𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 07.

━ 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 229

"𝐏𝐎𝐏𝐄, 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 the front seat,"

I followed behind John B as he marched down the porch steps, the key ring dangling from his fingers. The three teenagers looked up to see the two of us approaching the van, oblivious expressions on their faces. Except for the blonde boy, who laid eyes on me and let his face light up with excitement.

"She's coming with us?" Pope protested, only looking at John B.

"Yes," John B sighed out, trying not to sound annoyed, "now move."

"John B, we discussed this," Pope lowered his eyes at him, and spoke with a low tone, glancing to me covertly behind John B. "You said she wouldn't come with us."

"You did say that," the girl said, quietly, from the backseat.

"I don't recall him saying that," the blonde denied.

"You want to get in the room, or what?" John B grew angry and looked to all of them.

No one spoke. Pope pushed the door and jumped out, leaving it open, as John B looked back at me. My arms were crossed, and I couldn't wipe the unhappy look on my face, standing still. He motioned to the passenger seat before making his way around the van to the other side.

"I can't believe you're letting a stranger in on this, John B," Pope protested again, as he settled himself on the back cushion beside the girl.

"She's right there, Pope," the girl hit his arm lightly.

I stepped forward and climbed into the old van, slouching down in the passenger seat. I noticed it was quite comfortable, as I reached out and closed the door. John B sat beside me, closing his door as well.

"Don't be disrespectful to a lady," the blonde boy scolded him, jokingly sounding serious.

"Jj, you also made it very clear that you didn't want her in on this either, when we were driving here," Pope retorted, "remember that?"

"Yeah cus' JB forgot to mention she was hot," Jj clapped back.

"You told them about me?" I asked John B quietly, hoping they wouldn't hear.

"Pope did," he laughed casually, as he gripped his fingers around the ignition key. "He knew who's house I was pulling up to." The van's engine roared loudly for a moment as it started up, before it settled down, and rumbled quietly. "Chill out guys," John B looked at his friends in the rear view mirror overhead.

"You didn't tell her about it, did you?" The girl asked, her voice concerned.

I narrowed my eyebrows as the van slowly pulled off my lawn.

"No, I did not," he reassured, "And she has a name, by the way," he glanced to me.

I felt a wave of nervousness spill over me, for an odd reason.

"I bet it's a hot name," Jj mumbled, sounding like he was focusing on something in his fingers.

I slightly turned my head around to see a rolled up paper in his fingers, as he licked the top of it with his tongue. My lips formed into a tight line when I figured out where the hint of weed scent was coming from in the van.

"Charlotte," John B smiled over at me, "Has offered to assist us on this mission, and this mission only."

Mission.

I watched him as he gripped one hand tightly on the steering wheel, turning us onto the street. He let his other hand rest on his leg, as it pressed on the gas pedal.

"I like that name," Jj commented.

"That's all, just one mission," Pope claimed, serious.

He sounded a bit rude, but I understood where he was coming from. I probably wouldn't like it either if a random girl hopped into his friend's van, and invaded their "mission" which I assumed, was supposed to be kept secret.

No one talked after that for a few long moments. The van drove smoothly down the road, turning on streets I didn't know of, and I watched it all pass by. For a second I felt guilty for leaving the house without my grandparents permission, and since they told me to stay home.

But, the excitement of doing something rebellious like this, overruled my anxiety. A few days before, I'd never been out of New York, and now I was hopping on some "secret mission" with four random teenagers in their Scooby Doo van.

It was exciting, and I didn't know what to expect.

Eventually I had forgotten about making John B tell me about the island. I didn't really want to talk all that much anymore, with everyone in the van.

"So," John B finally announced, after a few long moments, "let me introduce you to everyone." He looked in the rear view mirror at his friends.

I tore my eyes away from the scenery outside my window, and looked to him.

"In the back there, we've got Pope, which you've already met," John B told, and I turned in my seat to look at Pope. "Smartest guy I know."

Pope rolled his eyes.

"Beside him is Kiara," John B continued on.

The girl, with beautiful caramel skin and curly brown hair, made eye contact with me, and I decided to be nice and smile. She smiled back, causing my stomach to fill up with a warmer feeling, becoming more comfortable. She was wearing a white and blue tie-dye shirt and jeans shorts, multiple bracelets around both wrists.

I noticed veryone else had bracelets on too, and I looked down to my wrists, which were bare except for my golden band.

"She's a rich kid, but she hangs out with us," John B explained, glancing to her with a smile.

She rolled her eyes and laughed lightly, looking out the window beside her.

"And then," John B sighed, "there's Jj."

Jj lifted his head after hearing his name, smiling up at me. I looked to him, smiled lightly to be nice, and he slowly smiled back, as if shocked. He seemed shocked that I was actually looking at him.

"My best friend since the third grade," John B reached a hand back to blindly share a handshake with the blonde. "Don't think you really want everyone's life stories, gets a little rough," John B laughed, turning the van onto a new street.

I didn't say anything, and simply gripped my fingers around the shiny band on my wrist. It used to be my mom's, but she had given it to me when I was fourteen, and I've worn it ever since. It didn't really match the vibe of the hippy-van, which was all friendship, hookah and bead bracelets, which caused my gold one to stand out like a sore thumb.

We were driving through the town I'd ridden my bike in the day before, when I went to get Daryl's truck oil. We were headed straight for the blue open-house building I'd seen, with all the people crowding in front of something. John B parked the van on the side of the road in front of it, and pulled out the key. The engine stopped roaring, and things went silent for a moment before the van doors slid open. Out jumped John B's friends.

"Where are we going?" I asked John B, causing him to glance over at me. It was the first thing I'd said all ride.

He hopped out of his side, and closed the door. I stayed in place, not knowing if I should follow him, since I didn't know where we were. I watched him walk all the way around the front to my side, and pull open my door.

"I can open my own door," I lightly laughed, deciding to joke with him, as I stepped out of the van.

"We're going to your grandpa's motel, of course," he said, as he closed the passenger side door behind me with a thud.

"I don't see a motel," I spoke, standing still as he passed me, "Where are they going?" I referred to his friends, who were pushing and shoving one another on the way down a stone path.

I stayed still, refusing to move since I didn't know where he was heading.

"To the boat," he announced, glancing back to me.

"What boat?" I questioned, then deciding to slowly follow after him, very reluctantly.

"I left my boat here," he said, loudly since we were at a distance from each other, "your grandfather's motel is off the marsh."

"What's a marsh?" I narrowed my eyebrows and crossed my arms, quickening my steps so that I wouldn't get left behind.

"You ask a shit ton of questions, Charlotte," he laughed out loud.

I arrived beside him, and he looked over to see me with an unhappy look on my face. We were walking side-by-side along the stone path, heading past the blue house. My arms were crossed and his swayed at his sides. I looked up from staring at my feet to see that, ahead of us, there was an open space of water. Many boats, big and small, clean or dirty, were "parked" beside rows of wooden docks. There was many people outside, and their voices were loud.

I looked back to where John B's friends were heading. The three of them were climbing into the old blue-ish grey boat I'd seen passing by my grandparents' house earlier, with the HMS POGUE written on it. Pope sat in the seat near the wheel, and Jj helped Kiara into the boat with a hand, before shoving her playfully. They fought against each other for a moment.

"Cut it out, guys," John B laughed humorously, looking to them as we arrived at the side of the boat.

He jumped in before me with no effort, meanwhile, I stood on the dock completely clueless on how to approach the situation. I had never been on a boat, let alone jumped into one. I looked down at the space that separated the side of the boat and the dock, staring at the dirty water.

"Hop in," John B looked back to me, as he noticed I wasn't following him.

I waited, an uneasy look on my face. He turned his body around to me and reached out a hand, signalling for me to grab it. I placed my palm onto his, and cautiously, very slowly, stepped down into the boat. He smiled, and then turned away again, heading for the wheel.

"Hey, uh, Charlotte," Pope called out to me, sounding sort of awkward, as he searched through a bin, "Can you pull up the anchor?"

"The what?" I tried to sound as kind as possible, genuinely confused.

"The anchor," Pope looked to me, and so did John B. "You don't know what the anchor is?"

"Chill," John B nudged his arm, "Have you ever been on a boat before?" He asked me, his voice sweet.

"No, I haven't," I said. I felt odd admitting it.

John B looked to Pope, and gave him an i-told-you-so type of look, before he stepped past me. He pulled up the anchor, and I stood there, like an idiot.

"Come sit with us," Kiara called out, and I looked up to realize she was talking to me.

Her and Jj sat on the floor at the front of the boat, beside each other. I softly smiled at her kindness, not really expecting it, and hesitantly began to walk towards the two of them, as John B and Pope started the motor. I reluctantly sat down on the hard metal, feeling it scratch along the back of my thighs.

"So, where you from?" She asked, her tone of voice coming off sweet.

Growing up, I never really had many girl friends to hang out with. You'd think that having no friends would make me antisocial, but I've had many years to think about how to make friends, and finally, I was getting the chance to put my scenarios to the test.

I didn't want to say it for some reason, causing me to look down at my feet. "New York City," I said, quietly.

"I told you, bro," Pope whispered to John B, but I heard them.

"Nah, dude, you guessed Los Angeles," John B replied.

"That's so cool," Kiara ignored the boys as her lips opened into a wide smile, her teeth shining in the sunlight. "I've always wanted to go there," she said, with a sense of admiration.

"So you're a city girl, then?" Jj asked, as he picked small pieces of grass off the floor of the boat and threw them into the water.

"I guess so," I forced a small laugh.

"You ever been outside of New York?" Kiara asked, while she brought her knees up to her chest and placed her arms on top of them.

"No," I replied, sort of whispering.

Then, the boat started to move. It moved slowly in the water, and I immediately glanced back to John B, who simply smiled in my direction. Looking back out, I stared into the distance, suddenly noticing the damage that the hurricane had done to people's boats and docks. John B dodged the large wooden planks that had broken off from the docks, and the enormous stray pieces of cardboard and tree sticks.

I looked past the wrecks, and out into the distance. I felt as though my lips wouldn't move anymore, like I was speechless. All that time I had spent daydreaming about going on a boat ride, drifting through the water, it was all happening. The blue water glistened beneath the blazing sun, almost blinding my eyes when I stared at it for too many moments.

There I was, disobeying my grandparents, sitting under the hot sun, in an old fishing boat with four teenagers I barely knew. It sent a rush into me, a good rush. I'd never acted this way before, but it felt good. If my parents saw me right then, sitting on the front of that boat, they'd scream their heads off for not wearing a life jacket.

"What was your life like, back in New York," Kiara asked, and then corrected herself when John B looked at her, "sorry— that's a personal question,"

"No it's okay," I laughed lightly, "it wasn't like this, that's for sure." I referred to the boat and the water.

No one really said anything until the boat started to slow down after a while.

The whole time, I was staring out at the water, my mind in awe. It was really hard to grasp my conscience around the fact that I was on a boat ride, with other people. I enjoyed the way the wind brushed through my hair, and caused little goosebumps along my arms. I noticed how the open water slowly turned into a smaller pond-like area, with weeds and grass growing from underneath. It was sort of like a maze, going through it.

John B slowed down the boat, as we neared an old motel complex. The sign out front was broken, and had fallen down from the hurricane. Garbage was discarded everywhere near the water. I grimaced, noticing that the motel was run-down and was in dire need of a good clean-up. I tried to spot my grandpa, as if it were any use, to make sure he wouldn't see me right away. I couldn't lay my eyes on him anywhere outside.

John B whistled as the boat really slowed down.

"I thought the chateau looked bad," Jj commented, as each of us stared at the motel in disbelief.

"This place is a shit show," John B said, "no offence, Charlotte."

"My grandpa owns this?" I asked, after softly smiling to John B, which let him know I wasn't offended.

"I guess so," Kiara huffed out, "is it a motel or meth lab?"

"You be the judge," Pope responded.

"Doesn't look like the type of place someone with a Grady-White would stay," John B claimed, stopping the boat.

"No, it looks like the type of place someone with a Grady-White would get killed," Pope added, talking to his friends.

"Yikes," I breathed, my nose filling with an odd smell.

I didn't know what they were talking about, but I didn't care as I kept staring at the motel. Jj hopped out of the front of the boat, tied something to the ground and stood up straight. John B stepped past me, swinging the key ring around his finger.

"Here goes nothing," he sighed.

I lunged forward and stole the keys from him swiftly. He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed, but I simply turned away and stepped off the boat.

"Don't let him do anything stupid," Pope ordered, pointing to Jj.

"I can't make any promises," John B shrugged before turning away.

"Be careful, guys," Kiara called after us.

The three of us were then walking up the steps to the second floor of the motel.

"So, um, I think this would be a good time to tell me why we're here," I spoke up after a minute. John B and Jj were walking ahead of me.

"We can't," John B let his head fall back slightly.

"Yeah— okay, well," I spoke sarcastically and with a sassy tone, moving to stand in front of them, "if I get caught by my grandparents here, you're gonna owe me a big explanation." I specifically looked at John B. "And a maybe a plane ticket."

Both of them stepped past me.

"It's room two hundred and twenty-nine, right?" Jj asked his friend, as he arrived at a door at the end before us.

"That's what it said in the boat," John B shrugged.

"We're here then," Jj announced, looking in the window beside the door.

John B reached his hand out and tried to grab the key ring from my grasp. I quickly pulled away fast, causing the keys to clink against one another beside my ear.

"I keep the keys," I said, serious.

"Fiesty," Jj smiled, while he leant his body on the window, "I like it."

I rolled my eyes before looking down to the ring. I fumbled for the silver key that said "number 229" on it.

Jj knocked on the door, then sang, "Housekeeping," in an old lady voice.

Once the key was found, I stepped past both of them and slid it into the keyhole. John B pushed open the door, revealing a dark and smelly room.

Immediately, the two boys rushed past me and into the empty space, pulling flashlights out of their pockets. They searched around, lifting up bed covers, searching through drawers. I looked at the items on the bed, harshly narrowing my eyebrows.

"John B," I said, my voice serious, "This isn't your mom's room, is it?"

Jj stopped searching and looked to John B. "That's what you told her? Seriously, dude?" Jj put his arms out at his sides.

"Who's room are we invading?" I took a cautious step back, standing at the door.

John B stood up from looking in a cabinet, and stared at me. "Okay, maybe I fibbed."

༄

𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 !