𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 - sarah cameron

- 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

SOMETIMES QUINTA JAMES SERIOUSLY QUESTIONED why, after all these years of dumb ideas and stupid statements, she still bothered to be friends with the Pouges. A lot of the time, she wished all three boys shared Pope's brain — it was big enough to share, and he truly was the only one of them with a titch of common sense in him.

Before she had to go to work today, they found a wrecked boat on their early-morning fishing trip. Of course, the curious group of teens swam into the water to take a look, and turns out, the boat was a Grady White — one of the most expensive boats you could get where they lived. They managed to find a key inside, and they really did try to do the responsible thing by turning it in. However, nobody was listening to them, so John B and JJ came with the brilliant idea to investigate on their own.

They ended up in a shitty motel with the key, which definitely had at least twelve dead bodies decomposing inside. And, for some reason, Quinta, Kie and Pope allowed the two stupid Js to go off on their own and look inside the motel room, who the person who owned the boat rented. Inside, there was a safe, apparently, filled with a shit-ton of cash — plus, a gun that JJ stole.

Minutes later, the cops pulled up and searched that exact room. They left with close to nothing, as JJ and John B had already stolen half the evidence.

And then a body was found.

Scooter Grubbs, a die-hard Pouge, who begged for cash in the streets, was dead. Somehow, he landed himself a Grady White, a pistol and stacks of heavy cash before-hand. Something weird was going on, and the teens were far too nosey, and far too into it now, to give it all up.

So, they were keeping absolutely everything they stole and throwing a kegger on the beach.

"Wow, JJ, your ideas just get better each day," Quinta commented dryly, raising her eyebrows at the end of his rant — which ended with his favourite saying 'stupid things have good outcomes all the time'. It wasn't actually a saying, just something JJ had always said. He swore he heard it from a movie or something, but he wasn't convincing anyone.

The blonde boy grinned. "Thanks, Quinta."

Pope shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"God, you need to get tested," Kie muttered.

John B snickered.

JJ just seemed clueless. "Right." He cleared his throat. "We all in agreement?" The boy didn't give his friends anytime to answer before nodding and smiling. "Great. Now let's get shit-faced!"

Quinta nodded, patting him on the back. "Great plan, J."

As she and Kie ran towards the kegger they set in the middle of the beach, the blonde turned to the other boys. "Is she being sarcastic again?" he asked genuinely.

"Yes," Pope answered.

"No," John B said at the same time.

✭✭✭

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER life, Quinta James started to wonder if she was boring. In her early teen years, keggers, parties and weed were her top three favourite ways to waste and forget a decent night. She used to spend her time squealing with laughter and dancing against the upbeat, rave music that played so loudly in the background her ears used to pop. She'd leave the house at four and wouldn't come back until bedtime the next day. She'd wake up in the strangest places, often missing her shoes, and surrounded by strangers.

But now, as she watched all her friends do all those same things, she just found herself incredibly bored. There was nothing fun about this, and she was only now realising how awful the taste of their cheap beer was. The way it splashed against her tongue made her cringe, and Quinta couldn't drink anymore.