CHAPTER THREE
toothpaste is the way to a girls heart
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AS THE WORDS LEFT POPE'S MOUTH, dakota made her way over to check it out for herself, and low and behold there it was— a sunken boat.

     "holy shit, he's right." dakota let out in astonishment.

shedding her clothes off, now left in her pink bikini, dakota dove in next to jj trying to get a good look at the boat for herself. john b, kie, and pope following along.

"you think there's a dead body down there?" pope questioned.

"we really don't need you jinxing us right now pope, seriously." the brown haired girl spoke to pope already creeped out as it is.

the five teens swam down under the water towards the sunken boat to get a good look at it, curious to see what it held.

peering into the boat, nothing sketchy seemed to pop out to the girl, while that sort of satisfied her, it didn't at the same time wanting answers for what the boat was doing down there.

when the pressure of the water became too much on the girl, she pushed off part off the boat to lurch herself to the surface, almost out of breath.

     "you guys saw that, right?" jj speaks out of breath after surfacing.

     "yeah." they all laughed in response amazed at their new discovery.

     "that's a grady-white. a new one of those is like 500 gs easy." jj laughed in astonishment at the expensive boat.

     swimming their way back to the boat, they all pulled themselves back up to board the boat once again.

     "that's a primo rig."

     "yeah. that's the boat i saw when i surfed the surge." john b interjected. "maybe it hit the jetty or something."

     "you guys surfed the surge?" kie and dakota asked concerned knowing that's a very dangerous thing to do and john b's lucky he wasn't hurt.

     "that's my boy. pogue style." jj cheered his friend on.

dakota walked up to jj, "don't boost his confidence he could've gotten seriously injured." she interjected caring about the danger her friends constantly put themselves in.

jj smiles at the girl, "aha, but he didn't." he winked at her.

"well he could have." she glared only to have him reject her in return, "but he didn't." he pointed at the girl smugly. grunting, she muttered "unbelievable" and went to go stand by kie, the girls both concerned.

"wait, wait. do we know whose boat that is?" pope asks.

     john b reaches the the compartment which holds the anchor, "no but we're about to find out."

     "dude it's too deep."

     "oh for the week and feeble, jj." john b groaned out, pulling out the anchor.

     jj shook his head, "well, i'm not resuscitating you. i'm just making that clear up front."

     dakota glances up at jj, then turned her attention to john b, "don't worry i got your back, i'd gladly resuscitate you."

      "uh, thank you?" john b more so questioned than responded but caught on quickly once he recognized the emotion on jj's face.

laughing dakota rushes out, "got ya!" pointing at jj. "you know you're the only one i'd resuscitate." she pouted.

jj shook himself of his thoughts about the girl. he cared a lot about her. that meaning he got jealous. very easily. she was probably the one person he cared the most about. she shown him more love than his father— the one person that's been there ever since he was born but all he's done was more harm than good.

saluting john b, pope encourages him, "diver down, fool."

"diver down." john b confirms. jj butts in, shoving him off the boat, "yeah he is."

     after— what seemed like forever, john b's head popped back up through the surface and immediately dakota let out a breath she didn't know she was holding but she was glad nothing bad happened.

     "oh my god. that took forever!" kie scolds.

     "any dead bodies?" pope interjected making dakota glare at him from her position next to kiara.

     jj saw the girl's gaze and couldn't help but comment on it, "glare at him any harder and your eyes will fall out of your head." but to no avail, the girl only turned her glare onto him.

     raising his hands from out of the water, "i found this motel key." john b informs showing off the being yellow key chain.

     "a key?" pope asks deflated. john b shakes his head, "yes, a key pope."

     "great! we salvaged a motel key."

     "i mean it's better than nothing." dakota comes to john b's defense.

     "guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard." kie advices the four others. "maybe we'll get a finder's few.

     "yeah and not work all summer." jj grins, "thanks agatha, ya batch."

     and that's what the five kids did. they made their way down to the coast guard. upon arrival, they all took notice of how many people were actually there. it was a lot. and they definitely did not seem happy.

   dakota and kie decided to sit this one out while the three boys made their way over to the guy at the desk.

"well this summers off to a great start already." kiara pipes up.

"tell me about it." dakota sighs, "but it's something rather than nothing which we have to be great fuel for at least."

speaking lowly, kiara adds in, "gotta love the thrill."

"amen sister." dakota grins back at kie already feeling mixed emotions about their summer already. she could feel that good things and bad things are coming— she didn't know whether to be excited or worried.

"well, that went well." pope said exhaustedly as the three boys made their way back to the girls after failed attempts at getting the guys attention.

"so what's the plan?"

waving the key in the air, john b interjects, "i know how we're gonna find the guy who owns that boat." only for pope to quickly disagree. "we don't know whose room that is. it could be anyone."

jj, tossed the key over to dakota who caught it with a grin on her face excited for their next adventure, "i'm in."

"don't worry pope, i'll protect your dumbass." she grinned cheekily at pope.

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     NOT LONG AFTER THEIR FAILED ATTEMPTS AT WARNING THE COAST GUARD, the group of sixteen year olds found themselves pulling up towards the not so pretty looking motel.

     whistling, jj pipes up, "i thought the chateau looked bad." john b nods his head agreeing with him, "this place is a shitshow."

     "motel or meth lab?"

     "you be the judge."

     "doesn't look like a place somebody with a grady-white would stay." john b speaks up confused.

     pope interjects, "no. looks like a place someone with a grady-white would get killed."

jumping off the boat and onto the grass, jj tied up the boat so it would stay, while the others were still looking up at the motel in curiosity.

"all right. here goes nothin'."

standing up from her seat on the boat, "i'm coming." dakota declares not wanting to miss out on the fun. she was ready to make this one hell of a summer so she wasn't taking any chances on missing out on something epic.

"hey," pope began, "don't let them do anything stupid." advising john b.

leaning against his knee jj interjects, face completely, "oh we will."

looking at pope, "i'm not making any promises." john b declared. "have you met them two? them together is just an explosion of things waiting to happen.

dakota grins, "we take pride in that." slinging her arm around jj's shoulder, smiling ear to ear— very similar to the cheshire cat.

kie focuses her attention onto john b. "be careful." passing him the motel key he found in the boat a few moments prior. "i mean it."

dakota looks at the two skeptically sensing something between the two. leaning over slightly so no one sees, she mouthed to kie, 'later' giving the girl a pointed look curious to what is going on there.

"let's go." john b pats them on the shoulders ushering them along, but not before dakota and jj make eye contact both asking the same question in their minds, 'what the fuck?'

the three of the made their way over to the stairs seeing as whoever owned the now sunken grady-white resided on the second floor.

"just be so careful, john b." jj mocks kie. "but what the heck was that about?"

"i don't know. maybe she wants us to be careful." he comes to kie's defense.

giving john b a pointed look, dakota speaks up, "i can smell the sexual tension from a mile away."

turning around to face the girl, john b looks between her and jj. "kota, you're one to talk." he voiced.

sending each other looks, jj and dakota just brush it off not trying to get into a deep conversation neither of them want to have at the moment. things were complicated.

getting back to the subject at hand, jj continues, "since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's just been like, oh! be so careful, john b." he grasps onto john b's shoulders only to have them pushed off in return. "oh, give me that john d already."

"when are you gonna swoop on that, man?" jj complains.

"bro, you know the rule. no pogue on pogue macking." john b proves his reasoning. "besides, you're the one always hitting on her."

hearing that statement, dakota turns to jj with her eyebrows raised.

"of course i'm hitting on her. she's a super hot, rich, hippie chick slumming with us. why? i can't figure it out either, but who cares, bro? i know that doors locked because i've tried it. have you?" he declares.

shaking herself out of her thoughts, dakota queried, "can you guys like not think with your dicks? just this once please." grossed out.

"you're one to talk, kota" jj protested. "every semi-attractive guy you lay eyes on you're under their arms in less than a minute." he rolls his eyes.

"that's what i do jj." she comments. "the boys can't resist my cuteness." she flicks her hair over her shoulder.

mumbling under his breath he voices his thoughts, 'you got that right.'

hearing what he said, dakota jumps in front of him and taunts him smiling widely, "what was that jj? i couldn't hear you." she laughs, jj pushing her in return.

"nothing."

john b saves jj from more harassment from dakota by announcing that they've arrived at mystery mans hotel room.

knocking on the door jj squeaks, "housekeeping." dakota couldn't help but let out a laugh. turning his attention to the window to knock on it, still no answer.

"should we try it?" asks john b.

"yeah."

"no power. no security cameras. no ones gonna know." jj informs. dakota shakes her head slapping her face. "yay, more jinxing."

pushing the key into the hole, john b unlocks it and opens the door.

     "damn it's dark in here." dakota announces.

     giving her a look, jj turns his attention to her, "powers out, what's you expect?"

     raising her hands in defense, "my bad."

     "check the bag. see if there's a name on there somewhere." john b speaks up making his way over to the bag.

     as the boys were searching the bags, dakota decided to check around the floor to see if anything was lying around.

     "no name on the jacket." jj pipes up. "it's a nice jacket though."

     "He's got new balances." john b informs.

     "well, he's got to be older than thirty if he's got new balances." dakota inquires chuckling.

     going to the table between the beds, jj beckons the two over. "yo, guys, come here. maybe this is where they were fishing." making her way over she noticed that he was pointing at a set of coordinates which were written on a yellow sticky note.

     "no, that's off the continental shift." john b denies. "that's big swell. nobody fishes there."

     blowing off what they were just looking at, the three continue to mindlessly search the room.

     "coffee?"

     "yeah."

     "standard. tissues for when you get lonely." jj speaks in an accent.

     "you might wanna steal them then." dakota teases jj, earning her a slap to the back of the head.

     "ouch." she mumbles rubbing the sore spot.

     "ooh." jj cheers from the bathroom. john b turns his head hearing something that may give them a lead. "did you find anything?" he questions.

     "a really awesome dopp kit you won't let me steal." he informs.

     "yeah cause we're not stealing shit."

     noticing jj pocket deodorant, she makes her way over to the bathroom. "ooh. anything for mwah?"

     "yes, toothpaste." jj teases the girl. "lord knows you need it." he passes it to the girl patting her head.

     shrugging her shoulders, she puts it in her bikini top.

     the girl lost hope that they weren't going to find anything so she decided to flop on the bed like a starfish and wait it out till they could finally be done.

     her thoughts were interrupted by the exasperation in john b's voice. "holy shit. uh, you guys? you're gonna wanna see this."

     flinging up from the bed she follows jj over to john b. when she got a good look at what was in the safe the girls eyes widened in shock.

     she was interrupted by jj's hand moving by her arm and picking up the gun.

     "dude, dude, dude!" john b shouts. "you grabbed the gun."

     "this is a sig sauer." jj laughs in astonishment.

     john b grows anxious, "put the gun back, jj." he gritted his teeth.

     "this is a fucking spends gatt, you guys." he continues. "just, bam! bam!" he pretends to shoot the air.

     "dude you should put that down." dakota interfered. "knowing you you'll manage to shoot your own eye out." she deadpanned.

     "we are not stealing anything!" john b demands.

     hurriedly, jj hands his phone over to dakota. "just take a pic of me. right here."

     john b disagrees, "you want her to take a picture of you?" he taunts.

     ignoring john b, "you should like, hold your hand on your hip." she shows him posing. "then like point it out like— she raises the phone to take a picture but is interrupted by john b ripping it out of her hand.

     "you want to make our own incriminating evidence?" he points out. " is that what you wanna do?"

     "well i mean." she drags out, but then noticing john b's looks she reluctant nods her head. "yeah that sounds pretty bad."

     all of a sudden their interrupted from a tapping sound erupting on the window in the room.

     "what was that?"

     john b looks out the window to see pope and kiara mouthing 'cops'. "shit." he mutters gaining jj and kota's attention.

     "what is it?"

     john b makes his way over to the other window. "cops."

     eyes widening the three of them rush to clean things up. and rush to the window. hearing loud footsteps get closer to the door of the the hotel room the dakota rushes the two to get the window open faster. john b hops out first onto the side roof and goes to the right while jj and dakota are right after him climbing to the left side of the roof.

jj grabs dakota quickly pressing her up against the wall keeping her to the spot farthest away from the window but careful to not push her off of the roof or make her lose her balance.

heart racing, the girl pressed herself into the wall as deep as her body would let her. she could feel jj's front pressing against her back as a shield since there wasn't much room for the two to stay side by side.

looking to her left she could see john b looking through a small pack of the shades to see what the cops were doing inside the room. all of a sudden her eyes grew wide when she felt something press up against her lower back.

"um, jj." the girl grimaces, heat rushing immediately to her face.

clearing his through the whispers out "yeah?" raspily embarrassed that he got himself in this predicament. looking down then slowly moving her eyes back to his she mumbles shyly, "think about your grandma or something, please." shutting her eyes tightly.

slightly shifting over to make the girl more comfortable, the gun falls from his back pocket making a loud bang as it fell onto the roof ten onto the ground.

immediately after, they all panicked and pressed themselves even harden into the walls, completely terrified now.

thoughts of the previous encounter dakota completely forgot about it now only focusing on the part that they are most likely screwed.

from the corner of her eye, she could see the cop slow the curtain wide open, which made her flinch herself into jj, him rubbing her arm in comfort.

they all let out a sigh of relief seeing the cop disappear from the window and hearing the sound of the motel room door slamming shut.

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     finally after the terrifying situation the teens were previously in the were now back on the boat heading back.

     "you know you could've warned us a little sooner." jj informs letting out a breathy chuckle.

     "we would have," kie speaks up, "except pope was on the math team."

     "you were on the math team?" john b asked curiously not knowing this beforehand.

     patting his shoulder, dakota spoke up in sympathy, "you poor poor child."

     "the cops took everything like it was a crime scene." pope interjects. "did you guys find anything?" he asks.

     "did we find anything?" jj taunts. "no i don't think so. oh yeah. we did." he speaks proudly with a wide smile holding up one of the wards of cash and the gun.

     "why would you take that from a crime scene!?" pope freaks out. "better than the cops having it." he defends.

     as pope begins to protest, jj waves the gun in his face. "at least you have us right?"

     "i'm living a nightmare." pope concludes.

     "hey guys." dakota voiced, now having everyone's attention focused on her. reaching into her bra, "i found toothpaste." she smiled holding it up like a trophy.