Always, Forever || JJ Maybank

Chapter Three

Annie's Pov:
We all walk down to the bone yard. I have the cups and jj and john b have a couple keggs. They set the kegs down they put the tap in. I get a cup out and give the first drink to JJ.
"Annie the party hasnt started yet and your already drinking." Pope jokes
"Good one!" I laugh he obviously knows I don't drink.
JJ sprays John b in the face with beer and we all laugh. We cheers and they all drink. Soon enough the crowd of pouges, cooks, and tourons has tripled in size and its getting dark. Me and Kie were sitting on the log she was laughing at everything I was laughing at how happy she was. I see and random guy walk over to us probably a touron.
" Hello ladies." The brown haired man says
"Hi!" I say kie stays silent
" Do you wanna dance with me?" he asks me, Kie looks at me with concern.
" Well uhm sure!" I say. We walk over closer to the water and i wrap my arms around his shoulders . He clearly is drunk, I however am as sober as a nun on Sunday.
" You wanna get out of here?" the strange guy says
" And gooo where?" I ask hoping he wouldn't say something gross after.
" I don't know anywhere, we can have a little bit -" and before he can finish the sentence JJ walked over and grabbed my arm
" Helloooo rude?" I say
" Annis what is wrong with you, he's trying to get in your pants!" He yells
" What? No? He's not like that." I say
"Oh really?" JJ says
I see Sarah Cameron walk over. I never met her but John b works for the camerons and he said she was alright.
" aYooo sarah can I interest you in a tasty milwaukee beverage." JJ says walking away from me
" No thank you." She says I roll my eyes at her
" Come on is it not fancy enough for you?" JJ says
"I will take it though." Her boyfriend topper butts in
" Nice gesture man but I didnt ask you, now maybe if you said pretty please." JJ says
" Oh well my bad pretty please." Topper says and then JJ begins to talk to sarah again and Topper slaps the cup out of JJs hand and it goes all over him. I try to go over there and possibly stop the potential fight that's happening but Pope stopped me.
" Pope what's going on?" I ask
"Well uhm, let's just say JJ has started beef with the wrong crowd." He says
" Yeah great." I roll my eyes and watch the two.
And then all the sudden John b punches topper . They are full on brawling. Rolling on the sand and then they reach the water. Topper grabs John Bs head and puts it in the water. He dunks it a couple times and then holds it there.
" Topper stop." I scream
" Whats that Annie?" he yells back. I look over to Jj with tears in my eyes as I know he's going to do something very stupid, and John B is going to suffer because of it, until I hear the gun clicking.
"Kie control your phsyco friend." Sarah yells And then everything went silent. One gunshot. JJ screaming at everyone but it felt so quiet. I watch as John b tries to stand up and then he falls backwards. I kinda laugh and then lay back down.
" Hey hey Annie its time to go!" She says grabbing my hand and pulling me away
"No no what about John B!" I cry
"They've got him let's go to the van hurry." She says to pulling me forward
"nooo im so cozy." I smile
" JJ help me!" She hollers he runs over picks me up like a baby and puts me in the van.
" Okay Annie stay here." he pants
" Yes sir." I smile and he runs back to get John b
They haul john bs lifeless body into the car. He occasionally lets out a groan letting us know hes alive.
"Oh my god he's gonna die." I worry
" Annie he's not gonna die but he's sleeping shh." Kie says in a stern voice
" Oh my word." I say looking out the window, I can't even look at him right now . Pope drives us to the chateau. They haul John b onto the couch. I go to my room and then JJ came into check in on me.
" JJ." I say
" Yeah?"
" Can you stay with me."
"Annie John B is right outside he would kill me." He says
" No, please JJ stay with me. I want you to." I give him puppy eyes.
" Okay fine but if john b wakes up and I'm in your bed you better tell him that you asked me." He says
I feel him wrap his arms around me and finally the little third grade girl who had a crush on JJ was satisfied.
" JJ?" I whisper
" Whats up?" He asks
" I think I like you, actually I think I have liked you for a really long time and I- I just haven't known how to tell you or what to say because your john b's best friend and your my best friend and I don't want to screw it up I cannot scre..."
" Your so full of it." He laughs and then he kissed me. I was so shocked at first I dont even think I leant in but finally I relaxed into the kiss. My heart was beating a million times per second. Theres no way this is happening. I feel him start to pull away, and I just stare at him. His gorgeous blue eyes ,his dirty hair.
"Time for bed, and Annie?" He says
"Yeah?"
"This has to be a secret okay?" He asks and I nod before turning over and drifting off to sleep
I wake up JJ's not there. I hear a voice outside my room. Talking to john b.
" Wheres your sister?" The lady asks
" Um shes uh sleeping right now." I get up make sure I'm not like naked or anything. I throw my hair into a pony tail and throw JBs t shirt over my shorts and walk out.
" Hello there officer." I say shooting john b a questioning look.
" Sorry to break in like this kids but DCS called, they wanted me to check in on yall see how your doing." I go stand next to John b.
" So how are ya besides the.." She points john bs eye and then to my face. It was puffy and red from crying last night.
" Oh us were fantastic, thanks for uh- coming by." John b says
" Im so glad to hear you say that john b, but I heard a few things that worried me."
" Like what?" I ask
" Well one being that your Uncle Ted, your guardian hasnt been in the state for 3 months."
" Yeah thats false." John b says dead faced
"You don't have to say anything I know its true, I called the school."
" Oh shit." I whisper John b nudges my arm
"They said you guys used to be good students, Now your failing all your classes." She shoots me a dirty look
" Hey uhm Im only failing geometry and hes only failing history." I say
" Yea the dudes a dick hes got it out for me." John b says
" And i heard there was a fight on the beach yesterday, and a gun was involved." She says
" John b what the hell." I mouth to him hoping peterkin didn't see
" Gun no, did I get in a dust up yes, but was the a gun pfft no." He says
" Thats okay I know who it was, I will get to him." My hands start getting sweaty. I know who had the gun and I do remember the gun shots but what if JJ shot someone on accident or what if she arrests him for having it.
" All I'm worried about right now is making sure you two are in a safe home."
" Oh its super safe." He states
" So safe ." I say and knock on the wall
" And uncle T is coming back so -yeah."
" Is that what he told you? Well if hes coming back I think you should be able to stay."
" Thank you." He sighs
" But if I stick my neck out for you, you two have to help me, tid for tat."
" What does tat mean?" I say
" Oh how can you guys help I know. A body was found in the marsh yesterday, were you in the marsh?"
" Yeah we were fishing for some drum." He says
"You catch anything?"
" No ma'am" We say in sync
" Strange fishing is usually good after a storm all sorts of things get stirred up. You come across a wreck yesterday?" she says
" No." We both answer
" You guys are skimming  just above the surface." That sentence sent shivers down my neck. She starts to do motions with her hands.
" Down here is foster care , juvy , pretty big drop for smart kids like you. Up here is you and your little friends doing whatever you want."
" Outerbanks." She points up
" Or foster care on the mainland."
" You guys are one inch above the surface. If I were two I would start flapping my wings. Now you sure you didnt come across a wreck yesterday?"she asks
" Yeah , Yeah were sure." I nod
" Its better you didn't, You understand? I'm gonna look the other way. Aslong as you stay out of the marsh." And she starts to walk away
" I got dogs living better than this guys, Might wanna think about cleaning up." And she leaves.
" Holy shit John B what the hell was that about." I say pacing with my arms behind my head
" A gun, dead body? JJ, Foster care?!"
" Annie ,calm down."
" Calm down? How can I calm down when a whole ass cop just busted into our house at 8 in the morning and interrogated us over some boat?"
" We just have to stay out of the marsh and it will be fine. The others are gonna be here soon, Im gonna pick up, go get dressed and take a breath its gonna be okay." He says
I walk into dads room and decide im going to look extra good today. Im livid at JJ for not saying anything after he kissed me besides keep it a secret. I know it's important to John B I don't date any of our friends, but JJ is just not the same.
I throw on a pair of shorts that are old and are kinda ripped at the seem. They are really short on me and I know john b is gonna say something but whatever. I put on a cropped white tank top the kind of V neck that shows a bit of cleavage but nothing to much. I grab my converse and head into the bathroom completely ignoring john bs presence. I take my hair out of the tangly mess and brush it out. Its wavy today because it got wet in the water and then I must've put it up when we got home. I curl my eyelashes and put on a tiny but of mascara just to make my eyelashes look long enough and I'm done. When I walk out I realize that they are all outside so I sit down to tie my shoes.
" Well look alive folks our little ray of sunshine has arisen." Pope says
" You look nice today, any occasion?" Kie asks
" Well you know just, having a happy day!" I give JJ a smirk. Hes just staring at his shoes. Success.
"You look stunning by the way " He mouths when he finally looked at me. I smile in response trying to not blush.
" Okay well now that everyone has acknowledged Annie for being pretty, I need to call it off." John b said
"Peterkin said If we stayed out of the marsh for a couple days she would help us out with DCS."
" And you believed her?" He asks
" Yes we believed her, jj?" I say
" An actual cop guys? You believed a cop."
" Look all we got to do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days and she will help us out, It doesn't help that your ass was out shooting a gun." John b says
" You know what I should've done man, I should've just let Topper drown your ass." JJ says
" Woah Jj what the hell?" Pope says
"Too far?" I say
"Yeah cause topper was gonna drown me?"
" Well it sure looked like it, I mean have you looked in the mirror recently?" JJ says
" Come on tell me more then, come on." John b mocks
" They always win don't they, Kooks v.s Pouges, They always always win." Jj says and punches the latern
"Its fine JJ!" kie yells
" No its not okay, it is not okay. They don't want us in the marsh that means there's something valuable down there. And you know it." He points to John b
" I understand why you don't want to go, your the golden boy, you got way to much to lose." He points to pope
" And you, your already rich as fuck anyway, why would you bother?" He says to kie causing her to roll her eyes in disbelief.
" But me, you and Annie man. We have nothing to lose! We really don't!" Jj yells
" Jesus J ." I roll my eyes
" What Annie, I know it didn't always used to be that way for you guys." I look away from him, Kie grabs my hand.
" I don't wanna talk about this, I don't wanna talk about it." John b says
" So thats it." JJ goes infront of him
" Just get out of my way bro." He says
" John b listen to me I have a plan, You got the key to camerons big boat."
" No JJ ." I sigh
" Theres scuba gear on inside man. We just borrow it and then go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what will save you and Annie man. You don't see rich kids going to foster care do you?" He says
" God your insane." I say and walk back onto the porch. John b comes in and grabs the keys to the twinkie.
" Your seriously doing this?" I ask
" Yeah Annie." He says annoyed
" Alright, don't get caught." i walk over and hug him
" I love you kid." He whispers
" I love you too."
I go in my room and look for a bikini to change into.
" Kie come here!" I yell
" Coming!"
" Whats wrong?" She says as she walks in
" What bathing suit should i wear?"
" Why does it matter were just going on the... oh"
" What?"
"You like JJ don't you?" She says smiling
" Whaaat no. Why can't a girl just look extra good for herself "
" Because you look extra good for by ourself everyday"
"Okay fine I need to tell you something but you for real cannot tell anyone."
" Omg spill please."
" Okay last night when JJ came in to check on me I asked him to stay." I whisper
" Annnnd?" She says
" And then he crawled in next to me and we cuddled for a bit but then, I don't know what happened but I just felt like I needed to tell him. So I went on this rant about how I have liked him since 3rd grade and he told me I was full of it and then we kissed." I whisper
" Omg Omg Omg!!!You kissed?!" She squeals
" Yeah but shush please."
" Okay what happened next?."
" We stopped kissing and then he said 'can we keep this a secret'."
" Oh shiiiit."
" Yeah."
" I think you should wear the red string one that like ties on the side. You will look so hot, he won't know what hit em."
" Thank you kie kie." I smile at her. She walks out and I grab the bikini and tie it on. I put my shorts back on but not my top cause it would be see through. I grab the necklace dad gave me last year for my birthday and put it on. I grab the picture off from my night stand and take a nice long look at it.
" I miss you dad." I sigh and put it back down. I walk out my room and kie cat calls me.
" Me oh mighty, you look good" She says
" I don't think its appropriate to sexualize her kie." Pope says
" Oh no please do. I like the attention" I say flipping my hair
" You look nice." JJ says to me when I go to look at the fridge I ignore his statement.
" Want a beer?" I ask him
" After yesterday I don't think I should ever have beer again." He chuckles
" Why not? Do you regret it?" I whisper
"What Annie, no I just its not a good time to start catching feelings." He whispers
" I've been catching feelings since I was 8 jj." I whisper and walk outside and slam the door behind me. I see john b pull in with the gear and we all load into the boat.
" These are empty, you took empty tanks?" Kie says
" Theres a quarter of air left." I say
" Thats enough for one of us." kie says
" Right when the plan comes together." pope sighs
" Anyone know how to dive?" Kie asks
" Anybody?" she finishes
" Its kinda a kook sport." JJ says
" I read about it." Pope says
" Great pope read about it so somebody is gonna die." Kie says
" Look how hard can it be you out the thing in your mouth and breath." Jj says
" Well if you come up to fast Nitrogen will get into your you can bends." Pope says
" Bends like bend over..."Jj says
" The bends kills you jj." I say
" Right." He sighs
" I can do it." John b says
" What no are you crazy?" I say
" Yea you can dive im cool with that." JJ says
" Im not, im very much not cool with that." I say
" Annie its fine." John B rolls his eyes
" Yeah okay, don't get to ahead of yourself there michael phelps." I say
" Michael phelps was a swimmer sadie." Pope says
" Shut up Pope." I yell
" Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope says
" Your serious about this?" I say
" Yea." John b says
" Okay so the boat is about 30 feet down. Which means your saftey stop needs to be at 10 feet for 2 minutes."
I take my shorts off revealing the bikini kie chose and grab jjs shirt and dive in.
" What was that?" John b says
" I don't know, but I liked it . A lot." JJ says
" Ew bro. what the fuck?" John b says. I come back up and hope on the boat.
" I tied a shirt down to the anchor line. Thats where you need to stop." I say
" Breathe as little as possible." I hear pope say
" Think zen." Jj says and I laugh
" Hey if we get caught out in the marsh were basically screwed so... chop chop." Pope says I watch Kie walk over to him and kiss him on the cheek. Hes so into her its really cute.
"Be careful." She says
" Diver down." John b replies
" Diver down." Key says
John b takes a deep breath and jumps in.
" Guys he can't do this." I freak out
" Annie he will be fine. Just relax a bit." Jj says
I look afar and theres a boat coming.  Before I can even say anything Jj pushes me into the water. I swim down to the opposite side to catch my breath before going under to look for John b who should be at his saftey stop.
" What are you guys doing, you know the marsh is closed today?" Shoupe says
" Oh uh no why." They all stutter
" Were conducting a search out here. Boat went down, you seeing anything?"
" Nah no boats." I hear JJ say
" Mind if i check out your little boat?" He asks
" Oh yeah go for it."
" Becareful right there you dont wanna slip." kie says
Im still at the surface and JJ points down meaning i need to move. I swim under the boat avoiding the propellers and trying to see if I can see John b from here. Hes definitely out of oxygen. I swim down almost to the saftey stop but not quite cause the pressure is hurting my head.  I see John b and a big bag floating towards me. I point my finger up showing him the other boat that was there and put it to my mouth telling him to not say a word as we float up to the surface. I've been underwater for about 2 minutes and it's definitely hitting me. My brain is fuzzy and all I can think about is swimming to the top but i feel like I cant move. I look up to see the boat moving and try to paddle my arms as fast as i can.
" Hes definitely out of oxygen."
" And what about Annie , JJ shes been under there for like 10 minutes." he over exaggerates
John b takes my hand and pulls me the rest of the way up.
" Holy shit there they are."Jj says
" Dont scare us like that guys." Kie says
" Is she good?" Pope says pointing to me. Trying to swim and cough up water isnt working in my favor. He reaches his hand out and i grab it trying to catch my breath. He pulls me onto the boat and I just lay there and cough the rest of the water up.
" Did you find anything?" JJ asks
" hell yeah i did." John b says and throws the black bag up.
"Holy shit." I say
" Hate to break up the celebration but bogey two oclock." Kie says
" JJ get the line." Pope demands. JJ scurries over to the bow and tried to pull it up as fast as he can. I get up and help him because this feeling in my gut says that these men are bad news.
" Don't wait for us." JJ says
" Guys there following us." And then we here 2 loud gun shots.
" Omg were gonna die." Pope says
" Guys get down, get down!" Kie says
" John b sit." I yell
" Can you go any faster?" Kie asks
" Im trying." He says. And then 2 more gunshots. I try to see if anything around me can stop the boat behind us, knowing that we won't be able to outrun them at this point. I look over and see a fish net and immediately I crouch up to go get it.
" Annie what the hell sit down." Pope says
" Annie what are you doing, your gonna get shot." jj panicks
" I'm saving your asses." and then 3 more bullets fire. I throw the net into the water and sit down as fast as I can. When I here the boat finally stop behind us I know its safe to stand up. We all exchange looks until finally somebody speaks.
" Holy shit, that was insane." Pope says
"woooo pouge life man." JJ screams
" Annie your arm!" John b Freaks out
" No, No I'm okay seriously."
"Holy shit she got shot." Kie says
"No seriously I'm fine, it's just a graze." I say I must be in shock cause I couldn't really feel it.
"Okay, okay just, uhm sit down. Don't move." Pope says John B grabs his shirt and holds it on it to stop the blood
"Ouch?" I say slapping his hand away
"Sorry sorry!" He says
"Its fine."
We weren't to far away from the chateau so we finish up celebrating the fact that we actually found something in the boat and hurry to hopefully clean my arm up. We pull up to the dock, we all file out and John B ties it down. I push the bag to JJ and he throws it onto the deck. Pope disinfects my arm, and wraps it up, and we go to check the bag
" What do you guys think it is?" Kie asks
" I don't know but its gotta be money or something right?" John b says
" That or a couple of keys ith street value to the low to mid mils!" JJ says
" Can you jusy open it already." Pope yells
" Wow pope, thats a rare outburst of emotion." John b laughs and I giggle at the boys angry face.
" Okay you guys are literally killing me with anticipation." He says
" I agree just open it." I say
" Jeez guys." JJ says
" What we almost died over this." He says while John B fumbles with the bag. He unzips it and pulls out a metal canister. He opens it up and we all sit there in shock, my dads compass. I knew it as soon as I saw it, my dad talked about this thing all the time.
" Oh wow, yup. Thats about right. Good job everyone we found a compass." Pope says Me and John B just sit there in silence. Not exchanging any looks because were both completely freaked out.
" Dude what its not worth anything?" JJ says
" This was our fathers." John B says
" That thing was your dads?" Kie says
" Yes Kie he talked about it all the time." I say
" Alright well on this mysterious note I have to get home before my dad kicks me out." Pope says
" Yeah me too." Kie says
" Good timing guys?" I say sarcastically
" What?" Kie says
" Nothing!" I smile and walk off the dock and go inside. It seems like my whole world just keeps getting ripped apart, I was finally feeling a little more closure but since John B doesn't want to give up on the hunt for Dad I have to suffer so he doesn't. I flop onto the couch and stare at the ceiling. Wondering why everything had to happen to my family, why JJ doesn't want me, why I can't tell John B how I feel, everything. It's tiring just being little miss sunshine everyday.
I lie there for a while I dont know how long. John B still hasn't comeback inside yet, their probably out there drinking and having fun. I understand that not everything can be normal again, but I just wish my dad was here.