summer sadness ( jj maybank )

# twenty

━━━━━━ ☀︎,━━━━━━━...‥・

"HEY, GUYS. SO, LIKE, MY DADS ALREADY
GOING TO KILL ME. WHATS THIS MANDATORY MEETING ABOUT?"

aelia glanced from messing with one of jjs bracelets that littered his wrist — specifically the one she had made for him back in freshman year, up towards pope, who was sitting across from her on a log. the teenagers were all surrounding a fire john b and jj started, where jj and aelia were sitting closely together on one log, with john b to her right and kiara to her left on their own seats

"might as well tell him, man," jj shrugged, his hand shifting a bit on aelias thigh, where his grip only tightened against her skin. "before we're gaffed."

aelia looked up at the blonde boy, she then switched over towards john b for his reaction, but he looked puzzled himself as he searched for the right words.

"you ready for this?" john b started, and the teens all nodded in anticipation for him to continue. "so, the gold never went down with the royal merchant—"

"—oh my god, here we go again with this."

"no. all right, wait. hear him out, alright?" jj said, shutting down pope.

john b couldn't help the grin that crossed his face, "it's been here the whole time. it's on the island."

"are you serious?" kie gasped, and she glanced up to see everyone's reactions. "oh my god."

"you're joking," aelia commented, flashing excited expression over to john b. "how do you know?"

pope rose a single index finger into the air as he pointed it directly at john b, "i'd like to voice my skepticism."

"i'm sure you would, pope," john b replied, getting up from his spot on the log to walk over towards his backpack.
"but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?"

wearily, pope caved, "proceed."

and that's when john b sat down with his best friends around the fire and told them the entire story about from denmark tanny, the slave that actually appeared to be the sole survivor of the royal merchant. he used the gold to buy slaves their freedom, which is why he was ultimately lynched. and how there was a coded message on where to find the gold of the royal merchant.

"okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true," pope admitted against his will.

"oh my god, my best friends a genius," aelia squealed, wrapping her soft fingertips around a stick that was laying near her feet and tossing it towards john b, who evenly escaped the hit.

"i'm a genius," john b squealed back towards the blonde, but then he was suddenly taken off guard when jj jumped from his previous position next to aelia, and hooked his arms around the boy to give him a huge bear hug. "hey, whoa! hello, fire! you're near the fire, you're gonna burn."

"i am so proud of you right now," jj stated, lightly tapping john b's cheek.

john b smiled towards his slightly taller best friend, "thank you, that's very sweet of you."

"okay, so, guys," pope spoke up after giving everyone a second to process what john b had just told them /  even though they would certainly need more than just that.
"what's the plan?"