Azlia

The five of us all went to the beach and set up the Kegger. JB poured us all drinks and before we knew it people started showing up and it was getting dark.

I was sitting on a high tree stump with my cup of beer in my hand. It wasn't even half way gone. I felt someone presence and I looked over to see Rafe. We weren't friends at all but we didn't hate each other either. If Rafe was here that meant Sarah was here. Sarah and I are good friends, even though she did have an attitude, but I know her and Ki don't like each other.

"Yes, Rafe?" I ask. He lets out a little sigh. "Your grandma wanted me to tell you that her and your grandpa wouldn't be getting back him until tomorrow." He says taking a sip of his beer. I shake my head with my lips pierced together. He was about to say something else but I cut him off. "Bye." I say pushing myself off the stump and walking away.

I walk over to where everyone else is and stand next to JB and JJ. Just as Sarah and Topper, her Kook boyfriend were about to leave JJ stops them.

"Oh wait, hey, hey Sarah!" JJ yells. "Sarah can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage." He ask. John B and I stand beside him and watch.

"No, thanks." Sarah says. "Come on, is it not fancy enough for you?" JJ ask offended. "No, we were just leaving." She says. "Hey, you know what, i'll take it." Topper steps in. "That's nice, but I didn't ask you, if you said pretty please maybe, but you didn't." JJ says. "Oh, pretty please?" Topper laughs.

"Yeah, Sarah." He says offering her the cup again. "She doesn't want it." Topper says slapping the cup out of JJ hands. All the beer covers my body and I stand there in shock for a few seconds. "Topper!" Sarah yells.

JJ looks back at me and then Topper. "Motherfucker." JJ says grabbing Toppers collar and pushing him back. "No no no no." JB says holding JJ back.

Ki grabs my hand and pulls me to where she was standing. "Is it in your eyes?" She ask trying to get the bear out of my face. I shake my head no and she holds my hand.

"You're so funny, man. Dirty Pogues!" Topper yells. Seconds Later John B pushes Topper. Pope tries cooling him down but Topper gets in the way and punches John B. Ki and I both let out loud gasp.

"Topper!" Sarah screams again. "Come on, B get up!" I yell. Topper continues kicking him in the water. "Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right." Topper yells. He kicks him one more time before John B gets up and tackles him in the water.

"John B, let it go!" Pope yells. Ki and I stand there in shock. I rub my hands through my hair and breath heavily. "Stop, you guys!" Ki yells. They continue throwing punches at each other's waist.

JB throws a punch at Topper and JJ and Pope cheer him on. "Come on, John B!" I yell. JJ and Pope run over to Ki and I and JJ holds my hand. They continue fighting and John B flips Topper over and throws him in the water. "Come on, Topper!" John B yells. Topper grabs on to John B and forces his head under water. "No! Stop" I yell. "Topper, stop!" Sarah yells.

He keeps showing John B's head in and out of the water. "He's drowning him." Pope Panics. "I know." Ki says. JJ hesitates before letting go of my hand and running over to his bag. He then runs over to Topper and points a gun at Toppers head. Everyone goes quiet before that start screaming and running away.

"Yeah, you know what that is, your movie, broski!" JJ yells at him. "JJ, no!" Pope yells. "JJ!" I yell. "JJ, what the hell." Ki yells.

"Put the gun down." Sarah says as we all walk closer to them. "Did you say something, princess?" JJ ask, still holding the gun to Toppers head. "We're good! We're good!" Topper repeated with his hands up in surrender. "Hey! Can you check your psycho friend, please." Sarah ask Ki and I. We both just flipped her off.

"Okay! Everyone listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!" JJ yells. He points the gun in the air and shoots two times. I flinch even though the bullets aren't near me. I look over and see John B fall in the water and I immediately run to him. I hear Pope and Ki yell at JJ for how dumb he is.

I pick his head up out of the water and move his hair from in his face. He's still breathing but he's knocked out. "Guys!" I yell getting their attention and they come rushing over.

~

It's the next day and JJ decided he was gonna stay at my house. I went to the bathroom and put on a whistle bikini that was a little fuzzy. I put on ripped blue shorts and just as i'm about to put my shirt on JJ bust through the door. He bends down at the toilet and starts throwing up. I sit down next to him and rub his back. After he finishes he flushes the toilet. I was about to put my shirt on over my bikini top but JJ takes it and wipes his mouth with it.

"JJ." I whine. "I like you without the shirt on." He says looking at my bikini top. "Cute top." He says in a girly voice. I stand up and flick him on the forehead. He frowns and rubs his head.

I walk over to my dresser and pick out a new shirt. JJ lays down in my bed and puts the covers over him. I put on the oversized shirt and hand JJ one of his swimming trunks. I force him out of the bed and he puts the shorts on.

We go down stairs and greet my gramps. JJ's already giving them a group hug before I can. I laugh and join the group hug.

"If you're sleeping over at JB's don't forget to call." My grandpa says. "Will do!" I yell before shutting the door. Before we leave the porch I put my long curly hair in a bun and let some pieces fall out.

All five of us were now sitting outside in JB's back yard. Ki was playing the bongos and I was strumming the ukulele to her beat. JJ was throwing rocks at the water and Pope was reading a book.

"I'm calling it off, all right, Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh she'll help me with DCS. I strummed one more string on the ukulele before looking at John B.

"And you believed her." JJ ask. "Yes, I believe her JJ." JB sighs. "An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop." JJ says throwing another rock. "Not all cops are bad cops J." I say sitting criss cross in the chair. (anywaysss acab)

"Look, all I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days and she'll help me out." John says in a little frustration. "It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun." He adds on. JJ scoffs. "You know what I should've done, just let Topper drown your ass." He says. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah, because Topper was gonna drown me?" John B scoffed. "Sure looked like it." JJ says. "They always win, don't they man?" He ask. I look down at my yarn bracelet feeling a little guilty. "Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win." JJ says walking over to John B.

"Look, it's okay!" Ki says stepping in. JJ quickly turns around. "No it's not okay! It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there and you know it." JJ yells. I look at Pope and he just shrugs. "I know you do and I understand why you don't wanna go," he points at pope, "You're the golden boy. You got way to much to risk." He says. He then points at Ki and I. "And y'all, I mean, your already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother." He scoffs. I shake my head and roll my eyes and Ki does the same. He looks up at JB

"But, you and me man we got nothing to lose! We really don't!" JJ shouts a little. "And I know it didn't used to be that way for you." He says.

"I don't wanna talk about this." John he shakes his head walking away. "John B listen to me, I have a plan." JJ says. "You got the key to the Cameron's big boat, right? There's scuba gear inside. We just borrow that and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what's gonna save you, man." JJ says with his arm around John B.

"That could work, John B." Ki says. Pope and I both shake our heads in agreement.

The four of us all wait for John B to get back.

"If he doesn't come back in 30 minutes he's definitely macking Sarah." JJ laughs. "Really, JJ." I say smacking his stomach. "He could be right." Pope adds.

"This is empty. You took empty tanks." Ki says. We were all on the boat now. John B stutters. I walk over to the tanks. "This ones a quarter full, it's enough for one of us." I say. Everyone sighs.

"Does anybody know how to dive." Ki ask. We all just murmur. "It's kind of a Kook sport." JJ says. They all look at me. "I don't know how to dive." I say shrugging. They sigh. "I read about it." Pope says. "Great, Pope read about it so someone's gonna die." I say. "Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breath, how hard can it be?" JJ ask. "If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends." Pope says.

"Bends like bend over." JJ says bending over. "The bends kill you." Pope says. JJ quickly fix his stance.

"I can dive." JB says standing up. "You can dive I'm cool with that." JJ says. "Since when can you dive." Ki ask confused. "I'll do it, it's fine." John B says. "Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope gets up.

While the boys discuss what JB had to I sat down. "Lemme see your shirt." Ki says. I take off my shirt and toss it too her. "Cute top." She says complimenting my white bikini top. I mimic her and she laughs. A few sends later she jumps into the water with my shirt.

"Wha-." I say leaning over the boat railing.

"What was that all about." Pope ask. "I don't know, but I liked it. A lot." JJ says. I let out a chuckle. "But not as much as I like that." JJ whistles. I turn around and see the guys staring at me. "Cute top though." JJ smiles. I flip him off and he blows me a kiss.

I lean back over the railing waiting for Ki to pop back up.

"Hey, I tied Azi's shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop." Ki says innocently. "Oh you bitch." I say thinking about my shirt. She laughs. "Love you." She says. I help her back on the boat.

"You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress." Pope says. "Okay, how much do I need." JB ask. "Unclear. Breathe as little as possible." Pope states. John B takes a deep breath. "Zen. Think of Zen, you know." JJ says breathing in air. "Yeah, don't think of that." I say tapping John B's shoulder. "Yeah, thanks guys." He says sarcastically.

John B was about to dive but Ki walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Diver down?" John B ask. "Diver down." She repeats. JJ and Pope look at each other confused and I just try not to scream.

JB jumps in the water and we all watch as he sinks down.

Not even a minute later we were already having trouble. I hear a siren whoop and I turn around. "Oh shit." I say repetitively hitting JJ's arm to get his attention. "Guys, that's the police ." JJ says. "Just act frickin normal." Ki says pushing her hair back behind her shoulder. I stand next to JJ and connect my fingers together in front of me.

"Evening officers." Pope says kindly. "Evening." One of them say. "How you kids doing? You Know the marsh is closed?" The officer ask. "Wh- No we didn't know that." I say bitting my bottom lip. "Why-why is it closed." Pope asked. "Well we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down. Seen anything." The cop ask. "Where's your friend you always hand with, he here?" He ask. I start fiddling with my fingers. "He's at work." I say. JJ notices my sudden action and puts his hand on top of my fingers to stop me from fiddling. He then interlocks our hands.

It was quite for a while. "I'm gonna check your little boat out." The cop says stepping off of his boat and onto ours. "Yeah, hop aboard." Pope says getting up. "You got another one of these." The cops ask holding up a life vest. "Of course. it's uh in the hold." JJ says. "Show him." Ki says standing up. JJ slowly lets go of my hand and walks to the compartment. I put my hands in my back pocket. The officer looks over at me and down at my chest. I make eye contact with JJ. "Yeah, here we go." JJ says a little loud. The officer quickly looks away from me and at JJ. I sigh quietly in relief. The officer makes his way to the edge of the boat and looks over at the water.

"Uhh, be careful you don't wanna fall." Pope says but the cop ignores him. We all look at each other with worried expressions and JJ mouths for us to shut up. The officer stood over the boat which seemed like forever before turning back to us. "All right." He says. "All right." JJ and Pope both say back.

"You let us know if you see anything on your way out." The officer says getting in his boat. "We will." JJ says. The. their boat leaves.

The second their boat is far I lean over our boat and look for John B.

"He's definitely out of air." Pope says. I look all around the water until I see JB head poke out. I relaxed my body and let out a deep breath.

John B threw a black bag up on the boat and JJ help him climb on.

"Guys, bogey, two o clock." I say looking at the boat that was headed towards me. "Do you recognize that boat?" Pope ask. "I've never seen it before" Ki answers.

"JJ get the bowline." John B says. JJ does as he's told and Ki and I watch as the boat gets closer and closer. "Should we wait on them." Pope ask. "No, we're not." JB says. "Are you joking JJ hurry up." Ki says annoyed. "Guys don't wait for me go." JJ says pulling the rope. "Lets go!" Ki shouts.

"Guys there following us." I say as the boat follows us into the marsh. "This can't be good." Pope panics. "Dude, you gotta go faster." JJ rushes John B. They continued following us and they were hot on our tail.

Oh shit, was the only thing I could think of. Before I could warn everyone gunshots rang and we all screamed and ducked. "Holy shit!" Ki yelled. We were both cuddled up next to each other. JJ came over and covered us with his body. Another gunshot rang. "Oh my god, we're gonna die!" Pope yelled. Ki sat up ran across the boat. JJ and I tried to grab her but we heard more shots. I pushed my legs closer to my chest and JJ hugged me with his hand on my head.

"Get down Ki." John B yelled as we heard another gun shot. She grabbed a net and threw it into the water. The other boat came to a holt and we all stood up to look at it. The men shot one more time and we quickly ducked. "Let's go! Let's go!" Pope yelled.

"What the fuck." Were the only words my brain could process. "That was insane." Ki laughs.

We made it to John B's dock and all huddled around him looking at the black bag. "What do you guys think it is?" Ki asked. "Gotta be money, right?" JB says. "That or a couple of keys with street value to the low to mid mils." JJ says. "Can we please just open the bag?" Pope ask impatient. We all looked at him shocked. "Patients, PP." I say patting his back.

"You guys are little killing me with anticipation." Pope says putting his hat back on his head.

John B opens the bag and takes out some metal can. He twist the top off and dumps it upside and a compass falls out. "Oh." I say putting my hands on my knees. "Oh wow, yup that's about right. Good job everybody, we found a compass." Pope says. "Dude what, it's not worth anything." JJ says taking his hat off his head.

"This was my fathers." John B says.

****

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