As expected, everyone was out and about in the Cut, cleaning up their docks and the surrounding trash that had reached the water around them. Sadie kept her eyes casted downwards at the water beneath, watching the little fishes swim around and the water ripple in the result of their actions.

Sadie also took notice of the trash that littered the ocean, it was just floating around aimlessly. Sadie didn't like seeing trash strewn carelessly in any kind of water, it quite literally went against all it's safety and cleanliness—not that she wanted to sound like Kiara when she always said Save the turtles, but save the turtles.

JJ and John B spoke behind her, she didn't bother paying attention to their conversation about boats and JJ guessing how expensive they could be.

Bored out of her mind, Sadie moved to sit on the front of the HMS POGUE, legs crossed whilst she rested her chin on her palm. She quickly noticed that they were nearing Miss Amy's dock—the woman JJ so confidently admitted had a crush on him. Sadie rolled her eyes, only because he couldn't see.

"Hi, Miss Amy," John B waved at her, a soft smile on his lips. "You guys get through it?"

Miss Amy smiled, raising a hand to wave back at them as a greeting. She nodded and barely even glanced at them before going back to work, "Still here!"

Sadie waited a few minutes before JJ finally spoke, "She totally looked at me," he said, a certain excitement bubbling in his voice as if he was excited by getting noticed by a woman who barely even glanced in their direction.

And, much to his luck, he had a best friend that fed into his delusions. "I saw it."

Sadie scoffed lightly, "She didn't even know I was here," she said in a matter-of-factly tone.

However, a light push of the head was what she felt before she heard JJ's voice. "Okay, stop being delusional or I'm throwing you out of the boat for the fish to eat you."

Sadie rolled her eyes, waving a hand back as if she was dismissing him. "Yeah, yeah."

For the next few minutes, the three greeted local citizens as they approached their own docks, cleaning and preparing their boats, and some were even fishing. It was quite a surprise that people would rather leave their houses after a storm, and especially after a hurricane.

They were nearing the Heyward's dock, Sadie could already spot Pope, who was currently cleaning out the dirt and trash from the dock with a broom. Bobby Heyward was seen nowhere, though, so the two Pogues took this as their chance to steal their best friend away from his duties.

"Oh, look who it is," John B said, holding his arms up as if he was introducing Pope to a crowd of people with a smile on his face. He then pushed his face to the side with a hand covering his mouth and imitated static, "We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory."

"I can't," Pope said, a sort of desperation in his face. Just as he did, Bobby Heyward came out of the store in the background, also holding a mop. Sadie smiled and waved at him. "My pop's got me on lockdown."

"Come on, man," JJ said, copying John B's actions as he imitated static as well. "Your dad's a pussy. Over."

Sadie's mouth fell open and she turned around to punch JJ in the shin. Bobby definitely heard him, because the man charged up beside Pope with an irritated expression evident on his face. "Oh, I heard that, you little bastard."

John B and JJ didn't seem to care though, as always.

"We need your son," John B said, normally now.

"Yeah, and island rules," JJ shrugged. Sadie furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at him to ask what island rules? But JJ just pushed her head away again, signalling for her to shut up. She just rolled her eyes. "Day after a hurricane's a free day."

Liar.

Bobby seemed even more frustrated at JJ's words—or perhaps, lie. "Who the hell made that up?"

"Uh..." JJ stuttered, "Pentagon, I think. We have security clearance. I have a card," he said, putting his hand inside his pocket.

He was obviously lying now, and Bobby was catching on. Only because his son was staring at him with an expression that looked like he would get in trouble if Bobby didn't believe it. "Think I'm stupid?" The old man asked.

Pope, seeing the situation slightly escalating, quickly intervened. "I—I'll do it tomorrow. I promise—"

"You think.. No—no."

The stuttering of both no's from Bobby and I'll do it tomorrow's from Pope went back and forth, before JJ and John B beckoned the boy over by telling him to just go for it.

Sadie sat with a frown, pulling her knees up to her chest. She liked Bobby a lot, he was a really good guy. And she also knew the Pogues wanted to have fun, but she also didn't like how rude they were to Bobby at the moment.

"Get in the boat," John B whispered loudly, as if Bobby wasn't right there and could hear him loud and clear.

"Make a run for it," JJ encouraged.

Hearing those encouragements, Pope didn't waste a second to drop his broom and make a beeline toward the boat, hopping in, tapping on the surface of the cockpit to signal John B to go, go, go, before his dad came and dragged him out himself.

"I promise I'll do it tomorrow, Dad. I promise," Pope said. "Love you, pops."

And with that, John B drove away whilst the man kept rambling about how Pope was going to do all the work when he came back. With a sympathetic expression on her face, Sadie looked back and waved a hand at Bobby, slightly smiling.

Thankfully, Bobby waved back for a second before turning back toward the store, visibly annoyed.

Next destination: Kiara Carrera—or as Sadie liked to her call her—Mother Nature.

☾

Sadie didn't really glance at Kiara when she'd entered the boat, too busy chugging down the Coca-Cola the girl handed her. She didn't even realise how thirsty she was before the cold, sizzling liquid entered her lungs and the cold traveled down her throat. Even though it was already a little chilly due to the aftermath of the storm, the beverage offered another sort of shiver.

The others were having beer, which was why Sadie had a Cola. Kiara said she didn't want Sadie to feel left out, but she didn't really care, especially because she had her favorite soft drink with her. Plus, she hated beer—it smelled and tasted like how she imaged pee to do so—in her opinion.

The last time she tried beer, it was out of curiosity. Luke was sleeping on the couch messily and he had discarded a bunch of beer bottles on the floor, but there was one that had been left on the counter, open and abandoned. Sadie had just gotten back from school and saw it, and the interest within her piqued, so she took a sip.

From that day on, she had regretted it and vowed to never drink it again.

So, really, having a beer or not, Sadie wouldn't have felt left out. She did nod at Kiara as a form of a silent thank you. The girl nodded back, knowing Sadie didn't like to talk much. Sometimes, the little girl's quietness concerned the four, but JJ always said it was normal and that she'd been like that since she was little, so it didn't matter how she acted. She was Sadie.

The teenagers bickered back and forth whilst Sadie stayed quiet and to herself, listening to them silently. She didn't care about their conversations, but she was bored and wished she'd brought her colouring book with her. She didn't know the ride would be this boring.

But instead, she puffed her cheeks out and turned around to sit on the edge of the boat to look at all the small fish swimming around. Her toes grazed the water beneath, making them colder than the rest of her body, but Sadie didn't mind as this was a familiar feeling.

A small thud beside her was heard and she turned her head to see JJ standing next to her, holding a bottle of beer over his open mouth and saying, "It'll work, just do it. Go faster."

Sadie glanced back to see all the Pogues hiding—or just John B as he sat down on the seat a little hunched over, as if he was preparing for something. "We've tried this like six thousand times," he said quietly.

Sadie looked back at JJ and rolled her eyes in realisation. He was going to do something stupid like always—typical JJ. Whenever they were on boats, he always tried this; he would get on the edge and put the beer in front of his open-wide mouth, and whoever was driving the boat would go faster in attempt to prove JJ right.

Which was stupid. Because JJ was barely ever right.

Sadie felt the boat start going faster and she glanced back at Pope, wishing he would've used his advanced knowledge to, you know, maybe not listen to JJ?

But he did anyway, so Sadie guessed she couldn't do much except wrap her hands around the edge of the boat, watching as JJ opened his mouth wider in attempt to catch the flying remnants of the beer. Though, he quite literally failed, since the beer went everywhere except his mouth.

"Dude, you're getting it everywhere!" Kiara scolded, irritation evident in her voice, her hands up to her face as she attempted to avoid the flying beer.

Pope couldn't really do anything, he had to keep the boat on course, so to not literally drown everyone around him. Especially JJ and Sadie, since they were both close to the edge. John B was hiding behind him in the seats, like a little shy toddler hiding from a stranger.

Sadie was a little thankful since the beer didn't hit her. She was behind JJ, so it wasn't able to reach her, only his friends at the back. Despite her fear of how much the boat was speeding, she didn't want to move and soak herself in yucky beer alcohol. She didn't like the taste, so she definitely didn't want to smell like it.

"Alright, you're done," Sadie could hear Pope say, while the others around him also complain.

Kiara was pissed, to say the least. "You're getting beer in my hair!"

"Alright, you're done!"

The next thing Sadie felt was a small pause before she was flickered backwards and then pulled forwards, plummeting right into the cold water that shivered right down her spine almost painfully.

Another splash was heard next to her and she turned to see JJ, a pained expression on his face, his beer still in his hand. She rolled her eyes, feet kicking beneath her to keep her from drowning. They slowly began to ache, however, despite the many lessons she took of swimming. Her neck, hurt, too, due to the unexpected whiplash she got from being pulled backwards then pushed forward.

JJ turned his head and noticed her. She saw a flash of something cross his eyes, but the minute it was there, it was gone again. She always seemed to catch on people's feelings. She didn't really like it, since it made her slightly unfairly critical—but still, at least she noticed things that were clueless to others, but obvious to her.

Nonetheless, JJ didn't seem that panicked when he saw that she was fine. He knew she could swim, so he didn't worry all that much.

Sadie, feeling the air lessen in her lungs, began to swim back up. The minute her face met the cold air, she breathed in deeply, going straight toward the HMS POGUE. She pulled her feet up while slightly grunting. She felt hands help her, too, which she assumed was Kiara.

Kiara easily managed to stumble Sadie back in the boat, examining her face. "You okay, Sadie?" She asked, her voice sweet.

Sadie nodded, subtly moving away from her hands. "Mhm," she hummed, turning back to the ocean to check if JJ had gotten out yet. When she'd seen him slam down quite harshly into the ocean, his expression was pained, so she was a bit worried about him at the moment.

Suddenly, bubbles of water started surfacing and, after that, JJ did, too. He let out a strangled exhale, head leant back into the water with his bloodshot eyes closed.

"You okay, JJ?" John B asked.

"I think my heels touched the back of my head," JJ said, groaning loudly in pain. Sadie felt a small smile pull at her lips as she tried to refrain from chuckling. He looked sorta stupid, though, she was glad he was okay. "Pope, what did you do?"

Pope took a second to answer. "Sandbar. The channel changed."

"No shit," JJ said, shaking his head and beginning to swim back toward the HMS POGUE.

John B sat on the edge of the boat, beside Sadie, as he looked far into the ocean, his face scrunched up in slight annoyance. "This is probably gonna mess this whole place up."

"Hey, I saved the beer, though."

"Congrats, JJ."

Sadie watched as Pope passed her and climbed on the front of the HMS POGUE, standing on the edge. She watched as his expression faded into one of confusion and curiosity, eyes squinting into the water. After a few seconds, he started to speak. "Guys... I think there's a boat down there."

Sadie paused. Wait, what?

"What?"

"Shut up."

"No way."

That was not possible. Boats didn't just get left abandoned, especially after a storm.

Sadie scrambled up and climbed next to Pope, squinting into the water beneath. And, much to her confusion, there actually was a boat. Since it was quite deep in the water, she couldn't see it very well, but she could make out its shape.

It was a white boat that looked a little expensive. She could always spot expensive boats, since her dad used to work where they cleaned boats for Figure Eight. And she used to go with him, since JJ had to go school, and she was only four.

Anyway, Sadie could make out that it was expensive, but she couldn't tell what brand or label it exactly was.

Everyone huddled together, copying Pope and Sadie, looking down at the water.

"There's a boat!" Sadie exclaimed, looking back at John B and Kiara, pointing down at the water. She was smiling, her excitement filling her veins.

Kiara began to take off her clothes, John B, too. They were going to dive in. Diver down. Sadie stood up, ready to follow their lead, excitement in her veins.

"Woah, woah, hey," JJ swam closer, looking at Sadie with an arm out. "What're you doing?"

Sadie leant back slightly, confused. Wasn't she... supposed to go with them? "I'm going, too," she said, but to the others, it sounded more like a demand. She had always sounded like she demanded things more than she said them, though.

"Yeah," JJ chuckled. "No. You're not going down there. You sit and wait in the boat, and keep watch. Alright?" He asked whilst raising an eyebrow, it was more of a demand, though. Huh, how familiar.

"But—!"

"No," JJ shut it down immediately. "Sit."

Sadie huffed, annoyed. With a frown, she sat down and crossed her arms, avoiding eye contact as she glared down at the floor.

The others around her were already gone, the splashes of their dives hitting her face. Sadie scrunched her face up, raising a hand as she flickered the water away, even though she was already wet.

She sighed and stood up. She wasn't going to go down, since she didn't want JJ to yell at her, so she only stood at the edge and then laid down on her stomach, chin resting against the boat as she watched the fishes in the water swim around.

She could see the others, too. They were faint, but they were checking out the boat, their bodies floating like they were in space, Kiara's curly-hair all darting to different directions and moving along with her.

Sadie put a hand in the water and swirled her finger around, soaking it. She watched the teenagers as they all stopped by the boat before coming up for air.

JJ was the first to talk. "You guys saw that, right?" He asked, panting as water dripped down his face, wet hair clinging to his forehead. Sadie sat up, listening to them, curiosity in her eyes.

"Yeah, I did," Kiara said, smiling widely as everyone did, too.

They were laughing, but Sadie wasn't sure why. Maybe because they'd realized it was expensive. She wanted to know what brand it was so she could pinpoint how expensive it was. Finally, the time she spent with Luke was actually worth it.

"What was that?" Sadie asked, looking at JJ mostly, because he was the one that asked everyone if they saw that.

JJ turned to her with a grin, beginning to swim back toward the boat. "That is a Grady-White," he said, and Sadie's eyes twinkled with quiet amusement. She'd never seen a Grady-White before, but she knew they were so expensive that they were so hard to get. "A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy."

"Woah," Sadie said quietly, leaning forward to look at the water to spot the Grady-White again with her wide eyes, a certain thrill sparkling within them.

The boat tipped to the side a bit as the Pogues began to climb back in, water dripping down and onto the HMS POGUE. She turned around and watched as they climbed in.

"That's a primo rig," JJ said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," John B said, looking down with a thoughtful look. "That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge. Maybe it hit the jetty or something."

Sadie caught Kiara's somewhat worried look, pointed at John B. "You surfed the surge?" She asked slowly, a hint of concern in her voice.

"That's my boy!" JJ said with a grin, walking over to John B and giving him a high-five. "Pogue style."

Sadie didn't know why he was encouraging this. Surfing the surge in a storm was dangerous, she'd heard people got seriously injured and almost died. But John B wasn't her brother nor was he younger for her to get mad at him—also, she didn't really care.

Sadie thought it was a little weird that Kiara cared a lot, though, since she had a mad expression on her face. She always got frustrated when the boys did stupid stuff.

"What the heck?" Kiara said, eyebrows furrowed, frustration in her voice. She was probably going to complain more, but Pope's voice stopped her.

"Wait. Do we know whose boat that is?"

Sadie shrugged, scooting away from JJ to stop him from dripping any more water on her. "Probably a rich guy's boat. It's a Grady-White and those boats are pretty expensive," she said, speaking the facts that Luke had once told her absently, missing the look JJ gave her as he looked down at her.

"And how do you know that?" JJ asked, hands on his hips as he looked at down at her with amusement.

Sadie shrugged, not catching on to his slight joking demeanour. "Just do..."

It wasn't that she was secretive, she just didn't want to reveal it, since she thought it was unnecessary to do so. The Pogues knew that Luke wasn't exactly good, and mentioning him would probably ruin their whole excited and adventurous mood, so Sadie decided to keep it to herself for now.

John B opened the hatch that had a giant hook inside. Everyone watched with a pair of wide eyes, especially Kiara who looked like she did not accept any of this, but also knew she couldn't make them do anything. "Well, we're about to find out," John B said.

JJ laughed, mirth laced in his tone. "Dude, it's too deep."

John B groaned, leaning down more to grab onto the hook. "Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ."

"Alright. Well, I'm not resuscitating you. I'm just making that clear up front," JJ reasoned.

John B stood up, hands wrapped around the hook. Sadie watched with her head tilted, admiring his dedication for doing something so dangerous and stupid.

"John B," Kiara firmly spoke.

"What?"

"Diver down, fool," Pope interrupted, saluting him.

"Diver down," John B repeated his words and actions.

"Yeah, he is," JJ said, not wasting a second before he outstretched his arms and let John B fall into the water. Sadie scrambled up and gazed downward to watch John B as he approached the Grady-White boat. Again, she couldn't see clearly since the water was dirty, but she could see enough.

She saw as John B went into the boat but eventually disappeared and out of sight, so she sighed and leant back. She turned back and slightly leaned back in fright to see Kiara, Pope, and JJ behind her, peeking into the water as if they were waiting for something incredible to happen. But really, they were just waiting for John B.

"Should we go get him?" Pope asked, looking down at the water. Maybe, Sadie thought. He was taking longer than usual, which was quite worrying. However, just a second later, his head splashed out as he shook the water out of his hair, causing splashes of water to result in hitting Sadie and soaking her already wet navy sweatpants.

She scooted back slightly as they all behind her sighed relief. She did, too, but silently.

"Any dead bodies?" Pope asked, almost eagerly. Sadie didn't know if he was being genuine or not, but she still glanced at him with a skeptical gaze, because why would he think to ask that in the first place?

"Looting potential?" JJ asked next, clearly eager. Sadie rolled her eyes, knowing if there was, JJ would've had fun stealing anything. It was a Grady-White after all, and a new one, too, it should've been expensive as hell.

"No," John B shut their hopes down. However, his hand came out of the water to reveal him holding a key, and with it was attached a logo on it. "I found this motel key."

Motel key?

Why would there be a motel key in a Grady-White. Sadie thought that because the boat was quite rich, then it belonged to a rich person, too. But there was a motel key that most likely belong to the Cut. And Figure Eight people only ever stepped into the Cut for annual bonfires, or for Heyward's deliveries—even then, they were mostly delivered by Pope—or the Wreck, since it was quite decent and was in the middle between the Cut and Figure Eight.

But if this person had a Grady-White and a Cut motel key, then they most likely weren't from Figure Eight, because it just didn't add up to Sadie.

Maybe they were middle class? Like Kiara?

Sadie sighed and stared at the key intensely, her curiosity blooming even further at her thoughts.

"Great," JJ said, somewhat bitter and bored. "We salvaged a motel key."