W H A T E V E R

Episode One, Part Two

We were now back on the boat, driving away from the old motel. I was sitting next to Kie, my head on her shoulder, looking out onto the water. "Well that was fun, could've warned us sooner though." JJ said from across from us. He was leaning on his elbows, looking between Kie and Pope, "We would have, except Pope was on the math team." Kie said as she turned her head to Pope accusingly and then leaned her head back on mine.

JJ raised his eyebrows sitting up, "You were on the math team?" Pope shrugged his shoulders innocently. John B rolled his eyes and changed the subject, "The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." he said leaning back in his chair and looking at JJ and I. I was on the inside of the wall when the cops were in the room, meaning I was barely able to get a quick look, but based off of what J and JJ were telling me it seemed sketchy.

Pope squinted his eyes, looking at me, "Did you guys find anything?" he asked hopefully. JJ smirked, I knew exactly where this was going. JJ reaches into his pockets, pulling the gun and wad of cash out, "Did we find anything? No I don't think so, yeah we did." he retorted sarcastically, a huge and proud smile on his face that I had the biggest urge to slap off.

I rolled my eyes as Kie looked down at me, Pope stood up abruptly, "What the hell?" Pope said which was followed by a "Dude what?" from Kie. I mean yes, it was stupid of JJ, but honestly what did they expect? If they didn't want him to do something stupid, they should went themselves instead of backing out because they were too scared of the consequences.

JJ stood up as well meeting Pope halfway, to the left of John B, "Dude, chill. Come on." JJ said as he was showing Pope the money, trying to make him calm down, "Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope urged as he pushed JJ's arm. "Better than the cops having it." JJ responded, rolling his eyes. Kie averted her attention to me and John B, "Are you guys serious?" she asked, clearly annoyed with our judgement. I rolled my eyes at her and moved to the back of the boat behind John B, taking off my sandals and dangling my feet into the water.

I could hear Pope behind me, "I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." which genuinely made no sense, sure the cops could find out who took the gun and trace it back to JJ, but honestly whoose to even say they knew the gun was there in the first place? I know for a fact JJ would keep the rest of us out of the situation, no matter what any of us said. JJ shused Pope, "Hey, hey, hey, at least you have us, right?" From what I could assume, considering my back was turned to them, Pope shoved JJ away from him and then sat back down next to John B saying, "I'm living the nightmare."

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"Who's that?" John B asked Serina, one of our old friends from school. John B, Pope, JJ Kie, and I were sitting on a giant cooler next to Serina watching a guy on a gurney being brought to his wife, who looked to be Lana Grubbs, one of dad's old friends.

I'm pretty sure the guy on the gurney was her husband, Scooter. Serina pulled out her phone, "It's Scooter Grubbs, he was out during the storm. Check out this pic I got." She said as she showed us a close up picture of Scooter's dead body, "Dead body." she said as she passed the phone around, allowing everyone to take a look. I shook my head when she passed it to me, gesturing to show it to JJ instead.

"What kind of boat did he have?" JJ asked, looking at Serina as she showed the picture to Pope. She tapped her hand on my leg and looked at me in surprise, "Somehow that dirtbag copped a brand new Grady White. Everyone is out looking for it" She said as she took her hand off my leg and smiled. I loved Serina for her outgoing and positive attitude, but she could be a bit insensitive at times.

John B looked at the rest of the group, his eyebrows raised, and his mouth slightly agape. I shook my head, turning to the first responders, watching as they whisked Scooter away from his wife. I sort of became jealous, in a way. Wishing I had the time to say goodbye to my dad, even if for a minute. I closed my eyes hard, trying to shake the thought from my head.