THE GROUP LEFT soon after finding out they had raided a boat and broken into a motel room that belonged to a dead man, and were all lounging on the porch of the chateau. mara was playing with john b's hair, kalani was sharpening jj's pocket knife on a kitchen knife sharpener while the blonde fidgeted with his lighter, maya and arden prepping their boards for a new wax on the floor.

"okay, if anyone asks, we didn't see anything, we don't know anything." pope spewed once he got to the porch with the others. "we need to have total and complete amnesia."

"y'know, pope's right. for once." jj muttered. "deny, deny, deny."

"we can't keep that money." maya interjected, kalani rolling her eyes.

"just because you grabbed the gun instead of money doesn't mean the rest of us have to suffer."

"we need to give it to ms. lana, her husband died." maya stated as though it was new information to everyone.

"thanks, captain obvious." mara deadpanned.

"besides, it's bad karma." maya tried recovering, arden furrowing her eyebrows.

"who are you now, kiara?" she asked, but before maya could defend herself, pope had spoken up again.

"bad karma to be implicated in a felony too." he added, looking around. "we have to go dark."

"if that means we get to keep the money, i agree." jj muttered.

"jj, we can't keep it!" maya half-yelled, jj rolling his eyes.

"yes, because having money to live somewhere that isn't with dad would be the absolute worst thing in the world." jj replied sarcastically, maya opening her mouth but quickly closing it, going back to whatever she was doing with arden.

"i don't agree either." john b voiced standing up and patting jj on the shoulder, everyone on the porch looking at john b as though he had just said he and jj were a secret couple.

"i knew you were stupid, but holy shit." kalani voiced. "it's that bad?"

"think about this, lans." john b started. "this is scooter grubbs. same guy who buys individual cigarettes at the port whole? shit, we've seen him begging for change in the save-a-lot parking lot because he needed gas. we're talking about a dirtbag marina-rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket and all of a sudden he's got a grady-white?" john b finished, his hands thrown in the air in dramatics by the time he finished his rant. "just saying." he finished.

"your boyfriend is the single most dramatic person i've ever met. and i'm friends with jj." kalani said to mara, who nodded.

"yeah, i know." she sighed heavily.

"THINK ABOUT IT, mar. how does a marina-rat get a grady-white?" john b asked his girlfriend, who sighed in frustration before casted her fishing pole, the group had relocated to the dock and been joined by kiara.

"prostitution, maybe?" mara suggested. "he sure as hell didn't have a job, he probably had a lot of free time." the blonde added.

"maybe he was selling cocaine to the kooks." kalani suggested, looking at kiara. "see your best friend sarah lately? i hear it's her brother and her boyfriend's favorite past-time." kiara only rolled her eyes at the routledge girl.

"flying under the radar, no arial surveillance, they don't do that stuff during a hurricane." john b pressed, still clearly stressing about trying to conclude how scooter had come across his frat-boy party barge. "which means- jj?"

"they were straight smuggling." jj concluded, clearly through with his best friends rambling.

"smuggling!" john b accepted the answer happily. "and i guarantee you there's a serious amount of contraband on that wreck."

"hell yeah." jj cheered sarcastically as something tugged his line, the boy actually happy at the prospect. "fish on!"

"HYPOTHETICALLY-" POPE STARTED, the group having relocated again, this time to john b's room in an attempt to get away from the post-hurricane humidity, only to find out it was just as hot inside the house. "if that is a smuggling ship- with illegal contraband- it probably belongs to someone else-"

"minor details." mara interjected from her spot on a windowsill next to kalani, both girls with their legs dangling outside.

"they could come looking for it." pope finished. "taking it could be... catastrophically stupid."

"yeah, well-" jj chimed in, grabbing mara's cash from the bed, and fanning it in front of his face and leaning toward pope. "stupid things have good outcomes all the time." jj muttered.

"look, all we have to do is lay low for a few days, stay off the radar, keep the cops out of our hair for a few days and we're good." arden said.

"how exactly to we lay low after stealing 20 grand from some dead marina-rat?" maya asked, kalani grinning at mara before turning to the rest of the group.

"we do what pogues do best." she said, swinging her legs back through the window and standing in front of the group. "we throw a kegger."

KALANI AND MARA had managed to get ahold of a keg through one of mara's friends who worked at guffy's, john b and jj carrying the large barrel down to the beach.

"heads up!" kalani called, tossing the tap through the air, jj catching it with one hand before fastening it to the keg and spraying john b in the face with the beer inside.

slowly but surely, the beach began to fill, pogues, kooks, and tourists all filling the boneyard. while pope, jj, kie, maya, and arden were all talking to assorted tourists, mara, john b, kalani, and marlee were all manning the keg and passing cups out to anyone who came by.

"what is she doing here?" kiara asked from behind the group, who all turned to face where she was looking. they were met sarah cameron sitting on a washed up buoy, while topper- her whiney lap dog of a boyfriend- complained about how it was dangerous and she needed to come down.

"i'd rather have sarah here than her little ankle biter." mara commented, turning back to the keg to fill a second or third cup for a touron who had already been by a few times.

night fell, and the numbers on the beach were starting to narrow down, most of the tourons gone by now, back to their condos and vacation houses, meaning pretty much only locals were left on the beach. jj, who had clearly had a few too many beers that night, walked up to john b, who was nowhere near sober either.

"hey, you want this one?" jj slurred to the brunette boy, who was about to take the cup before sarah and topper caught jj's eye.

"hey, sarah!" the boy called, the two coming over to where he was standing, jj holding the cup out to the girl. "can i interest you in a tasty milwaukee beverage?"

"uh, no thanks." sarah said with a smile and laugh, attempting her best to be nice. "we're actually heading out, so."

"come on, is it not fancy enough for you?" jj taunted, but topper stepped in front of sarah.

"y'know what, man, i'll take it." the light haired boy said, pretending to be enthusiastic about the exchange. "i'll take it." he repeated.

"we heard you the first time." kalani confirmed from jj's right, mara laughing on his left. they had had to take two cars, the two girls offering themselves as designated drivers for the group.

"that's great, topper, but unfortunately i didnt ask you." jj slurred. "now if you said pretty please, maybe, but you didn't, so."

"oh, pretty please? pretty please?" topper confirmed, clearly offended by jj's retort.

"oh, buddy, big feelings!" mara exclaimed, looking topper up and down as she did so.

"so, sarah-" jj started again, but topper slapped the cup out of his hand, the cup flying at mara and covering her in beer. before jj could even react, kalani had grabbed the front of topper's shirt and punched the boy square in the nose.

someone pulled kalani back, she looked over to see arden, but john b had joined the interaction at this point, standing next to mara and making sure she was okay.

"you little bitch." topper groaned, wiping blood from his nose. at that, john b lunged forward, tackling the kook into the water.

"john b!" arden yelled, but neither boy stopped. sarah was yelling at topper, who was beginning to get the upper hand. kalani, mara, and arden all watched, frozen in horror, as topper put his knee into john b's back, shoving the brunette's head underwater.

"topper, stop!" sarah screamed.

"do something!" arden yelled at jj, who ran back up the beach toward the keg.

"topper, that's too much!" maya screamed, but the blonde look didn't listen, not moving slightly. suddenly, jj was pushing back through the crowd, something in his hand.

the safety of the handgun from the motel clicked, if he had turned it on or off, kalani didn't know, but as soon as he heard it, topper immediately got off of john b.

"yeah, you know what that is." jj taunted. "your move, broski."

"jj, put the gun down!" sarah yelled.

"did you say something, princess?" jj asked quickly, not backing down from topper.

"we're good, man, we're good." topper assured, jj storming away from where topper and john b were, the kook quickly retreating to where sarah was standing, while john b slowly sat up, his face pale.

"everyone listen up!" jj yelled, holding the gun above his head. "get the hell off our side of the island!" he fired two shots, everyone fleeing in fear, kie and pope beginning to scold jj for involving the gun in the first place, kalani, mara, arden, and maya all running over to john b.

"can you breathe, are you good?" kalani asked quickly, arden sitting behind him while mara sat to the boy's right, kalani in front of him and maya standing behind her.

"i- i'm dizzy." john b slurred, immediately collapsing into mara, who was doing her best to keep him upright.

"guys!" arden yelled at kie and pope, who were still yelling at jj, all three of them their heads snapping towards the oldest routledge in sync, and once they saw john b's state, quickly ran over.

"get him to the twinkie, come on." jj said, motioning for pope to help him hold john b upright.

kalani looked at mara, who was still sitting on the ground across from her, tears streaming down the blonde girl's face. without saying anything, kalani pulled her into a hug, arden soon joining in, and maya following.

"who the hell gave jj the gun?" arden choked out through tears, kalani and maya laughing at the comment, but mara stayed quiet,

"come on, i'll drive us home." kalani said, the four girls standing up. kalani found her phone sitting on a log with a text from jj.

j 🤍: we made it to the chateau, he took two ibuprofen and passed out, i figured we'd let arden make sure he's okay when she gets home. you guys okay?

lani 🪩: yeah, i'm gonna drive us back, we'll be there in five. love you

kalani switched her phone off, climbing into the drivers seat of her car, maya up front and arden and mara in the back, arden's arm around mara's shoulders.

"he's asleep, when we get back, arden can make sure he's okay." kalani explained as she pulled away from the boneyard.

"so much for laying low." maya commented.

"no shit." mara replied quietly.

kens speaks 🪐

at almost 2000 words this is probably the longest chapter of this book i'll ever write? lowkey miss when i first started writing on here and could write a 3000 word chapter like it was nothing.

harringtonssss and i struck up another deal and for once i posted my chapter first. this is a revolution fr. (ily mara, you owe me a summertime sadness chapter) also go read her fics bc they are top tier excellence.