MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! jj maybank

010. cherry coke

"LOOKS LIKE YOU'VE BEEN GETTING SOME." John B teases in his morning glory, watching as the girl stood on the kitchen counter, chopping up a bunch of meat for her sandwich. Usually, it was Kiara who was in charge of the cooking, but she was still asleep, for some fucking reason.

Confused, Nicola turns around, dropping the toast she had (there were no molds this time, she snuck a bunch of food from the Country Club and brought it to the Château) and glanced at John B. "What?"

The brunette smirks, pointing to the hickey on her neck.

Almost immediately, he sees how her face pales. John B is afraid he's hit a nerve there, but Nicola laughs it off, playing with her seashell necklace. "Yeah, Amelia gave me an extra tip yesterday at the course."

When her mind turned to dark places, she tried remembering the whole reason why she was waking up early in the morning— to get the gold. Four hundred mil. Four hundred mil. Four hundred mil— it repeated in her head again and again until she convinced herself that she was excited.

"Hey," a small voice echoed out— Cola turns to the door to see Kie with her eyes droopy, an indication that she had just woke up. "What time are we leaving?"

"Pope is waiting outside, Cola's eating... so right about now." John B shrugged, stealing her sandwich from her.

"Make your own," Cola grumbled, snatching it back from the taller boy. He reaches out to grab it from her, but Cola's instincts were fast— she shoves the whole thing in her mouth, leaving her looking like a chipmunk.

"Jesus, Cola." Kie groans at the sight, walking over to the sink. "How the hell do you do that?"

Nicola makes it her personal mission to eat everything that's stuck in her mouth, before smirking at the brunette proudly. "I've got a lot of practice."

It takes a second for Kie to figure out what she meant. Before she could say something, Nicola already walked out of the kitchen.

...

"All right, JJ. Pin it here."

Nicola adjusted her sunglasses, her head aloof as JJ replied to John B. Her nerves were coursing with pure excitement, but there was a small ounce of doubt that was trying to stop her good mood. To think that they were probably a hundred feet away from a bunch of gold - excited her so fucking much. She felt like her heart was about to explode.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen," John B started, smiling at the two girls who anticipated his next move. "To going full Kook."

Going full Kook - honestly, Nicola didn't really seem too excited by it. The Kooks were boring, almost as if every single day of their lives were thoroughly planned out, graduate high school, go to college, work for their parents and never leave the Outer Banks; she wanted more than that. So much more.

The seconds that followed after that were spent in pure silence. While Nicola fantasized about her life when she sets her sights on the gold, her hands were pushing down the rope with Kiara.

"All right, JJ, we're right over it. Ten seconds northwest." John B called out, eyes never leaving the device on his hands. The girl was too buzzed in her own fantasy to hear what the blonde boy said in reply, hands pushing down the rope with her friend.

The red tape that was distinct from the yellow rope caught her attention. Nicola turned around, screaming over to no one in particular. "One hundred feet!"

Kiara let go of the rope for a moment, writing down a stick using chalk.

Pope suddenly lets out a loud gasp, causing everyone to turn his attention to the boy. "What? What, what, what, what?"