Junie - JJ Maybank

32

I'm humming to the music playing on the boat's CD player with a book in my lap.

The sun is out and it's the third day on the water to Barbados. We only have one more to go and I can't wait, even if my dad isn't there.

I'm sitting next to JJ who is standing at the steering wheel. I am still having a hard time walking and I am sick of it.

I can hardly even swim... how am I gonna surf?

"Can you guys smell that?" Kiara asks everyone.

I sniffle a couple of times and I get a hint of smoke in my nostrils.

"What's smoking?" Sarah asks.

I pull myself up to my feet and look at the boat then see that the engine is smoking.

"JJ, the engine." I tell him as I point to it.

"Oh fuck," he says and I hear the engine starting to sputter.

John B comes over to us, "JJ, go to that island!" He tells him as he points in the close distance.

JJ turns the wheel and starts heading towards it and I see the smoking turn to flames.

"Shit, JJ! We need to get off right now guys!" I shout as I grab JJ's hand and pull him with me.

We all jump off of the boat and swim as fast as we can to the island.

I step on land and fall to my knees, unable to walk after pushing my ankle to it's breaking point.

I hear a pop behind me and turn around just in time to watch the boat burst into flames.

"Oh my god!" I shout.

"What the fuck happened to the boat?" Sarah asks but nobody has an answer.

We all sit there in confusion then after a few minutes we move a little farther up shore.

"What the hell are we gonna do now?" Kiara asks.

Everyone starts freaking out, everyone is saying something at the same time but nothing anyone says is going through my head right now.

All I can feel is panic and confusion.

We have no way off of this island...

John B is the first to say something that I can actually hear, "everyone calm down!"

Everyone goes quite and we all sit there thinking about everything that just happened.

After a few minutes, JJ finally speaks up, "does anyone know where we are?" He asks all of us.

Pope shrugs, "a deserted island."

JJ lets out a dramatic sigh, "I'll take that as a no."

We all take a seat in a circle. I sit next to John B and give him a sympathetic look.

He was so excited to see our dad...

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, John B stands up.

"You know what, guys? Maybe this isn't such a bad thing, you know? I mean, we have our own little slice of land all to ourselves." He tells everyone.

I feel a tear slide down my cheek as John B continues, "I wouldn't wanna be here with anyone else. You guys are my family."

I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn around to see JJ leaning against a tree behind me.

I smile at him then turn back to John B as he continues to go on about how the island may not be all that bad.