COUPLES WERE DISGUSTING SOMETIMES. Bree had to sit through ten minutes of Sarah and Topper being all cutesy during the car ride on the way to the party at the beach.

Once they arrived, the couple went off to do their own thing, leaving the Callaway girl by herself. It was then that she realized that every single person there that she knew was a Kook that was annoying as fuck.

She continued to scan the crowd until her eyes met those of JJ's, who was standing next to John B and Kie at the keg, handing out drinks. His face held an unreadable expression, but when he realized that she was staring back, he turned back to the people in line for a drink.

So, instead of finding someone to talk to, she just sat down on a nearby log and waited for someone to come to her. Usually, at these kind of things, some touron — visitor to the Outer Banks — came to talk to her in hopes of getting lucky, but then she blew him off once she got bored because she did, in fact, have a boyfriend.

"Can I interest you in a beverage?" asked a familiar voice from above her after a couple minutes of waiting, and she looked up to see JJ Maybank standing next to her holding two red SOLO cups.

"Yes please." She smiled with a small but eager nod, and he took it a a sign that he could sit down, handing her one of the cups. "Sarah and Topper were being all coupley in the car, and I'll do anything to forget to that."

The blonde boy scrunched up his face as if he were picturing the scene in his head. "Oh, that's disgusting. I'm sorry you had to witness that. My condolences."

"Thanks," the brunette girl laughed out, taking a sip of her drink. After a small moment of awkward silence, she broke it, changing the topic. "Did you guys find out anything else about the boat or the guy who owns it?"

"Oh, yeah. Scooter Grubbs showed up dead this morning. He was our during the storm last night," JJ blurted out casually, bringing his cup up to his lips like he didn't just drop a huge bomb on her.

Her eyes widened in shock, "What?"

"That's not even the crazy part," he informed her with a smirk. "Guess what kind of boat he had?"

"No," she breathed out in realization. The boat that they discovered and looted from just a few hours earlier belonged to a man that showed up dead. That could not be a good sign.

He nodded, confirming her thoughts. "Yep, a Grady-White."

"No fucking way," she exclaimed, but when a couple people looked over at them, she lowered her voice a little before repeating, "No fucking way."

"Yes fucking way," he told her. He did not seem nearly as affected by the events that happened that day as Bree was. He was just partying without a care in the world as if they — he — hadn't stolen a crap ton of cash and a gun from a dead man's hotel room.

She ran a hand through her hair and inhaled deeply. "Oh, my God."

"Yeah," he sighed, downing what was left in his cup. There was moment of silence while she was thinking before he broke it. "Uh, we're going back out to the boat tomorrow to check it out again if you, uh, if you wanna come."

"Wow, JJ Maybank inviting a Kook to hang out?" Bree mused with raised eyebrows and a surprised smile.

"Yeah," he nodded, as if realizing what he just said. He began fanning himself dramatically. "I think I might be coming down with something."

She laughed out, "Oh really?"

"I'm feeling kinda faint. I think — I think I'm gonna..." He held a hand to his head like he was feeling for a temperature before completely collapsing onto her lap.

"You're an idiot." She rolled her eyes at him as he grinned up at her, his head on her thighs. She then pushed him by his shoulder so that he rolled off the log and onto the ground. "And very drunk."

He didn't seem very bothered about the fact that he was lying on the cold sand because he just smirked. "So, we'll pick you up around 4:00 tomorrow with the boat."

"Sounds good," she replied with a nod.

"Where's your boyfriend tonight?"

"With his dad," she responded, taking another sip of her drink.

"Can I ask you a question?" he quizzed, and when she just raised her eyebrows at him, he continued, "Are you aware that he is a complete and utter dick?"

She scoffed, staring down at him in playful disbelief, and smiled. "Oh, and you're not?"

"Well, you see, I know I'm a dick. He thinks he's some angel, which, if anything, makes him an even bigger dick," JJ explained before climbing to his feet.

She asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm getting another drink," he informed her, and she shook her head knowing that he was definitely drunk enough already. "Want me to get you one?"

"Nah, I'm okay. I'm still working on this one," she told him.

"Suit yourself."

Then, he was gone, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of loneliness at his absence. She wasn't alone for long, however, because Sarah's voice yelled over the talking, "Bree, we're headed out. You want a ride home?"

"Yeah, sure," she called back, standing up and brushing the bark off of her shorts.

"Hey, hey. Hey, Sarah!" Bree's head shot up when she heard JJ's voice say her friend's name. Her and Topper were walking past him and John B, and he was holding a drink out to her. "Sarah, can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?"

The Callaway made her way over to them as Sarah shook her head, looking down at the cup. "No, thanks."

"Is it not fancy enough for you?" the blonde boy questioned, and Bree shot him a shocked glare. He couldn't see it because of the darkness, though. 

"No," Sarah told the Maybank boy. Her brunette friend could tell that she was trying to be as polite as she could. "We were just leaving."

Topper, always the 'gentleman', stepped in. "Hey, you know what? I'll take it. I'll — thank you, man. I appreciate it."

"That's a nice suggestion there, Topper, but I didn't ask you. If you said pretty please, maybe, but you didn't," JJ mocked.

Knowing that this would be anything but good, Bree warned, "JJ."

"Oh, pretty please," the Thornton boy begged, ignoring his girlfriend's best friend. The two continued to argue until finally, Topper threw the drink into JJ's face. "She doesn't want it, you—"

The blonde Pogue cut him off by shoving him in the chest. John B grabbed his friend shoulder and stepped in between the two so that they couldn't reach each other as JJ said to Topper, "You're so funny, man."

"Dirty Pogues!" Topper yelled, causing Bree to wince at the Routledge boy turned right around and pushed him.

Kie exclaimed in shock as Pope spoke to the boy, "John B, we're supposed to be incognito, remember?"

"Babe, babe, babe, babe," Sarah shouted, and the Callaway turned around just in time to watch the Thornton punch John B square in the face. The brunette boy grunted, falling to the ground as the crowd gasped. "Guys, guys. Chill!"

"Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?" Topper said, kicking John B into the water.

The crowd chanted and cheered for them to fight, and the Routledge got up just enough to tackle the Thornton into the water with him. They continued to wrestle as Pope yelled, "John B, let it go!"

"Stop, you guys!" Bree called, but it was no use. Despite their friends' protests, the two boys continued to punch each other until Topper was able to pin him face down in the water.

"Topper?" Sarah quizzed, unsure of what her boyfriend was doing. "Topper, stop! No!"

Waves rolled over John B's body as his face was held down into the water. He couldn't breathe, and Bree glanced to JJ, who looked like he was making a decision.

"JJ," the brunette muttered when she realized what he was doing. He reached down to his bag and pulled out the gun from earlier. "JJ, no!"

He was already moving, though. In seconds, he was in the water, and the barrel of the gun was pressed against Topper's skull, causing the boy to freeze. The blonde above him sneered, "Yeah, you know what that is. Your move, broski."

"Come on. Chill dude," Pope yelled as the rest of the party people began running at the sight of the weapon.

"Put the gun down!" Kie told the Maybank.

Sarah stuck her hand out as if it would stop him from shooting Topper in the head. "JJ! Stop, JJ!"

"JJ, just drop it." Bree was trying to reason with him, but there was no hope. "Com on, just put it down."

"Did you say something, princess?" JJ questioned, ignoring the brunette and addressing Sarah, the Kook princess.

Topper raised his hands, releasing John B. "We're good. We're good. All right? Come on, man!"

"Kie!" Sarah turned to the Carrera girl. "Can you check your psycho friend, please?"

"Sarah," Bree groaned, knowing that that was not the time to be insulting the guy with the gun. 

"Okay, everyone, listen up!" the Maybank yelled, leaving John B and Topper behind and facing the other way. "Get the hell off our side of the island!" He then fired two shots into the air, and some people screamed.

As Kie, Pope, and JJ were arguing about how absolutely stupid his move was, Bree was the only one to notice John B collapse into the water. She rushed to him, passing Topper, who shot her a weird look, and lifted his head out of the waves.

Using all her strength, she dragged him far enough up the beach that his head was out of reach from the water, even if his body still was. Once she was sure that he was still breathing, she turned to the blonde boy behind her. "Are you fucking insane?"

"You're mad at me?" he exclaimed with a shocked voice. 

"You're damn right, I'm mad at you." She actually could not believe him. Why was he so surprised? "Do you have any idea how absolutely stupid that was?"

"He was gonna drown John B! What the hell was I supposed to do?"

"Punch him, tackle him, kiss him. I don't give a shit," she responded. "Anything but hold a fucking gun to his head!"

He scoffed, "Well, I'm sorry your friend got a little scared."

"You know that's not what this is about! What do you think the cops are gonna do when they find out about this, huh? How are you gonna explain why you fired a gun at a party full of people?" 

"Well, princess," he spat out, and she was offended that he used the same term that he used so bitterly for Sarah for her. "That's not really your problem, is it?"

"You're welcome for making sure your friend didn't drown," she muttered, gesturing to the unconscious boy behind her and running a hand through her hair before looking around and realizing that Sarah and Topper had left. "Fuck."

"Bet you wish you hadn't yelled at me right now," JJ sighed with a shake of his head, and she just flipped him off as he stuck his tongue out at her.

"I'll give you a ride," Kie cut in as if she was reading her mind. JJ shot her a glare that said, 'traitor'. 

"Thank you, Kie."

《✵》

BREE WAS CONFUSED WHEN SHE HEARD A KNOCK THE NEXT AFTERNOON. What was evening more shocking was that it was coming from the back door and not the front one. 

"Can you get that, Gabby?" Allison asked her daughter, not looking up from her phone as she took another sip of coffee. The younger Callaway sighed, but got up nonetheless.

She swung the door open, and her eyes widened in shock when she saw who it was. "JJ, what are you doing here?"

"I told you we were coming to pick you up at 4:00. I mean, it's 3:57, but I can come back in three minutes if it's that big of a deal," he told her after checking his watch for the time.

Rolling her eyes, she responded, "I meant that I didn't think y'all were still coming after that whole thing last night."

"Well, I made you a promise, and I always keep my promises," he informed her, but when she raised her eyebrows, knowing that he was lying and that he almost never kept promises, he gave in. "Kie made me. Are you coming or not?"

"That doesn't sound like an apology." She stared at him in waiting, and he gave her a look that said 'Do I have to?'

She just stood there, leaning on the door frame with her arms crossed as they had somewhat of a staring contest. Finally, he groaned and muttered, "Jesus Christ. All right, I'm sorry for pulling a gun on your friend, even though he was about to kill mine."

"He's not my friend."

"Then what the fuck do I have to apologize for?" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up before running them through his hair.

"For almost getting us all arrested?" she suggested, and when he didn't reply and just looked down at his feet, she just sighed. "Let me just let my mom know. I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay," he responded as she shut the door.

When she walked back into the kitchen, her mom finally looked up from her phone in question. "Who was it?"

"Some guy wanting directions," she lied in response, knowing that her mother wouldn't be too excited if she found out that JJ Maybank was coming to their back door to pick up her daughter.

The woman furrowed her eyebrows. "Why did they come to the back door?"

"I don't know. People are weird," the younger female shrugged, and her mom looked back down at the online article that she was reading. "Hey, mom. I'm gonna head out for a bit."

"K. Have fun. I love you," Allison told her.

"Love you too," Bree repeated before grabbing her phone and going back out to where JJ was waiting for her. She looked up at him. "You ready?"

As they walked down the hill and toward the dock where the rest of the Pogues were waiting with the boat, the Callaway girl whistled when she saw John B. "Nice shiner there, Routledge."

"Thanks. I heard that you were the one that pulled be out of the water while these shithead friends were dealing with JJ, so thanks for that too." He smiled, helping her climb onto the vehicle.

"Anytime," she replied, and they both missed the look that the Maybank behind them gave their touching hands. Kie didn't, though, and she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"This is empty," the Carrera girl informed them once they got out to where the sunken Grady-White was. She turned to the brunette boy. "You took empty tanks?" She then took a look at the next one while John B took a seat next to her. "Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together," Pope muttered.

JJ's eyes widened as if he just remembered something, and he glances at the brunette girl beside Pope. "I forgot to ask you not to tell your little rich princess friend about this."

"No problem," she responded. She wasn't planning on it anyway because she knew that she would get too many questions from the blonde girl.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asked, shifting the conversation back to the problem at hand and looking around at everyone. When all she got was silence, she sighed, "Anybody?"

JJ shrugged. "It's kind of a Kook sport." That made every single person's eyes shift to the Callaway girl who was looking off into the distance.

"What?" she questioned when she noticed that they were all staring at her. When realization set in, a surprised and scared expression crossed her face. "Okay, I've seen it done before, but I actually have no idea how."

"I read about it," Pope offered.

"Great," Kie groaned as John B tilted his head back. "Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die."

Making hand gestures to help explain as he was talking, JJ said, "Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?"

"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," the Heyward boy informed the blonde before sending him a sarcastic smile.

"Bends like..." JJ used the rail in front of him to lean over. "Bend over and—"

While the rest of them rolled their eyes and ran hands through their hair in frustration at the Maybank boy's stupidity, Pope cut him off by telling him, "The bends kill you."

"Right," the blonde murmured, standing back up straight.

John B raised his hand, stopping their pointless arguing, and offered, "I can — I can dive."

"Yeah, you can dive," JJ responded with a nod before looking down at the ground. "I'm cool with that."

"Since when can you dive?" Kie questioned with her eyebrows raised as Pope and Bree eyed him warily. Although she didn't know how to do it, the Callaway girl knew that diving was incredibly dangerous if not done correctly.

The Routledge shrugged. "I'll do it. It's fine."

"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope told them before leaning over a piece of paper and grabbing a pen, drawing and writing what he was saying while the rest of them gathered around to watch. "Okay, so, that boat's about thirty feet down, right? So, it'll take 25 minutes at most that depth. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about...ten feet. All right? For two minutes."

"Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it," John B nodded.

All of a sudden, Kie peeled off her t-shirt and jumped off the side of the boat with it in her hand. The other four looked to each other in confusion as Pope asked, "What was that all about?"

"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot," JJ informed them. 

Bree nodded in agreement as she stared at the spot where her friend had disappeared under the water. "Same." All of the boys stared at her in disbelief, shocked that she had just said that, before snapping out of their trances.

"Yeah. Uh, when you — uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold." The Maybank boy stumbled through his sentence, and Bree smirked at how flustered they all got. He held up a part of the tank. "You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"

"Stick in, twist, pull," the brunette boy repeated as Kie resurfaced.

JJ, glancing around at them, said, "My dad moved weight back in the day."

"Who didn't?" Pope scoffed while John B began putting the equipment on his back.

"Hey!" Kie called from the water, causing all of them to turn to her. "I tied my t-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."

The Routledge nodded, "Cool."

"Keep an eye on this," Pope told him, pointing to the thing in his hand that had some sort of dial that Bree assumed was important. "You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress."

"Okay, how much do I need?" he asked while the brunette girl helped the Carrera out of the water.

After a moment of hesitation, the Heyward boy answered, "Unclear. Breathe as little as possible."

"Zen," JJ said. "Think Zen, you know?" He then began imitating breathing through a mask, and it did not sounds very Zen at all to Bree, who just furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah. Got it," John B responded.

Pope piped in, "Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so...better get a move on that."

"Copy that." Kie got up from her seat next to the Callaway girl and walked over to kiss him on the cheek. They all froze, including him, staring at her in shock. He finally snapped out of it and asked, "Diver down?"

"Diver down," she confirmed, taking a step back before he pulled his mask on and jumped into the water.

His head came up, and he saluted them as Pope repeated, "Diver down."

He went down, and they all stared down at the water as he disappeared into it. While they were waiting impatiently, Bree shot Kie a smirk and a teasing look after what she just did to John B. The Carrera girl sent back a glare, but both their faces dropped when they heard sirens approaching.

"Shit," Pope muttered before turning to the blonde boy. "JJ."

"Guys, that's the police," the Maybank informed them, as if they couldn't already tell with the police sirens, the flashing lights, and the fact that it was a sheriff's boat.

Bree stared at him with a look that said, 'really?'. "No shit, JJ."

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Pope groaned.

Kie flipped some of her hair over her shoulder and straightened up her posture. "Just act frickin' normal."

"Evening, officers," the Heyward boy greeted when they pulled next to them and blared the siren for a few pointless more seconds. He grabbed the rope from them so that they could tie the boat to the HMS Pogue and handed it to the blonde boy. "JJ, tie this off."

"How you kids doing?" Shoupe questioned, pulling his sunglasses off his eyes so that he could look them straight in the face. He did a double take when he saw Bree sitting next to Kie. "You know the marsh is closed?"

"No, I didn't know that," JJ lied, scratching the back of his neck as he watched the officers nervously.

"No idea," Bree added.

"No, wow." Pope shook his head before looking up at Shoupe with a kind of fake curious expression. "Why — Why is it closed?"

Scanning the surroundings for something, the man responded, "Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down. Seen anything?"

"No. No boats," the Callaway girl told him, and when he glanced at her, his face held a confused expression, wondering why the girl was hanging out with them. She was silently praying that he wouldn't tell her mother.

"Where's your friend you always hang with?" Shoupe questioned when he noticed the absence of John B. "He here?"

When none of them answered, Kie spoke up with a fake smile. "He's working."

"I'm gonna check your little boat out," the deputy informed them, and without being invited on, he climbed onto the vehicle using the railing of his own.

"Hop aboard," Pope said, "You wanna check — uh, check her out."

His eyes examined the boat, most likely trying to see if there was anything that he could bring them in for. He lifted a life-jacket up from one of the seats. "You got another one of these?"

"Yeah, yeah," the Heyward boy confirmed.

"Of course." JJ pointed down to where they stored the jackets. "Its, uh...it's in the hold."

Bree stood up to let JJ get by. "Why don't you show him, JJ?"

"Yeah, here we go," the blonde said, pulling out another orange vest.

Shoupe nodded. "All right." Then he began climbing toward the edge of the boat, and all four teenagers looked at each other in fear.

"Be careful right there," Pope warned quickly. "You don't wanna slip."

He made his way to the very tip of the boat and put his sunglasses on. He stared down at the water as if he knew that John B was down there. After a moment, he sighed and turned back around, and they all breathed out in relief. "All right. Beautiful day, yeah?"

"Sure is," JJ agreed while the deputy made his way back to his own boat.

He climbed onto the Kildare County Sheriff's vehicle and untied the rope so that they could leave. "You let us know if you see anything on your way out."

"Will do. Will do," the Maybank boy assured him. "We'll be gone soon, sir."

"Yes, you will."

As soon as they were driving away, the teenagers all rushed to the end of the boat and leaned over the water, frantically searching for their friend. Pope informed them, "He's definitely out of air."

"There he is!" JJ yelled as soon as the Routledge boy resurfaced. 

"Oh, God! Jesus Christ!" the Heyward breathed out. "Don't scare us like that."

"How'd it go down there?" the blonde boy questioned. John B didn't answer and just swam toward the side of the boat so that he could climb back on. "Did you find anything?"

"Did I find anything?" he whispered back, out of breath, before throwing what looked like a duffel bag into JJ's arms. 

"Yeah, there we go!" the Maybank yelled, hauling the bag out of the water as the rest of them cheered. "That's my boy!"

Kie, looking down at the brunette boy in concern, asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I ran out of air," he panted back.

As he began climbing out of the water, she informed him, "You scared the shit out of me."

"Yeah, you did," Bree confirmed before winking at John B with a smirk. "She was really scared." This comment resulted in Kie not-so-subtly shoving her so hard that she almost fell into the water.

"Yeah, the cops were here, but uh...we took care of them," Pope told the boy.

JJ nodded. "Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother."

"Hey, guys," the Carrera girl called, and they all turned to her to see what she wanted. "Guys, bogey, two o'clock"

They all followed her gaze, and there it was — a boat heading toward them. Pope furrowed his eyebrows, glancing at his friends in question. "Do y'all recognize that boat?"

"I've never seen it," the Callaway girl replied. "What are they doing back here? The marsh is closed."

"I don't know, but let's not stick around to find out," JJ suggested, and the rest of them nodded.

John B kept his eyes on the boat that was starting to speed up a bit as it got even closer to them. "JJ, get the bowline."

"Should we wait on them?" Pope questioned while the blonde boy went to do what he was told.

"No, we're not gonna wait on them," the Routledge answered, looking at the Heyward boy like he was absolutely crazy. "Go get the stern. Go!"

Kie muttered, "JJ, hurry up."

"Guys, don't wait for me," the Maybank told them as he yanked the line up onto the boat. "Go."

As the rest of them voiced their thoughts and told him to speed up, John B drove them into the marsh in hopes that the two men aboard the boat behind them would just keep going and leave them alone. That plan was ruined when the raven-haired girl said, "Hey, guys, they're following us."

"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ urged his best friend. "Gun it."

"I'm going. I'm going."

The bogey began to speed up even more, and it was now very obvious that they were trying to catch them. Bree murmured, "What do these assholes want? Is that a —"

She was cut off when the sounds of gunfire rang in the air, causing them all to duck as the bullet whizzed past them. Kie shouted, "Holy shit, guys!"

"John B, get down," the Maybank called, and when he noticed that Bree was still standing, he grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her down on top of him. "Get down."

"Oh, my God. We're gonna die!" cried the Heyward boy when they all flinched at the sound came again.

"Shit!" Kie muttered when John B dodged another bullet. She then stood up, still crouching and pushed past the boy on the floor in front of her. "Pope, move."

She crawled over to where the pile of nets were next to the Routledge boy who shouted, "Get down, Kie!"

Realizing what her friend was doing, the Callaway girl stood up as well, ignoring the blonde boy's tug on her arm, and she grabbed the other side of the net. Together, they grunted as they threw the net into the water right in front of the boat the men that were shooting at them were on. They then ducked down, keeping their heads high enough to watch at the net got caught in the motor, and the men took one final shot.

Once they were out of eyeshot of the boat, all of the teens stood up and cheered in amazement. JJ breathed out, "Oh, my God. Pogue God, man!"

"That was insane," Bree said, and her eyes almost popped out of their sockets in amazement when the blonde boy pulled her into a tight hug. Though it only lasted a couple seconds, she was out of breath by the time he released her. They looked each other in the eye for a second before bursting out in laughter, relieved that they didn't just die.

The sun had almost set by the time they made it back to the dock. Climbing off the boat, they all crowded around John B as he began to open the duffel bag. Kie questioned, "What do you guys think it is?"

"Gotta be money or something, right?" John B pointed out.

JJ smiled. "That or a couple of keys with street value to the low- to mid-mils!"

"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope asked aggressively, tired of the dilly-dallying that was going on while they guessed what it could be.

"Wow, Pope," the Routledge boy gasped. "That's a rare outburst of emotion."

The Heyward sighed, "Okay, you guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag. We almost died over this." They watched carefully as John B pulled out a silver cylindrical canister and opened it. He turned it over, and something fell in his hand.

It was a compass.

Bree ran a hand through her hair. "For fuck's sake."

"Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right. Good job, everybody. We found a compass," Pope groaned while they all stared down at the object in disbelief.

"Dude, what?" JJ asked when he noticed his best friend still staring at the compass with an unreadable expression. "It's not worth anything."

"This was my father's."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

at five thousand words, this might be the longest freaking chapter i have ever written.