Lost At Sea ⋆ JJ Maybank

𝖝𝖛. Matching Wounds

Pope, bless him, is always worrying about something. Kathryn knows that feeling of constant anxiety, of course. Most of the time, it's about his merit scholarship. She gets it – it's his whole future. He can't be throwing all of it out of the window. And what they're about to do – break into the salvage yard – might just do that.

But also, the bouncing knee is going to do her head in. "Pope," she says, "I love you dude, but you've got to calm down. We're not stealing anything, just borrowing it, okay?"

Pope, arms crossed on his chest next to JJ, in front of Kathryn, sighs. "'Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality.'"

"Did you come up with that?" John B asks.

"That's Albert Bernstein, moron," Kathryn tells him. "I don't see how it applies here."

"This whole treasure-hunting thing," Pope explains. "Which is it? Fantasy or reality?"

Kathryn hums. She has no idea, but at this point, the thought that they might find the Royal Merchant is too enthralling.

"Why are you so weird, Pope?" JJ sighs, rolling another blunt.

"It's fantasy, but possible reality," Kie answers.

"Reality," John B declares.

"Virtual reality."

"Think about how good finding the Royal Merchant will look on your résumé." Kathryn makes a face at JJ, and snatches the blunt from his mouth. "Steal first, get high later."

"I swear–"

"I thought we were borrowing it," Pope whines, preventing JJ from coming after Kathryn.

He clenches his jaw as John B slows the Twinkie, arriving at the salvage yard. "You know what your problem is?"

She shrugs, sighing. "You?"

"No! It's that you need to relax, KD. You're always so tense!"

"I'm not that tense. You're just a pain in my ass."

"Kids," stops John B. "Quit arguing." He turns towards her. "Kat, do you think you could go with Kie? Try to hold the warden off."

She narrows her eyes at him. "Why?"