"Well, was fun" JJ stated, as if risking being caught red-handed due to a gun was a normal valuable experience. "Could have warned us sooner, though".
Physically, Samantha was on the HMS Pogue, on her way back to the cut, but mentally, she was still pressed against the wall, with JJ's breath on her neck. All she could think about was what it would be like to feel it again.
"We would have, except Pope was on the math team" Kiara answered.
"Guessing in the math team they don't teach you how to imitate a bird,'' Samantha giggled. "It sounded terrible".
"You were on the math team?" JJ asked, sincerely confused.
"Can we just move on?" Pope dismissed the subject. "The cops took everything like it was a crime scene".
"Because it was a crime scene," Samantha replied. "The wreck on the seabed, that isolated motel, the cops ... They communicate bad vibes".
"I don't know if I feel bad vibes, actually" JJ shrugged, drawing attention to himself. "Not with these" he added, showing to the group the gun and some bills that until that moment he had held hidden.
"No fuckin way!" Kiara exclaimed in surprise.
"Why take that from a crime scene?!" Pope asked nervously.
"Better than cops having it".
"You serious?" Kiara looked at John B and Samantha. They both shrugged defenseless. Nobody could prevent JJ's stupid actions.
"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship" Pope whined.
"You haven't said that today yet" Samantha laughed. Being involved everyday in situations not totally legal certainly didn't help Pope's natural anxiety, so at least once a day he repeated that one day or another he would lose his precious scholarship.
JJ got up from his seat and walked towards Pope, putting his arm around his shoulders. "Sh, sh, sh. At least you have us, right?".
"I'm living the nightmare" Pope shook his head, moving away.
When they returned to the mainland, Samantha and the others stopped at the docks, leaving the motel matter for further conversations, until a crowd gathered in their same spot. She felt a shiver run down her spine as a body was carried out of the water. A dead body, without any doubt. Even from a distance, his pale corpse skin left no questions.
"Who's that?" John B asked, his voice low and dry.
"It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm" a blonde girl next to them answered. Samantha gulped, her eyes pierced to that body. Even if she could feel slightly nauseous, she couldn't take her eyes off the scene.
She had forgotten that the blonde girl was still next to her, and she jumped when she started talking again. "Somehow, that dirtbag copped a brand-new Grady-White. Everyone's looking for it".
Samantha's head spinned towards her friends. They exchanged urgent and horrified looks.
• • •
If they had managed to remain calm on the way back to the chateau, now their nerves were on fire. "We didn't see anything, we don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia" Pope listed frantically.
"Actually, Pope's right for once. Deny, deny, deny" JJ nodded, moving uncomfortably around the porch.
"We can't keep that money," Kiara stated.
"Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara" JJ replied, but she didn't listen to him. "We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs" she suggested, referring to Scooter's wife. "Otherwise, it's bad karma".
"And what would you tell her? 'Hey hi, we infiltrated your husband's motel room and found his money and, oh, a gun too?' " Samantha raised a brow.
"I agree with keeping this shit money. A few banknotes more or less, what harm can it do?" JJ shrugged.
"I don't agree" John B intervened, coldly.
"What? Why?".
Until that moment, he had remained silent, brooding over something that the others missed. "Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. 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 pockets and all of sudden, he's got a Grady-White? Think about it. How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?".
"Prostitution" Pope answered.
John B shook his head. "Square groupers, bro. Flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does it mean?".
"Straight smugglin'" JJ answered.
"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it..." Pope reasoned, "it probably belongs to someone else. They could come looking for it. Taking it would be' catastrophically stupid".
"Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time" JJ replied, picking up the banknotes. "All we need to do 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.
"Kegger?" Kiara smiled, shooting a gaze towards Samantha. Their favorite activity.
• • •
It didn't take long before pogues' friends, tourouns and kooks began to fill the Boneyard. Laughters and chatters rose from every point. Samantha couldn't resist her favorite drinking games, causing her head to spin before the sun could go down, while the less resilient could no longer stand up.
A little breeze moved the tips of her hair and stroked her cheeks, as the light of the sun became less intense. She filled another glass, ready to show to that touroun girl that she was able to accept any kind of challenge. But as soon as she brought the edge of the glass to her lips, it was taken from her.
"JJ!" Samantha squealed, too loud. At that moment, the vision of her friend seemed to her the most fun and hilarious thing, so she began to laugh uncontrollably. "Join us, please. It's so fun!". She tried to take her glass back, but JJ moved his arm away to avert her grip.
"Maybe another time, Sammy. I think that's enough for today". He put her glass away and took her away from the group, pulling her by the arm.
"Hey!" she couldn't keep up, so she risked stumbling a couple of times. "I was having fun" she spluttered the words.
"You can't speak, and you can't walk without seeming like a duckling" he raised his brow at her, stopping and leaving her. Again, she found him incredibly funny and she bursted in a thunderous laughter. "You're so witty, JJ. You're..." she stopped. Has his blue eyes always been so... blue?
In a corner of her mind, that now seemed so remote, she knew that being drunk would have removed the brakes on her inhibitions. Was that why she thought that it could have been so easy to reach out to his lips? They formed a defiant grimace, almost amused, and they were so perfect for him. Maybe they are perfect for me too, in a different way.
Seriously, why had she never realized how easy it could have been to lean forward and...
Her head began to spin, more than before.
"Oh my god" she muttered. The well-known feeling of throw took over, until it became imminent. She forced herself to put together some decent steps to move away from the crowd, and when she couldn't hold back anymore, she spilled. She felt her hair moving away from her face, while someone was holding it.
"Better out than inside, I guess" JJ sighed.
• • •
A girl was laughing at his joke, but Samantha couldn't hear which one, as she was too distant from them. It was dark, she was sitting around a bonfire and she would have bet that her throbbing head would have bursted any moment.
Kiara, who was only one minute earlier next to her talking about turtles and pollution, had moved away to do something Samantha's cloudy mind had already forgot.
Now, all she could do to let the time pass, as she was too messed up to do something that implied standing, was looking around her. She was observing them, JJ's arm around the shoulders of a nice blonde girl - a touron, probably her first year there - who was always closer to him. She thought what joke could be so funny. Did he use one that she had already heard, or did he invent one for the moment?
"You okay?". A voice came from her side, making her leave her thoughts.
"Mh?" she asked, confused. It was a guy, big brown eyes and a sweet smile.
"Oh, sorry" he chuckled. "I saw you before, you know, when you threw up".
"I'm fine, thanks" she replied. Maybe that guy wanted to make her laugh as JJ did with that girl.
"You know, the fire makes your eyes glow". Oh, straight to the point. No jokes.
"Thank you" she smiled. He could have been a good distraction, why not? "And tell me, how many girls have received this exact compliment, tonight?" she teased.
The guy made a malicious smirk, then broke it with a soft laughter. "You are the only one I think this is true for".
"Mh mh" she murmured, with a serious gaze, even if she was having a hard time trying not to laugh in his face.
"Would you like to go somewhere quieter?". Straight to the point again. She had no intention of "going somewhere quieter" with him: he had put very little effort in trying to approach her, she deserved more than a basic compliment on her eyes!
"Sorry, but I don't even know your n-".
"Dan!". The call had to be referred to him, because the guy turned his head to the center of the bonfire. JJ was standing in front of him, obstructing the soft light coming from the fire. "Old guy! How long!".
Samantha rolled her eyes even if her lips cracked in a imperceptible smile. He was too enthusiastic to not have something in mind.
"JJ" Dan chuckled nervously, not meeting his gaze. Now Samantha remembered him: she had seen him a couple of times in the hallways of the school and they also attended primary school together.
"Last time we were together was in the fifth grade. How quickly time passes, right?" JJ's tone was loud, confident and teasing.
"Right" Dan muttered. He obviously wasn't fond of JJ, as he had been scared of him ever since JJ filled his backpack with spiders in third grade.
"Tell me mate, do you still piss yourself?". Okay, now it was very hard not to laugh.
Dan's cheeks turned immediately red, as he stammered something and got up, ready to leave. JJ made a satisfied smile, and he sat on the space left next to Samantha. "You could have gone easier on him" she twitted. "And, it's the second time you interrupted me and my fun".
"If this can be called fun" JJ rolled his eyes, gaining a soft punch in the shoulder from Samantha.
"First, you're terrible at flirting. Second, I saved you a great nuisance. He's so boring".
"Didn't you say you hadn't seen him since fifth grade?".
"Yeah and he was boring even then. Think how it got worse".
Samantha chuckled. "Oh, so should I thank you?".
"It would be appreciated" JJ smirked and puffed out his chest, waiting for a thanks.
Instead, she wanted to tease him and to see his reaction. "You know, he told me my eyes glow" she articulated the last word, teasingly.
JJ huffed. "Banal. He could have said something better".
"A simple and banal compliment is better than having him clinging on me as if I were the last human being on earth, anyway".
Apparently JJ understood the reference to the girl he was going to mack before, as he bursted in laughter. "Are you jealous, Sammy?".
"Actually, I'm just worried for the mental health of all the girls that laugh at your cringy jokes".
"That happens because I reserve the best of my repertoire only to you, dear" he teased, leaning towards her. A mischievous spark crossed his eyes, slightly lowered, and his lips widened in a smirk.
Samantha rolled her eyes, but she was amused. She was going to reply, but suddenly, loud voices came from not so distant. "Fight! Fight! Fight!" they shouted. Samantha and JJ got up, their gaze scanning the moving huddle. The crowd had formed a circle, around...
"John B!" Kiara yelled, followed by Pope. Other voices echoed them, inciting the fight. John B and Topper, hitting each other, reached the shore of the sea, and Topper threw John B to the ground and held his head underwater.
JJ instantly walked away, towards his backpack. He pulled out the gun, and walked forward until he reached Topper. When he pointed the gun to his head, Samantha's heart dropped. "JJ, put that down!". The shouts intensified, but this time they were frightened.
"Chill, dude!" Pope exclaimed.
"Stop! JJ! Put the gun down" Sarah Cameron yelled.
"Did you say somethin' princess?" JJ replied, anger and hardness in his voice. He just wants to scare them, Samantha repeated to herself. But he was scaring the shit out of her too.
"Kie! Can you check your psycho friend, please?" Sarah screamed, terrified. JJ showed no intention of letting go Topper, even if he had raised his hands in surrender.
"JJ, please!" Samantha cried, panic taking over her.
"Okay, everyone, listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!" JJ yelled, moving away from Topper and firing multiple gunshots in the air. The crowd dispersed instantly, as JJ observed the scene as if he was alienated from it.
"You idiot!" Kiara exclaimed.
"I'm saving his life, okay?" JJ shouted.
"You're gonna jeopardize everything!" Pope continued, pushing him.
"Guys, chill out okay?" Samantha's words were trembling, for the adrenaline, the fear, the panic. "I think John B isn't feeling well".
• • •