"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤?" Emerson groans, as she feels water droplets fall on her face. She reaches her arm out for John B, who isn't there.
"Bird?" Emerson shouts as she gets up from bed. "Over here! Get ready, we're going out to fish!" John B said, as he walked into the bedroom.
Emerson groans and stands up to use the bathroom and brush her teeth. She puts on a periwinkle bathing suit, and throws on one of John B's button up shirts with some jean shorts. She wears a pair of flip flops, and finds John B and JJ already waiting for her on the boat.
"Took you long enough princess." JJ said as they headed off to pick up Pope and Kie.
···
"Hi Miss. Amy! You guys get through it?" John B asked. "Still here!"
"She totally looked at me." JJ said with a smile. "You have a serious problem, you should go get that fixed." Emerson comments. JJ glares at her and Emerson gives him a sarcastic smile.
"Agatha, what did you do?"
"She's a crazy lady."
"Hardcore, hurricane surge." they all said at once. "We'll be cleaning this all summer." JJ groans.
"That is my nightmare." Emerson and John B said at the same time.
"Well look who we have here. We have a safety meeting, attendance mandatory." John B said like he was using a walkie talkie. "I can't, my pops got me on lockdown." Pope replied.
"Come on man. Your dad's a pussy. Over." JJ said doing the same walkie talkie impersonation. "Oh, I heard that, you little bastard." Heyward said.
"Heyward!" Emerson jumps off the boat to give him a hug. "Hey sweetie, how're you holding up?" he asks, kissing her head.
"I'm holding up pretty well." she smiles as she hops back into the boat with John B and JJ.
"We need your son." John B said. "Yeah and island rules, day after a hurricane is a free day." JJ said from the front of the boat. "Who the hell made that up?"
"Uh, the Pentagon, I think. We have security clearance. I have a card." JJ said as Emerson smacks the back of his head.
"Y'all think I'm stupid?" Heyward asks. "No, but JJ is for thinking you are." Emerson says and Heyward smiles at the girl. Although Heyward doesn't like Pope's friends, the one friend he absolutely loves and adores is Emerson. I mean, how could you not?
"I'll do it tomorrow, I promise."
"You think... no, no, hell no. You doing it right now."
"Get in the boat." John B whispers. "Make a run for it." JJ said. Emerson didn't want to get on Heyward's bad side, so she just kept quiet and enjoyed the show.
"Boy if you get in that boat. Bring your ass back up here!" Heyward shouts as Pope climbs into the boat. "I promise I'll do it tomorrow dad. I promise."
"When you get back, you're gonna clean shrimp, you're gonna clean fish, you'll clean your dirty-ass room! And I don't like your friends!" Heyward shouts as they get farther and farther away.
"What about me?" Emerson shouts, a bit hurt since she didn't encourage anything. "Let me rephrase, I don't like your friends except for Emerson!" he shouts and Emerson smiles and makes a heart with her hands.
"Dude, my dad literally loves Em more than he loves me." Pope said to the three as they pull up to Kie's dock.
"Oh, top o' the mornin' to ya." John B said in an accent. Emerson giggled as Kie hopped onto the boat. "Morning boys, and girl." she said as she looks at Emerson who was smiling. Kie handed everyone a beer, except for Pope as they began to head off into the marsh.
···
"Lemme show you a party trick." JJ said as he asked Pope to go a little faster. John B already knew what to expect so he moved to the back of the boat. "It doesn't work we've tried this like 6,000 times."
As JJ was doing his 'party trick' he was getting beer in Emerson and Kie's hair. "All right, you're done." Emerson said as she went up to take the beer out of his hands. Just as she took the beer away, the boat came to a sudden stop which made Emerson and JJ fly off the boat.
"Jeez Pope!"
"Ugh."
"You okay JJ?" John B asked. "I think my heels touched the back of my head." he replied.
"Girls, you okay?" John B asked the girls. Little did he know, Emerson wasn't even on the boat. "I'm all right." Kie responded.
"Bubba?" John B asked when he didn't get a reply. There was still no answer and everyone started to panic. "Can you see her down there JJ?" Kie asked. JJ couldn't see anything from where he was.
Right when Kie asked that, Emerson emerged from below and started coughing all the water that entered her lungs. "Holy crap, what the fuck Pope?" she tried to say as she continued to cough. JJ came over to help her, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kept coughing.
"Sandbar. The channel changed." Pope said to everyone. "No shit." Emerson said annoyed. "Ugh this is probably gonna mess this whole place up."
"Wait, guys. I think there's a boat down there." Pope said as John B and Kie helped Emerson back onto the boat. "Shut up. No way." they all said. "No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there." he said as everyone looked over the edge to find a sunken boat. "Holy shit, he's right. Let's go."
"You stay here." John B said to Emerson as he took his shirt off and jumped into the water. Emerson watched as everyone went under water to check out the boat.
"You guys saw that right?" JJ asked everyone, as they all said 'yeah.' "That's a Grady-White. A new one of those is like 500 G's, easy. That's a primo rig."
"Hold up, a Grady-White?" Emerson asked. "Yeah, that's the boat I saw where I surfed the surge." John B said and immediately regretted it.
"Hang on, you were surfing the surge while I was scared out of my mind in a bathtub?" Emerson shouted, annoyed. Kie could sense her getting really mad, so she went over and put an arm around her shoulder.
"That's my boy. Pogue style." JJ laughed as Emerson flicked his head and glared at him. "I'm sorry Bubba." John B said as he hugged the girl and kissed her forehead. "You're an idiot." she mumbled under her breath. so that John B couldn't hear. After awhile, John B went down to the Grady-White again with an anchor, only to find a motel key.
"Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard." Kie said. "Maybe we'll get a finder's fee!" Emerson finished her sentence, excitedly.
"Yeah, and not work all summer. Thanks, Agatha, ya batch." JJ said as they drove off.
···
"I thought the Chateau looked bad." JJ whistled as they pulled up to the motel to find out who owned the Grady-White.
"This place is a shitshow."
"Motel or meth lab?"
"You be the judge."
The motel had mattresses everywhere, the sign of the motel was on the ground, just overall it did not look like someone with a Grady-White would stay. More like a someone with a Grady-White would get killed.
"This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing." JJ said as he hopped off the boat to tie the boat in place. "All right, here goes nothing." John B said as he hopped off the boat. "You coming Em?"
"Uh sure?" she hesitated as JJ helped her off the boat. "Hey Em?" Pope said as she hopped off the boat. "Yeah?"
"Don't let him do anything stupid." Pope said as he pointed at JJ. "No promises." Emerson replied as she began to walk towards JJ.
"Uh, be careful. I mean it." Kie said as she handed John B the motel key. Emerson, JJ, and Pope all gave each other confused looks. "Yeah, let's go." John B said as he began walking away from the boat.
···
"Just be so careful, John B." JJ impersonates Kie. Emerson can't help but roll her eyes as she follows them from behind. She's always had this thing for John B, but we all know the rule. Plus, she wasn't sure if John B had felt the same.
"Gosh, you're so weird." John B pushes JJ away. "What was that about?" JJ asks him. "I don't know, maybe she wants us to be careful!" John B says like he's stating the obvious.
"Since she's heard you're being threatened by exile, she's just been, like, 'Oh! Be so careful John B. Just give me that John D already.' When are you gonna swoop on that man?" JJ says as Emerson rolls her eyes again from their immaturity. She's pretty sure they forgot she was there too. "Bro, you know the rule. No Pogue-on-Pogue macking." John B said as he looks at Emerson, who's just looking at the ground.
"Can you guys do me a favor and shut up? I don't really like you guys talking about my best friend like that." Emerson finally speaks up. "What, are you jealous or something?" JJ asks which makes Emerson flick his forehead.
"Hm, I don't know. Maybe I just don't like you two talking about getting with my best friend in front of me? Like you know I'm still here, right? Y'all can have boy talk later, right now we should be focusing on whoever owned that Grady-White." she snapped. Right as she finished her sentence, they arrived at the door they were looking for.
"Housekeeping." JJ said in a high-pitched voice. "Just go, would you?" Emerson said as she put the key through the keyhole.
···
After trying to figure out who owned the expensive boat, John B happened to open a safe with a load of cash and a gun, along with an envelope.
"Uh, JJ? Em?" John B said in shock. "Hm?"
"Holy shit." Emerson said as she saw what was in the safe. "Dude, dude, dude!" JJ said excitedly as he grabbed the gun. "JJ put the gun down, are you that stupid?" Emerson whisper-shouted at JJ.
Emerson was never the type to be afraid of guns. Growing up, she would be at the police station a lot because of her dad who worked there. The police all love her, and she's especially really close with Sheriff Peterkin. Since she's really close with all the police, she never really found fear in guns.
"Just take a pic of me. Right here." JJ said. "You want me to take a picture of you? You wanna make our own incriminating evidence? Is that what you're talking about." John B said at him.
"Wait guys, shh." Emerson said as she went to the window to see what the sound was. Turns out, cops were basically right outside the door.
"Shit, guys. Cops." Emerson said as her and the two boys started to panic. "Window!" John B whispered-shouted, as they heard the cops say they were coming in. They all climbed out the window, John B and Emerson on one side and JJ on the other side.
"What're you guys doing?" Pope whisper-shouted from the HMS Pogue. John B put a finger to his lips to tell them to stay quiet, as Emerson was freaking out on the inside. Yeah she might be close to the cops, but she could still get in trouble if she got caught.
"Everything's gonna be okay. Remember, don't believe everyting you think. We'll be fine." John B said to Emerson and she can't help but smile. Big John always used to tell her that when she got scared of the thunder outside. She would always think that the house would get struck and catch on fire, or she would somehow get struck.
As John B held onto Emerson, he peeked through the blinds to see the cops taking the money for themselves. "What the f... Do you believe..." JJ's sentence was cut short when he accidentally knocked the gun out of his pockets.
"You took the fucking gun?" Emerson whisper-shouted as John B held her closer to him, and as far away from the window as possible. All of a sudden, they hear the blinds open and there stood Shoupe. Emerson started to panic, but John B held her waist tighter and told her everything would be alright. Before they knew it, Shoupe said no one was there and that they were leaving to the other officer.
···
"Well that was fun. Could have warned us a little sooner." JJ said. "We would've, except Pope was on the math team."
"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." Pope said, trying to change the subject on him being on the math team. "Did you guys find anything?"
"Did we find anything, no I don't think so." JJ said as he raises some cash and the gun. "What the hell? Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope asked annoyed. Emerson sat next to John B as she sighed. He put his hand on hers to comfort her.
Everyone was quiet for the rest of the ride, as JJ was getting excited over a gun like it was his Christmas present.
···
author's note: [word count: 2196]
i hope you enjoyed this chapter :) writing these chapters takes awhile. a lot longer than I thought.