CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Diver down
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(PRESENT)
The group somehow still hadn't learned to never listen to JJ and his ideas.
Avery was reluctant to disobey Peterkins wishes. After all the woman went through to clear her name, it felt wrong of her to go against her, even for John B and this hunt. For some reason, that she still is questioning, she caved and joined in with the plan to dive down to search the wreck again.
Although, of course, something was bound to go wrong. John B had stolen tanks from his rich, Kook boss, only to find out that they were empty. They were left with one tank with only a quarter of air which was barely enough for one person. Pope and Avery spent the last five minutes poking at John B for the mistake, throwing witty comments at him with every chance they got, making each other snicker and high-five behind the other's backs.
"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kiara asked. She honestly wasn't expecting a helpful answer, looking around at her friends. "Anybody?"
"It's kind of a Kook sport–"
"–Kookiest thing ever" Avery and JJ spoke in unison. Blue met green and their lips split into a smile. Avery gave hin a wink before looking back at Kiara who sighed, missing the bashful smile stretching across JJ's face.
"I read about it" Pope admitted, not sounding overly confident.
"Great, Pope read about it so, someone's gonna die" Kiara snarkily replied, shrugging her shoulders. The boy fought the urge to roll his eyes at her.
"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ looked at Pope for reassurance.
"Well, if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood and you get the bends" Pope stated. Avery nodded along to what he was saying, remembering the article she had forwarded to him once because of a debate they were having.
"The bends, like," JJ deadpanned, bending at the hips. "Bend over and–"
"The bends kill you" Avery had to resist the urge to crack a smile at his stupid position. She teasingly reached over and smacked his backside, making him laugh with her.
"I can dive" John B said, making the two girls look at him like he was crazy. JJ mumbled under his breathe and agreed, slightly disturbed by the fact he had just learned and wasn't willing to find out any more.
While Pope started to scribble down calculations and Kiara scolded John B for going through with it, acting like he wouldn't have a serious consequence to face if the slightest thing was to go wrong, Avery stood up from her seated position on the side of the boat and walked to the other side. She listened to Pope's workings out, telling John B that it would take twenty five minutes to get to the correct depth and that his safety stop should be at ten feet.
JJ's blue eyes blinked up, noticing Avery lift her arms up and tug off the old tee, that once was his before she stole it and cut it to crop, over her head. Underneath she wore a navy blue two piece, showing off her glistening, tanned skin, and making her sun kissed blonde hair seem lighter than usual. His eyebrows pinched together as he watched her drop into the water and disappear under the surface.
"What was that all about?" Pope questioned, staring at the rippling water.
"I don't know but I liked it. A lot" JJ subconsciously said. As soon as he caught John B's smirk and Kiara's narrowing glare, he awkwardly cleared his throat. "Uh, so, 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?"
Emerging from the depth, Avery's head bopped up and out of the water. Her hair was now soaked, slicked back and vision was blurry, making her blink rapidly. She gently swam back towards the boat and regained her breath. Kiara noticed her approaching and shuffled around to meet her by the ladder.
"So, I tied my tshirt about ten feet down. That's where you need to take your safety spot" She called up to John B, who was getting dressed into the gear and listening to Pope's instructions. He briefly looked her way and gave her a smile, curtly nodding to let her know that he heard and understood.
"Better get a move on" Pope told him.
"Copy that" John B replied, his eyes meeting Kiara's as she stepped towards him. The girl quickly leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek, dazing him for a second. "Diver down?"
"Diver down" Kiara smiled tightly, although it hid her nerves. John B glanced at the crew, cracking a smile at Avery as she saluted at him before pulling the mask down and dropped into the water.
A few minutes had dragged by since John B dived down. Avery sat by the edge of the boat, staring down at the ripples as she tried to squint to see any sign of her friend. Her clammy hands were resting on the side and her heart was in her throat, she felt like she was drowning in nerves. This was risky and could easily go wrong, she didn't want anything to happen.
Unfortunately for her, Avery almost cursed when Pope and JJ spotted a boat approaching. The blond boy confirmed it was the police. A faint siren shortly bleeped as the boat sailed closer, revealing two officers aboard. Kiara quietly demanded them to act normal which caused Avery to shift her position, rolling her tense shoulders and pulling the shades, that were actually John B's, down over her eyes.
Once the officers were closer enough, they exchanged greetings and tied off their boat. Officer Shoupe pulled off his sunglasses, his eyes flickering between the teenagers. However, they lingered on Avery a little longer.
"How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?" He spoke up.
Avery avoided his gaze, still adjusting to being back and facing the public again. She had done a good job at it so far, taking backroads and wiggling herself out of every conversation that wasn't with her friends.
The group acted dumb, shaking their heads and pretending that hadn't been told that the marsh was closed, and they had strictly told to stay out of it. Pope frowned and asked why it was closed.
"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down," Shoupe explained to them, "seen anything?"
Again, they played innocent and shook their heads, telling him they hadn't. Avery couldn't help her eyes drift down to the still waters. Shoupe noticed, asking where John B was but Kiara was the one to answer, saying that he was working. This caused Avery's eyes to blink back up, offering Shoupe a smile as she nodded in agreement as to what Kiara said.
"Imma check your little boat out" The deputy said, already stepping onto their boat before either of them could respond.
They mumbled and moved around, giving him space to check it out. Avery stood up and shuffled closer to JJ. She stayed quiet and watched Shoupe mooch around the boat, questioning if they had another life jacket. Kiara stood up from her seated spot and told JJ to show him the other in the hatch.
Just before Shoupe finally stepped off and back onto his boat, he turned around and carefully walked across the side of the HSM Pogue. He stood at the stern of the boat and placed his glasses back on his face, peering down at the water below. The teenagers stole glances at each other.
An arm wrapped around her shoulders. She immediately knew it was JJ and sighed quietly, frowning slightly as she observed the deputy. She was internally hoping that he wasn't growing suspicious, and definitely was hoping that John B wouldn't resurface at this moment. Her mind then realised that his air would be blinking low anytime soon, if not already.
"Alright. A beautiful day, isn't it?" Shoupe finally voiced and turned around, making his way back to his boat. "You let us know if you see anything on your way out"
Avery let out a huff, her lips vibrating as the officers sailed away. The four were quick to hover over the edge as soon as the police boat was drifting out of sight. A long second passed, the water bubbled and the surface broke as John B's head floated up. Avery let out an airy laugh, her neves melted away at the sight of her friend.
"Don't do that ever again!" Avery scolded, rested her head in her hands.
Lifting her head back up, she saw John B bobbing over to the ladder with a smile plastered on his lips as he pulled up a large black bag and plonked it at JJ's feet. Her lips parted and tugged into a wider smile, a cheer escaping.
AUTHORS NOTE!
i feel like the next few chapters are gonna be a little hit or miss due to things building up. i'm rewriting a few things bc i doubted the future chapters and couldn't help myself. but so far, so good :)