( 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔 𝙊𝙉𝙀. )
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WHEN THE BRIGHT, morning sun rose the next day, the three girls were groggy at first, but soon got over it and decided to allow their bodies to warm up, so they sat at the edge of the boat, letting the warm sunlight soak through their skin as they talked amongst themselves. And because they didn't know when the boys would be back for them, Kiara decided to fill the two girls in on the plan that she and the pogues had constructed to retrieve the gold. That's assuming that it was buried where the map led them.

It sounded like a suicide mission to even get relatively close to old, Mrs. Crain's house, but it also caused adrenaline to pump through Jaylene's veins at the thought of doing something so sneaky. She was going through a lot right now, and she hoped that this would help take her mind off of everything. Even if it was just for a couple hours.

"Is it equally as scary as the urban legend says?" Jaylene scrunched her face up, looking towards Kiara. If she was gonna be a part of this, she needed to know what she was getting herself into. Because there was no way in hell she was about to step into a death trap. "Like, did she actually do that shit to her husband?" She curiously asked.

"You seriously sound like a conspiracy nut right now. You and JJ are literally an embodiment of one another." Kiara chuckled in response, receiving an offended look in return from Jaylene.

With her hand pressed against her chest, she gasped, pretending to be offended with the comparison. "You did not just say that." Jaylene tried to stifle back the laugh that threatened to fall from her lips as she looked at Kiara. "Compared to him, I have more than a singular brain cell."

"Guys." Sarah speaks up, motioning towards the HMS pogue as it made its way towards them, three smirking boys aboard. It only caused the three girls to give them dirty glances, annoyed that they'd been forced to spend the night in an open boat in the middle of the marsh.

"Look at them. I just wanna wipe those smirks off of their stupid faces." Kiara rolled her eyes, making sure to keep her voice down as the boat slowly got closer to them. "Idiots." She added with a loud scoff, earning a snicker from the two girls sat beside her.

"So then do it." Jaylene shrugged, a smirk of her own forming on her lips as she looked at both girls. "Get them to believe that their stupid plan didn't work."

Kiara looked over at Sarah, giving her a look as the two quickly got on board with how they were gonna act once the three boys got closer. "Sounds good to me." She nodded, hoping that they'd be able to convince John B. that his plan to get the two girls to reconcile hadn't worked. "Don't give them the satisfaction of thinking this worked."

"Need a tow?" John B's lips curled up into a big smile when they finally approached the three girls. By the looks on their faces, he could tell that they were annoyed with him, but that didn't bother him. His plan had worked and he knew it.

"Tricking me into supervising these two? Not cool, John B." Jaylene was the first to speak, crossing her arms over her chest as she shook her head in disapproval.

"Technically, you all walked right into the trap. I mean, admit it. It was kinda funny." The cocky smile remained on his lips as Jaylene jokingly rolled her eyes at him.

"That was some patriarchal bullshit." Kiara muttered under her breath, hoping to convince the brown-eyed boy that his plan hadn't worked.

Sarah stood up from her spot, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at the Routledge boy. "Yeah, that sucked."

"So, did you guys, you know..." Pope trailed off, directing his question towards Sarah and Kiara, who were coldly eyeing the three boys on the boat.

"Reconcile our differences?" Kiara quirked her eyebrows up in response, shaking her head as Sarah did the same. "Not even close."

"But we're willing to work together." Sarah interjected, letting the boy know that his plan to get the two old friends to reconcile had actually worked.

"You know what? That's victory."  John B. clapped his hands together, a proud smile adorning his face.

Jaylene scoffed in response, grabbing onto the end of the rope that had been tossed in her direction to help guide her into the HMS pogue. "Don't be so shocked when we get back at you three idiots."

"Yeah. Watch your backs, boys." Kiara added, following in Jaylene's steps before handing the rope to Sarah, who was the last to join everyone.

John B. took a couple seconds to look at everyone on the boat, sending them an approving nod with a determined look set on his face. "Let's go find that gold."

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AFTER LOOPING THE SCRUNCHIE around her wavy hair, Jaylene let out a sigh as she plopped her body down on the couch next to John B., shooting him a smile before she parted her lips to speak. "So? How do you feel? I mean, that gold will literally change your entire life once you get a hold of it."

"I don't know. Overwhelmed...I guess..." He trailed off, looking towards her as he shrugged his shoulders in response. "My dad spent most of his life searching for this gold. He put all this effort in, but he didn't even get to live to see it."

"He would've been proud of you for finishing what he couldn't. I'm sure of it." Jaylene assured him, giving his upper arm a light squeeze.

"I miss him." He admitted, trying to hide the frown that threatened to plant itself on his face, but he failed, earning himself a sympathetic look from Jaylene. "Do you ever miss her? Your mom?"

Jaylene froze at the mention of her mother, fighting back the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she shrugged her shoulders in response. She wasn't ready to open up to anyone about the information that had recently been shared with her, so she decided that it'd be best to leave it at that for now. "Sure. I guess."

John B. gave her a weird look, deciding that it'd be best not to question her about it. And judging by how tense Jaylene had grown at the question, he figured that it was the last thing she wanted to talk about right now. "Hey, I've been meaning to talk to you about something." He started, receiving a nod in return, allowing him to continue. "You and Jason Smith. Is that like officially done with?"

"Yes. And please do me the favor of never mentioning that name ever again." Jaylene scrunched her face up in disgust, making it clear that she absolutely despised her ex-boyfriend. "Why are you asking? Are you finally gonna gather up enough courage to ask me out?" She questioned, a smirk forming on her lips as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

A chuckle left his lips as he threw his arm around her shoulder, leaning his head on top of hers as the two teenagers stared at the visible water that was hundreds of feet away from them. "Maybe." He teased her, causing Jaylene to scoff in response as he parted his lips to speak again. "I don't really know how to wow someone who's probably already experienced everything there it to experience in a relationship."

"I guess you're kinda right, but it doesn't mean I enjoyed going through those experiences with Jason..." Jaylene trailed off, tangling their fingers together as a sigh left her lips. "So promise me that you'll show me what it's like to live the pogue life once we find this gold?"

"Promise."

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ONCE THE SUN FINALLY SET, the shiny stars twinkled in the night sky as the six teenagers finally made their way towards the Crain property that was located in between figure eight and the cut. The house was creepy to say the least. It looked like it belonged on a horror movie, causing goosebumps to form on Jaylene's skin as she stared at the home.

Her heart was rapidly beating against her chest as she swung her leg over the small fence, extremely thankful that it was only a small drop. So when she landed on both her feet, she carefully walked behind Kiara, growing alarmed when the motion-sensor lights automatically turned on.

"Shit!" Jaylene muttered under her breath, quickly crouching down to hide behind the bushes where everyone else had decided to hide as well.

"Okay, so she has motion sensor lights." Pope struggled to catch his breath as he looked at everyone else's panicked faces.

"We could, uhh...move really slowly, maybe?" JJ stupidly suggested, causing Jaylene to shake her head in disbelief at how idiotic his idea sounded.

"Oh, shit. Let's throw a rock at it." John B. piped in, only making Jaylene regret joining them on their treasure hunt in the first place.

"See? What'd I tell you. Those two morons share a brain cell." Jaylene turned to look at Sarah, earning a chuckle in return from the blonde-haired girl who was crouched down beside her.

"Sucks for you. You're with him." Sarah snorted, causing Jaylene to raise her middle finger up at the Cameron girl.

"You do know that I can hear you two, right?" John B. questioned the two girls, his eyebrows raised as they shot him wide smiles in return.

"We are very well aware that you can hear us, John with the unnecessary B." Jaylene replied, rolling her eyes as she looked towards the lights that were still brightly illuminating the front porch. "Its not our fault that you're a literal moron—"

"Hey, what about the breaker?" Sarah cut the two off before Jaylene could continue throwing insults at John B. "In the circuit box on the porch. We used to play hide-and-seek here as kids. And if you were brave enough, we'd go all the way up to the porch."

"She's right." Jaylene backed up the girl. Although this was the first time she'd actually been on the opposite side of the fence, the circuit box had always been visible from certain angles on the outside.

"No. You're not going into that house." John B. looked towards Jaylene, a worried look in his eyes.

"You're damn right I'm not. That bitch gives me the creeps." Jaylene shivered at the thought of having to step foot into the creepy home. It was already scary enough that they were trespassing. She wasn't about to put herself in that sort of danger when she knew about all the stories surrounding Mrs. Crain and what she'd done to her husband.

"Crain chops people into pieces." JJ reminded them, only scaring Jaylene even more. The thought of it made her wanna vomit, but she restrained herself and simply scrunched her face up in disgust

"If you believe that, but she's like what, 85?" Sarah raised her brows up at him, not believing that the old woman was capable of committing cruel acts like that at her age. "She's probably barely still kicking."

Kiara quietly sighed, giving Sarah a nod as she parted her lips to speak. "Here. I'll go with you."

"We'll wait for your signal." Pope nodded, agreeing with their plan to get to the circuit box that was located near the porch.

Kiara straightened her posture as she looked towards the illuminated home in the distance. She gave Sarah a look as the girl followed in her steps. "Jaylene? You coming?" Kiara questioned the brunette-haired girl who was staring at the Crain home.

Jaylene shifted her attention towards the Carerra girl, shaking her head. "I like breathing, so no thank you."

With that, the two girls took off, heading towards the creepy home and leaving Jaylene behind with the three boys. She could feel her feet beginning to ache due to how uncomfortable she was with the crouching position she'd been holding for a few minutes now.

"So, theoretically speaking," Jaylene started, gaining their attention as they simultaneously turned their heads towards her. "If the gold really is where you guys think it is, what's the plan? How do you plan on getting it out without anybody else getting involved? This isn't your property to begin with, so it's pretty much illegal."

"Seriously? You just felt the need to negative?" JJ questioned her, earning an eye-roll in return as she shook her head in response.

"I'm thinking logically, dumbass." She coldly replied, running a hand through her hair as she turned to look at the front porch, no longer seeing neither Sarah or Kiara.

"No. You're just being negative!" JJ whisper-shouted, gripping the rope around his shoulder as he gave her a harsh glare.

"You wanna argue about who's right, Maybank? Bring it!" She challenged him, quirking her eyebrows upwards as the two gave each other dirty looks.

"Guys! Can you not act like kids right now." Pope interjected, clearly annoyed with their behavior. "We're literally in the middle of a mission."

Jaylene parted her lips to speak, quickly shutting her mouth when the bright lights went out, indicating that the two girls had managed to complete their part of the plan. That meant that the only thing left do was to find the gold.

"They did it." John B. whispered, holding up three fingers to count down, but the two boys quickly got up and walked away from him and Jaylene, causing the brunette-haired girl to snort in response as she stood up straight.

"Well that was hilarious." Jaylene quietly laughed to herself, waiting for him to stand up before wrapping her arm around his waist as he threw his arm around her shoulder, allowing him to lead the way.

As they quietly walked in the direction of the staircase that led down to what appeared to be a basement, Jaylene began to wonder where the gold had been buried and why they needed a rope to access it; that's assuming that it was actually where they thought it was. All she knew was that it couldn't be any good.

When the four teenagers finally made it to the underground space, Jaylene swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked around, becoming more and more creeped out with every second that passed. It also made her skin crawl when she noticed all the spider webs that covered every single corner. The thought of having the small creatures crawl on her made her feel disgusted.

"Holy crap, you know what this is? It just hit me." JJ's voice broke her away from her thoughts as the blonde began to unravel the rope that had previously been placed on his shoulder. "Pope, look. This is C.H.U.D. Full C.H.U.D."

"What is he talking about?" John B. gave Pope a confused look, unsure as to what JJ was referring to.

"Cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers? Have you guys not seen that film?" JJ shot all three of them a shocked look.

Jaylene ignored the three boys as she left John's side, walking closer to the well nearby to get a better view. She loudly gulped at the long fall, wondering just how deep it was.

"How deep do you think this is, Pope?" She heard John B. question from beside her, causing her to look up at him like he was insane.

Pope joined the two, pointing the bright flashlight down the well as he sighed. "I don't know."

"Wait, that's where the gold is at? Are you out of your mind?" Jaylene's eyes widened as she looked down at the well and then back up at John B., slapping his arm due to how stupid their plan sounded. When Kiara told her about the plan, she hadn't mentioned a well. She said something about it being underground somewhere, but never a well. "And using that flimsy rope? I thought you were smarter than this, John B."

"It's the only way down there, Jay." He sighed, giving JJ a look as the boy walked towards his best friend, beginning to secure the rope around the boys waist with Pope's help. "I'll be fine."

Jaylene gave him a worried look, watching the two boys tightly wrap the rope around John's waist, only making her even more nervous. "That's more than a hundred foot drop. If that rope rips—"

"It won't." He quickly assured her, reaching for her face to draw small circles around her jawline. "Trust me."

The Rosewood girl sighed, looking towards Pope and JJ as they swung the rope over the wood above them. She sure hoped that it was sturdy enough. "Come back to me in one piece."

John B. gave the girl a nod, planting a kiss on her forehead before averting his attention towards the two boys who had successfully placed everything in position. He glanced down at the well one last time before gripping onto the rope, allowing it to support the weight of his body as he let his feet dangle above the large drop. "Hey, boys. I have one request." He took in a deep breath as his two friends began to lower his body into the bricked space. "Don't drop me."

When those words left his mouth, the first thing the two did was pretend to let go of the rope, causing John B. to grab on tighter as be shot them a dirty look in return.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly for the most part, but that changed when JJ lost his balance and fell to the ground, sending John B. down until the blonde managed to grab onto the rope again.

Jaylene shot the boy a glare, her hand placed over her heart as she gripped onto a flashlight that had been placed on the ground before heading towards the edge. She pointed it down towards John B., relieved when she noticed that he hadn't come in contact with the bottom of the well. "Are you okay?" She tried her best to keep her voice quiet as she looked at him with a worried look.

John B. struggled to catch his breath, but managed to send the girl a nod before looking up at Pope. "I told you not to drop me!" He shouted, clearly startled with everything that had just occurred.

Jaylene's palms grew sweaty as she kept the flashlight pointed downwards, no longer able to see the boys figure as he went down deeper. It made her anxious not knowing where he was, but his constant comments were enough to keep her sane. But that quickly changed in a matter of seconds when she heard John B. begin to scream, panic laced in his tone.

"JJ! Hey! Pull me up! Come on, man! Go!" The boy shouted, tugging on the rope as his breath grew staggered at the sight of bones that had been laying around in the disgusting sewer water.

The brunette was thrown into a wave of worry, her breath caught in her throat as she watch Pope and JJ begin to reel the boy back up. She would've helped them, but they looked like they had it under control.

"Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait!" John B. shouted, causing the two boys to tightly grab onto the rope so that the Routledge boy wouldn't go back down. "Hey, I think I found something!"

The tree teenagers exchanged worried looks for a few seconds, deciding that it'd be best to trust John B. So they did. Jaylene kept the flashlight pointed down the well with her free hand tapping anxiously at her hip when she saw no sign of the Routledge boy. Her heart was rapidly beating against its cage, wondering where the hell he'd gone. She assumed that you could only head down, but that had been proven false.

So they waited.

At least until their attention was stolen by Sarah and Kiara as the two girls raced down the stares, completely breathless as they approached