The next morning, I woke up around 9 o'clock to the power being out and the cell towers being down. This kind of living wasn't something I was used to, so I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't want to be home with my dad, so the only other thing there was for me to do was to leave. I was planning on walking around the island like I had been doing the past couple days. I was hoping I'd run into someone over the course of the past couple days, specifically Rafe.
I couldn't get him out of my damn mind.
I prepared myself for the day in my bedroom, thinking about him the whole time. I wanted to dress appropriately in case I were to see him for whatever reason, so I put on a bikini underneath my black tube top and shorts in case I were to end up at the beach. I made sure I had everything I would need in my backpack before slipping the straps over my shoulders.
I exited my room before heading down the stairs, hearing my dad in the kitchen. I prayed that I could make it out of the house without him noticing, but I didn't pray soon enough.
"Where do you think you're going?" I heard his low voice come from the kitchen, which was behind the foyer. I immediately stopped in my steps and cursed to myself.
"I'm uh, I'm just going to the beach." I told him, which wasn't a complete lie. I was sure of ending up there at some point in my day.
"And why would you be doing that?" My dad asked me and I heard footsteps coming up from behind me.
I slowly turned around to see my dad walking up to me. "There's nothing else to do." I shrugged, trying not to seem intimidated.
"There's nothing else to do?" He questioned me. "Have you seen the damage and debris that are outside? Who do you think's gonna clean all of that up?"
I looked up at him, furrowing my eyebrows. "Do you expect me to clean it up?" I asked him, puzzled at what the debris outside had to do with me.
"After all I've done for you, I would expect you to at least help me clean it up. Is that too much to ask?" He spat at me, raising his voice.
I felt an anger grow inside of me, my body heating up at his tone. He made me so angry. He was off his rocker if he thought that I'd actually help him clean up. I couldn't stand to be in the same room as him, and he couldn't stand to be in the same room as me, what made him think I'd willingly help him?
"I'll be back." I seethed as I now turned around and headed for the front door.
"Don't you dare walk out that door!" He yelled at me as I opened the door. I looked back at him as I walked out the door. I closed the door behind me, my dad still watching. "If you step foot off this property, you're done!" I heard him yell as I continued to walk down to the street. I stopped walking as I approached the end of the property. I looked behind me to see my dad standing on the porch, his arms crossed as he watched me. I smirked as I stepped off the lawn and into the street. "Damnit, Scarlett!" My dad yelled and I laughed to myself, shaking my head as I now began to walk down the street.
What was he going to do? Beat me when I got home? It wasn't anything I wasn't used to.
Now that I made it out of my house, I didn't know where to go. Though it was approaching late morning, people were already outside getting to work as they cut down trees and blew debris off of their property with blowers. I assumed everyone would be too busy cleaning up, so the beach would have to be empty. I decided on going there for the day.
As I walked down the street, I realized I was walking past Kiara's house. I remembered it from last night because John B had dropped her off before dropping me off at home.
"Scar?" I heard and looked up to see Kiara on her porch, looking out to me. I realized I was stopped in my tracks, staring at her house when she saw me. "What's up?" She asked me as she came down the few steps and down the walkway before meeting me at the end of the driveway.
"Just, walking around." I shrugged, not knowing what to tell her.
"Yeah, it's so crazy to see all the damage after a hurricane like that one." She lightly laughed as she looked around the property that her parents' white house sat on. "How did your house hold up?" She asked me as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Oh, you know," I chuckled. "Same as everybody else. No power, branches and shit everywhere." I told her, though I didn't even bother to check out the damage done to my house.
"Ugh, tell me about it." Kiara agreed. "Hey, uh, the boys are picking me up soon. We're gonna go fishing, care to join us?"
I raised my eyebrows, not expecting her to ask me to hang out with them. "Really?" I asked her and she eagerly nodded as she smiled. "Sure." I now smiled.
"Awesome." She grinned. "C'mon, they'll be here any second." She told me as she waved for me to follow her and we began to walk to the back of her house. I was confused as to why we were walking towards her backyard if they were picking her up soon.
She went up onto her porch and put her backpack on before grabbing a small red cooler. I followed her to the backyard and as we were walking down the long dock out to the bay, and center console boat pulled up with the three boys in it, John B driving, Pope sitting on the bow, and JJ standing on the port side of the boat.
"Top of the mornin' to ya," JJ called out as Kiara and I approached the end of the dock.
"Mornin' boys," Kiara greeted them as we began to walk down the ramp to the loading dock.
"Joinin' our fishing trip?" JJ asked me as he helped Kiara into the boat before helping me.
"Yeah," I nodded. "I hope that's okay." I sent JJ a smile which resulted in him smiling. I went and stood next to John B since that was the only open spot on the boat.
"Hope you don't mind the HMS Pogue," John B chuckled as he pulled away from the dock. "I know she's no yacht, but she still runs." He said, referring to his boat.
I looked around the small vessel, seeming impressed with the condition it was in, considering a bunch of teenagers used it. Plus, something was better than nothing. I'd love to have a boat.
"She gets the job done, don't she?" I smiled at John B, to which he smiled back, nodding his head in agreement.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned my head to see JJ handing me a beer. I gladly took it from him, all of us tapping our beers together and cheering.
It was amazing how I knew these people for less than a day and they already made me forget my worries. With them, I felt like a normal teenager, sneaking around, drinking beers from the back of one of our parents' fridge. This was everything I needed and more.
"Let me show y'all a party trick." JJ said as he now stood on the bow of the boat. "Hey Pope, can you go a little faster please?"
Pope was now driving the boat and JJ asked him to accelerate as we drove through the marsh.
"Oh God, here we go, I'm moving." John B said as he walked towards the back of the boat. "It doesn't work, we've tried this like 6,000 times." He said as he took a seat.
"I got this, it's gonna work." JJ said as he held out his beer bottle, trying to get the alcohol in his mouth without drinking it. He was making me so nervous.
"JJ, please be careful." I laughed as he stood freely on top of the boat.
Beer was splashing us as it flew out of the bottle in front of JJ. It was getting everywhere.
"Alright," Both John B and Pope said in unison. "Alright, you're done, stop."
As I shook my head laughing, we came to an immediate halt, all of us flying forward. Because I was standing, I flew to the floor on the front of the boat, hitting my head.
"Shit," I mumbled to myself as I held my head.
"Jesus, Pope," Kiara said sounding fed up, though I couldn't imagine him doing something like this on purpose. He seemed just as surprised as we were.
We all groaned in pain, trying to gather ourselves back together.
"Ah," I heard John B. "Kie, Scar, you guys okay?"
"Never better." I heard Kiara.
"I'm okay." I grunted in pain as I tried to sit up.
"The channel changed. We must've hit a sandbar." Pope said and I looked up to see everyone except JJ.
"Where's JJ?" I asked as I now sat up.
John B and Pope got up as well and I saw JJ float to the surface of the water in front of the boat.
"I think my heels touched the back of my neck." JJ said softly, almost coughing.
I sighed in relief that JJ wasn't unconscious and under water.
"Guys," Pope said as he now stood on the bow of the boat. "I think there's a boat down there."
"What?" John B asked in confusion.
"No way," Kiara said as she stood up.
"Guys, I'm serious. There's a boat down there." Pope pointed to the water.
We all stood on the bow overlooking the water, looking at a sunken boat about forty feet under water.
"Holy shit," I breathed.
We all looked at the water below us in amazement. We now looked at each other and I was wondering what they were thinking.
John B now took his shirt off before tossing it behind him. "Let's go check it out." He shrugged before diving into the water.
I looked over at Pope and Kie to see if they were on board with John B. Kiara took off her shorts since she already removed her t-shirt when we first got on the boat. She was now just in her bikini and I followed her actions, stripping myself down to my black swimsuit before diving in after her. I felt so anxious diving that deep to check out a sunken ship, but I was just as curious as them to explore it.
So much for having a quiet beach day to myself.
*****
a/n:
hey guyss. sorry rafe isn't really in this chapter, and he really be present in the next chapter, but it's just to get a feel for scar's life. after the next chapter is when shit goes down so get ready
i hope yall liked this chapter
see y'all on wednesday<3