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After spending about ten minutes trying to dry her clothes with a hairdryer in the bathroom, Eli realised there was no point. Although she wasn’t completely soaked anymore, her clothes were still damp enough for it to be annoying. 

The blue-haired girl sighed as she left the bathroom, walking out just in time to see Topper snorting coke on a coffee table, with Rafe and a bunch of other teens cheering him on by the sidelines. Eli wished she had brought her phone. That was some golden blackmail material there. 

On her way towards the exit, Eli made sure to swipe an expensive looking bottle from the display cabinet when no one was looking, and discreetly made her way towards the door. It was time for her to make an exit from this kooky party where she didn’t belong. Unfortunately for the girl, Ollie was her ride here, meaning she had to slowly make her way home in damp clothes. At night.

The night air wasn’t too cold as Eli began her journey to the Harrington Estate, but the occasional breeze left the girl shuddering. 

The sound of a motorcycle pulling up from behind her on the empty road put her on alert, with girl gripping onto the neck of the bottle in case she needed to swing.

“El?”

The girl turned her head in surprise, a large grin growing on her face as her eyes fell on the blonde Maybank boy.

“JJ!” she exclaimed with a smile as he kicked out the bike stand to park the bike and climbed off. 

“What are you doing out here?” He finally noted her damp clothes, his fingers reaching out to gently grasp her damp hair. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Long story short, I ended up in the pool at Topper’s party,” the girl sighed. “But look.” She held up the whiskey with a wide grin. “I stole some whiskey for us.”

JJ let out a laugh as his eyes fell on the bottle, trying to shrug off the thin jacket he was wearing. “Damn, nice one.” He carefully draped his jacket around Eli’s shoulders, making sure to lift her hair out. “Here, you’re gonna get cold standing like that.”

Eli couldn’t help but blush, the girl silently willing her cheeks to not be so obvious. 

“What about you?” she questioned, to which he shook his head as he looked down at her. 

“I’ll be fine. Lemme drop you off home.”

Eli hesitated as she watched JJ climb onto his bike, watching him stash the bottle of whiskey into the small plastic bag hanging on one of the handles. She gingerly climbed on behind him, carefully holding onto his waist.

“What are you doing?” the boy questioned as he looked down at her hands, before turning his head back to look at her. “Hold onto me properly.”

“I’m gonna get your shirt wet,” the girl mumbled.

JJ sighed in response as he turned to face forward, grabbing both of Eli’s wrists and pulling her closer before wrapping her arms around his waist. Eli gasped at the sudden movement,her body now firmly pressing against JJ’s back. Her cheeks reddened at the gesture, her forehead leaning down to rest against the boy’s back.

“Hold on tight,” the boy warned as he removed his hands from her wrists, a large smile growing on his face. The boy finally started the engine and began to drive them the Harrington Estate, relishing in the closeness of the girl behind him on the bike with a permanent grin on his face.

“Oh,” Eli began as she lifted her head slightly, the wind blowing in her hair. “Why were you in the area anyway?”

“Oh yeah, we managed to steal the drone from the salvage yard,” JJ revealed as they drove through the empty roads on Figure Eight. “I got caught but I managed to give a good performance, you know, since I’m a natural born actor.”

“Is that right?” Eli questioned with a light laugh, fingers gripping onto his shirt.

“Yep, they should like, give me a Grammy or something.”

Eli furrowed her brows in confusion. “Do you mean an Oscar?”

“Whatever, same thing,” JJ scoffed as they finally pulled up to the grounds, driving through the gates and pulling up outside the main door. 

“If you say so.”

Eli unwound her arms from around JJ’s waist and carefully climbed off the bike, smiling at the boy as when she could finally see his face again. 

“Thanks for the ride, J,” Eli thanked, eyes falling on his back. “Sorry, about your shirt, by the way,” she apologised as she shrugged off his jacket.

“Don’t worry about it,” he waved off with a small smile as Eli handed him the jacket. “I was pretty warm anyway. Goodnight, El. See you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, J,” she said in response, waving with a smile as she watched the boy drive off. 

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Eli shielded her eyes from the sun as she walked down the dock to where the pogues were currently hanging out, smiling as her eyes fell on Pope who smacked JJ's hand that wandered to what looked like the control panel for the drone they stole. 

She tried to sneak up as an idea suddenly hit her, waiting for JJ to move just  a little closer to the edge of the dock.

The girl put a finger to her lips as Pope's eyes fell on her, carefully walking up behind JJ who was looking out across the water.  She firmly planted both hands against the blonde's back and gave him a push, causing him to yell as he landed in the water with a large splash. John B and Kie resurfaced at the commotion, grinning as they realised what had happened. 

“Pope, what the hell!” JJ spluttered as he broke through the surface, eyes falling on the girl who was keeling over with laughter with Pope.

“Not Pope,” Eli corrected with a large grin. “Eli.”

“You deserved that,” Pope stated as JJ swam closer to the dock and held out his arm towards Eli. 

“Help me up.”

Eli shook her head at the boy. “No way, I'm not falling for that.”

“I swear I won't do anything,” JJ assured, hand still reaching out. “I promise.”

The girl hesitated before taking his hand, widening her eyes as a large grin grew on JJ's face. 

“Wait-” Eli let out a scream as JJ gave her arm a tug, sending her toppling towards the water. 

The cold water engulfed the girl as she fell in, immediately being pulled to the surface by the boy who hadn't let go of her hand. 

“I'm gonna kill you,” she gasped as she broke through the surface, but JJ's grin only grew wider at the threat. 

Eli made a lunge for the boy and wrapped her arms around his head, pushing him under the water. 

Much to Pope's amusement, he was witnessing the underwater fight live on the drone which was now facing the pair. 

The two finally came back up for air, with Eli spluttering as she haphazardly tried to push away her hair from her face.

“Oh, shit,” the girl cussed as she wrapped her arms around JJ to keep her head out of the water,  her legs not quite long enough to stand on the bank. “I don't have any spare clothes left at the Chateau.”

JJ couldn't help but laugh as he moved them closer to the dock, allowing the girl to climb back up. “I'll give you one of my shirts.”

 “Thanks, J,” she thanked with a smile as she moved towards Pope, who was still operating the machine. “Actually, no, this is your fault.” She peered at the screen, which was showing a live feed of Kie and John B who were pulling faces at the camera. “What were you guys talking about anyway? Is this thing working okay?”

“Yeah, I'm just tryna work out these controls,” Pope responded, a concentrated gaze fixed on the screen.

“God bless geeks, Pope,” JJ spoke as he climbed up, walking closer to the two. “Truly, man. What would we do without you to control the drones?”

“It's not a drone. It's an ROV,” Pope corrected, causing JJ to shake his hair and fling water droplets everywhere. 

“Shut up. Shut up,” JJ groaned, whilst Eli tried to stop the blonde from sending water flying into her eyes.  “It's too early for that right now.”

“Hey,” John B called out as Eli and JJ leaned against the wooden railing. “Once we get footage of the wreck, we'll bring it to a lawyer in town and file a formal claim.”

“It's such bullshit why we have to do that,” JJ complained. 

“Well, there is maritime salvage law,” Pope revealed. “You can't just go to the ocean floor and scoop a bunch of stuff up-” 

“I know, I know,” JJ cut off. “It's just, lawyers aren't cheap, bro.” 

“I mean, we can just pay them off using the four hundred million,” Eli shrugged as she looked at the two boys.

“As soon as they see the footage, they'll work for a comp,” John B stated, bobbing up and down in the water. 

“How do you know all of that?” Kie questioned from beside the boy. 

“‘Cause my dad said it, like, a million times.”

“Yeah, that's fair,” Kie nodded as she swam towards the ladder, with Eli leaning down to help the girl up.

“This tether is, like, really long.”

“No shit, Pope,” Eli cut off, much to the annoyance of the boy who waved her off. 

“In the wrong weather, it could get pushed around,” he continued. 

“Then we'll go at dead calm,” John B suggested as he swam over to the dock. 

“At slack tide?”

“So now we just gotta wait around for the right weather. And today is not that day.”

Right on cue, the heavens began to rumble, much to Eli's dismay as she looked up at the darkening sky. 

“You okay?” JJ quietly questioned as he turned to face the girl, getting a timid nod in response. 

“I think I'll be fine,” she murmured as she looked at the boy, before looking back at the sky. “It doesn't seem as bad as the last storm, at least.” 

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IM BACK i got addicted to minecraft sorry guys (im not sorry)

i love jeli sm i was giggling and kicking my feet when i wrote this.

Nova x