Azlia

"I hope you fall." I say to one of my best friends as he walks across the ledge of a building.

"That's what, a three-story fall to the deck, I give you about a one in one chance of survival."

Pope says looking up at John B.

"Hm." I all he says. He licks his finger and puts it in the air to tell which way the wind is blowing. "Should I do it?" He ask looking down at us.

"Yeah, you should jump, i'll shoot you on the way down." Pope says aiming a drill at John B.

"You'll shoot me?" John B ask. He makes a gun with his hand and points down at Pope. "Pow!" He says.

"They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers." Kie says as she makes her way out of the unfinished house.

"Wait are you serious?" I ask Kie. She sits down next to me and continues on.

"This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles I guess?" She says with a scoff.

"I can't have cold towels." JJ says from right above me. He was leaning over the railing with a beer in his hand. I wiggle my fingers up at him and he wiggles his down at mine.

"Can you please not kill yourself?" Kie ask as she looks up at JB performing his stunt.

"Don't spill that beer. I'm not giving you another one!" JJ yells up at him.

John B puts his foot down and the beer falls out of his hand and onto the floor.

"Oh shit." He breaths out.

"Of course you did like right when I told you not to." JJ scoffs taking a sip of his beer.

"Dumbass." I tease up at John B. He gives me his middle finger and I give him mine back.

I hear a door slam and I face towards where Popes standing. "Hey!" I hear someone yell.

"Hey, uh, security's here, lets wrap it up." Pope says as he taps on the railing twice.

"Boys are early today." John B says still standing at the top of the house.

"Humpty Dumpty, lets roll." JJ calls out to JB.

I lift myself up and climb over the railing.

"Lets go, boys and girls." Kie says before taking off.

"Gary is that you?" I hear JJ yell."

"Gary, good to see you." He says.

"Your asking for it." I say as JJ lowers himself down from the top of the railing.

We all yell and laugh as we run in the house getting away from the cops that were chasing us. I run right behind JJ and come to a quick halt and when almost falls down the steps and dodges one of the cops reaching for him.

"Get'em! They're coming your way!" The cop screams. He tries to grab JJ but he quickly yanks himself away from his grabs. "Not much of a hugger." JJ says.

"Go Pope, go go go go!" JJ yells at Pope as soon as we get to a fence.

Pope jumps over the fence and so does JJ. He turns around and helps me jump down gen fence. I look at Pope and see him laying on the floor.

JJ and I both laugh before helping him up. "Get up Pope, Fatso's coming." JJ says.

"Bus is leaving." John B yells honking the horn.

The three of us sprint to the bus and hop in one by one.

"Check our Gary, gunning for a raise." Pope says after he settles him self in. Everyone but John B turn around and see Gary running after the van.

"Wait! slow down." JJ yells sticking his body out of the van.

"You're gonna give him a heart attack." Kie says out loud. I laugh at her words and she laughs a long with me.

"Your so close. You can do. There you go." JJ was teasing Gary with a beer. He throws the beer and Gary catches it. "They don't pay you enough, bro." JJ adds on.

"Okay JJ, I think he lost." I say pulling him back into the van. "Oh, come on. That sort of initiative is just begging to be punished." JJ laughs.

The rest of the ride back to Outer Banks we just laugh and sing along to music.

~

John B and I were down at the coast when we saw on the TV that Hurricane Agatha was going to hit the Outer Banks.

"Holy shit." John B said to an old lady. she just shook her head.

We left the inside of the shop and stood on the decks. The storm sirens started blaring already.

"Hurry call DCS." I say panicking. He quickly takes out his phone and dials the number.

A few seconds later he says something. "Yeah, uh, I think we're probably gonna have to reschedule." He says looking down at me with a smile. He sticks his hand out and we do our little hand shake.

About an hour later I went home. I heard the front door open and called out for my grandparents. "Gramps, is that you guys." I yell from upstairs.

"Yea, it's us baby, we made it here before the hurricane did." My grandma yells back.

I go downstairs and embrace them in a tight hug. My grandma is a white lady with still beautiful long hair and my grandpa is a black male with wonderful straight teeth and amazing 1960 stories.

"Well I'm gonna go upstairs and wait this storm out." I say pointing back upstairs.

"And we will do the same." My grandma says.

I walk back up to my room and tuck my self into bed. I listen to the thunder and rain as sleep takes over my body.

~

I wake up to a tapping noise coming from my window. I slowly get up and walk over to it. I open the curtains and see John B and JJ. JJ was bending down looking for more rocks and I open my window. JJ looks back up and throws another rock and it hits me right on my forehead. JJ's mouth drops open. "Sorry." He says innocently.

I look out past my backyard and see the mess the hurricane had caused. I look towards the dock and see JB's boat waiting there. I look down at both the boys.

"Give me five minutes." I say closing my window.

I got to my dresser and pick out a pink bikini. I put it on and then throw on an oversized shirt and some light wash shorts. I put my hair in a bun not worrying how it looks. A few curls stuck out here and there. I put my sunglasses on top of my head and went downstairs.

"My gramps left a note saying they were at the Cameron's and I put a little smiley face to let them know I saw the note for when they get back. I make my way to the back door and shut it behind me.

"Well good morning, sunshine." JJ says in a country ancient. I give him a glare but them smile at him. He helps me up on the boat and pushes it out into the water before getting in.

"Where's gramps." John B ask.

"Cameron's." I say squinting my face. He laughs at my actions.

We decided to pick up Pope first since he was the closet.

"Wow." Is all I can say as I look at all the debris in the water. I see some dolphins swinging and admire them.

"Hi miss Amy! You guys get through it?" JJ says waving.

"Still here." Miss Amy says back.

"She totally looked at me." JJ says with confidence.

"I saw it." JB and I say in unison.

We ride for a few minutes later until we arrive at Popes house. He was spraying off the deck.

"Well look who we have here?" John B says parking the boat. "We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory." He says as if he's talking into a walkie talkie.

"I can't. My pops got me on lockdown." Pope says.

"Oh come on." I whine.

"Your dads a pussy, over." JJ says into his shoulder. I gently slap his ass for him to be nice. He laughs and winks at me.

"Oh I heard that, you little bastard." Heyward says walking over to us.

I make a face already knowing it's about to go down.

"We need you son." JB says to Popes dad. "Yea and Island rules. Day after a Hurricane a free day." JJ adds in.

"Who the hell made that up?" He ask.

The three of them all point to me.

"We have security clearance, plus JJ has a card." I say with a convincing smile.

"Y'all think I'm stupid." Heyward huffs.

"I'll do it tomorrow. I promise tomorrow." Pope cuts in.

"Get in the boat." JB whisper yells. "Make a run for it." I say.

Pope drops the hoes and runs to the boat. The second he gets in John B starts moving it.

"Bring your ass back up here." Heyward demands.

"We'll bring him back in one piece." I say giving him a thumbs up.

"And I don't like your friends." Was the last thing Hayward said.

His last remark makes the four of us laugh.

After we pick up Kie we head to the Marsh.

She brought some beer and handed them out to us. I didn't drink mine.

"Let me show y'all a party trick." JJ says getting up. "Hey Pope can you go a little faster." He ask.

"Oh god here we go i'm moving." John B says moving to the other end of the boat.

JJ stands at the edge of the boat and pours the beer into his mouth. It starts splashing everywhere.

"Oh my god, your getting beer in our hair." Kie says as she covers both our heads.

"All right, you're done." JB says. "JJ, stop." I say shielding my face. "Stop." We all call out to JJ.

All of a sudden the bold comes to a sharp holt and we all fall. JJ goes flying over the boat doing a front flip.

"Ow." I say softly. "Jesse Pope." Kie says propping herself up.

"You okay JJ." John B ask as JJ pops out of the water.

"I think my heals touched the back of my head." He says. I let out a small laugh.

"You guys okay." John B ask us. We both do a thumbs up.

"Pope, what did you do?" JJ ask in pain.

"Sandbar. The channel changed." He says a little confused.

"No shit." JJ says frustrated.

"You okay." I ask him hovering over the boat.

He shakes his head yes and pulls his hair back, out of his face.

"Guys, I think there's a boat down there." Popes says look down at the water.

"Shut up." John B says.

"No way." Kie says.

I walked over to where he's standing and look down at a figure in the water.

"Shit guys, he's right." I say. I take off my shirt and shorts.

"Lets go." Kie says jumping in. I jump in after her. "Guys, wait up." Pope says taking off his stuff.

"Get your ass in here Pope." JJ yells.

"Come on." I say.

Pope jumps into the water and we all swim down towards the boat.

Soon we go back up to the surface.

"You guys saw that?" JJ ask breathing heavily.

"Yeah." We say with excitement.

We all laugh and are completely mind blown. We swim back to the boat and I put my shirt and shorts back on.

"That's a primo rig man." JJ says.

"Yeah. that's the boat I saw when K surfed the surge." John B says.

"You surfed the surge." Kie asked with concern.

JB shook his head yes. "Gnarly." I say hitting him on the stomach. "That's my boy. Pogue style." JJ says giving him a high five.

"Do you know who's boat that is?" Pope ask. "No, but we are about to find out." John B say pulling out a sort of anchor.

"Dude it's too deep." JJ says. "Oh for the week and feebles, JJ." John B groans.

"We'll I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front." JJ reassures.

"John B." Kie says.

"What?" He ask with a chuckle.

"Diver down, fool." Pope says saluting him.

"Diver down." John B does the same thing.

"Yeah, he is." JJ says pushing him over.

I let out a little pout towards JJ. "He'll be fine, princess." He says standing nest to me.

We were all lead over the boat waiting for him to come back up.

"Should we go get him?" Pope ask.

Not even a second letter John B come up to the surface.

"Oh my god that took forever!" Kie says.

"Ah, jeez." I say letting out a deep breath.

"Any dead bodies?"

"Looting potentials?"

Both boys ask.

"No No. I found this motel key." JB says holding up a key with a yellow tag.

It was quite for a second.

"Are you fucking kidding me." I say breaking the silence.

****

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