♙CHAPTER ONE ♙

( MALIA PARRISH )

ONE: THE ATLANTIC

"the sea is in my blood"

after getting away from security like they had done many times before they all ended up back at john b's. although, after a while malia's dad had picked her up and brought her home. but martin parrish was also a sucker for his daughter's puppy dog eyes, and that's how she ended up at john b's again the next day. kie was passed out on the sofa bed, pope on the beat up couch and jj was in a bedroom with a random girl. she could hear john b was speaking to dcs outside.

eventually he returned and that is why her, john b and pope were on the beach standing in front of one of the worst hurricanes malia had ever seen. hurricane agatha. she knew nothing was going to stop her from surfing the wave that is had produced and she could only hope her friends decided to join her.

"it's a double overheard out there" pope yelled as they stood in their glory on top of one of the sand hills watching the dangerous waves crash against one another.

"double overheard?" john b yelled back as the curiousness in his eyes did not dim once, but if anything only grew by the second.

malia knew this was dangerous. but she also knew she may never have the opportunity to surf a wave like this again. if only her parents knew where she were right now, she'd be send away to some preppy boarding school far away from outerbanks. so she decided she'd surf the wave and keep it to herself, no matter how much she'd have loved to show of to her cousin sarah.

"those aren't surfable waves, lia" pope warned the kook girl as she began jumping in her spot as the hard raindrops hit her skin. john b turned to pope before looking down at a grinning malia. he knew she was going in and he knew he couldn't let her do it alone.

"says who?" malia laughs as she quickly kisses pope's cheek before grabbing john b's hand and pulling him towards the ocean.

pope stood to the side and rolled his eyes so hard he could've gotten a migraine. john b followed after her like a love sick puppy. he'd let malia parrish drag him to hell if she really wanted to.

the two were instantly split apart by the waves as they tried keeping balance on their boards, but with every try came another fail. john b was being throwing into the water and clambering back onto his board every second. malia being more experienced was able to stay on top of her board for longer before suffering the same fate. she looked around trying to find the boy to only see him staring at something in the distance.

"johnny!" she called out as she began kicking back on her board to the shore, she had had enough of trying to ride this wave for today.

――――

she didn't go home that night but had stayed at john b's. she called her parents telling them it wad too hard to get back in the hurricane. the same hurricane that woke her up at seven in the morning, she tried turning on the lights and checking her phone but realised the power was out. she got up from the couch and checked john b's room to see him and jj asleep.

she let her bare feet carry her to his front garden, seeing a large tree that had been there longer than she'd been friends with john b out of the ground and tilted sideways on the ground. she let the rough pieces of tree bark scratch her feet as she began trying to pull a large branch of john b's fishing boat.

"what you thinkin'?" jj asked causing her to jump as the next thing she knew john b was next to her and helping her pull the branch off. she decided she'd let him do his work as she walked back to stand next to jj.

"i'm thinkin' that storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh maze" john b said as he climbed on top of the small boat looking out to the trashed sea.

"what about the dcs? wasn't that today?" jj asked as he threw an arm around malia's shoulders. the girl yawned into his elbow as she was still waking herself up properly.

john b wasn't jealous. or so he told himself. he couldn't be jealous. the group were all pretty close and weren't embarrassed to do anything in front of the others. either way, there was a rule. no pogue on pogue macking. a rule he himself had made up at the age of ten. but in hind-sight malia wasn't a pogue, she was a kook.

"nah, they're not gettin' on a ferry. think about it. it's god tellin' us to fish" the boy grinned as he threw a branch.

malia wanted to sleep. she knew what fishing meant and she knew she was going to die when she arrived home. staying out during a hurricane at a boys house then going out drinking on the river. malia parrish was putting the faith her parents had in her to return home safely on the line for her friends. but isn't that what she always did.

――――

the girl sat in her bikini top with her white shorts as she sun bathed on the deck of the boat. jj and john b spoke to anyone they could as they went down the river watching people clean up their docks and boats. they were coming up to pope.

"we have a safety meeting. attendance mandatory" john b announced as if he were a pta system even adding the static along.

"i can't. my pop's got me on lockdown" pope complained as he stopped whatever he was doing. malia wanted to laugh as she saw the man behind the boy and wanted to warn him to just jump on now,

"come on, man" jj begged as he repeated the static "your dad's a pussy. over" he said which caused malia to kick him to the best of her possibility.

"hey mr. heyward" malia greeted out with a large smile, the man sent her the best smile he could muster after jj's comment. malia wasn't like the boys, she was sweet.

after a quick escape the four were on their way to kie, the girl walked with a backpack and a cooler undoubtedly packed with beers.

"whatcha got? you got some juice boxes" pope asked as she smiled at the boys and the girl.

"you know, just some yogurts and carrot sticks" she spoke softly. malia remembered how sweet she sounded that day and it made her smile increase.

"how about my juice boxes?" jj asked sticking a hand out for her to take to assist herself into the boat.

"yeah" she smiled as she took a seat next to malia, the girl throwing an arm around her friends waist as kie opened her cooler and passed a beer to her.

the teenagers began opening beers as they all sat enjoying eachother presences. malia had her head in john b's lap as she lay down laughing at jj. pope driving the boat, kie sitting at the front and jj making his move to where pope stood.

"hey pope, can you go a little faster please" the blonde boy asked as he brought a beer to his mouth and swung it back.

"here we go. i'm movin'" pope said speeding up the boat, as the beer began splattering back from the bottle in jj's mouth ending up in everyone's faces.

"jj, stop it!" malia yelled as she sat up and turned her body around so her head was now hiding in john b's shirt trying to avoid the beer.

the feeling of the girl clinging to john b wasn't foreign for either teens. well malia thought nothing of it, john b thought the world of it. he thought of it as her using him as a saviour, when in reality she was using him a shield.

pope tried slowing the boat down but something happened causing it to stop abrutply throwing jj off into the water and john b and malia forward. kie flew backwards and pope bumped into the wheel. malia was on top of john b with his arms wrapped around her from instinct. the teens groaned as malia squeezed her eyes shut trying to stop the headache she was sure to get.

"you okay, jj?" john called out making malia throw a hand to her ear considering how close he was. he pulled his face as he realised how she was affected and wrapped an arm around her neck pulling her to his chest as he rested his chin on top of her head.

"i think the heels touched the back of my head" jj groaned, it sounded like he was in pain. but malia didn't blame him.

"kie?" malia called out to her female bestfriend. only female friend* as she noticed the pretty girl still picking herself up.

"i'm all right" she answered as she brought herself up looking down at where her body hit.

"pope, what did you do?" jj called out as malia finally pushed john b's arm off of her and began sitting up, leaving her body in his lap as he still lay down groaning slightly.

if weren't for his small headache and aching back maybe he would've been able to enjoy the compromising position the two were in.

"sandbar. the channel changed" pope answered as jj began swimming back and kie stood up trying to stretch.

"no shit. hey, at least i saved the beer though" jj said as he lifted the bottle up. malia was now sitting on the edge of the boat watching as pope's face morphed to one of fear.

"guys... i think there's a boat down there" pope said squinting his eyes causing malia to scoff at the boy.

"don't be silly" "shut up. what?" "no way" malia, john b and kie all told him as malia heard jj swimming around assuming he was looking for the boat that pope spoke about.

malia watched as john b rubbed his throbbing head the girl lifting his snap back off and placing it on her own head before giving him a small kiss on the forehead and soft smile as an apology for the accident she didn't commit.

"no, no, guys. i'm serious. there's a boat down there. for real?" he said pointing out with urgency in his voice. malia shot up as did the others as they ran to look over the edge.

and he was right. there was a boat. a rather expensive boat malia would've said. all she could think to herself in that moment was "we are so fucked"