[song: freaks by surf curse]

pilot

"THAT'S WHAT, A THREE-STORY FALL TO THE DECK? I GIVE YOU ABOUT A ONE-IN-THREE CHANCE OF SURVIVAL," POPE COMMENTED. He was staring up at John B, who was currently balancing on the edge of a roof with one foot. John B, in response, licked his finger and held it out in front of himself, "Should I do it?" He asked us after pretending to feel the air. Pope nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, you should jump. I'll shoot you on the way down," He said, pointing the nail gun that was in his hands right at John B.

"You're gonna shoot me?" John B asked before making finger guns and yelling "pew" as he pointed them at Pope. I leaned back from the railing, my feet dangling off the side of the deck, and turned to face them. "If you could actually hit that shot, Pope, I'd give you all the money I have," I told him. Pope looked back at me with an unamused expression on his dark face. "Yeah? What's that, like fifty bucks?" He deadpanned.

I snorted and raised my eyebrows, "You think I have fifty bucks?" Pope opened his mouth to retort something else but before he could, Kie was appearing from around the corner. "They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers," She announced. JJ grumbled something that I didn't hear as I slowly climbed to my feet. "This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles, I guess?" Kie added.

"Hey," I started, walking towards her. My tone was sincere as I spoke. "Vsco girls love saving the turtles," Kie scoffed and punched my arm with annoyance in her eyes. Then she turned her attention to John B, who was still balancing precariously on the edge of the roof. "Can you please not kill yourself?" She complained. "Don't spill that beer. I'm not giving you another one," JJ advised John B and, as if right on cue, he dropped his beer onto the deck.

There was the sound of a car door slamming as Pope leaned over the railing. "Hey, uh, security's here. Let's wrap it up," His voice cracked at the end. I grinned and slapped him on the back, "Don't sound so excited, Pope," The teasing in my voice had him swiping his hand at me in retaliation. JJ got in a few taunts at the security guard before the five of us finally took our leave. We let out whoops and hollers as we sprinted down the stairs.

JJ and I turned left, planning to run towards the van, but the guard was there to cut us off. We spun, slipping on the dusty concrete floor, before taking off the in the other direction. The second guard managed to grab onto JJ's shirt before shouting, "I got him!" I barreled into the both of them and the impact sent the guard to the ground. "Not much of a hugger, man!" JJ retorted before we continued our escape.

JJ giggled as he stuck his palm out towards me. I grinned, high-fived him enthusiastically, and looked ahead of us. "Go, Pope! Go, go, go, go!" I screamed. Pope managed to jump the wooden fence before landing flat on his face. I laughed, easily hurtled the fence (thank you two years of track), and helped him to his feet. "Hurry up, fatso's coming," JJ exclaimed. John B and Kie appeared in his hippy van then, side door swung open for us.

"Come on, boys!" Kie cheered. The three of us jumped into the van, chests heaving, and let out gleeful laughs. Just as John B started taking off, though, the voice of Gary the security guard filled our ears. We could see him running after the van and waving his hands in the air. "Check out Gary, gunnin' for a raise," Pope called out. "Come on, Gary!" JJ encouraged, sticking his head out of the van's side door.

JJ called for John B to slow down and as the van did, JJ leaned out and began waving Gary on. "Guys, you're gonna give him a heart attack," Kie joked. With a mischievous grin on my face, I grabbed a beer can off the floor and joined JJ out the door. "Check this out," I murmured. We both watched as I lobbed the beer can at Gary who, rather unsurprisingly, dropped it. "JJ, stop. Stop," Kie chastised as he continued to egg Gary on.

"Oh, come on. That sort of initiative is just begging to be punished," He responded. I voiced my agreement and Kie gave me another one of her disapproving looks.

———

I flinched, the sound of a knock at the door having woken me up. "Kiara, your friends are outside," The voice of Kie's mom called from the other side of the door. I heard her knock one more time before finally continuing on down the hallway. Letting out an exhausted groan, I gripped the covers and threw them off of me. As soon as I stood up, I felt the sweat sticking to my body.

Hurricane Agatha had hit yesterday. Guess she took out all the power. Looking down, I cringed at my sweat soaked boxers. "Hey, Kie. I'm gonna use your shower," I called out. She grunted in response and turned over on her bed. I closed the bathroom door behind me and turned the shower nozzle on. As soon as I got in, I felt the cold water run down my body. It felt nice and relaxing compared to the agonizing heat outside.

I took my time washing my hair before moving on to scrubbing my body. When I was done, I turned the water off and patted myself down before wrapping the towel securely around my waist. Kie was up already when I exited her bathroom. She was in the process of pulling a pair of shorts on. "Shower feel nice?" She asked, not bothering to speed up her pace. I didn't mind and just proceeded towards the small dresser she had in the corner of her room.

It stood out against the rest of her furniture. This was plain, small, and simple. It was where I stashed all of the clothes I kept at Kie's house for when I stayed over. "Yeah, I took a cold one to help me wake up," Was my response. I let the towel drop as I pulled a pair of boxers out of the top drawer. With any other girl I would've felt the need to take some clothes and change in the bathroom, but Kie wasn't just any girl.

We'd been friends for so long and had gotten so close that neither of us minded seeing the other naked. It just kind of felt natural. We'd dated for a couple months a while back but it just felt too awkward. I saw her more as my sister than anything else, and kissing your sister was not something that felt too great. I found a pair of cargo pants and a faded Nirvana muscle shirt in one of the drawers and put them on.

"The guys are out by the dock, on the HMS," I told her when I spotted the boat out her window. JJ saw me standing in front of the window and starting jumping up and down like I hadn't already seen him standing there. I smirked and casually waved back before turning towards Kie. "You need any help loading the cooler?" At that Kie shook her head. "You should probably go before my dad starts asking questions, like he always does,"

I shuddered at the thought of having yet another conversation with Kie's father. Every time I came over it was the same questions. "What'd you guys do last night? Are you sure you're not dating? If you're not dating, why does Nate spend the night so much?" It was over and over that he asked these questions. I don't think it was in a bad way, I mean, last time I checked both of Kie's parents loved me, but who knows. Maybe Mr. Carrera does secretly resent me.

"See ya down there," I saluted before hurriedly leaving her room and exiting her house's back door. As soon as the guys saw me they were letting out taunting hollers. "Hey there, Loverboy!" John B sang. He was grinning from the driver's seat of the boat. "Get any action last night?" JJ asked, his lips pulled up into a teasing smile. "Oh yeah. We marathoned Star Wars and I saw Princess Leia in a bikini,"

At that they all laughed. There were footsteps behind me and I felt Kie come up beside me. "He wouldn't stop whining about how hot she was," She complained, obviously overhearing what was said. I gasped and feigned being insulted. "I distinctly remember both of us agreeing on how attractive Carrie Fischer was in those movies," I remarked. Kie hummed and shrugged her shoulders at the guy's prodding. "Hell yeah, she's hot!" JJ agreed.

"Whatcha got? You got some juice boxes?" John B asked, his attention moving to the cooler in Kie's hand. "You know, just some yogurts and carrot sticks," She responded, a knowing look in her eyes. "How about my kind of juice boxes?" JJ added. "Yeah," Kie confirmed as I climbed into the boat before turning and helping her on. When we'd gotten far enough away from her house, Kie opened the cooler and handed all of us a bottle of beer.

After a bit we were all slightly intoxicated and laughing heartily. "Let me show y'all a cool party trick," JJ boasted as he moved to stand on the bow of the boat. "Hey, Pope. Can you go a little faster, please?" He asked as Pope had since taken over driving. He was the only one without a little alcohol in his system at that moment. We all knew what was coming. It was the trick JJ had tried to do almost every time we came on the HMS with drinks.

"I got this. It's gonna work!" JJ shouted as we all voiced our doubts. He turned to face the wind and held the beer up with his mouth open wide. Almost immediately the alcohol inside came flying out and completely missing its intended target. "Oh my god, you're getting beer in my hair!" Kie exclaimed. I was glad at that moment to be beside JJ instead of behind him.

And then the boat caught on something and it was jerked to a sudden stop. I caught a glimpse of JJ flying off the boat before I myself was tumbling into the water below. By the time I reached the surface, JJ had his head sticking out of the water. "I think my heels touched the back of my head," He panted. "What the hell was that, Pope?" I belted, struggling to pull myself back onto the boat. "Sandbar. The channel changed," He responded.

"Hey, I saved the beer," JJ announced, holding said beer in his hands. "Congrats, JJ," John B groaned. "How'd you manage that?" I asked, genuinely curious. Pope was standing on the bow of the boat now and before JJ could answer me, he was speaking. "Guys... I think there's a boat down there," He spoke up. Kie, John B, JJ, and I all exchanged a look before shaking our heads in disbelief. "Shut up," John B laughed.

"No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there. For real," He stammered this time. With my eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I stopped attempting to pull myself up and instead turned towards where he was pointing. "Holy shit, he's right. Let's go," Kie declared. I let go of the edge of the HMS and fell back into the murky waters of the OBX. "You think there's a dead body down there?" Pope asked, slight wonder in his voice. "Let's go find out," I replied, sucking in a deep breath before sinking beneath the surface.

I swam forward easily, the experience of free diving helping propel me ahead of my friends. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was, in fact, a sunken boat. Pope had been right. We all kicked to the surface and grinned in excitement. "You guys saw that?" JJ questioned. "That's a Grady-White. Hell of an expensive boat," I explained. JJ nodded in agreement with me, "A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy," He added.

We all pulled ourselves back onto the HMS, water dripping from our skin and curiosity in our bones. "That's the boat I saw when Nate and I surfed the surge. Maybe it hit the jetty or something," John B informed us. My eyes widened and I swiped my hand across my throat, hoping he'd stop from saying anything else. But it was too late. "You surfed the surge?" Kie asked. I could sense the disappointment in her voice without even seeing her face.

"That's my boys. Pogue style," JJ boasted. I glanced over in Kie's direction and could see she was already looking at me. "Kie, It wasn't that big of a deal," I tried. "How many times did you go under?" She asked, her arms crossed. I looked away, scratching the back of my neck, "Not that many—" "How many, Nate?" She interrupted me. "Like five, all right," Kie scoffed and held her hand out in front of me, all five of her fingers pointing out. "That's five times you could've died,"

Before I could say anything else to her, Pope was speaking. "Wait, wait. Do we know who's boat that is?" He asked. John B shook his head, a smile on his face, "No, but we're about to find out," He promised. John B dug through the compartment in the floor, looking for something. "Dude, it's too deep," JJ commented. John B let out a grunt as he began to lift an anchor out of the compartment. "Only for the weak and feeble, JJ,"

"Well, I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front," JJ snapped back. John B gave a curt response before he began hugging the anchor to his chest. Kie spoke John B's name, worry etched all across her beautiful face. "Diver down, fool," Pope said, saluting him. John B repeated the words with confidence on his face. "Yeah, he is," JJ agreed before he shoved John B off of the boat.

It was a little over a minute when finally one of us spoke up. "Should we go get him?" Pope asked. Before JJ, Kie, or I could respond, John B was bursting from the water with a horrific coughs following right after. "Oh, my god. That took forever!" Kie yelled. "Any dead bodies?" Pope asked, wonder once again seeping into his voice. "Looting potential?" JJ added alternatively. But it was neither of those. "I found this motel key," John B said, holding up a key with a yellow keychain on it.

"Great job, Indiana Jones," I retorted, sarcasm practically dripping from my words. "Thanks, Nate," John B remarked. "Great! We salvaged a motel key," JJ grumbled. He and I helped John B climb back onto the boat, the key clutched tightly in his fingers. "Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard. Maybe we'll get a finger's fee," Kie suggested. We were on our way back to town now, intent on doing just that.

JJ agreed almost immediately, "Yeah, and not work all summer. Thanks, Agatha, ya bitch," He added.

———

Despite having gone into the water, my clothes were completely dry by the time we got back to the marina. There were a bunch of people gathered in the coast guard building, no doubt reporting loved ones that they hadn't heard from. "You hear from Lili?" Kie asked. She was perched against the wall next to me. "Nah but I'm sure she's fine. It's Lili," I assured her. JJ and John B came back then, defeated looks on their faces.

"Well, that went well," Pope joked. JJ hooked his arm across John B's shoulders, "So, what's the plan?" He questioned. John B twirled the motel keys in his hand, a determined look in his eyes. "I think I know how we're gonna find the guy who owns that boat," He told us. Pope shook his head immediately, obviously not liking the idea. "No, no. We don't know whose room that is. It could belong to anyone," He reasoned.

"I'm in," JJ spoke up. Kie smiled, stepping away from the wall with a glint in her eyes, "Come on. I'll be the lookout," She told Pope reassuringly. "Don't be a pussy, Pope," I mumbled, patting him on the shoulder before following after our friends. After a moment I watched as Pope begrudgingly followed after us. "Atta boy!" I encouraged him.

When we got to the motel the keys went to, my eyes widened. It was completely demolished. "I thought the Chateau looked bad," JJ expressed, a high-pitched whistle escaping his lips. "This place is a shitshow," John B agreed. "Motel or meth lab?" Kie added. "You be the judge," Pope mumbled. There were fallen trees decorating the entire property. Some were even inside the building. "Doesn't look like the place somebody with a Grady-White stays," John B observed.

"No. Looks like the type of place someone with a Grady-White would get killed," Was Pope's response. Even the sign announcing the motel's name was fallen over. I let out a snort when I spotted the mattress that was laying at the bottom of some stairs. "This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing," JJ announced, dawning a walkie-talking voice before leaping from the bow of the boat.

He let out a holler as he tied the HMS down, securing it. "All right. Here goes nothin'," John B remarked. "Hey," Pope started, stopping him from going any further. "Don't let him do anything stupid," He finished, pointing towards JJ. "That's impossible. JJ's built stupid," I teased. JJ stuck his middle finger out to me, a cocky smile on his face. I puckered my lips and made kissy noises back at him. "Uh, be careful," Kie told John B, handing the keys to him.

There was an awkward silence as John B just smiled before going off with JJ. "'Be careful'," I mimicked her, my voice obnoxiously high. "Fuck off," She sneered, shoving me roughly. A couple minutes after they'd left, the three of us were finding mundane ways to entertain ourselves. "Biggest pet peeve?" Pope asked. He and Kie were sat across from one another. I was sitting on the edge of the back of the boat, my feet dangling above the water.

"Giving one percent to the environment," She responded. "Hey, Nate, is that why you guys broke up?" Pope asked me tauntingly. I didn't respond verbally, just made an obscene gesture and remained quiet. "What's wrong with that?" Pope asked, presumably going back to he and Kie's conversation. "We only have one Earth, Pope. We should be giving it 100 percent, bare minimum," Kie criticized.

"Right. That's not fiscally sound," Pope told her, using a big word that I had no idea the meaning to. "Neither is destroying the only planet we have to live on," "Hey, hey, cops," Pope exclaimed, alarmed. I turned to see a sheriff's vehicle parking just a couple yards away from us. "Call them," Pope told Kie. "Towers are down," I responded. We began exiting the boat and Pope leaned towards me, "If I lose my Merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone," He hissed.

We crouched behind the fallen motel sign, our eyes trained on the two deputies. "Maybe they're not going up there. Maybe— Maybe they're just looking for a room," Pope suggested worriedly. "He's pointing, Pope. They're going up there," We took off from behind the sign and hurried over to the side of the building. We'd seen which room the guys had gone into. There was a window that was directly connected to the room that we could signal them by.

"Stand back," Pope exclaimed, grasping a rock in his hand. Instead of it flying perfectly towards the window, Pope's shitty throw ended up having the rock land just barely a couple feet from him, completely missing the window. Kie, with a disgusted expression on her face, turned to look at him. "Didn't you ever play baseball?" She uttered. "I was on the math team," Pope breathed. I forced myself not to burst out laughing, "What the fuck, Pope,"

Kie picked up a rock and lobbed it at the window but once again, it missed. "Okay, both of you suck ass at being athletic," I snickered. Picking up a rock myself, I threw it forcibly towards the window. Unsurprisingly, my throw smacked perfectly against the glass. "That's how it's done," I bragged. John B's head popped up from behind the blinds and the three of us frantically motioned towards the door.

As soon as he was gone, we split back to the HMS. "Should we peel?" Kie panted, hand ready to turn the keys. "You never leave a Pogue behind," Pope answered. So, we waited and watched. "No, seriously, should we peel?" Kie asked again. This time it was less alarmed. Both JJ and John B were outside the window now, pressed tightly against the wall. "What are you guys doing?!" Pope exclaimed. They both turned back towards us, both with different expressions.

John B looked alarmed while JJ looked like he was having the time of his life. Something must have happened because the next second JJ and John B were looking incredulously at each other. Then, JJ was reaching into his pocket. I watched as a pistol fell out and clanged onto the ground. Both he and John B hurriedly hugged the wall. The blinds went up a second later and the three of us jumped backwards. We tried desperately to look less suspicious.

"Well, that was fun. Could've warned us a little sooner," JJ laughed after we'd gotten out of there. "We would have, except Pope was on the math team," Kie mocked. John B snorted and looked over at our friend, "You were on the math team?" Without answering him, Pope starting speaking. "The cops took everything like it was a crime scene. Did you guys find anything?" He asked.

JJ sat up casually, a nonchalant expression on his face. "Did we find anything? No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did," He held up two very different things. In one hand he held a huge wad of cash, and in the other was the pistol that'd I seen fall from his pocket. "Holy shit!" I exclaimed. Both Kie and Pope expressed their shock as well. "Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope cried.

JJ scoffed, "It's better than the cops having it," Kie turned John B was a disapproving look, "Are you serious?" The smile was wiped from his face as soon as he looked at her. "I'm gonna lose my Merit scholarship," Pope whined. "Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh, sh," JJ tried comforted him. "At least you have us, right?" Key word, tried. "I'm living the nightmare," Pope replied.

———

"Who's that?" John B asked. We all watched as a woman leaned over the body of a man. She was crying, sobbing actually. The body had just recently been found. "It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm," Some girl answered. "Check out this pic I got," She gasped, holding her phone out towards us. It was just a close up of Scooter's body but she seemed pretty stoked about it.

"What kind of boat did he have?" JJ asked, voicing what the rest of us were thinking. The unknown girl shook her head in disbelief, "Somehow, that dirtbag copped a brand-new Grady-White. Everyone's out looking for it," At this the five of us exchanged alarmed looks. As fast as we could, we got out of there and back to John B's house. "Okay. So, um... we didn't see anything. We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia," Pope declared as soon as we got through the door.

We were all sat on the porch, not really freaking out at all. "Actually, Pope's right for once," JJ agreed. "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny," He added when Pope shot him an incredulous look. Kie was sat on the couch, resting her head on her hand. "Guys, we can't keep that money," She expressed. "Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara," JJ retorted. She sat forward, "We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma,"

Pope nodded his head vigorously in agreement, "Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too. We gotta go dark," I stood, leaning against a wooden post while contemplating which side I agreed more with. And after a little longer, I'd made my decision. "Sorry, Kie, but I'm with JJ. The universe doesn't care if we keep a wad of cash or not. I say we split it between us, fair and square," I affirmed. Unexpectedly, John B didn't side with JJ and I.

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

He made a good point, and he'd piqued my interest. But Pope needed a little more convincing. "All right, so think about it, Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?" John B asked. Pope inhaled sharply, reeling in his fishing line determinedly, "Prostitution," He guessed. John B shook his head, "Square groupers, bro. Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?" He pointed towards our blonde, blue eyed friend.

"We're straight smugglin'," JJ announced. "Smugglin'. And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck," John B explained. "For the record," Pope started, setting his fishless fishing rod down as he moved to go inside. "If that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it... it probably belongs to someone else. The could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid," Pope flopped onto John B's bed before slowly sitting up.

JJ leaned forward and snatched the money that Pope had been carrying, "Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time," He spread the money out so we could see each one hundred dollar bill that was in the stack. "All we need to do right now is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just law low. Just act normal," JJ advised. "Right. And how exactly do we do that?" Pope questioned.

There was a moment of silence before an idea hit me. I grinned wickedly and smacked my hand on the bed. With all eyes on me I whispered, "Kegger,"

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I'm actually in love with Booboo Stewart as Nate. He's probably one of my favorite face claims that I've come up with for a character and I'm extremely happy that more gifs of him have come out.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I wanted to get the first chapter done before the second season came out. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go waste some time before the second season comes out and I go on a binge :D

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