THE AFTERSTORM GLOW, IT NEVER got old to Sierra. It was a thing taught to her by her late father. Even through the roughness of a hurricane, there's always something beautiful to to come from it. But the girl wil have to admit, some parts did look unpleasant, especially for those who'd have to clean it up.

"Yeah, that definitely looks like a smugglers boat." JJ commented quietly, glancing over at John B who threw him a look. The blonde seemed to have a really bad awareness of his surroundings. A good example is now, when the owner of the same boat JJ had talk bad about popped out.

A kind, grandpa looking fellow of the island. "Good mornin'." John B waved with a kind smile, speeding up the boat, "How about we look at some clues and think before we speak."

"What?" JJ raised his arms up in confusion, rolling his eyes as he stepped further towards the edge of the boat. "Oh, shit, look at who it is." John B's eyes trailed over at JJ's not-so subtle pointing and caught sight of Ms. Amy. A kind mother who definitely didn't look her age, and also babysat both of the boys when they were young. "Does my hair look good?"

"Shut up." John B warned, raising a hand to enthusiastically wave. "Hi, Miss Amy! You guys get through it?"

"Still here!" The lady replied with a kind smile, not giving it another thought as she went back to helping her husband.

"She totally looked at me." JJ proudly noted, eyeing the woman as they passed through. "She wants me, definitely."

"I saw it." John B agreed, lifting his hand to give the boy a fist bump.

"JJ, that's gross, she's literally married with like..three kids." Sierra scoffed, sitting up from her laying position.

"Okay, Si, no need to get jealous. There's a lot of me to go around." JJ planted his hands on his chest, smirking at the girl.

"I'm not jealous."

"It kinda sounds like you are." John B corrected, "And it's okay if you are, there's no need to be ashamed, we're here for you."

"Shut up." Sierra dismissed, turning to look at the approaching dock. "Let's focusing on getting Pope out of Heyward's chokehold instead."

"Uh oh, she's changing the subject." The brunette teased, looking at JJ with a wide grin.

"Ms. Pirate is jealous." JJ added on, chuckling as he was met with silence. "Ms.
Pirate is angry."

"I can't believe i'm stuck with two idiots." Sierra muttered, eyes catching sight of the the Cut's very own prodigy. "Pope, save me!"

"We have a safety meeting." John B cupped a hand over his left shoulder, talking into it like a radio on an officer. "Attendance mandatory."

"I can't." Pope replied back, shutting off the hose he had in his hand. "My pop's got me on lockdown."

"Come on, man." JJ protested, looking over at the older man that approached. He hissed, mocking static over a radio as he talked into his shoulder. "Your dad's a pussy, over."

"Oh, I heard that, you little bastard!" Heyward pointed a gloved finger at JJ disapprovingly, glaring at him. He never approved of the blonde, or at least, never showed any sign a of approval.

"We need your son." John B called out, slowing the boat to a stop, giving Pope the perfect opportunity to jump on.

"Like, desperately, Sir. Heyward!" Sierra raised her hand, sending Pope a wink.

"Don't call me that Sierra, it makes me feel old."

"Hey, and islands rules." JJ added on, "Day after a hurricane's a free day."

"Who the hell made that up?" Heyward spat back with a confused stare.

"Uh..Pentagon, I think." The Maybank boy pushed further, desperately attempting—and failing—to convince the older man to let his son loose. "We have security clearance, I have a card."

"Security clearance, what the—y'all think I'm stupid?" Heyward rhetorically questioned, planting a hand on the railing in front him.

"I'll do it tomorrow, I promise, tomorrow." Pope promised, slowly lowering his house and taking cautious steps towards the boat.

Heyward took notice, furrowing his brows in frustration. "You think—no, no, no. Hell no, you doin' it right now."

"Get in the boat."John B encouraged with a whisper-yell, catching Pope's gaze as it flickered between the three on the boat.

"Make a run for it." JJ only fueled the fire that burned in Pope's veins, sending him a nod as a last push.

Pope began to take swift steps to the edge of the boat, ignominy his fathers calls "Boy, if you get into that boat—bring your ass back up here!"

"Go, go, go!" Pope tapped on the metal bar above the steering wheel with urgency. He looked up at his fathers burning glare, "I promise I'll do it tomorrow, dad, I promise."

Heyward began shouting out, "When you get back, you gon' clean shrimp, you gon' clean fish! And you you'll clean your dirty ass room!"The man let out a huff, dropping his arms to his side.

"Bye, pops!" John B teased, a wicked smirk on his face. "We'll bring him back in one piece, I promise."

"And I don't like your friends!"

"That man is about to pop a blood vessel, like, seriously." Sierra chuckled, looking over at Pope who just winced in embarrassment.

—

There was a clear shift in scenery as  they arrived at Kiara's dock. Despite the rugged hurricane that swept through the island, the houses still stood tall and beautiful. Their backyards much more neat, grass trimmed, large pools. Kooks in polos and shorts wandered around, in their natural, rich habitat.

Out came Kiara, a rebellious teen that stuck out from the figure like a sore thumb. Compared to the large hats and gold jewelry, Kiara strutted closer to them with sandals, ripped shorts, and a half tucked in shirt.

John B was the first to greet her, already smiling before they could fully reach the dock.  "Oh, top o' Morin to ya."

"Morning boys." Kiara smiled, jokingly bowing her head as she turned to Sierra. "Ahoy, Pirate."

"Ahoy, matey." Sierra responded with a wink, offering a hand with chipped nail polish to the Kook.

"Whatcha got, you got some juice boxes in there?" Pope wondered  pointing to the cooler in Kiara's hand mischievously.

"You know, just some yogurts and carrot sticks." Kiara took Sierra's hand, stepping in, one foot at a time.

"How about my type of juice boxes." JJ questioned, wiggling his brows and watching intently as she placed the cooler down.

"Yeah." The Carrera girl giggled, opening up the box and pulling out a few beers. "One for all, I couldn't take many 'cause my dad was running low."

Sierra took the beer offered to her, "I think it's crazy that your dad still hasn't noticed."

"Maybe he has, just waiting for the moment attack." Pope suggested, cracking open his beer.

"This isn't animal planet, Pope." JJ threw back, "If her pops already realized then he'd never let her step out the house again."

"I'll have to agree with JJ on that one." Kiara nodded, raising her beer bottle, "Salud."

"Skoal!"

—

With the blazing sun and it's continuous beaming it was bound to leave a thin layer of sweat on each of the Pogue's. So they removed articles of clothing to give some sort of relief before one of them got a heat stroke.

The boys causally chilled with their bare chest exposed. Pope now taking over the wheel while John B grabbed a beer and relaxed. The girls were limited to only their bikini tops and mini shorts. Sierra took the opportunity to lay down on her stomach, moving her hair to expose her back and hopefully get a tanner complexion.

"Let me show you a party trick." JJ began, standing up with a beer in hand and stepping over Sierra's body to balance on the bow.

Sierra lifted her head, glaring up at the boy. "How 'bout you save it for another time, like when we're actually partying or something."

  "Hey, Pope, can you go a little faster?" JJ requested, shooting the girl a glare. "Just enough so I can prove my haters wrong."

  "This is not gonna work, we've tried this 6,000 times." John B argued, staring up at his best friend with an unamused expression. To nobody's surprise, JJ ignored John B's rational thought. "Here we go," he groaned, setting his beer and disappearing to the backseats of the boat, "I'm movin'."

  "I got this, it's gonna work!" JJ reassured confidently, he then leaned his head back, feeling the whipping wind in his tangled locks as Pope sped up the boat. Slowly, he tilted the bottle, allowing strings of fizzy beer to spill out and completely miss his mouth.

  Kiara scoffed, immediately facing away with a chuckle as she felt droplets of the liquid on her body. "Oh my god, you're getting beer in my hair."

  "Gross!" Sierra covered her face, attempting to stop JJ by softly slapping at his leg. "Jay, that's enough."

  "Alright." Pope spoke up, covering his own face with his hand, letting the boat slow down. "Alright!"

  "Alright, stop." John B joined in, beginning to stand up and attempt to cause an end to the horrendous 'party trick'.

  But before he could fully stand, the boat came to an aggressive halt, launching all of It's passengers forward. JJ flew off the edge and into the water, Sierra nearly going in with him but barley hanging on by the edge. Something forced the boat to stop, whatever it was resided under water.

  "Jesus, Pope!" Kiara muttered, only adding to the collection of groans and complaints that fell out of the other two.

  Faint sounds of bubbling water caught John B's attention, the body of the Maybank boy floating above the surface. His face was barley peeking out, eyes closed and mouth opening to release painful groans."You okay, JJ?"

  "I think my heels touched the back of my head."

"What was that Pope?" Sierra grumbled, lightly rubbing her side to relieve the ache that sprouted from her ribs. Nothing major, luckily, just minor whiplash and some bruising later on.

"Sandbar, the channel changed." Pope explained embarrassingly, standing fully to walk towards the bow.

"Yeah, no shit." JJ spat back sarcastically, feeling the wind that was previously knocked out of his lungs slowly fill his body with each breath. "Pirate, can you kiss my boo-boo."

"Depends where it is."

"Ooh, kinky."

"Y'all." Kiara stared between the two with a scrunched up face. "Don't be gross."

"He started it." Sierra nodded at the blonde, throwing her hands up in defense. "I just asked a question."

"Uh, guys." Pope began, turning to his friends before turning back to stare at the murky waters. "I think there's a boat down there."

"Hardy, har har." Sierra mocked a laugh, rolling her eyes as she laid on her back. "Don't try to make up a lame excuse just because you suck at boat driving."

"Hey! I—there's I boat!" Pope exclaimed, voice rising a few octaves as he motioned towards the water in exasperation. "I swear."

"No way." Kiara shook her head, bare feet clanking on the plastic surface as she stomped her way up to the bow. There was a pause, then a light gasp. "Holy shit, he's right."

Sierra rolled over to peak down at the water, it was definitely difficult to see, but a faint outline neared the surface. She fully stood, leaning down as her eyes widened, "I found a boat!"

Pope glared, resisting the urge to push her into the water with JJ. "Be so for real with me right now."

Sierra smirked, giggling as she removed her shorts and jumped in. Seconds after, her head appeared, a excited expression lighting her features. "Maybe we can find some treasure down here or something."

Kiara didn't hesitate before stripping and following soon after, John B tossed his glasses aside and was in just a few seconds behind her. Pope struggled, both with removing his shirt and the idea of further exploring a shady situation.

"Ten bucks to whoever can touch the boat first." JJ challenged, looking over at Sierra as she smirked.

  She raised a wet hand above water, waiting for the blonde to shake it. "No cheating."

  "Me? Cheat? Nahh." JJ chuckled, taking her hand to officiate the deal. "It'll be fair, okay? On three."

  "One..two..." Sierra pushed the boy, dunking her head under the water and kicking her feet as quickly as she possibly could. Her stinging eyes focused on the white roof of the boat, her hand stretched out in an attempt to reach it quicker. Behind her, she could feel JJ approaching, but she touched the boat first. Her feet landed on the roof, then pushed firmly so she could swiftly resurface.

  Above water, she gasped and giggled in triumph. Her smile slowly faded as she spun her head around in search of JJ, or any of her friends. Yet nobody was there. The light waves that rippled through water was the only thing that her eyes saw. Nobody, until JJ suddenly appeared behind her, letting out a deep exhale. Everyone else followed closer after, three pairs of heads peeking out the water with big smiles and heaving chuckles.

  "You guys saw that right!"

  "Yeah, I did."

  "That's a Grady White, a new one of those is 500 G's, easy." JJ noted, looking between his friends, "Sierra, baby, you just missed the sight of that pretty thing."

  "What?" Sierra furrowed her brows in confusion, "That boat down there is a Grady fuckin' White?"

  "Yeah, I saw one of those when I was surfing the surge." John B replied, his eyes wide with excitement. He swam towards the boat, rushing to climb back on. "Maybe it hit the jetty's or something."

  "You surfed the surge?" Kiara frowned, pulling herself up and planting her feet on the floor. Her voice full of genuine concern as she stared at the brunette in front of her.

  "Yeah." JJ chuckled, lifting his hand to slap it against John B's, acknowledging how proud he was. "That's my boy. Pogue style."

  "Wait, wait." Pope was the last one to climb in the boat, "Do you know who's boat that is?"

  John B gave him a shrug, leaning down to open a compartment in the floor. "No, but we are about to find out."

  JJ looked over at his best friend then back at the water, then at the anchor in his hand that he'd retrieved from the compartment. Almost as if both of their brains came together to create one bad idea, JJ immediately knew what the Routledge was going to do. "Nah, man, it's too deep."

  "Only for the the weak and feeble, JJ." John B challenged with a raise of his brows and a smirk. He stepped onto the bow, looking back at his friends.

  Sierra let out a snort, turning towards JJ with that giggly smile. "Weak and feeble, almost like you, Jay."

  "Hey!" JJ rolled his eyes and turned away, instead looking at his best friend. "Well, I'm not resuscitating you, I'm just making that clear up front."

"That's fine." He took another step further down, inhaling deeply.

"John B." Kiara spoke, her tone almost passing off as a warning as her eyes hardened.

"What?"

"Diver down, fool." Pope smiled, raising two fingers to his forehead and saluting the brunette in front of him.

"Diver down." John B copied his actions, adjusting his grip on the anchor. It was clear through the constant rising and falling of his bare chest that he was nervous.

"Yeah, he is." JJ pushed the boy harshly, watching as he fell back-first into the water with a painful splash. The rope that connected to the anchor slowly disappearing into the water.

"JJ!" Sierra scolded, lightly slapping his arm. They huddled up on the corner, eyes scanning the foggy water for any signs of him coming back up. "I think you may have just killed John B."

"Should we get him?" Pope suggested, and as if he summoned his friend, John B's wet curls resurfaced. He was a coughing mess, shaking his head to remove the access water and wiping away at his face.

"Oh, my god, that took forever!" Kiara let out a sigh of relief, her hand being the first to reach out.

"Any dead bodies?" The Heyward boy immediately questioned, his eyes wide in wonder and his tone eager.

"Looting potential?" JJ chimed in, also reaching his hand out to help him climb in.

"No, no." John B breathed, raising his hand to show off the dangly key with a bright yellow tag that wrapped around his finger. "But, I found this motel key."

"A key." Pope fell back, disappointment clear in his voice as he raised a brow at John B.

"Yes, a key, Pope."

"Great!" JJ pulled the anchor up and back it's place, faking enthusiasm. "You salvaged a Motel Key."

"Something is better then nothing." Sierra shrugged, "Maybe it isn't a motel key, maybe it's just disguised as one and it actually leads to a super secret treasure box?"

"We live in the Outerbanks, Si, what's the chance of that happening here of all places."

—

  "Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard." Kiara advised as the boat sped through the water, nearing the island. "Maybe we'll get a finder's fee."

  "Yeah, and not work all summer." JJ added on, sitting back to chill next to Sierra. "Thanks Agatha, ya batch."

  Sierra giggled, turning to watch as the water rippled under the engine of the HMS Pogue. "And even better, we'll probably have whatever Kook was dumb enough to crash their boat kissing at our feet."

  "Be realistic," Pope began from behind the wheel, "As soon as they find out that a Pogue found their precious Grady White, they'll probably assume that we stole something from it."

  "Well, we kinda did." JJ threw an arm back, feigning a stretch and casually resting it over Sierra's shoulders.

  "Have faith, Pope." Sierra leaned into JJ's embrace, crossing her arms. "You never know what goods things you may manifest when looking at the positive."

  Pope quickly threw the girl an unamused glare over his shoulder before quickly turning back to focus forward.

  At the Coast Guard building, if you could even call it one, the Pogue's managed to squeeze their small boat between two larger ones. They docked it as John B and JJ went off to report the wreck. The only issue arose when Sierra took one look at the small shack, which was flooded with a line of people. Inside was even worse, people crowded the single man working behind the counter with complaints and reports of their own.

  By the time Pope, Kiara and Sierra reached the two boys, they were nowhere near getting the first few words of their sentence out.

  "Excuse me, we—hey, man, we f-fou-" JJ began, resting his muscly arms on the counter.

  "Hey, you're gonna wanna here this." John B added on, raising his voice to overpower the shouting crowds "We found—"

  "Hey!" The cost guard employee snapped, raising his hand to prevent the teen from speaking another word. "Calm down!"

  John B sighed, pushing himself away from the counter and leading the rest of group out the building. "Well, that went well." Pope sarcastically stated, shoving his hands into his pockets.

  "Sooo, what's the plan?" JJ asked, resting his arm against John B's shoulder.

  John B raised the keys, "I thinkI know how we're going to find the guy who owns the boat."

  Pope's eyes widened comically large, anxiously looking between the two boys. "No, no, we don't know whose room that is, okay, it could belong to anyone." The Heyward boy raised his hands, moving them around like he always does when he tries to explain why an idea is bad. When it comes to the Pogue's, almost every idea is bad, so they've grown accustomed to the boys paranoid tangents.

  "I'm in." JJ shrugged, Pope's words going in one ear and flying out the other as he tossed the keys to Kiara.

"Come on, I'll be lookout." Kiara smirked, teasingly jingling the keys in his face, following after JJ who was already making his way towards the boat.

  "Finder's fee, just sayin'." John B lightly patted his chest, brushing past him before looking back. "And, hey, at least you'll only be an accomplice's."

  "Look at the positives." Sierra pointed her two fingers to her eyes, motioning them towards Pope and keeping her gaze on him as she stepped back slowly. "You never know what good things you may manifest."

  "Shut up." Pope sighed, rolling his eyes at her smile as he jogged to catch up to the rest. "Fuck, man."