Diver Down
John B pulls up beside what appeared to be an empty yacht. He's already second guessed if this plan is a good idea about a hundred times on the way over because when do JJ's plans ever run smoothly. But then her smiling, hopeful face surfaces in his mind every time he's close to turning around, so he doesn't. And hell, even though he's been in denial, he knows she's right about them not having much to lose, only each other, but that's why he had his backup plan which he still hadn't talked to JJ about.
Now here he is, sneaking into his rich boss's yacht to steal from him. His boss had been a very fair boss and John B feels guilty about it, but it's the only way they can get down to the Grady White. He pulls himself up and into the bigger boat, empty black bag slung over his shoulder.
He pulls out a key from his pocket and unlocks a hatch when he hears laughter coming from the shore. He looks up and sees his boss, Sarah, a younger brown haired girl, and a middle aged woman he assumed was his boss's wife, Rose Cameron, having lunch together on their fancy lawn. He feels a twinge of jealousy. Even before Big John went missing, family meals wasn't really something they did together. His dad always had his nose buried in a book or a map, leaving his son to his own devices. John B learned at a young age how to take care of his own needs because his father sometimes neglected to remember to stock the kitchen with food or do laundry, etc. Big John would go on week long trips, leaving some money in a jar on the fridge for him. At least he remembered to pay the bills on time, he thought of a silver lining. Until he went missing that is. Ward Cameron had been nice enough to take him on as a boat hand and he paid decent enough he didn't have to work any additional jobs like JJ did.
He could see the exhaustion on JJ's face after getting up before dawn to mow lawns, get through 8 hours of school, help Pope deliver groceries for his dad after school and then spend the rest of the evening as of current, a busboy at a kook country club, but it's changed a few times after shes gotten fired a few times due to Luke Maybank. It's no wonder she never gets any homework done. And he's offered to help, but she always refuses it, saying he had his own bills to worry about. She's not wrong.
Luckily, with summer here she doesn't have to worry about school and she's been off due to storm prep and cleanup around the island. He thinks the time off is much needed and deserved.
He pulls the hatch open and returns to getting whatever equipment he would need around the boat and placing it in his bag.
He must have took too long, because when he exited the cabin, Sarah was pulling herself into the boat. Shit.
"Oh, hey! Are you stalking us? Plotting your revenge?" She says teasingly. He doesn't really buy the nice act.
"Yeah. Actually why don't you just tell your daddy I blew up the bilge on Druthers," he replies sarcastically. Actually, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell your dad I was here at all, he thinks to himself but he can't very well say that can he. He's gotta play it casual, like he's just doing his job. "Everything's good to go. Just topping off these tanks."
He turns away from her and grabs a tank from his bag, carefully bending over the side of the boat to place it gently into the HMS Pogue.
"Hey are you okay?" Sarah approaches him, sounding genuinely concerned. "That eye of yours looks really gnarly."
"Yeah you know what? You can tell Topper he won the first round. I'll get him next time," he tells her casually as he pulls himself over the edge and into the HMS Pogue.
"So there's just gonna be a reign of terror on this island now?" She asks as he moves to untie his boat from Druthers, wanting to get out of there and away from the kook princess, who while she didn't actively participate in the bullying with her kook friends, she never truly tried to stop it either. She still hung out with assholes who thought themselves better than everyone. She was just as guilty in his opinion.
"Wars have been started for less, Sarah Cameron," he found himself replying anyway.
"Okay, can we drop the whole pogues versus kooks thing?" She asks, exasperated. "It is really stupid."
Of course she would feel that way. She's a kook and As JJ said earlier, Kooks always win.
"You know, it's easy to say that when you're a kook," he says, looking her in the eye.
She looks like she actually seems to consider his words, but before she could talk to him anymore, he starts the engine rudely and begins the drive back to the chateau.
He sees Sarah give a sarcastic salute and flip him the bird before entering the cabin to do whatever it is she went to the Druthers to do.
John B prays their altercation doesn't come up in conversation with her father. He really likes his job and he groans when yet another one of JJ's plans drifts a bit off course, odds of failure higher. No turning back now, he tells himself, and he finds he doesn't really want to despite the threat of dire repercussions. There was a lot banking on what they would find inside that Grady White and he prayed they wouldn't be disappointed.
John B arrived back at the chateau to pick up the other Pogues and it's maybe 1-2 hours from sunset when the HMS Pogue arrives at the site of the Grady White.
On the way, they noticed a bunch of boats out looking for the boat currently sunken underneath where they sat. They were all looking in the wrong place though, and the HMS Pogue sat unbothered and unseen, alone in the area to the four crew member's delight.
They sorted through the scuba equipment.
"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kie asked incredulously, as she read the air gauges on the tanks.
"I.." John B had nothing to defend himself with. He felt pretty stupid.
She checked the final gauge, "This one's got a quarter tank. It's enough for one of us."
"Love it when a plan comes together," JJ grumbles.
"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asked. They probably should have asked themselves that question way sooner. Everyone was silent.
"Uh.." John B hummed dumbly.
"Anybody?" Kie asked, flabbergasted they based a whole plan on scuba diving and not one of them knew how to to scuba dive.
"It's kind of a kook sport," JJ replied sheepishly.
"I read about it," Pope offers, hesitantly.
"Great. Pope read about it. Someone's gonna die," Kie complained. Unbelievable.
"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breath. How hard can it be?" JJ asks. It doesn't sound that complicated to figure out.
"Well if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," Pope explains in nerd language that JJ doesn't understand.
"Bends like.." she bends over, "bend over and.."
"The bends will kill you," Pope explains straight-faced, though from behind him she sees a smirk tug at John B's mouth at her behavior as he tries not to laugh.
"Right," she stood up straight again. She was about to volunteer since it was her plan after all, but John B beats her to it.
"I can-I can dive," he offers.
"You can dive. I'm cool with that," JJ supports, though she kinda wishes it was her instead. Lately it seemed John B was risking his skin a lot, and JJ wasn't thrilled with that fact. But when John B set his mind to something, it was almost impossible to talk him out of it.
"Since when can you dive?" Kie asked, doubtfully.
"I'll do it. It's fine," John B insists stubbornly.
"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope says, trying to help.
"You serious?" Kie asks worried and JJ doesn't like how close Kie is sitting next to John B.
"That boat's about 30 feet down," Pope says aloud, while writing on a piece of paper and bringing JJ's attention back to the matter at hand.
"Okay," John B listens.
"So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth.." Pope continues.
"Twenty-five.." John B repeats like a good student.
"Which means you need to make your safety stop at about… ten feet. Alright? For two minutes." Pope says sternly.
"Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it," John B promises.
Kie stands up abruptly just then, strips her top and jumps into the water.
"Uh.." John B hummed, confused. Join the club.
"What was that about?" Pope asked, like they knew something he didn't. John B and Pope simultaneously looked at her like she should know having a female brain and all.
"I don't know," she denied. "Maybe she's on her-"
John B clears his throat before she could finish.
"Alrighty," Pope added awkwardly. Men, JJ should her head internally. Moving on.
"Yeah, when you uh, when you're down there, look for the cargo hold, you stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?" She says, nervously handing John B a skeleton key she stole from her dad a few years ago and had thought to grab it last minute before leaving the chateau.
"Stick it in, twist, pull," John B repeated, taking it gently from her hand.
"Yeah, my dad moved some weight back in the day," JJ commented unnecessarily.
"Who didn't?" Pope says jokingly in the background.
Kie resurfaced and watched them from her spot in the water feeling sad. She might be supporting the growing relationship of John B and JJ and has even attempted to push the two into realizing their own feelings but sometimes she feels a selfish part of her rage at the fact her first crush belonged to someone else and would never see her the way she craved.
She loves them though and she truly wants them both to be happy. They say your first love is the hardest to get over, and even though hers was unrequited she believed it to be true.
"Hey!" She called for their attention, "I tied my t-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop," she explained. She swims back to the boat and climbs back in.
"Cool," John B replied as he strapped on the scuba gear.
"Keep an eye on this. You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress," Pope said, holding out the air gauge for John B.
"Okay, how much do I need?" John B asked seriously.
"Unclear. Breathe as little as possible," Pope answered. JJ felt her fingers twitch at that.
JJ moves to replace Pope in front of John B. In an attempt to hide her nerves she hears herself tell him lightly, "Zen. Think zen, you know?"
"Yeah. Got it," John B replies, not fooled for a second. He squeezes her shoulders, trying to ease her fear with a small gesture of comfort, then moves to stand at the rear front of the boat. He raises his hand in a mock salute.
"Hey, if we get caught in the marsh we're basically screwed so… better get a move on," Pope says before John B could jump off the boat.
"Copy that," he responds and his eyes meet JJ's. He winks. "Diver down?"
"Diver down," she smiles. He pulls the scuba mask down over his face and jumps into the water. He resurfaces a second later, gives one last farewell with his fingers, then allows himself to sink down towards the sunken Grady White.