MARA RAN OVER to the group in the bow, looking over the edge.

"guys theyre serious!" she called, the other pogues running to join the others as kalani pulled her t-shirt off.

"lani, you're gonna drown or some shit." marlee tried, but kalani ignored her, jumping into the water and swimming over to the boat, looking at mara, maya, jj, and john b.

"you dumbasses getting in or what?" she called, the four jumping and swimming over to kalani, who was the first to dive under and swim toward the bottom. she quickly recognized the boat as being a grady-white, and she motioned for the others to surface as she followed closely behind.

"holy shit!" jj whooped as he broke the surface, smiling widely at john b before turning to the girls. "you guys saw that, right?"

"that's a grady-white." kalani breathed, pulling herself back into the boat. "we could pay off our mortgage- and then some- with that thing."

"yeah, a new one of those is like 500gs easy." maya exclaimed.

"who's boat is that?" mara asked, kalani deadpanning at the girl.

"it's obviously mine- how the hell are we supposed to know, mar?"

"i hate you sometimes." the blonde replied, kalani smiling at her, reaching into the hold and pulling out the anchor.

"you love me and you know it." the brunette replied, walking with the anchor towards the front of the bow.

"no way." jj deadpanned. "lans, it's too deep."

"maybe for a bitch like you." the brunette murmured. "diver down, losers." she said to the group, saluting as she jumped off the boat, the anchor pulling her directly to the bottom.

"how is she not dead?" mara asked from her seat on john b's knee.

"that's a fantastic question." pope answered.

"you're the smart one, what's the answer?" marlee questioned teasingly.

kalani surfaced, gasping for air and swimming toward the boat.

"that took forever." kiara complained, kalani rolling her eyes as she pulled herself back on the boat.

"i'll let you do it next time." she snapped, holding up the small key on a bright yellow keychain she had grabbed from the boat. "i found this motel key."

"a key?" pope asked.

"no, the queen of england's trust fund- yes she found a key you idiot." mara replied to the boy angrily, kalani smiling up at her.

"guys, we need to report the wreck to the coast guard- maybe we'll get a finder's fee." kiara pitched as john b cruised the boat speedily through the marsh.

"yeah and not work all summer." maya added.

"thanks, agatha, ya batch." jj finished, clinking his beer bottle triumphantly with mara's.

THE COAST GUARD turned out to be no help, ignoring the kids completely. so, that left the group with the only logical option, a plan agreed on by mara, arden, kalani, and maya- go to the motel and find out who's room the key went too.

"i thought the chateau looked bad." jj commented as the boat coasted closer to the motel.

"like yours looks any better." kalani retorted.

"this place is a shitshow." pope added.

"when both your parents die we'll see how quickly you start cleaning up." arden spat, glaring at the boy who lowered his head.

"motel or meth lab?" kiara asked, trying to return to a normal conversation.

"you be the judge." john b replied.

"doesn't look like the type of place someone with a grady-white would stay." jj observed, kalani willing her eyes.

"no shit, sherlock."

"it looks like the type of place someone with a grady-white would get killed." pope enunciated.

"thank you for that, very reassuring." kalani said, spinning the key on her finger as mara, arden, and maya all stood up to go in with her.

"hey, arden?" pope called, the girl turning on her heel as pope pointed between mara and kalani. "don't let them do anything stupid."

"i'm making zero promises." arden replied, kalani shrugging.

"you should be worried about arden and maya."

"you literally stood on your dock in the middle of a hurricane, name one stupid thing arden and maya have done together." mara told the brunette, the group all beginning to walk towards the motel.

"be careful, lani!" jj called, mara turning to her brother and back to kalani, who only wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion at the blonde.

"what's that all about?" mara asked kalani teasingly, the youngest routledge shaking her head.

"he's your brother, you tell me."

"honestly, since he heard about you and john b getting sent away he's been all over you like white on rice and it's kind of funny that you've essentially made him into your little bitch boy." mara added, kalani rolling her eyes.

"okay, now you're making it weird." kalani whined as she and mara lead the way up the stairs to the second floor of the motel, the blonde holding her hands up in surrender.

"while that was not my intention, you're still not denying anything." she retorted with a smirk, kalani shoving her shoulder.

"i'm wel aware that your brother is my bitch, i've known this since i was seven and he bought me all that bracelet making thread because i so much as mentioned it was something i liked." kalani explained. "i still have yet to use it all." she added in a whisper.

"he's in love with you." mara deadpanned, kalani wrinkling her eyebrows,

"why would you say that? how would you even know that?"

"i'm his twin, i literally know everything about him." mara replied flatly, looking over at kalani. "he's also making it painfully obvious to everyone but you."

kalani looked out to where the boat was, john b was clearly giving jj a hard time about something, marlee and carra laughing at the two.

"is he really?" kalani asked, mara nodding quickly.

"oh, hundred percent." she said, the two coming to a stop at the motel door, looking back at mara and arden, who were laughing about something.

"this us?" arden asked, lani nodding and unlocking the door, pushing it open, not even bothering to knock.

"you're very hot, breaking and entering and all." mara joked, kalani smiling and rolling her eyes, the group stepping into the room.

"divide and conquer, folks," kalani muttered, flipping the light switch on and shutting the blinds that faced toward the deck, opening the ones that faced out to the boat and giving a thumbs up to john b, who was the only one watching the window.

"there's a jacket with no name on it. but it's a really nice jacket." maya added, arden slapping her hand.

"we're not stealing anything." she said in a hushed whisper.

"check out this map." mara voiced. kalani walking to see what she was looking at, coordinates were scrawled on the map, and a sticky note with what appeared to be four random numbers was stuck to it. "is this where they were fishing, maybe?" the blonde questioned.

"it's off the continental shelf, it's a swell, there's nothing to fish." kalani explained, mara remaining doubled over the map. arden was attempting to open the safe while maya searched the bathroom.

"punching random shit will solve all your problems." kalani mocked, arden looking up at her annoyedly.

"it's a four digit code and i have no idea who's safe it is, how am i supposed to know what to guess?"

"you said four?" the brunette confirmed, arden wrinkling her eyebrows and nodding, kalani snatching the sticky note from mara's map and passing it to her older sister. "try that."

arden punched the numbers into the safe's pin pad, and much to the routledge girl's joy, the light went green, allowing arden to open the door.

"holy shit." kalani breathed. there were multiple stacks of hundred dollar bills, a yellow manila envelope, and on top of everything, there was a shiny black handgun.

"maybanks?" arden called, maya sticking her head out of the bathroom door as mara turned around. "i think we found something." she added, grabbing one of the cash stacks and holding it into the air. maya dashed over, pushing kalani out of the way, making the girl fall backwards, but maya grabbed the gun.

"okay, now we have to take that." mara sighed, her sister holding it with a light in her eyes, she and arden beginning to argue over the gun.

"as of jj or john b wouldn't have grabbed it either." kalani muttered, mara laughing.

"isn't that the truth?" she said, grabbing one of the stacks of cash. "happy birthday to me." she muttered, putting the money in her back pocket of her shorts and untucking her t-shirt to cover it.

a light tap came from the window facing the water, and kalani was quick to move and see what it was. her brother and jj were both standing below the window, pointing toward the deck and jumping up and down frantically.

"what is it?" arden asked.

"check the other window." kalani said, and the sound of someone frantically moving across the room to look through the window.

"cops." maya whispered, kalani immediately pulling the window open as mara shut off the light, a series of knocks coming from the door as maya and arden climbed out the window, sliding down the ledge and hitting the ground with a soft thump before peering around the corner. mara pulled the blinds back down as she and kalani climbed out the window, barely shutting it before the cops entered, the two of them sitting, legs dangling over either side of the ledge, backs pressed flat against the wall.

kalani turned her head, she could see maya and arden running to the boat. her heart thudded against her chest, and she wasn't paying any attention to what was happing inside the room until she heard the familiar voice of shoupe telling whoever was with him it was time to get out.

as soon as they heard the cops vehicle pull away, kalani and mara climbed down from the ledge, both glaring at their older siblings when they got back on the boat.

"i will throw you through the wall if you ever leave me like that again." kalani said disgustedly to arden.

"yeah, so much for sisters." mara said. "we're never letting you steal the twinkie with us again."

"hold on, your brothers didn't do anything, are we still in the clear?" jj asked, john b nodding in agreement.

"i guess we can work something out." mara said with a heavy sigh, looking at kalani. "it's so hard being the youngest."

"believe me, i know."

kens speaks 🪐

how are we?

this is for the one and only harringtonssss (go read her obx fic summertime sadness for a cookie)

also for mara: