SAT DOWN BETWEEN JJ and Pope, knowing what the mandatory meeting was about. She was still in her previous clothes from Midsummers, except her heels were no longer on her feet and instead sitting in the dirt. Her brown hair was put into a side braid so it wasn't down on her back any longer.

"Hey, guys. So, like, my dad is already going to kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked, finally sitting down.

John B and JJ shared a look before the brunette pointed finger guns at the other. "Might as well tell him man, before we're gaffed." JJ stated.

"You ready for this?" John B asked, then looked over at Kiara.

"Yeah."

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B started. Laura rolled her eyes, looking down at the fire instead of at her brother.

"Oh, my God. Here we go again with this." Pope stated, sighing out, obviously done with the topic of the Royal Merchant.

"No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?" JJ said, leaning forward and turning to the side to look at Pope. Laura tapped her foot impatiently.

"It's been here the whole time." John B said with a sly smile covering his lips. Laura looked at him confused. "It's on the island."

"John B, what?" Laura spoke. He nodded his head at her.

"I'd like to voice my skepticism."

"I'm sure you would, Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B said, standing up and walking around.

"Proceed." Pope replied, not really caring.

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." John B started, getting cut off by Kiara asking who the hell that was. "Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out."

He took out a folded piece of old, crumpled paper, and handed it to Kiara. As she looked at it, John B continued talking.

"Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom."

Kiara whistled, handing the paper over to Pope.

"After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please..." They all started doing a fake drumroll on their legs. "... because that farm is... Tannyhill Plantation." They all stopped as John B looked over at Kiara.

"Tannyhill?" Kiara asked, surprised.

"Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."

"Where?" Laura asked, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except... There's no wheat. You see, wheat is the code for gold. Check this out. The gold in parcel nine, near the water. All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold!" John B finished off excitedly.

Laura tapped her finger on her knee, still deciding if she believes it's true or not. She looked between Kiara and John B seeing the excited looks they both had.

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of actually being true." Pope said, still holding the flashlight down at the papers.

JJ stood up and walked around, grabbing John B around the waist and lifting him up in a hug. "I am a genius. Hey, whoa! Hello! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn."