CHAPTER TEN
↪DIVER DOWN↩
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AFTER BEING FRIENDS with JJ for almost a decade, The Pogues (aside from Lyssa) should probably know to not listen to JJ's absurd plans. They were the root of all their troubles, constantly getting them into trouble and landing the five into dangerous situations.
JJ Maybank's master plan consisted of John B (unsurprisingly) stealing (again) from John B's job, which was helping Ward Cameron (someone who basically owned half the island) with all his expensive boating equipment. But in order to get down to the cargo hold and see if there was anything important, and with the time it took to reach the sunken ship, there was no way they were going to free-dive like earlier ... so in conclusion they needed to steal the scuba gear and one of them were going to die.
"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kie stated bluntly, dropping the oxygen tank down and picking up another one, "Okay, okay. This one's a...quarter full. That's enough for one of us."
Pope kicked his feet up against the boat engine as he muttered, "Love it when a plan comes together."
Kie sighed disappointedly, "Does anybody know how to dive?" she looked at them in hopes they had an undiscovered secret they had to share with the rest of the group in the time in need. Lyssa, JJ and John B glanced at one another, pointing fingers like children in hopes they'll volunteer for the job. "Anybody?"
"It's...kind of a Kook sport." JJ told her bashfully, followed by a chorus of disappointed sighs from the group.
"I read about it." Pope confessed with a stutter, causing Kie to throw her hands in the air with a groan and declare whoever was going to dive was doomed for death.
"Look," JJ began, glancing at the tanks. "You...you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?"
"If you come up too fast, Nitrogen gets in your blood and you get the bends." Pope explained, blinking at JJ expressionlessly. Lyssa and JJ glanced at one another, only connecting the word in their mind with one thing.
"Bend. Like... bend over and..." They both had cheeky grins on their faces.
Pope interrupted the two, quickly shutting them down. "The bends kill you."
"Right."
"Oh."
"How much did you guys smoke today?" Kie asked bashfully, staring at the two.
"Believe or not, nothing." JJ spoke earnestly.
"I can do it." The four remaining friends turned to look at Lyssa who remain glancing at the at the equipment. Her eyes trained on the meter stuck on the quarter mark. She blinked and looked at them, nodding her head. "I'm the best swimmer here. And worse comes to worse I can hold my breath. Wiping out from surfing and all that. Can't be-"
"What? Hell no." JJ interrupted, looking at the curly-haired girl as if she was crazy. "You never dived a day in your life."
"Thanks for stating the obvious, J."
"You're not doing it. You're going to get yourself killed, dumbass -"
"-Really? Who's the one that said we got nothing to lose?" She mimicked, her face twisting up as the two bickered. "I'm not going to die. I'll be fine."
"I agree with JJ, Lyssa you aren't diving." Kie butted in.
"What? No, Kie don't agree with him, you're suppose to be on my side." She remarked. "I'll be fine. I've got this. It'll be fun."
"Fun? Because dying is so much fun." JJ rolled his eyes. "I'll be sure to throw an entire party at your funeral."
"That's very much appreciated. What are some kind words?"
JJ shrugged. "I told her not to, but she wanted to be a dumbass. How's that?"
"Perfect. Just the perfect amount of sentimentally."
"I can dive," John B interrupted, stopping Lyssa and JJ from arguing any further. Everyone knew they'll keep arguing even if it didn't make any sense, they'd waste all the entire oxygen in the Earth to make their point across. "Yeah. I can dive."
Kie nearly broke her neck to look at the brunette boy. "Since when?"
"You can dive. I'm cool with that." JJ agreed, knowing damn well his best friend didn't dive. Lyssa stared at him wide-eyed, confused on how his mind had changed remarkably fast from her deciding to dive. "What?" He raised his hands in the air, locking eyes with her. "I'm just saying, I got more to lose. John B's a diver at heart."
"Great, so it's fine for Johnny to go diving, but not me."
John B nudged Lyssa with his elbow. "I'll do it. It's fine."
Pope sighed, "Let me to do some calculations real quick, Lyssa." He directed his attention to the curly-haired girl, who stopped her glaring contest with JJ to look at him. "You got your notebook?" She nodded her head, pulling her notebook and a pen out of her bag. Instead of handing the book to him ( and giving a million excuses to look at the contents of her book, which he as well as the others always wanted to see what was inked on the papers) she ripped a piece of paper out and handed to him along with the pen. He thanked her before immediately getting right to work. "The boats about...thirty feet down." He told the group. "So it'll take about twenty five minutes at that depth, which means...you need to make your safety stop at about ten feet. Alright? For two minutes."
Without a word, Kie lifted her top over her head and dove into the water with the material clutched in her hand. Lyssa looked around the others, seeing they were just confused as she was - judging by the way their noses crinkled and John B's furrowed brows.
"What was all that about?"
Lyssa shrugged. "I don't know. But it was hot." she admitted, taking a seat.
"Yeah, I liked it. A lot." JJ raised his eyebrows as Pope and John B gave him weird looks. "So yeah...uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold." JJ directed his words to John B, stammering as he done so to clear the air from the awkwardness. "You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?" John B nodded his head, repeating the instructions he was give. "Yeah, my dad moved weight back in the day."
"Who didn't?" Pope questioned rhetorically, interrupted by Kie resurfacing.
Lyssa moved away from the boys, offering her hand out to the other girl as she swam back to the boat and called out the group for their attention. "Thanks, Lizzy." Kie breathed out to the girl appreciatively as she was pulled back up to the boat, earning a harsh glare in return. "I tied my t-shirt to the anchor about ten feet down. It's where you need to make your safety stop."
Pope grabbed the gauge, telling John B to check it frequently. "You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress," he explained.
"Okay, how much do I need?"
"Unclear," Pope paused. "Breathe as little as possible."
"Zen. Think zen, you know?" JJ imitated breathing with the mask before patting John B's shoulder.
"Think zen?" questioned Lyssa. "That's the worst possible advice given in history. Great going, J."
"Hey!" Pope interrupted, "if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed so.."
"Copy that."
Kie pushed by the boys and Lyssa to get to John B. She stopped for a second before her lips met his cheek, placing a tender kiss. The others scrunched their faces up in disgust and confusion. "Gimme that John D." JJ muttered to Lyssa. She tucked her bottom lip between her teeth to suppress her laughter.
"Diver down?" Kie muttered.
John B, obviously fazed by the kiss as the others, blinked slowly. "Diver down."