𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 𝐒𝐎 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 ➝ 𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧

𝟓. 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐁 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐔𝐍

✮ 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘯 ✮

𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 Pope gave us the all-clear, the boys climbed down from the ledge and onto the dumpster before hopping onto the ground. I followed behind them, landing softly on the grass and the three of us made our way back to the boat.

"Well, that was fun," JJ commented as we drove back to the Chateau, "Could have warned us sooner," JJ chuckled and Kie sighed.

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team," She told us and Pope fixed his hat.

"I didn't know you were on the math team," I joked and he glared playfully at me.

"Zip it, y/n," I put my hands up in defence, "The cops took everything like it was a crime scene," Pope said as we rode through the marsh. I was sitting at the front next to JJ while Kie, Pope, and John B were at the back.

"Did you guys find anything?" Pope asked and JJ reached into his pockets.

"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so..." He pulled out the gun and stack of money, "Oh, yeah, we did," Pope quickly shot up from his seat. I knew that JJ had taken the money, but I didn't know about the gun. I assumed that he left it on the ground where it landed.

"Why take that from a crime scene?" Pope said as JJ walked towards him and I shook my head, sharing a look with John B.

"It's better than the cops having it," JJ said but Kie and Pope disagreed quickly, saying that it wasn't safe and that Pope was going to lose his scholarship. JJ shushing him with the gun didn't help at all and honestly, I was debating about tossing it in the ocean when he wasn't looking.

"I'm living the nightmare," Pope said as he sat down and that's how the rest of the ride went. JJ checked out his new gun, even tried to get me to hold it. To be fair, it was a nice gun, but I didn't need JJ in jail because he shot someone.

✮

The five of us watched as a man was pulled out of a boat on a stretcher, the only thing was that he was dead. Ms. Lana, a nice lady who I had encountered many times when visiting Kie at The Wreck, ran over to him and held the man's face in her hands. "Who's that?" I asked aloud and the blond girl next to me responded. Emma knew everything about everybody on the island, and to be honest, at times it's a little creepy.

"It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm," Emma said, as she whipped out her phone, "Check out this pic I got," She told us as she passed the phone around. I looked on the screen to see a bald man with a long red beard laying on the stretcher. His eyes were opened and they had purple and red circles around them, which made me look away quickly.

JJ hung from one of the railings with one arm, "What kind of boat did he have?" He asked and Emma turned to face him.

"Somehow, that dirtbag copped a brand-new Grady-White," She told us and everyone looked at each other, "Everyone's out looking for it," Sharing a look with the others, I knew we stumbled into something that shouldn't have been found, at least, not by us.

✮

"So, um... we didn't see anything," Pope said as we got back to John B's place. He walked onto the porch and sat down in one of the chairs. John B, Kie, JJ and I were already inside waiting for him. I had my knees pulled to my chest as I sat in the chair next to Kie's. "We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia," JJ opened and closed his lighter that was in his hand while John B flipped an empty bottle up in the air then caught it.

"Actually, Pope's right for once," JJ said as he stood up from his chair, "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny," He said as he pointed to each of us and I rolled my eyes.

"Guys, we can't keep that money," Kie said and I agreed, "it doesn't belong to us," She continued and JJ groaned loudly.

"Okay. Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans," JJ shot back

"We have to pass it off to Lana Grubbs, otherwise it's bad karma," Kie retorted, but I knew that for us, the lower class struggling to last the week, karma wasn't a good enough excuse.

"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too," Pope added, "We gotta go dark,"

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree," JJ said as he looked out the window and towards the yard.

"I don't agree," John B said, finally contributing to the ongoing conversation, "Just think about it, this is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about." He said as he walked away from his window and towards the chair next to me. "The same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole,"

"He's right," I piped up, agreeing with John B, "One time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas,"

"Exactly. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden, he's copped a Grady-White? Just sayin'." John B said, putting his arms up in mock defense.

Still trying to convince everyone, we made our way to the docks to do some fishing, and John B was still rambling on about the money. I stood next to JJ as we fished over the railing, "All right, so think about it, Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?" John B continued as he sat on the railing.

"Prostitution," Pope replied and I agreed.

"Could be a hooker," I said mainly to myself, and JJ laughed beside me.

"Square groupers, bro," John B said, corrected him, "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane, so what does that mean JJ?" John B asked.

"They were straight smugglin'," JJ replied as he reeled in his line.

"Smugglin'," John B repeated, "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in the wreck," He continued as JJ got a fish on his line and started reeling it in.

Finally, we ended up in John B's room. all lounging around as we continued to try and convince Pope. I sat on the bed with Pope while everyone else was sitting in chairs or standing. "For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it probably belongs to someone else," Pope informed us as he held the money in his hands. "They could come looking for it, so taking it would be catastrophically stupid,"

JJ leaned forwards and took the money from his hand, spreading it out between his fingers. "Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time. All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low, just act normal," JJ told us as he leaned back against the window.

"Right, so how are we gonna do that?" Pope asked and Kie and I shared a look.

"Kegger?" We said simultaneously and the boys agreed.

✮

How are you liking it so far? It might be a bit boring at first, but I promise it will get more exciting soon.

Syd<3