THE AIR was stuffy the next morning as I sat on my porch, breathing in and out slowly. My head felt heavy and my brain was pounding against my skull. I'd barely gotten enough rest to sleep the drink and weed I consumed off and I was having a hard time deciphering if I was still in fact a tad drunk or if I was just that tired I was losing it. Regardless I cradled my head and sighed long and heavy. I heard tyres riding across the dirt ground and looked up to see the Sheriff's car driving past, Peterkin looking at me out of her open window as she passed.

She pulled up in front of John B's house and I saw because I lived next door to him.

Behind me I heard the door open but I didn't look back and the person sat next to me, "So do you wanna tell me why JJ is sleeping on your bedroom floor?" My dad asked me. I sighed, closing my eyes, "And why your mom visited me at the docks this morning asking me why you were high last night?"

"I wasn't high last night." I muttered softly, my eyes still closed, "Topper's bullshitting."

"You know I can't help you unless you tell me what's going on Mally." My dad said to me and I nodded slowly, "Besides, I can smell it on you."

I turned to him, "You can?"

He nodded, "And the alcohol, your room reeks of it."

"Fantastic." I mumbled, leaning my arms on my legs.

"Listen." My dad said to me and I looked at him, "I know what it's like to be your age living on the Cut in the summer. It's probably the best time of your life, getting into trouble, going out fishing, drinking down at the boneyard—" I arched my brow at my dad. Since when did he know where we drank? "Do you honestly think you and your friends found the boneyard?" He asked me, "Damn, me and my pals found that shithole years ago and started drinking there."

"You used to drink at the boneyard?" I asked.

"Where else do you think we smoked and got drunk?" He asked me with a chuckle, "Hell I remember when Ward Cameron set his shorts on fire at the boneyard when he was drunk."

I shook my head while laughing. It was hard for me to imagine Ward Cameron — arguably the richest man on Kildare Island — and my dad friends, living the Pogue life together.

"I just want you to be honest with me Mal." My dad told me, looping his arm around my shoulders, "I don't mind."

I nodded, "So maybe I smoke the occasional joint." I said to him, "I don't do it all the time."

"It's alright." He smiled, "I'm just not thrilled I had to find out through your mother. That woman is the bane of my life."

I nodded, "Wait until I get my hands on Topper—"

"—Nah, he's not worth it." My dad told me, nudging me gently. I nodded in agreement with him and he looked at me again, "So now we're being honest do you want to tell me why JJ is sleeping on your bedroom floor?" 

I pressed my lips together and met my dads eyes before cracking a smile.

• • •

When John B shouted me over an hour later JJ and I made the short journey together and while he went into John B's chateau to try and salvage some clean-ish clothes I took a seat round the back of the chateau with John B in his shed. The first thing I noticed about him was his purple eye and boy did it look sore, Topper had really done a number on him last night.

"Hey, what was going on with you two last night?" He asked me.

I shrugged. JJ always confused me but then again he always kept me on my toes. I found him attractive and maybe I liked him — just a little — but we would always first and foremost be friends. We had a habit of flirting but last night was a new level for us, we'd never gone that far before as in holding hands and sneaking off to get high together.

"We shared a few joints." I told my friend.

"Did you guys.. you know?"

I shook my head, "I don't think JJ's interested in me like that."

"Hey, you'd be surprised." John B told me and I looked at him with an arched brow, "All I'm saying is that he doesn't act that way with other girls."

"Course he does." I told John B, "He was flirting with other girls on the boneyard yesterday."

"But did he pull a gun out on another boy to protect one of those girls?" He asked me. I stayed silent in thought and he spoke again, "Where did you go after that then?"

"JJ needed to calm down." I replied, "I took him for a walk up the beach and then we went back to mine."

"It's weird." John B said to me, "I've never seen someone calm him down as well as you can."

I shrugged, "Lucky charm I guess."

John B nodded, "Or he likes you?"

I shook my head, "He doesn't like me John B.. and besides, the rule."

He nodded as Kie and Pope pulled up, getting out of Kie's car and walking over to us and taking a seat, "Mornin'." Pope greeted us.

"Hey guys." I greeted and just as they arrived JJ came out of John B's dressed in a fresh set of clothes. I turned to see him walking out, "Did you get a shower? My dad said we smell of weed." I said to him.

JJ grinned at me, "I showered at yours."

My brows furrowed, "When?"

"When you were talking to your dad."

"Oh." I nodded, watching as he sat down on a table, "Thats nice to know."

He grinned at me as John B turned to us, "Look, guys, I'm callin' it off. All right?" He said, "Peterkin said if I stay out of the marsh she'll help me with the DCS."

"And you believed her?" JJ asked.

"Yes, I believe her, JJ."

"An actual cop, John B." He said in disbelief, "You believed a cop."

"All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple of days and she'll help me out." John B fired, "It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."

"You know what I should've done?" JJ asked, throwing a stone, "Just let Topper drown your ass."

I rolled my eyes as they started to argue.

"Yeah, Topper was gonna drown me?" John B asked in disbelief.

"Sure looked like it." JJ responded.

"Funny." John B fired.

"I mean, have you seen your face?" JJ asked.

"Guys." I groaned.

"C'mon, tell me some more." John B probed.

JJ got off the table and we walked over towards the open shed, "They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win." He hit the softball hanging from the roof in anger as he walked away.

"Okay!" Kie intervened loudly.

"No it's not okay!" JJ argued, "It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there and you know it man." He said, pointing to John B, "I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go.." He said looking to Pope, "You're the golden boy, you got way too much to risk.. and you—" He turned to Kie, "I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother? But you and me, man, we got nothin' to lose."

"What about Mal?" John B asked and I pressed my lips together waiting to hear JJ's answer.

"She'll do anything!" He said, looking to me, "You've got more balls than the rest of us combined."

I nodded slowly. I'd built a reputation around the Cut for being a bit of a daredevil. I liked to race people on bikes and ride the dangerous waves — I was a bit of an adrenaline junky and I'd hurt myself more times than I could count. But what JJ was saying related to me, I felt his worlds because I had nothing to lose either.

"You're not wrong there." I agreed with him.

"Look, John B." JJ started to calm down, "I know it never used to be that way for you."

"I don't want to talk about this." John B muttered, "I don't want to talk about it."

"So that's it?" JJ asked as John B walked towards him.

John B pushed JJ, "Just get out of my way, bro." He argued.

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

I uncrossed my legs, getting up to my feet and walking over to JJ, "That can't be good." 

"Shut up." He muttered to me and he walked over to John B, "You got the key to Cameron's big boat right?"

"No." John B disagreed immediately.

"There's scuba gear inside." JJ told him, "We just borrow that and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon and that is what's gonna save you, man."

"Is he really suggesting John B steals off his boss?" Pope asked us quietly.

I leaned against the wooden beam JJ had been stood against and nodded my head, "Yeah, he is."

"You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?" JJ questioned.

"This is a bad idea." Kie muttered and slowly I nodded in agreement.

• • •

I peeled my top off as the sun started to get hotter while it set and when I dropped it on the ground I caught JJ looking at me. I rose a brow at him and he quickly looked away. It wasn't like I was naked, I had my bikini top on like I always did.

I sat on the bow of the boat as Kie looked through the diving equipment John B had stolen from Ward Cameron's boat.

"This is empty John B." She said, "You stole empty tanks."

I sighed, leaning against the side of the boat, "Off to a brilliant start." I muttered lowly.

"Okay, this ones a quarter full." Kie said, looking at the second tank, "It's enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together." Pope said.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asked.

I shrugged, reaching over and grabbing the goggles, "Nope, but it can't be that hard right?"

Kie sighed, "Anybody?"

"It's kind of a Kook sport." JJ replied.

"I.. read about it." Pope said.

"Great. Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die."

"Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ asked.

I nodded in agreement, "Sounds pretty easy to me."

"So we're gonna let the insomniac dive." Kie replied.

"Hey, I've had a decent amount of sleep." I retaliated. Kie raised her brow.

"Look, I know if you come up too fast and nitrogen gets in your blood you get the bends." Pope said.

JJ bent over at the hips, "Bends like, bend over and—"

"—The bends will kill you." Pope interrupted and JJ stopped immediately.

"Right."

John B took the goggles out of my hands, "I can dive."

"You can dive." JJ nodded, "I'm cool with that."

"Since when can you dive?" Kie asked John B.

"I'll do it, it's fine." He replied.

"Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope said, taking his legs off the controls for the boat and sitting up while grabbing some paper, "So that boat's about 30 feet down, right?" He asked rhetorically, "So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth which means you need to make your safety stop at about.. ten feet. All right, for two minutes?"

"Yeah, yeah." John B nodded, "Ten feet, two minutes. Got it."

I heard a splashing and I turned to see Kie gone, obviously having jumped off the boat and into the marsh, "What was that all about?" Pope asked.

I shrugged, "Beats me."

"All righty." Pope cracked on.

"Okay, uh, when you're down there you look for the cargo hold." JJ said, pulling out a small key, "You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"

"Stick in, twist, pull." John B nodded.

"Yeah." JJ nodded.

I clapped John B's shoulder, "Shouldn't be that hard."

"Hey! I tied my t-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down." Kie said as she resurfaced, "It's where you need to do your safety stop."

"Cool." John B nodded, putting the tank on his back.

"Keep an eye on this." Pope said, holding the tank reading to John B, "You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress."

"Okay, how much do I need?"

"Unclear." Pope replied, "Breathe as little as possible."

"Zen." JJ said as John B's face fell, "Think Zen, you know?"

I pulled back on his shoulder, "I don't think that's helping him, JJ."

"Hey if we get caught in the marsh we're basically screwed so, better get a move on." Pope told him.

"Copy that." John B replied.

I stood next to JJ as Kie stood up on the edge of the boat and kissed John B on the cheek. With my arm leaning on JJ's shoulder I turned to him and he furrowed his brows back at me, we were clearly both thinking the same thing.

"Diver down?" John B asked.

"Diver down."

John B jumped off the side of the HMS Pogue, leaving a splash behind him and he resurfaced for a second before sinking under the water and leaving bubbles in his wake.

"And then there were four." I muttered, sitting down at the stern of the boat by the propellers. JJ followed me over and sat down next to me.

"I never thanked you for last night." He said to me quietly.

"What about it?" I asked him.

"Y'know, for trying to calm me down.. and for letting me sleep on your bedroom floor."

I smiled, "Don't worry about it." I told him, "I'd do anything for a friend."

"Yeah." He nodded and before he could say anything else I heard a short siren blaring.

I turned and saw a cop boat pulling up behind us, "Oh shit."

JJ turned too, "There's the police." He said, staying in his seat as they approached us.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me." Pope sighed.

"Yep, that's them." JJ replied.

"Just act frickin' normal." Kie said, flipping her hair.

"Deny, deny, deny." I reminded.

They blared the siren again as they pulled up next to us and Pope sat down, "Evening, officers."

I recognised them as the same two officers who searched Scooter Grubbs motel room yesterday. The same two who took a wad of cash from the safe for themselves, "Evening."

The woman held out a rope towards Pope, "Here you go."

"JJ, tie this off." Pope said, passing the rope back to JJ and I and he took it, standing up and tying it around the hooks on our boat.

Deputy Shoupe took his sunglasses off and looked at us all, "What you kids doing?" He asked, "You know the marsh is closed?"

I frowned, shaking my head as JJ spoke from besides me, "No, I didn't know that."

"Why-why is it closed?" Pope asked.

"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down." Shoupe replied.

"Oh." Pope nodded.

"Seen anything?"

"Nope." I shook my head as we all played innocent.

"Where's your friend you always hang with?" He asked us and I swallowed, "He here?"

We looked at each other before Kie shrugged, "He's working."

Shoupe nodded, "I'm gonna check your little boat out." He said to us and he jumped over onto the HMS Pogue.

"Yeah." Pope nodded awkwardly, standing up, "Hop aboard. You wanna check-uh, check her out?"

"Thank you." He replied.

I moved away from JJ's side, standing behind the wheel as Shoupe reached for and picked up a life jacket, "Uh, you got another one of these?"

"Yeah." JJ nodded, "Of course, it's in the hold."

Kie stood up from her seat on the cargo hold and gestured to it while looking at JJ, "Show him."

"Okay." He nodded and quickly opened the hold to show him the other life jacket before putting it back in the hold and closing it.

This was taking too long, John B didn't have much air to begin with. I tapped my arm behind my back anxiously as JJ walked over to me, grabbing my hand behind my back and holding it while no one could see. I didn't look at him, I didn't react, I just let him slide his fingers into mine and squeeze gently.

I watched Shoupe walk over to the stern of the boat, standing on the cargo hold and looking over the edge of the boat — down into the marsh. He put his sunglasses on and I squeezed JJ's hand to try and calm my nerves as he casually leaned his chin on my shoulder.

This was taking forever, he was taking forever, looking into the water and I prayed John B had seen him and hadn't missed him before deciding to come up for air.

Eventually Shoupe turned around, "All right." He said, getting off the cargo hold.

JJ pulled his chin off my shoulder, "All right."

"Beautiful day isn't it?" He asked.

"Sure is." I agreed with a forced smile. 

"Very." Pope added.

Shoupe crossed back onto his own boat and untied the mooring lines, "Let us know if you see anything on your way out." He told us.

I nodded as Pope replied, "Will do, will do."

The engine of their boat started and they started driving away, "We'll be gone soon sir." JJ said.

"Yes you will." He replied and they took off back down the marsh, away from us.

Once they had put some space between us we rushed over to the edge of the boat, looking over anxiously.

"He's definitely out of air." Pope said and no sooner than that John B resurfaced.

I sighed in relief, "There he is!" JJ said next to me.

"Oh, god. Jesus Christ." Pope muttered, "Don't scare us like that."

"How'd it go down there?" JJ asked, laughing in relief.

John B put a thumbs up and swam over towards the ladders at the stern of the boat, "Did you find anything?" I asked him.

"Did I find anything?" He replied grinning and chuckled a duffle bag on board.

"Yeah, there we go!" JJ cheered, "That's my boy!"

"You okay?" Kie asked.

Still in the water John B replied, "Yeah, I ran out of air."

"You scared the shit out of me." Kie told him as he climbed out.

"Yeah the cops were up here but, uh, we took care of 'em." Pope said.

"My bad." John B muttered, sitting down.

"All good."

"Yeah you kinda missed the show, brother." JJ replied.

"Hey guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock." Kie said.

"Huh?" I muttered, looking up form John B and I saw a white speed boat coming down the marsh.

"Do you recognise that boat?" Pope asked us.

"Never seen it." I replied.

"What are they going back here? The marsh is closed." Kie said.

I looked to her, "They could say the same about us."

"Let's not stick around to find out." JJ said and I nodded.

"JJ, get the bowline." John B instructed and he nodded.

"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope asked.

"No we're not gonna wait on em'." John B replied, "Go get the stern. Go!"

"They're getting closer." I called out as Pope helped JJ with the ropes.

"Hey guys, don't wait for me. Don't wait for me, go." JJ told us and I turned the engine over, starting the boat.

"Pull out the stern." Pope said to JJ.

I turned to John B, my hand on the gearstick of the boat, "I don't like the look of this."

"Neither do I." He agreed with me.

"Are they coming for us?" JJ asked.

"Maybe they're fishing." Pope suggested.

"Definitely not fishing." I replied.

"Go, go, go, go!" JJ said quickly.

"Let's go!" Kie egged on and I pushed the gearstick forwards, moving the boat.

"Get into the marsh." John B told me and I turned the wheel right as the bogey continued to drive towards us, "Act natural." John B reminded.

"Hey guys?" Kie said, "They're following us."

"Fuck." I muttered, pushing further forwards on the gearstick.

"This can't be good." Pope said.

"C'mon Mal, you gotta go faster." JJ said to me.

"I'm going, I'm going." I replied, pushing forwards even more.

"Gun it!"

I drove round the marsh, not daring to look back as John B and JJ stood either side of me, the both of them leaning on the metal above the wheel that I gripped. I rarely ever drove the boat because I always drove too fast but I felt like in this time we needed speed.

I heard a gun shot backfire and I screeched in shock, ducking a little.

"What the—?!"

"Holy shit!" Kie said.

I pushed forwards again as everyone ducked around me, "Mal, get down!" JJ yelled at me.

They fired again and I ducked a little but I couldn't get to the floor, I still had to steer the boat. I sat down in the chair, leaning as close to the wheel as I could, "Oh my god, we're gonna die." Pope said.

"Shut the fuck up, Pope." I scolded.

The gun fired again, "Mally, I mean it!" JJ shouted over at me.

"Where's that pissing gun when we need it?" I swore.

Kie ran past me grabbing a fishing net and they fired again, both Kie and I ducking, "Oh my god." I yelled.

"Keep going!" Kie yelled to me as they shot again.

"Mal." JJ muttered and he stood up next to me, ducking over my back while keeping close to me.

"I'm all right JJ."

He put his hand over mine as I held forwards as far as it would go and when the gun was fired again I yelped as JJ leaned over me protectively. I heard an engine clutter and I didn't know if it was ours or theirs and I turned back fractionally to see them stood at a stop in the middle of the marsh and I rounded the corner, putting the grassland between us and them with a relieved smile.

JJ clapped my shoulder as we started to cheer and I turned to look up at him fractionally to see him grinning down at me, "That was amazing."

• • •

By the time we'd gotten back to the dock at John B's house the sun had disappeared off the horizon and the sky was starting to take to a deep blue colour as the night rolled in slowly. The five of us climbed off the boat after JJ tied it down to the dock and we gathered on land as John B dropped to his knees, opening up the black duffel bag.

"What do you guys think it is?" Kie asked.

I crossed my arms and leaned on the wooden railing, "Drugs?"

"Nah it's gotta be money or something, right?" John B disagreed.

JJ leaned over John B's shoulder, "That or a couple of keys with street value to the low-to-mid mils."

"Yeah, you'd love that." I muttered.

"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope burst, his eyes wide.

He took the rest of us by surprise, "Wow, Pope." John B said, "That's a rare outburst of emotion from you."

I nodded, "Never knew you had it in ya'."

"Okay." Pope rolled his eyes, "You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag."

"Jeezzzz." JJ chimed.

"We almost died over this." Pope said and we watched as John B pulled a smaller draw string bag out of the duffel bag. He opened the draw string and pulled out a metal canister before struggling to open it. He twisted the lid off and flipped the canister upside down, something falling out of it and into his hand.

I peered over his shoulder to look and I caught sight of a compass. I stepped away in disappointment, sighing lowly.

"Oh, wow." Pope muttered sarcastically, "That's about right, good job everybody. We found a compass."

I could sense everybody's disappointment. We really thought we were on to something here but the only thing we pulled from the wreck was a damn compass.

JJ pulled his hat off his head in frustration before looking down to John B who had been uncharacteristically quiet, "Dude, what?" He asked, "It's not worth anything."

And then I heard John B as he muttered, "This was my fathers."

• • •

A/N; I love Mally and JJ🥺