I sit on the side of the pavement, waiting for the twinkie to pull up. I look at my face on my phone screen. I have a bruise just under my eye, my lip is busted. Normally I didn't get this marked when he used to do it.
I look at ny wrist, it's bruised with how hard he was holding it. I pull up my sleeve and hold it. What do I do about the bruise..
I hear 2 beeps come around the corner. Shit it's them.
Make an excuse, make an excuse.
The door pulled open.
"Whoop whoop! Couldn't resist seeing us for more than an hour huh?" jj laughs. John b seems better, he's driving. thank god.
I smile and hop in quickly, hoping jj won't notice my face just yet. I rub my face pretending to be tired.
"Well how come you..." jj looks at me, "Why you rubbing your face?"
Shit.
"I'm just so tired bro."
"Take your hand off your face."
Shit, Shit, Shit.
"What?" I slowly remove my hand.
"What the fuck. Darla what the fuck happened." He says, a face of serious concern.
He only calls me by my full name in bad situations.
"Oh my god, I forgot to tell you. Before I went inside, Sarah tried to like tell me to 'watch my friends'." I gulp. I'm totally making this shit up off the top of my head.
"And.. like she Clarks me across the head and I'm like bitch what! And we get into this huge ass cat fight." Please believe me.
"No way dude, you and Sarah? I wish I was there!" John b laughs from the drivers seat.
Phew.
"I know, I fully knocked her out of it though, she was all bleeding and shit." I chuckle. Okay that's enough lying.
"Why did you come home?" jj starts getting all serious. it's actually pretty scary.
"I just couldn't stand my dad and his prissy wife." I say, looking at him to make sure he believes me. Liars tend to not make eye contact.
"Oh, okay." He says.
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The Rooster crows so fucken loud I actually want to pick it up and drop kick it into next year.
I hear a door close, and a can clattering along the floor inside. It sit up to see Sheriff Peterkin standing over me.
I cough, nervous. "Sheriff, what um- what are you doing out here?"
"Just chatting with your friend John B, what about you? You don't live here." She tilts her head.
"Uh, just crashed for the night."
She squints, then leans over further. What the actual fuck.
"You hear about Scooter Grubbs?"
Like jj always says, "No, I didn't actually..?" deny, deny deny.
"That's funny, he was found washed up on the shore. Apparently he went riding into the sea during Agatha. You know anything? about a submerged wreck, anything of it?" She taps her foot waiting for an answer.
I shrug. "No, this is all new to me."
"Your friend, in there. He's up for exile, I'm sure you're familiar with that." She raises back up and tilts her head.
"I know you've been friends with him long enough, to care about him. You wouldn't wanna lose him. would you?"
I lick my teeth with my tongue. "No,"
"So you better start thinking, are you making the right decisions keeping secrets?" She sighs.
"I'll leave you to your stuff though, have a nice day Darla."
She walks off the dock and over to her cop SUV.
John B walks out.
I sit up straighter as he waves her off.
"What the fuck is going on." I say, my breath shakes.
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John b and I walk out to the rest, who are socialising in the work shed.
"I'm calling it off." John b states.
Everyone stops. "Peterkin said if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS." he sighed.
I cross my arms. "She's on to us."
"And you believed her?" jj says, disappointed.
"Yes, I believe her, jj." John b immediately answers.
"An actual cop, you believed a cop?" j laughs
in awe.
"All we gotta do is stay out of the marsh a couple days, and she'll help me out." John b argues. "And it doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."
"You know what? I should've just let Topper drown your ass." jj says, hopping off the table.
"Because Topper was gonna drown me?"
"He had you man." jj laughed. "He did, did he not?" he looks at me for support.
"I'm not getting involved in this." I say, walking over and sitting beside Kie.
"Course you're not." jj scoffs. "They always win, don't they man? Kooks versus pogues, they always, ALWAYS win."
"Look- it's okay!" Kie shouts.
"No, it's not okay!" jj yells. "It is not, they don't want us in the marsh, that means there's some value there. You fucking know it."
He looks at Pope. "And I understand why you don't wanna go, you're the supposed golden boy with a scholarship to risk. and you—"
he looks at Kie. "I mean you're already rich as fuck anyway." he says, which makes her roll her eyes.
"You me and Darl, man.. we got nothin' to lose!" He says to John b.
"We really don't." He continues.
"jj." I say.
"And I know it used to not be that way for you," He talks to John b.
"I'm not having this conversation, dude." John B pushes past jj. "So that's it? John b- listen to me. I've got a plan."
"You have the key to Cameron's huge boat, just- just borrow that scuba shit and we go down there tomorrow and get what we found. Finders fucking keepers."
"No.. No, jj." John B shakes his head and jj puts his arm around him.
"You don't see rich kids going to foster care, do you?" he tilts his head.
I sigh. Leaning back on the couch.
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I sit on the HMS pogue since John B pleaded with me to come. He doesn't want to "Steal it on his own" as said.
I'm getting pretty nervous, yesterday I said I got in a fight with Sarah.. if Sarah is on the druthers, what if John B asks Sarah about the fight.
We slowly move up to the boat.
"Tie it off," John b told me. I could tell he was nervous to do this.
We hopped on board and John b i stared the druthers key, unlocking the door. We walked in, and went down stairs.
"Okay we get these stupid things and up out of here." He's walking too fast for me to comprehend what he's saying.
"Jesus John B- what's the rush man?" I call.. racing after him.
He opens the door to the canisters and puts the equipment in the duffel bag, then gives me a canister.
"Who are we expecting to dive here?" I ask as we walk back up the stairs.
"I have no idea, not me.." John b laughs.
We walk outside the boat and make our way back to the HMS.
" Oh! Hey." Sarah Cameron leans over the banister.
Shit.
"You guys stalking us? plotting your revenge?" She jokes. I try not to make eye contact with her.
"Yeah. Why don't you just tell your daddy I blew the bilge on the Druthers?" John b says, shaking his head at her.
"Everything's good to go, toppin' up the tanks."
I explain, moving away from them with my canister.
I walk down the steps and drop the canister down, turn around and see Sarah right in front of me.
"Why are you acting like I don't exist." She puts her hands on her hips.
"I'm not, I don't need to talk to you.." I climb into the boat and reach out for John b's bag. I need to get out of here so bad..
"What happened there?" She points to my bruise.
I pretend I didn't hear her. "John B let's hit it, come on."
"You don't have to act like she didn't beat the shit out of you, Sarah." John B laughs.
Fuck.
"Wait, what?" She has the most confused expression ever.
"Yeah, play dumb." He gets into the boat as I untie the rope.
"Best the shit out of me? When was this." She keeps asking questions.
"Last night." He answers for me.
"And who told you that?" She laughs.
"She, herself." John looks at me.
Get me the fuck outta here. "Let's go John b."
"Why did you lie, Darla?" She shouts at me.
"What are you trying to look cool?"
I stop and look at her. Better just gaslight her, she's the only one who thinks i didn't beat her up.
"Deny it all you want, we both know it's true." I shrug as I straight up lie.
"What the fuck! You lying bitch! Oh my god! We didn't even fight?" She shouts as we ride off.
"Hey, Darl." John b says.
I look over, "Yeah."
"Why didn't Sarah have any bruises, if you beat her up?" He looks at me, curious.
"She probably covered 'em up with concealer."
He raises an eyebrow. "The fuck is concealer?"
"Makeup, I hit her a few times in the ribs, she's probably going to be too embarrassed to wear a bikini for while they're still there." I lie through my teeth.
"Oh, she covered them up real well, I didn't see them at all." John b chuckles.
_____________________________
Were on the boat, on our way to go and look at the boat, this time with professional gear.
We stop right where jj fell.
"This is empty, you took empty tanks?" Kie complains to us.
"John b took them, I carried them." I say in defence.
"Okay, this one's a quarter full." She sighs.
I'm lying on the boat, trying to get a bit of sun on my skin to get a better colour. I have a white bikini and a pink cropped shirt over it.
"It's enough for one of us." She sighs.
"Love it when a plan comes together." Pope groans.
"Okay, does anyone know how to dive?" Kie says, settling the gear down.
Everyone stays silent.
"Uh.."
"Anybody?" Kie asks.
"Kind of a Kook Sport." jj shrugs.
I remember the time that Pope was telling me about diving, and how he read a book about it.
"Didn't you read a book about it Pope?" I turn to look at him.
"Perfect, Pope read about it so.. someone's gonna die." Kie slaps her knees as she talks.
"It's easy, y-you just put the thing in your mouth and breath, how hard could it be?" jj asks. I know he's still not going to dive.
"If you come up to fast, the nitrogen gets in your blood, and you get the bends." Pope explains.
"Bends- Bends like Bend over?" jj jokes, arching his back. Which makes me laugh.
"The bends kill you." Pope quickly argues. Making me and jj stop laughing, and our smiles fade.
"Right.." I say, still laughing a bit.
"I can— I can do it." John B sighs, grabbing the gear.
"No.. John b.." Kie says.
"I'm cool with that.." I say
"Sure dude go for it." jj adds.
"Since when can you dive," Kie says, ignoring me and jj.
"I'll do it, I'm sure I'll be fine." John b says, trying to figure out where the oxegyn mask is.
"Okay let me do some calculations." Pope says, holding up fingers and counting.
"You serious?" Kie asks John b while Pope is adding.
"That boats around 30 feet down, so It will take 25 minutes at that depth."
I stand up, calculating with Pope..
Everyone starts thinking. "Twenty-five..."
"Which means safety stop at... 15.. 10.. okay at 10 feet, you make your safety stop at ten feet, for two minutes."
I grab the side of my shirt and pull it off, then I jump into the water and swim down.
I calculate each feet as I go deeper, 1..2..3..4
finally I get to ten feet. I tie my t shirt on the chain holding the anchor, marking the 10ft mark for John b.
I float back up to the top, catching everyone staring at me.
"I tied my shirt the anchor chain, at where I think the 10 ft mark is, that's where you do your safety stop.. okay?" I explain, ignoring them all watching me like a deer in headlights.
"Cool." John b finally says out of the 3 boys.
I swim over to the boat and get in, I literally see jj watching me like a hawk but I'm not gonna say anything, I like the attention!
"Just breath as little as possible," I hear Pope say to John b.
"Zen, think Zen, you know?" jj says to john b. He imitates breathing through a mask.
"Yeah, got it." John b nods.
"Listen, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed.. so." Pope alerts John b.
"Copy that." John b sighs.
Just as John b is about to pull down his mask, Kie walks over and kisses him on the cheek.
I raise an eyebrow. "Oop."
"If I was the one diving, would you kiss me?" jj says to me, smirking.
"No I'd throw you in." I smile back at him.
"Great, nice to know." He says sarcastically.
"Diver down?" John b says after Kie backs up from the kiss.
"Diver down."
John b pulls the mask back over his face. And jumps into the water.
He saluted us off before pressing the oxygen button, and disappearing under the water.
I sigh and sit back down, soaking wet.
"What you think he's gonna find down there?" I ask.
"10 wads of cash in a container." Pope says, his fingers crossed.
"A load- of j designer shit." Kie says. "Probably all plastic infused, of course." She rolls her eyes.
I sit, my legs crossed.
"What do you think?" jj asks me.
"Mm, maybe it was just a suicide. He just went out on his boat as a mechanism?" I say.
"That's positive.." Pope scoffs.
"Okay, Pope."
Suddenly we hear another boat approaching. A siren whoops.
"Shit. jj." Pope whispers.
"Guys, that's the police." jj informs us, as if we don't know that already.
"Oh you gotta be kidding." Pope says, stressed as fuck.
"Yep, that's them." jj clarifies.
"Just act fricken' normal," Kie says, adjusting herself to sit normally.
I sit up and flick my hair back, grabbing a random empty beer bottle from inside the boat and holding it.
The siren blares as the boat pulls up beside ours.
"Evening officers." Pope says with a smile.
"Evening."
The other officer with him hands him a rope to tie to our boat, Pope takes it and orders j to tie it off.
"Did you guys know the marsh is closed?" Deputy Shoupe asks, holding onto the rail.
"No, that's new.." I say, looking up at him.
"Huh," he looks down at me.
The rest say no several times, trying to prove our innocence.
"Why- uh, why's it closed?" I ask, Shoupe still looking at me, suspicious.
"Well, we're conducting a search out here, boat went down. You kids know anything about that?" He explains, then looks up at the rest.
"Nah," jj says.
"No boats, so far.. ha." Pope says. I give him the eye for being too suspicious.
"Where's that friend you're always with? He here?" Shoupe says, looking at the water.
"Oh he's working, back at the docks." I say.
"Hm." he says. "I'm gonna have a lil peek at this boat."
"Yeah." jj says, backing up so he can look.
"Hop aboard." Pope says.
I stand up and let him by.
"Uh, you got another one of these?" He holds up a life jacket.
"Yeah- it's um in the hold." I say.
"You wanna get that?" He says back to me.
I look at jj who's closest to the hold.
"Sure." He goes and opens the hold, revealing the second life jacket.
I awkwardly smile at him.
Shoupe walks to the edge of the boat, wanting another and closer look at the water.
"Careful.. don't want to slip." Pope says to him.
I hold my stomach, feeling uncomfortable being in a bikini with Shoupe on board.
jj takes off his shirt and gives it to me when he sees me holding my stomach. "Thanks." I whisper.
"You good?" Shoupe asks, hearing commotion
behind him.
"Yeah just got a little hot." jj says.
"And I got a little cold." I say.
"Alrighty, can you maybe not move the boat as much?" He goes back to looking down at the water.
jj gives him a death stare while he's not looking.
A few seconds pass,
"All right." Deputy turns around to get back on his boat.
"Beautiful day." He says.
"Sure is." jj says.
"You go head' and let us know if you spot anything on your way out, alright?" Deputy gets into his boat and starts it up.
jj untied the rope and throws it to the officers.
"Well we'll be gone soon, sir." jj says, waving him off.
"Yes you will." Deputy says before riding away.
We all rush to the end of the boat.
"He's definitely out of air." Kie says, worried.
Suddenly John b pops up, taking off the mask and gasping desperately.
"Jesus Christ! Oh god.."
"Don't scare us like that!"
"How'd it go down there?" jj asks, helping John b back up into the boat.
"Uh.." Pope says when John b doesn't answer.
"You find anything?" jj scratches his head.
"Did I find anything?" John b laughs.
"Yeah! there we go! that's my boy!" jj says excitedly.
"The cops were here, it was crazy." I laugh.
"Yeah you kind of missed the show, brother."
"Hey guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock." Kie is looking ahead at something.
I walk over to her and try see what she's looking at.
"Uh.. they don't look friendly." I say.
"What are they doing back here? The marsh is closed." Kie asks.. a bit nervous.
"Let's not stick around and find out." jj says, walking over to the controls.
"Guys they're coming toward us." Kie cries.
"Pope, jj- pull up the anchor chain, go!" I yell.
Pope and jj grab the anchor chain, groaning as they pull it up.
I run over to john b to help him turn on the boat. "Come on jb, rev her up!" I yell, pulling back the accelerator.
"Give it a minute!" He says to me, stressed out.
"Okay, we don't have a minute!" I keep pulling at it.
It finally turns on and jj and Pope pull the anchor up.
"Just sit down and act casual, like we were just leaving- that's all." I say, going over and sitting down.
We turn into the marsh.
I look behind and see them turning into the marsh too.
"Guys, they're following us.." I say, a bit nervous.
"Okay speed up john b!" Pope shouts.
"I am! This piece of shit isn't gonna cut through the water like paper bro!" john b cries.
We're cutting corners quickly, but so are they.
I look behind me to see what they're doing.
One of them pulls out a long ass gun and fires it.
"GET DOWN!"
"HOLY SHIT."
"What the FUCK.."
We all panic and duck quickly as he sends another fire of ammo into the air.
"John b!" I scream.
"Omg, omg were going to die." Pope cries out.
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