002.  Kegger?

   Maliah left a chaste kiss on her father's cheek before hopping out of the passenger door.

"Are you coming home later, kiddo? Or staying the night here?" Jared spoke briefly as his daughter grabbed her backpack from the backseat.

"Um-" Maliah paused—knowing she had no clue what she could get into tonight. "I'll text you later? And let you know." She smiled.

"Alright," Jared nodded suspiciously, "Love you kid."

"Love you more."

Maliah watched her father drive off before turning around excitedly, making her way towards the Chateau. Before she reached the door, she spotted each of the each of the Pogues—except for Pope—sitting in the screened-in front porch. She tilted her head slightly, furrowing her brows as she entered the silence that flooded them.

"Did someone die? Why are we so silent?" Maliah glanced between Kiara and John B.

John B sighed as he flipped an empty beer bottle in his hand, "A lot happened today."

She turned towards a clicking noise beside her, her eyes landing on JJ as he flipped his lighter between his fingers.

"Hold on," Maliah grew worried, "Where's Po—"

Suddenly, Pope came running up toward the porch.

"Okay." He panted, "So, um... we didn't see anything." He continued as he pointed towards each of them, "We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia." He flopped down on the couch.

Maliah shook her head in confusion, "Wh—"

"Actually, Pope's right—for once." JJ voiced as he stood up from his position on the chair. "See I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny."

Maliah furrowed her brows, looking to John B for answers, in which he just shrugged.

"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kiara spoke sternly.

JJ sighed, "Okay. Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara."

Kiara rolled her eyes and ignored his words, "We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma."

Maliah's ears perked at the name. Lana Grubbs. The woman she was just introduced to at the Cameron's.

"Bad karma to be implicated into a felony, too." Pope added, "We gotta go dark."

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree." JJ remarked.

John B's turned to his best friend, patting him on the shoulder, "I don't agree." He argued, walking away from the blond.

JJ shook his head in disbelief, "What? Why?"

"Just think about it," John B began, "this is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Alright? Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas." He continued, "We're talking a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of the sudden, he's got a Grady-White?" He threw his hands up, "Just sayin'."

"Is anybody going to tell me what happened." Maliah interrupted.

   After some negotiation on who would fill Maliah in on what she missed, Pope ended up telling her every last detail. And to her own surprise, after finding out the news that her best friends had sunken Grady-White that belonged to the now dead Scooter Grubbs, here they were, fishing.

"All right so think about it, Pope" John B began, "How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?"

"Prostitution." Pope said blankly.

"Square groupers, bro. Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance." John B listed, "They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?"

JJ focused intently on the fishing rod in his hand, "They were straight smuggling."

"Smugglin'." John B smiled, "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck."

"Hell yeah." JJ pulled back as he felt a fish catch on the bait, "Fish on!"

Next thing Maliah knew, they were in John B's bedroom, discussing Scooter Grubbs even more. She decided to keep her mouth shut on this topic, due to the fact that 1. She wasn't there when they found the Grady-White, and 2. She had literally spoken to Lana Grubbs today, and Ward and her father had promised her that he was okay. The same sick feeling appeared in her stomach again. This time, because she knew what happened to him.

"For the record," Pope leaned forward, "if that is a smuggling ship, with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it probably belongs to someone else."

"Minor details." Kiara interrupted.

"They could come looking for it." Pope continued, throwing down the wad of cash, "Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

"Right, well." JJ leaned forward, snatching the cash from Pope's hand. "Stupid things have good outcomes all the time." He smiled at Pope, spreading out the cash. "All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then we just lay low. Just act normal."

Pope sighed, "Right. And how exactly do we do that."

Maliah snapped out of her trance, "Um," she hummed, "Kegger?"

Laughter flooded through the boneyard as John B and JJ set up the kegger, filling and handing out beers to everyone.

Kiara was deep in her usual ramblings about star signs, animatedly gesturing as she spoke. Meanwhile, Pope, completely oblivious to the girl trying to flirt with him, somehow managed to steer the conversation toward the topic of human feces. Maliah sat by the fire they had built, casually chatting with another Pogue from the island. She nodded along, keeping the conversation going, but her mind kept drifting back to the whole Scooter situation, unable to shake the uneasiness that filled her stomach.

Then her eyes wandered to the sound of a voice she knew all too well.

"Sarah. Sarah, be careful, okay?" Topper voiced his worry.

Sarah didn't have a care in the world as she climbed on top of a buoy that had washed up on the shore from the storm.

"What is she doing here?" Kiara groaned, her eyes burning holes into the Blondes tanned skin.

Maliah was well aware of Kiara's deeply rooted hatred for Sarah. When Kiara's parents forced her to attend the Kook Academy instead of joining the rest of the Pogues at Kildare County's public school, Maliah—unlike the rest of the Pogues—had been thrilled. Despite going to different schools, the three of them became inseparable during their freshman year. Most of their time was spent on the beach, where they tanned under the sun, partied late into the night, and even rescued baby turtles. Whatever it was, they did it together.

Then all hell broke loose, and Maliah found herself directly in the middle of it.

Even after two years since Kiara and Sarah's falling out, Maliah still didn't know the full story of what had gone wrong between them. Kiara never held back her opinions about Sarah, often voicing her disdain with sharp words. But Maliah chose to brush off the negativity, refusing to engage with the hatred. Sarah, on the other hand, remained silent, never once speaking about the rift that had driven them apart.

In the end, it didn't matter to Maliah. Sarah was still like a sister to her, and Kiara was still her best friend.

And whether either of them liked it or not, Maliah remained friends with both sides.

"It's a party for the island, Kie." Maliah looked up at at the Brunette, "Obviously Kooks are gonna come." She sighed, trying her hardest to be somewhat understanding of her best friend's side.

Kiara rolled her eyes, taking a seat beside Maliah on the log, digging her shoes into the sand beneath her feet. She turned toward Maliah, opening her mouth to say something, but immediately noticed how the girl's eyes were glued to something else. Someone else.

She smiled to herself, noticing the dirty blonde boy, standing beside the bouy Sarah Cameron had climbed onto.

"Go ahead." Kiara motioned.

"What?"

"I know you wanna go talk to him, Indie," Kiara tilted her head at her, "so go and talk to him." She smiled, "go, go, go!"

Maliah pursed her lips together, still staring at the boy.

"Do it before JB finds you and drags you into something stupid."

And with that Maliah pushed off the sand, "Thank you, love you!"

"Love you too!" Kiara shouted out to her.

Maliah took a deep breath inward, mentally preparing herself to engage in a conversation with the boy, but Sarah beat her to it.

"Liah!" Sarah shouted as Topper helped her climb down from the buoy. Without even a glance toward Topper, the second her feet hit the ground Sarah began running towards Maliah.

Her arms wrapping around her shoulders, "Hi BFF." She smiled, "See who I'm with." She raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, yes, I do." Maliah smiled, pulling from the hug and throwing an arm over the Blonde's shoulder.

"Liah," Topper nodded, "good to see you."

"Hi, Top." Maliah spoke softly, reaching her hand out to dap the boy up. Her eyes moving to the boy beside him almost instantly, "Hi, Cal."

Callahan ran his hand through his hair, "Hi, Liah," He smiled, "How have you been?"

"Good, you?"

"Good."

An awkward silence fell over the two, both of them obviously wanting to say something, but neither of them really knew what to say.

"O-kayyy." Sarah interrupted, elbowing her boyfriend subtly.

"Um- Anyone up for a beer?"

authors note giggles