P4L, carpe diem (JJ Maybank)

006

"It wasn't like Topper was actually going to drown me," JB scoffed. "It sure looked like it," JJ said, walking towards the rest of us. I looked at Kie, who winced. "Funny," John B excused.

"Have you looked in a mirror?" JJ excused.

"Tell me some more. Come on!" John B scoffed.

"They always win, don't they, man? Kooks vs. Pogue. They always, always win! Goddamn!" JJ shouted, hitting a hanging buoy with his fist.

"Calm down!" I shouted at him. He looked at me, surprised. His face turned softer, but still was angry.

"Look, it's okay!" Kie shouted. Just like that, he got angry again.

"No, it's not okay!" JJ fired back, "they don't want us to go down in the marsh! That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it!" JJ said, pointing at me then my brother.

"I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go," he pointed to Pope. "You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk."

"And you— you're pissed at me for some reason. Maybe getting drunk, I don't even know," he pointed at me and I scrunched my eyebrows.

"Okay, rude," I mumbled.

"And you, you're already rich as fuck anyway, why would you bother?" JJ complained.

"But you and me, man- we got nothing to lose!" JJ yelled, giving me a headache. "We really don't, all right. And I know, that it used to be that way," JJ explained. "I don't want to talk about this. I don't want to talk about it."

"So, that's it?" JJ asked, as he kept on pushing to get in my brothers head. "Just get out of my way, bro!" John B said, pushing through JJ. I stood up, leaning on the wall. "John B, listen to me, I have a plan-"

"Is it actually gonna work," I groaned, chuckling at the same time. JJ looked back at me, squinting his eyes. I put my hands up, showing I was done antagonizing. All right, we're getting somewhere. Actually talking now. "You got the key to Cameron's big boat, right?"

"No..." my brother fought. Yeah, and also, my brother works for Ward Cameron, Sarah's father, on his boats. "There's scuba gear. We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what if gonna save you, man! Both of you!" JJ said, turning around and looking at me.

I leaned my head backwards, in defeat. "Fine, I'm in. But only if you're in to Colonel (cern-ol). You don't see do rich hippies going into foster care?" I questioned, smiling. "Fine," my brother answered, and I let out a whoop. "Fuck yeah!"

They all stood up, and walked away, besides JJ.

JJ gave me a high five, which honestly hurt my hand a bit. "So, we good?" He asked, holding onto my hand.

"Hell yeah. I might've gotten mad, you might've gotten drunk but Pogues For Life."

"Hell yeah, Dylan!" He picked me up, and twirled me around for a second. He put me down, and looked at me.

I blushed a bit, looking at him for a good second. His hands were on my waist. For a second, I thought we were about to kiss, then I took a step back. I playfully patted his cheek, and walked away.

"Gotta go to work," I sighed.

He put his hands in his pocket. "Yeah. See you, Dyl."

I fiddled with my bracelets as I walked away.

-|-

"This is empty, you took empty tanks?" I asked my brother, who sat next to me on the boat. I fumbled the next one.

"Okay, this one's a quarter full. It enough for one of us, out of five," I mocked. "Love it when a plan comes together," Pope said, sarcastically. "Does anyone how to dive?" Kie asked, and I was surprised no one knew.

"Anybody?" I asked. "It's kind of a Kook sport," JJ said, and I nodded, "mhm."

"I...read about it," Pope said, and I threw my head back in frustration. "Great, Pope read about it. Someone's gonna die," I said, standing up. "Anyone want the last beer of their entire lives?" I asked, holding it in the air.

"I'll take it," JJ volunteered and I handed it to him. "But anyway, y-you our the thing in your mouth and breath. How hard could it be?" JJ asked, taking a sip of his beer. "If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," Pope explained.

"Bends like, bends over and.." JJ said, beginning to bend over. "The bends kill you." And just like that JJ's fun stopped. "Right."

"I can— I can dive," John B said, and I laughed.

"Since when?" I asked, realizing he was serious. "No one knows how to, but it has to be one of us," he explained. "Yeah, he can dive. I'm cool with that," JJ said.

"I'll do it. It's fine," he told us. "Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope said. "That boat is about 30 feet down. So, it'll take 25 minutes at that depth. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about.. ten feet."

I began taking off my shirt and jumped into the water. I swam 10 feet under, tied my shirt on the anchor, then swam up again. "Hey! I tied my shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. That's where you need to take your safety stop," I said, swimming over to the boat. "Breathe as little as possible," I heard Pope tel my brother.

"Zen. Think Zen, you know. Si-up, si-up, so-up," JJ mimicked. I watched as Kiara walked towards my brother, then kissed him on the cheek. I smiled.

"Diver down?" John B asked.

"Diver down."

John B jumped into the water, looking at us once more and saluting, which I did it back. "All right," Pope said. "See you, dude," JJ said, waving at John B.

-|-

Not too long after, we heard a siren and I looked over to see a boat. A police boat. "Shit. That's the police," I said, sitting down. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Pope exclaimed. "Yeah, that's definitely the police," JJ said.

The police were driving to our boat and definitely were gonna talk.

"Just act frickin' normal," Kie said, and I grabbed JJ's hat from off his head, and put it on mine. I looked over and smiled, shutting my eyes.

"You little twerp," he said, playfully shoving me to the end of the boat. "You love me," I joked, meaning it as a friend. Kie gave him a death stare and he answered, "I am being normal."

The Police finally got close enough to talk to us. "Evenin', officers," Pope said, his face shivery.

"Evening," they both answered back. "How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?" Shoupe asked.

"No...what happened? Why?" I asked, using my best defensive role. Asking questions to answer a question. "Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down."

"Damn."

"Seen anything?"

"Nope."

"No boats," JJ answered.

"Nothing," Pope said.

"Where's the friend you always hang out with? He here?" Shoupe asked. "John B?.... He's is.. uh.."

"Working," Kie said, helping me out.

"Hmm. I'm gonna check your little boat out," Shoupe told us. "Okay," I said, then looked behind JJ. His beer. Shoupe hopped over. I stood up and walked over, hiding the beer. "My hat," JJ said, taking the hat back.

"Uh.. you got another one?" Shoupe asked, holding up a Safety Jacket. "Yeah, it's, uh, under the hold," I explained. "Show him," Kie said, standing up. JJ opened it up, showing the extra jacket.

...

Shoupe began walking to the end of the boat, where John B was supposed to go up. My heart dropped to my stomach. He sat there, examining everything.