Cassie's POV

I'm woken up to the sunlight streaming in from the window and hitting my face. I try to move but I'm quickly reminded I'm not alone when I hear a deep groan right next to my ear. Rafe's arm is wrapped around me tightly, his fingers intertwined with mine and his face is nuzzled into the crook of my neck while his legs are tangled with my own. I hear Rafe's door open and my eyes widen, hoping to god that is not Ward or Rose.

"Cassie, what the hell is this?" I hear Sarah whisper yell, amusement clear on her face as she rounds the bed to face me.

"Save me" I whisper back pleadingly.

She rolls her eyes and pulls the covers down a little, her eyes widening when she sees our intertwined fingers. I hear her audibly awe and I roll my eyes as she slowly peels Rafe off me. Once I am free, I quickly stand up and push Sarah towards the door. She turns the corner and I hear shuffling behind me as I reach the door.

"Leaving so soon?" I hear a husky voice ask and my heart skips a beat at being caught.

Sarah salutes me and walks into her room, leaving me with Rafe. I turn and casually lean on the doorframe, pasting on a cocky grin. My facade slightly wavers when I see him laying on his side with his head propped up on his hand, his dirty blonde hair all messy and his blue eyes shining with mischief.

"Why? Do you wanna cuddle some more?" I ask, trying to embarrass him.

"Maybe I do" He smirks and my smile is wiped clean off my face.

He laughs at my awe stricken expression and I roll my eyes, walking away.

"Don't miss me too much, Cas!" He hollers.

"Screw you, Rafe!" I retort and he continues laughing.

I storm into Sarah's room and she crosses her arms, waiting for an explanation. I close the door behind me and hop onto the bed next to the blonde.

"The power cut out last night and I got really scared. I tried to wake you up but you ignored me and Wheezie told me to ask Rafe because she wasn't in the mood to comfort me" I explain.

"So you actually went to Rafe?" Sarah laughs.

"Yeah" I mumble sheepishly.

"When is the wedding? Can I be your maid of honour?" Sarah asks smugly and I groan, pushing her shoulder.

"Me and Rafe? That's never gonna happen" I scoff.

"You're gonna have gorgeous babies" My best friend continues to tease me.

"First of all, ew. Second of all, ew" I gag, flopping back onto the bed.

"Wanna come save the baby mice with me?" The blonde asks me, her face right above mine.

"Get me clothes. We have mice to save" I demand and she claps her hands excitedly, running over to her closet.

She throws a pair of red checkered shorts at me and a matching crop top that ties at the front. I grab the clothes from the bed and head to the bathroom to get changed.

Once I'm dressed, I apply some lip gloss and brush out my natural dark waves. Sarah throws me my shoes and I slip them on before we run downstairs. We each grab a tennis racket from the sports supplies and run outside to where a group of birds are trying to eat the mice in the grass. Sarah and I swat at the birds, running around like mad and jumping into the air to try and stop the birds from hurting the poor mice.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Sarah cries as a bird swoops down to the grass.

"Sarah! Cassie!" I hear Ward yell but we continue waving the rackets at the birds.

"We're busy!" Sarah shouts.

"What are you doing?!" He asks in confusion.

"The burrows filled with water from the surge!" She answers.

"The birds are having a field day!" I add.

"The birds have to eat too, girls!" Ward tells us.

"No, it's a mouse genocide out here!" She protests.

"No!" I shriek, swinging the racket at a bird trying to swoop in the mice.

"The cycle of life is what it is, sweetheart. Now, come on" Ward huffs.

"I can't be a part of it! First they came for the mice, daddy" She tells him as she pulls me towards him and Lana Grubbs.

"Well, I have an actual human being here that you might help" Ward replies, gesturing to Lana.

"Oh, my God" I breathe out as we reach the adults.

"Hi" Lana greets us, shaking each of our hands.

"I'm Sarah and this is Cassie. I'm so sorry" Sarah tells the woman.

"This is Lana, Scooter's wife" Ward tells us.

"You were storm prepping with him, right?" He adds.

"Yeah. He helped me latch the cabin on the Druthers" Sarah nods.

"Last night?" Ward asks.

"Yeah. Right, Cassie?" Sarah says, looking at me.

"That's right" I agree.

"And did he go out after that?" Ward then asks.

"From here?" I ask in confusion.

"Yeah" Ward nods.

"No. Are you crazy? There was a hurricane" Sarah retorts.

"Well, did he say where he was going? Get a phone call or mention anything?" Lana asks desperately.

"He didn't say anything to me" Sarah answers and the trio looks to me.

"I'm sorry, Lana. He didn't tell me anything" I tell her sadly.

"I'm so sorry. Is he okay?" Sarah asks in concern.

"He's absolutely okay" Ward assures us all.

"I hope so" Lana adds.

"He's hunkered down somewhere, all right? We're gonna find him" Ward tells Lana, guiding her away from us.

"We're sorry" I tell the woman.

"Thank you" She replies before walking away with Ward.

Sarah and I share a mutual look of worry before heading back to the mice.

☁️☁️☁️

"Cassandra Malia Carrera!" I hear a deep voice holler and I look up from my place by the Cameron's pool

I lift my glasses onto my head and grin when I see John B walking from the direction of the pier.

"Johnathan Booker Routledge!" I holler back and he laughs, rounding the pool towards me.

"You up for an adventure, Cassandra?" He asks in a fake serious voice.

"Do I have much of a choice, Johnathan?" I ask with a grin.

"Absolutely not" He chuckles, holding his hand out for me.

I grab his hand and he pulls me up to my feet. I jog over to the back doors and bump straight into Rafe.

"Hey, can you tell Sarah that I have to go?" I ask him quickly.

He looks at John B with a glare before rolling his eyes and looking back down at me.

"Sure" He grumbles, walking back into the house.

I skip back over to John B who turns around and bends down a little which makes me giggle as I hop onto the brunette's back. He carries me all the way to the pier where I see the rest of the Pogues in the HMS Pogues. I hop off his back and jump into the boat.

"So, what's on the agenda today?" I chirp as John B starts the boat and pulls away from the pier.

"Well, we have something to tell you first" Kiara says vaguely.

"Shoot" I shrug, sitting down next to her on the edge of the boat.

"We found a wreck in the marsh" She tells me and my eyes widen as I sit up straight.

"It's a Grady White" JJ smirks.

"Holy shit, is that where we're going?" I ask curiously.

"No. On the wreck we found a motel key, so we're going to check out the room" John B explains.

"Do you know how stupid that is?" I snap and they all look down like scolded children "I'm in"

They look up and grin wildly, their guilty faces completely disappearing. I snatch John B's hat off his head and place it on my own, hanging my sunglasses on the front of Kiara's shirt. My sister rolls her eyes at me and I wrap my arm around her shoulder with a big smile that she slowly mirrors. I hear JJ whistle lowly and I turn my head to look at the state of the run down motel.

"I thought the chateau looked bad" The blonde scoffs.

"This place is a shit show" John B states.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie asks sarcastically.

"You be the judge" Pope replies.

"Calling it a meth lab would be an insult to meth labs" I declare in disgust.

"Doesn't look like the type of place someone with a Grady White would stay" John B points out.

"No. It looks like the type of place someone with a Grady White would get killed" Pope retorts.

"Or prostituted" I add.

"This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing" JJ announces in a funny voice which makes me laugh.

The blonde leaps onto the grass and ties up the boat securely.

"We good?" John B asks.

"Yeah, we good" JJ replies.

"All right. Here goes nothin'" John B sighs.

"Hey" Pope catches the brunette's attention.

"Yeah?" John B replies.

"Don't let him do anything stupid" Pope snaps, pointing at JJ.

"Oh, we will" JJ states and I cough to hide a laugh.

"I'm not making promises" John B tells Pope.

"Yeah, I know" Pope huffs.

"Uh, be careful" My sister tells John B as she hands him the key, her hand lingering on his "I mean it"

I look at JJ who smirks slyly at the interaction and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah" John B chuckles awkwardly, hopping off the boat next to JJ.

"You gonna give me a good luck kiss, Cassie?" The blonde asks me cheekily.

"Is that you asking, JJ?" I reply.

"Maybe it is" He smirks widely.

"Well, in that case..." I drawl off, standing up "No"

The blonde's smirk falls and the other Pogues laugh at him.

"Let's go" John B says, patting JJ's shoulder.

They walk away and I turn to Pope and Kiara.

"Let's play a game" I chirp, plopping down in between the pair.

☁️☁️☁️

"What's your biggest pet peeve?" Pope asks.

"Okay, i'll go first" I state "The whole Pogue vs Kook thing on this island"

"Of course you'd say that" Kiara scoffs and I roll my eyes.

"It bothers me" I shrug.

"Biggest pet peeve?" Kiara asks Pope.

"Yeah" He nods.

"Easy. Giving one percent to the environment" She states confidently.

"What's wrong with that?" Pope asks and I groan.

"Now you've done it" I mutter.

"We only have one earth, Pope. We should be giving it 100 percent, bare minimum" My sister rants.

"Right. Thats not fiscally sound" Pope replies.

"Neither is destroying the planet that we have to live on" Kiara retorts.

"Guys, it's the cops" I hiss.

"Shit" Kiara curses.

"Call them" Pope snaps.

"I can't. Towers are down" She snaps back.

"If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone" Pope whisper yells as we hop off the boat and hide behind a fallen down sign.

"Maybe they're not going up there. Maybe they're just...looking for a room" Pope suggests as a guy talking to the cops points to the room that the boys are in.

"He's pointing! They're going up there!" Kiara hisses.

The cops start walking towards the stairs and I take off in a sprint to the side of the motel, Kiara and Pope following close behind me.

"Okay, do something! Do something!" I panic.

"Stand back" Pope says, picking up a rock.

"Okay. You got it" Kiara replies, tugging me to the side.

Pope throws the rock up at the window but somehow he manages to make the rock fly to the back of the motel. Kiara and I look at him in complete and utter disbelief.

"Didn't you ever play baseball?" Kiara asks him as we all pick up stones.

"I was on the math team!" He retorts and I shake my head, throwing a stone at the window.

"A mathlete" Kiara scoffs in disbelief.

"You know what?" Pope grits out, but before he can finish his sentence I throw another stone that hits the window.

John B lifts the blinds and we jump up and down, pointing at the front of the motel and mouthing the word 'cops'. He drops the blinds and we race back to the boat, hopping aboard.

"Should we peel?" Kiara asks.

"You never leave a Pogue behind" Pope retorts as we watch John B and JJ climb out the window to hide on the ledge from the cops.

"No, seriously. Should we peel?" She asks again.

"Maybe" He answers.

"Not yet" I snap anxiously.

"What are you guys doing?" Pope whisper yells at the boys.

John B holds his pointer finger to his lips in a shushing motioned JJ grins like a maniac.

"Oh, my God" Kiara groans.

I watch the boys nervously, anxiety racing through my veins. JJ suddenly reaches behind him and something falls out his pocket, clattering loudly as it drops. Deputy Shoupe opens the blinds and Pope spins around to face Kiara and I, the three of us acting casual as we pretend to have a conversation.

☁️☁️☁️

"Well, that was fun" JJ chuckles as we make our way back to the Cut "Could have warned us a little sooner"

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team" Kiara says, shooting me a playful smile which I return.

"You were on the math team?" John B asks sarcastically.

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene" Pope states, ignoring John B.

"Did you guys find anything?" I ask the boys.

"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so" JJ says before pulling out a gun and a wad of cash "Oh, yeah, we did"

"What the hell?" Pope snaps.

"Dude, what?" Kiara says in disbelief.

"Holy shit" I laugh, sharing a grin with John B.

"Dude, chill. Come on" JJ grins, standing up.

"Why did you take that from a crime scene?" Pope demands.

"It's better than the cops having it, bro" JJ answers,

"You serious?" Kiara shrieks at John B and I.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship" Pope panics.

"Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh. Sh, sh" JJ quietens the boy down placing the barrel of the gun on Pope's lips "At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living the nightmare" Pope states, pushing JJ away and sitting down next to John B.

☁️☁️☁️

"Who's that?" I hear John B ask as we sit at the marina with Peeler, a local gossip girl and I look up to see Lana Grubbs crying over a stretcher which is holding a dead Scooter Grubbs.

poor Lana

"It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm" Peeler tells us "Check out this pic I got. Dead bodyy"

"Holy shit" John B mumbles.

"Lana came to the Cameron's this morning to look for him" I state sadly "She must be devastated"

Kiara puts her hand on my leg and gives me a reassuring smile to which I smile back, leaning my head on her shoulder.

"What kind of boat did he have?" JJ asks curiously.

"Somehow, that dirtbag copped a brand new Grady White. Everyone's out looking for it" Peeler answers and I share a look of worry with the Pogues.