𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐊, 𝗃𝗈𝗁𝗇 𝖻 𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗅𝖾𝖽𝗀𝖾

3: 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚕

The five friends found themselves right outside their destination, right outside the motel, revealing it to be messier than they thought due to the destruction Hurricane Agatha did. Trees laid all around, branches scattered all around.

JJ whistles. "I thought the Chateau looked bad."

"This place is a shitshow." Y/n states.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie asks.

"You be the judge." Pope replies.

"Doesn't look like the type of place somebody with a Grady-White would stay." John B observes.

"No. It looks like the type of place someone with a Grady-White would get killed." Pope retorts.

"This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue comin' in for landing." JJ announces, jumping off the boat and onto shore before tying it up.

"We good?" John B questions.

"Yeah, we good." JJ responds.

"Hey." Pope says to John B, stopping the boy from going. "Don't let him do anything stupid."

"Oh, we will." JJ says.

"I'm not making any promises." John B responds.

"Be careful." Y/n tells John B after he turns to her. John B smiles as she hands him the key. "I mean it."

John B nods with a smile. "I will. Promise." With that, he pecks her cheek before leaving her with Pope and Kie.

"Biggest pet peeve?" Kie asks during their conversation. Pope nods. "Easy. Giving one percent to the environment.

"What's wrong with that?" Pope questions.

"We only have on Earth, Pope." Kie says. "We should be giving it 100 percent, bare minimum."

Pope nods. "Right. That's not fiscally sound."

"Neither is destroying the only planet that we have to live on." Kie replies.

"Hey, cops." Y/n calls to them quietly.

"Call them." Pope says.

"I can't. Towers are down." Kie replies.

"If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone." Pope whispers as the three of them hop off the boat. "Maybe they're not going up there. Maybe they're just looking for a room."

"He's pointing. They're going up there." Y/n replies nervously.

The three Pogues run to the side of the motel, now standing below the window of the room JJ and John B stood in. Frantically, Pope picks up a rocks, instructing the girls to 'stand back' before throwing the rock to the window, only for it to not even come close to the window, causing both girls to look at him.

"Didn't you ever play baseball?" Kie questions.

"I was on the math team." Pope replies defensively.

Y/n and Kie both grab rocks, starting to throw at the window. After a couple seconds, Y/n finally gets a small rock to hit the glass, John B's face soon appearing.

"Cops!" They frantically mouth to him.

Frantically and quickly, the three of them sprint back to the boat, Kie getting into the driver's spot, Y/n and Pope crouching in the front.

"Should we peel?" Kie questions.

"You never leave a Pogue behind." Y/n responds, her and Pope sharing a look.

"No, seriously, should we peel?" Kie questions again.

"Maybe." Pope shrugs.

After a couple more seconds, JJ and John B suddenly climb out of the window they were just at, hiding on each side behind the wall.

"What are you guys doing?" Pope mouths to them frantically.

John B gives a gesture to be quiet, JJ doing the same with a little smile. Just then, a small object falls from JJ's side, causing a big clang noise to happen, that was sure to catch the cop's attention. As if it thought what they were all thinking, the cop opened the blinds, making the three Pogues turn their backs away from that direction, acting as if they were normal and talking.

Finally, the cop forgets about the noise, the two of them leaving, hand's full of stuff they found from the room, all while the teenage boy's find their way down and to their friends.

***

"Well, that was fun. Could've warned us a little sooner." JJ tells the three of them as they all sat in the HMS Pogue, John B driving as Y/n sat beside him.

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team." Kie responds.

"You were on the math team?" John B questions.

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." Pope replies, changing the subject. "Did you guys find anything?"

"Did we find anything?" JJ repeats as he pulls a stack of money and a gun from his pockets. "No, I don't think so. Oh, yeah, we did."

"What the hell?" Pope exclaims, standing to his feet with wide eyes.

"Dude, chill. Come on." JJ replies, following in suit, getting to his feet.

"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope questions.

"Better than the cops having it, bro." JJ argues back.

"You serious?" Y/n questions, gaze on John B.

John B meets her eyes and his smile immediately falls off his face upon seeing her disapproving face. He hated it when she was upset with him.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope says.

"At least you have us, right?" JJ responds, wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulders.

"I'm living the nightmare." Pope murmurs, sitting back down in his seat.