The day after the storm was a mess to say the least. The island was in a state, a rather bad one. Gemma only had one thing in her mind when she woke up that morning. Pearl. She rushed outside as soon as she gained consciousness, waking up JJ who was sprawled across her on her sofa in the process. Gemma sighed in relief when she saw the van, in the same state she had left her in the previous day. Gemma was so relieved she hugged the bonnet of the car as JJ approached her. Groggy and confused by this surprise awakening. He rubbed his eyes, clearing his vision to see his sister hugging her van. JJ seemed fairly unfazed by this scene, turning on his heels to no doubtfully find something to eat. Nothing he wasn't used to he thought to himself.
Gemma loved feeling the wind in her hair when she was surfing but she'd also settle for feeling the wind in her hair as she stood at the front of the h.m.s pogue, grinning from ear to ear. Her friends chattered behind her as they sailed through the marsh. Kiara was undoubtedly discussing saving turtles and the planet, while Pope was pretending he cared and John B and JJ were laughing about something. Gemma had her back to them but she'd been here a thousand times before.
Kiara was probably her closest friend. Don't tell the others that though. Gemma isn't sure why she sticks around most of the time, she's like super rich. A kook. But she doesn't seem to care and so neither does Gemma. Pope was undoubtedly the most sensible of the whole group, he was like an anchor. Constantly keeping them from drifting too far out to sea. That's how Gemma thought of it at least.
"Let me show you a party trick." JJ says as he approaches Gemma at the front of the boat, beer in his hand. Gemma knew what he was trying to do, "Hey Pope, can you go a little faster please?" JJ asks as he gets in position, Gemma laughs at him along with Kie, "I'm moving." John B complains as he tries to get out of JJs way,
"Your in the wrong place Em." Kie says through her laughs as Gemma tried to keep her balance at the front of the boat next to JJ.
"I'm fine, nothing that hasn't happened before." Gemma says as Pope speeds up, JJ desperately trying to catch the beer in his mouth as it comes out of the bottle from the speed, "Oh my God your getting beer in my hair." Kie complained as John B shielded his face from the downpour of beer.
"Want some Em?" JJ asked sarcastically as he aimed the bottle at her, beer going all over her face as she yelled in protest, "Stop! JJ stop it!" She said through her laughter.
"Alright, alright stop!" Pope said as JJ continued to get beer all over the boat. Suddenly the boat came to stop and Gemma and JJ flew over the front of the boat. JJ did a full front flip while Gemma flew into the water headfirst. Everyone on the boat yelled as they scrambled to the side of the boat, trying to see if the pair were okay. Gemma resurfaced, her arms flapping about wildly as she panted heavily. JJ also resurfaced at the other side of the boat groaning.
"You okay guys?" John B asked as Kie helped Gemma back onto the boat and JJ stayed floating in the water a bit longer, "I think my heels touched the back of my head." JJ replied, before slowly swimming back to the boat.
"Pope what did you do?" JJ asked, making his way back to the boat. Gemma tried to regain some consciousness as she laid on the boat before propping herself up to look in the water. She froze. She could have sworn she just saw something glistening at the bottom of the water, she squinted her eyes. It was a boat.
"Guys there's a boat down here." She said loud enough to shut everyone up as they came over to see what she was looking at, "No way." John B said as he leant over the boat to get a better look. There was no mistaking what Gemma saw, "she's right." Kie said as the others began to get excited at the idea of finding a boat. Gemma didn't hesitate, diving over the side of the boat and into the water, shortly followed by everybody else. She swam down as far as she could go, not stopping until she reached the boat. It was beautiful. It couldn't have been here long, must've sunk in the storm she thought before swimming back up to the surface.
"Did you see that?" Gemma gasped out as she reached the surface, turning to Kie who looked just as excited as her, "Yeah I did." She said as the rest of the boys also got to the surface, splashing about in the water wildly from the sudden rush of adrenaline.
"That's a Grady white. A new one of those is like 500 g's easy." JJ said as they all swam back to the boat. Gemma couldn't stop thinking of the money. What could be on the boat, must be worth a lot. She and JJ could use money like that right now. They needed it now more than ever.
"Yeah, that's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge." John B said as Gemma and JJ exchanged surprised glances, "you surfed the surge?" Kie asked, John B didn't seem to be paying much attention though.
"You surfed the surge last night as well?!" JJ asked excitedly, his voice drowning out Kie's. John B turned to JJ, confused at first, "You were on the surge last night as well?" John B asked as JJ gave him a high five. Gemma almost felt left out, she surfed the surge as well, it was actually her idea.
"Me and Em, I thought only she was crazy enough to do something like that." JJ said as John B laughed, turning to Gemma and giving her a high five as well, "Yeah, pogue style." JJ said as Kie was still trying to take in what was going on.
"What the hell." She said faintly, not wanting to cause trouble but clearly shocked by how stupid the others were. Surfing in the surge. They must have a death wish is what she thought.
☀︎
The sun was still shining as always and Gemma had finally for once been the first to the hammock at John B's house. So there she laid, slightly swaying in the breeze with the distance commotion of her friends discussing what? Gemma didn't care. She got the feeling that the whole thing with the boat was trouble and she didn't want anything ruining her summer. Best to stay out of it she thought. She knew things were going sour when John B found a key on the boat which led to a room with money and a gun. A gun which of course JJ just had to have.
Gemma only really began paying attention when she heard the magic word, "kegger." She wasn't even sure who said it but she got up from the hammock so quick that it scared all of them.
"Someone's suddenly interested?" Pope said sarcastically as Gemma shoved him slightly, sitting down next to him, eyes wide with excitement, "A kegger you say?" Gemma says, making Kie laugh. A kegger was the island version of a party. The best kind of party there was in Gemma's eyes. It was an annual kind of thing with pogues, kooks and even the occasional tourist. Gemma didn't mind that it was a mixed bag if people however, she liked it. It usually made things more exciting, more chance to meet people you have never met before.
There had been many times where JJ or John B had to practically drag Gemma home because she was so drunk. But most of the time it was just John B or pope having to deal with two extremely wasted Maybanks. That's why neither John B or Pope were excited to hear that Gemma would be going to the kegger this year as well.
"Come on don't look at me like that?" Gemma says, teasing Pope who has a face as if she'd just ripped his favourite childhood teddy's head off right in front of his face.
"Well don't be getting too excited, after today we are just laying low so no funny business." John B said sternly, if there is one thing you should never do to Gemma, it's tell her what to do. It only makes things much worse.
"I would never B, besides I'm going to get ready now." Gemma said before leaving into the house and going to her room. It was John B's old room but since his dad went missing he had been sleeping in his room so Gemma got his old one. Once she got in there, she rummaged through her closet, she knew exactly what she wanted to wear. She could almost see it in her minds eye. It was her favourite pink and red top, she had bought it with her own money that she earned from her own job from a very expensive shop in figure 8 on the island. She was so proud of it and considered it her lucky top. Where the hell was it?
Gemma was getting rather frustrated now, throwing her clothes all over the room as she frantically searched for the pretty red and patterned fabric. It wasn't here- it wasn't here. Her mind was racing for some reason. There was only one more possible place it could be. Her house. Not here. Her house.
That's when she remembered, the last time she wore it was around four weeks ago when she had been going to a party, when she got there it was trash and everyone was not only hammered but high. It reminded her of her house and somehow she ended up there.
If it wasn't already clear, Gemma acted on instinct and most of the time they weren't the best. The party had reminded her of her house and her dad, so she went there. She found her dad asleep on the couch as usual, she found her room in the sate she had last left it in. Nothing had changed. Quite literally nothing. Not since she was the age of seven and her and JJ were still sharing a room.
The walls still painted half pink and half blue, even though the paint was beginning to peel off. Her old teddies still sprawled across the bed. JJ's old surfboard still leant against the wall. His trophy's still on the shelves. Gemma's posters still on the walls. It reminded her of the way things used to be so she slept there. In the same bed her and JJ would hide under when they were little. Despite the walls being full to the bring with bad memories, it was also painted with the best ones and Gemma found comfort in that. She must have left the top there then.
Gemma didn't want to think too much about her house or else she would talk herself out of not going so instead she just left, out of the front door so nobody would notice and drove Pearl to her house.
Once she got to the door, she stopped. She listened for any kind of movement in the house, any sign that her dad was home. No movement. Gemma opened the door as slowly and carefully as possible. It creaked, loud. Gemma rushed to shut it, not wasting any time and heading straight for her room. The house seemed empty. As soon as Gemma walked into the room she spotted the top, laying on her bed screwed up into a ball. She hurried to get it, not wanting to spend any more time than she had to here. That's when she spotted something.
It was a picture frame. A photo of her and JJ when they were around 8 and 7. They looked so happy, so young and oblivious. They were at the beach, each holding a surfboard and smiling wildly, teeth and all. Gemma smiled at the picture before grabbing it and shoving it under her shoulder with the top.
She turned around to leave, only to see someone stood in the doorway. Her father. He looked drunk. And high.
"Stealing from your old man now?" He asked. Definitely drunk Gemma thought as she tried to walk past him, he didn't let her, "It belongs to me and JJ." She said, not even looking him in the eyes.
"Nothing in this house belongs to you or JJ." He spat, still not letting Gemma past when she tried to get away from him. He tried to take the picture from her, yanking on the frame hard. No. Gemma was not letting him have this, not this picture. It was hers.
"Give me the picture you brat!" He yelled, pulling on the frame harder this time. Gemma still didn't let it go, she was determined to keep the photo. She couldn't let go, it was as though her hands had become super glued to it, "No!" She yelled back, she never yelled at her father. Never. It seemed to have shocked him too because he let go of the frame. Gemma looked up at him slowly, unsure as to why he let go. She looked into his eyes just in time to see his hand flying towards her face, making contact with her left cheek, hard. Gemma stumbled backwards, dropping the photo as she fell. She looked at it, glass shattered on the floor around the two children smiling innocently at the beach. Nothing is the same anymore she thought as she looked back at her father with tears in her eyes.
"Your pathetic, just like your mother." He said, kicking the remainder of the frame and broken glass at Gemma, she reached to grab the photo but only cut her hand on the glass on the floor. Her father scoffed and walked way. He hated her, he always had. She reminded him too much of her mother. When she left him he blamed JJ just because he was being a kid, no kid is easy to take care of. It was her own fault she couldn't handle that. After she left she saw her in Gemma and it made him more bitter, only reminded him of what he lost and what he could have had. Before that things weren't perfect, but they were better.
Gemma ignored the feeling of the glass in her skin, she picked the photo up from the floor and got up, not forgetting her top. Her lucky top. And with that she left. She left her house.