𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

020. The Weather.

AS FOR the others, they arrive to the Wreck. "Stealing drones makes you hungry." Kie says as Pope opens the back, Josie getting out first. "What I would do to a beer and shrimp and grits right now." JJ said as he got out after Josie. "It would not be pretty." Pope says, getting out behind the blond boy.

They head inside the restaurant, Kie greeting her dad with a smile on her face. "Hey, dad." She says as Josie is following closely behind her. "Hey." The man says, looking at the boys behind the two girls. "How'd we do?" Kie asked as Mike walks to the cash register.

"Didn't turn it over once." He says and Josie stays by the counter. "It's probably just bad luck because of the storm." Kie said and put her arms around her dad who hugs her back. "Yeah, I'll be sure to tell the banks that." The man tells his daughter as the boys walked past and over to where the tables are.

"Guess now is not the best time to ask for free food for me and my friends?" Kiara says as she pulls back, smiling at her dad who sighs. "Look at them." He said, glancing over at the boys and Josie notices the look in the hungry boys' eyes. "They're greedy pelicans." The man says. "I thought I told you to stop hanging around these guys." He added on to Kiara.

"Well, everybody, besides Jo, at the Kook Academy hates me, dad." Kie says and Josie glanced down, playing with her hands. "Cause you never gave them a chance." Kie's dad says. "I did give them a chance. They got all stuck up on me. They care about shoes more than surfing. What am I supposed to do with that? These are my friends." Kie says as John B, Pope and JJ awkwardly wave and smile.

Josie chuckles, looking over at the father and daughter standing behind the counter. "I-I can pay for it, Mike... It doesn't have to be free." She said and Kie quickly looks at her as Mike shook his head, waving his hands. "I was gonna throw it out. Might as well take it." He says and Kie excitedly hugs her father.

"Thank you!" She says before turning to where the boys were. "Sit down." She says to them before grabbing Josie's hand. "Come on." She says with a smile at the girl.

And so, the girls and the boys ate. Kiara pours water for them and sets the jug down, dancing slightly as she points to John B who pointed to himself. She keeps trying to get him to join her and once she did, Josie just sips her water as she watched the two dance. She then glanced down, eating some more fries before glancing over at JJ who's staring at her.

She smiles before tossing a fry at the boy who just quickly looked away, smiling as he continued to eat his fries as well. After they finished up eating, John B drove everyone home and when Josie got home, she headed straight upstairs to her bedroom.

The next day, they tested out the drone when Josie suddenly come up to the surface, swimming to the ladder where she climbed up. "God bless geeks, Pope. Truly, man." JJ says as Josie sat down, shivering slightly. "What would we do without you to control the drones?" JJ says as Josie rings out the water from her hair. "Technically, it's not a drone. It's an ROV." Pope corrects as Kie and John B come up to the surface as well. "Shut up. Shut up. It's too early for that right now." JJ says.

"Hey, once we get footage of the wreck, we'll bring it to a lawyer in town and file a formal claim." John B says as her and Kie continue to swim around in the water. JJ brings a towel to Josie who was standing up. "It's bullshit. Why do we have to do that?" JJ said as he wrapped the towel around Josie's shoulders.

"Well, there is maritime salvage law." Pope says as he leans against the railing beside JJ. "You can't just go to the ocean floor and scoop a bunch of stuff up." Pope says as Josie patted herself dry. "I know. I know. It's just lawyers aren't cheap, bro." JJ explained.

"Well, as soon as they see the footage, they'll work for a comp." John B tells them. "How do you know all of that?" Kiara asked, looking at him and he looks back at her. "Cause my dad said it, like, a million times." He says.

"Yeah, that's fair." Kie says as she swims over to the ladder. "This tether is, like, really long. In the wrong weather, this thing could get pushed around." Pope says as Kie got up to the dock. "Then we'll go at dead calm." John B says as thunder rumbles off in the distance. "At slack tide?" Kie looks up at Pope and JJ. "So now, we just gotta wait around for the right weather." Pope said as he looked around. "And today is not that day." Josie said when they all look at the thunder clouds rolling in.

At home, Josie got onto her computer and watched one of her tv shows on her watchlist on Netflix. She looked over right away when Nova walks into the bedroom. "Surprised you're home..." He walked over to her bathroom and she watched him with furrowed brows.

"What are you doing in my bathroom?" She asked and he walks out with a toothbrush in his mouth. "Ran out of toothpaste." He says, sounding muffled and she slowly nods, looking over at her computer screen in thought. "Why aren't you out with those Pogues?" He asked and she simply shrugs slightly.

"I-I wanted to be at home..." She whispered and he watched her with a cautious look on his face. "I'm going over soon, they talked about surfing together later this afternoon..." She said as she taps her space bar on her keyboard. "Oh... cool." Nova said and left as suddenly the same as he had came into the bedroom.

  

  

  

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

    

   

  

  

   

AUTHORS NOTE
when topper and rafe beat up pope, it made me so mf mad 😐😐