Opia || Rafe Cameron

Chapter 6

After washing down the deck my dad hands me a bucket of fish. "Clean and gut."

"Are you serious?" I ask looking at all the dead fish.

"They're fresh." He shrugs. I take the bucket and head into the shop. I begin to clean and gut the fish. I grimace at the smell even though I'd been doing this for over a decade.

A voice behind me catching my attention, startling me. "Mi, we're out of here." John B sticks his head in the room. "Ew, it smells like ass in here."

"Don't even. I've been in here for like an hour." I say peeling off the rubber gloves I was wearing. I follow him out the front door, sneaking around the store. I hear my dad arguing with my younger brother. JJ starts to pull the boat away from the dock. John B grabs my hand and we take off down the dock. John B jumps into the boat. I follow, leaping from the dock and landing on the boat.

John B takes over driving. He heads toward Kie's house. Kie walks down the dock, cooler in hand.

"Top of the morning to you." JJ calls out.

"Good morning, boys!" She notices me in the corner of the boat. "Is that a Mila I see?

"Hi, Kie." I stand up and hug the girl.

"Whatcha got? You got some juice boxes?" Pope asks eyeing the small cooler.

"You know, just some yogurts and carrot sticks."

"How about my kind of juice box?" JJ asks turning to her.

"Yeah."

"Brace for impact." John B says starting the boat forward.

After a while Pope and John B switch places, Pope now driving the HMS Pogue. JJ stands, moving toward the front of the boat.

"Let me show you a party trick." He announces. "Hey Pope, can you go a little faster?" The blonde places a foot on the very front of the boat, the other still planted on the floor of the boat.

"Oh god, here we go. I'm moving." John B moves behind the windshield of the boat.

"Doesn't work." Pope says.

"We've tried this like 6,000 times." I say ducking behind my brother.

"I got this! It's gonna work!" JJ informs us. He holds the beer inches from his mouth, allowing the liquid to poor out of the bottle. The beer misses his mouth and sprays backward at the rest of us.

"Oh my god, you're getting beer in my hair!" Kie complains.

"Ugh, JJ! That's never gonna work." I giggle.

"All right! All right!" Pope calls out.

"All right, you're done!" John B agrees.

Suddenly the boat halts to a stop, sending everyone in different directions. JJ goes flying off the front of the boat and into the water. I would have followed if John B hadn't grabbed my arm, keeping me on the boat next to him.

"Woah, thank you." I say turning to him.

"Jesus, Pope." Kie says exasperated.

I groan, standing back up. I watch the blonde boy surface in the water. "You okay, JJ?"

"I think my heels touched the back of my head."

"Kie, you okay?" John B asks the girl, groaning.

"I'm alright." She pulls her hair out of her face.

"Pope, what did you do?" JJ asks from the water.

"Sandbar, the channel changed."

"No shit." The blond retorts, swimming back toward the boat. "Hey, I saved the beer though."

"Congrats, JJ." John B replies sarcastically.

My brother stands, looking off the edge of the boat. Probably looking for where the channel changed. "Guys.. I think there's a boat down there.

"Shut up." John B says.

"No way." Kie agrees.

I look over the edge of the boat, following his line of sight. I spot the boat he was talking about. "Wait no, guys, Pope's right. There is a boat down there."

"It's a boat!" Pope points into the water as our friends peer into the water.

"Holy shit, he's right. Let's go!" Kie says, pulling her clothes off, leaving just her bikini. The rest of the Pogue's, copy her, diving into the water. I stay on the boat. Because of last night I did not have my swimsuit with me. The Pogue's resurface quickly after diving down.

"You guys saw that, right?" JJ asks.

"Yeah, I did." Kie says excitedly.

The Pogue's laugh excitedly.

"Mila!" John B calls out, turning to the boat. "It's a Grady-White!"

"A new one of those is like 500 G's easy!" JJ exclaims.

The group climbs back in the boat. An excited energy fills the HMS Pogue.

"That's a primo rig!" JJ informs.

"Yeah, that's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge." John B says. "Maybe it hit the jetty."

"You surged the surge?" Kie asks.

"Yeah."

"That's my boy, pogue style!" JJ cheers.

"Wait, wait. Do we know whose boat it is?" Pope asks.

"No, but we're about to find out." John B says. He opens the hold and pulls out the anchor.

"Dude, it's too deep." JJ says.

"Oh, for the week and feeble, JJ."

"Well, I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front."

"That's fine."

"Um, I won't let you die." I speak up.

"We know who the real friend is." John B points out.

"John B." Kie says, trying to stop him.

""Diver down, fool."

"Diver down."

"Yeah, he is." JJ shoves the boy into the water.