004.

"𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?" John B told the Pogues.

Emerson was fine that they were calling it off, she just didn't want John B being taken away. Thankfully, John B didn't notice the bruises on her neck from the dust up last night.

"Peterkin said, if I stay out of the marsh, she'll help me with DCS." John B continued. "And you believed her?" JJ asks.

"Yes I believe her, JJ."

"An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop."

"Hey shut it. We can trust Momma Peterkin, I've known her my whole life." Emerson speaks up.

"All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out. It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting the gun." John B said, ignoring Emerson's comment.

"You know what I should've done? Just let Topper drown both your asses." JJ spoke up. Emerson couldn't help but feel a little hurt by that comment, but she decided to just ignore it. "Both? What do you mean both?" John B asks. Everyone kept quiet.

"JJ, what do you mean both?" John B asked, irritated that everyone is avoiding eye contact. "Just look at your lover's neck." JJ finally spoke up.

John B immediately went to Emerson to find two dark purple bruises on her neck. He knew she fought back with Topper, but he didn't think Topper would actually try to kill her too.

"They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues, they always, always win!" JJ said as he smacked the ball that was attached to two strings. "Look it's okay!" Kie tried to calm him down. "No, it's not okay! It is not! They don't want us to go down in the marsh, that means there's something valuable down there, and you know it. I know you do." At this point, Emerson was starting to get really fed up with JJ. She knew whatever would happen next, would probably be really bad.

"And I understand why you don't wanna go. You're the golden boy, you got way too much to risk. And you, I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?" JJ continues. "But you, me, and Em, we got nothin' to lose. We really don't, all right. And I know it didn't use to be that way for you guys."

"JJ for once in your life, use your brain. Have you ever thought of the idea that we have each other to lose? We're not gonna go down to the marsh again, that's final." Emerson snapped, annoyed at everything JJ just said.

"You know what I'll use my brain. You got the key to Cameron's big boat, right?" JJ asks John B. Kie, Emerson, and Pope all give each other skeptical looks.

"No." John B replied "There's scuba gear inside, man. We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon and that is what's gonna save you, man. You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?" JJ carries on.

"JJ shut up. We're not going down there again just because you want money." Emerson argues.

"What you afraid your soulmate's gonna get caught? Suck it up, Em." JJ argues back.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now? What if he does get caught? He's the only person I have left, JJ. You think I would wanna risk that just because you want money? Why would there even be money on that boat?"

"Look, lover boy will be fine. There's obviously something special on that boat, whether it's money or not. That's why they're telling us to stay out of the marsh."

"How do you know he'll be fine, hm?"

"Don't worry about it." JJ said as he tells John B to go get the scuba gear from the Cameron's boat. For some odd reason, John B actually listened to JJ and went off to go get the gear.

"I swear JJ, if he gets caught, I will literally kill you." Emerson said as she headed back into the Chateau.

···

"This is empty. You took empty tanks?" Kie asked. "Okay this one's a quarter full, it's enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together."

"Does anyone know how to dive?" Kie asks.

"I do, I've done it a ton with my dad when I was younger." Emerson speaks up. "No, you're not doing it. I'll do it." John B says. "No I'm doing it, I actually know what I'm supposed to do." Emerson snaps. She was still annoyed about the whole situation that happened earlier.

"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ questions. "Well if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends." Pope answers.

"Bends like, bend over and-" JJ said as he bends over. "The bends kill you, dumbass." Emerson said.

"So, Emerson Marie, you diving?" Kie asks. "Yes, I am." Emerson smiles.

After Pope made some calculations, Kiara jumped off the boat to tie her shirt at the ten feet mark, which would be Emerson's safety point.

"Uh, what was that all about?"

"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot." JJ said. "JJ, please keep it in your pants." Emerson rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so moody." JJ said to Emerson. "Excuse you? I didn't want any of this to happen. You think I'm happy being out here in the marsh right now?" Emerson retaliates. Whenever Emerson gets mad, it wasn't a pretty thing, so all the boys knew to just keep quiet.

After putting on all the scuba gear, Emerson was ready to go down.

"Be careful." John B said as he kissed her forehead. "Of course." Emerson smiled.

"Diver down?"

"Diver down."

As Emerson swam towards the boat, she found the cargo hold and remembered JJ's instructions. "𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭, 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺?"

Inside the cargo hold, was a black duffel bag. She really wanted to see what was in it, but decided that she would open it once she was on the boat. She began to swim up until she saw another boat right next to the HMS Pogue. She figured it was the police.

Then she remembered about John B and started to panic. She really wanted to go up there to see what was going on, but she didn't want to get caught.

40 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴.

30 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴.

20 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴.

10 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴.

Eventually the timer started blinking red, indicating that she had to hold her breath. She did not think this was how she was gonna die. She was starting to grow lightheaded, and her lungs were starting to burn.

Thankfully, the other boat started to drive off. Once she couldn't see the boat anymore, she swam up as fast as she could and started to gasp for air.

"There she is!"

"Oh thank goodness!"

"Holy crap!"

"How'd it go down there? Did you find anything?" JJ asks.

"Did I find anything?" Emerson said as she hands the duffel bag over to John B. She couldn't stop coughing though, and still felt a little lightheaded.

"Yeah, there we go!" JJ cheers. "You okay?" Kie asks as she helped Emerson onto the boat. Since she was lightheaded, she started to wobble around. "Yeah I'm okay, just a bit lightheaded is all." Emerson assured them, saying she was alright. "Yeah the cops were up here, but, uh, we took care of them." Pope tells her.

"Hey, guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock." Kie tells them.

They look off into the distance to see a white boat headed their way. They all have never seen the boat before, which is weird since it's a small island and most people know who's boat is who's.

The group started to panic as they began to drive off, only to realize that the boat was following them. Emerson tried to get a good look of the two guys until she saw one of them pull out something, then heard a sound: 𝘨𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵.

Although she didn't really have a fear of guns, she still was not looking forward to dying today because of two maniacs who were chasing a bunch of 16-year olds.

All of a sudden, Kie got up and threw a net towards the boat, which made it get caught in their engine. Thankfully, the other boat stopped and the 5 teenagers got away.

···

"What do you guys think it is?" Kie asks, as they're about to reveal what was in the black duffel bag. "Gotta be money or something, right?"

"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low-to mid-mils!"

"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope shouts at them. "Wow, Pope. That's a rare outburst of emotion." Emerson giggles. "Okay, you guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag. We almost died over this." Pope said.

Inside was a metal cylinder canister that John B was trying to open. He puts it beween his thighs to twist the lid, and once he gets it opened, he turned it upside to see what would come out.

𝘈 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘉 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱.

"Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right. Good job, everybody. We found a compass." Pope said sarcastically.

John B and Emerson look at the compass in complete shock. This was the last thing they expected they would find, especially on Scooter Grubbs's boat. John B handed the compass to Emerson to make sure he wasn't just seeing things, and that it was 𝘵𝘩𝘦 compass, and the look on her face just proves everything. It really was 𝘵𝘩𝘦 compass.

"Guys, what? It's not worth anything." JJ speaks up as the two teenagers look at the compass fondly. "Not worth anything my ass." Emerson whispers.

As the two teenagers look at the compass in awe, John B finally spoke up. "This was our parents'."

···

author's note: [word count: 1668]

the first episode is down! i'm so bad at writing jeez. i know that there hasn't been much between John B and Emerson yet, but it'll come soon!