| TROUBLE | J.MAYBANK

3 | SANDBARS AND SUNKEN SHIPS

     "HI, MISS AMY! You guys make it through it?" John B called out to a woman on a passing dock.

Layla watched the two boys from the side, having met absolutely no one on the island other than the pair, she had no one to greet and make sure that they were okay after the storm. 

"Still here." The woman replied, giving the boys a wave.

"She totally looked at me." JJ smirked at his best friend.

"I saw it." John B replied, rolling his eyes.

Layla chuckled lightly, making JJ poke his tongue out at her. She responded with the same action, making the blonde put his hand over his heart and gasp in fake offense. It had been around thirty minutes since she boarded the boat and she already felt somewhat close to the pair. 

They pulled up to a dock, not too far from where the boys said hello to Amy. Stood on the dock, staring at the boat was a boy, around their age, he held a tool in his hand. Clearly he had been helping clean up and now John B and JJ were about to snatch him away for drinks.

"Well, look who we have here." John B smirked as they pulled up by the side of the dock. "We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory."

The boy, who Layla assumed was Pope, sighed. "I can't. My pop's got me on lockdown."

"Come on man." JJ made a static noise, as if talking through a walkie talkie. "Your dad's a pussy. Over."

An older man, Pope's father, huffed as he heard the blonde boy's words. "Oh, I heard that, you little bastard."

"We need your son." John B spoke to the man.

JJ nodded. "Yeah, island rules. Day after a hurricane's a free day."

"Who the hell made that up?" The man sighed loudly.

"Uh...Pentagon I think. We have security clearance. I have a card."

Layla chuckled as she watched the blonde dig around his pockets for the 'card'. She noticed Pope looking at her, a confused look on his face. He was aware of the girl after JJ first spoke to her but he wasn't expecting to see her on the HSM Pogue after a hurricane. 

"Think I'm stupid?" Pope's dad asked hypothetically.

Pope turned to his father. "I'll do it tomorrow. I promise. Tomorrow."

"No, no. Hell no. You doin' right now."

John B looked at his friend and whispered not so quietly. "Get in the boat."

"Make a run for it." Layla added, finally joining the convincing of Pope.

Pope dropped the tool in his hand and hopped straight into the boat, ignoring his father calling after him. The four then drove off, laughing at Pope's father calling after him and telling him all the things he would have to do when he gets back. Pope sat beside Layla, deciding to introduce himself properly to the girl.

"I'm Pope, you must be Layla." He smiled, offering his hand.

"You can call me Lee." She gave him a smile and offered out her own hand.

"Lee?" John B questioned from steering. "Interesting nickname from Layla."

The girl shrugged. "Its what my mum used to call me, she wanted to call me Lee but my dad preferred Layla. Compromise was the nickname being Lee."

Pope smiled and shook her hand. "Now, lets go get Kiara."

The boat carried on down, Layla having quite a nice conversation with Pope. He was telling her about himself, he wanted to get into college and study to become a post mortem person, Layla didn't know the name of it and she quickly forgot after Pope told her. They finally came up on the last dock, a girl stood with a cooler in his hands, watching as the boat came up to her.

"Good morning." JJ smiled, offering his hand.

Kiara took it, as she was on a dock that stood much higher than the water, she hopped down into the boat and smiled at her friends. "Morning boys...and girl."

Layla gave her a small wave from beside Pope, but she said nothing back.

"Watcha got?" Pope asked, standing up. "You got some juice boxes?"

The red heard furrowed her brows, juice boxes? Maybe that was code for drinks since they were all underage for drinking. 

"Oh, just, ya know, some yogurt and some carrot sticks." Kiara shrugged.

"How about my kind of juice box?" JJ asked.

Kiara nodded. "Yeah."

John B set the boat off down the marsh as Kiara opened the cooler to reveal the alcoholic drinks. JJ immediately dug in, pulling one out and popping it open. Pope and Kiara quickly followed, John B was too busy driving. JJ offered one to Layla, she took it but unlike the rest she drank slowly. She wasn't one to drink, at least not enough to get drunk. 

Layla eventually offered to swap with John B so he could enjoy a drink, he denied at first but she kept insisting and soon he agreed. The four Pogues watched her take the spot that John B had just been in, she was quick to get a grasp for how to drive the boat, following the directions John B would give her.

Suddenly, JJ got up on the front of the boat, claiming he had a party trick he wanted to show everyone. "Hey, Lee, can you go a bit faster?"

The girl rolled her and and sped up the boat, watching as JJ lifted his drink and poured it in the air. His plan was for the drink to end up in his mouth but in reality it just splashed on everyone behind him. Everyone laughed at his antics, Pope took over Layla's spot and just as he did the boat hit something and came to a crashing stop.

Layla felt herself fly off the edge of the boat and into the water. She rose out, letting out a cough as the wind was knocked out of her. JJ had also faced the same fate as he had flown off the front of the boat and splashed into the water. She pushed her hair out of her face, now realising her sunglasses had fallen from her face and were now somewhere at the bottom of the marsh.

"You okay JJ?" Pope asked as the blonde resurfaced.

"I think the heels touched the back of my head." He replied, floating in the water. "Pope, what did you do?"

Layla swam back over to the boat, JJ following her. Layla felt her side burning from the pressure she got when she was flung into the water. The bruise was now sore, she winced but made sure to cover it so none of the Pogues noticed. However, one blonde Pogue did notice.

"Sandbar." Pope replied. "The channel must have changed."

"No shit." Layla said, groaning slightly.

That was went Kiara noticed the black and blue eye on the girls face, she looked at John B but he just shrugged. John B had no idea, Layla hadn't brought it up and no one else did.

"This is probably gonna mess up the whole place up."

JJ then smiled at the beer in his hand. "I saved the beer though."

John B, who was still laying on the floor of the boat, turned to his best friend. "Congrats, JJ."

"Guys." Pope spoke. "I think there's a boat down there."

"Shut up. What?"

JJ, who was still in the water, looked down. Layla followed his eye sight.

"No, no, guys I'm serious. There's a boat down there. For real. It's a boat!"

Kiara nodded. "Holy shit, he's right. Let's go."

The girl Pogue took off her shorts and joined JJ and Layla in the water. John B followed soon after and then Pope. The latter of the three paused when his head popped out of the water, he was looking at Layla.

"What happened to your eye?" He asked.

Layla looked at him, she had completely forgotten about her eye. She glanced at the rest of the Pogues who were now staring at her, all awaiting her answer in curiosity. 

"Got clumsy with a cabinet door." She shrugged. "Hard getting used to a new house."