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EMERY AWOKE THE NEXT MORNING ON A CALIFORNIA KING MATTRESS BETWEEN JOHN B AND MARA.
after leaving the church, the trio had snuck into one of the melville's family friend's real estate listings, the three making themselves at home in the luxurious, unoccupied house.
however, the night proved to be one of little rest, as every time a cop car would drive by, emery or john b would jolt awake, the other rushing to comfort them. mara, however actually slept well despite the ordeal going on with the two petrified teens next to her. emery had always joked she could sleep through a hurricane- which turned out to be true when agatha hit.
emery could hear someone talking outside the window, leaning over mara's still figure to peer through the blinds. the girl saw a parked cop car, as well as two sheriff's deputies standing outside the house.
"shit, shit- guys! wake the hell up." emery whisper-yelled, shoving both mara and john b awake.
"change your tampon and come back, it's too early for this shit." mara groaned.
"mar, the cops are here." emery gritted, john b and mara both suddenly alert.
"what the hell do we do?" john b whispered, emery quickly standing up. she ushered for john b and mara to follow her. as they were going down the stairs, the cops began to knock on the door. emery motioned for the back, quickly unlocking and relocking the doorknob, the three teens all running down the dock towards the water.
"grab a board, come on!" emery urged, all the teens grabbing paddle boards and laying on their stomachs, trying to appear as discreet as possible as they used their arms to paddle with the current, the hot outer banks sun beaming down on their backs. emery was regretting her cargo pants more and more every day, and was contemplating cutting them into shorts next time they were with jj and the others and had access to the maybank's pocket knife.
"what do we do now?" mara whispered. the house was out of sight now, but talking above a whisper felt dangerous, almost. it was like they were being watched, like the cops were around every corner, like just when they thought they were safe, that they had made it out, their cover would be blown.
