Now or Never ⇀ John B Routledge [1]

xxxi. it will rain

Static came through the speakers of John B's old radio as the local station continuously cut in and out. The eight teenagers were spread around the living room of the Chateau, casually drinking old beer and cracking jokes about their near death experiences that night.

While everything was all fun and games now, they knew they'd inevitably have to risk their lives all over again to retrieve the rest of the gold.

"Hey guys?" Sarah drunkenly leaned on Luke, dropping her head against her boyfriend's shoulder. "What's it like to stand when you pee? That seems so cool. Lu, imagine how cool it would be if I stood up when I peed." The Cameron girl locked eyes with the older male, excitement hidden in her brown orbs. "We'd have another excuse to sneak off to the bathroom together."

Pope chuckled to himself, clutching a glass of water in his left hand as he shook his head. The dark skinned male didn't want to be a buzzkill, but with his scholarship interview coming up, he couldn't risk drinking. "Dude, what the hell did you do to your girlfriend?"

"Welcome to our night on the boat." Kiara groaned as the boy's encouraged the blonde to continue, throwing her head into the couch cushion behind her.

JJ scoffed, using Emerson's torso as a pillow as he laid between her thighs. "Whatever you did to Sarah is hella cool. She's not as high strung now."

"Just for the love of god do not give her your cousin's cripple ever again," Emerson muttered under her breath, "It only gets worse from here."

Luke's hands shot up in surrender as the younger girl wrapped an arm securely around his torso, begging for his attention. "I didn't do anything to her. She's just a lightweight."

"I wanna see this." John B interjected for the first time since their group arrived, pulling his eyes away from Ashtyn long enough to look between Sarah and JJ. "Give her the cripple JJ."

It was as if Ashtyn, Kiara and Emerson had trained for that moment as they simultaneously shouted, 'No'. The last thing any of them needed was a crossed Sarah Cameron.

"Come on guys," Sarah mumbled, "I'm not that bad."

Ashtyn laughed, thinking back to their short lived game that night. Smirking at her best friend, the blue eyed girl crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay then, Sarah, would you rather have nipples for eyes or eyes for nipples?"

"Nipples for eyes." JJ immediately answered the absurd question, taking no time to comprehend what was being asked of him. John nods in agreement, causing the blonde to smirk and lean over for a high five.

Now, it was Pope's turn to shoot his friends an incredulous look, scrunching his nose up in disgust. "Did you two not pay attention in Anatomy Class?"

"When was Anatomy?" JJ questioned, cocking an eye at his best friend while thinking about their previous school year.

He barely passed and wasn't ashamed to admit it. All the Maybank boy cared about was making it to graduation because once he got that diploma, he was a free man, meaning he could finally run away from Kildare Island and all of the terrible memories tied to it.