Sunshine in the Rain

48. Journal

I get woken up by a beer hitting me in the arm. "Ow." I say.

"Hot potato, hot potato!" JJ says. He throws one at JB.

We all go outside to the dock and drink together. We all laugh and smile.

"She'll come around dude. She's a Pogue." Kie says.

"You know, I'm gonna do a backflip." JB says. He gets on the boat.

"You're lying." Kie says.

"I won't do it?" JB asks.

"Nah, there ain't no way." I say. I smile. "I'll do one though." I say. I do a backflip off of the dock and into the water. "Hell yeah!" I yell. Everyone cheers and then JB hops in. Everyone cheers.

"That's my girl! And that's my boy!" JJ says.

"Wow JJ, I didn't know you were a mother?" I say. Everyone laughs.

"I'm not your Mommy, but I can be your Daddy." JJ says. He smirks and winks. I smile and bite my lip.

"Get a room." Kie says.

"Yeah, ew." Sarah says. We all laugh.

We go inside the house and blast music and drink. Everyone is super drunk. Except Pope.

I chug another beer and everyone cheers. I go and kiss JJ and he grabs my hips and kisses me back.

"I fucking love you Ashlyn." JJ says.

I smile, drunkenly, "I love you too JJ." I say. We fall asleep on the couch together. Everyone else falls asleep as well.

Pope wakes me up. "Get up guys! We got school!" Pope says. I don't even remember what happened last night, at all. I have a massive headache as we get in the Twinkie.

"I missed breakfast, I want pizza." JJ says. "I don't remember anything from last night. Like at all." I laugh and we all get in the van. JJ and I are half asleep, laying on each other and Pope is talking about some random shit again.

We all get out of the Twinkie once it parks and we go inside the school. We head to class together.

"Glad to have you back Mr. Routledge." The teacher says. "Just in time for your first quiz." She says.

We all look at Pope. "Pope, why the fuck didn't you tell us?!" I whisper.

"I told you guys!" He says. "That's the first thing I said to you this morning."

We all groan and take our quizzes. I definitely failed. We start walking to Mr. Sunn's class and JB shows us a note about the bonfire.

"Mr. Heyward, Mr. Maybank, Mr. And Mrs. Routledge!" Mr. Sunn says. "Just the people I wanted to see.

"I wish I could say the same." JJ says.

Mr. Sunn says that he has something historical that he thinks we should see. "A journal." He says. "The author is unknown."

Pope opens to the first page. The wheat symbol is on it. "Holy shit." I say. Mr. Sunn gives me a look. "Sorry." I say.

He brings over a sample of a Denmark Tanny letter. "Compare the handwriting." He says. I look at it and the handwriting is identical.

"Denmarks Tanny's journal." Pope says. "Thank you so much." Pope says.

"It's important to know your own history." Mr. Sunn says. He walks away.

"Oh my god." Pope says. "The Cross Of Santo Domingo. It was on the Royal Merchant."

After school, we head back to the Chateau and Pope is talking about the diary. I am half asleep.

"Pope, I'm tired as fuck." I say. "Can we talk about Denmark Tanny later?" I ask.

"No." Pope says. "Sorry, not sorry." He says. I roll my eyes and lay on the couch in the front porch. JB lightly hits me with a bunch of beer bottles taped together, making a huge sword.

"John B, I am tired as fuck." I say. "Cut it out." I fall asleep on the couch.

"Ash, hey, wake up cupcake." JJ says, in a soft voice.

"Hey, what do you need?" I ask.

"Bonfire." He says. "Let's go."

I smile and go in my room and get changed. I get undressed and then notice that JJ is standing in the doorway, watching me in my bra and underwear.

"JJ, get out." I say.

"But you're only half naked." He says.

"Wanna see more?" I ask. I kiss him and he kisses me back, he holds onto my hips and I grind into him as we kiss. We flip onto the bed and then I break away from the kiss. "J, we gotta go to bonfire." I say. "We'll finish this later." I say. I wink and put my clothes on.