- CHAPTER FOUR -
It was eight o'clock in the morning. There in a huge boat lay, Sarah, Kiara and Charlie all of them asleep. Charlie began tossing and turning in his sleep waking up Kiara in the process. The girl tried to waking him, by whispering his name. The boy just kept on tossing harder and faster, before jumping up and shouting.
"Mom!" The boy panted, feeling someone hug him he looked down and saw Kiara. He hugged her back, all sweaty and tears began to spill out of his eyes.
Sarah who was woken by the scream and looked at her brother worriedly. She stood up and went by his side. While the two girls tried to sooth the puppy eyed boy, john B had slipped in the boat and grabbed some scuba gear.
Charlie calmed down eventually, his breathing began to slow and the tears stopped falling. The boy looked at the two girls and sighed guiltily. "I'm sorry I woke you guys."
"Don't be sorry, Blue, never be sorry because you had a nightmare." Sarah rubbed his back slowly and ruffled his hair. "Come on, let's go eat breakfast."
Charlie stood upright going to help Kiara, before he saw the dirty-blonde hair from his best friend, John B. "Hey, dude, what're you doing here so early?" The two girls looked over at were the puppy eyed boy was looking and there, indeed, stood John B in the flesh.
"I was just, you know." John B gave Charlie and Kiara a look, making Charlie nodded knowing what he was up to.
"Yeah, we get it." Kiara muttered, stepping away from Charlie, because they stood to close to just be friends.
Sarah stood in front of Charlie and stared at the dirty-blonde haired boy. "Are you stalking us?" the blonde girl smiled smugly.
"Yeah. Why don't you just tell your daddy I blew the bilge on Druthers?" The boy turned around and headed for the door. "Everything' good to go. Just toppin' off these tanks." He walked out and to his boat that stood next to the yacht.
The three teens followed him and just stood there watching what he's doing. Charlie went forward and patted John B' shoulder. "You ok, man? I know that Topper got you bad too. The bastard."
"Yeah, I'm ok. How's your shoulder?"
"Good. Kie found a way to make it hurt less." Charlie smiled over his shoulder at the girl.
"Yeah, about that, what are you doing here, Kie?" John B turned around smirking at the speechless girl. "I thought you said you were going home."
"I've slept over, just to make sure Char's wounds got nursed." The brown eyed girl responded nonchalantly.
"Why? His sister could help him or someone else."
"Just because, John B. Now, go and do what you have to do, dude."
"All right. Hey, tell Topper he won the first round, ok." The dirty-blonde boy turned to Sarah and then high-fived Charlie.
"Yeah, because we're gonna beat him next time." Charlie added, smirking at his sister. "But not instantly, so keep your boyfriend away from me, sissy."
Sarah ignored her brother and leaned on the boat's edge. "Can we drop the whole Pogues versus Kooks thing? Your friends with my brother who's a Kook so can't you be civil to me?" She watched as John B was still moving everything in his boat. "It's really stupid. Right, Blue?" She asked, turning to her brother now.
"That's really good idea, Sari, but it's never going to happen."
"Yeah. You know, it's easy to say when you're a Kook." John B stared in Sarah's eyes, grinning sarcastically.
"Ooh, harsh. Hey, John, that wasn't meant for me too, right?" Charlie asked his friend. John B shook his head chuckling slightly before starting his boat and faring away. Sarah saluted sarcastically and flipped the bird at John B.
Charlie saw this action and glanced at his sister shaking his head in a scolding manner. "Sarah Elizabeth Cameron, that wasn't nice of you." The girl only rolled her eyes at him and ruffled his hair while she was walking off the boat.
"Why always the hair?" The boy threw his hands in the air sighing and looking at Kiara confused. The girl just smiled and grabbed his hand in hers.
"Because your hair is soft and everyone likes to just run their fingers through it." Kiara run her fingers through his hair and patted his cheek. "You also look cuter then."
"I'm gonna mess up my hair everyday now." The puppy eyed boy brought the brown eyed girl closer, their faces very close to one and other's. He leaned in and captured her lips, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"We can't do this in public, Char. What if someone sees us?" Kiara said after the kiss, making him plant a sweet kiss on her forehead.
"Ok, you're right, we can't do this where everyone can see us." Both of them looked in each other's eyes and Charlie grinned. "So, can we do this in my room, then?"
Kiara laughed and let her head fall against his. "Come on, let's eat breakfast and then go to the group, ok?" Charlie nodded his head, holding out his hand for her to take, which she took.
The two walked over to the dining table, quickly letting their hands fall at their sides and sitting down. "Good morning." They both said in sync.
"Good morning. So, what are the plans for today?" Mr Cameron glanced at all the kids.
"I'm gonna hang out with a few friends." Rafe answered smirking a bit.
"I'm not allowed to go out, so I'm just gonna sit in my room and watch Netflix."Wheezie grabbed the Nutella and muttered, "Which is still very unfair."
"Topper is coming by this afternoon, we're gonna talk about what happened last night." Sarah looked over at Charlie who had a cold look on his face. "He's not a bad guy, Blue."
Charlie scoffed a laugh, turning to Sarah with a sarcastic face. "Well, I didn't see much of a good guy in him when he almost drowned me."
"Well, if you didn't jump him then he wouldn't have hurt you."
"He was drowning another dude." Charlie stood upright. "Remember when you asked me to do something? Well, I did, so you can't blame it on me now." He snapped the last part, turning around and walking away.
Kiara glanced around the table and stood up. "Thank u for letting me stay here, Mr Cameron, but I should go after him." She waved at them and ran after Charlie.
"Char!" She shouted seeing him walking on a very fast pace. "Wait!" The boy stood still, spinning around. His face softened when he saw his girlfriend running after him.
Charlie opened his arms for a hug and the girl ran in his arms, enjoying the warmth that it gave her. "I'm sorry I left you there. I just didn't like how Sarah kept defending her boyfriend."
"It's ok. We should probably meet up with the rest of the group and look for the boat." She stepped out of the hug and looked in his eyes, a small kind smile on her face. "But first..." She grabbed him by the collar, bringing him in and meeting his lips.
When they separated for a breather, Charlie smirked at Kiara holding her hands and inspecting her beautiful brown eyes. "What was that for?"
"Nothing, can't I just kiss my adorable boyfriend, before we have to wait till the evening?" Kiara asked, grinning smugly at him, linking their fingers.
"Of course you can, but we should really get going now." Charlie whispered, kissing her lips one more time before turning his back to her. "You need a piggy-back ride?"
The girl chuckled and sprung in his back slinging her hand loosely around his neck and kissing his neck once. "Come on, servant, let us go to Le Château." She said in a posh accent.
"Of course, My Lady."
They arrived at the Château to see the three boys already waiting in the boat. Kiara sprung of Charlie's back ruffling his hair and trudged over to them. "Good morning, boys."
"Morning, Kie. Morning, Char."
"What's up you two?"
"Hello."
We're the responses she got, she glanced at Charlie and they walked in the boat. "So, we gone?" Charlie asked the group. They nodded and John B started the engine.
§|||§
They arrived at the spot they found the boat at and stopped. Kiara began checking the tanks to see which were full and which were not. "This is empty. You took empty thanks?" The brown eyed girl said to John B peering at him out of the corner of her eye.
"I..." John B had nothing to say, he just looked the other way scolding himself for not looking first.
"Oh, yeah, our family went diving a few days before the storm. Sorry I didn't tell you, I forgot." Charlie scratched the back of his neck, he smiled sheepishly at John B and then at Kiara.
"It's ok. This one's a quarter full." Kiara showed it to the two boys, calculating if it's enough. "It's enough for one of us." She sighed.
"Love it when a plan comes together." JJ rolled his eyes, looking at the sky.
"Does anyone know how to dive, except Charlie?" Kiara asked, pursing her lips and raising her eyebrows. Everyone shook their heads and shrugging. "Anybody?"
"Why can't I dive? I know how to." Charlie questioned. He walked over to Kiara trying to grab the tank, but The girl held them away from him.
"No, Char. Yesterday you almost drowned, got beat up and your shoulder still isn't better." She said, protectiveness clear in her voice, looking right in Charlie's eyes. "If we send you down you might not come back. So, can anyone else do it?"
JJ rolled his head, "It's kind of a Kook sport."
"I...read about it." Pope uttered.
"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die." Kiara scrunched her nose up and squinted her eyes, which Charlie found ratter cute.
"Look, y-you put that thing in your mouth and breath. How hard could it be?" JJ scoffed looking over at Pope.
"Well, it's pretty hard when you do it for the first time. A lot could go wrong" Charlie claimed.
"Charlie's right. If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends." Pope explained.
"Bends like, bend over and..." JJ pushed his ass out, bending over.
"The bends kill you." Pope stated.
"Right." JJ commented.
"I can—I can dive." Everyone looked at John B surprised.
"You can dive. I'm cool with that." JJ put his hands on his hips, raising his eyebrows.
"Since when can you dive?" Kiara asked with narrowed eyes.
"He can't, Kie, but someone has to do it since everyone thinks I can't." Charlie remarked, rolling his eyes and sitting down with his arms crossed.
"Don't be such a baby, Char." Kiara rolled her eyes at his antics.
John B looked at everyone, his elbows resting on his knees. "I'll do it. It's fine."
"Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope stood up and went over to the tank. "That boat's about thirty feet down."
"Okay."
"So it'll take twenty-five minutes at that depth." Pope explained writing all his calculations on a piece of paper. "Which means you need to make your safety stop at about...ten feet. All right? For two minutes."
"Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it." John B sighed.
Suddenly Kiara jumped into the water, making all the boys look at each other confused. "What is she doing?" Charlie asked, squinting his eyes at the water.
"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot." JJ looked over at the place were she jumped in. Charlie clenched his hands at that sentence, his jealous or protective side coming up and he clenched his jaw.
"Okay, JJ, let's stop staring at the place she jumped in." Charlie snapped his fingers before JJ's face, his jaw still clenched. "Dude, snap out of it, it's gross." Charlie snapped at his blonde friend.
"Yeah, okay. Chill, dude." JJ held his hands In the air, a smug smirk making it's way on his face. "No need to be jealous."
"I'm not jealous, why would I?" The puppy eyed boy scrunched his nose up, shaking his head.
"I don't know. Maybe because you love—"
"All righty." Pope cut JJ's sentence off, pursing his lips at the tension. "Let's go over what you have to do."
"Uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold." JJ awkwardly explained, holding up a something. "You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"
Charlie saw Kiara come up and sighed in relief, not listening to the others their conversation.
"Hey! I tied my shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down." Kiara finally spoke up, smiling at Charlie for a second. Charlie grinned proudly back at her. "It's where you need to do your safety stop."
"Cool."
Charlie didn't listen any further he only stared at his girlfriend whom he wanted to kiss and cuddle with so bad. She stepped into the boat and stood next to him, linking their fingers and keeping it out of sight.
"Diver down?" John B glanced over all his friends.
"Diver down." They all said in sync, a small smile on their faces.
John B put the mask on and jumped into the water. Once no one could see him anymore, everyone sat down and waited.
Charlie and Kiara sat next to each other, her head was leaning on his lap and his arm was wrapped around her, nothing to close, right? The Puppy eyed boy felt Kiara shiver in his hold, making him look at her worriedly.
"Are you cold?" He asked, peering in her eyes. She nodded and snuggled closer. Charlie stood up, making the brown eyed girl look up confused, and took his shirt off. He gave it to her with a grin and said, "You had to hang your shirt down there, didn't you?" She smiled back and put his shirt on, it was a bit to big for her body, but that didn't matter.
Charlie sat back down, put his arm around her and holding her closer then ever. The girl snuggled very close and closed her eyes, feeling peaceful when she was with him.
JJ and Pope saw the action and glanced at each other with knowing looks. They smirked over at the couple and snickered. "You know, Kie, Char here was a little bit jealous just now. He didn't like that everyone was looking at you jump in the water."
Charlie's jaw locked, looking up at JJ with a stone-cold glare. "I wasn't jealous, JJ. Besides, what would I be jealous for, it's not like we're a thing or something." Kiara looked away, hiding her chuckle in her hands.
"All right..." JJ trailed off, laying down on his back and closing his eyes.
Kiara sat up next to Charlie and leaned up to whisper something into Charlie's ear, "So, we aren't a thing, okay, noted."
Charlie panicked and turned to her. "Hey I didn't mean that, you know they don't know and all—" Kiara cut him off by laughing and she glanced at him saying sorry with her eyes.
"I'm just joking, Char, I'm sorry." She muttered.
"I know." He laid his head on her lap and she ran her fingers through it. Scratching his skull softly with her nails. "All right let's play 15 questions." Charlie whispered to Kiara.
"Okay, I begin." She thought for a second, before knowing it. "What's your hidden talent?"
"Who says I have a hidden talent?" He narrowed his eyes at her, playing with her hand that lay on his chest.
"No one, I just have a feeling you have a hidden talent." Kiara shrugged.
"All right...Iliketosing." Charlie muttered, making the brown eyed girl look at him confused.
"What was that?"
"I like to sing." He sighed.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"All right. Your—" Kiara was cut of by sirens whooping.
"Shit, guys." Pope uttered, everyone looked at where he was looking and saw the police on boat.
"Guys, that's the police." JJ said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh you gotta be kiddin' me." Pope sighed.
"We're so in trouble, we aren't supposed to be here." Charlie closed his eyes and stood up. "I hope that John can hold his breath in for a few seconds."
"Yep."
Kiara stood up and sat on the edge of the boat. "Just act frickin' normal." She wiped her wet hair out of her face and put Charlie's shirt more secure around her body.
"This is absolutely great. I have no shirt on and can't act normal." The puppy eyed boy put on a forced smile as the cops came.
"Evening, officers." Pope said politely.
"Evening." The cop nodded. The other deputy gave Pope the robe of their boat, making Pope pas it to JJ.
The officer pulled his glasses of and grinned at the teens. "How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?"
"No." JJ shrugged nonchalantly.
"No. Wow."
"I didn't know that." JJ scrunched his nose, leaning against a metal pole.
"Officer? Why can't we come here?" Charlie questioned.
"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down." The officer explained.
"Oh."
"Seen anything?" The deputy asked.
"No."
"No boats. No."
"Nothing at all, sir." Charlie shook his head.
The officer looked at him and recognized him. "You are Mr Cameron's boy, aren't you?"
Charlie nodded his head slowly, biting his lip. "Yes, sir."
"Where's your friend you always hang with? He here?" The officer now looked at the rest.
"He's working." Kiara forced a smile.
"I'm gonna check your little boat out." The officer stepped aboard and patted Pope's shoulder.
"Yeah." JJ commented.
"Yeah, hop aboard." Pope added. "You wanna check—uh, check her out."
"Thank you."
The officer picked up a life jacket and asked, "You got more of these?"
"Of course. It's, uh...It's in the hold." JJ replied, pointing at a cabinet.
Kiara stood upright, going over to Charlie. "Show him, JJ." JJ nodded his head and went over to the cabinet. He opened it and showed the other life jackets.
"All right." The officer nodded. He went over to the edge looking at the water.
Charlie put an arm around Kiara's shoulder, she placing her hand on his bare back. He looked at her worriedly, hoping John B could wait for a few more seconds.
"All right." The officer nodded.
"All right." JJ smiled.
"Let us know if you see anything on your way out." The officer climbed back in his boat and started the engine.
"Will do. Will do." Pope waved.
"We'll be gone soon, sir." JJ added.
"Yes, you will."
The boat fared away, Charlie let out a sigh of relief. "That went pretty well." Kiara slapped his chest and pulled him with to the edge of the boat, looking for John B.
"He's definitely out of air." When Pope said that, John B broke to the surface.
"There he is!" JJ chuckled.
"Oh, God! Jesus Christ!"
"Don't scare us like that!"
"Oof, thought you were dead to be honest." Charlie laughed. Kiara looked at him with a scolding look and slapped his chest, twice. "Ouch."
"How'd it go down there?" JJ asked, scratching his hat. "Did you find anything?"
"Did I find anything?" John B laughed happily.
"Yeah, there we go! That's my boy!" JJ proudly said. He took the Scooba gear that John B threw at him, laughing.
"You okay?" Kiara asked, running a hand through her hair.
"Yeah, I ran out of air."
"No shit, Sherlock." Charlie held his hand and helped John B back in the boat.
"The cops were up here, but, uh...took care of 'em." Pope panted.
"My bad."
"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother." JJ chuckled.
Charlie felt Kiara tug at his hand, making him look at what she's seeing. "Hey guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock." Kiara looked at the rest.
"Who's that?" Charlie squinted his eyes.
"Do you recognize that boat?" Pope questioned.
"I've never seen it." Kiara shrugged. "What are they doing back here? The marsh is closed."
"Well, maybe they decided to break the rules and go fish." Charlie suggested a reason.
"No, it's gotta be something else." JJ pulled at the lines. "Let's not stick around and find out."
"Come on. Char, get the bowline." Charlie nodded at the dirty blonde haired boy. He went over to the bowline and pulled it in.
"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope asked.
"Are you crazy? We don't even know them." Charlie came face to face with Pope, patting his shoulder. "For all we know they could have guns and kill us."
"Let's go, guys, don't wait for me." JJ said as he was still pulling a line in.
"Let's go!" Kiara urged, standing next to Charlie and grabbing his hand, careful to not let anyone see it. "I don't like this."
"Are they coming for us?" JJ scrunched his nose.
"Go, go, go, go!" Kiara chanted.
"Go into the marsh." Pope instructed.
"Let's go!"
"I'm going. Act natural." John B responded.
"Hey, guys, they're following us." Kiara announced, holding Charlie's hand tighter.
"This can't be good."
"Shit." JJ exclaimed, turning to John B. "Dude, you gotta go faster!"
"I'm going!"
The boat kept following the teens, which made them even more anxious. All were telling John B to go faster. They made turns right and left, but the other boat still followed them.
John B was now going faster, the other boat was more away from them now. Charlie looked over at the boat and saw one guy pick up a sniper from under his steering wheel.
His eyes widened, he brought Kiara in his chest, shielding her and yelled, "Guys look out!" A bullet flew right next to Charlie's head, touching his ear a bit. He held Kiara close to him and dared to look back.
"What the.." Pope said surprised.
"Holy shit, Char, you okay!" Kiara looked at his bleeding ear with wide eyes. "Your ear's bleeding."
"I'm fine, Kie, it's just a scratch. Everybody get down!" He got down, shielding Kiara and looked behind him, bullet were still flying everywhere.
"Oh my God we're gonna die!" Pope shouted hysterically.
"I'm not dying today, Pope! I' haven't even drank my first beer yet!" Charlie shouted back at him.
Everyone was down, laying on the floor and shielding their faces. John B was speeding around the marsh like crazy, trying to not get hit too. The other boat shot one bullet after the other, making holes into the boat.
Suddenly Kiara moved away from Charlie, getting out of his arms and doing something reckless. "Pope, move!" She shouted, when Pope moved she grab a fishing line out of a bag.
"What are you doing, Kie! Get down!" Charlie stood now protectively next to Kiara shielding her from the bullets that came their way.
Another bullet came their way and almost got Kiara. "Get down, Kie!" John B shouted.
Charlie's eyes widened when that happened, he was very worried now and scared. Kiara walked past Charlie and threw the fishing line in the water. She immediately went back to Charlie and pulled him down as yet another bullet came their way.
The other boat came very fast and drove over the fishing line. Their boat swerved from left to right and their boat stopped with faring. The fishing line did it's work.
Once the boat was out of sight, everyone looked at each other and chuckled in relief. Charlie hugged Kiara tightly, sighing in relief as she let out a shout from happiness.
"Booyeah! Pogue God, man!" JJ shouted chuckling. "See you, guys!"
Kiara looked at Charlie and smiled "That was insane!"
§|||§
The Pogues arrived back at the dock, stepping out of the boat and smiling. All off them relieved that no one was heavily injured. Charlie's ear's bleeding had slowed down now and was stinging a bit.
"Oh, God." Kiara sighed, chuckling still from the adrenaline.
Once everyone was on the dock, John B set a bag down, it was completely drenched in water. He quickly opened it, inspecting everything that's in there.
"What do you think it is?" The brown eyed girl asked from her place next to Charlie.
"Gotta be money, right?" John B was still opening every pocket and searching every little corner.
"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low- to mid-mils!" JJ joked, laughing at his joke afterward.
"I don't think it's money or keys. I think it's something that looks valueless, but actually is very important." Charlie assumed, crouching down and looking at the bag in wonder.
"Can we please just please open the bag?" Pope said impatiently.
"Wow, Pope." John B said surprised. "That's a rare outburst of emotion." JJ and Charlie looked at each other and snickered in their hands.
"Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation." Pope sighed frustrated with everything that has happened. "Open the bag."
"Jeez." JJ remarked.
"We almost died over this. Charlie has a bleeding ear because of this." Pope stated, pointing at Charlie's bleeding ear.
"My ear's fine, Pope, it's just a scratch." Charlie eased his worries.
"Well, it doesn't look like just a scratch." Pope sighed. "And, don't you realize if that bullet moved a few inches to the right, you would be a dead man now."
"Yeah, I know, ok? But I don't want to think about that, because I'm not dead." Charlie had now tears in his eyes. "Now, please, open the dam thing."
John B nodded and pulled out a long object that looked like a thermos cup. The dirty-blonde haired boy opened it and put it upside down. An object fell out of the thermos, it was rusted and had a patron on the top. John B opened the object and they found out it was a...compass.
"Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right." Pope voiced. "Good job, everybody. We found a compass." Pope said sarcastically.
JJ sighed and pulled his hat off, very disappointed with what they found and risked their lives for. He saw John B still not moving the compass away and questioned, "Dude, what? It's not worth anything."
"This was my father's." John B chuckled slightly.
"See, what did I tell you all?" Charlie stood up, glancing at everyone with a smile. "Something that looks valueless, but is important."
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