the sea around us - rafe cameron, jj maybank

1.03

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

The next morning, JJ and John B picked me up at the dock behind my house on the HMS Pogue. John B sure has a thing for naming vehicles- he's not the worst at it. I live just down the street from the chateau, so I could see them from the porch right after they left John B's.

Hurricane Agatha sure did a number on the Outer Banks last night. The three of us, Anna, Deck, and I, huddled up in our bathroom since Anna wanted to tell "scary" stories and Deck just wanted to be included. The wind was loud all night, cracking trees and crashing sounds outside kept us up. I ended up passing out on the floor around 4 am, with the twins laying tangled on top of each other in the bathtub.

"Morning, Snow White." JJ says to me as I approach them tied up on the dock.

"Snow White? Really?" John B elbows him in the ribs and he winces.

"Dude- ow. I was gonna say Sleeping Beauty but I just thought it was funnier. You know, because-"

"Yeah JJ I got it." I cut him off. "Good one." I say, jumping into the boat with my cooler backpack over my shoulder. "I slept on the bathroom floor last night- my neck is killing me."

"I'll drink to that." JJ says, turning me by my shoulders to get into my backpack as John B unties us and we head off towards the Heywards'.

"Dude, look at this place." John B says as we pull up to Pope's.

He's out working on the dock with his dad, cleaning up the mess that Agatha had left in her wake.

"Well, look who we have here." Mr. Heyward says as we approach, JJ standing up from my side, preparing to help Pope on.

"We have a safety meeting, attendance mandatory." He explains.

"I can't. My pop's got me on lockdown."

"Come on, man."

At this, JJ holds his hands up to his mouth, pretending to talk into a radio. "Your dad's a pussy. Over." I gasp, reaching forward and giving a light hit to the back of JJ's arm.

"Oh, I heard that, you little bastard." Heyward says, pointing a finger at JJ.

"We need your son." I add, standing up and slipping my arm over JJ's shoulder to steady myself in the moving boat.

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

"Who made that up?"

"Uh... Pentagon, I think. We have security clearance. I have a card." I roll my eyes and shake my head.

"Think I'm stupid?"

Pope chimes in now as he starts to head toward our boat. "I'll do it tomorrow. I promise. Tomorrow."

"Hell no. You doin' it right now." Heyward says sternly.

"Get in the boat." John B whispers to Pope, loud enough for Heyward to hear.

"Boy, if you get in that boat..."

"Go, go, go." Pope says as he climbs in and I wave goodbye to his dad.

"Bring your ass back up here."