Sailor (1) | JJ Maybank UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Diver Down

After getting to the chateau, JJ, John B, and Bailee were 'boat shopping' while they went to save Pope from cleanup after Agatha. "How about that one?" John B pointed to an older boat that was first on the docks. Its paint was torn off, and a bit of rusted metal peaked through the edges.

"Nah, kind of a smugglers boat," JJ said, and Bailee nodded along, foot tapping against the flooring.

"Yeah-"

"Good morning!" Bailee was cut off by a neighbor cleaning off the boat they had pointed out. Each of them raised a hand, signaling a 'hello' as John B responded.

"Hi, Miss Amy! You guys get through it?" John B asked an older woman, seemingly about 20, who was wearing a sun hat on the docks.

"Still here." She laughed a bit as if he had said a small joke and continued shoving trash into a bag as the H.M.S. Pogue rode off.

"She totally looked at me," JJ commented, making John B laugh.

"Yes, JJ, that hot and old of a girl would go for you. Keep on dreaming, babe. I've got a better chance than you." Bailee responded, making JJ pout and John B laugh harder. "Dude, look at this place."

John B whistled and looked at the pile of trash in the middle of the way. "Agatha, what did you do?"

"She is a crazy lady."

"Hardcore hurricane surge, man." Bailee sighed and looked at the damage, mouth curling in disgust at the swirling trash in the once-blue surrounding ocean. "We're gonna be cleaning this all summer."

"That is my nightmare," JJ replied.

"You aren't ditching for the free life of no Figure Eight cleanup?" John B playfully asked, already knowing the girl's answer.

"No way. That would mean interacting with Rafe and his goonies." Bailee shivered just thinking about an entire summer with her ex and his sad lap dogs. "I'd rather pick up each piece of trash in the ocean individually."

"I told you not to date him." JJ loosely hung his arm around the girl's shoulders, looking slightly down with a smile. She looked up at JJ, locking eye contact before John B interrupted.

"Well, look who we have here." John B said in an awful cartoonish accent.

"We have a safety meeting. Attendance: mandatory." John B spoke into an imaginary cop scanner on his chest as Pope rolled his eyes, continuing to power wash the dock.

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

"C'mon man." JJ made a static sound, "Your dad's a pussy, over."

"Oh, I heard that, you little bastard." Heyward walked towards the three, not acknowledging that Bailee was on the boat yet.

"We need your son."

"Island rules, Mr. H!" Bailee shouted back.

"Ms. Walker, your aunt know you're here?" Heyward responded, a bit shocked that a Kook would be hanging out with his son and Pope's idiotic friends."Once she stops sending cops after me, I'll be sure to let her know." She smiled before turning back to Pope. "C'mon dude, I can't keep the idiots by myself. Plus, day after hurricane's a free day.""Who the hell made that up?" Heyward responded as Bailee was not-so-discreetly waving for Pope to jump on the boat."Uh, Pentagon, I think." JJ fished into his pockets, pretending to look for something, "We have security clearance. I've got a card.""Do y'all think I'm stupid?" Heyward was no longer focused on his son, who was slowly dropping the hose and inching towards the boat."I'll- I'll do it tomorrow. I promise.""No, you ain't doin' it tomorrow. Hell no, you doin' it right now." Heyward got closer to his son, who was still inching off the dock."Psst, get in the boat," Bailee said."Make a run for it, brother." Pope looked to his dad before running and jumping into the moving boat with a helping hand from Bailee."Go, go, go.""I'll do it tomorrow, Dad, I promise!" John B sped up the boat as Pope bargained with his dad, still standing on the dock. The four laughed as they sped away to Kie's. JJ was now sitting on top of Bailee, who was laughing and pounding at his back. She leaned back to grab a bit of water in her hands and push on his chest with her cold hands,"Top of the mornin' to ya, boys. Where's Bails?" Kie said once they had gotten to her dock, cooler in hand."Under JJ, help!" Kie let out a huff of air as she climbed onto the boat and placed the red cooler down before grabbing JJ's arm and pulling him off her friend."You got some juice boxes?" John B said as he noticed the cooler on the floor. Kie took a seat next to Bailee before looking at John B."You know, just some yogurts, carrots..." She trailed off."What about our kind of juice boxes?" JJ asked, mentioning himself and Bailee."Yeah, yeah, you alcoholics." Kie opened the cooler to reveal a few beers sitting on ice. JJ leaned over and grabbed two, passing one to Bailee, who popped it open."Salud.""Skoal." JJ raised his beer to the after-clinking bottles with Kie and Bailee. He pulled Bailee up and guided her in front of him. He rested his head on her shoulder and took a sip of beer.Her hair was blowing in his face since they were sailing fast, but JJ kept his position, only moving when he wrapped an arm around her waist or took another sip of beer. The five continued talking and laughing, switching off driving positions until JJ moved from Bailee and stood upon the bow."Hey, Pope, could you go a little faster?" The group groaned, knowing what was about to come next."Oh, here we go, I'm movin'." John B went to sit on the opposite side of the boat. "We've tried this like 6,000 times.""Yeah, but the master hasn't joined us yet!" JJ looked at Bailee, smiling."You taught him this?" Kie asked Bailee as she moved to where John B was. Bailee nodded. "Dude, I'm so gonna kill you."Bailee had taught JJ the trick on a late-night boat ride on one of her uncle's boats last summer when the adults were out of town. She stepped up with JJ as protests were ignored, and Pope sped up the boat, adjusting her pink bikini strap before taking his hand. The two looked at each other before raising their beers and trying to catch the drink in their mouths. The beer completely missed both of their mouths and sprayed at the others who wanted to dodge the sticky substance."All right, all right," Pope said as he covered his face from beer spray. "You're done.""Alright, stop!" John B yelled, going to pull the two of them back before the boat was flung forward.JJ and Bailee were thrown into the water, and the rest were thrown onto the floor or each other. Bailee's beer flew out of her hands, and she landed with a loud smack on the water. She winced, knowing it was going to hurt badly tomorrow.They all groaned in pain as JJ floated up to the top of the water. He saw Bailee near him, face scrunched up and groaning as she lay floating on the water."You alright, JJ and Bails?" Kie asked, getting up from the floor."I think the heels touched the back of my head.""I lost my goddamn beer."JJ chuckled at the fact that Bailee was concerned about her beer and not her back, and both swam towards each other as John B spoke up. "Pope, what did you do?"Pope sighed, getting up from the boat and gripping the wheel to steady himself. "Sandbar changed.""Yeah, no shit." JJ and Bailee trod in the water and watched the other three stand up. JJ held the beer, probably full of marsh water, in his hand. "This is gonna mess this whole place up.""Guys... I think there's a boat down there." The group stopped, either swimming or walking over to where Pope was."Shut up, what?""No way.""No, no, guys, I'm serious. There's a boat down there. It's a boat." John B and Kie looked over, seeing the vast white figure in the green water."You think there's a dead body down there?" John B and Kie jumped in as Pope struggled to get his shirt off, not answering his question. JJ and Bailee weren't far behind them, stretching their backs before flipping into the water with a yell. "Get your ass in here, Pope!" JJ shouted as Pope cannonballed into the water, and the five ducked below the surface. "You guys saw that?" JJ asked excitedly once they had gotten air and started swimming towards HMS Pogue."Yeah, I did.""Yo!""Definitely."The group helped each other back onto the boat as JJ talked, "That's a Grady-White. A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy. That's a primo rig.""Yeah, it's the boat I saw when we surfed the surge. Maybe it hit the jetty or something." John B commented, making Kiara look at him."You surfed the surge?" John B. didn't answer Bailee's question and looked down. "I was out there; I don't know how I missed y'all.""That's my girl, Pogue style, baby." JJ looped his arm around Bailee's neck before she lightly shoved him off. JJ walked over to John B and gave him a handshake."What the heck?" Kie turned to Pope, who shrugged."Wait, wait. Do we know who's boat that is?" Pope asked."No, but we're about to find out. Bailee, c'mere and help me with this." John B opened a hatch and grabbed a chained anchor with the help of Bailee. The two of them brought it over to the edge of the boat."Dude, it's too deep," JJ said, not wanting John B or Bailee to run out of air while exploring."Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ." John B winked at JJ before bringing it closer to the edge, Bailee still holding the other side."Well, I'm not resuscitating you; I'm just making that clear upfront," JJ responded."Diver Down, fool." John B saluted JJ and Pope."Yeah, he is," JJ said, moving to push John B down. Before he could, Bailee grabbed the anchor from his hands and jumped into the water with it. John B reached for her, but she was already sinking into the swampy waters below.She let go of the weight before swimming over to the Grady-White and balanced herself between the top and one of the seats. Looking behind her, she reached into the boat. A small floating key caught her eye. Bailee snatched it and swam back to the surface quickly as her chest started to burn at the lack of oxygen.Bailee gasped as she broke through the water and saw four nervous teens staring at her. She swam towards them slowly as the water was coughed up from her lungs, and air replaced it."Oh, my God. That took forever.""Warn a guy next time, Bails.""Geez. Any dead bodies?" Pope asked as Bailee finished coughing and looked up at them."Looting potential?" She looked at JJ, who had a bit of a worried face.Bailee smiled as she held up the silver and yellow motel key. "Sorry, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do for some adventure. And no looting potential. I found this motel key, though."JJ pulled her back on the boat and pulled her into a tight hug from behind before taking the motel key out of her hands. He was scared she wouldn't come back up, which struck something in him that it probably wasn't supposed for just a friend."Great, we salvaged a motel key." JJ looked at the key in his hands before passing it to Kiara. John B started the boat at high speed as they started heading back."Guys, we should report the wreck to the Coast Guard; maybe. Maybe we'll get a finder's fee," Kie said once they had sailed for a bit."Yeah, and not work all summer. Thanks, Agatha, ya batch!" JJ sat down and pulled Bailee's legs into his lap as she lay across the rest of the seat.The group arrived at the office a few songs later. JJ and John B went to try to report the wreck while Pope, Kie, and Bailee waited outside the tent in comfortable silence. A broken waterproof speaker cracked out their playlist.After a few more minutes, John B and JJ came back without the Coast Guard, but with dejected and slightly annoyed faces. "Well, that went well.""So, what's the plan?" Pope asked.Bailee took the key from JJ's pocket and dangled it from her fingers. "I bet I know who the guy who owned the boat is.""No way, we don't know whose room that is. It could belong to anyone." Pope tried to talk the girl out of it, but Bailee wasn't listening as she smirked at JJ and John B before skipping over to Kie and hooking their elbows together."We ride at whatever time it is, " Bailee checked her wrist, which had no watch on it. Come along, gentlemen!" Bailee yelled as she and Kie laughed and skipped to the boat._____edited.