CHAPTER EIGHT: INSTA MODELS

________________

"you guys see that?" jj whistled as we all looked as the boat that was about to pass us, "that's the malibu 24-mxz, the world's finest wakesetter. number one in quality, luxury, and performance. 200k, easy."

"we picked the wrong parents," pope uttered as we all silently agreed with him.

"i hate to break it to you guys, but that's topper and his girlfriend," kie mentioned as we all looked in that direction to notice that she, was in fact right.

"hey, they're not only that! they're the kook prince and princess," i said in a horrible british accident as i acted like i had a crown on my head.

"you don't have to act like you didn't see us, bitch," kie said rather loudly. sarah and kie have some kind of backstory, but i'm not aware of all of the details. she refuses to talk about it. they were best friends freshman year, but sophomore year, they hated each other's guts.

-

-

"all right, keep a lookout. we're behind enemy lines," jj said, messing with the gun.

"yo, come on man, just, put it back," john b attempted to reason with him.

"what?"

"jj."

"you can never be too careful," jj disagreed.

pope hopped out of the van and rested his arm, "hey, i predict that bringing a weapon to a four-star hotel will likely cause more problems than they solve."

"thank you pope," john b ran a hand through his hair.

"i swear to god, i'm gonna throw that thing in the ocean jj. put it back," kie scolded as i sat in the back in silence. john b snatched the gun out of jj's hand, causing him to get aggravated.

"you can't grab a gun like that. can't forget my badge," he opened the glove compartment, "professional busboy." i laughed at his remark that nobody else thought was funny. was this just because i'm in love with him or that the rest of the pogues were being sticks in the mud?

"so, where are we going now," pope trailed behind the other four of us.

"we're getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now. this way," he said in a horrible accent.

"andrew!" jj shouted as we walked into the kitchen, "what's up bro?"

"mama l, good to see you," he continued, attempting to take a bit of her dish, only for his hand to be smacked away.

"hey no, jj!" she admonished.

"see, they got the backup generators going? kooks don't miss a beat," we all looked around, only to be met with many kooks, everywhere.

"j, i believe we're a bit, out of place," i talked lowly so that only he could hear.

"elsie, we're not here to fit in," he responded, leading us into a room full of technology.

"yess," i smiled.

"sweet lord, the internet! i've missed you," pope ran straight to one of the computers.

"let me get in there," jj said, closing the door carefully, "gotta check out my insta models." i rolled my eyes at his remark as pope looked back at me sympathetically.

"we don't have time for that," kie kept jj in check.

john b dug around his backpack, "hey, hey, hey, i got the map!"

"coordinates, please?" pope rested his hands on the keyboard.

"34, 57, 30, north. 75, 55, 42, west," john b slowly answered as pope typed it in the computer, "boom, continental shelf right there."

"well, if it's off the deep end, it's not gonna be much of a treasure hunt, is it? come on baby, come on."

"shit, it's on the high side. it's only 900 feet," john b avowed.

"that's not too deep," jj shrugged.

"is that doable or something?"

"yeah, totally doable."

"well, will we be taking your personal submarine?" pope sassed jj. he was only being optimistic.

"how do you know this, mr. dive master?" john b gestured towards jj.

"the salvage yard," he replied simply, "they got a drone that can drop 1,000 feet. it has a 360 camera and everything. it's for like, deep dives and stuff. it's exactly what we need."

"can your dad get his grimy hands on that?" john b remarked as i nudged him for being so blunt.

"well, my dad's grimy little hands got his ass fired," jj remembered, "i guess the salvage captain frowns on showing up shitfaced, turns out. but the drone's there. it's in the impound yard out back."

"how much did you say was on the royal merchant again?" kie looked up.

"400 mil," we all replied together.

"400 million dollars?" kie double checked as pope ran to guard the door.

"pope, what're you doin?" i asked him as we all got up to leave the room.

"no, absolutely not, absolutely not! no!" he fumed.

"pope, move!"

"guys, that's too-"

"come on," kie scoffed as we easily got the door open.

"can't we do anything legal for money?" he groaned, following us out of the room.

"go."

-

-

"pope, we're not stealing the drone, we're borrowing it," john b tried compromising with pope.

"humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality," he factually stated.

"did you come up with that?" john b inquired.

"albert bernstein came up with it, but it applies to the whole treasure-hunt thing. so, which is it? fantasy, or reality?" pope turned to john b.

"you don't seriously think we're playing make believe, do you pope?" i rolled my eyes.

"why are you so weird pope?" jj said as he rolled a blunt.

"it's fantasy, but possible reality," kie tried to give him a realistic answer.

"reality," john b confirmed.

"virtual reality," jj finally joked, lighting the blunt. pope took the lighter out of his hands.

"keep the signal clear," pope pointed.

"you know what your problem is?"

"you?" pope questioned.

"no, it's that you need to relax, man. you're always so tense!" jj retorted.

"yeah, and the best way to do that is with this!" i took the blunt from jj's fingers and waved it in front of pope.

"elsie, come on. anyway, we gotta go, our time to shine," kie grabbed her bag and hopped out of the car as i did the same.

"hey, don't worry. you girls got this. just be flirty or whatever," john b told the two of us.

"it's not us that i'm worried about," kie countered, referring to the two boys fighting in the back.

-

"hello!" kie called out to the security officer, "excuse me?"

"if you need to stall him, just be your normal hot self," kie rolled her eyes as i nodded, "middle-aged men love that shit."

"can i help you ladies?" he asked us.

"hi, um. we actually just have a flat tire."

"we were wondering if you could possibly give us a little assistance?" i added onto kie's remark.

"yeah."

"yeahh," i dragged out my words.

"it's too easy," kie grumbled as i agreed with her.

"it's just this back one right here," kie ran her hands through her hair as we showed him where it was, "i mean it must've been a slow leak or something," she added as she slung her arm on the boat and i put my hands on my hips.

"probably just been sitting in the yard too long," he realized.

i answered in my sweetest voice, "yeah."

"i got this," he nodded as he crouched down to give it a look.

"thank you," we replied together at the same time. after a few moments, he looked up at us slightly confused.

"got it?"

"yeah," he returned to his work. "you hear that?" shit.

apparently there was a dog we weren't aware of. that would've helped.

"hear what?" kie responded immediately, even though we all knew damn well that we heard the loud barking.

"oh, oh, tebow's got something," he stood up, alarmed.

"it's probably just a raccoon maybe. you know?" kie came up with the best excuse she could in the moment, "nothing to worry about."

"yeah."

"yeahh." kie said before walking to the other side. i knew what she was doing. she was trying to mess up another tire to buy more time.

"so, you have a guard dog. is he yours?" i tried to strike up some kind of distracting conversation.

"yeah, he's mine alright. where's that friend of yours?" he questioned.

"oh, she's probably just checking on something," i moved a strand of hair out of my face. before i knew it, he was walking to the other side to be met with kie trying to take some air out of another tire.

"what are you doing?" the man wondered.

"this one looks a little low too." the man took off running, realizing that it was a setup.

"wait, wait!" kie aimed to stop him.

"he's not coming back now. shit," i said, taking kie's hand and running to the car. turns out, jj made up one hell of a lie, and it worked out.

-

-

we decided to stop by kie's parent's restaurant to see if they could spare some food.

"stealing drones makes you hungry," kie opened the door and hopped out.

"what i would do for a beer and shrimp and grits right now," jj fantasized.

"it would not be pretty."

the five of us walked into the restaurant.

"good evening mr. c!" i greeted him kindly.

"hey, elsie," he waved and smiled back. kiara went behind the counter as we prayed that he would say yes to free food.

a few minutes later, kie looked at all of us with a grin on her face, "sit down."

"hell yeah!" i cheered, running to an empty table, the boys following behind.

"oh, yes," jj slid out a chair and sat down excitedly. i sat next to the blonde haired boy as we were served the delicious food. music played quietly in the background, but once all of the other customers left and it was just the pogues, mr. c turned it up for us. kie invited john b to dance, and they were having an awesome time. i looked over at pope who was enviously watching the two have fun together. i knew he secretly liked kie; it was pretty obvious. i turned to the boy that mattered most to me, only to be caught with him staring at me. for a moment, my eyes wandered to his lips and then to john b and kie, who were too distracted to notice. i kissed him sweetly and quick.

"you tryna get us exposed angel?" he looked at me dead in the eyes and kept his voice to a whisper.

"they didn't even notice love," i smiled, giving him the new nickname.

-----------

{1797 words}