BRUTAL | jj maybank

FIFTY SIX

"Stealing my thunder, Cleo."

"Sorry."

"Okay, Pope...you're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy," John B said, trying again.

"And I lost all his inheritance," Pope shot it down, scrunching his nose. Kyla bit her lip, and scratched her eyebrow awkwardly.

"Uh...if you guys hadn't left me and JJ alone in the container together, then we wouldn't have gotten together," Kyla tried optimistically, looking over at the blonde with a smile.

"That would have happened anyway. You two wouldn't be able to live if it didn't," Kiara said with an eye roll, making her sister shove her softly.

"You know what?" John B said, standing up. "Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life. We are in the Caribbean. It's our own little slice of paradise. With my best friends, with my family. I don't know. I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else," he articulated, making Kyla smile to herself. "Look, and while you guys were complaining about every little thing...JJ?"

"Hmm?" the blonde hummed, stabbing a pocket knife into the tree.

"I was looking at those burly lefts," John B pointed out smugly.

JJ turned to him and gave him a smile. "There's some slabs out there."

"Just a few. Kie, see that? I know you wanna get out there," John B urged.

"No boards," she replied with a shake of her head.

"Well, we can bodysurf till we make some boards," John B suggested.

"Lame."

"Pope? Come on, man."

"They do look pretty tasty," Pope admitted.

"Oh, yes, they do."

"I'm in," Kyla said excitedly since she hadn't gone surfing in ages. The last time she had was a few hours before the kegger. If they had all never gone to that, a lot of things would be different. And honestly, she was glad she went — she would have never drove up to John B's house and almost get killed by those burly men.

She would have never become a Pogue.

"Since when do you surf?" JJ asked in confusion.

"Uh...when I would sneak out early in the morning and use Kie's backup board," Kyla answered with a shrug, making Kiara's eyes widen. "Oh, yeah, sorry."

"No, I'm just shocked you would sneak out before becoming one of us," Kiara said breathlessly, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Ky's always been one of us. She just had to get a little taste of the Pogue life to figure it out," JJ spoke with a nod in Kyla's direction.

"A taste? What kind of taste? Something you wanna say, JJ?" John B asked mischievously.

"John B!" Kyla and Sarah exclaimed at the same time, their eyes wide. JJ just snickered to himself as he focused on the carving, thinking it was funny.

"There's nobody around. We could squat here for a bit. Kind of belongs to us now, huh?" Pope guessed after a second, ignoring his best friend's antics.

"You got a point," John B agreed, giving him a handshake.

"Seven-way split."

"Poguelandia," JJ said in a posh accent, out of the blue. "I claim thee Poguelandia," he continued in the same accent. "I like the ring of it. I'm gonna make a flag. It's gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra, smoking a J...in Crocs," he said in a normal voice, making them all laugh.