Eastside ₒ OBX

5- Stalling

As far as Jade was concerned, the Pogues really knew how to work their way-out-of-a-paper-bag. John B parks the van outside a chain-link fence. Jade looks out the window and furrows her brow. 
   "What are we doing here again?" 
   "We're stealing an ROV," JJ responds. 
   "We're not stealing it," John B reminds him. 
   "Right. We're borrowing." 
   "Which is it? Fantasy or reality?" Pope questions. 
   "Why are you so weird, Pope?" JJ asks. 
   "Its fantasy but possibly reality," Kie answers. 
   "Reality," John B says. 
   "Virtual reality," JJ opens his lighter. 
   Jade moves away from him, "don't set my hair on fire." 
   JJ smirks, but isn't able to respond before Pope flicks away whatever he was about to smoke. 
   "Keep the signal clear," Pope tells the blond. 
   John B parks the vehicle and glances at Jade in the rearview. "Know what you've got to do?" 
   "Distracting is my thing," Jade replies, slinging her knapsack over her shoulder. She shuts the door and joins Kiara outside. 

She glances over her shoulder, "but thanks for the concern." 
   Kie takes the lead to the security guard's quarters. "Do you know what you're doing?" 
   "I figured I just follow you and improvise." 
   "Wow, so John B was right to be concerned?" 
   "What is so concerning about me not lying to any authority figure before?" 
   "That whole sentence is concerning. Just act natural and genuine." Kie shields her eyes from the sun, "excuse me. Could you help us with something?" 
   "What can I do for you?" the security guard asks. 
   "The tire on our vehicle is flat and neither of us know exactly how to change it. Do you know how to or got anything to change it with?" 
   "Yeah. I'll go get the equipment." 
   "Yeah," Kie watches him leave and then pivots to look at Jade, " its too easy." 
   "I don't know. We could get in a lot of trouble if we get caught." 
   "We're not going to. Why'd you come if you didn't want to do Pogue stuff?" 
   "Well, John B said if I was looking for adventure, this is the place to be." 
   "John B doesn't know what he's talking about half the time." 
   Jade shakes her head, "I don't know how you keep all of them in line." 
   "No one's noticed that before," Kie grins. "I knew I liked you for some reason." 
   The guard comes back with a compression pump for the van. Jade checks her watch as the tank fills the tire. Estimating how fast the tire would inflate, they were already five minutes into waiting for the boys. 
   "Hey, I'm going to, uh, call Candice to check up on her," she tells Kie. 
   Kiara nods, getting the idea, "okay. Tell her to hurry up." 
   "There's no signal. Excuse me, do you know where I could get bars?" 
   "Up by the gate, over there," the security guard gestures to back where the boys went. 
   Jade smiles, "thank you." She jogs towards the large fence blocking off the shipyard. 
   "Jade, what are you doing? I thought you were on lookout," Pope hisses. 
   "I thought JJ was always lookout?" 
   "Not now that the guard dog found us." 
   "I'm great with animals, maybe I can calm it down." 
   "Are you able to climb over the fence?" 
   "Where's John B?" 
   "Can you answer my question first?" 
   "You're the math genius. Judging by my height, the velocity I run at to vault, plus the dimensions of the fence..." 
   "By geometric standards, its almost impossible on the first try in the timeframe you need." 
   "Exactly. Just hurry up, okay? There's only a certain amount of stalling that can be done." She begins walking back as quickly and naturally as possible. With JJ getting chased by the dog, she knew the guard on duty would be looking to question. Jade holds up her phone to act like she was still trying to get service. 
   "Hey," the guard barks, "did you see a dog?" 
   "I'm sorry, is that what that noise was?" she asks as genuine as possible. "Hold on, I'm getting a call. It just went up a bar." 
   The guard ignores her and runs towards the dog. Jade puts the phone down from her ear and darts back to the van. 
   "What happened?" 
   "You went over there, you tell me," Kie sighs, patching up the tire. "Please don't tell me it was JJ that got in trouble with the dog. He always finds a way to create conflict." 
   "It was kind of a group effort on their behalf. I talked to Pope, no sign of John B yet. I mean, better late than never, I guess." 

Jade hops out of the van and takes her knapsack. "This was fun, thanks for bringing me along. Is there anything you guys need help with?" 
   "We're testing the ROV, maybe grab your swim stuff while we're here?" JJ suggests. 
   Kie elbows him, "will you cool it? She's not a piece of meat." 
   "I didn't say she was. Jesus, Kie." 
   "I can walk you home," John B volunteers. "You don't know if the Kooks want to target you or anything." 
   "We're parked here," Pope objects, "what does that make us?" 
   John B gets out of the driver's seat and matches Jade's pace. "Which one's yours again?" 
   "The grayish blue one. It doesn't belong to us though, its our friends'." 
   "Kooks for friends. That's new." 
   "My dad's friends with the owner, went to college together." 
   "Ivy League?" 
   "Community. You can't always judge a book by its cover, you know." 
   "I think we've been through this before." 
   "I didn't start it, you did, remember?" 
   "Right," he pauses. "Hey, uh, thanks for coming. Adding honorary Pogues isn't something that we usually do." 
   "I'm an honorary Pogue now?" 
   "Unless you plan staying all-year-round." 
   Jade raises her eyebrows at him, "staying? That's quite the jump. I don't know if we have enough cash to live here." 
   "You could live on the Cut. Its not glorious, but at least you'd be closer to us and you have friends here already." 
   Closer to us. The statement sounded a bit odd to Jade. "Just give me some time to take you up on that offer." 
   "Oh, I wasn't asking for... Being a Pogue seems to fit you better than acting like a Kook." 
   "Uh-huh. Really appreciate you walking me back. And I'll be around if you or the other Pogues need anything." 
   "I'll keep that in mind," he smiles a little. 
   "Hi Dad," Jade saunters up to the front lawn. 

She notices that he was in the middle of a conversation with another man that she didn't know. "Oops, sorry for interrupting."
   "Mr Cameron, this is my daughter, Dahlia Jade," Ian Galway says. "Jade, this is Mr Cameron. He lives further down the road towards the north side of the island. His daughter, Sarah, is around your age."
   "Its nice to meet you, Mr Cameron," Jade smiles. "Oh, Dad, before I forget. This is my friend, John B."
   "Nice to meet you, sir," John B shakes Ian's hand.
   "Nice to meet you too," Ian replies.
   There is a strange pause between all of them. Jade checks the time, "John B, you've got someplace to be?"
   "Yeah, I should get going. Nice meeting you again, Mr Galway. Ward." John B glances at the rich man observing the conversation. Then he disappears from view in the street.
   "Well, I should write up the rest of that application for college," Jade says.
   "Apply for that scholarship too. I charged your computer for you, so get to that," Ian tells her.
  Jade enters the house and finds the computer on the coffee table in front of the couch below the windowsill. She unplugs it from the outlet and stops as she hears the adults talking outside.
   "You know that kid has become quite the bad egg since his father went missing," Ward Cameron states. "He stole scuba tanks from me the other day."
   "Did he return them?" Ian asks.
  "Yeah, but they were empty. He's got no guardian keeping him in check. Basically a loose cannon, that kid. I'd watch him around my daughter."
  Both Ian and Jade seemed to get the idea of what Ward was implying. "Uh huh, I see," he nods. The rest of the discussion was not that audible.
  Jade turns away from the window to coil up her charger. She hears the door open and Ian walks into the living area. "What was that about?"
  Ian exhales abruptly, "you're almost eighteen. You can choose who you talk to." That was all he said with little context. 

Author's Note: 
Thoughts on the plot (character oriented)? Do you guys like Dahlia Jade?  Comment anywhere. 

If you liked this part, be sure to give it a vote! Byeeeeeeeee! 

   ~SHIELD-Avenger