𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄
𝟏𝟏:𝟒𝟎 - 𝟐𝟓:𝟐𝟎
𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙢𝙧 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 » 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖

∞

"Bet you can't do this." JJ taps my shoulder before standing on the bow, one foot in front of the other, "Let me show y'all a party trick." He glances back at us, "Hey, Pope. Could you go a little faster, please?"

"It doesn't work. We've tried this like 6,000 times." John B moans, sitting behind Pope for protection, he hand shielding his eyes from the sun.

"I got this." He breathes, puffing his chest, "It's gonna work."

"No." I grumble, "It's not gonna. It never does."

Ever since we started drinking, JJ has been trying to get the beer to land in his mouth perfectly while the boat moved quickly. Each time it's failed, resulting in most of us being covered in the alcohol. This time was no different and it whipped in all our faces while JJ closed his eyes, thinking he was doing it.

"You're getting it in my hair, JJ!" Kie squeals, flailing her arms around.

"Oh my god." Pope shields his face.

"JJ," I laugh, smacking his leg repeatedly but he continues, "Oh my lord. This boy is ruthless."

"Alright. You're done." John B stands up, preparing to get his best friend to stop.

But before he can reach him, the boat lurches to a stop, sending JJ into the water with a loud smack. I jerk forward while Pope steps towards me in shock, causing him to step on my already twisted ankle.

"Son of a bitch!" I hiss quietly, looking around to see everyone else slightly shaken and JJ panting profusely in the water, "You okay, JJ?" I ask, peering over the edge to see him.

"Do I— Do I look okay, Ava?" He coughs, "I think my heels touched the back of my head." He choked, resting his head back on the water.

"Kie, you okay?" John B asks, tapping the girl's shoulder to catch her attention and she sends him a nod and his gaze averts to me, "Ava, you?"

"Pope stomped on my ankle and it hurts like a bitch." I groan, resting my ankle on my other knee and rubbing the sore area.

"Sorry." He apologies quickly and I smile reassuringly up at him; the last thing I want is him to start worrying.

"Pope, what did you do?" JJ asks loudly, moving his arms to stay afloat.

"Sandbar. The channel changed." He explains, taking a deep breath.

"No shit." JJ and I say at the same time, glaring at the boy beside me.

Pope stares back at his, his lip pursed, "You two are really annoying. You know that, right?"

I glance over at the blonde in the water and we exchange a smirk, leaving Pope to roll his eyes.

"Ugh, this is probably gonna mess this whole place up." John B grumbles, his hands in his hair.

"Hey, I saved the beer, though." JJ held up the bottle, smiling happily.

"Congrats, JJ. I'm so very very proud of you." I say sarcastically, placing a hand on my heart and sending him a proud thumbs up.

"Thank you, Ava. It means so so much." He smiles jokingly, clearly annoyed by my constant sarcasm.

"Guys, I think there's a boat down there." Pope speaks up, staring into the water, his finger jabbing at something below the surface.

"No way." Kie rolls her eyes, waving his nonsense off; not believing him in the slightest.

"No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there for real." He pushes, motioning for us to join him at the side of the boat.

We move next to him, and after a few minutes of squinting through the dark water, my eyes finally land on a large white object and the rest of us let out loud gasps, patting Pope's shoulders happily.

"Holy shit, let's go." I say, slipping off my shorts before diving in next to JJ, causing Kie and John to follow close behind

"Get your ass in here, Pope!" JJ shouts, cupping his lips.

Pope gets in and we all lower ourselves down to the wreck. In the murky, green water, the bright white boat sticks out like a light. It's slightly beaten, some of the edges are cracked and the objects inside are scattered around, presumably decomposing. We each get a good luck before pushing off of the bow and up to the surface again.

"You guys saw that, right?" JJ splutters, glancing around at us in amazement.

"Yeah, I did." I smile while everyone laughs happily, "Holy shit."

"That's a Grady-White." JJ informs us while we swim back to the HMS Pogue, "A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy."

Once we're back on the boat, we fall into silence for a moment, refraining our breaths before straightening up again, letting the blonde continue.

"That's a primo rig."JJ pants, shaking his head free of water.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge. Maybe it hit the jetty or something?" John B says eagerly, tapping his feet while he sits down.

"You surfed the surge?" Kie asks. Her tone both worried and disappointed while she glares at him.

"Yeah, that's my boy. Pogue style." JJ high-fives John B, smirking at him and sitting beside me.

"What the heck?" Kie shoots me look, expecting me to have done the same thing.

I shrug, holding my arms up in protest, "I had no clue. Don't get angry at me." I look over at my brother, eyebrows raised, "So, what are we gonna do?"

John B opens the storage unit on the floor, picking up the heavy anchor and raising it to show us, "We're about to find out what happened."

"Dude, it's too deep." JJ shakes his head, looking over the edge of the boat and into the water, eyes squinting in attempt to see the boat again.

"Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ."

"Okay. Well, I'm not resuscitating you." He shrugs, turning around to us again, "I'm just making that clear up front."

I nod, raising my hand, "I second that. "

"That's fine." He rolls his eyes at us, dropping the anchor into the water and watching it to sink to the surface.

"John B." Kie warns, tilting her head.

"What?" He raises an eyebrow, earning no response, causing him to sigh heavily, glancing back at us, rolling his shoulders as he places himself on the very rim of the boat, his back to the water.

"Diver down, fool." Pope salutes from his seat behind the wheel.

John B copies his actions, "Diver down."

"Yeah, he is!" JJ laughs, running over quickly and shoving him over board, splashing us all with droplets of water while my brother swims down to the boat, his hands gripping the anchor chain tightly.

"Why isn't he back yet?" I ask pacing the boat, my fingers tapping against my leg frantically.

Somehow, this isn't the most dangerous thing my brother has ever done impulsively. His curiosity leads him to places he shouldn't go, but he can't manage to push the ideas down. He can't live peacefully without doing something stupid.

"Hey," JJ grabs my shoulders firmly, causing me stop, "He's gonna come back up, bro. I hope he does anyway."

I roll my eyes, glaring up at him, "You're amazing at comforting people. Honestly, never seen anyone better. You've made me feel so much better about how my dumb-ass brother—"

Right on time, John B comes up from the depths of the water gasping for air, thankfully cutting my rant short. We all spring over to the front of the boat, peering down at him.

"You dumb fuckin' idiot." I snap, reaching across to smack his head roughly.

He hisses and reaches a hand up to rub the hit spot, but then a smirk appears across his lips, "Aw, were you worried?" He pouts, chuckling.

Before I get the chance to reply, Pope speaks, "So... any dead bodies?"

"Looting potential?" JJ raises an eyebrow.

"No and no. I found this motel key." He raises a key on a string, dangling it around.

"A key?" Pope tilts his head as we make space for John to climb onto the point, "A key?"

"Yes, a key, Pope."

"We salvaged a metal key." JJ sighs, leaning down to rest his forehead on my bicep, "Great."

I sigh, snatching the key from my brother's grip and inspecting it closely, "I'm sure this will help us in so many ways." I mumble sarcastically, "Maybe in the motel there's piles of gold." I roll my eyes, "Or, it might just be an old man's sticky room."

-

JJ whistles as the motel comes into sight. It's mostly destroyed, tree branches covering the courtyard completely and boats squashed by other debris, "And I thought the Chateau looked bad." He mumbles.

"This place is a shit show." John says, rolling his shoulders back, earning a hum of agreement from me.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie jokes and I chuckle slightly.

"You be the judge." Pope mumbles glumly in response.

"Doesn't look like a place someone with a Grady-White stays." John B starts to slow down the boat as we approach the land.

"More like a place they would get killed." I swallowed, staring up at the ram-shacked motel.

"All right, here we go." JJ directs John B. "This is your captain speaking HMS pogue comin' in for landing." He imitates a walkie-talkie, his hands cupping his mouth as He jumps off and ties the boat up.

"We good?" My brother questions, flicking the engine off.

"Yeah, we good." He politely holds his hand out to me and I take it, jumping down before smiling over at him as thanks. He winks playfully, earning a hard shove in the shoulder from me.

"Hey." Pope grabs my attention, clicking his fingers.

"Yep?" I whirl round on my heels, leaning in slightly as he speaks.

"Don't let them do anything stupid." He points to my brother and his best friend.

"I can't promise anything." I smirk, shrugging., "Wild beasts, the both of them. I'd need to be a dog tamer to keep them under wraps."

Behind me, I hear JJ and John B gasp in offence, mumbling words to each other before my brother steps forward, smacking my head and I hiss, turning around sharply to glare at him.

"Uh, be careful." Kie passes John B the motel keys while rocking back and forth on her heels, "I mean it."

"Yeah, yeah." He shakes his head as if he has just came out of a trance before waking her off.

"Let's go." He pats the back of mine and JJ's shoulders, dragging us after him, "Quicker."

We walk up to the second floor and along the outside balcony. The boys are in front of me and I'm behind, trying to ignore their weird conversations. My eyebrows furrow at the sight of dirty mattresses lined up in rows outside people's doors.

"Why are all these mattresses out here?" John B asks before I have the chance.

"After a hurricane, they ditch 'em cause they're moldy." JJ explains, quickly changing the subject to something he found more entertaining, "Just be so careful, John." He mimics Kie and begins touching John B's face.

My brother pushes him away grimacing, "God, you're so weird."

"What the heck was that about?" JJ questions, glancing down at Kiara on the boat for a moment.

"I don't know." John shrugs, "Maybe she wants us to be careful."

"Pft," I snort, "Yeah, that's not like Kie."

"Exactly!" JJ looks back at me, thankful for my input, "Since she heard you're being threatened for exile, she's just been, like, 'Oh! Be so careful, John B." JJ starts to massage my brothers shoulders but he's roughly pushed away, again.

" 'Just give me that John D already.' When are you gonna swoop on that man?" He continues, smacking John B's chest excitedly.

"Bro, you know the rule. No pogue-on-pogue macking." John B states, pursing just lips, while his eyes can each door we pass, "Besides, you're the one who's always hitting on her."

"Of course I'm hitting on her. She's a super-hot, rich, hippie chick slumming with us." JJ chuckles, "Why? I can't figure it out either, but who cares, bro?"

"You need help. Not a little help, you need a lot of help. It's like very girl who just had a heartbeat, you're like 'uhh!'" John B grabs the air in front of him and proceeds to act like he's humping something.

"What? It's not a big deal." JJ rolls his eyes.

"Next thing I know you'll be having sex with my sister." John laughs, "You flirt with her enough too," He glances back at me for a second, "God, it's like you two are the same person but different genders. It's weird and you flirt with each like it's normal."

If I had a drink I would spit it out so instead I choke on my own spit and I cough awkwardly, trying to cover it, and they look back at me in confusion, "Is— Is this us?" I ask trying to change the subject, tapping the last door.

"Yeah, twenty nine." JJ nods, pushing past us and knocking on the door, "Housekeeping." He squeals in a high pitched tone.

"Should we try it?" John B looks at me, holding the key up.

"Yeah. Give it to me." I rip the key from his hands and put it into the lock, twisting it around a few times.

"No power. No security cameras. No ones gonna know." JJ keeps wittering on to himself, my brother and I completely ignoring his nonsense.

We step inside. It's just a normal, basic motel room apart from the fact that it has someone's luggage in. They both go through bags while I look on shelves and in cupboards, wiping a single finger through a thick layer of dust, grimacing at it before wiping it carelessly on the bed sheets.

JJ wanders into the bathroom, "Ooo!"

"Did you find something?" I ask not bothering to look up.

"A really awesome Dopp kit you won't let me steal." He calls happily, rummaging through the contents.

"Yeah, cause we're not stealing shit." John B replies sternly.

I can't see much because John B is a few feet away and he has the only flash light. I kneel down to look at another shelf; perched on it is something that feels like a box. I run my fingers over the front of it trying to decide what it is. I feel a key pad, it has buttons, "John B come here with the light and look at this." I call him over, pointing at the dark space in front of me.

He squats next to me and shines the bright light to where I direct him to. It's a safe. John B smiles over at me before putting numbers in starting with:

1 1 1 1

"It'll take you, like, 2 days to do that." I groan, throwing my head back.

"Yep." He nods and continued to press buttons, ignoring my complaints.

1 1 1 2

"Punching shit at random. That will... definitely work." JJ says sarcastically before moving over to a small bed side table.

JB stands up and does the same. He picks up a piece of paper and examines it. I just keep looking at the safe with my head tilted and my eyes blended to the key pad while I try to think of number combinations that might work.

John comes back over to me, silently kneeling down again and jabbing in a new set of numbers, a mischievous grin across his lips, " Six, one, six, six, six." He mumbles to himself.

There's a beep and the light turns green telling us it has been unlocked. John B hastily opens it and I sit forward, looking over the contents.

"Holy shit." I gasp, my eyes going wide.

Inside is money, like, a lot. And a gun, just placed simply to the side.

"Uh... JJ,"My brother whispers. "You're gonna wanna see this."

He hops over and sees what we're looking at, causing him to laugh happily, "Dude, dude, dude!" JJ picks up the gun and begins waving it around. "This is a SIG sauer! This is a fucking spendy gatt, man. Just Bam! Bam! Bam Bam!" He pretends to shoot at things, posing like James Bond.

"Sick!" I smile, motioning for him, "Pass it."

He throws it at me and I catch it before pretending to shoot him, small laughs of enjoyment erupting both our lungs. He moves his shoulders back as I jolt the gun, making it look almost real.

"Ava. Really?" John B hisses and I roll my eyes, passing the gun back to JJ, "Fuckin' children." He whispers to himself, glaring at us, "We're not stealing anything!" John B snarls through gritted teeth.

"Okay! Okay! Just take a pic of me! Right here." He says to me before getting into another pose, "Ava, quick. Before Mr. Moody Pants over here tells us off again."

"You wanna make our own incriminating evidence?" My brother spits, hitting the boy's shoulder, "Is that what you're talking about?"

"Don't be such a buzz-kill, JB." I mumble.

"I'm not being a bu-" He starts.

"Quit arguing for once, and listen," JJ interrupts him, pointing to the window, "What is that?"

There's a quiet tapping sound on the window, causing us all to pause in our spaces, looking at each other in worry.

John B and I walk slowly over to the window and peer through the blinds. Outside Pope and Kie are motioning to the door and are mouthing something neither of us could make out. Until, Pope mouths it slower and I finally get it.

'Cops!'

"Cops!" I call our quietly, rolling around on my heels to face the two boys again, "There's cops!" I hiss.

My brother runs over to the other window beside the door and confirms it with a sharp nod, glancing back at us in a hurry. There's a firm knock on the door; most likely belonging to Shoupe. John B and I shoot over to the window and slide it open quietly while JJ stuffs things in his pockets.

"J, come on!" I motion to the ledge outside.

I climb out first and go out onto the left side, flattening my back against the brick wall. John goes on the right, leaving JJ with no other choice than to stand over me. His chest is pressing into my face and his hands are either side of my heads "You like this position, princess?" He smirks down at me, chuckling.

I clench my chair and open my mouth to retort but a finger is placed on my lips. I glare up at JJ through my furrowed eyebrows and he nods his head towards the window telling me they're right there. Slowly, JJ moves his hands down to my waist, winking. But in doing so the gun falls out of his pocket and makes a clattering sound on the roof as it skids to the floor. My eyes widen and he pushes his face into the wall beside my head in annoyance, grumbling a string of cuss words. I squeeze my eyes shut while a smirk plays on my lips, trying not to make fun of him.

The blinds of the window shoot up and the police officer looks out. JJ shuffles us both further along the wall so we're against a pole. We hear them slowly leave and we jump down to the others. Without a word, John B starts the boat quickly while JJ and I lay down next to each other on the bow, panting heavily.

"Well, that was fun!" He chimes, "Could have warned us a little sooner though."

"We would have just Pope was on the math team." Kie rolls her eyes.

"You were on the math team?" I raise an eyebrow at the boy, "Nerd."

He ignores what I just said, knowing I would of made a joke if he replied, "The cops took everything like it was a crime scene. Did you guys find anything?"

"Did we find anything?" JJ looks at me and I smirk, "No, I don't think so.. oh, yeah, we did." A huge smile spreads across his face as he lifts up the money and the gun.

"What the hell?" Pope stands up in shock, backing away slightly.

"Dude, what?" Kie pipes in.

"Guys, chill. Come on." He attempts to calm them down. The only relaxed ones are John B and I, who are smirking our asses off.

"Why take that from a crime scene?" Pope shoves at JJ chest as he stands up to comfort the distressed boy.

"Better than having the cops have it." He shrugs.

John B and I start to laugh, shaking our heads and Kiara glares over at us, "Are you serious?" Kie asks John and his face falls straight again, "Ava? Did you know?" She turns to me.

"Maybe." I mutter and she scoffs, rubbing her temples before turning away.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope huffs.

"Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh." JJ puts an arm around Pope. "At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living my nightmare." He pushes him away and slowly sits down, head in his hands.

JJ sits back down next to me with a wink. I smack his leg before laying down on my back and my arms behind my head, taking in the uncommon silence of the group.