Rose-Ann "Rosie" Mae Connolly is freshly emancipated and finally returning to her home in the OBX after 3 months away. 16-years-old and living alone, she's ready to have the summer of a lifetime with her friends-since-middle-school pogue crew. But w...
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"This is empty. You took empty tanks?"
Rosie watched in disbelief as Kie examined the scuba diving gear John B had stolen from Ward. She stared dumbfounded at the black-eyed boy. John B merely hung his head in response.
The water around them was calmer than usual, and the sun was setting, making it a picturesque sight. The calm of the water and the sky contrasted what they were about to do.
"Okay this one's a quarter full. That's enough for one of us," Kie sighed. The five teenagers looked at each other.
"Love it when a plan comes together," Pope quipped.
Kie ignored him, "Does anybody know how to dive?"
Rosie looked down at her stitched hand and frowned, "I mean I've been diving before," Kie, Pope, and John B look hopeful. "But I can't get in the water right now," she held up the injured hand, and their shoulders all slumped.
Silence followed.
"It's kind of a Kook sport," JJ sighed.
Pope cleared his throat, "I, uh, read about it?"
Kie huffed and threw her hands in the air, "Great! Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die."
"You put the thing in your mouth and you breathe. How hard can that be?" JJ looked to Pope.
Rosie rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to argue, but Pope beat her to it.
"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood and you get the bends."
John B and Kie seemed to understand the risk, but JJ wasn't so quick.
"You mean bends like," the blond bent over, sticking his ass out in a suggestive manner, "bend over and..."
"The bends kill you, dumbass," Rosie deadpanned.
"I can dive," John B interjected, though his voice was full of uncertainty.
Kie cocked an eyebrow at him, "Since when can you dive?"
"I'll do it," he affirmed.
The group looked at each other and paused for a moment, before Pope broke the silence, "Let me do some calculations real quick. So that boat's about 30 feet down, right? So it'll take 25 minutes at most at that depth, which means you need to make your safety stop at about... 10 feet for two minutes."
John B nodded. Rosie watched Kie strip herself of her t-shirt and jump into the water. Rosie caught onto what her friend was doing, but the three boys ogled at her like idiots. Rosie rolled her eyes, and pulled her legs up into her seat. JJ instructed John B on how to get inside the cargo hold and Rosie found herself zoning out fairly quickly. She stared out at the horizon, admiring the pristine line between the blue water and the orange sky.
