𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘¹ » 𝐣𝐣 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝒙𝒊. 𝒌𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂

chapter eleven
kooklandia

      IMAGINE BEING TOLD there was a chance you could find a long lost treasure just to have it ripped away from you in the same morning. the pogues were over the moon upon seeing the royal merchant on the drone's display monitor. but after circling the sunken ship three times, they came to the conclusion that it wasn't there. all of yesterdays elated thoughts of gold and endless riches were gone with the reality check of today.

"it's not there. look, just— just pull the drone up." john b sighs. "we could recharge the battery and do another pass." stella suggests as pope nods. "yeah, we could go back down."

      "guys we've been through it three times, there's nothing there." jj states, earning a 'shut up!' from kie and an eye roll from stella. "what? it's true!" the blond continues.

      "the gold could be buried, we don't know!" kie says, john b shaking his head. "if it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay?" he says, taking a pause. "somebody beat us to it."

      "or it was never there."

——

      after being extremely underwhelmed by this morning's discovery, the pogues retreated back to their homes. stella was flipping through magazines in her room when she heard someone aggressively knocking on the front door. sighing, she got up to see who it was. she opened the door to a very distressed pope looking back at her.

     "they know about the boat, stella. all of them." pope said. the girl was still very confused as he made his way inside. "what do you mean they know? who knows?" she asked. "topper, rafe, kelce, they all know. they were posted outside of the store this morning." pope explains, "is jj here?" at this point, the boy was pacing around the living room.

     "uh he's not here, but we'll go to his place and see if he knows what to do. we'll be fine." stella suggests, trying to make pope feel better. trying to avoid talking to jj was getting harder and harder with pope's criminal record in the making and kie's evening plans.

     "oh no no no. his ideas all either get us into trouble or are illegal. neither of which is good for my merit scholarship." pope begins to explain, stella already walking out of the house and over to the side where her brothers jeep was parked.

     "that's pretty much the same thing." stella remarks. "that's even worse!" pope replies, now even more distressed.

     "does your brother even let you take his car?" the boy questions. stella shakes her head as she gets into the drivers seat. "of course not, get in."