CHAPTER FOUR:
CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?
(episode one: the pilot)

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SOMEHOW, HAVEN FOUND HERSELF sitting on John B's porch with Kie, John B and JJ. Pope had ducked home to grab something but he was back before the others had even mentioned the trouble they'd gotten themselves into, huffing and puffing like he'd ran the entire way there. Haven had found a fishing book in John B's living room to distract herself with rather than just sitting in silence, her eyes raking boredly over the words but not really taking them in. When she heard Pope's hurried footsteps, she had just enough time to cast the book aside and sit up properly before he was sitting down beside her, effectively squashing her in between him and Kie.

"Okay, so we didn't see anything, we don't know anything, we need to have total and complete amnesia."

"Actually, Pope's right for once," JJ agreed, chuckling and standing up when Pope just gaped at him in shock. "See, I agree with you sometimes. We need to deny, deny, deny."

"Guys, we can't keep that money," Kie let out a sigh. The thought had clearly bothered her the whole way to the Chateau. Haven had seen the frown she wore as she glared at the stack of notes in JJ's hand, but where Haven would easily agree to turn it in, she knew Kie would have a harder time convincing the boys. And she was right.

"Okay, not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara," JJ scoffed.

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

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

"I hate to be the devil on your shoulder here, Pope, but it's a bit too late to be worrying about that," Haven countered, shrugging when Pope turned to frown at her. "What? We broke into a motel room and left with a crap ton of money and a gun. Doesn't matter if we give it back, we're still up shit's creek."

Pope just shook his head at her, insisting, "We gotta go dark, okay?"

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree," JJ decided. Haven rolled her eyes. Of course he wasn't the least bit concerned.

"Well, I don't agree," John B spoke for the first time since they got there. He'd listened as the others argued with a contemplative frown before seemingly coming to his decision, everyone's attention turning to him as he stood off to the side. Haven was new to this group, but it didn't take a genius to see that John B was the leader here. Kie, Pope and JJ would follow him anywhere; well, most of the time.

"What? Why?"

"Just think about it," John B insisted. "This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about, right? The same dude that was buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because 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?" When no one said anything, he sighed and backed off slightly. "Just saying."

But Pope still wasn't having it. With a shake of his head, he was leaving the porch and taking a fishing rod down to the jetty to fish, the others exchanging a wary glance before heading after him. John B wasn't done just yet.

"Okay, so think about it, Pope," he implored, hopping up onto the railing beside his friend as the boy leaned back to cast the line. "How does a marina rat get a grady white?"

"Prostitution."

"You think someone would pay money to sleep with Scooter Grubbs?" Haven scoffed from his other side. "Yeah, not likely."

"Square groupers, bro," John B suggested. Pope let out a sigh but was cut off as he continued. "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean, JJ?"

"They were straight smuggling," the boy in question piped up from the other side of the deck. He'd also taken a fishing rod out of John B's boat and was busy rigging it up to fish too.

"Smuggling," John B repeated with a proud smile. Clearly, he thought he had everything figured out. "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck."

Pope sighed again but looked like he was really considering it. Haven wasn't sure if she was supposed to be annoyed or amused. For someone who'd sworn up and down it was bad karma to be implicated in a felony, he seemed just like John B and JJ, almost too interested in what resided on Scooter's boat.

Eventually, the five of them packed up the fishing rods and headed back inside. The living room was a mess (what else could you expect from a teenage boy living alone?) so the group hunkered down in John B's bedroom, Haven finding a spot at the end of the bed in between JJ and Kie with Pope and John B opposite them.

"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it probably belongs to someone else."

"Minor details," Kie dismissed.

"They could come looking for it."

"Could? If it's smuggling, they definitely will," Haven scoffed though she went unheard.

"Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

"Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time," JJ insisted, waving around the stack of cash with glee. It was like dangling candy in front of a baby and expecting them not to want a taste. "All we need to do right now is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low, act normal."

"Brilliant plan, JJ," Haven rolled her eyes.

Pope nodded in agreement, still very much doubtful of their new plan. "And how exactly do we do that?"

Kie's eyes brightened. She sat up, catching their attention as she suggested, "Kegger?"

That was enough, it seemed. The boys all agreed eagerly before setting off to organise a kegger down at the Boneyard, also known as the place where kooks, pogues and tourons could all come together on neutral ground to get absolutely wasted. Kie went to follow them but hung back when she noticed Haven was still sitting on the bed, raising an eyebrow at her and grinning.

"You in or out, Have?"

Haven hesitated before sighing and standing up. "If shit goes wrong, I'm blaming you."

"Bet."

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THE SUN WAS JUST beginning to set by the time the kegger was in full swing. Haven stuck to Kie's side before the girl eventually disappeared to chat up some cute touron boys, leaving Haven to sit between JJ and John B as they handed out red solo cups of beer to eager teenagers. Even Pope had found a girl to talk to, Haven catching a bit of their conversation and chuckling when she heard Pope mention wanting to be a coroner. Something told her that nothing was going to happen between those two.

"I have to say, Murphy, I didn't expect you to agree to this," JJ declared as he passed out another beer and began to pour the next one.

"What can I say? I'm a sucker under peer pressure," she shrugged.

JJ just laughed before turning off the kegger's hose and holding out the beer to her. "Here, as a peace offering, cousin to cousin."

"No thanks," she quickly shook her head, swallowing nervously at the sight of the cup before holding up her purple metal water bottle she'd insisted on stopping to pick up on the way there. Haven hadn't touched a red solo cup since the night of Sarah's party and she wasn't about to start now.

"You're denying my peace offering?" JJ clutched his chest in mock hurt.

Haven just rolled her eyes at him. "Have it for me."

"Well, I can't argue with that."

JJ was in the middle of downing the drink when a familiar voice called out Haven's name. The girl turned around in time to catch Arden Kim's radiant smile before the dark-haired girl was throwing her arms around Haven's shoulders, the shadow of a bump on her stomach pressing into Haven's side.

Arden Kim, while Haven's best friend, was also the ex-girlfriend of JJ Maybank. Not long after Haven moved to Outer Banks, Arden started seeing the blonde pogue which broke their supposed 'no pogue on pogue macking rule.' Nevertheless, Arden and JJ were too caught up in each other to care, which Haven supposed was where everything went wrong for them. A month before Sarah Cameron's birthday party, Haven came around to Arden's house to find the girl sobbing into her pillow with a line of positive pregnancy tests in front of her. She made her promise to never tell anyone what she saw, and Haven kept that promise, even when Arden broke JJ's heart and told him it was Rafe Cameron's baby, even though Haven knew damn well that Arden hadn't so much as looked in the older boy's direction. And with everything that went down in her own life, what Arden chose to do with hers was the least of her concerns.

JJ, on the other hand, was clearly taking it hard.

"Haven! How are you doing?"

"I'm alright," she chuckled at the girl's bubbly smile. "How are you?"

The smile was quick to falter as Arden looked down at her hands. "I'm feeling a little parched. Is there any chance I could get a drink of water?"

"Come with me."

Taking Arden's hand in her own, Haven made her way over to where she'd left Kie's water cooler. She was just about to hand over one of the bottles to her pregnant friend when a hand was coming out of nowhere to snatch it away from her. She sighed as JJ stared down his ex with furious eyes, though she could see the sadness in them too. He wouldn't admit it, but he was in love with Arden Kim, and she'd broken his heart in ways that it hadn't been broken before. He had no pity for her, regardless of her health.

"Haven, you know the rules," he said spitefully. "No water for the cheating bitch."

"What the fuck, JJ?" Haven scoffed. "You know what? Fine. Ard, you can drink some of mine."

She pushed JJ aside and grabbed her bag from behind him, searching around inside before grabbing her bottle and shoving it into Arden's hands. When the girl just looked at her doubtfully, she nodded with a stubborn glint in her eyes. JJ Maybank be damned, she didn't care what he thought.

After chugging down the water, Arden smiled thankfully and handed her the bottle back. "I better go. It was nice seeing you, Haven."

Before Haven could stop her, she was turning on her heel and disappearing into the drunken crowd. She watched her leave with a sigh before turning to glare at JJ. He returned her stare head-on. "Why'd you do that?"

"Why did I do that?" Haven repeated the words incredulously. "Because I'm a good friend, JJ. It doesn't matter what she did to you, she's pregnant and it's not fair to dehydrate the baby because of what her mother did."

Shaking her head at him, she spun around and left to find someone else to hang out with. Kie was still chatting to a guy so Haven searched for Pope, finding him alone as the touron he was talking to stormed away. She smirked, making her way over to him and dropping down onto the tree branch beside him.

"Your friend is a real piece of work, you know that?" she told him.

Pope just sighed. "You're not the first person to say that to me."

From there on out, they stayed together, talking so much that Haven barely noticed the sky go dark. The only thing that got her attention away from the boy beside her was the sound of raised voices, familiar voices at that. JJ was in the middle of a stand-off with Topper Thornton with an anxious Sarah Cameron huddled at his side. Pope and Haven shared a wary glance before rushing over, arriving just in time to catch JJ shoving Topper and the blonde kook chucking a cup of alcohol in his face in retaliation.

"Hey, that's enough," John B declared as he got between the two.

JJ drowned him out as he shouted at Topper over his shoulder, Topper just laughing before shouting at their backs, "Dirty pogues!"

Now, that was enough to piss off John B too. In an instant, he turned around and pushed Topper back with a glare. The boy stared at him in disbelief for a moment before running forward with a clenched fist and punching him hard in the jaw.

"Oh, here we go," Haven sighed as Kie came up beside her. There'd be no stopping them now.

And she was right. No matter what Sarah shouted in protest, John B was fuelled by drunken chants of 'fight' and sheer anger from what Topper had said. He got right up in his face only to be kicked back down by a preening Topper.

"Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, alright?"

What a low fucking blow. John B pushed himself back up before tackling Topper into the water, the two landing with a splash as John B got some good hits in. From beside Sarah, Haven heard Kelce shouting for Topper to 'give it' to John B, and that was enough to distract her momentarily from the fight in front of her. She hadn't seen Kelce since the night of Sarah's party, and the gleeful look on his face was a painful reminder of what had happened. She backed up against Kie as her heart clenched fearfully, the girl squeezing her hand in confused comfort before there were sudden shouts of terror from around them. Haven looked back to find JJ involved again, the gun he'd stolen from Scooter now pressed to Topper's head as the boy slowly released John B from under the waves. He'd been trying to drown him.

"Yeah, you know what that is," JJ murmured in the now deafening silence. "Your move, broski."

"We're good, we're good, we're good," Topper chanted back, scared out of his wits with his life in JJ Maybank's hands. Just one press of a trigger and Topper would be dead.

"JJ," Sarah screamed out as everyone fled. "JJ, put the gun down."

"Did you say something, Princess?"

"Haven, can you check your psycho cousin, please?"

"Okay, everyone listen up," JJ shouted with rage glinting in his eyes. The familiar nature of it stunned Haven in place. Under the light of a half-moon and inly darkness, he was just like his father. "Get the hell off our side of the island."

Then once, twice, he was pressing the trigger and gunshots were ringing through the air, striking into the stars and disappearing from sight. Haven's ears rang with the echo of them, blocking everything else out for the rest of the night. As Sarah and Topper ran out of there, Sarah dragging a horrified Arden along with them, the pogues worked on hauling John B's unconscious body into the back of the van John B had lovingly dubbed the Twinkie. Haven was gathering her things together, hands shaking as she stuffed her bottle into her bag and pulled the denim jacket she'd stolen from John B's wardrobe further around her body. Yet it did nothing to keep the chills of fear out.

"Haven," Kie called out as she noticed her off to the side. "Haven, hey, where are you going?"

"Home," she replied while refusing to look at the quiet blonde boy watching the two talk. He fucked up, they all knew it including him, but they were struggling to find the right words to say to fix it.

"Why don't you come with us? We'll drop you there on the way back to the Chateau."

Haven just shook her head in response. "I'd rather walk."

"Haven..."

"No, Kie," she cut her off, wincing at Kie's hurt frown. "Just let me go, please."

Kie didn't try to stop her this time. She hurried off into the night, the memory of her cousin's rabid stare as he shot that fucking gun imprinted into her brain like scene of a horror movie.