PARADISE ON EARTH | jj maybank (DISCONTINUED)

1.03

"MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE is definitely when people treat you differently based on where you live. But we're stuck with that forever, huh?" Laura said, messing with the flip knife in her hand.

"Mine is when people only give one percent to the environment." Kiara stated.

"What's wrong with that?"

"We only have one Earth, Pope." Kiara said as if it's the most obvious thing, which it is. "We should be giving it 100 percent, bare minimum." She finished.

"Right. That's not fiscally sound." He continued on.

"Neither is destroying the planet we live on." Kiara replied to the boy sitting in front of her.

"Sorry to... you know... end this debate early. But the cops are here." Laura said, beginning to stand up. The other two snapped their heads over to the parking lot, locking eyes with the blue and white SUV.

"Call them." Pope said, standing up.

"I can't. Towers are down." Kiara replied, standing up and beginning to step out of the boat. Laura followed her lead, knowing she was going to find a way to get their attention somehow.

"If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm going to kill someone." Pope said, following the two girls' lead and getting out of the boat.

The three Pogue's crouched and hid behind the fallen sign, trying not to be seen by the cops. Then once they were out of sight, they ran to the window of the room the other two were currently in, scoping out.

"Okay, do something. Do something." Kiara said to the other two, panicking. Laura picked up a rock and threw it at the window, hitting it perfectly in the middle. "Good aim." She finished off, high fiving her friend.

"Thanks." Laura said, before seeing John B lift up the blinds to look at them. The three down on the ground immediately started pointing towards the parking lot and began whispering and mouthing the word 'cops' continuously.

Just then, John B disappeared behind the blinds, leaving them nervous for the two. They ran back towards the boat, when Kiara asked, "Should we peel?" The two looked back at her as if she were crazy.

"You never leave a pogue behind, Kie." Laura replied with a tone of nervousness mixed with anger due to the stupid question she had asked.

John B and JJ then appeared climbing out of the window, and closing it quickly so the cops don't see them. They stood out on the overhang on either side of the window, hoping that they weren't seen. Laura thought this act was crazy and that they were going to get caught.

"What are you guys doing?" Laura whisper-yelled towards them. The two put their fingers to their lips as if telling her to stay quiet.

"Oh, my God." Kiara said, putting her head in her hands. Laura groaned and turned, sitting down so she didn't have to see what was happening.

Kiara and Pope immediately turned their heads, signalling that the cops were able to see them. The conversation immediately got awkward as they tried to not get caught, and make small talk while trying to eye the motel room window. Laura let out a nervous breath once she saw the cops finally leave the room.

"Well, that was fun." JJ said once they were back on the water. "Could have warned us a little sooner." He continued on.

"We would have, except you guys must be deaf because LB hit the window straight on." Kiara said, defending herself.

"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." John B stated, ending the conversation.

"Did you guys find anything?" Pope asked, anxiously.

"Did we find anything? No, I don't think so." JJ said, while taking a stack of money and a gun out of his pockets. "Oh, yeah, we did." Laura looked at him shocked, and very confused.

"Dude, what the hell?" Laura said, walking over and taking the gun from him. "Yo. This is nice!" She continued, smiling at it as if she just won a prize in an arcade.

JJ began walking over towards Pope. "Why would you take that from a crime scene?"

"Better than the cops having it, bro." JJ responded.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope continued on, panic laced through his voice. Laura then stood and walked over towards him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders even though he was much taller than her.

"Hey, at least you have us." Laura said, smiling. Pope sighed, sitting back down next to John B ignoring the girl. JJ looked at her, smiling.

Pope ran up towards the porch, and swung the door open. "Okay. So, um... we didn't see anything. We don't know anything. We need to have total and complete amnesia." Pope said, sitting down next to Kiara and still panicking like he was earlier.

"Actually, Pope's right for once. See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny." JJ said, standing up and walking towards John B.

"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kiara said from her spot on the couch.

"Okay. Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara." JJ said, messing with the lighter in his hand.

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

"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too." Pope said, looking towards John B and JJ. "We gotta go dark."

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree." JJ said, looking out past the screening on the porch and towards the water.

"I don't agree." John B said, causing JJ to look over towards him confused.

"What, why?"

"Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole." John B started. "Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas."

Laura looked down at her hands, picking at her nails while her brother continued. "We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden, he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'." John B finishes, lowering his voice.

The group was outside, Pope and JJ fishing, while the other three sat on the fences, watching them. Laura was sitting next to JJ, looking out towards the sunset, attempting to tone out the conversation about Scooter Grubbs and his boat, but it wasn't really working.

"All right, so think about it, Pope. How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?" John B asked, flailing his arms around trying to get answers from his friend who is just as oblivious to the situation as him.

Pope inhales sharply, before responding, "Prostitution." Laura looks over at him, giving him a confused look.

"Square groupers, bro." John B then starts counting the reasons on his fingers, "Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane." John B says, holding his arm out. "What does that mean? JJ?"

"They were straight smugglin'."

"Smugglin'. And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck." John B says to the group who is unamused by his theories.

"Hell, yeah." John B says, before lifting up his fishing pole due to the fact he caught something. Laura looked over, and smiled at him. "Fish on!"

"For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it... it probably belongs to someone else." Pope said, sitting on John B's bed. "They could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid." He finished off, holding the stack of cash in his hand.

"Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time." JJ started, taking the cash from Pope and fanning it out. "All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of the wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Act normal." JJ finished off. Laura scoffed at the statement, looking down towards the floor.

"Right. And how exactly do we do that?" Pope asked.

"Kegger?" Kiara asked. Laura immediately looked up and smiled at her friend.

"I like your thinking, Kie." The two fist bumped, and stood up, ready to start the night.