Me and the Devil

2.

The next morning, I awake to the mess Agatha left behind, I couldn't help but admire it. The storm had torn through the island like a cleansing force, leaving everything in ruin. It was...beautiful, in a way. A fresh start, maybe. What would it be like to tear through life that way?

I put on my trusty denim shorts and blue halter top and head downstairs to see how John B and the Chateau fared in the storm. My mom and Ezra are blabbing about Midsummer's and the Knights of the Rhododendron or some shit, but ignoring them as best I could, I jump in my jeep and head toward John B's. I make a mental note to start looking for a job, so I can be free from their reign as soon as possible.

The Chateau looks worse than usual. Debris everywhere. A huge tree fell down inches from the HMS Pogue. I walk into the Chateau to see JJ and John B exactly where I left them last night.

"Get up sleepyheads," I yell as I jump onto JJ since this man could sleep through anything.

JJ looks up at me and winks "I think I had a dream about this". I playfully swat him away.

"Come on, the hurricane is gone, service and power are out, and there is a huge mess outside that we need to clean up."

Ignoring my words John B and JJ run outside and hop into the boat.

"It's God tellin' us to fish," I hear John B say as I go to join them.

As John B directs the boat through the marsh, we can see the damage the storm left behind. We see everybody doing their best to try and clean up the mess. As we pull up to Heyward's, Pope's dad's fish market, we see Pope doing chores.

"We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory," John B calls out to Pope.

"I can't. My pop's got me on lockdown."

"Your dad's a pussy. Over." JJ says while mimicking a walkie-talkie.

Heyward comes out of nowhere saying, "Oh, I heard that, you little bastard."

"We need your son. Island rules. Day after a hurricane's a free day, "I bullshit.

"Who made that up?" Heyward questions.

"Pentagon, I think. We have security clearance.," JJ chimes in backing me up.

"I promise I'll do it tomorrow, Dad," Pope says as he climbs into The Pogue.

"You're gonna clean shrimp, clean fish. You'll clean your dirty-ass room!" Heyward calls after us, but it's too late. We are already off to pick up Kiara.

We see Kiara walking down her dock, cooler in hand. She jokes about having carrots and yogurt in the cooler when we really know it's just beer. She tosses me and JJ one. We crack it open and head to the bow of the boat preparing for our party trick.

JJ and I have been doing this since we started drinking, which is a lot younger than we should have been, but we stand on the front of the boat with the beer in front of us letting the wind try and blow the beer into our mouth. I urge Pope, who is now driving, to go faster. As usual, the trick doesn't go as planned. Beer is getting everywhere but our mouths. John B and Kiara are complaining behind us. The motor rattles and the boat abruptly stops as JJ and I are flung off the front of the boat straight into the water.

"What the hell, Pope!" I shout as I resurface.

"I think my heels touched the back of my head!" JJ whines

"Sandbar. The channel's changed," Pope explains. JJ and I roll our eyes as we try to climb back into the boat, but we are stopped by a startling exclamation from John B.

"I think there's a boat down there."

While holding onto the ladder, I turn around and sure enough I can barely see the outline of a boat. I jump back into the water ready to go explore the wreck. John B, Pope, and Kie join me and JJ in the water as well. We all dive down.