007 !! MOTEL KEY

JJ coughs loudly, clutching onto the side of the boat as he tries to steady himself in the water after one of his peculiar stunts went wrong and he ended up inside the water instead.

"Hey, I saved the beer though", he proudly holds up the unaffected beer bottle in his hand leaving everyone to either scoff or roll their eyes at him.

"Congrats, JJ", Kie rolls her eyes turning her attention to John B who leans into the water with knitted brows.

"Guys.....I think there's a boat down there".

"Shut up. What?", JJ turns back in disbelief.

"No way", Georgie leans towards John B to look into the side of the water he's had his eyes on.

"No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there", he leans forward in his place.

Georgie's eyes widen, "For real".

As the boy beside her practically leans completely out of the boat, Georgie scrambles to get closer to him so that in case he falls, she could catch him.

You hear that? Georgie is ready to catch him.

And that's probably the luckiest thing that could ever happen to John B.

But he's ignorant.

And perhaps a bit uninterested.

She doesn't seem to believe that though.

And that is why I have a story to tell.

"It's a boat!", John B yells.

"Holy shit, he's right. Let's go", Kiara glances back at everyone with widened pupils.

The boys immediately start stripping their outer clothes off and dive straight into the water to go check on the sunken boat.

Kiara goes to follow them, her own top falling down on the deck as she fumbles with the button of her shorts but Georgie stays firmly seated.

"You're not coming?", Kie looks at her with knitted brows.

Georgie shakes her head, not being too fond of diving into the water in the middle of the sea to go investigate a sunken boat.

So many things could go wrong.

And she'd hate to not be there to help her friends in case something goes wrong.

Someone has to be sane.

"Alright. We'll holler if we need help", Kiara passes her a smile and jumps into the water following the others.

Georgie sits there on the boat quietly staring at the water.

A few seconds pass.

Her nerves begin acting up.

They shouldn't be taking so long.

What if a shark caught them and I've suddenly gone deaf?

No.

She needs to stay logical.

There are no sharks in this side of the ocean, Georgie.

What is wrong with you?

She anxiously bites down on her nails, waiting for her friends to return to the surface.

A couple seconds later, John B surfaces breathing heavily.

Water drips from his hair as his hands tightly clutch onto the side of the boat and he pulls himself up onto the deck.

The others follow suit and lie back down on the relatively warm platform of the deck as they struggle to catch their breaths.

"Did you guys find anything?", Georgie glances at all of them.

A grin spreads over John B's face, one which Georgie knows all too well — it signals mystery, it signals curiosity but above all it yells and screams triumph even when no one else shares the same thought.

The Routledge boy has always been a dreamer.

So perfect for the Maybank girl who is in love with the very idea of dreaming.

He pulls a motel key from the pocket of shorts and dangles it front of her eyes.

"That's a motel key", she states plainly.

"Exactly my reaction", JJ comments pulling the tank top over his head and shaking his head at what he thinks is John B's stupidity.

The latter rolls his eyes instead leaning in close to Georgie, the motel key hanging between them.

"That boat", he points at the sea, "was a Grady White. It's owner was living at this cheapass motel. You get what I'm saying?".

Georgie sucks in a sharp breath, she turns to glance at the other three before turning back to him.

"We need to do something".

John B's lips stretch into a wide grin, his eyes twinkling with delight as he stares right back into hers.

"That's my girl".

Georgie finds herself smiling, blushing even.

Her cheeks go red — though that can be blamed on the sun when required — and her lips curl into a smile.

She bites her lip from smiling too hard lest she give herself away and settles back soon enough to catch JJ's squinted eyes running between his sister and his best friend.

"That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge", John B turns to the others.

Georgie and Kiara's jaws go slack at the confession.

"You surfed the surge?".

"What the fuck, John B?".

"That's my boy. Pogue style", JJ pats his shoulder in admiration.

Georgie scowls at her brother.

"Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard", Kiara remarks looking at all of them.

"Maybe we'll get a finder's fee", Georgie shrugs sparing the boys a momentary glance.

"Yeah, and not work all summer", Pope adds agreeing.

"Thanks, Agatha. Ya bitch", JJ plops down and turns to his friends.

John B inspects the motel key, his mind running over the various possibilities as to what the present scenario could result in.

"Don't. Reporting it is the right thing to do".

His hazel brown eyes meet the bright aquamarine ones.

His eyes run back and forth between hers, a silent agreement seemingly being made in their concentrated gaze.

Sighing, he nods.

"Alright! Onto the coast guard tent, y'all!", JJ takes up the boat's control allowing John B to get dressed as they make their way up to the coast on the doomed side of the island.

Figure Eight.

Their boat passes another, Georgie's and Kiara's face immediately scrunching up in disgust when they catch sight of the two blonds on deck.

Sarah Cameron and her oh so lovely boyfriend, Topper Thornton stay stood in place as Topper navigates the boat.

Sarah takes her sunglasses off their seat on the bridge of her nose and delicately pulls it up over her hair.

Her narrowed gaze meets the two girls' — Georgie's and Kiara's — and she seems to weigh them down by the intimidation clearly casted off by the look in her eyes.

Kiara rolls her eyes turning away but Georgie finds herself transfixed by the way the infamous Kook Princess looks at her.

Georgie's eyes run down her body slowly and eventually meeting the blonde's eyes again.

She's glad to see a brief second of falter in the latter's pride.

Filled with the glory of achievement, she settles back with a triumphant smile which grows wider when she senses Sarah's eyes on the group even as the boat moves away from theirs.

***
sarah is so 💞💞 but im gonna have to villanise her a little bit and that is so difficult when maddie is the literal loml 😔