MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! jj maybank

008. rock, paper, scissors

HER MORNING WAS GOING GREAT. Well, almost. The only crease of imperfection in their collective good mood was when they passed by Sarah and Topper in the marsh. Seeing him with his new boat made blood boil in her veins, but she quickly got over it as the fact that they had a lot of money to earn, and 80 mil was enough to put a smile on her face.

Cola didn't know why it made her so happy. Money— that much money, the mere thought of it made her feel like she was on Cloud 9. The girl was so high on the feeling that suddenly, the loud machinery of the Twinkie didn't bother her anymore unlike how it always did. The ride to the Hotel where JJ went in a blur, and eventually, they pulled up in the parking lot.

"All right, keep a lookout. We're behind enemy lines." JJ joked, putting a bunch of bullets into the gun.

"Yo, come on, man. Just put it back." John B whined, placing an arm on his head out of frustration.

"What?" JJ countered with a smirk, playing with the gun on his fingers. "You can never be too careful."

"Hey," Pope, the voice of reason leaned against JJ's window. "I predict that bringing a weapon to a four-star hotel will likely cause more problems than they solve."

"Thank you, Pope." John B sighed, thinking that the plausible explanation was enough for their friend to keep the weapon hidden.

It was not.

Leaning up from the backseat and into the space between the drivers' seat and the passengers' seat, Cola looked JJ straight in the eye before glancing at the gun at his hand. For a moment, John B thought that she would just egg him on like she always did, but the words that came out of her mouth proved otherwise. "Jay, put it back."

Gulping at the shortened version of his already short name, JJ nods. "Yes, Ma'am."

The moment he says that John B grabs the gun and stashes it on one of the car compartments, making the blonde boy roll his eyes. "You can't grab a gun like that."

Cola grabs Pope's extended hand, jumping out of the van with a thump. Once JJ grabbed his I.D back inside, they were all walking towards the hotel, ready to go.

"So, where are we going now?" John B questioned, still out of the loop.

"We're getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now," JJ explains, hopping on a bunch of steps as his friend followed right after him like a bunch of ducks. "This way!"

Nicola looked around the property, reminiscing how she used to work her when she was fourteen with JJ by her side— it was probably one of the best moments of her teenage years, but she quit the job when she turned fifteen for a bigger pay at the Country Club.

As they passed by the kitchen, she suddenly felt like she was fourteen again. Passing through the tight spaces between chefs, occasionally stealing food from the pantry with JJ, making fun of Mama L, a part of her sort of wanted to quit her job back at the Country Club and come back.

Once they exited the kitchen, they stood in front of the main lobby, walking down despite the questioning stares. "See, they got the backup generators going? Kooks don't miss a beat."

A few steps later, a giant door was only a few feet away— the computer room.

"Cola and I used to sneak out here when she still worked here," JJ informed, walking a bit faster. "Me to smoke a J while she typed out her homework and printed it."

Nicola smiles softly at the memory— it was her first year of high school and she considered taking her studies seriously in hope that her high grades were enough for her dad to visit her. But at the time, she didn't have a computer or a printer, so she had to sneak into the room to make her papers.