"This is empty. You took empty tanks? I...." Kie voices as she sits towards the front of the boat with John B right next to her, a disappointed look present on his face.
"This one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us" she adds looking at the group.
Pope's sitting on the captain's seat with his feet on the ledge as my head is on JJ's lap while he plays with her hair.
"Love it when a plan comes together" Pope snickers looking annoyed fixing his baseball cap.
"Does anyone know how to dive?" Kie asks the group curiously.
But recieves a bunch of 'no's' from her best friends.
"It's kind of a Kook sport," JJ says whilst pulling his black sunglasses onto the tip of his nose. Kie just scoffs at his comment.
"So much help, thanks JJ" she sneers at the boy who just shrugs his shoulders.
"I....read about" Pope admits sheepishly.
"Great, Pope read about it," Kie says dripping with sarcasm.
"So, someone's gonna die," I say sitting up from JJ's lap and sitting up next to him with our thighs touching.
"Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ muses as he stands up from the back of the boat and moves beside Pope leaning against the pole.
"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," Pope says very matter-of-factly to JJ's confused face.
"Bends like, bend over and...." JJ arches his back and sticks out his ass still holding the pole. I laugh at the sight of the boy.
"The bends will kill you" Pope deadpans and immediately JJ straightens his back with an embarrassed look on his face causing me to giggle more.
"I could dive" I change the topic figuring that someone needs to go down and I may as well do it, what have I got to lose?
"Like hell, you will" JJ snickers shooting down the idea immediately. I narrow my eyes at the boy to ask what his problem is.
"Why not" I huff.
"I can...I can dive" John B says standing up and moving towards the scuba gear.
"You can dive. I'm cool with that" JJ instantly agrees with his best friend.
Kie shakes her head doubting the boy's idea. "Since when can you dive?"
"I'll do it. It's fine" John B tries to ease Kie's nerves. JJ makes his way over to me and throws his arms around my shoulders from behind bear essentially bear hugging me. I start playing with his fingers, running my fingers over his many rings whilst Kie and Pope run through calculations with John B.
"That boat's about 30 feet down. Okay?" Pope pulls out a random piece of paper and writes calculations down "So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth."
"Twenty-five" John B nods along trying to keep up.
"Which means you need to make your safety stop at about...ten feet"
"All right? for two minutes" Pope adds.
"Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it" John B nods again feeling more confident.
Kie throws off her top and jumps in the water without a word. I unwrapped JJ's arms from my body and I remove my shorts as I'm only wearing my bikini and shorts.
I feel JJ's eye rake my body up and down but don't pay him any attention as I dive into the water after Kie knowing what she's planning on doing.
I dive into the water and after a few seconds I break to the surface feeling refreshed.
"I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down" Kie informs the boys once she'd swam back to the surface.
"It's where you need to do your safety drop" I add as I swim around enjoying the water before paddling back towards the boat.
"Cool" John B nods his head understanding their directions.
"Keep an eye on this. You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress" Pope instructs as he listens.
"Okay, how much do I need?"
"Unclear"
"Breathe as little as possible"I say smiling sweetly up at John B.
"Zen. think Zen, you know?" JJ adds helping get the cuba gear ready. "Yeah. Got it" he breaths out.
Once back on the boat I waltz over to JJ to snatch the cap from his hand and place it backwards on my head.
"Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so...better get a move on" Pope informs the group. I watch Kie walk up to John B right as he's about to put the mask over his face. "Copy that"
My eyebrows raise as Kie places a gentle kiss on John B's cheek slightly turning her head from side to side.
"Diver down?" she asks looking up at the boy.
"Diver down," he says shocked at her action but recovers quickly.
"See ya" I wave just as the boy plops down into the water sending us a salute before completely submerging into the water.
I sit down beside JJ on the seat towards the back of the boat. "Love the bikini cupcake," JJ says as his eyes involuntary scoped my whole body spending extra time on my shiny belly button piercing as he flicks it with his finger.
"I saw that. You just checked me out" I say very matter-of-factly as he simply grins at me.
"So what if I did" he shrugs sending me the sweetest smile he can muster.
"Pervert" I laugh sticking her tongue out.
"Wha-"
Our conversation is cut short due to the police sirens coming from a boat moving towards us.
"Shit" JJ mutters under his breath.
"Guys, that's the police" Pope's voice sounds frantic.
"You gotta be kidding me" I roll my eyes, "Why do they have to ruin my fun" I groan annoyingly.
JJ tosses me the shirt he'd been wearing early before he stripped it off knowing I'd want to cover up when the police arrive.
"Thanks, J" I lift my arms throwing the t-shirt on that stops at my mid-thigh.
"Okay, yep that's the police," JJ says just as their boat arrives at the HMS pogue.
"Act frickin' normal," Kie says flicking her hair out of her face.
"Evening officers!" I yell out waving to the boat consisting of two officers.
"Evening" the male officer greets me back.
"JJ, tie it off" Pope signals.
"How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?"
We let out a string of 'No's' acting dumb in front of the officer.
"Sorry, sir I had no idea" I flash my signature smile to the officer hoping he wouldn't realize how fake it is.
"I didn't know that. Why...why is it closed" Pope stutters out knowing he's a terrible terrible liar.
"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down" he explains to us as we all grow anxious about our friend in the water.
"Oh" I say.
"Seen anything?"
JJ swiftly shakes his head, "No.. No boats. No" he answers the waiting officer.
"Where's your friend you always hang with? He here?" the officer uses his finger to push his sunglasses further to his eyes.
"He's working" I answer moving closer to the edge of the boat trying not to advert the officers to the water.
"Hm. I'm gonna check your little boat out"
I grow more and more anxious wondering how John B is doing, he would be running out air right about now. The fact didn't help my racing heart rate.
"Yeah" JJ nods.
"Yeah uh, hop aboard," Pope says as the officer begins to wander around the boat inspecting a few things.
"Uh..you got another one?" The officer asks pointing towards a lifejacket.
"Yeah yeah of course. It's uh...it's in the hold" Pope points towards the storage compartment of the boat. "Yeah. Show him JJ". He does exactly as asked showing the officer the spare lifejacket.
He gives a stern nod realizing we're complying with all necessary laws and legislations.
"Beautiful day" the deputy looks up towards the sun as I start tapping my foot anxiously. I'm ticking down the seconds in my head, John B could be dying at this stage for all we know.
"Sure is" JJ sings nodding his head.
"Very warm" I smile.
"Let us know if you see anything on your way out". My breath stop as the sheriff looks down to the water exactly where John B would be.
"Will do. Will do" JJ answers the man.
"We'll be gone very soon officer" Kie adds.
"Yes, you will," the man says before stepping off our boat onto his own and beginning to drive away from the teenagers.
"Oh my god," I immediately throw my head over the boat glancing down in the water.
"He's definitely out of air!" Pope says as the others walk over the side I'm on. "Fuck John B" I mumble as JJ grabs my hand taking it in his own trying to calm me down.
"There he is! Oh, God! Jesus Christ!" JJ exclaims as John B's head frantically pops out from under the water. I let out a deep breath I didn't realize I was holding.
"Don't scare us like that!" Kie places her hand on her heart as John B makes his way over to the boat.
"Did you find anything?" Pope asks.
"Did I find anything?" John B says with a scoff throwing up a black duffel bag onto the boat as he pulls himself up as well.
My face grows into a wide smile. "Yeah, there we go! That's my boy!" JJ fist-bumps his best friend.
"You okay?" Kie asks concerned for the boy dripping wet and trying to catch his breath.
"Yeah, I ran out of air" he gives her a sturdy nod of his head.
"You scared the shit out of me" Kie scoffs.
"The cops interrupted our fun" I roll my eyes with a frown present on my face.
"You kinda missed the show, brother" JJ throws his arm on John B's shoulder with a grin
"Hey, guys?"
"Guys, bogey, two o'clock".