Carefree || JJ Maybank

Chapter Seven

John B had returned home. He told Everleigh about a run-in with Sarah Cameron. She ignored most of the conversation though.

The 5 teenagers were out in the marsh, floating above the Grady-White wreck.

JJ pulled Everleigh aside, towards the back of the boat.

"Ev, I'm really sorry." He starts, a soft tone in his voice.

Everleigh looked up at him, his eyes were soft. He was upset.

"Ev, please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He speaks again.

Everleigh wraps her arms around him. "It's okay." She smiles.

He wraps his arms around her. "Thank god, I hate it when you're mad at me."

Everleigh giggles before pulling away, "But how did you know about me drawing on my hand to calm me?" She asks curiously.

"You don't think I pay attention?" He smirks.

He walks to the front of the boat, leaving Everleigh blushing and smiling to herself. Shit. She thought. He can't win this bet.

"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kiara complains.

"I..." John B starts.

"Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us." Kiara interrupts.

Everleigh stands next to JJ, shoulders touching.

"Love it when a plan comes together." Pope sighs.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kiara asks. "Anybody?

Everleigh's eyes look at each of her friends.

"It's kind of a kook sport." JJ comments.

"I read about it." Pope states hesitantly.

"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die." Kiara remarks sarcastically.

"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ asks.

"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends." Pope replies.

JJ bends over sticking his butt out "Bends like, bend over and..."

Everleigh bites her lip to hold in a laugh and jokingly slaps him on the shoulder.

"The bends kill you." Pope says, fed up with JJ's jokes.

"I can dive." Everleigh suggests. Everyone stops talking.

"Nope." JJ says first.

"What?" Everleigh asks confused,

"If you think we're gonna send you down there, you're crazy." Pope adds.

"You're almost as bad as JJ." Kiara laughs.

Everleigh simply flipped them all off in reply. She knew they were right.

"I can dive." John B suggests.

"You can dive. I'm cool with that." JJ adds, putting an arm around Everleigh's shoulders.

"But not me?" She laughs.

"Since when can you dive?" Kiara asks, concerned for John B.

"I'll do it, it's fine." He replies bluntly.

"Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope says sitting up straight.

"That boat's about 30 feet down. So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. All right? For two minutes." He explains.