Beautiful summer

five

The noise of Beckett stirring on the mattress caused Skylar to shoot up looking over at her brother. "Where am I" he grumbled realising that he was on the floor not in his comfy bed at home. "We're at John B's, after you failed to win a fight with Topper Thornton you almost got killed. I had no where to take you" she huffed crouching down next to her brother, brushing the hair out his face to see his black eye.

"Your a dick head, you know that" she scoffed hitting him across the head, annoyed that her brother had made her go through several emotions all night while he slept. "Yeah whatever" he rolled his eyes groaning slightly as he lifted himself up to put a shirt on, that was covered in his blood.

"I'll see you in a minute" she smiled leaving her brother to sort himself out, walking out the room to see John b talking to Peterkin about going into the marsh. "Morning" she flashed the sheriff a smile as she moved her head round from John b's body to see the girl, only coming up with one solution as to why she was here walking out of what she assumed was John b's bedroom.

"You come across a wreck yesterday" she turned back to face John b walking closer to him as if she was trying to catch him out on something. "No" he gulped avoiding her eyes as he lent back away from the woman. "You skimmin' just above the surface, John b. Now down here is foster care, juvie. Pretty big drop for a smart kid like you. Up here is you, your little friends and your girlfriend doing whatever you want. Outerbanks? Or foster care on the mainland. You one inch above the surface John b. If I was you I'd start flappin my wings. Now you sure you didn't come across a wreck yesterday" she asked him again, John b warning Skylar off when she tried to deny being his girlfriend.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure" he sighed sitting down on the futon, looking outside to see JJ searching around for some signal which he wasn't going to find down on the cut. "It's better if you didn't, you understand? I'm gonna look the other way, as long as you stay out of the marsh" she agreed walking out of the house waving bye to Skylar who stood looking at the woman suspiciously.

"So I wonder what she's hiding" she scoffed handing him a can of beer knowing he'd need one after that conversation. "What do you mean" he asked piecing his brows together, not expecting the girl to come out with something like that. "She doesn't want you out on the marsh, in fact she might kill you if she finds you out on the marsh. I think that means you need to go. Have a look at what's going on" she suggested, copying her action from yesterday, offering John b a cigarette from her pack.

"Come on Sky, you ready" Beckett called impatiently, Skylar realising he had been stood outside waiting for her for a while. "Yeah coming" she shouted out to him, ruffling John b's hair as she walked past him. "You coming to the wreck today with me and J" she asked not wanting the boy to miss out on their plan they'd created back at the hotel. He nodded his head, following her outside, his group of friends doing their own thing while Beckett muttered something about his phone.

"Hey, you good" she smiled at her brother slinging her arm round his shoulder. "Yeah. Um thanks for letting us crash" he flashed a quick smile to the group, stopping for a minute at Kiara who was staring at him curiously. "Beckett" he introduced himself to the girl, realising he hadn't met her before. "Kiara" she slightly blushed, her friends hiding their smirks at her shy attitude she'd developed.

"Ew" Skylar blurted out watching her old best friend and brother flirt. "Your the one who's parents own the wreck aren't you" he asked ignoring his sisters comments, choosing to now sit down next to the girl taking Skylar by surprise. She threw her arms up in the air taking her turn to show the impatience towards her brother who didn't appear to be moving anytime soon.

"I'm gonna go grab a beer then" she shrugged walking back into the chateau leaving her brother and Kie to whatever it was they were doing. "We should probably start going down the wreck" she heard JJ voice from behind her walking into the kitchen to where she stood with a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

"Sneak out the window, I don't want Beckett to know what I'm doing" she sighed pointing the bedroom she and her brother had slept in last night. "You sure you wanna do this" JJ asked her noticing the hesitant atmosphere that coated the girl. "Yeah come on" she took a deep breath walking into the spare room and climbing out the already open window, making her way round to the Pogue van.

"You better not kill me with your driving" she warned remembering how awful his driving was last summer. So much so her parents had to pay for her to get a new car because he crashed it into a wall. "Relax, I've improved" he laughed opening the door for her to get in before making his way round to the other side so he could get in the drivers seat.

********

The Pogue van pulled up outside the wreck and Skylar looked around as she sat in the front of the van contemplating getting out or not. "Come on, it's going to be fine" JJ opened the door holding out his hand to help the girl out. He smiled at her reassuringly as she looked at him unsure whether or not this was real.

JJ and her hadn't been seen together since last year so it may be shock for the pair of them but it was also a shock to everyone else who saw them. "What if she doesn't turn up" she gulped taking his hand, letting him help her out the van. Her shook his head trying to keep the girl as positive as she could be. "She's already here" he whispered pointing to the table where he noticed Harper Conleys blonde hair tied back into a bun.

"Just stay here for a minute or two" he told the girl who began to walk over to her sister until JJ quickly stopped her. The blonde boy made his way over to the table by himself allowing Harper to get up and hug into him, a hug that seemed as though she'd been needing one for a while.

"You okay, heard you haven't been home in a while" JJ sat down opposite the girl, Skylar watching intently as he did so desperate to go over and figure out what was going on with her sister. "I'm in trouble. A lot of trouble"