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Eli groaned as the sunlight hit her eyes, her hand blindly moving to block the incoming rays.

With a sigh she forced herself to sit up, her gaze moving to look out the glass panel of the door situated right next to the sofa bed.

She yawned as she stood up and walked out of the door onto the veranda, arms clasped behind her as she attempted to stretch herself out.

“Yo, JJ, you been outside?”

Eli turned to find John B shaking JJ, before also making his way outside.

“I have polio, man, I can't walk,” the blonde replied, voice muffled by the pillow.

“Morning, EV,” John B greeted, to which the girl did a salute.

“Good morning, JB.”

“Oh mannn,’ he trailed off as he took in the site, walking towards the now knocked over tree in front of him. “That's not good. That's so not good.”

Eli followed him as he made his way towards the boat, his arms reaching in to pull out the rogue branches and trash that had fallen in due to the harsh stormy winds.

“Agatha did some work, huh?” JJ called out from the house. Eli turned to find the boy chugging a beer already.

“What happened to having polio?” Eli was cut off by the sound of JJ obnoxiously burping, to which she groaned in disgust.

“It's a miracle doc, I'm cured.”

JJ tossed the can before making his way over to the two. “What are you thinking, John B?”

“I'm thinkin’ that the storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh maze. All those drum are gonna chase the crab.”

“What about the DCS. Wasn't that today?”

John B shook his head. “Nah, they're not gettin’ on a ferry.”

“Damn, the universe is looking out for you, John B.” Eli held up her fist, which John B fist-bumped with a small laugh.

“Think about it,” John B continued as he held up a branch. “It's God tellin’ us to fish.”

And that's how the trio made their way down to the docks, with a plan to regroup with the rest of the pogues.

“Uh, good morning,” John B called out towards the locals as they made their way down.

“Sure hope Guffy's boat didn't sink. He doesn't have insurance.”

“Hi Miss Amy!” Eli called out. “You guys get through it?”

“Still here!”

“She totally looked at me,” JJ bragged, to which Eli couldn't help but scoff.

“Yeah, I saw it,” John B agreed.

The trio raised their brows as they took in the damage that the hurricane caused around the docks.
“Dude, look at this place.”

“Agatha, what did you do?”

“She's a crazy lady.”

Eli sighed as the reality set in, her eyes sweeping over all the floating debris and partially collapsed buildings.

“We're gonna be cleaning this all summer.”

“That.. is my nightmare.”

“Well, look who we have here,” John B announced as they pulled up to Heywards.

JJ started to holler in excitement, causing the boat to wobble slightly. Eli instinctively held onto the side, one arm reaching to hit JJ in the calf.. “Calm down.”

John B cupped his hands to his mouth, as if he were holding a megaphone. “We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory.”

“I can't. My pop's got me on lock down.” Pope responded, regret in his voice.

“Come on, man.” JJ pretended to hold a walkie to his mouth. “Your dad's a pussy. Over.”

“Oh, I heard that, you little bastard,” Heyward called out as he appeared behind Pope with raised brows.

“We need your son,” John B stated.

“Yeah,” JJ added as he shrugged.  “Island rules. Day after a hurricane is a free day.”

Heyward scoffed. “Who the hell made that up?”

“Uh,” JJ trailed off. “The pentagon I think? We have security clearance. I have a card.”

The older man scowled. “You think I'm stupid?”

“Come on, Mr Heyward,” Eli added with a pout as she leaned over the side of the boat. “Pretty please?”

“I'll do it tomorrow.” Pope finally spoke as he set down his shovel, turning to face his father. “I promise. Tomorrow.”

Heyward scoffed and threw his hands in the air. “You think- No, no. Helll no. You doin’ it right now.”

“Get in the boat,” John B whispered not so subtly. “Make a run for it.”

“Boy, if you get in that boat-” Heyward started as Pope made a dash for it. “Bring your ass back here!”

“Go Go Go!” Pope exclaimed as he launched himself into the boat. “I promise I'll do it tomorrow.”

Eli watched with a laugh as they steered away, Heyward's threats projecting across the water.

“When you get here, you're gonna clean shrimp, clean fish-” he began to list.

“Love you, Pops.”

“-You'll clean your dirty-ass room!”

“We'll bring him back in one piece, I promise.”

“I don't like any of your friends!”

Eli gasped, her hand moving to clutch her chest in horror.

The older man faltered for a second. “Not you, Eli. You're the only one I like.”

The group continued to whoop and holler as they made their way further down the dock, off to pick up their fifth and final passenger.

“Ooo top of the mornin’ to ya,” JJ greeted as Kie walked towards them.

“Good morning, guys,” she greeted as she made her way to the edge of the platform. Eli reached out to grab the cooler from the girl.

“Whatcha got?” Pope questioned as JJ helped Kie step into the boat. “You got some juice boxes?”

“You know, just some yoghurts, and carrot sticks.”

“How about my kind of juice box?” the blonde boy enquired, comically wiggling his eyebrows.

“Yeahh.”

Eli helped hand out the bottles of beer amongst them, opening up one of them to hand to John B who was steering.

“Thanks, EV.”

“Cheers,” she responded with a smile as she lightly tapped her own bottle with his.

“Bet you can't do this,” JJ dared as they continued to make their way into the marsh. “Tell the world right now. A party trick.”

Eli watched with a raised brow as JJ made his way to the front of the boat, bottle of beer in his hand.

“Oh no,” Eli began as she began to shuffle closer to the back of the boat.

“Hey, Pope?” JJ called out to Pope, who had just taken over the steering of the boat. “Can you go a little faster?”

“Oh here we go,” John B spoke to himself as he walked to the other end, “I'm moving.”

“Nope,” Pope denied. “Doesn't work.”

“We've tried this like six thousand times,” John B continued as he sat down, arms crossed.

“I got this!” JJ tried to convince as he held his hands in the air.

Kie and Eli threw an unconvinced look to each other.

“Yeah, okay.”

The rest of the group watched as JJ began to chug his beer, groaning as drops began to fly towards them as a result.

“Oh my god, you're getting beer in my hair,” Kie complained.

“JJ, this is so gross, quit it,” Eli added, wiping off drops of beer on her face.

Everyone collectively groaned as JJ continued, the rain of beer only getting more and more violent.

“Alright, alright!” Pope exclaimed.

“Alright, you're done,” John B warned.

The HMS Pogue suddenly lurched forward, sending all of them flying. Eli and Kie slammed into the sides of the boat, whilst JJ got launched in the air and into the water with a large splash.

“Jesus, Pope!” Kie exclaimed as she held her head.

“JJ!” Eli called out as she scrambled towards where the blonde had fallen. She watched as he resurfaced with groan, a sigh of relief falling from her lips.

“You okay, JJ?” John B questioned.

“I think my heels touched the back of my head,” he sputtered out, taking a moment to float on the surface.

“Kie, Eli, are you okay?”

“I'm alright.” Kie answered as she helped Eli to her feet.

Eli nodded. “Yeah, I'm all good.”

“Pope, what did you do?” JJ questioned as he regained his breath.

“Sandbar. The channel changed.”

“No shit,” JJ responded as he began to swim over, bottle still in his hand.

“Ugh, this probably gonna mess this whole place up,” John B complained.

“Hey, I saved the beer though.”

“Congrats, JJ.”

“Guys?” Pope called out as he moved to stand at the edge of the boat, a look of shock on his features as he stared down into the water.

“What's up, Pope?” Eli questioned as she carefully moved to stand next to him.

“Guys, I think there's a boat down here.”

“Shut up.” “No way.”

“No, wait guys,” Eli cut off as she crouched down and peered over the edge. “He's right.”

“I'm serious, there's a boat down there. Like.. for real.”

“Holy shit, he's right. Let's go.”

John B, Kie, and Eli scrambled to pull off their clothes, leaving them in their swimwear as they jumped into water and joined JJ.

“You think there's a dead body down there?” Pope questioned, still standing on the boat, hurriedly pulling of his shirt. “Guys, wait up.”

“Get your ass in here, Pope!”

“You and your morbid obsession, Pope,” Eli called out with a laugh as she watched the boy dive in last.

The group finally dove beneath the surface, making their way towards the sunken boat.

They each briefly checked out a different part of the boat for any clues, before they began to make their way to the surface due to running out of air in their lungs.

“You guys saw that, right!” JJ questioned in excitement as they broke through the surface.

“Yeah!” “What the-”

“That's a Grady-White. A new one of those is like, 500 Gs, easy.” 

The group excitedly swam back to the HMS Pogue and clambered back in one by one.

“Yeah,” John B began as they all got back in. “That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge. Maybe it hit the jetty of something.”

“You surfed the surge?” Kie questioned with an incredulous look.

“I fucking knew it!” Eli exclaimed. “I know you too well.”

JJ laughed as he moved towards John B, hands raised for a high-five. “That's my boy. Pogue style.”

“What the heck.” Kie muttered under her breath.

“Wait, wait,” Pope spoke up. “Do we know whose boat that is?”

“No,” John B responded as he opened up a hatch. “But we're about to find out.”

“Dude, it's too deep.”

“Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ,” John B said with a grin as he pulled out the anchor.

“Well, I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front.”

“That's fine.”

“Woow, where is your sense of loyalty, JJ,” Eli questioned as she clicked her tongue. “That's not very pogue-like of you.”

“Hey-”

“John B,” Kiara cut off as she walked closer to the boy.

“What?”

“Diver down, fool,” Pope cheered with a salute, which John B returned.

“Diver down.”

“Yeah, he is.” JJ suddenly shoved John B, sending him toppling over the side and into the water, sinking into depths towards the sunken boat.

“He'll be fine… right?” Eli questioned, to which the others nodded unconvincingly. “I shouldn't have asked.”

The group sat around impatiently, growing more and more nervous as the minutes passed by slowly.

“Should we go get him?”

As if on cue, the boy resurfaced with a large gasp, causing multiple sighs of relief from the group.

“Oh my god, that took forever!” Kie exclaimed.

“Any dead bodies?” “Looting potential?”

“No. No,” John B responded with heavy breaths as he tried to get air back into his lungs.  “I found this motel key.”

“A key?” The disappointment in Pope's voice was obvious. Eli, for one, was glad there were no dead bodies. She shuddered just thinking about it.

“Yes, a key, Pope.”

“Great,” JJ said as he helped pull John B back in. “We salvaged a motel key.”

“Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard,” Kiara suggested. “Maybe we'll get a finder's fee.”

“Yeah, and not work all summer.” JJ added. “Thanks Agatha, ya batch.”

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Posting chapter two on my birthday eve hehe

Radiance already has 100 even tho I only posted 3 days ago 🥹 feeling grateful <3

Nova x