"Breaking the rules"
"What was that about?" JJ asks as he takes a seat on the side of the boat next to me. Kie and Pope were still on the bow, watching carefully to the water. I don't understand what they're trying to see. John B went under water minutes ago, he probably already made his safety stop. They're not gonna see him there.
I turn my eyes away from them to JJ, who was the best distraction from all of this I could find at the moment. "What was what about?" I ask playing clueless.
JJ doesn't buy it. "You know what."
Automatically I glance at Kie, who's still looking at the water. JJ follows my eyes but soon looks back at me, a questioning look on his face.
"I don't know", I just shrug, but my expressions betrays me as I can't keep a small smile from forming to my lips.
"Yes, you do!" JJ whispers so the Kie won't hear us as he nudges me with his leg. "Come on tell me!"
Again I shrug my shoulders, the smile still on my lips. I still can't believe Kiara just did that. But I'm so happy she did. Too bad John B couldn't stay up here any longer so they could've talked a little.
"But we have the rule and all", JJ mutters to himself, probably didn't mean to say that out loud.
"I thought you didn't care about rules and stuff like that?"
JJ rolls his eyes as he turns to look at me. "What have I missed?"
"Nothing", I smile at him. "Don't strain your brain with this."
He goes quiet again, turning his eyes back to Kiara. Pope has walked away from the bow and Kie has sat down there. I look at JJ from the side, and I can almost see the cogwheels spinning inside his head.
Then his head turns again. "Okay, don't tell me, I don't care. But we still have the rule!"
It's almost adorable how confused he is. "You're right, we do."
"Then how can she do that? How can she just go and kiss John B?"
"It's a free country", I shrug again. I see the frustration in JJ's eyes but I'm loving this way too much to stop.
"Funny", he raises his eyebrows at me unimpressed. After a moment he continues. "So you mean that all this time I could've just done that? I could've just broken the rule, just like that?"
"You also want to kiss John B?" Now I raise my brows at him. But in the back of my mind a different thought starts to form, one that I don't really like, and Really don't want to think about. Because what if he wanted to kiss Kie. His and John B's conversation back at the motel yesterday. He said he'd 'tried her door'.
"No I wanted to kiss Pope", JJ says sarcastic smile on his lips as he looks at me still very frustrated. "No, of course not! I-" he stop for a while, like he realised what he just said, or was about to say. "Hypotetically."
"Yeah, sure."
Unfortunately, I don't get to ask anything else about that, when I hear the sound of a siren coming from somewhere not so far away.
"Shit, JJ", Pope nods towards a boat behind us as he stands up.
"Guys, that's the police", JJ stands up as well.
I look at the boat that's slowly stopping next to us. This can't be happening.
"Just act fricking normal", Kie sits up in the bow, looking nervously at me.
"Yeah, right, except our best friend is running out of air down there. How do I act 'fricking normal'?!" I turn to her, with the same look in my eyes. It's been almost ten minutes since John B went down there. At least. He doesn't have much air left.
"Evening officers", I hear Pope greeting the cops and immediately turn around to face them. I recognize the two of them, a man and a woman. They are the same people who came to the motel room and almost caught me, JJ and John B there. Shoupe, I think the man was.
"Evening", Shoupe answers, handing Pope a rope to tie their boat to ours to prevent us from running away. JJ ties the rope to our boat and returns to his place next to me. I can't help but glance over my shoulder to the water. If there's even the smallest sight of John B, we're screwed. But I don't know if it's any better that there isn't, since he'll be out of air soon, if he already isn't.
"How you kids doing?" Shoupe's voice gets my attention back to them. "Did you know that the marsh is closed?"
"No."
"No, I didn't know that."
I glance at Kie, who has squeezed her eyes shut, probably thinking the same that I was. They didn't sound too convinsing, and a look at Shoupe tells me he seems to think the same.
"Um, why is it closed?" I ask before he has more time to doubt our motives to be here and if we really knew we're here without premission.
"Well, we're conducting a search out here", he tells us as he looks around. "A boat went down."
"Oh.."
I can't help but look towards the water again, to the spot where John B disappeared under water. Still no sign of him, but thankfully no sight of the boat either. Someone kicks me to my leg and I turn around, furrowing my eyebrows at JJ who's still sitting next to me. A shake of his head, is everything I get as an answer.
"Seen anything?" Shoupe asks.
"No", we all answer almost in unison. Well if that wasn't suspicious then I don't know what is.
"No boats", JJ adds, shrugging his shoulders, looking as clueless as possible.
"Where's your friend you always hang out with? He here?" He keeps questioning. Please can't this interrogation stop already. Go away.
Again I get the need to glance towards the water, but JJ's hand moving over mine turns my head to the other way. "Don't look", he whispers so quietly I can barely hear him. He nods towards Shoupe who was also looking around at the water around us.
"He's working", Kie speaks up for the first time since the cops came. Good thinking from her though, I would've never thought of that. A sigh of relief leaves my mouth as JJ squeezes my hand a little, showing me it's alright.
"Hm", Shoupe looks around again, and my relief is a light memory again. He steps closer to our boat, stepping on it with one foot. "I'm gonna check your little boat out."
I know for sure that there can't be more than two minutes left of air for John B, probably even less, and this officer decides to do a check on our boat! Can't he see we have kind of a situation going on? Okay, hopefully he can't but still, like go away.
"Okay yeah", JJ gets up. "You wanna- you wanna check her up." He's the best liar in town, but even his voice starts to break a little as he speaks. Kie and Pope don't look too happy either. John B needs air in few seconds, and we're screwed.
"You got another one of these?" Shoupe goes through the basic needs of a boat, like life jackets, but I can't really focus on what's happening. JJ shows him the other jacket we have in the hold, while Kiara looks around, worry written all over her face. The moment she glances over the side to the water, my need to do the same wins and I glance at the water like she did. Still no sight of John B.
We weren't as sneaky with Kie as we thought, since Shoupe throws a glance at Kie, then to the water, and lastly to me, and slowly starts to walk towards to bow.
"Be careful, you don't want to slip", I hear Pope's voice from behind me but I can't look away from Shoupe. What if he sees him?
I feel a hand touching mine again, and turn around to see JJ standing next to me like he did a while ago. I thought he would look at me with "I told you so" expression but no. Instead I feel like I'm looking in the mirror as I look into his eyes. Full of worry. But still, somehow, it calms me. The safe blue of his eyes, his hand softly grabbing mine.
I look back at Shoupe, who's standing on the side, looking down at the water. Despite the calming effect of JJ, I still feel my heart racing in my chest as I watch him. Seconds pass, and nothing happens. Very valuable seconds for John B, I would say.
Finally, he turns around, with a serious look in his face. He saw him. I'm sure he saw him.
"All right", he says. I feel the thight knot of fear slightly loosen in my stomach as he walks back to their boat and starts the engine. "Let us know, if you see anything on your way out."
"Will do", Pope answers for him.
"Will be gone soon", JJ adds.
"Yes, you will", Shoupe says. Can't he be gone any faster? How long does it take to leave?
When the boat starts to speed away, I don't wait a second before turning fully towards the spot where we last saw John B. Still, no sight of him. The air has run out, that's for sure. He should be here already. Why isn't he here already?!
"He's definitely out of air", Pope says, coming next to me with Kie and JJ.
I know Pope, I know.
But then, thank god there is a familiar brunette hair coming to the surface from the water, and soon enough John B is gasping for air in front of us.
"There he is!" JJ says relieved.
"Oh, God!" Pope joins him. "Don't scare us like that!"
"How'd it go down there?"
I can't stop smiling as I watch the boy climbing up to the boat. Seeing him still here with us. The relief is enormus.
"So did you find anything?" JJ asks as he helps John B to the boat.
"Did I find anything?" John B laughs, still a bit breathless as he throws a bag from the water to JJ.
"Yeah, there we go! That's my boy!" JJ laughs.
"You okay?" Kiara asks, going next to JJ.
"Yeah, I ran out of air", John B smiles at her.
"You scared the shit out of me."
I don't find anything to say. I want to say how thankful I'm that he's still here, in the books of living. I want to tell him how the cops almost caught us. But I stay silent. I just smile. Somehow my brain can't process this all yet.
"Yeah, the cops were up here, but uhh", Pope starts to tell him. "We took care of them."
"We did?" I raise my brows as I slowly start to recover from everything.
"Well, we did", JJ answers, looking at me amused. "You and Kie almost got us caught with all your worried glances to the water."
"Oh Kate, you were worried?" John B smirks at me, a cocky smile forming to his lips. But for this one time, I don't care.
"Yes, I was", I tell him.
He's clearly surprised that I admited it. He takes slow steps towards me, the smile faltering on his lips. "That's very sweet of you", he says once he's close to me and pats my head. But when I give him a sarcastic smile in return, his arms suddenly wrap around me. "I was actually quite worried too", he then whispers, so that no one else would hear. But I do hear it, and I hear the shake in his voice, telling me he really was. I didn't expect him to admin that. "Just don't tell them I said that."
For a while I let him hug me, smiling against his chest. That while lasts as long as it takes me to fully steady my breathing before I start to feel normal again and let go off him.
"Ew, get off me! You're wet!" I playfully push him away, pretending to be disgusted by him.
John B rubs his hands to my back and head as he pulls away, trying to disguise this emotional moment to look like he wasn't just scared to death. I push him away, sticking my tongue out at him.
"Hey, guys? Hate to interrupt but um", Kie says from the bow. She sounds a little worried and I turn to her confused. "Bogey, two o'clock."
"Wait, what?" John B also turns around, squinting his eyes in the last rays of the sun to see what got Kie's attention.
"Do you recognize that boat?" Pope asks, doing the same.
"I've never seen it", Kie shrugs. "What are they doing here?"
"Wasn't the marsh just closed?" I ask, a bad feeling creeping up my spine.
"Mhm", JJ glances at the boat. "Let's not stick around and find out." He answers to Kie.
"JJ, get the bowline", John B says.
The boat keeps coming closer as John B goes to drive away while JJ's still working with the anchor.
"Should we wait on them?" Pope speaks again, wathing the boat that has almost reached us.
"No", Kie and I answer in sync as John B shakes his head, agreeing with us.
JJ's still pulling the anchor up when John B gets to the driver's seat. I glance back at the boat. If we want to leave without having to interact with them, we should leave now. The boat is close enough for me to see the two men standing in it, not looking too friendly.
"Don't wait for me", JJ says. "Just go."
"I don't like this", John B mumbles when he sees the men too. If I had to guess, they came here straight from jail. But I'm happy with my guess and never knowing for sure, because I bet they wouldn't like it very much if I asked them.
"Are they coming for us?" JJ asks. He has finally gotten the anchor up and we would be free to leave. If John B would just speed away and not stare at the strange boat.
"Maybe they're fishing?" Pope suggests.
"Maybe, maybe not. Now if we could just leave", I turn around and say to John B. "They're getting quite close."
JJ turns around at my words and seems to realise the situation too. "Go go go", he says when John B isn't moving a muscle to get us out of here.
"Go in to the marsh!" Pope's words seem to wake him up and he starts to speed up towards the marsh.
"I'm going!" The frustration in his voice doesn't go unnoticed. "Just, act natural."
What is it with everyone telling me to 'act normal' and 'act natural'?? This isn't exactly an every day situation for me!
"Guys?" Kie asks sounding worried. "They're following us!"
"What?" I immediately turn around to face the boat that had apparently followed us to the marsh and was now coming after us with a good speed. They're going to catch us in no time.
"Shit", I hear John B mutter.
"This can't be good."
"Dude you gotta go faster!" JJ tells John B as he looks back, noticing the same thing I did. They're reaching us, quickly.
"I'm going, I'm going!" John B snaps with panic clearly showing in his voice. And that panic slowly spreads around in this little boat of ours, as everyone slowly starts to realise the seriousness of the situation.
No one says a thing after John B. I watch with Kie how they come closer when something in there catches my eye. One of the men was taking something from his packback and I had to check twice before I turned to Kie with my eyes wide, horrified.
She wasn't looking at me or the boat, but had turned her back to them and didn't see what was happening. I couldn't be sure, since there was no one to confirm what I saw, but maybe it would be good to still inform the others about that.
"Hey guys, um, I'm not a hundred percent sure but-"
A gun shots. I drop down and pull Kie with me, doing it as more of a reflex than really putting a thought on it. They tried to shoot us. The needed confirmation I needed to be sure of what I saw.
"Holy shit!" Kie screams as she gets down.
"What the.." I hear Pope mumble from the other side of the boat.
"John B get down!" JJ yells. I glance at them, and see John B still standing up straight, driving us away like nothing just happened.
Another shot is fired, which makes me jump a little. John B also crouches down from the noice.
"Oh my God, we're going to die!" Pope covers his head with his hands.
Seconds pass and nothing happens. No new shots, just the sound of the boats driving. I lift my head a little to see if their still after us when they shoot again.
A hand presses on top of my head and pushes me back down. "What the hell are you doing?" JJ whispers from beside me, pressing his body slightly to mine, guarding me with it.
I don't get to answers when another shot hits to side of the boat, going dangerously near from John B. The sound still scares me, making me shut my eyes in fear. JJ moves closer to me, almost fully covering my body, preventing me from getting hit.
I look at him from the side and am surprised to meet his eyes already looking at me. Another shot. His hand grabs mine when my eyes close again as a reflex.
"Shit! Pope move", Kiara says. I glance at her and my heart drops down, my eyes widening when I see her standing up.
"What the hell, Kie?" My horrified voice goes unnoticed by Kie but gets John B's attention.
The man shoots again. "Kie, get down!" John B yells.
Kie acts like we don't exist and keeps doing whatever she's doing. The shots still make me jump a little, but now I'm not worried for myself but her. I said they looked like they came straight from jail. For sure someone like that knows how to aim.
I watch as she picks up a fishing net and gets closer to the bow. What the hell is she doing? Her plan only comes clear to me when she throws the net to the water behind us and quickly gets down when another shot is fired. She threw the net there so it'd stop the men. Why didn't I think of that.
The gun fires for once more before I hear a loud whirring and soon after the sound of engine isn't so loud anymore. Like the other engine just stopped. I'm about to lift my head and see when JJ gently presses my head down with his hand again, lifting his own head to see what happened. We seem to be clear when he lifts his hand off me and helps me to stand up.
The boat doesn't move. Angry yells are the only thing I hear from there anymore as we drive further away from them. I look around our boat. Pope has stood up, watching the men behind as well. Kiara is still down, catching her breath from the scare. And JJ is still holding my hand. Hiding our hands with his body from the others, so they won't see it. But he's still holding it.
I can feel butterflies go wild in my stomach as he doesn't let go. Something so small and simple like holding hands, and I'm already head over heels for him. A relieved sigh from Pope somehow snaps everyone back to them moment.
"Whoo!" JJ lets out a nervous laugh as he starts to relax, giving my hand one final squeeze before slowly letting go. His eyes meet mine as he gives me a small smile before turning away. Even after he turns to go, the funny feeling stays in my stomach for a while, and little uncotrolable smile in my lips.
JJ leaves to celebrate with the boys as I go to help Kiara up. "That was amazing", I smile as I pull her up. "I still don't understand where you got the courage to do that from."
She shakes her head for a while. "Me neither", she then laughs. "No idea."
"That was insane!" JJ comes back to us, patting Kie on the back. "Might have to thank you for still being alive."
"Mhm?", Kie looks at him thoughtfully for a while before throwing a quick glance at me, a small smile forms to her lips. "Well, you can pay your debt by taking my frien-"
I slap my hand on her mouth. "Her friend John B out for her. She can't quite fit that in her schedule."
Kie looks at me again, this time with a stare that could murder someone. I just shrug my shoulders at her, a little smile playing on my lips as well. "Wasn't that what you wanted to do anyway, JJ?"
The boy looks at us confused for a moment before rolling his eyes and leaving us giggling behind him.
"He wanted to take John B out?" Kie asks in between her laughs.
"Kiss him, I mean Pope, I'm not sure anymore. But someone he wanted to kiss."
~~~~~
It was already dark when we got back to the chateau. The drive back was quiet, no one was really in the mood to talk. After being chased by some random prisoner escapees, I think it's totally understandable. But we didn't open the bag John B managed to find from the boat either. And now was the time for that.
"What do you guys think it is?" Kie asks as we get to the dock.
John B goes ahead of us, putting the bag down and starting to open it. "Gotta be money, right?" He asnwers to Kie.
"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low- to mid-mils!" JJ suggests, clearly exited of what we'll find from the bag.
"But wouldn't it be fun if it was like a treasure map or something? Like from real pirates?" I really think it would be much funnier than what JJ was hoping for.
"I'd rather take the money", John B shots down my wishes, not really focusing to the main things here. Like opening the bag.
"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope snaps sharply making all of us turn to him surprised.
"Wow, Pope", John B says suprised. "That's a rare outburst of emotion."
"Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag!"
"Pope are you alright?" I look at him from the side as he squats down next to John B. His intense stare helps though, and John B finally gets something out.
"We almost died over this", Pope glances at me and back to John B, who has a smaller black pouch in his hands.
No one answers to him as John B starts to open the pouch. The closer he is to taking the item out of it, the more I start to hope for the money. I mean, I'd still love to find the map but there's not much I could do with it. The tension hung in the air around us as we stared at him.
He pulled out a metal canister. A confused look formed to his face as he looked inside it. He turned it around, a small object falling to his hand. It wasn't money, or keys, or even the map. It was a worthless piece of shit we just risked our lives for. We found a compass.
"Oh, wow, that's about right", Pope sighed, his voice bitter. "Good job everybody. We found a compass."
"First, a motel key and now this?" I join Pope, sighing frustrated.
John B doesn't care about our complains but keeps his eyes at the metal compass in his hand. As if he couldn't look away. The confused look on his face slowly changed to disbelief, as he keeps staring down.
"Dude, what?" JJ took off his hat frustrated, also noticing John B still examining the compass. "It's not worth anything."
John B remains silent for a while before answering. "This was my father's." He chuckles softly.
We found a compass, but not just any compass, his father's compass. I know it's big thing for John B but I just can't see the big thing here. The only value that thing holds is emotional value to John B. And I'm glad we found it, glad he found it, something that once was his dad's, but what are we supposed to do with that? Nothing.
"Wow, John B, Um", Kiara starts, but Pope speaks over her.
"Look, I'm happy for you pal, I really am", he starts and glances at his phone between speaking. "But, I've got a morning shift tomorrow and I really have to get to sleep."
Pope mentioning the time, or more like telling he has to go to sleep, makes me wake up. I quickly glance around only to see the night has already settled around us.
"Pope, what time is it exactly?" I ask, a hint of panic in my voice. I'm supposed to be home by midnight or I'll be stuck with mom and dad probably for the whole summer.
"Fifteen to twelwe, give or take", he shrugs, my panic going unnoticed by him. But I still have 15 minutes to get home, walking should only take that long. And if I run a bit, I should make it in ten.
"I'm really happy for you too, John B", I turn to smile at him. "But I really need to go too. I'll see you tomorrow!"
"What's your excuse?" John B asks, but not in a mean way. I think he's still amazed by the compass.
"I have to be home soon", I answer before thinking as I turn to run away, but quickly correct myself before I'm gone. "It's not an excuse. Good night!"
"Sure."
If the situation was different, and I didn't have to hurry home, I would stay and argue about this with him but I really don't have time right now. Fifteen to twelwe, give or take. It might be ten to twelwe as well. I might already be late.
I hear someone running behind me. I quickly glance back and my heart skips a beat when I see someone running right behind me. Luckily, it was only JJ, who caught me easily.
"I'm also heading home, I can drop you off on my way", he offered as we stopped to his motorcykle.
"JJ, you really don't need to", I refuse even though I would be more than greatful to get on the bike. Not only because of the time, but I also realise how tired I feel, now that I'm standing here next to him, being offered another opition than walking.
"No I do. Just get in", he said, already sitting on the bike. "Come on, I though you were in a hurry."
Without overthinking it any longer I sit down behind JJ and gently wrap my hands around him. I don't know what has been up with JJ lately. First holding hands and now offering me a ride? Mostly the hands holding part. Maybe it's just me and I'm making small things seem too big, but also like he protected me on the boat. Reliving this day in my head while sitting behind him, he's the only thing in my mind. Our conversation in the morning, the "i always have girls in line" conversation, all of it. But then, that's what friends do. They talk, they protect and help each other, there's nothing special in this.
"Um, we're here", JJ snaps me out of my thoughts. I quickly get up, remembering the limited time I had, but turn around once more before rushing inside.
"Thank you, JJ", I smile at him. "Really."
"Eh, it's nothing", he smiles back, his hand travelling to the back of his neck. "Good night, Katherina."
"Good night, JJ", I answer looking at JJ, who doesn't break the eye contact. The moment only lasts for few seconds but I still feel my heart beating a little faster as I look at him. But everything has an end, and I have somewhere to be, so I have to turn away, leaving JJ's eyes behind. In few steps I get to the door. "I gotta go, but thanks again!" I yell over my shoulder before going inside.
I run the stairs up two at one and basically slam the door open before running to the living room. First thing I see is mom, sitting on the couch reading a magazine. Next my eyes go to the wall behind her, where the clock is hanged.
11.58.
I made it. I'm on time. And I didn't even doubt it.
"Well hello", mom says from the couch, still keeping her eyes on the paper.
"Hi!" I smile as I catch my breath. "I'm on time." I feel the need to inform that to her.
"I know", mom answers in a calm tone, finally looking at me. "Did you plan on being late? Or why do you sound surprised?"
I didn't intend to sound surprised. "No, of course I knew I'll be on time", I smile as convincing as I could. "Good night, mom", I hug her quickly before disappearing to my room.
"Good night, sweetie."
~~~~~~