★☆⋆⁎⋆✶★☆⋆⁎⋆✶

𝖍𝖔𝖜 𝖙𝖔: 𝖑𝖔𝖘𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖌𝖎𝖗𝖑

(CHAPTER FOUR)

𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧

★☆⋆⁎⋆✶★☆⋆⁎⋆✶

When Veronica was ten, there had been an altercation that nearly took her father away from her forever. Harvey did most of the hard labor around the Cut―the busy work, the odd jobs―and one of those jobs involved moving a load of supplies across the Outer Banks that turned out to be drugs for the dealers who ran around their side of the island. Harvey accidentally found himself in the middle of it all, and the result of that was having a gun pulled on him when he was in the backyard of his home with Ronni swinging on their makeshift tire-swing because the dealer thought he'd stolen the merchandise.

The man fired the gun directly into the tree that Ronni had been swinging on, only a few centimeters from her. A hole was still embedded in the bark, the bullet lodged as a souvenir of the events so that the Dunweather duo would never forget. Another round went only inches behind Harvey's head, landing in one of the posts holding up their white little house. Harvey was more careful with his jobs after that―and unlike many who lived in the Cut, he never touched a gun. Ronni, from that day on, had a fear of them. They almost took her father from her. Hell, one almost killed her too. JJ knew that. JJ had been there later that day to see the sobs wrack through Ronni's body until the sun came up the next morning.

That night after the events at the Boneyard felt a little bit too similar for her liking. She'd gotten back later than she expected to after managing to lug John B's unconscious body all the way to the Chateau with the help of the others. Pope and Kie both had to leave right away, and with good reason. They had two concerned parents, a curfew, and there was absolutely no way Mike Carrera or Heyward hadn't heard about the gunfire from someone blabbering their mouth at either of their businesses.

So that left Ronni with a sobered-up JJ and an unconscious John B at the Chateau. She hadn't spoken a word to anyone since she left the beach, a sweatshirt of Kie's thrown on after she got out of JJ's soaked shirt. For the first couple of minutes, she tended to John B, making sure that his head was turned in case he threw up, a bottle of water and pain killers by his bedside after she finished wiping away the blood on his face. He'd have a bad black eye. That was her job. Taking care of everyone. Keeping everyone safe. Worrying.

Then, she shut the door, pausing when she saw that JJ was sitting on the couch in the living room. He stood up the second she walked out, his face falling. "V―"

Ronni ignored him. She glanced around the Chateau, noticing all of the beer bottles and trash lingering on the tables, and moved to collect them in her hands. It gave her something to do so she didn't kill him. JJ watched her, not enjoying the silent treatment that she was giving him. He would rather her just yell at him―get it over with―he was used to that. The inevitability where he was always in the wrong, always the one being scolded, always in trouble. He couldn't take Ronni ignoring him. He couldn't take that.

She wiped the kitchen table clean, then picked up the full beer bottles that were laid near the front door where JJ was lingering. Reaching for her elbow, he grabbed her gently to get her attention, but she yanked it out of his hold like he was scalding to the touch. That one hurt both of them, and he tugged an anxious hand through his messy blonde hair. Walking in the center of the room, halfway between the kitchen and the living room, JJ stared at the strain in Ronni's body, knowing it well. Anger, he noticed. Fear. A slight shaking of her shoulders...she was holding back tears.

"Ronni... Ronni. Talk to me, please," he pleaded helplessly as he continued to watch her. She kept her back turned to him. His jaw clenched, a mist burning his eyes. He took another step forward, his hand outstretched. "V, I was just trying to save John B's life―"

That time she had a reaction. The beer bottles clanged hard against the granite of the kitchen sink as she set them down carelessly. Ronni turned around to look at him, and his shoulders deflated again when he noticed the tears burning in her eyes. JJ always hated when she cried―but rarely was it over something he did―and the tightness in his chest only held on longer. She'd been crying on and off for over an hour, her face swollen and flushed, and JJ wasn't sure how people said girls still looked beautiful when they cried. Because fucking hell did looking at her like that hurt. He wanted her smiling. It wasn't beautiful to see her in pain.

"Trying to save his life..." she muttered under her breath, laughing like it was a joke as she quickly wiped away a tear before he could see it. "Trying to save his life, JJ?"

"That Kook was drowning him―"

"―you think I didn't see that?" she interjected, her eyes widening in disbelief. She walked out of the kitchen, now only a short distance away. "You think I didn't see you egging on the fight either? Just like JB went back for more. You two have to stop being so careless. What would have happened if the cops showed up? DCS would've taken John B away in a second and you'd be in a jail cell for possession of a firearm you got from a dead man. You shouldn't have even had the gun with you in the first place. You shouldn't have even stolen the fucking thing, JJ."

His blue eyes caught her tearful ones. "I did it for John B, Ronni. I did it for both of you...who the hell else is going to protect you two? No one gives a shit about us. No one cares."

"You think...you think that is going to help us?"

JJ's teeth clenched and he glanced over at his beige backpack on the porch, the gun hidden away from her eye. "I know you don't like them, V. I get that. But I did what I had to do."

"No. You did what you wanted to do. Just like you always do."

He looked back at her, their eyes clashing in a heated exchange of her falling tears and his growing upset. The short fuse inside of JJ, still frustrated from what happened and still upset that he was getting the brunt end for helping, stirred erratically. Having a fight with Ronni, of all people, was not what he wanted to be doing. But she wasn't letting up, and he wasn't letting go of it either.

"Well sorry for actually giving a shit about you, Veronica. Sorry for caring," he snapped back, his words cold and distant. "Next time I'll just leave Topper to drown John B, alright? I'll let him go after you next. Not a problem."

"Don't be a dick, JJ. Stop acting like there aren't people who give a shit about you too." Ronni didn't even bat an eyelash, taking no time to look offended, her own reply hot on her tongue. "Who's going to save your life when you end up getting fucking shot because you're playing around with a weapon like it's a toy? A loaded weapon, JJ. What would have happened if you had accidentally pulled the trigger? If you'd shot Topper―he'd be dead, and you'd be in jail for murder―"

"I'm not stupid, Ronni."

"Yeah? You could have fooled me."

Ronni's lip trembled, the tears coming down every so often, a lump forming in her throat as she constantly tried to wipe them away. JJ fell back a few steps, his shoulders falling in defeat. There were two things that he noticed in the heat of the argument: she never inched forward or made a sudden movement, and even though he could see her holding it back, Ronni never raised her voice at him. Because even though she wanted to, Ronni knew JJ like the back of her hand, and she would never put him in a situation like that.

He swallowed hard, fists clenching and unclenching at his side. "I'm sorry."

"You and John B are all I've got, JJ. You two and Dad are all I have," her words were resigned, exhaustion taking over from fighting with him, and he could see her giving up slowly on the conversation. "And I'm tired of you thinking that your life is only destined to go down the same dead-end path as the rest of your family―because I'm your family. We're your family...me, JB, Kie and Pope, Dad, we love you. And I don't think you realize that if something ever happened to you..."

Ronni's voice trailed off as she shook her head, the thought something she didn't even want to consider, a sudden distaste enough to make her sick rising in her stomach. Because millions of ways something could happen to JJ flooded her vision, burning her eyes again. She turned back to him and finally took a step closer, noticing the way his eyes were watering and his jaw was tight to keep them at bay.

"It's not just a gun, JJ. It's the actions. It's how you use it. It's the fact that you're so careless and you don't even give a shit about what happens to you. You might be alright getting yourself killed but that's my worst nightmare. I'm not going to lose you. I'm not. I won't survive that...so if you're not going to give a shit about your life, at least give a shit about it for me. Otherwise I'm out, JJ. I'm out."

When Ronni and JJ were kids, and one of them got hurt, the other had been there in an instant to rub some dirt in it and tell the other to pull themselves together. They never kissed each other's booboos. They never let the other cry in dramatics. That wasn't how things worked for them. They were honest, and they said the words that hurt so the other would get their shit together. Her words hurt both of them because they were the truth. JJ didn't care about his life. JJ only saw the growings of his father, unstable and an alcoholic, and thought it was too late to change it. JJ didn't see his future―and that was exactly why he could never be enough for someone like Ronni.

But Ronni didn't see that in JJ. She never had, and she'd be damned if she didn't stop fighting for him to see it in himself. The two of them stood there in the messy living room of the Chateau, wet lashes blocking their full view of one another, while their childhood best friend laid unconscious in the other room after nearly drowning. Ronni, with damp hair and damp clothing, and JJ, with a distressed heart and a desperation for something to go right in his life for once.

After a few synced inhales and exhales, never once separating from the other's gaze, Ronni blinked and looked in the direction of the door. "I'm going home. I need to take a shower and change. JB needs rest. Are you staying here tonight?"

"Um...no," he said after a moment, swallowing hard and glancing at the bedroom door where JB was. "I'll probably just go home."

Ronni tensed up. Then she glanced at the door again and frowned. Turning around, she grabbed a hold of her backpack, and JJ could feel that tightness in his chest again when she started to leave out the side. But just when he thought the end of their conversation would be the slamming of the screen door, she turned back to look at him expectantly.

"Then let's go home."

So he followed her just like he always did and left his backpack behind.

★☆⋆⁎⋆✶★☆⋆⁎⋆✶

In all fairness, when JJ and Ronni woke up that next morning with limbs stuck together and bodies glistening with the faint glimmer of sweat, that was not how they went to bed―and no, nothing happened, except for the fact that Ronni stayed quiet when JJ came to lay down in her bed after she'd shunned him to the couch for the night. He didn't like sleeping on the couch when she was just in the other room. That was another thing about the two of them: they never stayed mad. She always forgave him in all of his stupidity. But that morning, especially, he felt the effects of their argument last night burn a little hotter in his chest.

They were both awake when the sun came out, her light blue sheer curtains doing nothing to keep out the light, but they didn't care. JJ would take as much time next to her as he could. She was only wearing a sports bra and boy shorts, the AC in her home not working, which meant that they were both walking puddles of sweat.

Ronni was laying halfway on him, her face buried in the crook of his neck with a soft grip against the side of his body. A chill went up his spine when she traced the indents of muscles on his tanned chest from working so much. Not that he was any better, his arm underneath her body trailing up and down her back, catching on her sports bra every so often and going back down to her shorts. Both of them were awake. Both knew it, too. He pursed his lips together, stilling his movements for a moment.

"I'm sorry, V."

His words were quiet, not wanting to break the comfortable moment between them. He felt her frown against his neck, her fingers stopping their drawing on his skin. She shuffled slightly, and he quickly went to wrap his hand around her to stop her. He stared ahead at the blue walls in front of him. He'd helped her paint the whole room they were in when they were thirteen after she complained for weeks that she didn't like the shade of blue she had before.

"And I fucking hate fighting with you...so I'll admit, I was a dick pulling the gun on Topper and I'm a dumbass―but...I'm not going to get rid of it." She pulled her face away from his neck that time. "Ronni. Here me out: I'll be safe with it. I'll practice shooting it. I'll even keep the bullets out of it...but I'm not going to apologize for wanting to protect the Pogues."

"You can't keep blaming your destructive behavior on defending us," she muttered, fully pulling herself away from the place in his neck, but she kept herself wrapped around his waist. "I'm not going to be the reason you end up dead, JJ, and the others feel the same. There's a difference between sticking up for us and looking for a fight."

JJ was quiet then, his lips pulling together tightly as he rubbed them. She sighed. "I'll lay off."

"It's not that," he denied, frowning.

"I know."

She did know. JJ got into fights because it was all he knew. He got out his aggression and accepted the blows all at once like a martyr burning themselves to the ground. JJ didn't care if he got himself killed. He only cared about the people he loved. Despite how it often came back to bite him in the ass, he was thankful Ronni understood the unspeakable about him. He wasn't the best with his words, yet she always seemed to get what he was trying to say.

"I can't feel my arm," he said all of a sudden, her body weight taking all of the feeling out of it. "Feels all tingly and shit."

"I've had to pee for the last thirty minute. We need to go make sure JB didn't asphyxiate on his own vomit in his sleep."

"I love when you talk dirty to me, baby," he cooed, and when she snorted and moved to roll out of his hold, he quickly curled back around her, spooning her so that she couldn't escape. "Noooo. It's too early, V. Five more minutes. John B's dead body isn't going anywhere. Pope'll be able to poke at it for a bit."

Ronni pushed way from him. "JJ, get off. My ass is literally sweating, I'm too hot―"

"Oh, yes you are."

Before their conversation could continue, both of them shot up panicked at the sound of a loud knocking interrupting the moment they were having. JJ and Ronni met eyes in confusion, knowing if it was a Pogue, they wouldn't knock. So they unwrapped themselves from each other and the sheets quickly, Ronni moving to grab a hoodie from her dresser and throw it over herself to be slightly more decent. JJ took his time, so when she was already going to the door to see who it was, he was just coming from her bedroom trying to pull on the blue Kildare shirt she'd been wearing yesterday.

Ronni didn't get to the door. JJ ran into her back when she stopped so abruptly, his hands going to grab her hips so she didn't fall and he didn't go down with her. "What the hell―"

"Veronica? Can you let me in?"

Sheriff Peterkins stood outside of the screen door with her eyes on the two of them, and Ronni could feel the cold front wash over her as her brain settled on every horrible thing she was here to talk about. JJ froze behind her. Obviously, the worst thought had met their mutual wavelengths. His reaction time was slightly better, and he nudged her forward with his hands on her waist, following behind her and guiding her steps like she was a zombie. Then, when they were close enough, he pulled back the door to reveal the woman clearly.

"Veronica. JJ. Good to see the two of you," she greeted with a half-smile, nodding her head. Ronni tensed, and JJ held onto her tighter, suddenly very aware of every muscle tensing in her body. "I was hoping to talk to you―"

Ronni cut to the chase, the dread already filling her whole. "Is he okay?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Dad," she blinked like it was obvious, her chest starting to heave. "Is he okay? Have you heard from him? He's not...he isn't..."

Sheriff Peterkins' eyes suddenly became very confused, her brow furrowing along with her features as she took a step forward. "Veronica, I'm not here about your father. There was a report of a firearm going off down at the beach last night, and I wanted to stop by here and see if you were there to see anything. I know that you surf down at that part of the Island."

Ronni could feel the woman's curious eyes on her and JJ. Everything from the hands he had wrapped around her torso to the way that he pulled her closer to him at Sheriff Peterkins' words. JJ tried not to be obvious in his instinctual response, but his body tensed behind Ronni because Sheriff Peterkins was looking right at him when she said something about the gun going off. But Ronni recovered quickly from the sudden change of topic, her eyes drying up noticably as she realized what was happening right now, shifting slightly so that the attention was off JJ.

"I only stopped by for a little bit whenever there were just a few people down there," she said evenly, frowning in feigned confusion. "JJ and I came back home before the sun went down. Too many people―a gun went off? Is everyone alright?"

Sheriff Peterkins didn't look convinced. She looked between the two of them. "Reportedly, yes. No one was harmed. The two of you were here the whole night?"

"Um..."

Ronni glanced down at the hoodie on her body, which she'd realized was John B's but she didn't know that, then shifted uncomfortably against JJ. It was all she wore, clearly oversized, and Sheriff Peterkins had seen JJ slipping on a shirt through the screen door―two and two could be put together. She realized what was going on, and an awkward moment escaped between the three of them. JJ quickly caught onto what Ronni was doing. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to fix the bedhead to convince her it was something else entirely, coughing into his hand.

"Oh," Sheriff Peterkins said, then she cleared her throat. "Right. I see. Well...you were saying something about Harvey?"

Ronni's expression changed suddenly, and she stood up straighter. "I haven't heard from him since yesterday morning after the hurricane hit, and he's still not h―"

"V."

Ronni and JJ both noticed at the same time what Sheriff Peterkins had not, her back turned to the frontyard of the Dunweather home. Like bittersweet irony, Harvey Dunweather was walking up the gravel driveway to their tiny little home, his clothes dirty with different stains wracking up his grey tank top. The sight of him alone surged an unexplainable relief inside of the teenage girl and she was off like lightning. She instantly pushed herself out of JJ's grip and glided past Sheriff Peterkins, running barefoot to get to her dad.

When he saw her barreling toward him, he looked confused. "V? What's―oof."

His baby was no longer a baby anymore, and the sixteen-year-old hit hard against him with all one-hundred-and-twenty seven pounds of her. He managed to grab her back, lifting her up slightly as she clung onto his neck, hanging like she always used to do when she was a kid. Thankfully, he was taller than his 5'8" little girl and kept her off the ground. He kept walking forward with her in his arms, meeting eyes with JJ from where the blonde-boy leaned against the door frame, his own relief shining through.

"I thought something happened to you," she muffled out, sniffling and pulling away to look at him. He put her down carefully, and she flinched at the gravel that time. Ignoring it, she landed a gentle punch to the side of his arm. "You should've left a note, you dummy! I was worried!"

JJ cleared his throat from a bit away, raising his voice. "Very worried...very."

"I didn't realize reception was out until I got to Figure Eight, and I left my phone here," Harvey explained, glancing down at his daughter and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm sorry. Job took longer than usual so I ended up sleeping at Tommy's place. They had me helping clean up some trees and then one house came after the other―Sheriff Peterkins?"

Sheriff Peterkins nodded at him, shifting back and forth on her feet. "Harvey."

"What'd my boys do now?"

JJ's head lifted, his eyes softening on Harvey before they caught Ronni's, who looked in his direction the instant that her dad said that. He had always accepted John B and JJ as his own, but even after so many years, neither boy―especially JJ―had quite accepted it themselves. Harvey openly adopted JJ into his home and into his family, always there to pick him up from school and always there to offer him a meal and a place to stay. No matter how long he needed. Refusing to let go of her dad until she had to, Ronni slowly walked up the steps to their porch so that she was standing in between JJ and Harvey now, Sheriff Peterkins in front of them.

"I was just stopping by to talk with them about a report I received last night," she explained, and then she glanced at the two of them momentarily. "But they weren't involved. My mistake. Veronica and JJ were out surfing."

Ronni and JJ both stiffened slightly. Even though they didn't do anything, it was still uncomfortable to have someone cover up their made-up sex for them in front of Harvey. He looked over at them, his face twisting slightly as if to ask why they were acting weird, but neither met his eye.

"I'll be on my way. I've got a few more stops to make today..." she turned around, clearing her throat and meeting Harvey's gaze again. "I'll be speaking to you soon, Harvey. Have a good day Veronica, JJ...stay out of trouble. The marsh is closed today, so keep inside."

Harvey nodded, smiling at her and waving. "Have a good day, Susan."

The scruffy-man waited until Peterkins was off their porch and already stepping into her police cruiser before he turned around to face Ronni and JJ. Mixed feeling were on their face. Ronni looked confused and mildly horrified as she looked back and forth. JJ, on the other hand, was much more aware of what was happening and had shit-eating grin under his breath. A thousand thoughts wracking up their brain, but both of them couldn't help but express the most prominent one screaming at them to speak out-loud.

"Susan?" they both asked in chorus.

His face dropped and he scowled, twirling his fingers. "In, you two. You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Sounds like you do too, Harvey," JJ coughed under his breath.

★☆⋆⁎⋆✶★☆⋆⁎⋆✶

"Ouch. Ouch. Ow, Ronni―Veronica."

When JJ and Ronni arrived at the Chateau after a very short discussion with Harvey (which consisted of awkward lies about the boat-wreck happening and cover-ups as her father flustered over him and Susan Peterkins...hanging out) Ronni was pried from his side by JJ who reminded her of the state they'd left John B in. That only ended up with Ronni launching herself at John B the second they got the Chateau and saw him outside, wincing and holding his ribs as he picked up some of the scattered trash along the lawn.

Reluctantly, she let go when he started complaining, backing up so that she could grab his chin with her thumb, inspecting the nasty bruise that was appearing on his face. Her worried eyes settled on his, scowling. "You're an idiot."

"Way to make me feel better," he huffed out, tilting his head to get out of her hold.

"Careful, John B. Mama's been on a warpath all morning," JJ commented off to the side, picking through a few items in the small hut that Big John had made for all of his reparations on the HMS Pogue throughout the years. Now it was a mess of miscellaneous things. "Don't wanna rile her up. She just found out H is shacking up with the Sheriff."

"Wait, what?"

Ronni shot JJ a glare. "JJ―"

"Yeah, yeah. 'Shut up'. I know."

"Harvey's home? Sheriff Peterkins came by to see you?" John B asked, looking between the two of them. Ronni nodded, while JJ accidentally dropped an old flashlight, his eyes widening when it broke and separated into many pieces with the batteries flying in opposite directions. "She came by here. Just left. She was asking about what happened at the beach last night...she mentioned DCS."

Ronni's eyes darkened and she immediately flushed for her phone in her pocket. JJ, having read her mind and knowing she was trying to call Harvey to tell him, interrupted her attempts. "Cell towers are still out, V. Maybe we can connect some cans and string between the Chateau and your place though."

"JB, we need to tell Dad about DCS. He'll talk to them and take guardianship over you―" she tried, but she was quickly stopped short when John B huffed out and turned away, not wanting to have the conversation. "John B. You know he's been talking about this for months. Just let him do it. It's not a big deal―"

"It is a big deal. I'm not going to ask to be one of your dad's responsibilities."

"You think you already aren't? You and JJ were his responsibility the moment you came into my life, JB. Just let him help you."

JB scowled and turned his attention away from Ronni. "She asked if we found anything in the marsh yesterday...mentioned the wreck like she knew we found it."

"She told us to it was closed and to stay home," JJ said, crossing his arms over his chest as he walked forward, his body unconsciously hovering near Ronni. The conversation about DCS was still weighing on her mind. "So what? Now the cops are digging around in this shit? Dude, that means there's something down there. You saw how sketch they were yesterday."

"Something down where?"

The three of them turned their heads to see Kie and Pope coming toward them. Pope had been the one to ask the question, his features already heavy with confusion while Kiara sighed and moved into the hut, going to throw herself on the ruddy couch left there. Knowing that the conversation was going nowhere with DCS and her dad, Ronni sent a heated glare at the back of John B's head for ignoring her requests and went to throw herself down next to Kie.

Immediately, her curly-haired best friend looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Rough night?"

"We're surrounded by idiots."

"Facts," she said, tapping slightly on the drums in front of her. JJ stole those. "How bad was it?"

"Same old, same old," Ronni muttered, pulling her knees up and playing around with one of the strings sticking out on her bracelets, the two of them trying to ignore the boys talking in the background. "He doesn't listen. It's frustrating how little he cares."

All of the Pogues knew the destructive behavior of JJ Maybank, the liability of their little band of outcasts, but they loved him for it regardless. That didn't mean none of them worried about him―in fact, all of them did―but JJ was too stubborn to listen to anyone. The only person even slightly capable of getting something through his thick skull was Ronni, and even she still ran into walls, similar to last night.

Kiara sighed. "He cares about you."

"I want him to care about himself."

The boys slowly migrated to where the girls were, all of them scattered haphazardly in different places. Pope opted to sit on one of the bent-up plastic chairs across from them, shooting Ronni a look that clearly spoke wonders of 'here-we-go-again'. John B was pacing back and forth, JJ a distance outside of the hut against one of the long tables they'd used for a round of beer pong last week.

"I'm calling it off, alright?" John B announced to the four of them all of a sudden, making everyone stop their random movements to stare blankly at him. "Peterkins said if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS."

Ronni blinked at him like he was an idiot. "Hey. Just a thought. You know who else can help you with DCS?"

"Hold up, wait―" JJ interrupted her, waving his hand out as he looked at John B. "Missing the point here. You believed her? An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop."

"All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out."

Ronni could have thrown a punch at John B in that moment, frustrated beyond belief that he was refusing to acknowledge the conversation of Harvey taking him in. While she knew his mindset, that didn't change the fact that it was a simple solution to the problem. Already, she had decided that she was going to march into whatever place she needed to take Harvey to sign the papers for DCS to confirm that John B was Harvey's. He'd been his responsibility since Big John died, and even before that. Nothing pained her more than seeing John B think he was a nuisance to someone who loved him unconditionally.

"It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."

Annnnd there it was. Ronni sighed heavily and threw her head back, bringing her palms up to her eyes so that she could dig them into the sockets to calm the growing migraine. In approximately ten seconds, John B and JJ would be arguing, and she would have to play mediator like she always did. Kie patted her knee pityingly.

"You know what I should've done? I should've just let Topper drown your ass."

John B scoffed. "Yeah, because Topper was going to drown me."

Ronni's head shot up straight to look at John B with wide eyes, asking if he was actually serious. JJ had a similar reaction, standing up and walking closer to where they were. "Sure looked like it."

"Funny."

"Have you looked in a mirror?" JJ threw back.

"Tell me some more. Come on," John B retorted, starting forward in the same direction as JJ. He was only stopped when Ronni stuck a long leg out, halting his path, sending him a wrathful glare that not even he could ignore.

"They always win, don't they, man? Kooks verses Pogues. They always...always win!" JJ's outburst only exhausted its final verbal form and became physical. His voice raised and she heard him hit something, making her flinch and look up as he walked away briefly. "Goddamn!"

She sat straighter, her feet falling back down on the floor. "JJ. It's alright. It's over―"

"It's not over! It's never going to be over! It's not alright, Ronni!" he whirled around. "They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it. I know you do, John B...and I understand why you don't wanna go," he directed his attention to Pope, who had been silent the whole time. "You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you..." JJ frowned down at Kie. "You're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?"

He stopped on Ronni. She raised her eyebrows expectantly, waiting to here what he had to say about her now. He pursed his lips at her. "You're going to get pissed off no matter what we do."

"Maybe because you say shit like that," she interjected blandly. "Just a possibility."

"The three of us, we've got nothing to lose," JJ said with his voice rising in desperation, his eyes looking between his two longtime best friends, hoping they saw the plead in his eyes. "All right? We really don't...and I know you have Harvey, V, and I know it didn't used to be that way for you, John B, but―"

"I don't want to talk about this," John B dismissed quietly. The topic of his father being brought up was a no-go, and JJ had crossed the boundary. He walked passed the open walkway now that Ronni moved. "I don't wanna talk about it."

JJ turned around when he walked past him. "So that's it?"

"Just get out of my way, bro."

"John B, listen to me. I have a plan."

Famous last words, Ronni thought to herself. She watched John B continue walking away from them, JJ eventually catching up and wrapping his arm around his best friend's shoulder. The three of them left behind watched, unable to hear the conversation that was happening, but Ronni could already see the bad ideas festering in the plan that JJ was trying to convince John B into.

"You gonna go talk them out of whatever stupid thing they're planning on doing?" Kie asked, turning briefly to look over at Ronni.

"No point. JJ's gonna do it whether we agree to it or not."

That was exactly where most things went wrong.

★☆⋆⁎⋆✶★☆⋆⁎⋆✶

"This is empty. You took empty tanks?"

Kiara threw the oxygen tank down. JJ Maybank's master plan (unsurprisingly) was stealing (again) from John B's job, which was helping out Ward Cameron with all of his expensive boating equipment out on Figure Eight so that they could dive down and see what was in the Grady-White without concern of losing oxygen. They'd need to look in the cargo hold to see if there was anything important, and with the time it would take to just reach the sunken ship, there was no way to free-dive like they had earlier...in conclusion, JJ was still an idiot, and one of them was probably going to die.

Ronni looked down at hers. "This one's a quarter full. That's barely enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together," Pope muttered under his breath.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asked, looking at them in hopes they had an undiscovered secret to share with the rest of the group in their time of need. JJ and John B awkwardly glanced at each other, pointing fingers like children in hopes the other would be chosen for the job. Ronni kept her eyes on the equipment, looking at it with interest. "Anybody?"

JJ winced, glancing at Pope briefly. "It's kind of a Kook sport."

"I read about it," Pope confessed.

Kie stared at him. "Great. Pope read about it, so somebody's going to die."

"Look," JJ began, glancing at the tanks. "You...you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?"

"If you come up too fast, Nitrogen gets into your blood and you get the bends," Pope explained, blinking at JJ expressionlessly. JJ's mind could only connect the word to one thing.

"Bends. Like...bend over and..."

Pope interrupted his show of bending over, sticking out his ass. "The bends kill you."

"I can do it," four heads turned to look over at Ronni, who was still glancing down at the equipment, her eyes on the meter stuck at the quarter mark. She blinked and looked up at them, nodding her head. "I'm the best swimmer out of all of us, yeah? I can hold my breath the longest if anything happens. Wiping out from surfing and all that. Can't be too hard―"

"What? Hell no," JJ interrupted sharply. "You've never dived a day in your life."

"Really? I didn't know. Thanks, JJ."

"You're not doing it. You're literally going to get yourself killed, dumbass―"

"―oh? Who was the one who said 'we have nothing to lose'," she mimicked, her face twisting up animatedly as the two of them bickered. "I'm not gonna die. Pope'll help―"

"―Pope literally only knows how to kill people, Veronica."

Pope shrugged. "Valid point."

"Don't agree with him, Pope. I'm fine. I'll be good. I've got this. It'll be fun."

"Oh, yeah. Sure. We can have cake and ice-cream at your funeral."

"I appreciate that. Say kind words."

""I told her not to'. How's that?"

"Perfect. Just enough sentimentality."

"I can dive," John B interrupted them, stopping JJ and Ronni from arguing back and forth anymore than they already have. Everyone knew they'd waste all the oxygen in the Earth trying to get the last word. "Yeah. I can dive."

Ronni, sitting between him and Kie, nearly broke her neck to look at him like he was crazy. "Since when?"

"You can dive. I'm cool with that," JJ agreed, knowing damn well his best friend didn't dive. He shrugged casually when Ronni turned around to glare at him, the quick change in decision from her going down to him remarkably different. "What? I got more to lose if you die. John B's got this. He's a diver at heart."

"We are not sacrificing our best friend, JJ."

John B nudged Ronni with his knee. "I'll do it. It's fine."

"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope said, leaning forward in the driver's seat to grab a random piece of paper for the manual of the boat, picking up a pen from Ronni's backpack laid  down next to him. "That boat's about thirty feet down. Okay? So it'll take...like twenty five minutes at that depth."

"Twenty-five. Got it."

Ronni stood up, pushing herself off the bow of the boat. She slid past JJ, her back rubbing up against his front and he had to resist clenching his jaw at her intentional act, and went to stand next to Pope. She leaned down, picking the pen from his hand. Pope let her, leaning back and watching as she worked, following along with everything while the others waited. JJ always found himself slightly amazed when Ronni showed how smart she was, her and Pope tag-teaming like two nerds in a decathlon.

"You think?" Pope suddenly asked, meeting eyes with Ronni.

She nodded, and then she stepped away. "Double-check, mathlete. I'll be right back."

Then, without another word, Ronni pulled the t-shirt off her body so she was left in her blue bikini and jumped off the side of the HMS Pogue without another word. There was a brief pause in the air, everyone leaning off the side to see Ronni disappear in the water momentarily before they faced one another.

"Uh..." John B glanced at Pope. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know, but I liked it," JJ slurred out, distracted, still leaning off the side to catch a final look. "A lot."

"You need to make your safety stop at about ten feet...for two minutes," Pope explained.

"Yeah, yeah...ten feet. Two minutes. Got it," John B nodded along to the information. He stood up, making brief eye contact with Kie to see the concern washing over her face. "So, uh..."

JJ was no better at washing away the distraction left from Ronni's strip tease. He cleared his throat, blinking and finally looking from the water. "Uh...alrighty. Yeah. Um, when you...uh, when you're doing there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"

"Stick in, twist, pull."

"Yeah. My dad moved some weight back in the day."

Pope stood up, coming over to the two boys. "Who didn't?"

"Hey!" All of them turned to look in the water to see Ronni resurface, pushing her wet hair out of the way as she treaded water. "Ten feet right, Pope? I tied my shirt to the chain. Stop there and do the safety stop, JB. Two minutes."

John B nodded appreciatively at his best friend and put the cargo-hold key around his neck, letting Pope help him put the equipment on his back. The tank wasn't as heavy as he was expecting, but he supposed that had to do with the lack of air in it. Ronni moved to the side of the boat, taking the awaiting hand of JJ as he helped her back on. His hand caught around her waist, pulling her up the rest of the way and completely disregarding the fact that she was soaked.

"Thanks for the show," he said, grinning at her as he let his eyes wander lower.

Ronni shoved his shoulder, going past him to grab one of the towels as she rung out her sopping wet hair. "I'm not talking to you until JB's breathing safely up here again."

"Hey," Pope called to all of them. "If we get caught out here in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so...better get a move on."

John B glanced down at the decompression equipment before nodding. "Copy that."

Ronni was distracted as she messed with her hair, only looking when she felt someone's elbow jab into her side and realized it was JJ trying to get her attention. Not even getting the chance to ask him what he wanted, she paused when she saw Kie kissing John B's cheek, the affection not lost in its odd intimacy. The act itself wasn't anything new to them, it was the tension behind it that made all of them freeze up when they watched.

"Diver down?" Kie muttered.

John B, obviously as phased by the kiss as the others, blinked slowly. "Diver down."

Then John B was back in the water, going to inspect the Grady-White once again. There was a thick layer of something in the air, JJ clearing his throat and trying to seem overly-cool with what happened while simultaneously asking a million questions. Pope was no better, forced to ignore the stirring in his gut. Ronni, on the other hand, had already made her way over to Kie who sat back down slowly on the bow of the boat with a shit-eating grin growing on her face.

"No."

Ronni looked over at her best friend innocently when Kie talked. "What?"

"No. Shut up."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"You were," Kie insisted, narrowing her eyes as she finally looked at Ronni. A flush was on her cheeks, and to kill the conversation approaching even more, Kiara's eyes slowly moved in a specific direction across the length of the boat. "You don't go there and I won't either."

She realized what she was insinuating when she caught JJ's blue eyes. "Fair enough."

Ten minutes later, Ronni ended up keeping true to her word by not talking to JJ once as they waited. He wasn't too happy about that, and he kept trying to grab a hold of her legs, which only resulted in her nudging him back with them. If Kie was sending her glances, she didn't pay attention to them, too engrossed in keeping JJ away. That ended fairly quickly when the sound of police sirens caught in the peaceful marsh air, making all of them instantly stop what they were doing.

"Shit," Pope called out, shuffling to his feet. "JJ."

JJ turned around in the opposite direction he was facing to see the incoming boat and instantly he moved forward. "Guys, that's the police."

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Ronni groaned pitifully.

"Yep, that's the police," he confirmed.

Kie cleared her throat and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Just act frickin' normal."

She sat back next to Kie while he stood, leant up against the side of the boat next to her thighs. When the boat was close enough, they were able to see that one of the deputies onboard was Shoupe, the other a woman she'd never met but remembered seeing at the motel yesterday. Like the thought popped in both of their minds, Ronni and JJ met eyes, both of them realizing the same thing. While Pope instructed JJ to tie off their boat, Ronni turned her direction over to the officers and decided to win them over with her charismatic charm.

"Evening, officers!" she greeted, smiling kindly at them.

Shoupe looked at her directly, raising his eyebrows. "How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?"

God forbid any of the others spoke. Let her do all of the talking, she pleaded.

"No...wow," Pope ruined her hopes and dreams by failing to act. JJ was no better, clearing his throat and itching his neck nervously. "Oh, no, we didn't..."

"Why is it closed?" Ronni asked, speaking over the mutters of her friends trying to act normal and failing. "We didn't hear anything about it. I'm sorry. Usually they have signs up letting us know it's closed."

"We're conducting a search out here...boat went down," Shoupe explained, leaning up against the frame of their boat. He kept his eyes on Ronni, obviously having declared her the one to talk to while his partner gave heavy glances at the others. "Seen anything?"

Ronni's brows furrowed. "A boat? No, sir... that's kind of hard to miss."

That was the second time today Ronni lied perfectly right in a police officer's face. If JJ had been able to, he would've kissed Ronni right then and there for her award-winning performance―well, probably not, but in his head, he'd done it a hundred times in the last ten minutes so that was really all that mattered.

"Where's that friend you always hang around with?"

Kie to the right of her shrugged, smiling a little too much. "He's working."

"Hm..." he paused, and the weight of his and his partners' stare bored holes into the teenagers. Clearly he was not believing them very much. "I'm gonna check your little boat out."

"Yeah!" JJ said casually.

Pope cleared his throat. "Yeah, hop aboard. Come on...uh, check it―check her out."

As Shoupe jumped aboard, JJ and Pope both scattered around trying to make sure everything was in order, which only made them look more suspicious. Ronni shot JJ a sharp look when he nearly stumbled over her, grabbing the side of the boat to steady himself. Shoupe searched around for a few minutes, his eyes landing on the life-jackets, noticing that there were only three of them present. Upon asking for the fourth one, JJ pointed to the cargo hold. Ronni and Kie both stood up, giving each other side eyes as Kie moved to stand next to Pope and Ronni next to JJ.

"Show him," Kie muttered, as she crossed by JJ.

JJ didn't protest and went to the hold to grab another life-vest, showing it off. "Yeah. Here we go."

"All right," Shoupe nodded.

When his eyes moved back over to Ronni for a moment, some sense of discomfort coursed through her but she smiled back quickly, crossing her arms over her chest. JJ came to stand by her as Shoupe moved to the bow where they'd been sitting, and when he noticed the awkward posture Ronni had, he frowned and stepped in front of her completely so she was not so exposed in her bikini. Ronni was thankful for the gesture, grabbing his arm and curling around his bicep while trying not to look over her shoulder into the water to see if John B was there.

Surely it had been twenty five minutes, right? God she hoped not.

"Be careful," Pope spluttered out when Shoupe went to the edge of the boat, leaning over. "You don't wanna slip."

Ronni's hold on JJ tightened when Shoupe put on his sunglasses and began inspecting the water, looking for any signs of life or suspicion. JJ only nudged his chin slightly, flexing his fists and catching Pope's panicked stare to ease his concern. When it felt like hours had passed, Shoupe finally cleared his throat and stepped off the boat. Ronni's ears were ringing by that point, completely disregarding the pleasantries exchanged between them, as she tried not to fling herself off the side to check for John B.

The moment that Shoupe and the other deputy were driving away, and the engine whirled off into the other direction, all of them immediately shot over to the side of the boat. Pope was the only one to voice their internal panic. "He's definitely out of air."

"There he is!" JJ rushed out when he saw John B pop his head out of the water.

Ronni's head fell in relief, letting out the breath she'd been holding the whole time. "Oh, thank God."

"Don't scare us like that!" JJ quickly moved to help him up. "Did you find anything?"

"'Did I find anything?'" John B laughed at the question, still catching his breath and throwing the black duffle back up above the water's surface so that they could see. Instantly, the chorus of exclaims came from the Pogues in disbelief, JJ cheering more than anyone else as he grabbed the equipment and the bag. "Hell yeah!"

Kie leaned off the side. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I ran outta air."

"You scared the shit out of me."

Ronni shook her head, grabbing the oxygen tank off of John B's back. "We're done with JJ's stupid plans for the year, alright? No more. I'm serious."

"The cops were here, but we took care of them," Pope said calmly, like it had been a walk in the park. Ronni scoffed, knowing that he was the one panicking the most out of everyone.

"Pope almost shit himself."

The steady, calm water was interrupted by the sound of an engine approaching. Kie had been the only one to look up and see the boat coming their way. "Hey, guys? Guys...bogey, two o'clock."

"What?" JJ asked, turning around along with the rest of them.

Pope's eyes narrowed. "Do you recognize that boat?"

"Not from around here," Ronni denied, pausing as they only got closer. "What the hell are they even doing out here? The marsh is closed. There's no way they got past Shoupe and we didn't."

JJ was already throwing the duffle bag down. "Let's not stick around and find out."

"JJ, get the bowline," John B said instantly, the tone in his voice bringing an unsettling feeling down Ronni's spine. The concern was spiking, and she and Kie exchanged anxious glances as the boys moved around trying to gather everything. "Pope, go get the stern. Go!"

"Guys, don't wait for me," JJ rushed out, still pulling on the bowline to get the anchor out of the water. The boat was only approaching faster. "Don't wait for me, go."

"I don't like this."

Pope swallowed hard while John B moved to man the boat. "Maybe they're fishing―"

"Oh, yeah, they look friendly enough. You think they'll ask us to join in?" Ronni said sarcastically as she nervously glanced back to see that JJ had gotten the bowline out completely. "We need to go, JB. Don't wait―"

"I'm going," John B was quick to pull heavy into the marsh. "Act natural."

What seemed like a steady attempt to get away from some creeps trying to scare them turned into a legitimate problem when they saw that the boat had purposely followed them in the same direction. That kickstarted some instantaneous fear, mimicked chimes for John B to go faster chorusing through all four of them as they kept a close eye on the two men only getting closer and closer with every passing second to the HMS Pogue.

Just when they'd turned hard around another corner, each of them hanging on as John B picked up his speed, there was the horrible sound again. A gunshot pierced through the air, and they instinctually hit the floor of the boat, Ronni nearly slamming her head up against the side of John B's seat. She barely heard Kie's panicked exclaim and tried her best to ignore Pope's cry of "we're going to die!" as another shot was fired.

"JB, get down!" Ronni hissed out, inching forward slowly to grab his shoulder.

That only resulted in JJ wrenching her back down by her arm, curling his around her head protectively to keep her awkwardly positioned halfway between him and the seat where John B sat. Thankfully, John B kept his head down as much as possible, but that didn't stop the panic. When Ronni saw Kie start to get up on the other side of the boat, she jerked forward, trying to stop her.

"Kie, get down!" Ronni yelled, her eyes widening in horror when another shot went off, JJ only tightening his hold on her. Still, Kie fumbled with the netting. "Kiara!"

Kie threw the netting off the side of the boat so that it would get caught, and when they heard the engine of the other boat stalling behind them, all of their heads raised slightly to see what happened. The two men had stalled, veering off to the side and allowing John B the chance to gun the HMS Pogue and turn around another corner of the marsh, the gun firing one last time and a bullet whizzing past all of their heads.

There was a moment of silence before their panicked states turned into laughter. Kie and Pope stood up, JJ not far behind, all of them grinning at one another while they cheered on. "Pogue style, man!"

John B was the first one to notice that Ronni had gone white as a sheet, not celebrating with the rest of them. His smile slid off his face and he paused, concern washing over his face. "Ronni―"

"I'm gonna be sick."

She barely managed to get out her words before she was scuttling to the side of the boat and hanging her head off the side. The waves of adrenaline came racing down on her instantly, bad memories and the worst thoughts catching up there. Someone grabbed her hair, which she'd assumed was Kie, as she wretched up all of the breakfast she'd ate that morning. When she finally managed to pull her head back aboard, they were already coming up to the dock at the Chateau, a bottle of water put in front of her.

"Careful," Kie muttered, then quickly put her damp hair into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. Ronni spit out a few times, washing out the nasty feeling in her mouth as the boys docked the boat and tied it off. "You okay to move?"

Ronni swallowed hard, finally releasing her death grip off the boat. "Peachy."

"C'mon. I got you."

Kiara and her both got up at the same time. Ronni was slightly dizzy from hanging off the side but managing to sit upright now that the nausea had passed. JJ was already waiting there for both of them, Pope and John B ahead with the bag laid out on the ground. Kie got on the dock her own, waving away JJ's help, but Ronni took it graciously. JJ lingered after that, his hand hovering over her back with a close eye on her to make sure she was alright, caught between his excitement over their find and his concern for Ronni.

"What do you think it is?" Kie asked when they were all situated under the covering.

John B shrugged as he got on his knees to unzip it. "I don't know. Gotta be money, right?"

"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low-to-mid mils!" JJ exclaimed, crouching down slightly to grin at John B as the two of them shared in their excitement.

"Can we just open the bag?!" Everyone stopped when the outburst came from Pope, of all people, even Ronni pausing to look at him in surprise.

John B blinked, impressed. "Wow, Pope. That's a rare outburst of emotion."

"Okay, you guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Just open the bag. We almost died over this."

The reminder only made Ronni wince again, already knowing that she'd be having nightmares of what happened for a while. All of them watched with growing suspense as John B found a smaller, black bag inside and quickly got to opening that next. With that came another capsule until John B was shaking the end of the metal container and revealing only one thing to come out of it. Four pairs of eyes blinked in obvious disappointment and one stared in disbelief.

"Wow. Yep. That's about right," Pope said, laughing under his breath at their luck. "Good job, everybody. We found a compass!"

JJ noticed the expression lingering on John B's face, frowning. "Dude, what? It's not worth anything."

"JB," Ronni muttered softly, coming up closer to lay a hand on his shoulder. "What is it?"

"This was my father's."

Step four: come up with the stupid plan that almost kills said girl you are in love with (effectively triggering a lifelong fear that was reawakened by yours truly the night before), and then should that not be enough, inflict painful misery on the shared best friend by finding a compass that belonged to his supposedly-dead father. Good one, JJ.

★☆⋆⁎⋆✶★☆⋆⁎⋆✶

Author's Note:

Let me know what you thought!!! Leave comments & love, they motivate me to write more of this story! I hope you guys have a little more insight into why Ronni acts like she does around guns...and Harvey's okay!