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Seeing a dead body was never on Malia's bucket list. It shouldn't be something anybody wants to see at all. The thought of somebody possibly being dead in the sunken boat made Malia sick to her stomach. Everyone had gotten into a discussion over the boat while Malia slowly backed away from the bow.
She let the towel drop from her shoulders as she clutched her stomach and sat down. She prayed that there wasn't a body floating below the surface of the water she was just in. Her attention was caught when she heard splashes come from beside her. Her eyes going wide once she saw that everyone had jumped into the water. She quickly leaned over as she kneeled on the bow looking out at the water.
"We're gonna go down to it. Come join us!" John B called out at the blonde who looked nauseous.
"No thanks." Malia shook her head as she slipped back down to take a seat. She bounced her leg up and down wanting the crew to reappear so that they could leave. A sunken boat? Not exactly what she wanted to encounter while out in the marsh.
There were two reasons why Malia had declined going back into the water. The first being the fact that she was just thrown overboard in the same water. She still felt like water was in her lungs and like she couldn't breathe. The second being the fact that if she did go down under and look at the boat, she didn't know what she would do if she saw a body.
Before she knew it, her friends reappeared which made her let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. "Did you guys see what I just saw?" Pope questioned as the started to swim and climb back onto the boat.
"That's a Grady-White," JJ informed as he started to climb aboard. "One of those are 500 gs, easy." Malia turned her head to look back at the top of the boat.
"That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge. Maybe it hit the jetty or something." John B replied as Malia turned back towards him with wide eyes. Before she could say anything, Kie spoke up saying exactly what she would have said.
"You surfed the surge?" Kiara questioned as she looked at him in confusion.
Worry started to set in with Malia as she shook her head at the boy. "You could have died John B."
"Yeah, that's my boy! Pogue style!" JJ laughed and cheered looking over at his best friend. Malia gave him a look of disbelief that he could be excited about the possibility of his friend dying.
"I should have just stayed home." Malia let her head fall into her hands. She only looked back up when she heard John B talking about going back under. Right when she looked up, JJ reached over and pushed the boy back into the water. Malia lunged forward pushing JJ out of the way as she leaned over the boat.
"Relax, innocent one." JJ snickered as he leaned over along with the other two teenagers. "He'll be fine. He always is." He tried to reassure her although it felt as if he was reassuring himself more.
It felt like forever before John B came back up. "Did you find anything?" Somebody questioned as Malia looked him over to see if he was okay. The key that he held up caught her eye as she furrowed her eyebrows at it.
"Great, we salvaged a motel key." Pope complained as he walked back towards the wheel. Malia rolled her eyes and helped John B back into the boat as they all settled down to drive off.
"We should report the boat to the Coast Guard." Kie let out as they drove away from the site. Malia groaned and leaned back, not realizing how close to JJ she had gotten.
"You need a drink." He whispered towards her as the other three fell in a discussion. Malia turned and looked at him as he held up a beer towards her. She gave him a glare before she pushed his hand back towards him. "Let loose. You need to have fun more instead of being so tense and safe. Be a daredevil every once and a while." He grumbled out before getting up and walking away. Malia bit the inside of her cheek and thought about his words the entire time they drove away so that they could report it.
The teens arrived at the station where Kiara, Pope, and Malia stood outside waiting for the other two to report it. Malia kicked at the ground as she squirmed in the wet shorts that were still sticking to her body. She was hoping that they would be dry by then, but they were, in fact, still drenched from when she was in the water. "Do you want to go get different shorts? Those look uncomfortable." She looked over at Pope who had quizzed the girl.
"No, they'll dry soon enough. I'll just deal with them until I can take them off and not have a need for them." She shrugged and gave him a greatful smile. Pope and the girl never really talked as much as she did with Kiara. In fact, Kiara was the Pogue that seemed to have the most interest in the girl with Pope and John B falling close behind. JJ and the girl were always bickering over something or sending glares to each other. That just meant that she seemed to cherish those small, intimate moments she shared with him.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Pope had asked once again catching both of the girls' attention. Malia nodded for him to continue as she turned her full attention towards him. "What was going on with your parents when we picked you up?" Malia felt her breath hitch as she looked away, avoiding his eyes and Kiara's.
"Oh, uh, nothing. My dad was just a little irritated with the whole Agatha thing. He didn't get much sleep last night." She lied through her teeth as she gave a little smile. Although Pope had nodded like he understood, he knew that wasn't the reason. When Malia let her eyes drift down to her feet, Kiara and Pope shared a look of concern for the girl. Pope went to go say something else before JJ and John B came waltzing back out.
"Lets go to the motel. They kind of just shooed us off." John B stated holding up the key to the motel room. Malia let her mind drift somewhere else. Her focus was going in and out of the conversation happening around her as she thought about Pope bringing up her parents. She was only brought back into reality when she felt a tug on her arm.
"Where are we going?" She questioned as she reluctantly followed the crew back to the HMS Pogue.
"To break into a motel room, sweetheart." JJ informed her. It made her stop dead in her tracks as she looked at everyone.
"That doesn't sound like a good idea. It sounds like something we will get caught doing." Malia confessed as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was attempting to stand her ground, but she knew that even if she didn't want to go, they would still go.
"Look, Miss. Innocent. You are either with us or you aren't. For some odd reason, these guys want you with us and quite frankly, I don't really care if you come or not. If you're so scared, stay. If you want to loosen up, then be my guest." JJ let out as everyone stared at him after everything he said. He put his hand out to help her onto the boat as if she had already chose to go.
Malia took a deep breath as she looked at everyone else on the boat and thought about what he said. It was the second time in one day that she had to actually think about what JJ said to her. It was definitely a new record for the both of them. "I'm so going to regret this." She mumbled low enough for nobody to hear as she stepped forward.
The girl held onto JJ's hand as she climbed aboard. It surprised him to see that she would even go in the first place. She sat down with a huff as she looked out at the water ready to prove something. To prove to JJ that she could loosen up and be the daredevil type at times. Even if she was scared out of her mind.
𝘈𝘜𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘙𝘚 𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌... at this rate, i may just end up updating this story almost daily. i'm so in love with malia and her story that i don't want to stop writing for her. i've never felt this attached to a character yet here we are ..
