𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞
[𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒕]

❧

THE OUTER BANKS, paradise on earth. That's at least what most people liked to call it. Those that usually owned two houses instead of working two jobs. But even then, a lot of the lesser fortunate people called it a paradise. Because even with the rich folks treating you like you were scum on the bottom of their shoe, you still had the beach and the waves, and the sun scorching your skin. You could surf all day and have bonfires on the cool sand at night.

Who wouldn't believe that was paradise?

Well there was one person; Marina Emery, or Mari as her best friend Kiara liked to call her. She was kind of the black sheep when it came to the outer banks. The kooks found her weird because her father was a drug dealer, even though he literally supplied half of their addictions. The tourists found her scary because she would often sit alone on the beach with her black sunglasses on, smoking a joint as her blank stare looked at people walking by. And the pogues, well,  that's where it got dicey.

There was one of two reactions she would get from them. The first being; they found her cool enough to hang out with during shortened periods of time and the second being, well, they avoided her at all costs because they were scared of getting a bad rep with her father. Yes, her father often scared off many potential friends she could've made.

But she didn't need friends. Not when she had Kiara Carrera. Marina swore they were platonic soul mates. Never would she have fathomed she would be friends with a kook, but Kiara and her had met when they were thirteen and that was only because Marina had punched a guy who was making Kiara uncomfortable. Now, when Marina said Kiara was a kook, she really wasn't. Her mom was and that just made her one by default or at least half kook.

Did that stop her from hanging out with people her parents most likely didn't approve of? Not one bit. And maybe that was why Marina and Kiara had hit it off so well. They understood each other better than anyone else in the world and they most definitely would go to bat for each other over anything and everything.

Growing up in the outer banks wasn't exactly a luxury in Marina's eyes. Sure, she loved to surf but she'd rather not have the constant reminder that her life was going nowhere. When she saw the big houses and the yachts, the big parties and the expensive shit they paraded around, she realized she would never have that.

Not even with her father being a drug dealer, not even if she worked her ass off to get there. She wouldn't ever make it. And she didn't know if she even wanted to. Marina didn't know what she wanted with her life. She'd rather just go somewhere private and live alone or travel the world instead of being confined in one space. But without money, that was pretty difficult.

Her family wasn't worse off like some, her father had the money from his deals to keep the roof over their heads, the food on the table and giving them a few luxuries like their phones and a car to share between them. But that wasn't exactly living generously. And it was only getting worse since their dad was now paying the mortgage alone.

Nine months ago, Marina's mother had suddenly decided to leave them and go live on the opposite side of the island with her new boyfriend. Marina didn't understand where it had come from, she had believed her parents had been in love, that they would be together forever. But what would she know about love? She had never felt it before.

Her mother had gotten with a kook who was all but drowning in cash and vacation homes. Now, could Marina just pretend to put up with it just to get money out of it? Of course she could. But she wouldn't purely to save herself the complete agony of having to spend one minute with her mother's boyfriend. And she had some self respect, she'd rather have nothing than to be given anything by her mother at this point.

Ryder, her older brother, felt the opposite. He always looked to their mom for cash outs because he knew she felt bad and wanted to practically buy them off. While Marina just stuck to working her shitty job at the local diner for a lousy paycheck.

Paradise on earth they say? Yeah, Marina thinks that's all bullshit.

A sigh leaves her lips as she practically turns over the couch cushions. Her headphones had disappeared off the face of the planet even though she just had them an hour ago. She runs her hands through her hair as she looks around before her eyes move down the hall. Her jaw clenches as she walks toward the door, opening it, revealing her brother lounging around on his bed.

"Ryder, where did you put it?" Marina asks him with a scoff, crossing her arms against her chest. Ryder doesn't look up from his phone.

"Where did I put what?" Ryder asks bluntly and Marina bites her tongue. He always took her shit just to mess with her and it was honestly getting irritating.

"You know what I'm talking about, you piece of shit." Marina snaps as she hits his shoulder. Ryder rolls his eyes as he glances at her, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"You're delusional." He tells her, moving his gaze back to his phone. Marina grabs it from him causing him to slightly glare at her.

"You stole my headphones." Marina states, knowing he was just going to keep on deflecting like he always did.

"No, I didn't."

"You're such a liar." She scoffs as she hits him again. Ryder just hits her back, a fight ensuing as the commotion echoes through the house.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Marina hears her dad's voice get closer and Ryder was able to push her back because of the distraction. Marina turns to her father with a huff.

"Dad, Ryder stole my headphones and he won't give them back to me." She admits with a groan. Diego sighs as he looks toward his son who sat with his arms crossed.

"Ryder, give them back to her." He demands but Ryder sticks to his story.

"I didn't take them." Ryder denies but Diego gives him a stern gaze, not really in the mood to play games right now.

"Ryder." His voice was harsh and Ryder bites the inside of his cheek. He scoffs as he gets up, walking over to his drawer and pulling them out before practically throwing them at Marina.

"God, it was a joke." Ryder mutters as he crosses his arms. "It's just a pair of headphones." He points out. It's not like he stole diamond earrings or some shit.

"That I worked my ass off to buy." Marina points out. She spent her hard earned money on them and she wasn't about to let Ryder break them or lose them. Ryder just let's out a small snort.

"I'm sure you did." Ryder clearly wanted to wind his sister up and it worked as Marina launched another attack on him, hitting his chest.

"You such an ass!" Marina shouts toward him but their father wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her back.

"Okay, okay. That's enough from both of you." He warns them, giving them both a look. Marina sends one last glare her brothers way before turning and storming out of the room.

As she walks down the hall, she sees Kiara walking into the house. The girl often let herself in as Marina did to the Carrera household. Kiara had a smile on her face. "Hey, girl." She says, closing the door behind her. Marina tries to muster a smile but she was still too pissed. Kiara was one of the only people who ever actually saw her smile.

"Hey."

"Why the sour face?" Kiara asks, immediately sensing her mood. Marina just lets out a long sigh as she shakes her head.

"Just my brother being annoying." Marina admits and Kiara nods her head slowly. She was honestly lucky to be an only child because with the way Ryder always annoyed Marina, Kiara didn't know if she could deal with that.

"Well, wanna go get drunk?" Kiara suggests, knowing that would cheer her up and she instantly gets a smirk from the brunette.

"When do i ever turn you down, Kie?" Marina asks her, raising an eyebrow and Kiara laughs, wrapping her arm around the girls waist.

"Never, that's why I love you." Kiara responds as Marina smiles, leaning against her. "You don't mind hanging with the guys, right?" She asks curiously and Marina's smile slightly drops. It's not like she hated hanging with other people, she was just so used to being with Kiara alone or being alone in general.

The guys. Although Kiara was Marina's only friend, Marina wasn't Kiara's. She had a group that she often went with and even though Kiara invited her, Marina rarely went. The pogues, as Marina liked to call them.  It wasn't because the guys weren't fun, she just wasn't used to hanging around people she barely knew. And Kiara was so comfortable with them. Marina just seemed awkward and out of place.

"Oh." Marina tried not to sound too disappointed. "No, guess that's fine." She says, bringing her hands into her pockets. She would rather them break in some place and just hang out together but as much as Marina may not like it, kie and her boys came first.

"Come on, you fit right in." Kiara admits, there hadn't been any problems the previous times and they seemed to have fun. At least in Kiaras eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm guessing they're only expecting you." That's what always made Marina nervous. Kiara didn't seem to alert the guys of her prescence until they got there. So Marina was often met with surprised looks for even just a split second. They tried to cover it up quickly but Marina always saw. But was she shocked? She wasn't exactly one for social gatherings. She barely went to keggers and when she did, she was often stared at for being in all black by her lonesome.

"Well, we're a package deal." Kiara says, squeezing her shoulder with a bright smile. She would never allow anyone to disrespect Marina, even her own friends. Kiara knew none of them would make her uncomfortable though. Sure, JJ could be flirtatious but it was all harmless. Although he was playing with fire around Kiara since she practically built a wall around Marina. Even though JJ's flirting with Marina was absolutely atrocious.

Marina was somehow convinced to go, changing clothes and helping Kiara bring some things toward the dock. She saw the infamous pogue boat on the water, the three boys waiting as they conversed together. "O, top of the morning to ya." JJ calls out in a trashy Irish accent.

"Morning boys." Kiara says with a smile, not being able to wave since of the items she was carrying.

"Morning." John B responds.

"Whatcha got? Some juice boxes?" Pope asks curiously, none of them acknowledging Marina yet but it was most likely because of how closely she was trailing Kiara, they probably didn't even notice her yet. She was pretty short in comparison to the girl. Majority of the time, JJ made a big deal about her showing up, practically announcing her full name to the whole wharf.

"You know, just some yogurts and carrot sticks." Kiara teases back with a roll of her eyes.

"What about my type of juice box?" JJ asks her, wiggling his eyebrows and Kiara squints from the sun as she nods her head.

"Yeah." Kiara says, using JJ's hand to get on the boat. "Hope you guys don't mind I brought Mari along." She states, turning to look at the girl who was just trailing along.

The boys all look toward her, none of them ever having any complaints to her hanging with them. "Yeah, no that's fine." John B says with a welcoming smile as Pope sends a wave. Mari stops beside the edge of the dock, her dark clothes making her stand out among thr group.

It wasn't like she was unfamiliar to them, she had hung around them a few times and each time they had welcomed her. John B would talk to her the most, mainly because she sat nearer him and Kiara when she was around. They weren't exactly strangers. Not since nine months ago at least. But it was mainly one sided conversations.

She knew Pope a bit because he tutored her in some of their classes. Marina hated getting help but her brother wasn't about to let her fail and become a drop out like their dad was. Besides, if Ryder had to get to graduation, she did too. Pope was always friendly, sending her a smile when they passed each other or even making small talk. But again, the conversation mainly consisted of him talking while she just drew in her notepad.

"A-okay." JJ says as he meets her eyes, sending her a slight salute. JJ maybank was the wild card for her. She truly never knew how to read him. He didn't seem to have a problem with her being there, in fact it seemed to provide him entertainment as he purposely would flirt with her to rile up Kiara.

Marina wasn't sure if JJ was doing it purely in spite or if there was a bit of truth to it. She would be lying if she said JJ wasn't attractive. But JJ was also very close to Kiara and causing problems between them was something Marina never wanted to do. So she would allow JJ's comments toward her but would never act on it. Besides, he most likely was just being friendly like he was to all the girls.

Because who would fall for someone like her? She was weird, blunt, and her sense of humor wasn't exactly welcomed by others.

"Come on in, Mari." JJ's voice brings her back to reality as he held his hand out toward her. Marina just stares at it for a moment but ultimately grabs his hand, walking onto the boat without saying a word.

"Hey, only I get to call her that." Kiara says, pointing her finger at JJ who simply rolls his eyes.

"Oh, you copyrighted a nickname?" JJ asks her, raising an eyebrow and Kiara confidently places her hands on her hips.

"Yep."

"Well, fine. Marina, you want a beer?" JJ rolls the r in her name causing her to stare at him with a questionable glint in ehr eyes.

"Sure." Marina answers him, smoothing out her outfit as she sat down. JJ opens the cooler to grab two from it.

"Careful, JJ doesn't just offer a beer to anyone." Pope jokes, nudging Marina a bit. Marina glances at him, raising her eyebrow slightly.

"Really? I heard JJ gives one to everyone and everything." She retorts and the others laugh as JJ just stands in front of them, his head tilted as he held the beer in his hands.

"I'm just a likeable person." JJ tells them as Kiara presses her lips together tightly.

"Negative." She denies and JJ sends her a playful glare before moving toward Marina.

"Hey, that's for Marina to decide." JJ states before holding the beer out to her. Marina takes it from him before she sees a mischievous smirk form on his face. "Let me show you a party trick." He says, his head bending towards hers a bit before backing up. "Hey, pope, can you go a little faster?" He asks and Marina stands confused as the others groan.

"Oh, here we go. I'm moving." John B mutters as he gets up from where he had been sitting.

"What's he doing?" Marina questions curiously.

"This is what I call a failed attempt to try and impress you." John B responds as he moves to the back of the boat. Marina blinks a few times, trying to figure out what he meant.

"Failed?"

"You'll see." John B gestures to where JJ was moving to stand on the edge of the front of the boat. "Might want to duck." He warns and she doesn't hesitate to move beside him, hiding behind Pope.

"It doesnt work, you've tried like six thousand times." Pope admits and JJ didn't seem to take any of the discouragement from his friends.

"I've got this. It's gonna work." JJ states as he opens the beer. Marina watches as he holds it up, pouring it and seemingly letting the wind guide it into his mouth. Although the majority was just Spraying everywhere.

"Oh, my god. You're getting beer in my hair." Kiara tells him, trying to shield herself.

"All right, all right!" Pope complains, wanting JJ to stop as does everyone else. Well, Marina was just stood motionless as she watched the blonde boy.

"Allright, you're done." John b demands but before they could do anything, the boat jolts, sending them forward. Marina almost hit her head on a blunt edge but luckily John B's hand stopped it.

Marina groans as she lands on the hard deck with a thud, John B half on top of her. He winces as he brings himself off of her. "Jesus, Pope." Kiara glares at the man, although it wasn't exactly his fault that the boat suddenly stopped.

"You okay, JJ?" John B calls out as he stands up, holding out his hands to help Marina stand up.

"I think my heels touched the back of my head." JJ gasps out from the water. John B glances around the boat.

"Kie, you okay?"

"I'm all right." Kiara admits as she nods before her eyes go to her best friend. "Mari?" She asks and Marina opens her mouth the answer but John B beats her to it.

"Don't worry, she was safe and sound with me." John B teases, knowing exactly how to annoy Kiara as she seemed a little too overprotective of the girl.

"You're so annoying." Kiara retorts as she just grabs Marina's hand, bringing her towards herself. Marina just moves toward her, silently, holding onto kiaras hand as they looked into the water.

"Pope. What did you do?" jj asks as he climbs up the ladder, soaking wet.

"Sandbar. The channel changed." Pope answers him and JJ rolls his eyes.

"No shit." He mumbles, shaking his head and John B looks out over the water.

"Ugh, this is probably gonna mess this whole place up." John B admits, crossing his arms against his chest.

"Hey, I saved the beer though." JJ states, holding it out in front of him and John B just sighs.

"Congrats, JJ." He responds dryly, clearly not that impressed. JJ rolls his eyes before they move to Marina. He brings the beer toward her and she just stares at it.

"I'd rather not drink dirty water." Marina denies, bluntly, pushing it back toward JJ's chest.

"Tastes all the same." JJ admits with a shrug before taking a long swig causing Marina to scrunch up her nose.

"Stop trying to poison my best friend, JJ." Kiara warns and JJ gasps, placing his hand on his chest before simply wrapping his arm around Marina's shoulders.

"Why would I ever want to get rid of a beautiful face like this?" JJ asks her dramatically and Marina was quick to move from his touch. She was never one for physical touch unless it was from Kiara, even her own family barely touched her which everyone found odd. JJ often seemed to forget this fact, and seemed embarrassed everytime he was reminded.

"Beautiful?" She retorts, raising an eyebrow, seeing the way he seemed to panic all of a sudden.

"I mean in the sense that-- like, just that like... like you know, everyone has a little beauty in them." JJ stutters out and Pope could only face palm as he turns away from them, wanting to not witness the embarrassing moment.

"Even you, JJ." John B says, bringing his finger to brush against the man's jaw.  JJ glares at him as he slaps it away while John B just laughs.

"Guys, I think there's a boat down there." Pope pipes up, catching everyone's attention.

"Shut up." John B says, his eyes widening as he moves behind Pope.

"No way." JJ mutters, slightly hovering behind Marina. The girl didn't seem to notice him as she went to take a step back and completely bashed into him. Marina went to give him a glare but he was way too invested to even pay attention.

"No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there. For real. I-its a boat!" Pope says, his eyebrows raising.

"Holy shit, he's right. Let's go." Kiara says, as she starts to take off her shirt.

"You think there's a dead body down there?" Pope asks them but the others don't listen to him, simply jumping into the water.

"You guys do the dumbest shit." Marina tells them as she shakes her head, simply sitting on the edge of the boat. You would think living near a beach, she would take all the opportunities to go swimming, but she often only did when she was alone. Feeling uncomfortable otherwise.

"Welcome to my life." Pope mumbles and Marina gives him the slightest smile that it was barely even noticeable. JJ was too focused on Marina, simply floating as he stared up at her. She was only sitting there and he was admiring her like she was some Greek goddess.

That was until a huge splash brought water into his eyes. When he finally got the salt out, he noticed Kiara beside him. "Kie, seriously?" He complains in annoyance as he wipes his face. Kiara just narrows her gaze.

"You were blocking me." Kiara states bluntly, acting like she didn't just do it because JJ was staring at her best friend. She loved JJ and he was a good guy, but she honestly couldn't see Marina liking him. She just wanted to save him the heartbreak of flirting, getting obsessed and then getting crushed.

"There's literally so much space where you could've jumped into." JJ points out, clenching his jaw as he made a big gesture with his arms. Kiara smirks as she swims away from him as Pope also jumps into the water.

Marina just watches them dive under the water, disappearing from her sight. It was only a moment before they resurfaced. "You guys saw that, right?" JJ asks them as they start to swim back over to the boat.

"Yeah, I did." John B states with a nod of his head.

"That's a grady-white. A new one of those is like five hundred g's easy." He explains to them and Marina narrows her gaze.

"Probably some rich sack who died, I'm starting to feel less sad." Marina admits, tilting her head back. She stands up as the pogues climb onto the boat.

"That's a primo rig." JJ tells them as he runs a hand through his dripping hair. Marina grabs a towel, holding it out to Kiara who grabs it,  wrapping it around herself.

"Yeah, that's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge." John B admits and they all glance over at him.

"Maybe it hit the jetty or something." Pope suggests and Kiara just furrows her eyebrows at John B.

"You surfed the surge?" Kiara asks him curiously. Marina could see the worry in her eyes. She knew Kiara had the smallest crush on the boy, which is partially why she hasn't told her what happened a few months ago.

"That's my boy, pogue style." JJ says with a smirk, placing his hand on John B's shoulder.

"What the heck?" Kiara mumbles, wondering why everyone had death wishes.

"It wasn't that bad." Marina denied with a shrug. Kiara snapped her gaze over to the girl, her eyes widening.

"You went out too? Mari." Her tone sounded disappointed as she put a hand on her hip. The boys make an 'oooh' noise causing Marina to give them a glare before looking back at Kiara.

"Don't give me the disappointed mom face, I'm in one piece aren't I?" She points out. Marina had barely gotten a scrape from it. There was no way she was going to let a wave that size go to waste.

"Not when I'm done with you." Kiara grumbles before sulking to herself. Marina shakes her head as she just leans beside John B to get another beer. She didn't actually like alcohol, especially beer. She honestly just drank it cause she liked punishing herself.

"Wait, do we know who's boat that is?" Pope asks curiously and John B shakes his head, moving Marina slightly out of the way so he could open a compartment. JJ's eyes lingered on the spot where John B's fingers were previously curled around Marina's waist. Marina didn't even so much as give him a glance which made JJ confused.

"No, but we're about to find out." John B announced as he pulls out the anchor. JJ snaps out of it, looking at his best friend.

"Dude, it's too deep." Jj warns, thinking he was the one who had the stupid ideas. John B was supposed to be the rational one.

"Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ." He responds with a smirk, turning to face him.

"Well, I'm not resuscitating you, I'm just making that clear up front." JJ states, raising his hands up in defence.

"That's fine."

"John B." Kiara says, clearly concerned for what he was about to do. But when he looked at her, she remained silent. Marina looks between them momentarily.

"Diver down, fool." Pope says, giving him a salute which John B mimics.

"Diver down."

"Yeah, he is." Jj pushes him back making him fall into the water. Kiara goes to turn but stops when she notices Marina just staring at her.

"What?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows a little bit.

"Nothing." Marina denies, not wanting to say anything in front of the others in order to not embarrass Kiara. Kiara just moves past her as Marina Continues to fiddle with her bracelet.

JJ sees this, his eyes moving to it for a moment before meeting her gaze. "You good?" He asks, a bit concerned as he wondered what was on her mind. Marina lifts her eyes to his before nodding.

"Yeah, I just should've taken my bracelet off." She admits. It was already pretty friable and the wind was pretty strong out on the open water. Her father had given it to her about a year ago and she didn't think she had taken it off once except to shower and sleep.

JJ glances around, grabbing his bag. "You can put it in here." He tells her and Marina was reluctant, not because she didn't trust him with it, she just didn't like having it away from her. But it was better than it falling off without her realizing.

Marina just nods firmly as she takes it off and slowly puts it in the bag. JJ says nothing as he puts his bag down and leans back over the boat to search for John B.

"Should we go get him?" Pope asks them, getting worried about the amount of time he was under the water. As if on a cue, John B raised from the surface, splashing around.

"Oh my god. That took forever." Kiara groans as she sighs a bit.

"Any dead bodies?" Pope questions.

"Looting potential?" Jj adds.

"No. No. I found this motel key." John B tells them, holding it up. Marina deflated as the man tossed it to JJ.

"A key?" Pope asks, confused as to how that was all be could find.

"Yes, a key, Pope." He responds, using leverage to pull himself back onto the boat.

"Great! We salvaged a motel key." JJ mumbles as he brings his hands to his head. Marina groans as she just leans back against Kiara. Of course all of this was for nothing, what would a lousy motel key get them?

But at least that meant the adventure would go on and that gave her more of an excuse to not go home.

❧

AS THEY RODE THE BOAT TOWARD THE MOTEL, Marina was starting to think this wasnt a great idea after all. Well, it wasn't their fault the coast guard was useless but she'd much rather not get killed at a raunchy looking motel in the middle of nowhere. If she were to go out, it would be on her own terms. Kiara was hunched over her shoulders as she just stared in front of them. "I thought the chateau looked bad." JJ says with a scoff, shaking his head.

"The chateau?" Marina asks curiously, looking toward him.

"John B's place." He answers her and she nods her head slowly. She had no idea that's what they called it.

"Right, you haven't been there." Pope says. Majority of the time they had hung out, it was on the boat or at Kiaras parents restaurant. But the thing they didn't know was that she had been there once. Her eyes briefly go to John B but she was quick to avert her gaze.

"You're coming tonight. JJ crashes there a lot of the time." Kiara explains to her and Marina glances in the blondes direction before looking back at the motel.

"This place is a shit show." John B states with a scoff.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kiara mutters.

"You be the judge." Pope tells her.

"Meth lab, you can find all types of shit in here." Marina asks them, desperate to get high right now because she knew as soon as she went home, the tornado that was her life would keep on turning.

"We're not stealing." Kiara denies and Marina pouts. What was the point of going into someone's place if you weren't going to take anything? Kiara didn't even make a comment about how she'd know it was a meth lab but she knew Marina often made drug stops for her dad.

"Where's the fun in that?" She responds with a sigh. JJ perks up as he looks toward the brunette.

"Where have you been my whole life?" JJ asks her. No one else ever liked when he wanted to steal things and yet here Marina was wanting to do the exact same thing.

"Down the street." Marina says, not sensing the clear playfulness in his tone. JJ clears his throat, a bit embarrassed that she seemed to just push back his comment.

"Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady white stays." John B admits, narrowing his eyes a bit.

"No, it looks like a place someone with a Grady white would get killed." Pope adds as the boat gets closer to the dock.

"You'd be surprised how many kooks hang around this place." Marina states, simply placing her hands in her lap.

"All right, here we go." JJ says, moving to the edge. "This is your captain speaking, HMS pogue coming in for landing." He says, acting like he's talking into a speaker. He jumps onto the dock, reaching for the rope in order to tie it off.

"We good?" John b asks him and JJ nods his head.

"Yeah, we're good."

"Hey." Pope says, catching John B's attention as he turns back to face the man.

"Yeah?"

"Don't let him do anything stupid." Pope tells him and JJ just tilts his head a bit.

"Oh, we will." JJ admits in a teasing tone and Pope glares over at him.

"I'm not making promises." John B denies, knowing jj would probably do something stupid nonetheless.

"Be careful." Kiara says, stepping closer to John B. "I mean it." She tells him and Marina watches between the two curiously.

"Yeah." John B says before turning and walking off with JJ. As Kiara turns back, Marina was only staring at her with an amused expression.

"Uh, what was that?" Marina asks her, a smirk forming slightly. She knew Kiara better than anyone else.

"What?" Kiara asks, faking innocence and Marina just leans forward.

"Be careful." Marina says in a sultry tone making Kiara groan as she scrunches up her nose.

"I didn't say it like that." She denies.

"You may as well have been pouncing on him." Marina admits with a laugh. Kiara tilts her head back as she sits down beside the girl, crossing her arms.

"Shut up." She mumbles, hitting her slightly while Marina just continues to smirk back at her.

"Why are all these mattresses out here?" John B asks as he and JJ walk up the stairs toward the second floor.

"After a hurricane, they ditch em cause they're moldy." JJ tells him, glancing around before his eyes land on his best friend. "Just be so careful, John B." He says with a whine and John B just stares at him, unimpressed.

"God, you're so weird." He admits and JJ scoffs a little bit.

"Dude, what was that about?" JJ asks, referring to the moment that had happened between him and Kiara.

"I don't know. Maybe she wants us to be careful." John B says with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been, like, oh be so careful, John b." JJ teases as he wraps his arms around John B who only pushes him away.

"Get off." He complains.

"Oh, just give me that John d already. When are you gonna swoop on that, man?" JJ asks him curiously. John B rolls his eyes as he turns to look at his best friend.

"Bro, you know the rule. No pogue on pogue macking."

"Oh, please. I doubt she'd object to you smooching on her." He admits with a smirk on his lips and John B licks the bottom of his lip, slowly nodding his head.

"Right." John B replies, crossing his arms against his chest. "You keep telling me to go for kie when you can't even have a conversation with Mari without blushing and stuttering like a complete loser." He explains and JJ seemed taken aback by the comment, a confused expression making it's way onto his face.

"Woah, what's Mari got to do with it?" JJ asks, trying to brush it all off but John B wasn't going to exactly let it go easily.

"Uh, you're into her dude." He points out the obvious.

"No, come on. It's harmless flirting." JJ states. He flirts with everyone. If he really wanted a shot with Marina, he would try harder.

"You call that flirting?" John B questions and JJ just slaps the man's shoulder making him laugh.

"Besides 'no pogue on pogue macking'." JJ mimics the man, an annoyed expression on his face. Kiara would most likely kill him, she looks like she wants to anytime he even remotely brushes against Marina.

"Well, she's only just started hanging around us." John B retorts. It wasn't like she's been a part of their group forever. Over the past few months she's been hanging around more and more, all with Kiara.

"Hey, Kie vouches for her so she is an honorary pogue. Besides, her dad is literally one of the biggest dealers for pogues, she's only an honorary one in our group."

"Mhm, so you're not gonna try and sleep with her." John B asks, narrowing his eyes as he knew his best friend all too well and already knew the answer.

"I'm only human." Jj responds with a scoff. She was attractive, he wasn't blind nor was he an idiot.

"Are we gonna act like you didn't confess your love for her nine months ago?" He questions, raising an eyebrow. JJ goes silent, his face almost turning pale as a ghost. He was glad neither Pope or Kiara was around to hear it because only John B knew of his lovesick rant for Marina.

"I was drunk." JJ remembered that night vividly even though he had drank a whole bottle of vodka himself. Or more so the part where he grabbed a hold of John B and just started rambling about Marina and how he was in love with her and wanted to marry her. He had met her not one week prior to it so clearly the alcohol affected his head and he hadn't been rationally thinking. Who fell in love with someone in less than a week? Definitely not JJ.

"You were smitten." John B corrects him with a smirk. He was surprised JJ of all people would be so smitten over a girl since he's never been one to actually get into a relationship.

"She probably doesn't even like me, so why are we still talking about this?" JJ mumbles with a scoff as he keeps walking. Marina only talked to JJ when it was convenient for her, JJ didn't see the girl liking him in any sort of way. He knocks on the door. "Housekeeping." He says in a high pitched voice making John B roll his eyes.

Meanwhile back on the boat, Marina was lounged out on the seats enjoying the sun rays hitting her skin. "I'm honestly grateful our phones aren't working." She mutters, her eyes closed as she rested her arms behind her head. Pope looked at her with a curious expression on his face.

"Why?"

"My mom keeps spamming me with messages." Marina tells him, a long sigh leaving her lips. Pope was confused, looking toward Kiara.

"She's trying to get her to go live with her." Kiara answers him and he nods.

"Oh, your mom and dad aren't together?" Pope questions and Marina snorts as she shakes her head.

"Nope, she left him for the rich kook." Marina admits. She honestly knew having money would be better for her, but she'd rather be homeless than take anything from the man who ruined her family.

"And she wants you to live with her?"

"Yeah, and I'd literally rather do anything else. Her boyfriend is so obnoxious and the fact that my mom could even cheat on my dad makes me hate her guts." Marina explains with a scoff. If her mom left reasonably, maybe she wouldn't be so mad. But her mom had cheated on her dad with this asshole so yeah, she didn't ever want to go live with them.

"Isn't there like a system? Like they have to agree over who you get to live with?" Pope asks curiously, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I chose my dad. She didn't exactly like that which is why she's spamming me." Marina responds and Pope presses his lips together tightly.

"I see."

"She's a bitch." Kiara states and Marina smirks slightly. Kiara knew all about her mother, mainly because she was constantly over and hearing the arguments she tried to use to bring Marina over to the kook side of the island.

"Hey, hey. Cops." Pope says suddenly which makes them look over before ducking into the boat.

"Shit." Kiara mutters as they really didn't need JJ and John B to get caught.

"Call them." Pope says.

"I can't. Towers are down." Kiara denies and Marina looks over at Pope.

"We were literally just talking about that." She tells him bluntly and he narrows his gaze at her.

"Well, sorry I forgot due to the cops." Pope hisses back before shaking his head. "If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone." He tells them as they watch the cop talk to the owner of the motel. "Maybe they're not going up there. Maybe they're just looking for a room--"

"He's pointing. They're going up there." Kiara states with a groan as she stands up. "Come on." She says and they all quickly rush over to the building in order to warn those inside. "Okay, do something." Kiara says as she looks at them.

"Stand back." Pope says, picking up a rock and both girls move out of the way. But when he throws it, it doesn't even go relatively near the window.

"Didn't you ever play baseball?" Kiara complains with a scoff and Pope only glares back at her.

"I was on the math team." He retorts making Marina smile to herself as she shakes her head.

"Mathlete?" Kiara asks, raising an eyebrow. She grabs a rock, tossing it up and Marina could only tilt her head back in annoyance. JJ and John B were definitely getting caught at this rate.

"Oh, my god. You're both pathetic, give it to me." Marina says, holding out her hand toward Pope who had picked up another rock. He gives it to her and she was quick to throw it up, hitting the glass. It was a moment before the blinds opened and they started to warn them of the cops.

As they did, they quickly rushed back to the boat. "Should we peel?" Pope asks them as he grabs the steering of the boat. Kiara quickly shakes her head.

"We never leave a pogue behind." She denies, watching as JJ and John B start to climb out the window.

"No, seriously. Should we peel?" Pope asks again as the cops got way too close to the room. Kiara sighs as she places her hands on her head.

"Maybe."

"Really?" Marina says, raising an eyebrow and Kiara meets her eyes.

"You wanna get arrested?" Kiara asks her curiously and Marina shrugs her shoulders.

"Wouldn't be the first time." She mumbles slightly causing Kiara's eyes to widen, not knowing that fact about her best friend.

"Okay, we're gonna talk about that later." Kiara says in an accusatory manner.

"What are you guys doing?" Pope whispers as he makes a hand signal at them but they just wave back, staying pressed against the wall.

It seemed to be going fine until something dropped from JJ, making a huge clanging noise. "Oh my god." Kiara says as she covers her face with her hands.

"He's such a dumb ass." Marina mumbles, shaking her head as they watch JJ and John B hide from the cop. Once they were in the clear, JJ glanced over at Marina.

"Hey, princess. Will you catch me?" JJ asks with a smirk on his lips as he kept his voice hushed.

"Dude, I will purposely let your head hit the ground." Marina responds as she crosses her arms. JJ pouts as he placed a hand on his chest.

"Ouch." He mutters before making his way to the ground with John B and rushing over to the boat.

"That was close." John B says with a sigh as they start the boat and begin driving away from the motel.

"Too close." Pope states with a scoff, shaking his head.

"Did you at least find something?" Marina asks them, not wanting all of this to have been for nothing.

"I don't know, did I?" JJ asks, taking a gun and a wad of cash out to show it to them.

"JJ, what the hell?" Kiara complains,  glaring toward him but JJ just shrugs his shoulders.

"Is that real." Marina asks as she moves over to the blonde, grabbing the gun from him. JJ just stands beside her, watching her run her finger over it.

"Mari, no." Kiara warns, pointing her finger her at the woman but Marina just laughs, holding the gun up.

"Oh, come on. The safety is on." Marina tells her, looking at the gun before pressing her lips together tightly. She flips the little switch before clearing her throat. "Now it's on." She mumbles and Kiara had a death glare on her face as JJ slowly takes the gun back.

"John B, seriously?" Pope says, crossing his arms against his chest

"What? I couldn't exactly stop him." John B denies, he hadn't even realized JJ had taken that stuff before the gun was falling out of his pocket.

"You are such a bad influence on her." Kiara says, her eyes now on JJ who was confused. He lets out a scoff, raising his eyebrows back at her.

"We're acting like she's innocent?" JJ states causing Kiara to roll her eyes.

"The spawn of satan is more like it." Marina responds and while the others just stare at her, Kiara just smirks, shaking her head.

❧

Authors note;

So, I changed the faceclaim to Jenna ortega and slightly altered some of the book so you'll noticed some changes reading these chapters