CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Bogey
‿︵‿︵‿︵
(PRESENT)
Kiara's words caught Avery's attention.
The blonde girl stood up straight, having had given John B a helping hand with taking off the scuba gear, and followed Kiara's eyeline to also spot the boat. It wasn't the police again, neither of the teenagers recognised it. Avery couldn't push away the feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach.
"I thought the marsh was closed" Avery spoke in a questioning tone, her eyebrows pinching together slightly.
"What are they doing here?" Kiara asked no one in particular.
"I don't know. Let's not stick around and find out" JJ replied, already moving towards the bowline. He glanced over at Avery and caught her eye for a moment before she looked back into the distance, watching the boat sail closer to them.
"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope dumbly queried.
"No," John B and Avery said in unison, both of them already seeing that whoever was driving the boat was most likely not up for a friendly conversation about the weather and fishing. The brunet sternly said, "we're not gonna wait on 'em. Go get the stern, go!"
"Are you joking?" Kiara pulled a face at the Heyward boy who obeyed and rushed over to the stern.
"JJ, please, hurry up" Avery almost whined, looking over to the boy pulling up the anchor that was holding the boat down. She scrunched up her nose and stepped up, reaching out for the rope to help him get it up quicker.
"Guys, don't wait for us" JJ called over his shoulder, fumbling with Avery.
A sigh of relief slipped out her mouth once she saw the hunk of mental rise from the water. JJ gently nudged her away to ensure that he wouldn't knock her while he picked it up and on board. She stepped back and listened to Pope's demand, acting as natural as she could, feeling the knot in her stomach tighten.
"Not to alarm anyone but they are following us!" Avery yelled over the loud rumbling of the boat's engine. John B had taken the controls and picked up the pace, hoping to create distance between them.
"Dude, you gotta go faster" JJ panicked, instinctively and blindly reaching out to find Avery who stood by him. His hand grasped hers and he tugged her closer to his body.
As John B steered the boat around a bend, Avery felt her feet slip from underneath her and squeezed JJ's hand. The action caused him to pull his hand from hers, briskly wrapping it around her waist while his other was wrapped around the mental frame, keeping them both from toppling.
Unfortunately the sudden change of direction wasn't enough to throw the followers off their tail, they steered with ease and Avery could have sworn that they were gaining more speed. Suddenly a gunshot ripped through the air, making the Pogue's flinch and immediately drop, ducking for safety.
"Johnny, get down!" Avery hesitated to duck. She rested a hand on her friend's bare shoulder, standing in a couched position, as he lowered his head and shoulders as much as he could while handling the controls.
"Aves!" JJ shouted shortly after and he tugged the girl's waist, making her knees buckle, and brought her into his side.
"Oh my, God! We are going to die!" Pope exclaimed, flinching as another shot aimed for them. Avery rolled her eyes at him but was thinking the same thing.
"Shit," Kiara hissed, rising from her hunched position against the side of the boat, "Pope, move"
"Kiara, stay down–" Avery paused, glancing up to see the curly haired girl picking up some netting.
Her lips parted as she realised what Kiara was planning, abruptly standing up, squealing as a gunshot fired, luckily it was distant and seemingly missed. JJ grunted in annoyance, failing to tighten his hold on his best friend. He stared at her with wide eyes, afraid to let his eyes leave her figure in case anything happened.
"Get down, Kie, Aves!" John B screamed. Another bullet fired and ricocheted off the mental pole in front of him, causing him to swerve his body away from it.
The blonde stumbled and pushed herself against the mental frame, regaining her balance and she accidentally kicked Pope as she started to move again. Avery joined by Kiara's side and took another side of the netting, both raising their arms yo throwing it out as far as they could. Once it hit the water, Avery grabbed onto Kiara and yanked her downwards, crouching at the back of the boat.
"Assholes!" Avery screamed, saluting her middle finger at the stalling boat. The net had successfully jammed them and distance was growing between the two boats.
The Pogue's shared relieved smiles and cheers. Kiara looked over at Avery, both slowly stood up straight, and offered a smile that was reciprocated before Avery's eyes blinked over to the obnoxious blond boy on the other side of the boat. She choked out a laugh at his beaming face, bringing his attention to her, he bit his lips as the smile on his face grew wider.
It wasn't long until they reached shore, docking the HSM Pogue outside of the Chateau. Avery was first to step off the boat, her hand loosely in JJ's as he followed in suit. They crowded around on the wooden shelter and watched John B drop the black bag, lowering himself as he fumbled to unzip it.
"What do you guys think it is?" Kiara questioned with a smile tugging at her lips. The adrenaline was still bubbling up inside her.
"It's gotta be money or something, right?" John B replied.
"That or a couple keys with street value to the low to mid-mils!" JJ's voice rose in pitch as excitement surged through him. Avery nodded quickly from besides him and crouched down to help John B open the bag.
"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope snapped impatiently, making the group halt and look towards him.
"Wow, Pope" John B breathed, fighting the smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"No need for the random outburst of emotion" Avery teased, smirking at the boy as he rolled his eyes.
"Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag," The boy waved his hands around and bent at his knees, standing on the other side of John B. "We almost died over this"
With frantic hands, John B dug out a long fabric sleeve. He was quick to undo the drawstring and revealed a silver canister. Avery frowned and titled her head, countless possibilities of what could be in it were circling her mind. She inched closer to John B as he twisted open the cap and tipped it, exposing a tarnishing, gold compass.
"Oh, wow. Yep, that's seems about right. Good job, everybody. We found a compass" Pope sarcastically remarked.
"Dude, what? It's not worth anything" JJ told John B once he noticed his friend staring at the compass in his palm. Avery glanced up at him briefly before back at John B, titling her head slightly as she studied his face.
"This was my father's" John B whispered, a chuckle softly slipped through his parted lips.
AUTHORS NOTE!
seeing kiara and avery slowly come back together makes me so happy. it's gonna take a lot of time but they will be besties again soon, i promise!!