➸

Not long after Claire and her friends arrived at the Boneyard and set up, the beach started to fill with more tourists, other kids from the Cut and much to their dismay, the Kooks. Claire spent most of the afternoon by herself, partly because she still wasn't much of a party person, and also because her mind was going in circles after today. She figured the alcohol would help, but so far it wasn't doing anything except making it worse.

She also watched her friends with admiration and amusement; John B and JJ were feeding a line of tourists more beer, Pope was – unsuccessfully – hitting on a girl who looked bored out of her mind, and Kie was talking to some guys, probably about astronomy or the environment. It was one of Claire's favourite things about Kie – how she genuinely cared about all the environmental stuff that most people didn't.

"There's my favourite Australian." JJ's voice pulled Claire from her thoughts as he dropped down beside her.

She smiled halfheartedly. "That's me."

"You okay? You're missin' out on the fun."

Claire shrugged. "Just got a lot on my mind."

"Don't we all?" He chuckled. She stifled a laugh and took a swig of her beer.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you for getting me out of the water today."

"Yeah, well...I know how you still feel about it so it was no biggie."

"It felt exactly how the accident happened, you know. Minus the boat flipping over. But the impact, me going over the edge..." Claire trailed off, staring out at the ocean.

The waves crashed against one another and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as the salty smell of the water filled her nostrils. From a distance it was beautiful, peaceful and even calming. But being in the water felt like being locked in a cage.

Claustrophobic and suffocating.

"You don't have to talk about it if you're still not ready." JJ said.

Claire turned her head and gave him a small smile in response. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, before JJ decided it was time to get the tourists even more wasted. As the sun set, and Claire had consumed a bit more alcohol, she ended up getting in a slightly heated discussion over Dylan O'Brien's roles with a girl named Jessica, both girls ranking them from best to worst.

Claire's argument would always be that 'American Assassin' was his best movie and 'Teen Wolf' was his best show. Jess agreed with her on 'Teen Wolf', but claimed his best movie was "the third maze runner movie." But as their conversation started to drift off onto another silly topic, Claire overheard JJ arguing by the keg with Sarah Cameron and her irritating boyfriend Topper.

"C'mon, is it not fancy enough for you?" JJ asked Sarah, referring to the beer he was offering her.

Claire apologised to Jess and slowly made her way over to the three, making eye contact with John B who was heading the same way.

"No. We were just leaving." Sarah replied.

"Hey, you know what? I'll take it." Topper said, reaching for the cup in JJ's hand. "Thank you, man. I appreciate it."

"That's nice, but I didn't ask you." JJ snapped, pulling the cup away from him. "If you said pretty please, maybe, but you didn't."

This isn't going to end well. She thought, slowly making her way over to the keg.

"Oh, pretty please. Pretty please?"

They continued bickering back and forth until Topper knocked the cup out of JJ's hand, causing the beer to splash in his face. JJ angrily gripped Topper's shirt and pushed him but John B and Pope quickly intervened and pulled him away.

"You're so funny, man." JJ yelled.

A bad idea popped into Claire's head at that moment, so she quickly reached for the hose and said, "Hey, Topper."

As soon as Topper turned his attention to her, she narrowed her eyes and said, "Get the fuck off our beach." Then she sprayed him with the beer.

He stumbled backwards, Sarah rushing after him while a bunch of the tourists and other Pogues started cheering and laughing along with Claire. JJ ran up to her and they hi-fived, but when Topper had recomposed himself, he charged at Claire angrily and shouted, "Dirty Pogue's!"

Before he could attempt to even attack Claire, John B stepped in front of her and JJ, and pushed the Kook hard in the chest. Claire quickly held him back, reminding him of their earlier conversation.

"Hey! We're supposed to be laying low, remember?" She said.

John B looked at her like he wanted to continue but knew that she was right, so he nodded and went to back away but Sarah started yelling at Topper to stop and suddenly his fist collided with John B's face. Claire stumbled and fell to the ground as the two boys broke out into an even bigger brawl. All around, people started either shouting at them to stop or cheering for them to keep going, while Kie rushed over to help Claire up and dragged her out of the war zone.

"Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?" Topper yelled, as John B struggled to get up from the water.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" The crowd around chanted. John B managed to break free and flipped Topper over his shoulder into the water.

Claire noticed that the waves had seemed to pick up, crashing harder and faster against the wind.

"John B, let it go man!" Pope shouted.

"Stop, you guys!" Kie yelled.

"Topper! Stop!" Sarah yelled.

Claire watched anxiously, stood frozen to the spot as the chanting and fighting continued.

"That's what I'm talkin' about! Come on!" JJ clapped, encouraging his best friend.

That seemed to pull her out of her daze, as she nudged him hard in the ribs. "You're not helping!"

John B flipped Topper over his shoulder once more, taunting him until Topper gained enough strength to do the same back. Only this time, he pushed John's face into the water. Sarah yelled for him to stop, Pope, Claire and Kiara also shouting at him, but he ignored everyone.

"Topper? Topper, no! Stop!" Sarah yelled.

The thought of losing another person she cared about to the water sent anger and fear through Claire's body. She clenched her jaw and ran at Topper.

"Let go of him, asshole!" She yelled, attempting to pull him away from John B but Topper shoved her forcefully to the ground.

She stood up immediately and was about to try again, but stopped in her tracks as JJ appeared out of nowhere. The crowd gasped at the sight of him holding the gun to the back of Topper's head.

"Yeah, you know what that is." He said, clicking off the safety. Topper immediately let go of John B.

"JJ, don't." Claire warned, carefully watching John B out the corner of her eye.

"Your move, broski." He said, ignoring her.

"Chill!" Pope yelled.

"JJ! Put the gun down." Sarah ordered calmly.

"Did you say somethin', princess?"

"We're good. We're good." Topper interjected, raising his hands up in defence and slowly stood up. "All right? Come on, man."

"Kie! Can you check your psycho friend, please?" Sarah asked. Kiara looked at her and ignored her, then stared at JJ in shock.

"Okay, everyone, listen up!" JJ shouted, raising the gun in the air. "Get the hell off our side of the island."

Then he fired it twice and screams echoed the beach as everyone fled. Claire flinched and stepped away from him, tears stinging her eyes. At that moment, she didn't recognise the blonde boy in front of her. He was showing a side that she'd never seen before, and she knew he was reckless and didn't think before doing things but for the first time in their friendship, Claire was scared of him.

JJ lowered the gun and his eyes met Claire's gaze; his facial expression softened into guilt as he saw how terrified she looked. Immediately Claire tore her eyes away from him and rushed over to help John B, who was still lying in the water.

"Are you crazy? You idiot!"

"Stupid!"

"Why would you do that?"

"I'm saving his life, okay?" JJ defended.

"Stupid! You're gonna jepoardise everything!" Pope exclaimed.

John B eventually went unconscious, and after Claire made sure he was alright, she rested his head in her lap, her legs and shorts now completely soaked. She rubbed her face and released a shaky breath while Kie and Pope were still arguing with JJ over his stupidity.

Claire had an awful feeling things were only going to get worse.

➸

The next morning the gang met up at the Chateau.

Claire decided it was best not to tell her mother about what happened at the Boneyard last night, already knowing that it wouldn't have gone over well.

"Look, I'm callin' it off. All right?" John B said, walking out onto the porch. "Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS."

"And you believed her?"

"Yes, I believed her, JJ."

"An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop?"

"Look, all I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out. It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."

"You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass."

"Guys..." Kie muttered softly.

"Yeah, because Topper was gonna drown me?"

"Sure looked like it."

The girls looked at each other wearily, as the two of them continued to throw weak insults at each other.

"They always win, don't they, man?" JJ exclaimed. "Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win! Goddammit!" JJ punched one of the balls hanging from the roof and stormed off.

"Look, it's okay!" Kie interrupted.

"No, it's not okay! It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there and you know it, man. I know you do." He said to John B, then turned to Pope. "And I understand why you don't wanna go. You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you," He motioned to Kie, "I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?"

Then he paused and turned to Claire, who didn't meet his gaze.

"And Claire, you and I both know the Kooks were the ones that caused your accident–"

"–I have no proof it was actually them." Claire interrupted, meeting his gaze.

"Doesn't matter!" He shot back. "We've got nothing to lose! We really don't, alright?"

"Actually, I do have a lot to lose."

The others watched the two cautiously, knowing that Claire didn't usually get angry – especially at JJ – and they weren't sure how this would end. She was still mad at him for pulling the stunt with the gun last night and hadn't said a word to him until now.

"In case you forgot, I still have one other parent and even though she barely acts like I exist, I can't go off and get myself killed doing shit that we shouldn't even be getting involved in." She continued firmly, with narrowed eyes. "She already lost my dad. I can't do that to her again."

The two held their gaze and JJ thought carefully about what to say next. He had never seen her act this way around him, and he knew it was because of last night which made him feel even worse about it. If there was one person he never wanted to hurt in any way, it was Claire, and he'd done just that. So, instead of angering her any further, he tore his eyes away from her hard stare and turned to John B again. "Look, man, I know it never used to be that way for you..." He started.

Claire returned to staring at the ground ahead of her, feeling slightly better now that she'd yelled at JJ.

John B shook his head, "I don't want to talk about this. I don't want to talk about it."

"So that's it?" JJ asked indignantly.

"Just get out of my way, bro." John said, shoving his best friend and walking out onto the grass.

"John B, listen to me. I have a plan."

Kie, Pope and Claire shared a look as JJ followed after John B out onto the yard. While they talked quietly, Kiara turned her attention on Claire and nudged her in the arm.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Fine." Claire replied quietly.

"You're scary when you're angry." Kie chuckled.

"I'm not angry. Just frustrated and him being an idiot isn't helping."

"True, but he wouldn't be JJ if he didn't do idiotic things."

Claire stifled a laugh and gave her best friend a small smile.

Eventually the group agreed to follow JJ's plan. John B was to "borrow" some scuba tanks from his boss, Ward Cameron, and later that afternoon they'd go out onto the marsh and investigate what was on the boat. Claire didn't like or agree with the plan in the slightest, but she was too exhausted to argue anymore.

She did a shift at The Wreck for a few hours, before bidding the Carrera's goodbye and meeting her friends at the Chateau. She got in the boat and they made their way to the marsh.

When the boat came to a stop, Kiara began examining the air tanks John B stole from his boss.

"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kie asked. John B shrugged.

"Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together." Pope muttered sarcastically.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asked.

Claire shook her head, "Don't look at me..."

"Anyone else?"

JJ shrugged. "It's kind of a Kook sport."

"I...read about it."

"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die." Kie groaned frustratedly.

"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ asked.

"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood and you get the bends." Pope explained.

"Bends like, bend over and..."

"The bends kill you." Claire interjected, cutting JJ off.

Her friends stared at her blankly. "What? Pope's not the only one who reads, you know."

"Right."

"I can–I can dive." John B said.

"Yeah, you can dive. I'm cool with that." JJ agreed.

"Since when can you dive?" Kiara asked.

"I'll do it. It's fine."

"Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope said.

"You serious?" Kie asked John, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, so that boat's about thirty feet down, right..."

"Okay."

"So it'll take twenty-five minutes at most at that depth."

"Twenty-five." John muttered.

"Which means you need to make your safety stop at about...ten feet. All right? For two minutes." Pope told him.

"Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it."

Suddenly Kiara jumped into the water and all of them stared at each other in confusion.

"What is she doing?" Claire asked.

"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot." JJ replied.

The boys cleared their throats immediately and continued muttering indistinct things, while Claire rolled her eyes and tried to brush off the jealous feeling lurking in the pit of her stomach at JJ's comment about Kie.

"Yeah, so, uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?" JJ said.

"Stick in the hole, twist and pull." John B repeated and Claire caught sight of Kie resurfacing.

"Hey, I tied my t-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop." She said.

"Cool."

"Keep an eye on this." Pope instructed, referring to the air decompresser. "You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress.

"Okay, how much do I need?"

"Unclear. Breathe as little as possible."

"Zen. Think Zen, you know?" JJ added, imitating breathing through the mask.

John B nodded, "Yeah. Got it."

"Remember if we get caught out here, we're all screwed. So, I love you JB, but hurry up." Claire said.

"Copy that."

Kie walked up to him and kissed his cheek. Claire raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Diver down?"

"Diver down."

John B jumped into the water and saluted his friends, before going fully under.

"And now we wait." Claire sighed, then sat back down.

A few minutes later, a siren went off in the distance and their heads whipped up.

"Oh no..." Claire said.

"Guys, that's the police." JJ said.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."

"Yep, that's the police."

"Just act frickin' normal." Kiara said.

The siren blared and the group watched as the boat pulled up beside theirs.

"Evening, officers." Pope greeted.

"Evening." Deputy Shoupe replied.

When their boat was tied and secured to the HMS Pogue, Deputy Shoupe took off his sunglasses and asked, "How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?"

They shook their heads. "I didn't know that." JJ said.

"Why is it closed?" Claire asked.

"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down." The deputy explained.

"Oh, right." She nodded slowly.

"Seen anything?"

"No." JJ replied. "No boats. No."

Claire's eyes flickered to the water, then she glanced at Kie ever so subtly.

"Where's your friend you always hang with? He here?" The deputy continued.

"He's working." Kiara replied.

Deputy Shoupe nodded, then stepped onto their boat. "I'm gonna check your little boat out."

"Yeah, hop aboard." Pope said.

"Thank you."

Claire stood up and moved to stand beside Kiara as he wandered around. Shoupe looked at the four of them, his gaze lingering on Kie and Claire for a little bit too long, so Claire purposely stood in front of Kie who was still just in her bikini.

Creep, she thought.

The deputy continued asking questions and they tried their best to answer them without causing any suspicion. Then he walked to the stern of the boat and peered out into the marsh. Claire swallowed the lump in her throat and glanced at JJ, who shook his head slowly.

"All right." Deputy Shoupe finally said, making his way back over to the police cruiser.

"All right." Pope and JJ said simultaneously.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Sure is."

"You let us know if you see anything on your way out."

Claire gave him a thumbs up. "No problem."

"We'll be gone soon, sir." JJ said.

"Yes, you will."

The engine whirred and the boat took off. The four friends rushed to the stern of the boat and scanned the marsh for any signs of their potentially dead best friend.

"He's definitely out of air." Pope said and John B appeared a split second later.

"There he is!" JJ breathed. Everyone else exhaled in relief.

"Oh, god. Jesus Christ! Don't scare us like that!"

"Did you find anything down there?" Claire asked.

"Did I find anything?" John B smiled, then chucked a black bag onto the boat.

JJ laughed. "Yeah, there we go! That's my boy!"

"You okay?" Kie asked.

"Yeah, I ran out of air." John panted.

"You scared the shit out of us, mate." Claire chuckled, hugging him despite his soaking wet torso, then sat back down.

"The cops were up here, but, uh...we took care of 'em."

"My bad."

"You're all good."

"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother."

Suddenly, an engine in the distance caused Claire's ears to perk up and she turned around,  scanning the marsh for the source of the noise. They narrowed when she saw a boat in the distance that looked like it was following them.

"Hey guys, there's another boat coming this way." She announced warily.

"What?" JJ asked.

"Do you recognise that boat?" Pope asked.

Kie shook her head. "I've never seen it. What are they doing back here? The marsh is closed."

"I don't know, but let's not stick around to find out." JJ said.

"JJ, get the bowline." John B instructed.

"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope asked.

"No, we're not. Go get the stern. Go!"

"JJ, hurry up." Kie pressed.

"Guys...they're getting closer!" Claire insisted.

"Guys, don't wait for me. Go."

"I don't like the look of this." John B said.

"Are they coming for us?"

"Maybe they're fishing." Pope added.

"Go! Now!" Claire exclaimed nervously.

"I'm going. Act natural." John B said calmly. Claire faced the front and tried to slow her breathing.

"Hey, guys, they're following us." Kie said. They turned their heads and saw that the men were in fact following.

"Dude, you gotta go faster." JJ pressed.

"I'm going!"

"Gun it!"

John B sped up but the other men did too, a gun shot firing a second later.

"Holy shit!" Kie exclaimed and they all ducked down.

"John B, get down!" JJ yelled.

A second shot fired and Claire flinched, shuttling her eyes tightly.

She wasn't afraid of guns, but in the last twenty-four hours she'd been around them way too much and wouldn't be getting used to them any time soon. She hoped she wouldn't have to get used to them at all.

"Oh my god, we're gonna die!" Pope exclaimed.

John B gained speed and Claire sat up slightly to get a look at the distance between their boat and the bad guys'. One of the men shot a third time and Claire quickly ducked back down, tears stinging her eyes.

"Shit! Pope, move." Kiara yelled.

A fourth shot fired.

"Get down, Kie!" John B yelled.

Kie grunted and more shots were fired, then all of a sudden they stopped. Claire sat up and saw that Kiara had thrown an empty net into the water which had jammed their engine. She sighed in relief and ran her fingers through her hair while her friends cheered and relished in the adrenaline. When they got back to John B's, they filed out of the boat and gathered around as he dug through the bag.

"What do you guys think it is?" Kie asked.

"Gotta be money or something, right?" John B said.

"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low to mid-mils!" JJ laughed.

"Can we please just open the bag?"

"Damn, Pope, no need to yell." Claire teased, the others murmured in agreement.

"Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag."

"Jeez."

"We almost died over this."

John B pulled out a silver canister, unscrewed the lid and tipped what appeared to be a compass into his hands.

"You're kidding, right?" Claire asked, raising her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Good job everybody. We found a compass." Pope said sarcastically.

"Dude, what? It's not worth anything." JJ asked John, who was still studying the compass.

He looked around at his friends and said, "This was my father's."

➸

This was the longest chapter so far, but also one of my favourites because it was such an action packed episode.
I hope you guys enjoyed it! Don't forget to vote, share and comment etc etc !!!