All Wrong

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I stayed at JJ's that night so he could make sure I was ok. He checked in on me every second. But this morning I bolted up and left JJ running behind me I told him to go home and that I was fine I just needed to get to John B. I stopped running and JJ came up to me, and hugged me tight. "Ill be fine J, I promise." He nodded and turned to go back to his house and I kept running. When I finally reached the Château there was an officer with him. I overheard a little, " Sorry to break in like this but DCS called. They wanted me to check on you. See how you're doin', So how are you, besides the." I walked in the door and that moment. And I saw JB say "Oh no Im great." I stopped in the doorway. "We're fantastic. Thanks for coming by." The officer looked at me and smiled. "Im so glad to hear that Jada and John B, but I heard a few things that worried me. Let me see if I can remember. Oh yeah one of the things I heard was that your uncle Teddy, your guardian, hasn't been in state for 3 month." I moved from the doorway. "Yeah that's false." She cut me off by saying "Don't say anything I know its true. I called the school they said John B used to be a good student but now you're failin' all your classes." JB said "No no Im only failing one, and its history. He's a dick he's out for me." He got cut off by Sheriff Peterkin saying, "And I heard there was a fight on the beach yesterday, and your little boyfriend got a gun." She said looking at me. I blushed. "Gun? No. Did I get I get a dustup? Yes, but was there a gun? No, no way." JB said. "Thats okay, I'll get to him. But all Im worried about right now is making' sure you're in a safe home." I scoffed "Yeah super safe. super sound, sturdy. You know? Yeah and Uncle T's coming back so-" I got cut off once more. "Is that what he told you?" We nodded. "Well if he is coming home I think you should be allowed to stay. But if I stick my neck out for y'all, y'all have to help me. Tit for tat." I looked at JB who said, "What does tat mean?" Peterkin walked closer to us. "So a body was found in the marsh yesterday, were you in the marsh yesterday?"

"Yeah we were fishin' for some drum."

"You catch anything?"

"Nah we were skunked."

"Strange. Fishings usually good after a storm. You come across a wreck yesterday?"

"No."

"You skimmin' just above the surface Jada, now down here is foster care, juvie. Pretty big drop for a smart kid like you. Up here is you and your little friends doing whatever you want, Outer Banks. Foster care on the main land." She warned us more then told us she'd look the other way as long as we stayed outta the marsh. I hugged John B when she left. "We cant get separated JB, you know that."

"I know Jada."

_____

The next day everyone was hanging out and I sat in JJ's lap while Pope, Kie, and my brother sat around. "Look Im calling it off. Peterkin said if we stay outta the marsh she'll help me and Jada with DCS." JJ looked at me, "You believed her?"

"Yes we believed her, JJ."

"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 the gun."

"You know what I should've done? Just let Topper drown your ass." I turned around and slapped him then moved beside Kie. "Yeah because Topper was gonna drown me."

"Sure looked like it. I mean have you looked in the mirror?"

"Tell me some more. Come on."

"They always win don't they man? Kooks versus Pogues, they always always win!" I but into the conversation, "Its okay!"

"Its not! They don't want us to go down in 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." He turned to Pope and said this to him. "You're the golden boy. You got too much risk." Then Kie. "And you, I mean you're already rich as fuck anyway." And finally me and John B. "But us three, we got nothing to lose! We really don't, all right?" I cut JJ off by hugging him and he hugged me back. After I let go John B shoved us out of the way and continued to argue a second before leaving. But JJ came up with a "great" plan, to steal Ward Cameron's, Kook king, scuba gear off his boat. And for some dumb reason that's what we did.

"This is empty, you took empty tanks?" Kie scolded John B. She found one that was a quarter full which meant it was enough for one of us. "Does anybody know how to dive?" I raised my fingers which were on my thighs. "No Jada." JJ and John B said at the same time. "Yes JJ and JB." JB shook his head and said "I can dive." I rolled my eyes. "That boats about thirty feet down so it'll take 25 minutes and that depth which means you need to make your safety stop and about... ten feet for 2 minutes." Pope told John B. Suddenly Kiara pulled her shirt off and jumped into the water. I sat back and watched JJ and John B "What was that all about?" Pope asked, "I don't know but I liked it a lot." JJ said eyeing where she jumped in at. I sat back feeling anger and jealousy and said, "You dumbasses she's marking the safety spot where JB will need to stop." They all looked at me as I took my shirt off too and jumped in after Kie to go find her. I heard JJ say, "I liked that even more." Then I found Kie and we returned to the surface. I watched Pope tell John B to breathe as little as possible then I got back into the boat and hugged him then Kie kissed his cheek before we all said "Diver down." Me and Kie watched until we heard sirens. "Evening officers." I said taking the rope from Shoupe's hand "JJ tie this off." I handed the rope to JJ then Shoupe said "You know the marsh is closed right?" I said "No, why is it closed?"

"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down. Seen anything?"

"No, no boats." Everyone agreed with me. JJ could tell I was nervous because he wrapped his arms around me while Kie told Shoupe John B was working. Then Shoupe jumped on the boat and JJ moved us to the side. Shoupe stood at the edge looking down at the water then left, telling us to get gone soon. I immediately fell over the side searching for John B. Then he came up and we all smiled and breathed relieved breaths. "Did you find anything?" JJ asks as JB slings a bag over the side of the boat and I watched JJ say "There we go that's my boy!" While laughing. Then Kie spotted a boat that none of us had seen before. We all starting rushing to get away. "Hey guys, they're following us." Kie said looking back. Suddenly, gun shots. We all duck and JJ was the first to grab me followed by John B who was beat by JJ. I got out of JJ's hold and grabbed a net while JJ and John B yelled at me to get down. I threw the net in front of the other boat making it stop but not before the guy took one last shot and it went straight past me, almost like it hit me, until I realized it grazed my arm. "Shit babe your arm!" Kie jumped to help me. "Im fine, ba- holy shit I'm shot." I looked down in realization. JJ hurried and bandaged my arm up and I thanked him. Then we all laughed and I yelled "Pogue life, baby!" Making JJ woo. When we got back we all hopped off the boat and stood around the bag while JB opened it. We all thought it would be money or a couple of keys with street value to the low to mid-mills (That one was JJ) Then Pope said "Can we please just open the bag?" In a stern voice. "Wow Pope that's a rare outburst of emotion."

"Okay you guys are literally killing me just open the bag." When John B opened it JJ held onto me and I held back. There was a silver capsule containing a compass. Everyone stared at it then Pope JJ and Kie bitched about how that's what they almost died for. But me and JB stared at it. "Thats our dads compass." I whispered. Then JJ said "What did you just say?" I repeated myself and me and JB looked at eachother. What did we just find?