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PIPER DOCKED THE boat at the dock stretching out from the marina that was strictly for the Abernathys'. The coast guard tent was part of the marina which the Abernathys, well, owned. Piper didn't really care whether she would get in trouble or not, but if what Edith said held any truth at all, Harry and Inez wouldn't care. JJ may wish his sister didn't have to work so much, but not fighting for a spot to dock at the marina the day after a hurricane was nothing short of miraculous.
Twisting the keys, Piper pulled them out of the ignition and spun them around her finger into her palm. She picked up JJ's dry tank top off the deck of the HMS and pulled it over her head as John B and JJ tied the ropes around the four-by-fours of the dock. There was another boat—the Abernathys' fishing boat—docked on the other side, which Piper regarded with a spare glance and a shrug when Kie looked at it questioningly.
The plan was simple enough: hit up the coast guard tent, get a finder's fee, and get back to do whatever the Hell they wanted. Day after a hurricane also means no work—even for Piper. Piper wasn't exactly sure when or how she was supposed to find out when to clock back in with no service, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it.
"Piper!" Willa called from a vendor's tent as the five of them walked up the dock and across the jetty toward the coast guard.
Piper squinted into the sun until she found Willa's silhouette underneath the tent next to Edith who was pointedly not looking at Piper and her friends as they joined the sisters. "Yo."
"It's a madhouse in there," Willa jutted out her chin to point to the coast guard's tent. There was, in fact, a line stretching up the pier. Willa looked around Piper, counting heads and blushing when she realized Pope was looking at her, "Only a few of you'll be able to get in."
"We got this," John B said, slinging an arm around JJ's shoulders and pulling him toward the line. Kie smiled tightly at Edith and Willa, but then turned her entire body to lean against a wooden beam with her hip, hiding behind Pope's figure. Kie didn't hate Edith and Willa the way she hated Sarah Cameron, but, from what little she's said about it, her Kook year was all around unsatisfying.
"Hi," Willa chirped happily to Pope who was standing just behind Piper. Thinking better of it, Willa started massaging the centers of her palms to keep herself busy, but she had gotten both Piper's and Pope's attention, so Willa cleared her throat—a small, kittenish thing, "Um, Pope. Hi."
"Hello, Willa," Pope replied and glanced at Piper for help in navigating the conversation, but Piper was biting her lips to hold in laughter and determinedly looked at Edith. The one thing Piper and Edith joked about was just how bent Willa was for Pope, but Edith was steadfastly ignoring Piper. Arguing was something they did, yes, but they didn't usually ignore each other. That would be like ignoring an elephant stomping across a room made of glass.
