EMERY HAD BEEN RIGHT.

the group had been out at the surf shack, emery and john b joined them not long after peterkin left. john b was looking out toward the water while emery was putting little braids in mara's hair.

"look, i'm calling it off." john b spoke up. "peterkin said if we stay out of the marsh she'll help me with dcs."

"and your believed her, john b? you believed a cop?" jj asked in bewilderment.

"yes, i believe her, jj!" john b shouted, grabbing a stick and tossing it to the side, narrowly missing emery who quickly ducked.

"watch yourself!" she yelled, but john b wasn't paying attention to her.

"and it doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun." john b continued, jj throwing rocks at the water in the distance.

"y'know what i should've done?" i should've just let topper drown your ass." jj fired, making mara look up.

"oh, because topper was gonna drown me?" john b asked.

"sure looked like it." jj responded, throwing his last rock into the water and starting to trudge over to the surf shack.

"funny." john b stated flatly, jj leaning on the beam of the shack.

"they always win, man." he said bitterly. "kooks versus pogues- they always, always win!" he shouted, punching a buoy that was draped over the doorway.

"hey, it's okay!" kiara tried, jj shaking his head.

"no it's not! if they don't want us in the marsh, that means there's something valuable down there, and you know it." jj told john b. "and i understand why you guys are out, pope's the golden boy and the rest of you are already rich as fuck anyway, why would you guys bother?"

"jj, this is ridiculous." emery spoke up. "do you want john b to get shipped off? because if we follow whatever shitty plan you have, that's what's going to happen."

"john b and i have nothing to lose!" jj yelled, turning to the brunette boy. "and i know it wasn't always that way for you."

"i'm not talking about this." john b said. "emery's right."

"when is she not?" mara asked.

"you have the key to cameron's big boat, right?" jj asked john b, emery rolling her eyes. "there's scuba on there, just take it for a couple hours and go down to the wreck, and that is what's going to save you."

"i also own scuba." emery voiced. "i know that's not exactly as thrillingly risky as you prefer but just know it's an option."

"you don't see rich kids going in foster care, do you?" jj asked john b.

"YOU'RE A DUMBASS."

emery voiced as she checked the gauges on the tanks, kiara looking with her.

"these are empty- you took empty tanks?" she said annoyedly, john b not even attempting to defend himself.

"love it when a plan comes together." pope commented.

"we should've taken mine." emery added, checking the last gauge, revealing the tank was a quarter full.

"there's enough for one of us." she confirmed turning to levi. "wanna rock, paper, scissors for it, or do you just want me to do it?"

"go for it." the brunette replied, emery already beginning to strap the tanks on, mara and levi jumping to help her immediately.

"has anyone seen ainsley lately?" mara asked as she tightened the strap at emery's waist.

"not since the kegger." levi responded disappointedly, pope taking a pen from jj's pocket and writing something a piece of paper.

"that boats about thirty feet down, so you need to make your safety stop at about ten feet. for two minutes." pope explained, emery nodding. levi grabbed emery's shirt and jumped into the water, his sister looking around in bewilderment.

"yes, steal my shirt, you man whore." she voiced, turning to jj who was holding a plastic key out to her.

"when you get down there, you're gonna find the cargo hold, you'll stick this in the hole and then twist and pull."

"got it." the blonde replied, grabbing the key tightly as levi surfaced.

"your shirt's tied to the anchor chain about ten feet down." he explained, emery's previously mildly pissed attitude toned down by miles at the gesture.

"that's actually really sweet, so glad you care about my life."

"she called you a man whore." jj deadpanned, emery clicking the gauge on and pulling the scuba mask over her face to avoid as much confrontation as possible and immediately jumping into the water, not bothering to surface again and swimming to the wreck.

when she got there, the cargo hold was visible next to the steering panel. emery did as jj had instructed, putting the plastic key into the lock and twisting it, pulling the door open to reveal a black duffel bag. she grabbed it, putting it under her arm before shutting the cargo hold again and taking the plastic key with her.

once she got to where her t-shirt was tied to the anchor, emery checked her gauge, just enough air for the safety stop and to decompress. but when she looked up, another boat was stopped next to the hms pogue. what felt like an eternity went by, and emery checked the gauge again. a minute and a half.

someone was standing on the bow of the hms, looking down into the water. a minute left. the person wouldn't walk away. fourty five seconds.

finally, they stepped away. fifteen seconds. the other boat's engine started. the melville girl took a deep breath and- zero.

emery pulled herself up the anchor chain at a medium pace, breaking the surface to cheers from the group, who were all leaned over the side of the boat waiting for her.

"there we go!" jj yelled, emery swimming closer to the boat while being careful not to let go of the bag or the cargo hold key.

"did you find anything?" jj asked hopefully, a shit-eating grin on emery's face as she tossed the duffel bag onto the boat.

"that's my girl!" john b yelled, grabbing emery's hand and pulling her onto the boat, the girl letting the plastic key fall onto the ground.

"i ran out of air." she said, mara helping her friend to unstrap her scuba tanks.

"yeah, the cops were here, but we took care of them." pope explained, emery rolling her eyes.

"oh i'm sure you did." she said flatly.

"yeah, you kinda missed the show." jj told the girl, who shook her head in disappointment.

"hey, guys? bogey, two o'clock." kiara announced, everyone looking up and facing where she was looking, a white boat speeding toward them.

"what're they doing here? the marsh is closed." pope said, john b turning to jj.

"let's not stick around to find out." he said. "jj, get the stern."

jj began pulling the anchor up, emery turning to levi and mara before glancing back at the boat.

"do either of you know who that is?" she asked, both of them shaking their heads.

"guys, don't wait for me." jj said, anxiety clear in his tone as he pulled the anchor.

"go into the marsh." emery told john b, who listened, steering the pogue into the marsh, the white boat following them.

"guys, they're following us." kiara said uneasily.

"you have to go faster, man, gun it!" jj was telling john b.

"i am!" he said, throttling the boat as fast as it could go. emery watched as one of the men pulled something up and balanced it against his shoulder, the blonde's eyes widening.

"get down!" she yelled, she first gunshot ringing through the air as she did, everyone- with the exception of john b, who had to drive- hitting the deck immediately after.

"holy shit!" mara screamed as another gunshot sounded.

"we're gonna die." pope said from across the boat. bullets ricocheted off the metal poles next to john b's head, barely missing the brunette.

"pope, move." kiara was dating from the other side of the boat, standing up fully and reaching for the fishing net, which she unfolded as a bullet whizzed right between her and john b.

"get down, kie!" the boy yelled, kiara walking to the back of the boat and tossing the net off, giving the white boat no time to slow down before the net was caught in the propeller, causing their boat to spin out. one last gunshot through the weeds, and the group was safe.

"holy shit!" emery exclaimed happily, quickly looking john b up and down to check for any grazes or hits from the ricocheted bullets, the brunette boy and jj both laughing in a mix of relief and just general happiness to still be alive.

when they got to the chateau, emery grabbed the duffel bag and passed it to john b, who carried it up to the dock, everyone else following him as the brunette sat on the ground, the rest of the group standing around him.

"what do you think it is?" john b asked.

"my will to live." emery replied without hesitation before shaking her head. "on second thought, i'm not that lucky."

"can we please just open the bag?" pope suddenly shouted everyone going quiet and turning to him.

"wow, pope." john b said in amusement. "that's a rare outburst of emotion."

"big feelings, buddy." mara added.

"you guys are like, killing me with anticipation right now. we almost died for this." pope reminded.

john b pulled a smaller black bag out of the duffel bag, and a slender silver canister out of that. unscrewing the canister's lid, he let the contents of the canister fall into his hand.

a brass compass.

"ohh." pope dragged out. "yep, that's about right. good job everybody, we found a compass."

"dude, what?" jj asked john b, who was staring at the compass like the blonde had stared at the gun a few days before. "it's not worth anything."

"this was my father's."

EVERYONE STAYED AT EMERY'S.

levi had gone to his room to sleep, while everyone else was scattered around emery's room. mara and jj had just left to go get snacks from downstairs for the movie they were going to watch, kiara and pope were looking at the assorted souvenir items the melville girl had acquired across the years at tourist shops, while emery and john b were sitting on her bed.

the blonde girl was sitting against the headboard and looking at instagram and awaiting a text back from ainsley, john b was laid on his back staring at the compass. emery tossed her phone down next to her and look at john b, who, as though he could feel her eyes on him, looked back up at her.

"hey." she muttered.

"hey." he muttered back with a smile. sensing a sort of tension between the two, pope and kiara muttered something about helping mara and jj before walking out of the room.

"what's up?" john b asked, pulling himself up and sitting crisscross across from his best friend, who shrugged.

"it's just wild that of all the things we could've found in the wreck it was that." she exclaimed, pointing at the compass that was now resting on the white comforter.

"you're telling me." john b replied, picking it up again and turning it over in his hand. "how pissed was momma mills when you got here?"

"she wasn't, told me to remind you and jj that your tuxes for midsummers will be here in two days and mine and mara's dresses are already here, and i need to try it on to make sure it's going to fit and we don't have to get it altered."

"i forgot it was your most favorite time of the year." john b said, emery rolling her eyes.

"it's the same as it is every year, jj goes with mara and i go with you, pope goes with his dad and kiara goes with her parents, and you always have to comment on how the country club is nicer than the entirety of the cut." she replied, pushing her hair out of her face and letting it fall down to her back with a smile.

"it is!" the brunette exclaimed, emery laughing at the comment, but before she could reply, the door slammed open as jj and mara walked in, arms full of assorted chips, candy, and soda.

"y'all better keep it pg in here." the stevens girl said, dropping a bag of cheetos puffs, a family sized bag of m&ms, and a twelve pack of dr pepper in the bed.

"you are so disgusting." emery replied, opening the box as jj set all his stuff on the bed before pulling two beers out of his pockets and handing one to john b.

"but am i wrong?" emery asked.

"we could hear you guys loud and clear in the kitchen." john b taunted.

"by the way, our midsummers shit is here." emery said to mara, jj rolling his eyes.

"why do i let you guys make me go to midsummers with you?" he whined, emery smirking at him.

"because you love us." she replied sweetly.

"at least one of you." john b muttered, jj smacking him harshly on the back of the head.

"okay, mrs. yes ma'am- you say jump and john b says 'off what cliff?' he's so whipped for you it's pathetic."

"being whipped and being scared of me are two different things." emery explained, john b's eyebrows furrowing.

"i'm not scared of you." he said, emery grabbing his wrist with her free hand and twisting his arm backwards, john b's eyes widening.

"you look scared." emery replied.

"yes ma'am." john b said quickly, emery letting go of his wrist almost immediately after.

"yes ma'am- again, whipped."

kens speaks 🪐

heyy

the couples are coupling

if anyone knows where ainsley is that would be great, miss girl just pulled an uncle teddy

harringtonssss and i are just constantly wheeling and dealing when it comes to our books, as per usual, go read summertime sadness and follow her while you're at it