The next, wonderful morning, I find myself in someone else’s room, wearing someone else’s clothes. A boy’s clothes. I sit up quickly, ignoring the ringing in my ears. The bathroom door opens and Dean walks out in his towel.
“Oh,” he says, adjusting his towel, “morning, Gwen.”
Instantly, I relax. My shoulders fall forward as the tension leaves. I should’ve recognized the room. Maybe everything was still affecting me; too many memories at once?
Dean interrupts my explanation, “I covered for you. Told your mom you were at Sarah’s.”
I nod a little. “Thanks.”
He smiles and I’m reminded of the past. Before we were given orders to date. When we had been best friends and I had been close enough to be trusted with the news that he’s a gay: another reason the fact that he had been grinding on those women - don't try to take them from me when you're into men only. Before Dean let his title get to him. He tosses me one of my spare shirts and shorts. “But I know your mom. She might come looking for you.”
“Thank you regardless,” I tell him.
. the cool kids .
They’d be by the docks, I think to myself, answering my own question of where the Pogues are. I’m not entirely sure why this case interests me so much but God, it interests me a lot. I don’t care about what could happen to me - I just want answers.
“Watch where you’re going,” a gruff voice tells me.
I frown to myself, noticing that his food is sticking out like he had tripped me on purpose. “Don’t stand like that, then. If either of us is at fault, it’s you.”
He straightens himself, staring down at me even though I’m not even that short. And I realize where I’ve seen him before. It’s the man with the beard that doesn’t work with his features. I look over to the guys next to him: the bald guy and the beer-belly one. The red flags that had to have noticed the fact that I keep in touch with the Pogues.
“You wanna say that again, Gwen Turner,” the bald one says.
I tilt my head, keeping my expression neutral. “If any of us are at fault, it’s one of you.” She has this terrible feeling that she’s not just talking about her tripping on their foot. That horrible, crushing feeling is the same one she had that night. Something about these men isn’t right. “Good bye, boys.”
As I continue walking, I see him. The back of the man they had been following on the boat. I could get him to turn around. I can catch his features if I keep walking. But it seems like he knows when I’m close to seeing his face because he turns back to the men waiting for him when I get too close. And I’m forced to keep going to find the Pogues, not glancing back so they don’t get suspicious.
“What did they get into?” I mutter the question to myself. Could it be like Jake? And Tasha? Could this all actually be connected? The back of the man’s head… it looks familiar. His build… it looks so goddamn familiar.
. the cool kids .
My run-in with the familiar boys haunts me as I go through the marsh, looking for the Pogue’s small boat, avoiding the sandbars as best as I can. I honestly start to believe that they’re not out there until I see it, quickly going toward them. Kiara’s glare is set on me; Pope tries to play everything off with a wave; JJ scratches the back of his neck while Taylor nudges him; but John B is missing completely.
I pull up next to them and ask, “You good if I board?”
Kiara instantly says no but Pope says yes, earning a glare from her. Taylor moves a second later, helping me tie my boat to theirs before JJ offers me his hand. “Or,” Kiara says sourly, “sure, why not?”
“Thank you,” I reply sweetly and sarcastically.
“How’d you know we were out here?” JJ asks.
I frown at him. “You obviously knew something about the Grady White and Scooter so I decided to look for you, hoping - and obviously correct - that you knew exactly where it was.”
“Why are you so curious?” Kiara demands.
“Simple really: Lana came to Sarah’s house the morning they found Scooter’s body and was clearly worried. She kept asking Sarah about him and if he had gone somewhere and Ward just kept saying that he was fine. But then Scooter’s found dead. And you knew about it.”
Taylor corrects me, “We didn’t know about Scooter. Just the boat.”
“They add up together,” I point out. She nods and grins a little when Kiara rolls her eyes. “I just want to know what’s going on.” And I want to know if my brother was somehow involved in this too. I breathe out, glancing around. “Where’s John B?”
“Home,” JJ answers.
“Bullshit,” I reply. I look over the edge of the boat. “He’s down there. I’m guessing that’s where the Grady White is.” Everyone is quiet. “I’ll take that as a yes.” I glance at the scuba gear on the floor of the boat. “Wait a minute. Do any of you even know how to dive?”
“Not even Kie,” Taylor states.
I can feel my eyes widen. “How much air does he have?”
“A quarter of a tank,” Pope answers.
“And how far down is the boat?” I ask, thinking about the fact that I can barely see the shadow of the damn thing. That’s pretty far down. “You know what? It’s too deep for someone with no diving experience. Do you think you can get him back up here?”
“How would that help?” Kiara demands.
I glare at her. “I can get you more air. I can dive. There are so many things that I can help with just in this situation.” Kiara leans back with a roll of her eyes.
JJ leans forward. “You would do that?”
“I want in,” I answer.
“Hell no,” Kiara says.
“I’ll even pretend to get along with you,” I say, looking at her.
“I won’t,” she replies.
“Won’t what? Pretend to get along with yourself? Man, that’s gotta be tiring.”
Taylor steps between us, looking at Kiara who’s gaze instantly softens at the sight of the blonde. “Look, I don’t think of us really like this idea, Kie, not yet at least. But Gwen Turner on our side? That could change a few of the tides that are against us.” Kiara seems to be open to the idea when Taylor says it. “And besides, it’s not her fault that you guys aren’t friends anymore. She was in Europe when everything between you and Sarah went down.”
I wince at the lie I’ve been having to keep up. “You were in Europe for a year and a half, Gwen,” my mother had told me, “act like it. Don’t act like someone who has just come out of the mental hospital because you believe someone killed Jake and that someone wasn’t himself.” Europe. More like my personal - and not personal - Hellscape.
The conversation between Taylor and Kiara is stopped at the same time I come out of my head; the wail of a siren catches our attention.
JJ swears. “That’s not another friend like Gwen here. That is the police.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Pope says.
Barely even there and I’m already getting into trouble. When Kiara tells us to act normal, I try my best to settle into a seat, keeping my distance from Kiara and Taylor while Pope takes his spot by the wheel and JJ plops down next to me. The police boat slows as it nears this one.
“Evening, officers,” Pope says, his voice shaking slightly.
He takes the rope they offer him and ties it to this boat, similar to how they had tied my boat on the other side. Maybe if John B needed to come up, he could use my small boat as cover so he didn’t get caught.
“Gwen?” The officer questions. “What are you doing here?”
I smile sweetly, bumping JJ’s shoulder with mine. “They were just helping me out. My boat got stuck in a nearby sandbar. And then I decided to stick around since I wasn’t doing anything.”
“Why aren’t you with Sarah,” one of the officers asks.
I shrug, trying to play off my stress since that’s a very good question. “Well, David-”
“It’s Don.”
“-Sarah’s busy with Topper. You know how it is. And I just wanted to go for a boat ride, like I’ve said already. So, here we are.”
The other officer frowns. “You are aware that the marsh is closed, right?”
“No,” JJ says a little too quickly.
Pope agrees, “No. Wow. Why- why is it closed?”
“We’re conducting a search out here,” the officer says. I’m honestly surprised by how much he’s telling us. “Boat went down.” We all look away, clearly showing we know something. “Seen anything?”
“No,” Taylor and JJ say at the same time. They can at least blame that coincidence on them being related.
The officer clearly isn’t convinced. Especially when Pope glances toward my boat. “Where’s your friend you always hang out with? He here?”
“He’s working,” Kiara answers. She’s not exactly wrong.
The deputy hums. “I’m gonna check your little boat out.”
When he lands on the boat, Pope gets up nervously. “Yeah. Hop aboard. You wanna check- uh, check her out.”
“Thank you,” the officer replies.
He seems to know that they’re anxious about something but none of them reveal it to him so he tries to keep them busy, asking about various things on the boat. JJ answers exactly where everything is, showing them to him, answering questions. And the others let him take the lead. Kiara and I try to offer the officer’s some smiles, putting up our appearances as good Kook girls.
The deputy makes his way to the front.
“Careful,” Taylor says a little too quickly. She easily adds, “It’s, uh, slippery.”
The officer doesn’t seem to care and puts his sunglasses on, scanning the water near my boat. My heart is racing, trying to time John B’s air tank in my head. If I’m correct, he’s run out of air by the time the deputy turns back to us.
“Alright,” he says.
JJ agrees, “Alright.”
“Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“Sure is,” Taylor says, “very beautiful.”
The deputy steps onto his own boat. “You let us know if you see anything on your way out. And, Gwen, the sun’s almost down. Your parents are probably worried.”
“Thanks,” I say with a forced smile.
“We’ll get her home, sir,” JJ says.
The officer nods as they take off. “Yes you will.”
They only wait a few seconds before they lean over the edge, looking at the same place the deputy had moments before. Nothing happens. Panic fills me and I can feel it take a hold of the others who are clearly more worried about John B than I am.