𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐊, 𝗃𝗈𝗁𝗇 𝖻 𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗅𝖾𝖽𝗀𝖾

28: 𝙹𝚘𝚑𝚗 𝙱

Late in the afternoon with the sun shining down on the civilians of the Outer Banks, the black sky during the night had been replaced with the blue sky, showing it was the day time. The seagulls flew around the beach as four out of group of six teenagers could be seen in the backyard of the Chateau. After leaving the Cameron place early in the morning, Y/n had ventured to her boyfriend's house, seeing her brother and her two friends there.

JJ had to explain what all the lights and the hot tub, which he had named it the Cat's Ass, were all about, saying he had spent all the money he had stolen from Barry to pay for all of this. At first, she had been a little upset with him until Kiara had explained what happened the night before. The many bruises on his torso. She had just wished she was there to, at least, comfort her brother.

Now, currently, Pope stood off to the side, watching as Kiara sat in a small metal bucket that had been hung up to a tree, pulling her upwards as this was the thing they'd use for the well to get the gold. The Maybank siblings sat at the edge of the hot tub, their bare feet inside the water as they watched their two friends.

John B was nowhere to be seen, causing Y/n to worry a little, and Pope and Kiara. All they remembered was that he had to go fishing with Ward rather early in the morning. It was already late afternoon now and they would think he'd be back by now. Before she had left the Cameron residence, Y/n had spent a little time talking with Sarah before she had to leave so no one would notice her there.

"I got my scholarship interview tomorrow morning. We gotta get this done!" Pope tells them.

Neither of the others get a chance to reply when John B comes stomping through, making Y/n relieved that he was okay. However, the boy held a blank expression on his face as he didn't even seem to acknowledge the lights and the hot tub that were now in his backyard.

"Dude, I set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything?" JJ calls to him.

"No, he did not. I did that." Pope corrects.

The Routledge boy only storms straight past them and into the house, making the four share confused glances as they follow him inside, trying to get the boy to talk to them while he searches for something. Soon enough, lifting up the pillow, John B brings out JJ's gun, making them even more curious and more worried.

"John B, what do you need the gun for?" JJ asks as he steps towards his friend.

As the blonde was in his way, John B roughly grabs JJ's shoulders and shoves him down onto the sofa-bed. Pope tries to go in the brunette's way but, once again, John B shoves him, sending him back into the table. Kiara quickly checks on the Heyward boy before they all rush out of the Chateau just in time to see John B on a motorbike.

"Ward knows about the gold." John B reveals, speaking up and glancing back at all of them. "He killed my dad."

The brunette's gaze lingers on the girl he loves the most, seeing her staring right at him. Lips quivering, he looks away and drives off, ignoring all their shouts as they chased after him, but stopped when they knew that they were too slow.

***

The sun had set, the bright, white moon out in the large black sky as four out of the five Pogues found themselves standing in the HMS Pogue, the Cameron's house just being seen a few yards away, Ward Cameron's boat beside them on the docks. The group had decided to search for John B, hoping they'd find him soon. As they were doing that, Y/n had tried to contact Sarah but she wasn't answering.

"What now? We just go up to the front door and ask, "Hey, have you seen John B"?" JJ questions, disbelief in his tone.

"Look, he lives at Tannyhill now." Kie reminds. "It's plausible."

"We can play dumb." Y/n suggests.

"It's pretty late." Pope states.

"Look, I've never seen John B like that." Y/n recalls.

"Okay, we should honestly be going to the cops." Kie announces.

"Yeah, and say what, Kie? We're worried about our friend because he's going off on a rampage because Ward Cameron killed Big John?" JJ asks. "Like, they're not gonna believe us!"

"Hey, I see Ward." Pope informs as he looks through some binoculars. "Doesn't look dead to me. Let's go home."

The three stare at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"Uh... Okay. Obviously, Mr. Cameron is fine, and even if John B was here, he isn't now, okay? Plus, I have the biggest, most important moment of my life in six hours." Pope reminds about his interview.

"Yeah, well, our friend, my boyfriend, is in trouble." Y/n fires back.

"I'm in trouble." Pope retorts. "Guys, I haven't been home in three days. My dad's probably put all my shit on the street by now."

"Okay, so that's it? In a time of need, you're just gonna bail? You're just gonna walk away?" Kie questions.

"Okay, yo, guys, can we not do this right now?" JJ cuts in, both him and Y/n feeling awkward.

"Hey, I have a scholarship interview in the morning." Pope, once again, reminds. "I can't--"

"Okay, well, what about John B?" Kie interrupts.

Pope rolls his eyes. "Why is it always about John B?"

"It's not always about John B. You're so stupid. It would be any of you in this situation." Kie tells him.

"Oh, bullshit!" Pope exclaims.

"Guys--" Y/n begins.

The Maybank siblings just stood side by side together awkwardly as they watched two of their closest friends get more and more frustrated with one another, their tones getting higher and higher as they continued. Neither of them could really do anything as both Pope and Kie would just ignore them if they did so.

"This is about friendship. This is about Pogues for life." Kie continues as she now felt tears prick her eyes.

Pope raises his brows. "What about forensic pathology, huh? It's my life. Everything I've worked for."

"Forensic pathology?" Kie repeats in question. "That's your priority?"

"Stop with the moral high ground bullshit." Pope commands.

Kie raises a brow. "Excuse me?"

"You have no room to talk. Where were you when Big John went missing? You weren't there. You weren't there for John B. You weren't there for any of us." Pope snaps. "Remember your Kook year? Yeah, you forgot about us. Now you feel guilty."

After that, Kie begins shoving the boy to which he starts shoving back. It continues to go on so bad that the siblings have to cut in, pushing them away from one another. JJ gets Pope to one side of the boat while Y/n gets Kie to the other, the blonde then driving off, offering to drop Pope off back at home.