PILOT;
part three
AFTER COLLECTING KIARA FROM THE end of her wooden dock, the group of Pogues decided to drive through their usual route in the middle of the empty marsh, surveying the damage Hurricane Agatha had implemented on the island from the night beforehand.
"Oh my god, JJ's doing it again," Renna scoffed as her and Atticus travelled behind the boat on the girl's jet-ski peacefully. JJ had climbed onto the bow of the small boat with a beer in his hand, holding it out in the atmosphere in front of him as he tried to angle the pouring liquid into his open mouth. He failed drastically, the only thing the alcoholic drink hitting being the floor and Kiara's curled hair.
"I can do that," Atticus joked from behind Renna. The girl - laughing, smiling, and thinking everything was fine - looked back at the boy with a grin as he morphed his fingers into the shape of a bottle. He held his hand up whilst shaking his face side to side, imitating the boy on the tip of the boat in front of them from only moments ago.
In the time that Renna had spared a glance back, the H.M.S. Pogue had lurched to a halt. Atticus' eyes widened as he went to grab the handles from behind the girl, Renna whipping around just before him to do the exact same. They were going to hit the boat, but Renna's quick thinking stopped it before it happened.
She harshly tilted the handles to the side, swerving the jet-ski away from the floating boat before them after JJ had flown off the front of it. The sudden jerk resulted in the pair tumbling off the side of the pink vehicle, swimming to the surface to break with gasps for air.
"You okay, Ren?" Atticus asked once he'd broken the water's edge, the girl hurriedly pushing her hair out of her face to look at the boy in the eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" She replied, lightly kicking her legs in the cold, murky water.
"Yeah, I'm good," he confirmed before his sight moved up to the stern of the boat. John B was leaning over the side, staring down at the drenched duo worriedly.
"You guys good?" He asked with furrowed brows, squinting his eyes to escape the beaming sunlight.
"Yeah, we're fine. What happened?" Atticus asked as he shared a look with Renna. She started to swim back towards her lonely jet-ski.
"Yeah, Pope. What happened?" John B questioned as he turned around to stare at the boy.
"Sandbar. The channel changed," he answered with a hand above his eyes, stepping onto the bow of the boat to peer into the foggy water.
"Oh, really?" Atticus replied sarcastically as his face scrunched up into a teasing expression, causing a laugh to bubble up Renna's throat. She climbed up the jet-ski with ease before looking down at one of her knuckles. It was covered in blood.
"That looks gnarly, dude," John B observed from the boat with a nod in her direction, catching Atticus' attention from the water.
"Shit, Ren. What happened? You said you were okay." He started to swim over to the floating, pink vehicle with the girl on top of it, worry flickering within his emerald irises as he swam. She spun around to press her back against the handles, shaking her stinging hand beside her to try and relieve the pain.
"I am. It's nothing, Atticus, don't worry," she tried, but he wasn't having any of it. He clambered back onto the jet-ski, his knees softly colliding with hers, as he held out his two pale hands.
"Show me." He gently pulled her fingers towards him, taking in the red scratches that lathered her bloody knuckle.
"It's fine, barely even bleeding. See," she pushed before pulling her hand away from his and squeezing it into a tight ball. She sent him a reassuring smile, meeting his deadpan expression with her light one before he let out a sigh. They couldn't continue their conversation - however - because of Pope's newfound obstacle. They hadn't really hit a sandbar.
"Guys, I think there's a boat down there," he interrupted the group from their mumbles of complaints or their one on one conversations. A collection of disbelieving statements were shared as Renna, Atticus and John B sent each other worried yet confused glances. "No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's like a boat down there, for real."
"Holy shit, he's right. Let's go," Kiara muttered after her and John B had peered into the water beside Pope with sparks of interest. The girl turned towards the back of the boat, hurriedly gesturing to the two Pogues on the jet-ski to make their way into the murky water. It wasn't long before the dark-haired girl had disappeared into the water herself.
Atticus looked back at Renna with a grin, playfully saluting her before spinning in his seat and diving off the back of the small vehicle. "What the hell," Renna muttered to herself as she glanced around the seemingly empty area before following suit herself. They swam down to the bottom, collectively sharing gazes from under the marsh water as they surveyed the sunken boat. It wasn't long before they ran out of breath, the Pogues quickly swimming back up to the surface to get their needed oxygen.
"You guys saw that, right?" JJ gasped excitedly after the group had broken the surface.
"Yeah," Pope agreed as he gasped for air. Atticus and Renna looked at each other with huge grins before expanding their sight and laughing along with the rest of their friends.
"That's a Grady-White. A new one of those is like five-hundred G's, easy," JJ commented as they began swimming to the boat, all but the two who'd travelled on the flamboyant jet-ski.
"Then what's it doing out here?" Atticus asked with a mixture of concern and confusion, Renna gulping before averting her gaze from the worried boy to the boat floating just before them.
"That's the question," Pope agreed with a point and a nod in the boy's direction.
"That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge. Maybe it hit the jetty or something?" John B suggested as he wiped his eyes clean of the dirty water.
"You surfed the surge?" Kiara asked, none of the boys on the boat picking up on the disappointment evident in her low tone.
"That's my boy. Pogue style, man," JJ congratulated before shaking the boy's hand.
"What the heck?" Kiara asked into the thin air, her voice getting carried away as the others turned to the duo in the water.
"And you didn't get me? I live next door, dude," Atticus argued with his hands thrown into the air, fingers wide as he displayed his disbelief and annoyance to the Routledge boy on the boat.
"Don't be stupid, Atticus," Renna scolded with troubled eyes, trying to hide the fact that she was struggling to hold herself up in the water.
"And? Everything we do is stupid," he shrugged with a toying smirk. She glanced up at Kiara and shook her head, the two girls rolling their eyes at the boys' strange antics.
"Exactly, which is why you need to go back down there and check it out," John B slyly added with a grin, staring down at Atticus as he bobbed in the almost unmoving water.
"Why can't you do it JB?" Atticus retorted with furrowed brows, pushing his hair back with a teasing grin.
"You're in the water," the boy shrugged smartly.
"Pussy," Atticus joked with a grin. The two boys - and the other girl in the water - didn't notice Kiara's annoyed glare between the pair. The reason Renna didn't see it was because she'd been too busy focusing on something else - with a last gulp of air, she disappeared into the murky, marsh water.
Atticus turned his head to look at her, opening his mouth to utter a few words in her direction, but to his disbelief, she wasn't there. "Where'd she go?" He asked worriedly, twirling around in the water with raised brows as he searched for the blonde-haired girl.
"To check out the boat. You were too slow," JJ laughed, only stopping once Kiara had manoeuvred her way towards him just to smack him across the shoulder. Whilst the blond was distracted, Atticus broke out into an almost prideful smile before swimming down to the white boat as well.
Once Atticus had managed to swim down to the sunken boat, Renna was already pushing herself back out. With a hand over her chest, she lurched back at the sudden sight of the boy, lightly punching him in the shoulder before kicking her way back up. Atticus had to stop himself from opening his mouth underwater to let out a laugh, before following after the blonde.
"Oh my god that took forever!" Kiara droned as Atticus broke the surface, immediately pulling his hands towards Renna's waist to help keep her upright.
"Find anything?" Pope questioned.
"Looting potential?" JJ asked from beside him.
"No, no," Renna declined before letting out a frustrated groan upon Atticus shaking his head like a dog, getting as much water out of his dark hair as he could. "I found this, though." Renna held the key up proudly, chucking it up to John B's open palms.
"A key?" Pope deadpanned as he looked at the two in the water, JJ and Kiara being too distracted by the object in their friend's hands to notice Pope's glare towards the pair.
"What? Is that not enough for you, Pope?" Atticus questioned harshly as he sent the boy his own threatening glare. Pope immediately retreated, backing away from the edge of the boat with his hands up in surrender. Renna, who didn't really pay attention to the boy's testosterone-filled fight, turned around in Atticus' grip to ruffle his hair, furrowing her brows as she tried to part it like he usually did. She tried to ignore the grin that was painted across the boy's lips as her fingers fiddled with his drenched hair, but her cheeks lit up nonetheless.
"We should report the wreck to the coast guard. We might get a finder's fee," Kiara suggested as she took her seat at the stern of the boat.
"Yeah, and not work all summer. Thanks, Agatha, ya batch," JJ added with a grin, flipping his middle fingers into the air as he glared into the sun. Renna groaned as she laid back in the water, floating away from Atticus as her body faced the sun.
"The water's so nice, though," she reasoned as she peacefully closed her eyes.
"Then we'll leave you here. Coming, bro?" JJ stated with a grin, turning away from the beaming star to look down at the duo in the water.
"Nah, man. We'll catch up with you later, all right?" Atticus said after quickly glancing in Renna's direction, watching the girl drift further and further away from him and the boat.
"I see you. Don't think you're all sneaky and shit," JJ teased as he bent down on his knees, looking down into the water at Atticus as his skin pressed against the cold edge of the boat.
"Don't run over the jet-ski on your way out!" Renna shouted from her relaxed state floating away in the water.
"Whatever you say, boss!" John B shouted back to her with a strong salute in her direction. She didn't see it, though, but threw a thumb up into the air anyway.
"Have fun, guys. But not too much fun," JJ joked before standing up from his kneeling position and jumping back into the main part of the H.M.S Pogue. The blond laughed to himself as he heard Atticus scoff from behind him, snickering as he pushed past Kiara and Pope.
"We're in the middle of the marsh, J."