Sleep did not come easy that night. I finally managed to drift off after JJ left, but that only lasted about an hour before I woke up screaming from a nightmare. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Topper drowning John B. The image of the thrashing waves rolling over his lolling head haunted me. I made sure to check on the boy every thirty minutes, scared to death that he would stop breathing. In the time between, I worked hard at cleaning the messy rooms of the Chateau. I managed to spiffy up the bathroom and laundry room before John B regained consciousness.

It was like clockwork when I made another trip into the brunette's room to check on him. The clock on the nightstand read 3:30 when I entered, my eyes sweeping over the sleeping boy's rising chest once more. Relief once again flooded my mind as I adjusted the blanket to cover his entire body. Just as I turned to leave, a hoarse voice rang through the silent room.

"Vie?" John B asked, his eyes barely open and his body motionless as he spoke.

"Yeah, it's me Bird." I sighed in relief, immediately moving to his side. "You okay?"

"I feel like I was just run over by a train. Twice." He groaned, a small smile curling at the corner of his lips. "I looked pretty badass though, right?"

A heartfelt laugh broke free from my chest at his words. In normal circumstances I would have told him the truth, that although he did put up a great fight, he didn't look all that good when Topper was holding him underwater, but he deserved some slack for once, so I played along. "Totally badass."

The boy breathed out a croaky laugh and moved his hands to hold onto his middle, which was undoubtedly in pain from Topper's punches to the ribs. "JJ here?"

"No," I sighed, and John B's eyes opened in surprise. He had expected JJ to have crashed here tonight as I had. "Luke wanted him home or some shit."

Silence hung in the air for a few moments as his gaze met my exhausted one. "You haven't slept at all, have you?"

He knew very well that I had trouble sleeping. And he knew that on those restless nights, the only way that I could doze off would be if he or JJ were there. And if he was unconscious and JJ was gone then it was a given that I had been up at all hours of the night.

"I-" I started, but as he gently held his arm up, I, for once, didn't want to be the strong one. So I let the mask slip as I sunk into the warm covers next to my best friend, whose embrace promised to chase the nightmares away. We layed in comfortable silence, his arm cradling my head as the exhaustion crept up on me.

"You know that what Topper and Sarah said isn't true, right?" John B whispered into the space between us. The insults thrown at me at the kegger bounced around my head, their words laced with venom and trying to reach their fingers into my heart. "You're nothing like that asshole."

Tears sprung to my eyes at the boy's gentle words addressing the subject that had been pulling at my heart for years. There were many similarities between me and that man that terrified me, but the fact that one of the people who knew me inside and out didn't think so warmed my heart. I nodded my head, afraid that if I spoke my words would jumble.

"Good night Vie."

"Good night Bird."

And sleep took the reins for the last few hours of the night, the previous terror-filled dreams put on hold as John B fought them off.

—----------------------------------

Come morning a series of harsh knocks pounding against the Chateau's door jolted me awake. A lengthy groan left my lips as I sat up in the messy bed, my hair tangled every which way. The blazing morning sun had snuck its way through the blinds and was practically blinding. John B was fast asleep on his stomach next to me, completely unaware of the loud noise that echoed through the house. I let out another frustrated groan as the knocking continued, wondering who the hell was here to bother us at this ungodly hour of the day. All of the pogues knew from experience not to knock in the mornings, so this had to be someone else.

"Shit." I hissed as I stumbled out of the bed, still not fully awake and silently cursing whoever was waiting outside. I trudged through the house, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I made my way to the front door. I peeked through the window next to the entrance, knowing that there were a few people we had pissed off that would love to catch us off guard at 7:30 in the morning, but the gaze of the person outside surprised me. I threw myself against the wall between the door and the window, hoping that she hadn't seen me. "Shit, shit, shit."

"Miss Collins, don't think I didn't just see you peek out here." Sheriff Peterkin's voice called from the other side of the wall. "Open this door."

I ran my hands down my face in frustration before opening the door with a polite look. "Sheriff Peterkin," I greeted, flinching as the woman looked disapprovingly at the beer cans and the stubs of smoked joints that were scattered around the porch. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

The stern gazed officer stood with her hands on her hips, the sun glinting off of the shiny badge on her chest that read 'sheriff'. She removed the brown hat from her head and gave me an 'I could get you in a lot of trouble right now' look that made my spine stiffen. Sheriff Peterkin was a good woman. She was the only officer in Kildare County who actually looked out for the people living on the cut. But while she looked out for us Pogues, she was also the only one who really posed a threat to us. She wasn't afraid to throw our asses in a cell if she caught us in the middle of a scheme. She was not someone that I wanted to be on the bad side of.

"I'm here to talk to John B. Is he up?" She asked, moving to look behind me into the Chateau.

I shook my head as the officer's serious gaze lingered on my face. "No ma'am, he's still asleep," I answered as a million things ran through my mind. "But I can take a message."

Did she find out about last night? Had JJ gotten pulled over with the gun on him? Did she know that we surfed the surge? Did she know about our interference with the Scooter Grubbs case?

The last one sent a shiver up my spine. If she did then we were in deep shit.

"No need, I'll give him a good wake-up call." Peterkin pushed past me and stepped haphazardly around the trash and clothes littering the floor of the Chateau. "Oh, and you may want to clean up that face of yours, you're not lookin' too spiffy."

My hand flew up to the tender skin around my eye that had been damaged in last night's fight. Well, if she didn't know about the brawl before, then she sure did now. I followed behind the officer as she walked into JB's room without knocking. I silently snuck behind the woman and shoved the bag of weed on the dresser under a pile of dirty clothes. JJ would hate me for it later, but I'd rather face his fury than Peterkin's.

As the sheriff stopped next to his bed, John B flinched awake, a startled expression crossing his face at the sight of the guest in his bedroom.

"Get decent, sweetie. We need to talk."

I shut the door after Peterkin as John B staggered out of the bed. I threw him a somewhat clean pair of swim trunks, anything was better than his beer-soaked shorts, and turned around to give him some privacy as the boy tried to shake off the haze that last night's unconsciousness pressed onto him. "You think she knows about the boat?"

"Fuck, I hope not." He groaned from behind me. "Okay, you're good."

I turned back around and watched as John B gathered the beer bottles in his room and hid them in the closet. "Well, you know the drill." I let out as we prepared for the conversation with the sheriff. "Deny, deny, deny."

The two of us walked into the living room, discreetly throwing the many beer bottles into a trash bag in hopes that Peterkin hadn't already seen them. But we both knew that she had, we just hoped that she was more focused on the matter at hand rather than the illegal activities the teens had been participating in.

"Sorry to barge in like this, but DCS called." The woman spoke as she leaned against the doorway of the living room. "They wanted me to check on you. See how you're doin'."

John B stiffened and shared a hesitant glance with me. We both knew that he wasn't the best liar, and neither of us wanted to let anything slip that would send him on the next ferry to the mainland.

"So how are you guys besides the-" She looked at John B, motioning to the gnarly black eye that had gotten worse over the night. I hadn't looked in the mirror yet, but I was fairly sure that mine matched his to a T.

John B shrugged, attempting to seem nonchalant. "Oh, no, I'm- I'm great. Yeah, fantastic. Uh, thanks for coming by." He reassured, motioning to me as I simultaneously nodded along at his statement.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that, John B," Peterkin said, the two of us quickly picking up the rest of the bottles on our way to the kitchen. "But I heard a few things that worried me. Let me see if I can remember." I dropped the trash into the bag as the sheriff took a pause, her gaze lifting to a picture of John B's Uncle T that was hanging on the wall. "Oh, yeah. One of the things I heard was that your Uncle Teddy, your guardian, hasn't been in the state for three months."

"Yeah, that's false." John B retaliated, shaking his head as I moved off to the other side of the kitchen.

"You don't have to say anything, I know it's true." She cut the boy off, her hand on the wall next to the framed pictures of the Routledges. "I called the school."

John B stopped what he was doing and turned his attention towards the sheriff. We shared a look of dread as I moved to stand next to him.

"They said you used to be a good student, but now you're failin' all your classes." Peterkin continued as she picked up a leftover roach from the kitchen table. She took a sniff and gave us an expectant look.

"No. No, I'm only failing one, and it's history." John B denied quickly. "The dude's a dick. He's got it out for me-"

Before he could spew out more lies the sheriff turned towards me. "And I heard there was a fight on the beach yesterday, and a gun was involved." Peterkin searched my face for any change of emotion as John B looked between us. "That where you two get your matching shiners?"

"No, we actually decided to wack each other in the face for fun." My words dripped with unintentional sarcasm. I knew that she was just looking out for us, but the mention of the gun which JJ had been shooting lit a small spark in me. The last thing I wanted was for him to get arrested. And this was seeming less like a check-up and more like an interrogation every passing minute.

"Okay, gun? No." John B interjected, cocking his head before shaking it. He stepped past Peterkin and patted her shoulder in an attempt to seem nonchalant. "Did we get into a dustup? Yes, but was there a gun?" He scoffed in disbelief and threw his hands in the air as he moved closer towards the door. "No, no way."

"That's okay. I know who it was. I'll get to him." The woman calmly said as if she didn't just imply a threat on one of our own. "All I'm worried about right now is makin' sure you're in a safe home."

John B gave me a glare as I went to defend JJ, and then scoffed with an incredulous look. "Yeah, super safe." He reassured, knocking on the table at his side as he spoke. "Super sound, sturdy. You know what I mean?"

I mentally face-palmed at the boy's attempt at lying. He really was the worst. And Peterkin thought so too because she gave him a very unimpressed look.

"And, Uncle T's coming back, so-"

Before he could finish Peterkin interrupted his lie. "That what he told you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if he really is coming home, I think you should be allowed to stay."

"Thank you." John B said, throwing his hands up as if finally someone agreed with him.

Something in the sheriff's tone set the gears in my brain into motion. What did she really want? There was no reason for her to have agreed with him, especially since she knew that Uncle T wasn't coming home. She must have something up her sleeve, otherwise she wouldn't be taking this big of a leap for little old Orphan Anne here.

"But if I stick my neck out for you, you have to help me. Tit for tat." Yep, there it was. The catch.

The boy exchanged a glance with me, nervously running his hand through his untamed hair. "What- what does tat mean?"

Peterkin looked between the pair of us as I moved reassuringly next to John B. He wasn't the best liar, but maybe I could save his ass.

"Let me see, how can you two help me? Oh, I know." She moved closer, closing the two of us in between her and the door. I stiffened up as the woman's unyielding gaze bore into my eyes. "So, a body was found in the marsh yesterday. Were you two in the marsh yesterday?"

My insides froze at the woman's words. Shit, she knows. She knows we found the wreck. We are so fucked.

"Yeah, we were fishin' for some drum," I spoke up before JB could open his mouth. Rule number one of lying-if you can, incorporate as much of the truth into your lie as possible. You're less likely to be caught.

"You catch anything?"

"Nah, we were skunked." John B answered before I could get the words out. I had to refrain from slapping him on the head on behalf of his utter stupidity.

"Strange. Fishings usually good after a storm. All sorts of things get stirred up." Peterkin pointed out as John B froze. I pinched his arm behind my back as the officer took a step closer, clearly trying to squeeze the truth out of us. "You come across a wreck yesterday?"

As the words hit the air a sudden and palpable tension settled in the space between the three of us. She knew, but she didn't have any proof, otherwise she wouldn't be here. But I couldn't help but wonder just how she had connected us to the boat. Sure, we had done a really bad job of going dark, but just one rumble between the kooks and pogues wouldn't have been enough to raise suspicion. It had to be the gun.

"No." John B said, and if I didn't know the truth, his look of confusion and calm demeanor would have actually convinced me.

Peterkin sighed, her eyes swimming in frustration. "You skimmin' just above the surface, John B." Her voice lowered as she held her hand up to demonstrate her words. Her finger circled in the space between our chests. "Now, down here is foster care, juvie. Pretty big drop for a smart kid like you." She raised her hand higher now, her gaze straying off to me. "Up here is you and your little friends doing whatever you want."

Tense silence passed between the two as the reality of the situation began to settle on John B's shoulders.

Peterkin circled her hand in the air again. "Outer Banks..." She brought it back down. "Or foster care on the mainland."

The brunette sunk into the tattered couch, his posture sagging in defeat. I placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him as the sheriff glanced between us.

"You one inch above the surface, John B." Peterkin continued. "If I was you, I'd start flappin' my wings. Now, you sure you two didn't come across a wreck yesterday?"

I spoke up, the lie sliding across my tongue as easily as my own name. "Yeah, we're sure."

The officer lowered herself so that our eyes were at the same level, our faces a foot apart. I kept my expression as calm as I could, knowing that we had to sell this lie. Our fate depended on it. JJ's fate depended on it. "It's better if you didn't, you understand?" She spoke with an intensity that left an unsettling feeling in my stomach. She placed a hand on my shoulder as she straightened up, John B's curious gaze following her. "I'm gonna look the other way, as long as you guys stay out of the marsh."

Yep. I knew there was a catch.

The woman stepped towards the door before unexpectedly stopping. She turned back to me, a highly serious look crossing her face. "And Stevie, you haven't received any odd phone calls recently, have you?"

I hesitated as I searched my mind for the answer. This in no way connected to the conversation that had passed a moment ago, and for the first time this morning I let my confusion show. "No, I don't think so. But the towers are down, so I wouldn't know."

"Good. If you do come across one, you let me know." She nodded. The woman gave the room around us a tired look. "I got dogs livin' better than this, John B. Might want to think about cleaning up. And tell your Aunt Cass I said hi."

And then she was gone, taking the tense and uncomfortable atmosphere with her.

The two of us were frozen in thought for a few moments before the sound of John B aggressively chucking a can against the wall broke the silence. The boy sat with his elbows on his knees as his frustration boiled over. I sank into the seat beside him as I rubbed his back in a motherly manner. "It'll all be ok. I'll fight a bitch before I let DCS take you."

He let out a small laugh and straightened up. I smiled at him in reassurance and he sent me a small smile back. "I bet JJ would pay good money to see that. He worships chick fights."

"JJ worships anything to do with women." I rolled my eyes as thoughts of my blonde-haired best friend flooded through my mind. I hoped that he would be okay if Peterkin got to him.

"Speaking of JJ, you have to be the one to tell him that we're not goin' out on the boat." John B made a cringing face as he looked over to me.

"Absolutely..." His face lit up in excitement at my words. "Not."

"Oh come on, he likes you!" He held his arms up as if he was pleading with me.

"I said I would fight a bitch, not JJ Maybank."

"What if I put a wig on him?"

"Don't be a pussy JB." I laughed as the boy threw a couch pillow at me.

"You're the worst."

—--------------------------------

That afternoon the tension between the six of us was so high that it felt as if we were suffocating. Our group was scattered around the surf shed in the backyard, the only sound that punctured the awkward silence being the irregular knock of Kiara's hands against her bongos. Pope was staring intently at his book in an attempt to not be involved, and me and Eli were watching with bated breath as John B paced back and forth through the shed. JJ had withdrawn to an old circular table a few feet from us in the grass, where for the past seven minutes he had been harshly throwing rocks from his perch on top of the furniture. His jaw was clenched and he made it a point to lead his gaze away from the rest of us.

The sound of another pebble roughly bouncing off of the ground brought my anger up a notch. I glanced at the blonde boy in annoyance, but he continued to chuck the rocks across the yard, his brows pinched over his narrowed eyes. I could tell that he was angry and anxious, and it hurt to have to hold myself back from comforting him, but I had promised to do whatever I could to keep John B on the island. There was no way this was going to end peacefully.

"Look, I'm callin' it off. Alright?" John B's voice rang through the deafening silence, each of our eyes on him as he spoke. "Peterkin said if I stay out of the marsh she'll help me with DCS."

My gaze carried to JJ, taking notice of his eye roll and strained features. It was clear that the boy did not appreciate the thought of cutting our little adventure short. I knew that if there was even a sliver of a chance that there were valuables on the boat then JJ was all hands on deck, and telling him no would royally piss him off. After all, this could make him, not even just him, all of us rich. But when the sheriff does a house call and tells you to stay the hell away from a crime scene then you stay the hell away from the crime scene.

"And you believed her?" JJ let out in incredulous disbelief. It was a well-known fact that the Maybank boy had a history of despising law enforcement. Even if the sheriff was god herself the boy wouldn't believe a word out of her mouth. And I couldn't blame him for his distrust, the cops had always seemed to have it out for him.

"Yes, I believe her, JJ." John B responded with an edge to his words.

JJ scoffed. "An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop." The boy's words were heavy with disdain as he let out a strained laugh, angrily throwing another rock out towards the marsh.

"All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple of days, and she'll help me out." John B ranted angrily, tired of the fuss that our friend was putting up. "It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."

"I mean, he was saving your ass." I spoke, hoping to defend the boy's actions. Sure, shooting the gun was stupid, but there was no other way to stop the fight. My statement earned me a quick glare from John B as I put my hands in the air. "Just telling the truth."

"You know what I should have done, man? I should have just let Topper drown your ass." JJ said casually as if the words meant nothing. But they did mean something, and I could feel the boy's angry stare crushing my heart. Talking about one of the people closest to me dying was not something that I took lightly, and he knew that. The others stayed silent, looking between the two in annoyance as I stood up.

"What the fuck, JJ?" I sneered, my eyes swimming with betrayal. But he ignored me and continued pelting the ground with rocks.

John B scoffed. "Yeah, because Topper was gonna drown me?"

"Sure looked like it."

"Funny." JB egged him on.

"I mean have either of you looked in a mirror recently?" JJ asked, pointing to the blue and purple bruise that spanned from the corner of my eye to my temple. He stood up from the table and made his way to the entrance of the shed. "There was no way I was going to stand by and let him do that shit to her. To you. You know I can't. And if you weren't busy getting your head shoved in the sand you would have done the same!"

My heart ached as I stood between the two most important people in my life. They were both right in their own ways, and I hated to be in the middle of the conversation. It was one thing to hear them argue, but it was crushing to see their pressing gazes that screamed 'come on, you're on my side, right?'

"Tell me some more. Come on."

The blonde boy rested his arm on the wooden support beam, looking at JB with a sardonic smile. "They always win, don't they man?" The brewing anger that he had for our enemies boiled over. "Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!" He spat out in fury, hitting the decorations hanging above his head before storming back into the yard. "Goddamn!"

"Look, it's okay!" Kiara reassured him, trying to ease the tension in the air.

He quickly turned back towards us. "No, it's not okay! It is not!"

There was nothing that I could say to him because he was right. The rivalry between the Pogues and the Kooks went deeper than just a turf war. It was total injustice based on privilege. No matter the situation, the Kooks always won. If they got in trouble with the cops, their daddy would just pay their way out of trouble. If they beat the shit out of one of us they were given a warning. But if one of the Pogues fought back then they made our lives a living hell. They would press charges for any little scrape, get us fired from the jobs that kept us from starving, and if they were really feeling up to it, they would buy our houses from underneath us. They were on top of the world and still, they made sure that we groveled in the dirt.

And the fucked up part about it was that we couldn't do anything to change that. We couldn't fight back or even just try to live life under the radar. They always found a way to fuck us over. And JJ was tired of it. All of us were, but him especially. The rest of us could take the insults thrown our way, but JJ was getting sick of being told that he would amount to nothing but a lowlife alcoholic criminal like his dad. Whatever may be on this boat may have been his one ticket out, and I hated that it had to be taken away like this.

"They don't want us to go down into the marsh, that means there's something valuable down there, and you know it, man. I know you do." JJ pointed to John B who just shook his head. "And I understand why you don't wanna go." He faced Pope who had remained silent throughout the conversation. "You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you-" He faced Kiara. "I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?" The girl rolled her eyes as he raised his hand to Eli. "And you have to take care of your sisters, but you-" He turned back to John B. "You, and me, and Stevie, man, we got nothin' to lose!"

I understood what he meant. Sure, we had some to lose, but the others had actual futures on the line. Kie's money could get her out into the world, Pope's scholarship could get him into college, and Eli's knack for fixing anything and everything could land him a good-paying job. They had a chance to get away from this shithole of an island. But me, JB, and JJ? We didn't have a chance to get away. We were destined to be stuck in the loop, repeating the fate that had befallen our parents and their parents before them. We had no future to lose.

"JJ..." John B muttered.

"And I know it didn't used to be that way for you."

"I don't want to talk about this." John B huffed and began moving out from under the awning.

"I mean you guys had a family, but now we have no one-,"

The word had echoed in my ears. "Oh yeah, that was a fucking cheap shot."

"I don't want to talk about it." The Routledge boy repeated.

JJ stepped in front of him. "So that's it?"

"Just get out of my way, bro!" John B shoved him to the side and began to stalk off.

"Hey! Calm down." Pope snapped at the two. When Pope snapped at you it was like being scolded by a highly pissed-off mother. We all knew that it wasn't good when the two boys got physical.

But JJ didn't seem to care, instead, he followed John B and continued with his persuasive argument. "John B, listen to me. I have a plan."

Pope, Kie, Eli and I all shared looks, knowing from experience that the words 'I have a plan' coming out of JJ's mouth led to nothing good. "Well, this should be delightful." Eli laughed.

"You got the key to Cameron's big boat, right?

John B groaned. "No, JJ-"

"There's scuba gear inside, man. We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what's gonna save you, man!" JJ draped his arm over the brunette's shoulder. "You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?"

John B looked at JJ and then looked off into the distance, not providing any response. His silence struck us all, letting us know that the blonde had successfully persuaded him. It was the same every time. JJ came up with ridiculously stupid and dangerous plans, and the rest of the Pogues eventually fell prey to his insanely convincing words. Sure, more times than not trouble followed, but what else did we have to do?

I did have a feeling that this specific plan would backfire somehow though, despite the echoing voice in my head that screamed for the adventure. I turned to the others, Kiara and Pope sharing shocked expressions and Eli's shit-eating 'let's go get into trouble' grin curling around his lips. "Five bucks says this goes terribly wrong."

—------------------------------------------

Authors note
So this one is a bit boring but I had to split it off here because the next scene would make it too long.
Also... I can already smell the silent judgement. IM SO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG.
As some of you know, I'm currently doing a social experiment for school where I stay off of social media for two weeks. This means that I have not posted on TikTok nor have I opened the app for nearly two weeks. I know it's going to kill my account but it's something I have to do. I miss seeing all of your comments though, and I'm excited that the two weeks are almost up.
Anyway I'm starting to work on the next chapter now, so until next time stay rad you cool cats!