John B pulled up beside what seemed like an abandoned yacht. He had second-guessed the plan at least a hundred times on the way over—when did JJ's schemes ever go smoothly? But each time he thought about turning back, her hopeful smile flashed in his mind, and he pressed on. Deep down, he knew she was right; they didn't have much to lose except each other. That's why he had his backup plan, one he hadn't yet discussed with JJ.

Now here he was, sneaking onto his wealthy boss's yacht to steal from him. Ward Cameron had always been a fair employer, and John B couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. Yet, it was the only way they could access the Grady White. He hoisted himself up and onto the larger vessel, an empty black bag slung over his shoulder.

As John B unlocked the hatch, he heard laughter drifting from the shore. Looking up, he spotted his boss, Sarah, a younger brunette girl, and a middle-aged woman he assumed was Ward Cameron's wife, Rose Cameron, enjoying lunch together on their elegant lawn.

A twinge of jealousy pricked at him. Even before Big John went missing, family meals weren't something they did together. His father often had his nose buried in books or maps, leaving John B to fend for himself. From a young age, he learned to take care of his own needs, as his father sometimes forgot to stock the kitchen or handle household chores. Big John would disappear for weeks, leaving money in a jar on the fridge. John B appreciated that he paid bills on time, a small consolation, until he vanished. Ward Cameron had been kind enough to take him on as a boat hand, paying well enough that John B didn't need extra jobs like JJ did.

John B could see the exhaustion etched on JJ's face. She rose before dawn to mow lawns, endured eight hours of school when she wasn't ditching to surf, helped Pope deliver groceries for his father after classes, and spent her evenings as a busgirl at a kook country club. It was no wonder she struggled to find time for homework. Despite his offers to help, she always declined, insisting he had his own bills to worry about. She wasn't wrong.

With summer in full swing, JJ didn't have to worry about school, and she had been off work due to storm preparation and cleanup around the island. John B thought the break was well-deserved and much-needed.

He pulled open the hatch and proceeded to gather the necessary equipment from around the boat, carefully stowing it in his bag.

He must have taken too long, because as he exited the cabin, Sarah was pulling herself into the boat. Shit.

"Oh, hey! Are you stalking us? Plotting your revenge?" she teased, though he didn't quite buy her friendly act.

"Yeah, exactly. Why don't you just tell your daddy I blew up the bilge on Druthers," he retorted sarcastically. Actually, he thought to himself, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell your dad I was here at all. But he couldn't very well say that, could he? He had to play it casual, as if he was just doing his job. "Everything's good to go. Just topping off these tanks."

He turned away from her and grabbed a tank from his bag, carefully leaning over the side of the boat to place it into the HMS Pogue.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sarah approached him, her voice 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 replied casually, pulling himself over the edge and into the HMS Pogue.

"So there's just going to be a reign of terror on this island now?" Sarah asked as John B moved to untie his boat from Druthers, eager to leave the company of the kook princess. 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 people who thought themselves better than everyone else, and in his opinion, she was just as guilty.

"Wars have been started for less, Sarah Cameron," he found himself replying anyway.

"Okay, can we drop the whole Pogues versus Kooks thing?" Sarah asked, sounding exasperated. "It's really stupid."

Of course she would feel that way. She's a kook and As JJ said earlier, Kooks always win.

"You know," John B replied, meeting her gaze steadily, "it's easy to say that when you're a kook."

She appeared to genuinely consider his words, but before she could respond, John B started the engine brusquely and began the drive back to the chateau.

John B watched as Sarah sarcastically saluted him and flipped him the bird before disappearing into the cabin of Druthers, leaving him to wonder what she was up to.

He hoped their altercation wouldn't come up in conversation with her father. He really liked his job, and he groaned inwardly as yet another one of JJ's plans veered off course, increasing the odds of failure. 'No turning back now,'he told himself, though he found he didn't really want to, despite the looming threat of dire repercussions. There was a lot riding on what they would find inside that Grady White, and he prayed they wouldn't be disappointed.

John B returned to the chateau to pick up the other Pogues, and they arrive at the scene of the sunken Grady White an hour before the sun would set.

En route, they observed numerous boats searching for the sunken vessel in the wrong location. The HMS Pogue, however, remained undisturbed and unnoticed, much to the delight of the four crew members.

Once anchored, they began sorting through the scuba equipment.

"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kie asked incredulously, inspecting the air gauges on the tanks.

"I…" John B faltered, realizing his mistake and feeling foolish.

Kie 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 grumbled sarcastically.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asked, a question they should have considered sooner. Silence fell over the group.

"Uh…" John B mumbled, at a loss for words.

"Anybody?" Kie asked, flabbergasted that they had based their entire plan on scuba diving without any of them knowing how to actually do it.

"It's kind of a kook sport," JJ replied sheepishly.

"I read about it," Pope offered hesitantly.

"Great. Pope read about it. Someone's gonna die," Kie complained, exasperated. Unbelievable.

"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard can it be?" JJ asked, thinking it didn't sound that complicated.

"Well, if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," Pope explained, using nerd language which flew over JJ's head.

"Bends like…" JJ mimicked bending over, "bend over and…"

"The bends will kill you," Pope explained straight-faced, though JJ noticed a smirk tug at John B's mouth as he tried not to laugh at her antics.

"Right," she said, standing up straight again. She was about to volunteer since it was her plan after all, but John B spoke up first.

"I can—I can dive," he offered.

"You can dive. I'm cool with that," JJ supported, though she secretly wished it were her instead. Lately, it seemed like John B was always the one risking his skin, 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 insisted stubbornly.

"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope said, trying to help.

"You serious?" Kie asked, worried, and JJ didn't like how close Kie was sitting next to John B.

"That boat's about 30 feet down," Pope said aloud, writing on a piece of paper, bringing JJ's attention back to the matter at hand.

"Okay," John B said, listening intently.

"So, it'll take 25 minutes at that depth," Pope continued.

"Twenty-five…" John B repeated, like a diligent student.

"Which means you need to make your safety stop at about ten feet. Alright? For two minutes," Pope said sternly.

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

Suddenly, Kie stood up abruptly, stripped off her top, and jumped into the water.

"Uh…" John B hummed, confused. Join the club, JJ thought.

"What was that about?" Pope asked, like they knew something he didn't. John B and Pope simultaneously looked at JJ, expecting her to understand as the other female in the group.

"I don't know," JJ denied. "Maybe she's on her—"

John B cleared his throat before she could finish.

"Alrighty," Pope added awkwardly. Men, JJ thought, shaking her head internally. Moving on.

"Yeah, when you uh… when you're down there, look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside, twist, and pull, okay?" she said nervously, handing John B a skeleton key she had stolen from her dad a few years ago and thought to grab last minute before leaving the chateau.

"Stick it in, twist, pull," John B repeated, taking the key gently from her hand.

"Yeah, my dad moved some weight back in the day," JJ commented unnecessarily.

"Who didn't?" Pope joked in the background.

Kie resurfaced and watched them from her spot in the water, feeling a pang of sadness. She supported the growing relationship between John B and JJ, even attempting to push the two into realizing their feelings for each other. But sometimes, she couldn't help the selfish part of her that raged at the fact her first crush belonged to someone else and would never see her the way she craved.

She loves them both and truly wants them 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, swimming back to the boat and climbing 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 moved to replace Pope in front of John B. In an attempt to hide her nerves, she heard herself telling him lightly, "Zen. Think zen, you know?"

"Yeah, got it," John B replied, not fooled for a second. He squeezed her shoulders, trying to ease her fear with a small gesture of comfort, then moved to stand at the front of the boat. He raised 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 said before John B could jump off the boat.

"Copy that," he responded, his eyes meeting JJ's. He winked. "Diver down?"

"Diver down," she smiled. He pulled the scuba mask down over his face and jumped into the water. He resurfaced a moment later, waving a last farewell with his fingers, then allowed himself to sink towards the sunken Grady White.