❝SOME DEAL❞

sage

"jj! you're doing it wrong!" i whine, grabbing the rope jj was using to poorly wrap up the hammock.

"well you do it then, if you're so smart." jj said sarcastically, watching as i start to tie the hammock up. he continues to stare at me as i hold up the now rolled hammock, raising my eyebrows at him and smirking.

"that simple." i said, tossing the hammock to jj who rolled his eyes. the twinkie pulled into the driveway and john b climbed out, walking over to me and i felt his hand slip into my pocket.

i pulled a piece of paper out of my back pocket and smiled as i read my brother's messy scrawl written across the paper.

surge tonight?
-booker

i turned to look over at him, and he raised his eyebrows at me as we made eye contact and i shot him a thumbs up.

one last fun adventure together before we get shipped off to foster care.

•••

"it's a double overhead!" john b was yelling as he, pope, and i ran towards the water with our surfboards.

"double overhead?" pope asked confusedly, looking out at the water where i was staring with a huge smile.

"guys, those waves aren't surfable." pope said, making john b laugh.

"says who?" he asked, running right past the sign showing the beach was closed.

"you're not going, are you?" pope asked, and i scoffed.

"and be the twin to stay behind? absolutely not." i responded, gripping my board tightly before running down to the water behind my brother.

"that one's yours, sage!" john b yells, and i turn to see a massive wave forming behind me. i wink to my brother and begin padding forward, the wave rising behind me. as soon as i felt my board shift, i stood, quickly balancing myself as the wave began to barrel over me. i made it out the other side of the wave, taking a bow sarcastically to pope, who was still standing on the shore looking at me and john b as though we were stupid.

"b! behind you!" i screamed over the wind and rain, watching my brother attempt to recover the wave he was way too late to surf. right as he tried to stand, the wave shifted his board just enough to throw him off balance and into the water, making me laugh.

"dumbass!" i yelled as he resurfaced, resulting in him flipping me off. i began to paddle towards the shore, the rain beginning to interfere with my sight.

"sage!" john b yelled from behind me, and i turned to see him pointing at something in the distance. pushing my soaking hair out of my eyes, i realized he was pointing at a small boat that was attempting to fight the waves of the storm.

"what the hell?" i whispered.

"should we tell someone?" john b asked, but i shook my head, still looking at the boat.

"they'll kill us if they found out we were on the beach during a hurricane." i said, and john b thought for a moment before nodding and following me back to shore.

we grabbed our boards and took off running as soon as we got to the shore, the pouring rain now causing painful bursts to erupt on my skin as the pelting droplets made contact. we made it up to the van and quickly latched our boards in, john b and i both climbing into the front while pope opted to bail into the back.

"pope, you saw that too, didn't you?" john b asked, gasping for air as he did so while i grabbed a towel from popes hand and wrapped my hair up in it, grabbing a button down hawaiian shirt from the floorboard and putting it on over my bathing suit.

"sage absolutely killing that wave while you opted to dive face first into the water?" pope asked, and john b and i looked at each other before i shook my head at him.

"no. the boat?"

"what boat?"

"could the water have just gotten into our eyes?" my brother asked, and i shook my head.

"no, i'm like, a hundred percent sure that there was a boat out there. hell, if jj was here he would've told us what kind it was." i said, taking the towel out of my hair as john b started the van. i turned the heat on and pointed a couple of the vents back towards pope as we were all freezing our asses off.

"there was a boat out there? guys, we have to tell someone." pope said sternly, but i shook my head.

"pope, aren't you supposed to bed smart?" i asked, turning around fully to look back at him. "they find out we were anywhere near this beach during a hurricane, they're gonna ship me and john b off to foster care without any hesitation."

"yeah, dude, sage and i are kinda refugees at the moment." john b said, putting the twinkie into gear and starting to drive away from the beach.

"so we're just not telling anyone?" pope asked, and john b shrugged before turning to look over at me. "i mean, that boat looked like it was doing fine, didn't it, sage? i'm sure they'll be fine."

"that boat looked like one more wave was gonna flip it over and everyone on board was gonna drown." i deadpan, looking between pope and john b before sighing. "i don't want to not tell anyone about this, i wish we could. but i also don't want to get shipped off. they're the ones on the water during a hurricane, it's their fault."

"whatever you say." pope said, leaning back in the back seat while i sighed and leaned back in my chair.

"either way, this is john b and i's last big thing before dcs comes and ships us to charleston. i'm not about to let some guy who's stupid enough to go boating in a hurricane ruin it."

"sage is right, pope." john b said.

"okay, fine. but any missing persons reports come up, you're telling the cops what you saw."

"deal." john b and i said in sync, looking pope in the eyes as we did.

"deal." he repeated, leaning against the wall of the twinkie as he did, and i turned back to the windshield that i could hardly see out of.

some deal, it ruined my life.

kens speaks 🪐

sage and john b? i think yes.