CHAPTER FOUR

NAÏVE — THE KOOKS
So how could this be done
By such a smiling sweetheart?
Oh, you're so naïve, yet so

THERE WAS A peaceful calm that blanketed the island the next morning. The sun had come up, washing away any trace of the storm that had raged the night before, and the birds sang their melodies as they emerged from their hiding places.

Stella woke with JJ breathing down her neck and his arms firmly wrapped around her. Careful not to wake him, she untangled herself from him and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She had no service and could only hope that her mother was okay.

After getting up from the bed, she turned to face JJ once more. A smile slowly spread across her lips at the sight of him. His hair was a mess, falling into his face, and soft snores escaped his mouth. She liked it when he was at peace like this. There was no frown on his face or worry knitted through his brows. The troubles of the world couldn't touch him so long as he was in his dreamland.

With a final look, she turned to leave the room. The Chateau was silent as she made her way through and after checking on John B, she concluded that besides the crowing rooster outside, she was the only one up.

Before heading outside to assess the damage done by the storm, she grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. As expected, the power had gone out in the night so it wasn't as cold as she wished for it to be. She twisted it open and took a sip as she stepped onto the back patio.

"Agatha, you bitch," Stella muttered as her eyes scanned the property. It was a complete mess. Uprooted trees laid across the ground, the yard was littered with debris, and the HMS Pogue was practically buried under a pile of branches.

"Morning, Stel," a voice sounded from behind. "Sleep okay?"

"Hey, B." Stella turned her head and watched as John B let out a yawn before his face melted into the same expression as hers. "I slept alright. You?"

"Like a baby."

John B took lazy steps into his backyard and surveyed the area. After making his assessment, he made his way down the stairs and headed towards the HMS Pogue. "That's no good," he stated, causing Stella to nod in agreement. "That is no good."

The back door opened again and Stella didn't need to turn to see who it was. A pair of sun-kissed arms snaked around her shoulders from behind and locked in front of her chest. JJ mumbled the question he asked her every morning and rested his chin on top of her head. "Agatha did some work, huh?" he called out to John B.

John B nodded and pushed a branch off of the boat. "Yeah, she did."

JJ didn't say anything else, but he did take the water bottle out of Stella's hands, take a large gulp, then burp beside her ear, causing her to push him away with a grimace. "JJ," she groaned.

"Stella," he mocked in a high voice. He walked over to John B who was wearing a thoughtful look. "What are you thinkin'?"

"I'm thinking that storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh maze," John B stated, climbing onto the boat to clear the rest of the rubble. "All those drum are gonna chase the crab."

JJ's brows furrowed as he leaned against the boat. "What about DCS? Wasn't that today?"

Stella's eyes widened at his questions and concern washed over her. "DCS was supposed to come today?" She walked down the porch steps and stopped beside JJ. While she could understand John B's reasoning behind turning down her mother's offer of staying with them (he wanted to stay home in case his father returned), she wished that his stubbornness didn't come with the possibility of him being exiled to the mainland for foster care.

John B's gaze shifted to her quickly and he shook his head. "Nah, they're not getting on a ferry today," he assured, giving the girl a look that said calm down. "Come on, think about it. It's God telling us to fish."

JJ was down for it, leaving Stella to give the green light. Both boys turned to her with an expectant expression on their face. She was the most reasonable out of the three, which automatically meant that her word was the most important.

With a sigh, Stella nodded causing them to break out in smiles. "But we need to stop by my house first," she said. "I need to see how hard the storm hit and if the generators kicked in. If they did, we can make breakfast there."

John B jumped down from the boat and met the other two on the deck. Stella slung an arm over each of their shoulders, struggling because she was shorter than them.

"Can we make pancakes?" JJ questioned as they entered the Chateau.

John B nodded excitedly. "Oh, yeah. Pancakes sound good."

Stella nodded with a smile filled with amusement and removed her arms from their shoulders. With a final glance over her shoulder, she headed into the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead, blissfully unaware of what it had in store.

"I HOPE GUFFY'S boat didn't sink," JJ said as the HMS Pogue neared the docks by Heyward's. "He doesn't have insurance."

After the trio stopped by Stella's house, they found that the generators did indeed kick in when the power went out and that the kitchen had everything they needed to make pancakes. JJ and John B insisted that they could handle cooking on their own and Stella was pleasantly surprised when they plated her food with a variety of fruit to make out a smiley face. After their meal, the trio decided to pick up Pope and Kie for their day out on the marsh.

John B and Stella nodded, hoping for the best, before the latter's eyes landed on a familiar woman tending to her boat. "Hi, Miss Amy!" Stella shouted, waving at the nurse she had befriended from the hospital. "You guys get through it?"

The older woman waved back with a smile. "Still here."

As the three teens passed by, JJ glanced over at his friends with a smug look. "She totally looked at me."

"She wasn't looking at you, JJ. She was looking at me," Stella argued.

"Why would she be looking at you?"

"I don't know," she drawled, sarcasm dripping off her tongue, "maybe because I was the one actually talking to her?"

From his seat in front of her, John B shook his head. "No, I saw it," he supported with a sly grin. "She was definitely looking at JJ."

Oblivious to the mocking tone John B had sported, JJ gave an appreciative nod. "Thanks, JB."

"I've got your back, brother."

Stella shook her head at the pair, playful rolling her eyes before noticing the extent of Agatha's damage. Debris littered the docks and the water, there was an uprooted tree laying on the ground, and sand was everywhere. "Dude, look at this place," she said in disbelief.

JJ placed a hand on his hip and let out a low whistle. "Agatha, what did you do?"

"We'll be cleaning this all summer."

"That is my nightmare."

Stella moved from her spot behind John B and sat on the bow of the boat. Her legs were crossed and her hands reached to her head to pull her hair away from her face. They pulled up beside the dock Pope was hosing down and saw that the sign next to him had the words, 'Bring it on, Aggie! You bitch!' spray painted on in thick black lettering.

"Well, look who we have here," JJ mused as the boat slowed down.

John B brought his hand to his mouth and made a static noise that mimicked a radio. "We have a safety meeting," he stated. "Attendance mandatory."

Before John B could fully get the words out, Pope shook his head. "I can't," he said with a frown. "My Pops has me on lockdown."

Like the boy before him, JJ mimicked static and spoke into his shoulder as if he were speaking into a radio. "You're dad's a pussy. Over."

As if on cue, Pope's dad walked out of the shop and down the deck. "Oh, I heard that, you little bastard."

Stella's hand dropped from her head, allowing her hair to return down her back. With her ever charming smile, she waved to the older man and bid him a good morning.

Almost instantly, Heyward's scowl twisted into a smile, leaving the boys to roll their eyes. Whether it was her mother's reputation, her volunteer hours at the hospital, her grades, or simply the way she carried herself, all parents loved Stella.

Heyward waved back. "Hey, Stella! How's your mom?" he asked. "Busy at the hospital?"

"You know it, sir." Stella nodded with a grin, giving a smug look to her friends before turning back to the man. "Speaking of family members, we need your son."

JJ nodded. "Yeah, and island rules—day after a hurricane's a free day."

Heyward huffed, clearly unconvinced by anything JJ was saying. "Who made that up?"

"Uh... Pentagon, I think," JJ answered with a shrug, patting down his pockets. "We have security clearance. I have a card."

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

While Heyward and JJ were going at it, Stella turned to Pope. "Dude," she hissed, "get in."

Pope looked between her and his dad, eventually settling on the latter. "I-I'll do it tomorrow," he stammered, hoping to compromise. "I promise. Tomorrow."

"No, no," Heyward said with the shake of his head. "Hell no. You doin' it right now."

John B leaned forward. "Get in the boat," he whispered loudly.

Without bothering to lower his voice, JJ beckoned Pope over and flag out said, "Make a run for it, bro. Make a run for it."

Pope gave his father a look that was somewhere between an apologetic smile and a slight grimace. Without another word, he jumped onto the boat, nearly crashing in to Stella as he caught his balance. "Go, go, go," he frantically urged.

"Bring your ass back up here!"

"I promise I'll do it tomorrow, Dad," Pope shouted as the boat drove away.

"You gonna clean shrimp, clean fish—You'll clean your dirty-ass room!"

"We'll bring him back in one piece!" Stella shouted as she stood from her spot. She waved at him as his figure got smaller in the distance. "Promise!"

"And I don't like your friends!"

Placing herself under JJ's arm, Stella looked to her friends. "Well, I don't know about you, but I think that went swimmingly."

About ten minutes later, Kie was in the boat handing each of them a beer from the cooler she had brought.

"Thank you, lovely," Stella said as Kie opened her beer for her.

The girl's head was sitting in Stella's lap and she had a speaker next to her, her summer playlist ringing through the air.

Suddenly, Kie stood up and grabbed Stella's hand, demanding that she dance with her. Finding it hard to say no to her best friend, Stella stood with a smile and the pair started to twirl around the boat.

"Kie!" Stella shouted, giggling as Kie attempted to dip her. "You're gonna drop me!"

The boys laughed at them and watched with adoring eyes. Kie and Stella were their best friends, but that didn't stop the boys from having a thing for them. Each boy in the group harboured a crush on one of the girls at some point of their friendship, eventually leading to the 'no Pogue-on-Pogue' rule. Flirting still occurred, but nothing major ever came from it. Not yet, at least.

"Tell the world—a party trick," JJ started, moving to the front of the boat. His hands found Stella's waist as he passed behind her and he threw a look to the boy sitting at the wheel. "Hey, Pope, can you go a little faster?"

The other four groaned, knowing what JJ was about to attempt.

"Here we go. I'm moving," John B said as he moved to the back of the boat. "We've tried this like six thousand times."

"I got this," JJ defended, getting into position. "It's gonna work!"

Stella let out a laugh and sat beside him on the edge of the boat so she was out of the splash zone. "When has it ever worked, J?"

"Shh, shut up." JJ gently pushed her face away, a smile threatening to make an appearance. He propped a leg onto the edge of the boat and tilted his head back to catch the beer flowing from his bottle.

The whole group groaned as the beer completely missed his mouth and splashed onto them.

"You're getting beer in my hair!" Kie shouted.

"Alright," John B said in an authoritative tone. "Alright! Alright, you're done."

"Alright, stop!" Pope yelled.

The motor rattled for a moment and the boat came to an abrupt stop, launching everyone out of their seats. Pope, Kie, and John B were thrown onto the floor of the boat, while Stella fell off the edge and JJ flipped into the water.

The first thing Stella did when she resurfaced was groan. "Pope, what the hell?"

A few feet behind her, JJ's head popped out of the water. "I think my heels touched the back of my head."

"JJ, Stel, you alright?"

Stella shot John B a thumbs up while everyone moaned about the minor accident.

"Pope, what did you do?" asked JJ.

"Sandbar," Pop answered, leaving the helm to check out what he hit. "The channel changed."

"No shit," JJ responded, swimming over to Stella. One hand found her waist, pulling her closer to him, and the other brushed hair away from her face. "You okay?" he quietly asked, eyes scanning her figure for any sort of injury.

Stella nodded, unable to trust her voice due to the way he was attentively looking at her.

When he found her answer as truthful, he opened his mouth to speak again except this time his breath got caught in his throat. Had she gotten prettier since this morning?

"JJ," Stella called, slightly confused by the serious look he was giving her.

The blond was shaken from his thoughts and acting on impulse, he began, "Stella, I—"

"Ugh, this is probably gonna mess this whole place up," John B said, sitting on the edge of the boat close to where the pair was. He hadn't noticed the moment they were sharing.

JJ closed his eyes, cursing John B out in his mind, then let go of Stella's waist. She gave him a questioning look, but he ignored it and swam over to the beer bottle he had left floating nearby.

"Hey, I saved the beer, though," he cheered, recovering from his moment of weakness.

Stella cocked an eyebrow and gave him stern look. "Don't drink that, it's probably all gross now."

"Guys..." Pope trailed off, looking down at the water. "I think there's a boat down there."

"Shut up. What?"

"No way."

Pope shook his head and pointed at the water. "No, no, guys. I'm serious," he said in mild worry. "There's a boat down there."

Kie and John B peered down. Stella tried, but it was much harder to see from her angle.

"Holy shit, he's right," Kie said once she saw the outline of the vessel. She started to free herself from her clothes before turning to the other boys in the boat. "Let's go."

"You think there's a dead body down there?" Pope asked, trying to mask his excitement. It was no secret that he wanted to be a coroner.

"I hope not," Stella said, causing JJ to look at her with a questioning expression. "What? Everybody knows that the people who find the body are always the first suspects in the murder case."

"How do you know it would be a murder case?"

"Name a single time a group of teenagers found a dead body and it wasn't a murder case. Oh, wait. You can't, JJ. Come on, I thought you liked Buzzfeed Unsolved, you should know this."

The remaining three jumped into the water, careful not to hit JJ or Stella. They all shared a look before taking a deep breath and diving into the water. Surely enough, there was a sunken boat sitting at the bottom of the marsh. It was a nice boat too, definitely super expensive. And much to Pope's disappointment, there were no dead bodies.

When the five of them resurfaced, Stella was the first to speak. "You guys saw that, right?"

Everyone nodded, letting out laughs about their find, and started swimming back to the HMS Pogue.

"That's a Grady-White," JJ exclaimed as they climbed onto the boat. When he was on, he turned to help Stella up. "A new one of those is like five hundred Gs, easy. That's a primo rig."

John B looked back at his friend, the ghost of realization dancing before his eyes. "That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge."

Kie faced John B with furrowed brows and an expression laced with concern. "You surfed the surge?" She turned to Stella to see if she knew, but Stella shrugged, equally confused.

John B nodded, hesitant to confirm as he knew the girls would scold him for his recklessness.

"That's my boy," JJ praised, letting go of Stella to do their handshake. "Pogue style."

The girls shared another look of disbelief. "Do you know how dangerous that is?" Stella questioned, baffled by her best friend's idiocy. "Over half of all surfing injuries happen because of contact with your board. What if you wiped out? Those aren't surf-able waves, you could've cracked your skull open or something, dumbass."

"What's the point of having a future doctor as a best friend if you can't do dangerous stuff?"

"Are you serious?" Kie questioned, backing up Stella. She couldn't believe the pair was trying to make light of the situation, especially after they just found a sunken boat from the surge. John B could've been seriously harmed.

"Wait, wait," Pope said, diffusing any growing tension. "Do we know whose boat that is?"

John B shook his head and moved to the grab the anchor out of the hold. "No, but we're about to find out."

"Dude, it's too deep," JJ said, watching as he did so.

John B pulled the anchor out and placed it down beside him. "Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ."

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

Stella watched as Kie gave John B a suspicious look, silently pleading him not to go. Her eyes furrowed at the interaction. Concern about one another's safety was normal amongst the group, but this particular interactions was wildly different with questionable tension.

"John B," Kie trailed off.

John B just chuckled nervously and looked down at her. "What?"

Stella looked between pair, sensing that there was something going on that she'd need to ask Kie about later. But to ease her best friend's motherly tendencies concerning the boys, Stella moved closer to the anchor.

"I can do it," she offered. "I'm a better swimmer and I can hold my breath longer."

John B looked down at her instantly. "You are not a better swimmer than me," he said, almost offended that his skills were being challenged.

Stella furrowed her eyebrows. "Uh, yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am," she pressed. "Remember the competition we had last summer? We already settled this, I'm a way better swimmer than you."

"No, you're not."

"You're not doing it," JJ intervened with the shake of his head. "As much as I'd love resuscitating you, it's a no from me."

Stella turned to him, annoyed by the two boys in front of her. "It's a no from you?" she scoffed with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, I didn't know I needed your permission."

"You don't need anyone's permission, I'm just saying I would rather John B do it than you," JJ explained.

"Thanks, buddy," John B quipped, patting his shoulder.

Stella gave him a look and he instantly backed away. "If I'm a better swimmer than John B, wouldn't it make more sense for me to do it?"

And just like that, the pair was entered a small, but not uncommon, bickering session.

"Remember our conversation the other night?"

"Yes, and I will be careful, though I hardly count this as a dangerous situation. I'm not gonna get hurt."

"You could," JJ pressed. "Stel, you pinky promised."

"Oh, I'll be fine."

While the pair went back and forth, John B turned to Pope. With JJ distracting Stella, he had managed to pick up the anchor without drawing any attention and was ready to dive.

"Diver down, fool," Pope said to John B.

John B nodded and gave a small salute. "Diver down."

Out of the corner of his eye, JJ could see John B getting ready to jump off the side of the boat. With his eyes still locked on Stella's, he pushed John B into the water, cutting Stella off from what she was saying.

The girl watched in annoyance as John B disappeared under the water. "I hate you," Stella deadpanned to the blond before gesturing to the water. "Both of you. And Pope. This is why Kie is my favourite."

JJ rolled his eyes at her dramatics and hopped down from the bow. "You love us," he said in a playful tone. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

Stella didn't say anything as the four of them waited for John B to resurface.

"Should we go get him?" Pope asked after a few minutes.

Suddenly, the water's surface broke and John B emerged coughing.

"Oh my god," Kie said, staring down at him. "That took forever!"

"Any dead bodies?"

"Looting potential?"

"Gadgets and gizmos a plenty?"

John B shook his head. "No. No." He lifted his hand and dangled a key with a yellow surfboard keychain on it. "But I found this motel key."

"A key," Pope deadpanned.

"Yes, a key, Pope." John B made his way over to the side of the boat, gesturing for someone to get the anchor.

JJ's arm's left Stella and he started pulling up the anchor line. "Great," JJ muttered sarcastically. "We salvaged a motel key!"

"Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard," Kie said, the voice of reason rang through. "Maybe we'll get a finder's fee."

"Yeah, and not work all summer." JJ smiled at the thought of it. "Thanks, Agatha, ya batch."

The first thing they did when they got to shore was head to the coast guard station. Though, they weren't much help as everyone in Kildare County seemed to have a problem that needed to be reported.

"Well, that went well," Pope said as John B and JJ emerged from the small shack. "So, what's the plan?"

John B held up the motel key he found. "I know how we're gonna find the guy who owns that boat."

"We don't know whose room that is," Pope protested. "It could be anyone."

JJ took the key from John B's grasp and tossed it to Kie. "I'm in," he said.

"Come on," Kie said lightly to Pope. "I'll be lookout."

"C'mon, Pope," Stella said over her shoulder as she slung an arm around Kie. They started walking down the boardwalk with JJ following close behind. "It'll be fun."

"Finder's fee," John B sang. "Just sayin'. And, hey, at least you'll only be an accomplice."

Knowing that his friends had him beat, Pope sighed and followed after them, swatting away John B's hand as he said, "Come on, bubba."

RAE SPEAKS!

Stella after JJ burps in her ear: