𝘈𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘥𝘦'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝
"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kiara asks John B in disbelief as she checks out the scuba gear.
"Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us" She tells us.
"Love it when a plan comes together" Pope says sarcastically.
"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kiara asks and we all go silent.
"Anybody?" She adds in disbelief.
"It's kind of a Kook sport" JJ shrugs.
"I read about it" Pope announces.
"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die" Kiara snaps and I elbow her.
"Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ states.
"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends" Pope tells him.
"Bends like, bend over and..." JJ drawls off, bending over the driver seat suggestively which makes me roll my eyes.
"The bends kill you" Pope retorts bluntly and I snort.
"Right" JJ nods.
"Charming" I comment.
"I can dive" John B offers.
"You can dive. I'm cool with that" JJ tells the boy.
"Since when can you dive?" Kiara scoffs.
"I'll do it. It's fine" John B assures her.
"Are you sure?" I ask him in concern and he nods.
"Let me do some calculations real quick" Pope declares.
"Ooh, calculations" I chirp walking over and placing my chin on Pope's shoulder to watch him geek out.
"That boat's about 30 feet down, right?" Pope starts.
"Okay" John B nods.
"So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about...ten feet. All right? For two minutes" Pope explains.
I notice Kiara stand up and she pulls her shirt off, jumping into the water without any warning.
"Uhh" John B hums in confusion.
"What was that all about?" Pope asks the other Pogues.
"I don't know, but I liked it" I reply and all three boys look at me in surprise "What? She's really hot"
"Uh, so.." JJ drawls off.
"All righty" John B says, pulling on the scuba gear.
"Yeah. Uh, when you- Uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?" JJ tells John B, handing him a key like object.
"Stick in, twist, pull" John B repeats.
"Yeah" JJ nods "Our dad moved some weight back in the day"
"Who didn't?" Pope replies.
"Hey! I tied my shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop" Kiara's voice speaks up and I see her swimming towards us.
"Cool" John B replies.
"Keep an eye on this. You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress" Pope tells the boy.
"Okay, how much do I need?" John B asks as I hold my hand out for Kiara, hauling her onto the boat.
"Unclear. Breathe as little as possible" Pope advises him.
"Zen. Think Zen, you know?" JJ tells him.
"Yeah, got it" John B nods.
"Hey, if we get caught out here in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so...better get a move on" Pope announces.
"Copy that" John B replies as Kiara walks up to him.
She leans in and my eyes widen as she kisses his cheek, dangerously close to his mouth. I share a confused look with Pope before turning to JJ to see him smirking.
"Diver down?" I hear John B speak.
"Diver down" Kiara repeats.
John B jumps into the water and I sit down on the floor next to Pope's feet, leaning my head back against the edge of the boat.
"Diver down" Pope sighs as John B disappears into the water.
"See ya, dude" JJ states although John B can't hear him anymore.
"How you feeling?" I hear Pope ask quietly and I look up at him.
"Peachy" I paste on a smile.
"You sure, Addy?" He presses.
"I'm fine, Popesicle" I chirp, waving him off.
I hear the familiar sound of sirens and my eyes widen as my head snaps up to see the cops.
"Shit. JJ" Pope worries.
"Guys, that's the police" JJ declares.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me" Pope groans.
"Just act frickin normal" Kiara demands.
"Evening, officers" Pope greets the cops as they pull their boat to the side of ours.
"Evening" Shoupe replies as his partner hands Pope a rope to tie to our boat.
"JJ, tie this off" Pope tells the blonde and he nods, doing what he's told.
"How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?" Shoupe speaks.
"No" JJ shrugs.
"No, wow" Pope acts shocked.
"Closed?" I question in confusion.
"Why- Why is it closed?" Pope stutters.
"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down" Shoupe tells us.
"Oh" We all say in unison.
"Seen anything?" The Deputy asks us.
"No" JJ answers.
"No boats. No" Pope adds.
"Where's your friend you always hang with? He here?" Shoupe asks about John B.
"He's working" I tell the man.
"Hm. I'm gonna check your little boat out" Shoupe states.
"Yeah, hop aboard. You wanna check- Uh, check her out" Pope chirps.
"Thank you" Shoupe nods as he starts looking around the boat.
"Uh...You got another one of these?" He ask, holding up a life jacket.
"Yeah. Of course. It's, uh...it's in the hold" JJ tells him.
"Show him" Pope states.
The blonde walks over to Kiara who stands up, pulling out the spare life jacket, showing it to Deputy Shoupe.
"Yeah, here we go" JJ chirps.
"That fine?" I ask curiously.
"All right" Shoupe nods.
JJ puts the jacket away again and I cross my arms over my chest, standing between Kiara and Pope. Shoupe starts walking towards the front of the boat and I share a worried look with the Carrera girl.
"Be careful" JJ warns him.
"Yeah, be careful. You don't wanna slip" Pope reasons with the man.
Shoupe stares down into the water silently for what feels like hours and I silently pray to every god I can think of that he doesn't see John B in the water.
"All right" The man finally says, turning back to us.
"All right" JJ and Pope chirp in unison.
"Beautiful day" Shoupe comments as he makes his way back to his boat.
"Sure is" JJ nods.
"Very beautiful" Pope agrees.
"Let us know if you see anything on your way out" Shoupe states as the rope between the two boats is untied.
"Will do. Will do" Pope nods.
"We'll be gone soon, sir" JJ assures the officer.
"Yes, you will" He replies and I salute the man mockingly.
The police boat drives away and we all hang over the side of the boat to look for John B.
"He's definitely out of air" Pope says negatively.
"Way to be optimistic, Heyward" I retort.
The brunette Pogue abruptly emerges from the water and I sigh in relief, smiling at John B's happy expression.
"There he is!" JJ hollers.
"Oh, God! Jesus Christ, don't scare us like that!" Pope scolds him as we all laugh, happy that he's not dead.
"How'd it go down there? Did you find anything?" JJ asks the boy as he swims to the ladder.
"Did I find anything?" John B scoffs, throwing a black bag at JJ.
"Yeah, there we go! That's my boy!" JJ cheers, grabbing the bag.
"Jeez, dude" Pope laughs.
"You okay?" Kiara asks.
"Yeah, I ran out of air" John B replies.
"You had me worried, Booker" I tell the Routledge boy and he throws his arm around me with a laugh.
"Yeah, the cops were here, but, uh...took care of em" Pope explains.
"My bad" John B says.
"You're all good" Pope waves him off.
"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother" JJ declares.
"Hey, guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock" Kiara announces.
"What?" JJ snaps and I turn my head to see a boat heading towards us with two men inside.
"Do you recognise that boat?" Pope asks us.
"Definitely not" I answer him.
"What are they doing here? The marsh is closed" Kiara asks, worry laced in her voice.
"Bit of a hypocritical question, Kiara" I respond and she smiles at me sarcastically.
"I don't know. Let's not stick around and find out" JJ states.
"JJ, get the bowline" John B orders.
"Yeah" JJ nods, doing as he's told.
"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope asks.
"And do what, Pope? Have a tea party with them?" I ask sarcastically.
"No, we're not gonna wait on em. Go get the stern. Go!" John B huffs.
"Are you joking?" Kiara spits.
"JJ, will you hurry up?" I snap.
"Guys, don't wait for me. Go" JJ demands.
"Let's go!" Kiara hurries.
"I don't like the look of that" John B mutters.
"Extremely sketchy" I add in agreement.
"Are they coming for us?" JJ asks.
"Maybe they're fishing" Pope suggests.
"You're supposed to be the smart one" I reply.
"Go, go, go, go!" JJ rushes out as he finishes pulling up the anchor.
"Go into the marsh" Pope tells John B.
"Let's go!" Kiara snaps.
"I'm going! Act natural" John B snaps back.
"I won't if you keep snapping like that" I retort.
"Hey, guys, they're following us!" Kiara worries.
"This can't be good" Pope groans.
"Shit" I curse.
"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ shouts.
"I'm going! I'm going!" John B replies.
"Gun it!" JJ retorts.
Suddenly the sound of a gunshot rings through the air and I drop to the floor on instinct, pulling my little brother down with me.
"Holy shit!" Kiara shrieks.
"John B, get down!" JJ hollers, popping his head up to his best friend.
Another gunshot goes off and I yank the blonde boy down, giving him a scolding look.
"Oh, my God. We're gonna die" Pope states.
"Again with the optimism" I say sarcastically.
Multiple more gunshots go off before I hear someone moving. I look up to see Kiara desperately trying to untangle a fishing net and I realise what she's trying to do. I head towards the girl to try and help her.
"What the hell are you two doing?!" JJ demands but I ignore him, helping Kiara untangle the netting.
A gunshot echoes through the air and I flinch, grabbing Kiara at the same time she reaches out to grab me.
"Girls, get down!" John B barks.
"We got this, Booker!" I assure him, climbing over JJ to get to the back of the boat.
Another gunshot goes off as Kiara grabs the other end of the netting and we throw it into the water. I watch with a triumphant grin as the netting gets caught in their propellers and their boat comes to a stuttering stop.
"Eat shit, you assholes!" I scream, giving Kiara a high five.
We turn the corner as one last shot goes off, missing us completely and I throw up both my middle fingers with a smug smile.
"Oh, my God! Whoo!" JJ whoops.
"Whew!" Kiara sighs in relief.
"Booyeah! Pogue gods, man!" JJ hollers, lifting up his hand and I slap it with my own.
"That was so fun!" I laugh, wrapping my arms around the shaken up Heyward boy.
"That was insane!" Kiara counters.
☼ ☼ ☼
We reach the dock and I hop out first with Kiara. The boys rush onto the dock too and John B drops to the ground with the bag.
"What do you guys think it is?" Kiara asks us.
"Gotta be money or something, right?" John B answers.
"That or a couple keys with street value to the low- to mid-mils" JJ grins excitedly.
"Can we please just open the bag?!" Pope snaps.
All of our eyes widen and we turn to Pope in surprise.
"Wow, Pope. That's a rare outburst of emotion" John B coos.
"Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. So open the bag" Pope huffs.
"Jeez" JJ chuckles.
"We almost died over this" Pope states as John B opens the bag.
He pulls a smaller black bag out and opens that to reveal a silver metal canister. John B twists open the canister and tips the contents into his hand. A compass falls out and my smile falls into a confused frown.
"Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right. Good job, everybody. We found a compass" Pope snaps sarcastically.
John B stares at the compass intensely and I crouch down next to the boy, putting my hand on his shoulder.
"What's wrong, Booker?" I ask curiously.
"It's not worth anything" JJ adds.
"This was my father's" The brunette replies with a small smile on his face.