IV. this love is glowing in the dark

      Anyone other person who just discovered a boat under the water that could possibly be linked to a murder would freak out. Or be like Hell no, I'm not getting involved in this shit. I don't want to get in trouble. Dylan was the opposite. She was actually living her dream. Since she was a kid, her dream career was to be a homicide detective. Her mom being a true crime fanatic got her daughter interested in the world of crime and it'd stuck ever since.

While the others were worried and debating on what to do with the newfound money and information, Dylan was ecstatic. She lounged back on John B's couch, the jittery smile never leaving her lips.

"DJ, you look a little too happy for someone who just saw a dead body." Kiara pointed out.

She scoffed. "Kie, do you not know me at all?" The jittery smile grew. "I feel like I'm in a Criminal Minds episode!"

Pope rushed inside the Chateau, panting. "Okay. So, um. . . we didn't see anything. We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia." He pointed at each of them and sat on the couch beside Dylan.

"Actually, Pope's right for once," JJ started.

Dylan scoffed. "For once?"

Pope hid his smile.

"I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny."

Kiara shook her head. "Guys, we can't keep that money."

"She's right. If they get ahold it if, they'll be able to trace JJ's finger prints and it'll lead back to us." Dylan agreed logically.

"Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, you guys." JJ shot at them.

She glared at him and crossed her arms.

"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma."

"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too." Pope snapped.

"As excited as I am to be apart of an investigation, I would love to actually be able to go to college and pursue my dream." Dylan emphasized.

He agreed with her. "We gotta go dark."

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree." JJ accepted.

"I don't agree," John B retaliated, shocking everyone.

"What? Why?"

"Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about." He motioned to Dylan. "DJ, you'll know this more than anyone. The same guy that's buying individual cigarettes at the porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot cause he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than forty bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin."

She took in his words and nodded, processing the information. She had watched a lot of cases similar to this one.

"Dyl, what do you make of this?"

They all looked her way. Dylan shrugged. "Well, there's a lot of layers to it. People in poverty like to create an illusion of affluence as a boost to make their lives seem less dreary. They'll sometimes buy things to mask the fact that they don't have a lot of money. Another one could be inheritance. You know, inherited money from relatives? Someone who doesn't have a lot of money will use their inheritance money to splurge on expensive things even if it makes people question their decisions. And the last one. . . Well, stealing is a possibility but this is a Grady White we're talking about. If Scooter had the motive to steal something that big and expensive he couldn't have done it on his own."

Silence. Pope's mouth was gaped open and he blinked slowly.

She noticed their staring and her cheeks went red. "Or something else, ya know? Just spitting ideas." She added shyly and brought her legs to her chest.

John B grinned proudly. "And this is why I love you, Dylan Jennings."

John B continued with his theories. Pope and JJ fished on the dock while the remaining three watched. "All right. Think about it, Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady White? Think about what DJ said." Said John B.

"Prostitution."

Dylan sighed. "Totally not what I was going for."

"Square groupers, bro. Like Dylan said, he couldn't have done this by himself." John B continued. "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?" He moved on.

"They were straight smugglin." JJ responded the JJ way.

"Smugglin." Both John B and Dylan said in unison and high fived each other. "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck." He added.

"Hell yeah," JJ exhaled and his pole tugged in the water signaling he got a fish. "Fish on!"

Dylan laid on John B's head with her head pressed to his wall. She messed with the bracelets on her wrist. "For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it probably belongs to someone else." Pope informed.

"Minor details." Kiara muttered in the back.

"They could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

"Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time." JJ recited his philosophy and shuffled the wad of money in his hands.

"Plus," Dylan chimed while holding up a finger. "All we would have to do is cover our tracks. I have enough gloves to last a lifetime and I can steal my mom's cleaning supplies."

JJ agreed. "Our little lady is right. All we need to do is get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."

"Right, and how exactly do we do that?" The brains of the group questioned.

They went quiet until Kie had a suggestion. "Kegger?"

There wasn't a lot that came with the Outer Banks. Everyone knew everyone. Everyone went to the exact same shop to get their groceries, home supplies, and do their shopping. But there was always one good thing that came out of Kildare Island and that was a good ole kegger: The Pogue style way of partying. The keggers almost always took place at the boneyard which was the break down of everything to know about the Outer Banks. Whenever a kegger was announced, word got around like a fly buzzing through the open air. Anyone and everyone came to the boneyard.

There was the Pogues, of course, along with the working class underdogs that they would casually see around the island.

Then there's the Kooks, which people would consider Dylan and Kiara, but it was more complicated than that. The Kooks were those who came from old money, got sent to the fancy boarding schools, and never had to lift a finger to get whatever they wanted. While Dylan lived in the Kook world, she was completely different from them as her and her family worked hard for everything they got. More times than not, she felt out of place on Figure Eight. Sure, she had friends on that side of the island, but nothing would ever come between her and the Pogues.

Then there's the Tourons. The tourist of Outer Banks who usually only visited for a week or two with their families. They like to think they understand the Outer Banks in the short amount of time they spend here, but they're totally clueless. But hey, some of them were actually pretty fun.

The boneyard was the resident spot on the cut where every teenager on the island could drink beer and smoke pot for free without a care in the world. Dylan wasn't much of a party girl and often stuck by one of her friends. But there were times she tried to break out of her shell and have a conversation or two with someone she didn't know.

"I don't know why i'm so interested in criminology," she said as she was seated on a log with a touron boy. "I think I just like the mystery behind it. It makes me feel powerful knowing I know exactly what to look for. It's so trilling."

The boy smiled. "I totally get it! Criminal Minds is one of my favorite shows."

Her russet eyes widened. "No way! It's one of mine too!" She gasped.

Only a few feet away from them, Pope stared between them as he was having his own conversation with a girl. "It's kinda weird when on TV, we see people die and they kinda just sit there, but in actuality they would be shitting and farting up a storm."

She didn't laugh. Dylan would have laughed.

John B looked between them from where he was standing. They were having two different conversations with two different people and yet they kept looking over at each other. He wasn't stupid.

JJ stood next to him and watched the interactions himself. "Doesn't it make you want to bang their heads together and maybe they'll get some clue that they like each other?" He implied.

"It would take a lot more than that, I'm afraid."

Dylan laughed at something the Touron boy said to her but then she looked over and saw Pope laughing with a girl. Her laughter died down slightly.

A girl that was talking to John B leaned over. "Do they like each other?"

Pope Heyward had been uncontrollably in love with Dylan Jennings since middle school. He didn't know it, of course, given he was just a kid but he knew she was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. He was a shy boy. Always quiet. Kept to himself. But Dylan was loud. She was sunshine. She loved to talk and she was always trying to get him to talk in class.

She was the first person who was able to get him to open up. To get out of his shell. He met John B and JJ through her. Dylan was there through everything. And she was so smart. It was impossible not to fall in love with her.

Dylan loved Pope with her whole heart, even if she didn't understand it completely yet. She's so anything to protect me. Her love for him was strong since they were children when she asked him to go to the middle school dance with her because he was too shy to do it. But again, they were so young so Dylan just grew up knowing that Pope was someone special to her and that she never wanted him to not be in her life.

They were best friends. They were everything a person could ask of another. Pope sometimes still didn't understand what it was about Dylan that drew him so close to her, or maybe it was because there was too many reasons and he couldn't name them all, but he did know that whenever he was around her, he left like he couldn't breath. 

The sun went down and was replaced by the moon. The breeze from the water picked up and Dylan pulled her jacket closer around her. She sat in front of the fire, the Touron had disappeared, and she sipped her cup of beer alone. Her eyes danced as she watched the flames. Through them, she saw Pope sitting by himself as well with his chin rested against his fist. He looked incredibly bored. Dylan got up from the log and walked around. "Hey, hot shot." She said with a small smile.

Pope looked up and smiled back. "Hey, D. Having fun?"

She sat on the log with him, her beer in her hands, and she shrugged. "You could say that. Free beer's always a good time." He chuckled. "What are you doing here by yourself?"

"Oh, uh," he began and looked around the party. "Not many interesting people to talk to."

"What about that girl I saw you with earlier? She wasn't interesting?"

"Oh, her?" He shook his head. "Yeah, no, s-she was. . . she just didn't quite particularly take interest in my dead body jokes."

Dylan giggled. "What? Seriously? Those are the best jokes."

Pope smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah." She laughed again. "Speaking of dead body jokes, wanna hear one I came up with?"

"Yes!"

She cleared her throat and her lips curled back into a smile. "Okay, ready? Why did they put a fence around the cemetery?" He raised his brows. "Cause people are dying to get in."

Even though it was corny and stupid, Pope bursted into laughter. "What?" He questioned through his laughter. "That's so stupid."

Dylan gasped loudly and shoved his shoulder. "Hey, I worked hard on that!"

He wavered his hand. "I give it a solid 6/10."

She scoffed. "Think you can do better?" She taunted.

"I know I can do better."

"Give me your best shot."

"I don't think you're ready."

"I'm more than ready."

"Okay." Pope muttered and cleared his throat. "This guy walks into the morgue and sees his girlfriend's dead body. Guess she's still giving him the cold shoulder."

Dylan rolled her lips back to refrain from reacting. Pope's eyebrows raised and he smirked, waiting for her to break. A snort left her mouth and she bursted out laughing, covering it with her hand. "Pope, that's terrible!"

He pointed at her. "You laughed!"

"I laugh at bad jokes!"

"I still got you to laugh!"

She shoved his shoulder with her hand and let out a string of giggles.

Their conversation was cut short when a sudden abrupt of shouts began. The pair looked over and saw JJ and John B getting into a fight with Topper Thornton. JJ got in Topper's face. "God dammit, JJ." She swore.

She and Pope sprinted to them with Kiara hit on their feet. John B shoved Topper back with brute force. "John B, we're supposed to be incognito, remember?" Pope voiced.

But he was ignored by Topper throwing his fist in John B's face.

Dylan gasped. "Guys!"

Topper proceeded to kick John B hard in the stomach and it sent him rolling into the water.

"Topper, stop!" She shouted over the loud yells from everyone else at the party.

"Stay out of this, Dylan!" Topper yelled back. "Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?"

"Fight, fight, fight, fight!" The party crowd started chanting.

John B stood up and grabbed Topper by the torso, dragging him down into the water. "Stop!" Dylan shouted again and went to ran after them.

Pope quickly grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Dylan, no!"

"Give it to him man!" JJ shouted to John B, obviously not caring.

"Stop, you guys!" Kie yelled.

The two boys continue to tussle in the water. John B put Topper in a head lock and threw his fist into his sides. They ended up moving to the middle of the beach and John B shoved Topper back, catching his breath. He again punched Topper in the face.

"That's what I'm talking about!" JJ shouted proudly.

"JJ!" Dylan shouted back in disbelief.

"Come on, Topper!"

Topper swung his fist and hit John B, making him stumble. "Stop!" Kie shouted again desperately. "John B"

"John B, stop!" Dylan cried out.

"Topper!" Sarah shouted when her boyfriend was thrown into the water.

"Come on, Topper! Let's go!" John B shouted roughly, pain and anger lingering in his voice.

Pope kept a tight grip on Dylan and pulled her close to him to keep her from getting involved and also to calm her down. The fight escalated even further when Topped pushed John B back into the water and held him down, trying to drown him. Dylan's eyes widened. "NO!"

"Topper, stop!" Sarah shouted.

"HE'S DROWNING HIM!" She cried out loudly and struggled in Pope's hold. "Sarah, stop him!"

When no one made a move, she broke out of Pope's grip and tried to sprint but he grabbed her again. "Dylan, stop. Don't get involved." He warned her.

"He's drowning him, Pope!"

"I know!"

But then things went dark when JJ stood behind Topper and pressed the barrel of the gun to the back of his head. "Yeah, you know what that is. Your move, broski." He taunted.

"Oh my god." Dylan said with wide eyes.

"JJ!" Sarah shouted at the boy.

"JJ, chill!" Pope exclaimed.

"Put the gun down."

"Did you say something, princess?" JJ snapped at Sarah.

"We're good. We're good." Topper gasped in fear he and let go of John B. "Come on, man."

"Kie, DJ, can you check your psycho friend, please?" Sarah begged the girls.

Dylan glared at her. "How about you check your psychotic boyfriend!"

"Okay, listen up!" JJ shouted at everyone. Get the hell off our side of the island!"

He fired two shots the gun air and it made everyone scream in fear and run off. Pope immediately shoved him backwards. "Are you crazy? You idiot!"

"Stupid!"

"JJ, you can't do that!" Dylan shouted at him.

"I'm saving his life, okay?" 

That's when her eyes widened. She broke into a spint toward the ocean where John B laid unconscious. "John B! John B!" She cried out and dropped to her knees, not caring that her clothes were getting wet. She pulled his body toward her and laid him on his back. "John!"

"Dylan!"

Dylan ignored her friends and pressed her ear in his chest. He was breathing but it was faint. He just passed out. She sighed loudly. "He just passed out."

"We have to get him to the Chateau." Kiara breathed out anxiously.

Dylan panted and pushed the wet hair out of John B's face. The bruising around his eye was already starting to appear. "God dammit, John B."