๐๐ข๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ | ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ“

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๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž'๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎt my father I haven't mentioned.

The week before he went missing, he says to me, "Birdy, I think I found something. Your Uncle T's gonna come stay for a while. I might have to vanish for a bit."

So, he talks about vanishing, and he vanishes. Everyone says he was lost at sea, but...

I don't know what to believe anymore.

โ˜ผโ˜ผโ˜ผ

"Look, I'm callin' it off. All right?" John B says suddenly as he walks up to us, where we're all relaxing outside of the house. "Peterkin said, if we stay out of the marsh, she'll help Y/n and me with DCS."

"And you believed her?" JJ asks in disbelief.

"Yes, I believe her, JJ," John B sighs.

"An actual cop, John B? You believed a cop?"

"All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help us out."

"It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun, JJ," I accuse as I glare at him from where I lean against the wooden post, my arms crossed over my chest.

"You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your brother's ass. Is that what you wanted me to do, Y/n?" JJ asks as he walks closer to me. I glare at him, upset by his choice of words.

"Yeah, because Topper was gonna drown me," John B says, being too proud to acknowledge the fact that JJ's actually rightโ€”but only about him almost drowning.

"Sure looked like it," JJ responds, keeping his eyes locked on mine.

"That's funny," John B says, letting out a fake laugh.

"I mean, have you looked in a mirror recently?" JJ finally tears his eyes away from mine to look at John, pointing to all the bruises on his face.

"No, come on, tell me some more. Come on."

"They always win, don't they, man?" JJ rests his arm on the tree by John B, leaning his weight on the structure. "Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win! Goddamn!" JJ exclaims in frustration, punching the buoy that hangs across the door frame.

"Look, it's okay!" I say, reaching my arm out to him as an attempt to get him to cool down.

"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. I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go," JJ explains as he points first at Pope. "Your the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you..." JJ points toward Kiara. "I mean, you're already rich as f*ck anyway. Why would you bother?" JJ looks back toward me, a pleading look in his eyes. "But you, me, and John B? Guys, we got nothin' to lose! We really don't, all right?"

"JJ," I sigh as I look down at my crossed arms.

"And I know it didn't used to be that way for you guys," JJ begins quickly.

"I don't want to talk about this, JJ. Please." I straighten myself, leaning off of the wooden post, before walking toward the door that leads inside.

"So that's it?" JJ asks as he goes to stand in front of me, his hand resting lightly on my forearm.

"Just get out of her way, bro," my brother says, so I don't have to.

"Y/n, listen to me. I have a plan." JJ puts both his hands on my shoulders, leaning down to look me in the eyes. "You got the key to Cameron's big boat, right?"

"No," John B and I say at the same time, pushing JJ's idea away.

JJ, undeterred, continues on: "There's scuba gear. We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what's gonna save you two. You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?" I look up at JJ to see his brow quirk before a smirk forms on his face.

โ˜ผโ˜ผโ˜ผ

You know, I should have learned a long time ago to never listen to JJ. He's full of bad ideasโ€”like stealing from my rich boss. But maybe this time he was right. John B and I had nothing to lose.

My dad said the island was America on steroids. The haves and have-nots like anyplace, but magnified and multiplied. The way I see it, the game's rigged. Maybe it always has been.

Just as I walk out though the boat door with the scuba gear, I hear a familiar voice beside me. Dammit.

"Hey, Routledge," Rafe Cameron says as he leans on the rail, eyeing me up and down. "Are you stalking us? Plotting your revenge?" As I look up at him, I can see that he's blatantly flexing his arms. Rolling my eyes, I give him an answer.

"Yeah. Why don't you just tell your daddy I blew the bilge on Druthers." I take a pause before continuing. "Everything's good to go. Just toppin' off these tanks," I lie as I hold up the bags on my arms for proof.

"You know, you should be a little more careful with that Maybank kid," he says suddenly, the topic of conversation completely random.

"I'm sorry, what?" I ask, furrowing my brow in confusion.

"I saw you go off with him during last night's kegger. He's got a reputation, you know. And it's not entirely the best."

"First of all, how dare you talk to me about anything concerning my friends. Second of all, I don't needโ€”and have never needed, I might addโ€”you're opinion on anything I do. And third of all, there is nothing but friendship between JJ and I, so there is no reason I need to be careful around him," I argue, not happy with the way Rafe is talking about JJ. "Why do you even care?"

"Cause I don't want to see you get hurt."

Don't act like you care about me, Rafe." I roll my eyes, but only because I'm trying to hide the memory of the hurt I endured in my eyes. "What were you even doing at the keg last night?"

"I was there for the beer. But don't go tryin' to change the subject. I've seen the way he looks at you, Y/n."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You may think there's nothing but friendship between you two, but he certainly wishes there was more." I'm caught off guard by Rafe's sentence, both shocked at what he said and surprised that Rafe was paying enough attention to JJ to make that conclusion. Before Rafe can see my reaction to his statement, I turn on my heel and make my way toward the HMS Pogue.

I don't wait for him to catch up to meโ€”and I don't want him toโ€”but he does anyway. He stays quiet for a second before changing the subject by asking, "Hey, is your brother okay? 'Cause I heard that eye of his looked pretty bad last night."

"You know what, Rafe? You can tell Topper he won the first round. We'll get him next time," I say as I climb into my boat. He leans against the edge of his boat and watches me closely.

"So what, there's just gonna be a reign of terror on this island now, Y/n?" Rafe asks as I untie the rope from his family's boat.

"Wars have been started for less, Rafe Cameron." I lean in closer to him, an innocent smile on my face, as he squints down at me.

"Okay, can we drop the whole Pogues versus Kooks thing between us? It is really stupid."

"Oh... You know, it's easy to say when you're a Kook," I say, a smile still on my lips, before leaning away and starting the engine of the boat. Steering the boat away, I salute Rafe before giving him the finger, which causes a sour look to form on his face. I turn back around and smile triumphantly.

โ˜ผโ˜ผโ˜ผ

"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kiara asks in astonishment as she examines the tanks I "borrowed" from the Cameron's.

"I was in a hurry, okay," I say as an excuse, sitting down next to her.

"Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us," Kiara states before looking up.

"Love it when a plan comes together," Pope says, his words dripping in sarcasm.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kiara asks. She waits a second to see if anyone speaks up before asking again. "Anybody?"

"It's kind of a Kook sport," JJ says before shrugging. I stand up to look over the edge of the boat. The boat in the water doesn't look super far down, so an idea begins to form in my head.

"I... read about it," Pope offers.

"Great, Pope read about it. So someone's gonna die," Kiara says.

"Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ asks as if it's a simple activity.

"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," Pope explains.

"Bends like, bend over and..." JJ jokes as he bends over.

"The bends kill you," I interrupt him as I rest my arm on his back to push him down.

"Right." JJ shoves my elbow off of him before wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"I can... I can dive," I stammer, unsure of why I said it.

"You can dive. I'm cool with that," John B says sarcastically.

"Since when can you dive?" JJ asks as he looks down at me in disbelief.

"I'll do it. It's fine," I say, more sure of my decision. "I went once when I was still friends with Sarah."

"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope says before he takes out a piece of paper and a pen. From where? I don't know. "That boat's about 30 feet down," he says again after a few seconds.

"Okay," I say, walking closer to Pope to look over his shoulder at whatever he's writing down.

"So it'll take twenty-five minutes at that depth."

"Twenty-five," I repeat.

"Which means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. All right? For two minutes," Pope tells me as he looks me in the eyes. From the corner of my eye, I see Kiara start to take her shirt off, revealing the new bikini she got on our last shopping trip.

"Yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it," I affirm as I nod my head. Without warning, Kiara jumps off the boat and into the water.

"Uh..." JJ says before trailing off.

"What was that all about?" John B asks as all the boys look down at the water.

I don't know, but I bet you liked it. A lot," I tease.

"What?"'he exclaims as he turns to face me. Smirking at him triumphantly, I turn my back and walk toward the scuba gear. JJ holds his hand up to high five me and I smack his hand with my own as I pass him.

"Uh, so..." Pope begins to change the subject.

"All righty. So, uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"JJ tells me as he looks at me closely, I assume to make sure I understand.

"Stick in, twist, pull," I repeat as I tug on the scuba gear. "Yeah."

"My dad moved weight back in the day," JJ says as he helps me get the oxygen tank on.

"Who didn't?" Pope asks as Kiara comes up from the water.

"Hey!" she calls. "I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."

"Cool,"'I say as I grab the key JJ hands to me.

"Keep an eye on this. You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress," Pope tells me as he points to the instrument connected to the oxygen tank.

"Okay, how much do I need?" I ask.

"Unclear. Breathe as little as possible,"Pope says, which makes me a little nervous.

"Zen. Think Zen, you know?" JJ says, which reassures me only because it lifts my spirits. He breaths in quickly a few times to show me.

"Yeah. Got it,"'I answer, but in my head I know I won't be breathing like that if I want to conserve oxygen.

"Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so...better get a move on," Pope says, indicating that I need to hurry up.

"Copy that." I walk over to the edge of the boat and turn around to face my friends inside the boat. Unexpectedly, JJ comes over and stands in front of me. With me standing on the gunwale of the boat and him on the inside of the boat, I'm taller than him by a few inches, so I have to look down at him.

"Don't die, alright?"'he tells me. I can see his eyebrows furrow together, so I know he's serious.

"I'll try," I respond before smiling. I wait a few seconds before saying, "Diver down?"

"Diver down," he repeats before backing a few steps away.

I jump off the boat and into the water before saying again, "Diver down." Looking at the instrument to make sure I don't run out of oxygen, I let myself sink into the water.

As I get closer to the boat, I see rust and green algae floating around it. Swimming through it, I search the boat for the cargo hold. Once I find it, I stick the key in, twist, and pullโ€”just like JJ told me. When I look inside, I find a waterproof bag and pull it out. I swim away from the boat with the bag in my hand and look for the shirt Kiara tied to the rope. When I find it, I grab hold of it and look up, only to see the shadow of another boat beside ours. Looking down at my timer, I see I have a minute and fifteen seconds left. Hopefully that'll be enough time.

After waiting for what feels like forever, I look back at the timer to see I only have 42 seconds left. I start to panic, but then remember Pope telling me to breath as little as possible, so I try to calm myself back down.

Several seconds later, I see a figure appear off the side of our boat. Looking back at my timer again, I see I have thirteen seconds left. I know that I'm going to run out of oxygen, so I try to slow my breathing even more. If I do that then maybe I'll be able to stay down long enough for the other boat to leave.

I breath my last deep breathe in before the timer flashes zero. Just as it flashes, the figure walks away from the edge of the boat and I see the engine of the other boat start, signaling its leave. I wait a few seconds to watch as the boat gets further away before coming back to the surface.

"There she is!"'I hear someone say as I come up. Pulling the mouthpiece out of my mouth, I breath in deeply and look up to see all four of my friends looking down at me.

"Oh, God! Jeez! Don't scare us like that!" JJ exclaims as he drags his hands down his face. I pull the goggles off of my face as I swim toward the ladder on the boat.

"How'd it go down there?" John B asks as JJ comes over to the ladder.

"Uh..." I trail off as I reach the ladder.

"Did you find anything?" JJ asks me, reaching his hand out to help me back into the boat.

"Did I find anything?" I breathe out with a smirk, throwing the bag onto the deck before grabbing onto his hand.

"Yeah, there we go! That's my girl!"JJ yells as he throws an arm over my shoulder.

"Jeez, dude!" Pope exclaims as Kiara says, "Dude!"

Because of the water that entered my lungs when I ran out of oxygen, I can't help the cough that comes. "You okay?" JJ asks as he looks down at me. I nod my head, my coughing fit over. Seeing that I'm still wearing the oxygen tank, he spins me around, turning me so that he can pull it off.

"Yeah, I ran out of air," I tell him once the tanks are off. A look of worry comes over his face, so I wrap my arms around his waist to reassure him. "But I'm fine." I look up at him and smile before letting go of him. But before I can escape, his arms snake around me, pulling my back to his chest as he rests his chin on my head.

"You scared the shit out of me," Kiara admits as she walks over toward me.

"Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh... took care of 'em,"JJ boasts, showing off for me. I pat him on the arm and smile up at him.

"Thanks, JJ," I say.

"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, sis," John B tells me as he pulls me away from JJ before going in for a side hug, ruffling the top of my head. I push his hand away as we both laugh, but I can tell he's a little shaken from me running out of air. "Don't ever do that again, alright?"

"I'll try not to." I smile up at him before throwing my arm around his waist and leaning close to him.

"Hey, guys?" Kiara says as she looks off into the distance. "Guys, bogey, two o'clock."

"What?" JJ asks as he throws the bag I found into the cargo hold before turning around to look where Kie's pointing.

"Do you recognize that boat?" Pope asks.

"I've never seen it," JJ answers as we all continue to stare at the boat coming our way.

"What are they doing here? The marsh is closed," Kiara points out, saying what we're all thinking.

"Let's not stick around and find out," I say before turning around and pulling the scuba gear to the back of the boat. Everyone else follows suit by getting the boat ready to drive away.

"JJ, get the bowline," JB directs as he points toward the front of the boat.

"Yeah," he acknowledges before walking to the front of the boat.

"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope asks John B.

"No, we're not gonna wait on them," he answers in a tone that says the answer was obvious. "Go get the stern. Go!"

"Are you joking? JJ, hurry up," Kiara says as the boat gets closer and closer.

"Guys, don't wait for me. Go," JJ tells us as he struggles to pull the anchor up. John B starts the engine as I walk over to help JJ.

"Let's go!" Kiara urges. I can hear the panic start to show in her voice, so I look at her with a face that says we'll be alright. She looks back at me with the same look, although I know it's forced.

"Pull out the stern," I tell JJ as I grab hold of the rope and tug.

"I don't like this," John B voices, just as the anchor comes up.

"Are they coming for us?" I ask as I look over my shoulder at the approaching boat.

"Maybe they're fishing?" JJ says, more as a question than a statement. I can tell he's only trying to reassure me, and that he doesn't believe what he suggested.

"Go, go, go, go! Go into the marsh," Kiara says quickly as she stands behind John B.

"I'm going. Act natural," John B tells us as he steers the boat into the marsh. So, we do exactly that. But we're not very good at it. I'm pretty sure whoever's in the other boat can tell we're panicking and trying to get away from them.

"Hey, guys? They're following us," I say when I notice the boat start to speed up and trail us.

"Shit. This can't be good," Kiara mutters as she looks at the boat.

"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ yells over the noise of the water and engine. By now, we're all huddled around John B, both silently and loudly telling him to get moving.

"I'm going!" he calls back.

"Gun it!" JJ says again. Nobody talks for about twenty seconds. We just wait to get back to safety. Butโ€”as if the guys in the other boat heard JJโ€”we suddenly hear a gun shot. We all duck at the same time and hope that no one got shot.

"What the..." JJ trails off.

"Holy shit!" I yell. When I look over at my brother, I see that he's barely hunched over. "John B, get down!"

"Oh my gosh, we're gonna die!" Pope says as another gun shot fires. He lays huddled on the floor in a tight ball, his fingers in his ears. We all hold our breath as another shot fires. I can only hope that they don't have many more bullets in their gun.

"Shit! Pope, move," I say after a few seconds. I step over him and to the front of the boat.

"What the hell are you doing, Y/n?" JJ yells. When I look back at him, I can see a panicked look on his face. But I don't care, because I have an idea. I turn back around and grab a small pile of netting. As I'm picking the bundle up, another shot fires.

" Get down, Y/n!" my brother yells. I do as he says and duck before continuing toward the back of the boat. I heave the netting into the water and watch as the other boat's engine gets caught in the netting. The men fire a couple more shots before we round the curve and are hidden from their view.

"Oh, my God! Whoo!" JJ screams excitedly as he pulls me into a hug and spins me around. "Pogue god, freckles!"

"I can't believe that worked,"!I breath outโ€”my eyes wide, and a smile on my face as I hold onto JJ for dear life.

"That was insane!" Kie laughs out.

โ˜ผโ˜ผโ˜ผ

"Oh, God," I sigh as I step off the

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