ᴍʏ ᴘᴀʀᴀᴍᴏᴜʀ | ꜱ.ᴄᴀᴍᴇʀᴏɴ

three.

Kie sent the girl a glare from where she sat. "You serious?" Marley shrugged again with a careless expression.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope panicked.

"Hey, hey, hey. Sh, sh, sh. Sh, sh." JJ hushed Pope as he held the gun up to the boy's lips. "At least you have us, right." He finished, slinging an arm around Pope.

"I'm living the nightmare." Pope expressed. JJ looked towards his sister, and the both of them shrugged in unison. However, Marley could see the look being shared between Kie and Pope. She knew the boy would've panicked; it's just who he was.

•••

     From a distance, Marley observed Lana Grubbs crying over the body of her deceased husband, her eyebrows furrowed as she examined the scene. In her mind, she recalled the conversation Sarah Cameron had with the woman who appeared distraught. Although Marley had not yet informed the Pogues about the interaction, knowing that the guy had turned up dead, there was no point in doing so. The only thought that consumed her mind was the fact that Ward had tried to keep it a secret or at least did not want many people to be aware of Scooter's whereabouts.

Consequently, she began to wonder, 'Did he have more to do with this than she realised?'

Being ripped away from her thoughts, another Pogue had joined them. A girl with blonde hair who Marley knew from school. They were all watching carefully as more and more people started to gather around. John B looked to the girl and asked, "Who's that?"

"It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm." The girl answered. Marley crossed her arms from where she stood in between John B, who was sat down, and JJ, who was stood next to her, "Check out this pic I got. Dead body."

The girl showed each of the Pogues the photo one by one, giving them all a chance to inspect the picture. She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at the picture, her head tilting slightly remembering the conversation that happened in the Camerons' backyard.

"What kind of boat did he have?" She asked the blond girl.

She looked towards Marley, still showing Pope that picture, "Somehow, that dirtbag copped a brand-new Grady-White. Everyone's out looking for it."

There was an expression of astonishment on all the Pogues' faces, but particularly on the faces of JJ and Marley. Scooter Grubbs was a Pogue. Can you explain how a Pogue ended up with an extremely expensive new boat? Marley shook her head and watched as policemen escorted a tide down Scooter Grubbs to the hospital.

Back at the Chateau, Marley watched JJ do tricks with his Zippo lighter as she smoked a joint on the couch that was placed on the porch. John B had flipped a beer bottle a couple of times, finding it somewhat entertaining. Marley also watched the boy do that as she did a ghost with the smoke that came from her spliff. The girl sat comfortably with her legs spread, slightly touching Kie's knee, watching Pope run up the stairs to the porch.

"Okay. So, um...we didn't see anything." Pope panted as he opened the porch door, pointing at everyone then taking a seat next to Marley. "We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia."

"Actually, Pope's right for once. See, I agree with you sometimes." Marley watched as JJ got up from his seat on the brown chair, making his way towards John B. Marley passed the joint over to Kiara, who sat on her left. The girl took it with a smile on her face, smoking it as she watched the scene unfold, "Deny, deny, deny."

"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kie spoke up. This time Marley looked towards her with furrowed eyebrows.

"Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kie." She rasped a tiny bit, leading her to let out a tiny cough.

Kie gave the girl a pointed look, "We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma."

"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too." Pope agreed with the girl, "We gotta go dark."

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree." JJ returned. Kie had passed the joint back to Marley, the girl taking her last few puffs before standing up.

"Same." Marley agreed with her brother. She walked over to him, nudging him slightly, then giving him the joint to smoke. The girl gave him the rest to smoke for himself. It had been a thing they did when they shared from each other.

John B moved from his spot, poking his finger against Marley's shoulder then JJ's chest. He looked at them intently, "I don't agree."

JJ looked at his sister with a confused look in which she just shrugged, causing JJ to speak up, "What? Why?"

"Just think about it?" John b spoke. "This is Scooter Grubbs were talking about. Same dude that's buying individual's cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time i saw this dude begging for change in the save-A-lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'."

Marley regarded the boy with curiosity. The same had been thought by her. No matter what type of business Scotter Grubb conducted in the OBX, he could not afford a Grady-White. The group had moved outside so that they could enjoy the cold air. Pope and JJ were fishing, while the others listened to John B speak.

"All right, so think about it, Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?" John B asked.

Pope inhaled sharply, "Prostitution."

"Square groupers, bro." John b corrected with a shake of his head. "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? Mars?"

"They were smugglin'." Marley informed.

"Smugglin'." John b agreed, pointing a finger at the girl, "And i guarantee there's serious amount of contraband in that wreck."

"Hell, yeah." JJ cheered, his fishing rod being tugged in by a fish, indicating there was one hooked, "fish on."

The pogues moved, Marley laid on John b's bed while the rest found a seat somewhere, Pope sat next to Marley on the bed, "For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it probably belongs to someone else, they could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

Marley leaned up quickly, snatching the money from Pope's hand, "There's nothing catastrophically stupid about it." Marley smiled sweetly while Pope rolled his eyes at the girl.

"Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time." JJ said. From where she sat, Marley nodded along, agreeing with her brother. "All we need to do right now is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."

"Right. And how exactly do we do that," Pope sighed.

Kiara shrugged, "Kegger?"

The suggestion hung in the air for a moment, and then JJ chimed in with a grin, "Sounds like a plan."

John B nodded, "Alright then, we'll throw a kegger. Keep it low-key. Play it cool."

With their impromptu plan in motion, the Pogues settled into a mix of anticipation and excitement, knowing that their actions could potentially change their lives, for better or worse. They were about to embark on a journey filled with risks and rewards, and they had no idea just how deep they would be drawn into the mysteries of the Outer Banks.