𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟷 𝚎𝚙.𝟷 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚡-

"honest to god, I'm really cool / hiding your face, don't look away / feel like a mess and what I can't accept / is the truth"

~

JJ, Pope, and Tate all watched as Kiara stood at the bow of the ship, staring down into the water after John B. Finally, JJ broke the silence. "Bro, what was that all about?" he asked as they all sat down to wait.

"What?"

"Oh... be careful John B," he did a horrible impression of Kiara's voice. "And then you kissed him- Like dude- no Pogue on Pogue macking." Kiara rolled her eyes and didn't answer him.

Everyone was silent for a long minute. "Hey Tate, it looks like that bruise is getting better," Pope said. He pointed at the black and blue mark still lingering from Tate's fight with her dad.

"Thanks, man."

JJ sat down next to Tate and rested an arm on the headrest behind her. He leaned in to get a closer look at her bruise. "Nah, it takes two weeks for that shit to go away."

"Okay, well-"

"Not that it looks bad," JJ said quickly.

Tate raised her eyebrows at him, but chose to ignore him. "Right. Okay, JJ." She gave her head a hard shake. "Anyways, I think all of your Pogue rules are kinda weird." Before anyone could retort, a siren whooped behind the boat.

"Shit- JJ." Kiara nodded towards the boat.

JJ got up and looked out to the other side of the marsh. "Guys, that's the police."

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," said Pope.

"Shit, shit, shit." Tate jumped up to look at the police boat growing closer. "Oh, shit."

"Yep, that's the police," said JJ. "Tate, just like- jump in the water-"

"No, if she gets caught it'll look like she's hiding," Pope said.

"Yeah, I should be hiding," Tate cried, shooting a panicked look at the approaching boat.

Kiara reached a hand out and pulled Tate down next to her. "We'll cover for you. Just- act- frickin' normal."

The siren blared again. "Evening, officers," said Pope, getting up to help the police dock themselves to the HMS Pogue.

"Evening," said Deputy Shoupe. He handed Pope a rope which Pope handed off to JJ. "How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?" The Deputy's eyes skated over the group and rested on Tate. She fought to keep her face indifferent.

"No. Wow." JJ scratched the side of his head nervously. "I didn't know that. Why... why is it closed?"

"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down. Seen anything?"

All four of them shook their heads adamantly, but JJ was the one to do the talking. "No. No boats, no."

The deputy ignored JJ, keeping his eyes trained on Tate. "Sheriff's been looking for you," he said, nodding to her. "Wants to talk to you."

"Oh... what about?" Tate kept her voice pleasantly neutral and hoped nobody could hear the panic underlying every word.

"Well, she payed your dad a visit. He said he hasn't seen you in days, so I figure she's wondering where exactly you've been staying."

Tate's chest constricted and her heart skipped a beat, but she kept her face perfectly neutral and her voice measured. "I told her I'd figure something out."