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So that didn't go so well.

The Pogues managed to get to the police station, only to be immediately stonewalled by the employees at the front desk, who were too engrossed in listening to some entitled Kook rant about... dog diabetes?

The group lingered for a minute, contemplating their next move until John B, always the ringleader, urged them to take matters into their own hands, putting their freshly acquired motel key to use.

"Why can I smell the diseases from here?" Corinne grimaces, as they pulled up to the motel that the mysterious key belonged to.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie quipped, squinting at the building's faded paint and cracked windows.

"Probably both."

"Doesn't look like a place somebody with a Grady-White stays," John B remarks.

"Looks like a place someone with a Grady-White would get killed," Pope added, nodding in agreement.

As they pulled the boat ashore, Corinne's frown deepened. Trash littered the shoreline, the remnants of forgotten nights and neglect.

She wasn't as pro-green as Kiara, but it bothered her, seeing the south side of the island like this—dirty, abandoned. Ever since Corinne was a kid, her mom used to drag her to county-wide beach cleanups. She'd been a kid then, thrilled by the sense of purpose and the brief camaraderie between Kooks and Pogues. It was how she met the other honorary Pogue in the group, Kiara Carrera, the girl who would become one of her closest friends.

One day when she was twelve, the day after a huge storm on the island, Corinne had been combing the beach with Deputy Shoupe—just an officer back then—picking up the trash and debris leftover from the storm, when she spotted the most beautiful seashell she'd ever seen.

It was pearlescent, hues of pink and blue swirling like a miniature ocean. She scurried over, despite the Deputy's protests, and went to pick up the shell, when another hand appeared out of nowhere, reaching for the same target. A younger Kiara stood there, just as startled. They'd exchanged a brief, awkward pause before Corinne spoke up.

"Um, you can take it," She said, shifting nervously on her feet.

"No, no. I've got plenty of shells at home." Kiara responded. "It's all yours."

"Really? Are you sure?"

Kiara nodded a gentle smile on her face. "Yeah, totally. And hey, maybe you can come over one day and see my collection! My parents won't mind."

"I would love to!" Young Corinne returned the enthusiasm.

"I'm Kiara, but you can call me Kie." She introduces herself.

"I'm Corinne, nice to meet you."

Not long after that, Corinne introduced her new best friend to a young John Booker Routledge and JJ Maybank, and they all just clicked. Coincidentally, almost the exact scenario happened when they met a certain Kook Princess for the first time, but the fire in that trio was quickly snuffed out after a little incident involving a birthday party and cops, but it was a sensitive subject for Kie, so they never really brought it up.

"This is your captain speaking," JJ interrupted her thoughts, mimicking the scratchy tone of a walkie-talkie as he hopped off the boat and secured it to the land. "HMS Pogue coming in for landing."

"All right. Here goes nothin'." John B sighs, following him off the boat.

"Hey." Pope tapped Corinne's leg, pulling her attention away from the shoreline. She hums in response.

"Don't let him do anything stupid." He nods over to JJ.

"Oh, we will." JJ quips back

"I'm not making promises." John B follows.

Corinne rolled her eyes. "Why do I always have to play JJ's keeper? Do I look like his babysitter?" She kicks her feet off of the metal railing on the boat, already knowing she had no choice but to go, although she didn't want to.

"Uh...."

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Pope gives her a knowing look, which earns him an eye roll in return from his best friend.

"Aww, c'mon, princess." JJ leaned in close, his breath warm against her face as he teased. "You know you'd love to be my keeper."

"Said no one ever," Corinne shot back, though she couldn't help the faint smile tugging at her lips. She swerved away from him, sliding her sunglasses onto her head, her dark hair damp from the sea breeze.

"Uh, be careful. I mean it." Kiara hands the key to John B. There was something odd in her tone, an unspoken tension that lingered between them, making the rest of the Pogues exchange wary glances.

Weird.

Ever since John B had been put under a microscope by the DCS for his lack of guardianship ever since his dad disappeared, Kiara had been acting a little more concerned than usual. Corinne just chalked it up to her being worried about her best friend, but everyone knew that John B had a little crush on Kie—I mean who didn't?

"Alright, let's get this over with." Corinne breaks up the awkward moment as John B hops off the boat. He turns, hoisting Corinne into the air, as she places her hands on his shoulders for support, off the boat and safely onto the ground.

"Lead the way, Cori." He motions in front of her as she gives him a grateful smile, swiping the key from his hand and taking the lead toward the motel's entrance.

It didn't take long for the trio to make their way up to the motel before JJ spoke up.

"Just be so careful, John B." He mocks John B and Kiara's previous awkward encounter, rubbing on him.

"God, you're so weird." John B complains, pushing him off.

"What was that about?" JJ questions.

"I don't know. Maybe she wants us to be careful." John B states, as if it's obvious, making Corinne chuckle from the few paces she walked in front of them.

"Since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been, like, "Oh! Be so careful, John B." JJ voices what Corinne was thinking just earlier.

"Oh, give me that John D already." When are you gonna swoop on that, man?" He jokes.

"JJ, gross." Corinne rolled her eyes, although they couldn't see her face.

"Bro, you know the rule. No Pogue-on-Pogue macking." John B reminds him of one of their founding "Pogue Principles" they had made up when they were younger.

Thinking back on it, some of them are a little outdated, but they had made no move to change them. If it ain't broke don't fix it you could say.

"Besides, you can't talk." He lowers his voice in an attempt to hide his voice from Corinne as if that would have any effect.

"You're the one always hitting on Corinne, how's that any different?"

It was true. Corinne and JJ had always had a flirty friendship. Most of the time it was obvious they were teasing, but their friends could admit that sometimes they teetered the line between teasing and full-on flirting a bit.

No one but John B. and Pope had any idea that once upon a time, JJ Maybank had real feelings for Corinne, but after a while he began to deny, deny, deny, claiming it was a part of his "puberty process." They weren't dumb enough to believe it, always noticing the admiration on his face when they'd watch Corinne successfully catch an impossible wave, or the extra shiny glint in his eye whenever JJ would look at her while she was paying no attention, rambling to Kie about usual girl stuff, but they rarely bugged him about it. They figured they'd cut him some slack for once.

"Of course, I'm hitting on her. It's Corinne, why wouldn't I?" He rebuttals, as if he's stating a normal thought.

Corinne didn't know whether to roll her eyes or smile. Somehow she'd ended up doing both.

"You need help. Not a little help, you need a lot of help." John B states matter of factly.

"It's like every girl who just has a heartbeat, you're like... "Uhh!" He begins to make incoherent groaning noises, Corinne taking that as her cue to insert herself into their silly conversation.

"Would you guys shut it for more than two seconds and focus? Room number twenty-nine, this is it." She sighs as they stop in front of the motel door matching the number on the key.

JJ steps in front of her, raising his fist to knock on the door. "Housekeeping." He mimics.

Idiot.

"Should we try it?" John B suggests after silence follows JJ's lame attempt at entering the room.

"Yeah."

"Go for it, B." After Corinne's words, John B. slides the key into the matching keyhole, successfully unlocking the door.

"No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know." Corinne quickly shushes JJ's rambling as they enter the room, the air thick with the smell of mold and cigarette smoke.

"Weird." Corinne voices as they step into an empty bedroom.

"I'll check the bag. See if there's a name on there somewhere." John B moves to snoop through the black duffle bag lying on one of the two beds inside the room as Corinne travels further inside, alongside JJ.

As the boys continue to search the room, Corinne looks around, eyeing the state of the old and run-down space. Dust coated every surface, the sheets were stained, and a musty smell hung heavy in the air.

Corinne wiped a finger along the grimy desk, grimacing at the clump of dust that stuck to her skin. "Gross."

"Yo, dude, come here. Maybe this is where they were fishing."

"No, that's off the continental shelf. That's Big Swell. Nobody fishes there." John B. shuts him down.

Corinne wandered further into the room, reaching the bathroom, her gaze darting between JJ and John B, who were bantering about a fishing map they'd found.

"Coffee?" John B questions mindlessly with a horrid British accent as they continue to scale the room.

"Yeah. Standard. Tissues for when you get lonely..." JJ responds, matching his tone.

Corinne gives the two blondes concerning looks, in reaction to their borderline offensive British accents, if that's what you would even call it.

"I hope you guys know you just offended the entire great nation of Britain."

John B chuckles, while JJ makes his way over to the bathroom. "Hey, I know what I'm doing, my Grandpa's third cousin was British." JJ spat.

Corinne narrows her eyes at the boy as he approaches her with a stupid, boyish grin on his face.

"Did you find anything?" John B. calls from the main room.

JJ's fingers brushed hers as he reached past her to grab something from the bathroom shelf—a shiny black deodorant stick. "A really awesome Dopp kit you won't let me steal." He mumbles.

"Yeah, 'cause we're not stealing shit."

"Would you stop that?" Corinne grumbles, reaching for JJ's pocket, but he quickly slaps her hand away as she reaches for his pocket, earning a slap in return.

"I will drown you in that tub," Corinne mutters, pointing up at the taller boy.

"I'd like to see you try, princess," JJ smirks as she flinches away from the bright flashlight in her face. Rolling her eyes, she turns away, walking out of the bathroom.

Meanwhile, John B was hunched over the safe, trying random codes. "One, one, one, two," he muttered, frustration lacing his voice.

"Punching shit at random. That will... definitely work." JJ remarks sarcastically.

Corinne makes her way over to the side table, JJ leaning over her shoulder as she spots a sticky note with a set of numbers scribbled on it.

61666

That's when the lightbulb in her head goes off, turning to face John B's crouching figure. "Dude, check this out." She hands him the piece of paper.

"Wait. My cousin said you could catch swordfish here." JJ rambles about the map on the table.

John B. looks over the paper until it looks like the same lightbulb goes off in his head as well. "Wait a second. Here." He hands Corinne his flashlight.

"Six, one, six, six, six" He mumbles, punching in the code. The light on the safe suddenly turns green, unlocking as John B twists the knob, revealing stacks of cash, and a sleek black handgun.

John B's eyes widen, turning to look at Corinne, with the same expression on her face at what they've seen.

"Is this a surf spot? Have you heard of shoals?"

"J shut the hell up," Corinne says towards the rambling boy, a tone of disbelief in her voice.

"Uh... JJ? You're gonna want to see this." John B calls him over.

JJ's eyes widen as he spots the open safe. He immediately snatches the black gun out of the safe, causing Corinne to reel backward. "Dude, dude, dude!" He grins.

"You grabbed the gun."

"Of fucking course he grabs the gun."

John B begins frantically reprimanding JJ as he swings the handgun around like a maniac.

"Dude, is that a SIG Sauer?" Corinne automatically recognizes the gun from the many shooting lessons she's gotten from her mother.

"Hell yeah. This is a fucking spendy gatt, man. Just... Bam! Bam!" JJ raises the gun, pretending to aim it at a target, firing make-believe shots, and scurrying around the room.

"Hey, dude. We are not stealing anything." John B pulls JJ back by his muscle tee.

"JJ, put that shit down!" Corinne's voice was sharp, her nerves on edge as she stepped out of the line of fire.

"Just take a pic of me," JJ grinned, oblivious to the tension. Corinne rolls her eyes, moving to sit up against the ledge of the window.

"You want me to take a picture of you? Make our own incriminating evidence? Is that what you're talking about?" John B deadpanned, shooting him a look.

Corinne opened her mouth to snap at them both when she heard something—a soft, rhythmic tapping coming from outside. She paused, straining to hear.

There it was. Faint but unmistakable.

"Wait, wait, wait. Guys, do you hear that?" She signals for JJ and John B to stop their bickering.

The sound grew louder, causing John B to peel open the blinds, Corinne copying him.

Through the narrow slats, they caught a glimpse of Pope and Kiara outside, their hands flailing in silent, frantic gestures, faces etched with panic.

"Cops. Cops! Cops!" You could hear them whisper-shouting, panic etched across their faces.

"Shit." Corinne and John B cursed in unison, adrenaline kicking in. John B vaulted over the bed, darting to the opposite window for confirmation, his movements quick, fueled by panic.

"What is it?" JJ questions, looking to Corinne for an explanation.

"Cops," John B growled, his voice low and grim. His breath came fast, body already tense as a knock echoed from the other side of the door.

The room seemed to close in on them. A beat of silence passed, thick with dread.

"Fucking hell." Corinne whispered under her breath, her pulse racing as her mind scrambled for a plan.

A sharp knock echoed again. "Kildare County Sheriff's Department!"

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