𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬| 𝑅𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑛

ten

Banksie sat next to the small fire, twirling a leaf in her hand, keeping herself warm since it got a little chilly.

This day has been nuts. Actually, so far, this whole summer has been completely beyond thought.

First, there was Scooter, then this whole thing with John B. And now suddenly, she now sort of tolerates Rafe Cameron. To an extent.

All she wanted was a good summer. She's never really had a good summer.

"So, what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked, sitting down after making sure the fire had settled.

JJ smiled towards John B. "Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed," JJ said, poking the fire with a twig.

Kiara looked towards Banksie, who gave her the same look back.

"You ready for this?" John B asked.

"Yeah," Kiara deadpanned.

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant," John B said.

"Oh my god, here we go again," Pope rolled his eyes.

"Wait, I'm sorta out of the loop," Banksie said, with a questionable tone.

"Oh right," John B said in remembrance. "The Royal Merchant-"

"No, I know what the Royal Merchant is, Denmark Tanny was on it," she said with a 'duh' tone.

"Who the hell is that?" Kiara asked.

JJ looked at John B. "We could'a just gone to her, man," JJ sighed.

"Whatever," John B shrugged.

"My dad was looking for the gold-"

"So naturally you went lookin'," she cut him off. "I gotcha. Continue," she smiled.

"The gold's been here the whole time," John B smirked, "it's on the island." He said, looking towards Kiara and Banksie.

"Are you serious?" Kiara asked, looking towards JJ. "Oh my god," she said, with a chuckle in her tone.

"I'd like to voice my scepticism,"

"I'm sure you would, Pope," John B said. "But can I please present you with evidence, sir?" He said, getting up.

Banksie rolled her eyes.

"Proceed," Pope said.

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny,"

"Again, who the hell is that?" Kiara asked.

"Banksie?" John B said, pointing towards Kiara.

Banksie huffed. "Tanny was on the Royal Merchant, slaved. He was the only survivor from the shipwreck, blah blah blah, Tannyhill is named after him," she said.

"Right," she nodded slowly.

"Slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest," he said. "That was his big discovery," he said, now giving the letter to Kiara. "So, Tanny used the hold from the Merchant to buy his freedom," said he.

Kiara whistled in Pope's direction, giving him the paper.

"After that, he bought his farm," he trailed off. "Drumroll, please," he asked, the group now doing the sound effect. "Because that farm is, Tannyhill plantation," he said with jazz hands.

"Figured," Banksie nodded.

"Yeah.." John B nodded to himself. "So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves. And then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then, they decide to lynch him." He said.