SCOOTER GRUBBS
"Well that was fun." JJ chuckled once they got back onto the boat. "Could have warned us a little sooner." He was laid at the front of the boat, who his arm around River, pulling her as close as possible to him.
The pads of his fingers had began to draw patterns into her soft skin. She rested her head on his chest and allowed her eyes to flutter open and closed at the soothing feeling that his fingers on her skin brought her.
"We would have, except Pope was on the math team." Kie shrugged. River stifled a laugh.
"You were on the math team?" JJ questioned raising his brow. His tone was almost comical, as if he was trying to make a joke.
"The math team? Seriously?" River questioned furrowing her brows as she looked at Pope.
It wan't like she couldn't imagine it, the boy was a genius, there was no suprise that he was on the math team. The thing that surprised her the most was that he wasn't the captain of the math team.
"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene. Did you guys find anything." Pope questioned, completely ignoring the question.
River sat up slightly, she pulled JJ's arm so he'd sit up with her. He rested his head on her shoulder and allowed a teasing grin to form on his face.
"Did we find anything?" The blonde boy paused and dug into his pockets. "No, I don't think so." JJ joked before he held up a wad of cash and a gun. "Oh yeah, we did." He smirked.
"What the-" Pope got cut off by River. John B couldn't help but laugh quietly.
"JJ, what the fuck is that?" River snapped angrily. "When did you take that?-Why did you take that?"
The girl pulled herself away from JJ and went to sit beside John B. The dark haired boy wrapped his arm around her and allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder.
John B was like a brother to the girl and often brought her a lot of comfort. All the pogues did, they were her family. She couldn't imagine them not being in her life.
"Dude chill. Come on." JJ stood up and went over to Pope, clenching his jaw at the fact that River had moved away from him.
"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope questioned, his eyes widening in panic.
"Better than the cops having it." JJ defended himself, with a small shrug.
Everyone looked towards John B, he was the only one who hadn't said anything yet. Despite the huge smug grin on his face, he was trying to comfort River.
"You serious?" Kie asked John B who has a huge smile on his face.
"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope panicked, his eyes became wide.
River felt bad for Pope, she knew how much that scholarship meant to him. It would be the only way he was going to get into college, without that he'd have to give up his chance at college and probably work full time in the store with his dad.
"JJ what the fuck is wrong with you?" River scoffed. "You shouldn't have taken that money. It's not yours. As for the gun. You're a fucking-"
"River, angel, I've got this all under control just chill." JJ shook his head and turned to face Pope. "Hey, shhh, shh, shh. At least you have us right?" JJ wrapped his arms around Pope's shoulders.
"I'm living a nightmare." Pope said as he went to sit back down.
River leant over John B and grabbed Pope's hand, giving it a light a reassuring squeeze. There was no way in hell that Pope wasn't getting that scholarship, he deserved it more than any one.
"Pope, you're not gonna loose your scholarship. I promise." River reassured the boy after taking a deep breath and sending a sharp glare to JJ one last time.
After a short while, the five of them pulled up to the docks in time to see the paramedics wheeling a body on the gurney.
"Who's that?" John B questioned a random girl. JJ stood on a box, River jumped up and sat on the ledge next to John B. JJ's hand rested on her thigh as she fiddled with the ring on his thumb.
Despite her being mad at him because of his stupidity, he still knew exactly when to comfort her and when to stand by her. He didn't care how mad she was at him, he preferred to be by her side.
"It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm." She answered. "Check out this pick I got." She showed John B and River. "Dead body." She boasted.
River gagged and covered her mouth. She felt sick to her stomach. How could one just take a photo of him dead, without even thinking twice or feeling sick.
"Insane." Kie mumbled.
"Holy shit." JJ mumbled. "What kind of boat did he have?" He asked curiously, wondering if it was the same boat that the pogues had found.
"Somehow, that dirt bag dipped a brand new Grady-white. Everyone's out looking for it." She answered honestly.
Everyone shared an anxious look, the fact that they had found Scooter's boat was enough to tip River over the edge.
"Excuse me." River said as she looked at the paramedics wheeling the gurney into the ambulance.
The girl ran away covering her mouth and clutching her stomach. She pushed past everyone to get to the closest bathroom. Instantly, she locked the cubicle door and began to vomit.
JJ wasn't too far behind the girl. He didn't care if he walked into the girls bathroom. River needed him and he'd do anything for her, even if that meant publicly embarrassing himself.
"Ri." He knocked on the only locked stall. A few girls gave him a weird look and left. "Open up baby."
River pulled the flush, wiped her mouth and unlocked the door but didn't move from her spot on the floor. She leant over the toilet seat.
"I don't know what happened." She mumbled, gagging again. JJ slid his way into the stall and locked the door. He gathered River's hair in his hand. He tried his hardest to put it into a plait, something that she had tried to teach him multiple times. "I just couldn't look at him."
"It's okay Ri, you don't have to explain yourself to me." JJ reassured the girl, after plaiting her hair, he rubbed soothing circles on her back until she felt well enough to return to the others.
The group were at John B's now and River sat on the arm of JJ's chair. He was flicking a lighter open and shut, while River combed her fingers through his hair, it was more soothing for her than it was for him. She begged him to let her plait it. But he said no.
When he sleeps over at hers, on the rare occasion he lets her plait his hair and he tries to do hers. It never ends up working. He always ended up making her hair all knotty, but he said he wanted to learn for when he had his own daughter one day.
"Okay. So um, we didn't see anything. We don't know anything." Pope said as he walked onto the deck, taking a seat besides Kie. "We need to have total and complete amnesia."
"About what?" River asked innocently with a small childish smile.
She was trying to play off the anxiety by making jokes. It was her usual way of coping, but this time it completely went over Pope's head.
"About the-" Pope paused, he clicked his fingers before making finger guns and pointing towards River. "Good. Just like that."
"That's my girl." JJ smirked looking up to the now blushing blonde, he paused for a moment before continuing, "Actually, Pope's right for once." JJ slowly stood up. "See I agree with you some times. Deny. Deny, deny."
"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kie stated.
River could tell that she felt guilty. The money wasn't theirs, heck, they didn't even know if it was Scooters. Nobody knew where the money came from, and now they never would.
"Okay, not all of us can afford unlimited date plans, Kiara." JJ said, resting on the ledge as he turned to look at the girl, his brows knitted together as she spoke.
"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma." Kie shrugged, she was a big believer in karma.
"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too. We gotta go dark." Pope agreed with the brunette.
River ran her tongue over her bottom lip, taking in all the different outcomes and trying to figure out which one would be best for them. She looked up to JJ, knowing that he wanted to keep the money, she knew that he needed it too. But then she looked at Kie, she didn't need the money but she knew it wasn't the right thing to do to keep the money.
"If that means we get to keep the money. Then I agree." JJ said as he paced around before looking out at the water.
"I don't agree." John B stated, placing his hand on JJ's shoulder before slowly walking away and going to stand beside where River was sat.
"What? Why?" JJ questioned, shocked that his best friend wasn't with him on this.
"Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Alright, same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole." John B paused. "Shit, one time we saw this dude begging for change at the Save-A-Lot parking lot." He motioned to River. "Because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'" John B shrugged.
River didn't want to keep the money, but she understood where JJ was coming from. He needed that money, more than the others. He needed money in order to eat, pay his fathers bills, everything. Not that he'd want to admit that to anyone.