#multiple original characters

REESE !

"KIE, CLOSE THE DOOR," Reese heard Beau say, his voice slow and steady. It was like he was trying to calm down a scared animal. Reese could understand it in this instance and any wrong move and Kie might run and tell the other pogues. That was the last thing she wanted.

She would be labeled a freak. The girl who had a tail. She might be experimented on and ostracized. Reese hadn't even had time to process what was happening to her and now she had two people who she didn't plan on telling about this who knew about it.

"What is going on?" Kie asked, her voice quick and high pitched. Clearly, Reese wasn't the only one freaking out.

"Kie," Beau started, his voice more demanding this time. "Just close the door."

Reluctantly, Kie stepped forward and pushed the wooden door closed. The hinges squeaked, probably a result of the water damage from the storm yesterday.

"Okay, now will someone tell me what's going on?" She asked, crossing her arms and staring at Beau and Reese on the ground. Reese felt her neck muscles start to tighten as she had to crane her neck to see Kie behind her.

Reese watched as Beau held out his hands and floundered for an explanation. She felt bad that she was making him go through this. After everything she'd done to him in the past few months and she was still putting him in awkward situations.

But, at the same time, she felt upset and rage bubbling up inside her. Why did everyone else deserve to know what was happening to her when didn't know herself? Rafe, Beau and now Kie all demanding explanations from her that she didn't have.

"I don't know," She blurted out angrily. "I don't know. Can everyone please stop asking me questions?"

There was silence and Reese looked at Beau, who seemed startled by her sudden outburst, but remained by her side. Then, she looked over at Kie, who made a face of disbelief.

She shook her head and gestured at Reese. "This is why we didn't want to help her, Beau."

"Help me? I never asked for your help," Reese seethed. It's true. She didn't. She was fine trying to figure this out for herself. Maybe she would've told one person down the line when she'd finally figured out what was happening to her. Now, she had two people, one of who she hated, who knew this deep dark secret she'd have to carry for possibly the rest of her life.

"Once a kook, always a kook. Never wanting to even be near a pogue," Kie remarked. "Beau, you may be friends with her, but that doesn't mean I have to stand here and be treated like shit for wanting to be there for my friend." She reached for the door handle, ready to leave.

"Leave already then," Reese scoffed. She wasn't thinking straight, but who could blame her. With everything going on, with her sprouting a tail when she touched water, she felt like she didn't need to think rationally.

"Wait, Kie, just wait," Beau called out, getting up to his feet to follow Kie out the door. "Reese..." He looked at her with a confused look. As if wondering why she had acted that way. "Just, stay here."

"Where am I going to go," She asked as Beau walked away, leaving her by herself.

She felt like a fish out of water. Technically, she was, sort of. She might've contemplated if having a tail actually classified her as a fish if she didn't have bigger fish to fry at the moment. Shit. Fish puns were going to be a regular occurrence now. Not just with her, but if her and Beau came out of this still friends, he'd have no problem making fish jokes at her.

Reese looked around the room for anything that might help her dry off. She figured if she could get the water off of her skin, since that's what caused this in the first place, maybe, just maybe, she could get back to normal.

Beau had told her to stay put while he went to go talk to Kie for whatever reason. Reese didn't need her or her attitude. She figured Beau meant don't leave the building, which she obviously couldn't, but moving around to try and find a towel, well that was fair game.

Reese's eyes landed on a blue and white towel draped over the edge of the desk near the back of the shop. It was where her and her father did all the transactions and polished surfaces boards, so it would make sense they'd have some towels in storage.

While a majority of the shop was flooded when the windows broke during the storm, she guessed that the towels protected by the cabinet doors were relatively dry.

With a huge amount of effort, Reese managed to flip herself over onto her stomach. The tail was a lot heavier than it looked and it took a lot of strength to even move it. Slowly, she managed to drag herself over to the desk, her tail leaving a trail of water as it slid over the floor. She thought that if she ever had to do this again, at least her arms would be getting a workout.

After a few moments of remaining still to regain her strength, Reese opened one of the cabinets below the desk and a pile of towels fell out into a heap. She grabbed the one on the top, which remained dry, while the ones on the bottom had soaked up the standing water on the floor.

She rolled herself over to one of the only dry spots left on the ground and began to run the towel over the tail. It was a bit funny because the only towel that had stayed dry was the mermaid towel she'd had when she was younger that her father insisted on keeping even though it was incredibly old. He said she'd want to use it again when she was older. Well, he wasn't necessarily wrong.

After about three minutes of running the towel over her scales, she felt that familiar tingling sensation in her legs— tail. Then, just as it happened before, her tail went numb and the vision around her eyes started to turn white. Reese blinked a few times to clear her vision and there she was, sitting on the floor back in her overalls, completely dry.

"Alright, alright, fine." Kies voice could be heard outside as she reluctantly agreed to come back into the rental shop.

"Thank you," Beau said, opening the door once more. "I know how you feel about her, but this would mean a lot so..."

"Okay, I get it," Kie cut Beau off, walking in behind him. "So, what exactly are we supposed to help with? It's not like anyone has ever seen a mermaid before."

"I don't know, but there's probably a way to, you know, like, get her back to normal, somehow," Beau offered, clearly not sure on how he was supposed to help Reese, but he had the spirit.

"Well, where is she?" Kie's eyes fell onto the empty spot where Reese had been just minutes before.

"I told her to stay put," Beau shook his head in disbelief.

Reese took his opportunity to stand up from behind the desk, careful not to fall over because sprouting a tail again was the last thing she wanted.

"She's right here," She deadpanned, walking around from behind the desk, stepping over puddles.

It's now that Reese's mind seemed to think more clearly and less with her emotions. She was still slightly perturbed at the fact she could now turn into a mermaid with no explanation and the fact she had two people who knew that about her as well. Plus, everything that went on with Rafe earlier didn't help her emotions clouding her judgement.

She walked up to the pair, stopping in front of them and sighed. She hated apologizing and admitting she was wrong. It was like the worst feeling in the world. To have other people know you did something wrong and then judge you for it. In the past, she knew Beau wouldn't judge her for his actions or behavior, but now she hadn't seen him in so long she had no clue.

Honestly, it felt like she was going crazy. One second, she been so mad and angry she couldn't see straight and the next she'd feel horrible for her actions. It was new, starting this morning, but it had already happened twice and she hated it. She knew it had something to do with what she couldn't remember from last night.

"Look," Reese started. She wanted to look down at her feet and ignore the looks she knew she'd get from Kie and Beau, but forced herself to look at them. "A lot has happened to me in the past two days, but that doesn't mean I get to take that out on you guys. Kie, I know that we don't like each other, but I appreciate that fact you were willing to help me."

Kie nodded, giving a small side smile. Reese knew this wouldn't lead to a blossoming friendship with between them. She knew Kie and the rest of the pogues were her biggest fans. She'd hung out with them a couple of times, but it was clear that she wasn't necessarily welcomed by them.

She knew she should apologize to Beau as well, but what she had to apologize to him for was a lot more personal that just saying some rude comments. She had to apologize for a whole month's worth of shit, so she decided it would be done best in private.

"It's fine," Kie offered. "I know that if anything like that happened to me I'd be freaking out too."

Beau nodded. "I don't blame you," He assured. Then he looked off to the windows and Reese could see he wanted to say more, but didn't because of Kie.

Reese didn't really know what to say after that, if a thank you would be too much to say or not enough, but she did know she didn't deserve their forgiveness. Especially since she'd been so filled with rage only a few minutes ago. She also knew that no one, aside from the people who already found out could know about her having a tail. She started, her tone now serious, "You can't tell anyone. That I'm, you know..."

Reese couldn't even bring herself to say it out loud. A mermaid? It seemed implausible and absurd, but it was true. She, Beau and Kie all witnessed it, so it wasn't something he remind was just making up.

Kie looked over at Beau and then back at Reese, seemingly weighing her options before speaking. "I won't. It's not my secret to tell," She said finally after a moment of silence. Since Beau'd already agreed, Reese's comment was more directed at Kie than anyone else.

Reese felt grateful for that. She didn't want to know what would've happened if Beau hadn't gone after Kie when he did. She might've told everyone.

"I owe you guys," Reese insisted, wanting to make up for how she acted earlier. "Really, I do." She wanted to pay it back or forward or whatever. Kie forgiving her for what she did and keeping her secret felt monumental.

Beau smiled. "I wouldn't say no to some new fishing gear," He laughed.

"I don't want anything," Kie insisted, shrugging. "I've got all I need with the pogues."

Reese raised her eyebrow as if asking if that was true. Her head turned when she heard the voices of the other pogues outside. They were finally here. "Maybe your friends do?" Reese offered, gesturing to the loud voices coming from outside.

"Let's find out," Beau said, looking to both Kie and Reese for agreement.

It wasn't long before Kie had left the building to go talk to the other pogues. Beau wasn't far behind her when Reese grabbed hold of his arm to stop him.

"Thank you," She repeated her words from earlier. "I really appreciate what you did," She added on. She knew it wouldn't make up for everything but she hoped sharing her gratitude was enough to help him see she wanted to start putting in more effort.

"Of course, you know I wouldn't leave you hanging," Beau insisted. Then, he smiled, as a joke formed in his mind. "I wouldn't leave you there to flounder."

"Really? A fish pun?" Reese asked, mock anger in her tone.

"Oh, yeah," Beau nodded, a grin on his face. "They aren't going to stop. Think of it as payback."

Reese felt a pang of guilt when he said that. Harsh, but fair. It was better than him being mad at her for all of eternity and if fish puns were her punishment, like she'd suspected, for being a bad friend, she could live with that.

Reese just laughed and pushed Beau out the door of the rental shop. She was glad to see him again. Seeing her best friend was a relief after being locked in her room by the person she loved. It was also nice that Beau seemed to believe her when she said things rather than get mad or say she was making it up.

As she walked, she felt a weight in the pocket of her overalls. She reached her hand into and felt it clasp around something cold and metal. Her eyes widened as she remembered why she'd come into contact with water in the first place.

They key. The once she'd picked up from the ground. She pulled it out, eyes tracing over it again, this time taking in every detail. From the slightly rusted chain on the end to the grooves in the key's tip.

"So, I heard you owe us something." JJ interrupted her thoughts.

Reese's head shot yo and she shoved the key back into her pocket. She didn't know why she felt the need to hide it. Maybe because both Kie and Beau already knew about her being a mermaid she felt like she had control over this.

"Yeah," She smiled, walking up to the rest of the pogues and taking a spot next to Beau. "Anything you want."

﹒✿﹐♬ ﹒⤹

"JUST FOR THE RECORD, I think this is ridiculous," Reese stated uneasily as she pulled her knees into her chest. She tried to feign confidence, but the situation she found herself really didn't make her feel safe.

She was sat in the middle of the HMS Pogue, knees tucked to her chest and her arms curled around them, trying to stay as far away as possible from the water that surrounded the boat.

"Noted," John B said, carefully steering the boat straight, not even glancing in Reese's direction. She thought after helping them out with this she may have gotten in their good side, but apparently John B didn't have a good side. It's not like he'd ever been rude to her, but he'd been a far cry from nice too.

The pogues had found this key that belonged to a shabby, very damaged from the hurricane motel, and that's where they were headed. Reese had been forced to come along despite her protests because according to JJ, if they got into trouble "kooks never get arrested."

What they would get into legal trouble for Reese didn't know and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. She asked multiple times if they were sure they didn't want anything else. But, since John B didn't want to risk CPS catching wind of him somehow getting tangled up with any sort of law enforcement, this was what they chose.

After much protest, especially with having to be surrounded by water and wanting to find her dad rather than spend time with the pogues even though she offered, she caved and clambered into the boat.

Thankfully, Beau had decided to sit next to her which brought Reese a bit of comfort but not much. One wrong move and she'd be sprouting a tail in front of everyone.

She could hear Pope and JJ whispering to each other about something and Kie was watching the front of the boat like John B as they approached the run down motel.

"Guys," John B called out, getting everyone's attention as the boat drifted toward the shoal of the motel.

"I thought the Chateau looked bad," JJ commented.

"This place is a shit show," John B added on, maneuvering around some debris floating in the water.

Kie made a disgruntled noise before speaking up. "Motel or meth lab?"

"You be the judge," Pope quipped.

"Wait, so why are we here?" Reese asked, standing to get a better view of the place. God, did it look bad, even worse than the Seafarer.

"We're here to do recon," John B stated, docking the boat right off a grassy patch on the side of the motel, out of plain view. "You're here in case we get caught." John B seemed to make a point out of not actually discussing what they were there for.

"I'm a scapegoat?" Reese asked incredulously, giving Beau a quick glance to see what he thought of it. He just shrugged, getting up to his feet as well and hopping onto the grass.

"You said anything," He offered, while John B and JJ followed him. They landed on the ground with a thud. The group of boys looked very similar, which Reese guessed is something that would happen when you spend so much time with people, but Beau looked different than he had a few weeks ago. Like —and this sounded horrible to think, but now that Reese got a better look at him— he didn't look well. She'd have to ask him about it later.

JJ reached down to tie the bow line to some rebar sticking out of the ground. "All right." He dusted off his hands and looked at Beau and John B. "Here goes nothing."

Reese sat back down, once again in the middle and Pope gave her a weird look, but didn't say anything. She felt a bit self conscious now, which had never been a problem before, but it was probably because of the whole mermaid thing.

"Hey," Pope called out to John B right before their group walked away. "Don't let Dumb," He pointed to Beau. "And Dumber," he pointed to JJ. "Do anything stupid."

"Oh, we will," JJ grinned, wrapping his arm around Beau as a gesture of their combined strength when it comes to bad ideas.

"I'm not making any promises," John B said, shaking his head.

Reese watched solemnly as the only anchor she had to the rest of the pogues walked off and over to the ramshackle motel. She guessed that Kie was someone she could someone count on now, but she wasn't Beau. If Reese ever felt uncomfortable or awkward when she was hanging out with Beau and the pogues she knew that her best friend would be there to reassure her. She'd never been around them one in one before and you could sense the awkward shift in the atmosphere.

"We might be here for a while," Kie stated, sprawling onto one of the built in seat on the H.M.S Pogue. "Might as well talk to each other instead of sitting in this," She made a face. "Awkward-ness."

Reese shifted, her grip around her legs that were pulled close to her chest loosening so she could look over at Kie. "Alright, I guess," She offered, opening up the conversation to whatever either Pope or Kie wanted to say.

"Well, first I think we should clear the air," Pope said, facing both of the girls. "It's obviously tense, so by talking about whatever it is that is making you both so anxious would help."

Kie and Reese traded looks before both looking at Pope with a deadpan stare. Almost at the same time, they retorted something along the lines of, "Not happening."

"Okay," Pope put his hands up in defense. "It was just a suggestion."

Kie, ignoring Pope, spoke again. "I have a better one. Twenty questions. It will break the ice or whatever Pope said and make the time go by faster."

Reese nodded and so did Pope which singled Kie to continue her words and imitate the first question. "Okay, biggest pet peeve. I'll go first. Giving one percent to the environment."

"What's wrong with that?" Pope asked. Reese looked over at him, offended he could even ask that when she noticed he'd moved to sit down across from Kie.

"Let me guess, you don't see a problem with throwing away plastic instead of recycling it?" Reese asked, more rudely than she intended. She wasn't major into the 'Earth Stuff', but she did her part, like donate when she could and recycle glass, plastic and cans. She even signed up to help pick up trash on the beach with Sarah and Rafe, which she probably be able to go to now, considering her mermaid issue.

"I think what Reese meant to say," Kie started, rolling her eyes at Pope. "Was that we only have one Earth. We should be giving it 100%, bare minimum."

"Right," Pope said sarcastically and then continued on with what Reese started to call his 'fact voice'. She'd only spoken to him a few times, but she recognized a lecture from Pope when she heard it. "That's not fiscally sound."

Reese looked down and picked at a loose string on her crochet shirt. She wanted to try and make an effort to know the pogues since she was trying to hangout with Beau more, but she couldn't fit herself into the conversation without sounding like a total bitch.

"Neither is destroying the only planet we have to live on," Kie responded, looking off into the distance. There was an unanimous agreement that the group had been designated as the lookout while the others were inside.

As if sensing her uncomfortableness or whatever it is Reese was even feeling, Kie asked another question directly at her as if to try and make conversation. Like they had a new understanding between them after the incident. "Reese, what's your biggest pet peeve?"

Reese felt slightly startled since up until an hour ago her and Kie had never really talked, but it seemed she was taking Pope's advice after all and trying to break the ice. "I guess I've never really thought of it," She answered honestly.

"If you had to choose?" Pope chimed in. Honestly, it felt nice to have both of the pogues that were on the boat with her take an interest. It could be because she was possibly going to save their asses from whatever illegal trouble they may get into, but it could be because they were genuinely interested in being friends.

"Maybe... people who put others down to inflate their own ego. Like, when someone is always pointing out your mistakes but ignore their own."

"Yeah, we all know someone like that," Pope replied as if picturing that particular person in his mind.

"More than one someone," Kie added on, putting a hand in front of her forehead to block out the sun that had come out from behind the clouds. It was slightly cloudy and the wind from the storm hadn't dissipated yet, so Reese's hair had started to flow in her face irritatingly.

Reese didn't have to be a pogue to know that Pope and Kie were most likely talking about kooks. She didn't want to get into anything right now and she had to say that they were right. Most kooks were definitely those kind of people.

"Pope?" Kie asked, posing the question she asked herself and then to Reese and now to him.

What came out of Pope's mouth wasn't the answer to the question, but in fact the opposite of what any of them wanted to hear. "Hey, hey, cops," He whispered, sliding off the seat he was sitting on and crouching low to the ground.

"Shit," Kie cursed, following Pope's actions. "What should we do?"

"Call them," Pope offered, keeping his eyes trained on two officers who'd gotten out of the car.

"You can't call anyone," Reese responded, getting into an upright position like the others so she could get a clear view of the police cruiser. "The towers are down still. We're on the cut."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kie asked, somewhat offended by Reese's words.

"Nothing. Just that—"

"No, Reese's right. We probably won't have power for a while," Pope interrupted, stopping whatever argument was going to form and call attention to their group. "Calling them is out. What else?"

"We brought Reese for a reason, right?" Kie offered, slowly climbing off the boat, still crouched down.

"What?" Reese asked even though she'd heard what Kie said. I only agreed to come because I didn't think I'd actually do anything."

"You said anything," Kie argued back in a singsong voice.

It was true. Reese did say anything and now she was definitely regretting it. She knew, at least she hoped, that even if she backed out of this Kie wouldn't tell anyone about the whole mermaid thing, but she hated going back on her promises.

"Fine," Reese whispered yelled. "Fine, I'm going." She followed Kie off the boat and behind her Pope jumped off too. "But what do I even say?"

"I don't know, make something up," Kie urged, pushing Reese toward the police car. "But, hurry."

"Just don't say anything that involves us," Pope added on hastily. "I don't want to lose my merit scholarship."

BEAU !

" That's Beau. We met at a surf competition a few years ago. He's got some crazy ideas, but they usually seem to work out pretty well. Probably the best fisherman I know. Just, don't tell JJ I said that. He's got this thing for his friend Reese. She's a kook, so guess who doesn't like her. But, she comes around a lot, so we've all kind of gotten used to it and when he's not hanging with her, he chills with us. He got kicked out, so he's been staying with me. He lived on a farm and takes care of the chickens at the chateau, so it's cool with me."

— John B

"YO, BEAU," John B called out, making his way over to the chicken coop looking as though he'd just woken up from the worst sleep of his life. "Have you seen this shit?"

Beau looked up from the chickens that surrounded his feet, all clamoring to get to the feed he'd just put out. He had a favorite, of course, and her name was Hennifer. If there was one thing about Beau, it was that he loved puns and any chance he got, he would make them.

He turned to face John B. If John be looked bad, Beau looked worse. His eyes had bags under them and his hair was disheveled and a bit greasy. He was going to shower this morning, but there wasn't any running water because of the hurricane.

"Yeah, it's gnarly," Beau exclaimed, gesturing to the uprooted tree on its side. When he woke up to feed the chickens this morning, he took one step out side and knew that hurricane Agatha had done more damage than he thought. The HMS Pogue was completely covered in debris and Beau considered it lucky that the dock on the back of the chateau property held up. "It's going to take forever to clean this up."

"That's my nightmare," John B quipped, walking over to the boat.

The bright side, literally, was that the sun was shining and he was still breathing. Beau lived by a philosophy that any day he was above ground was a good one, especially because he's had his fair share of near death experiences. For example, surfing the swell last night with Pope and John B. He wiped out and completely rag dolled. If there was anytime he thought he was going to die, it was then. Definitely not something he would do again, but he was glad he got to experience it at least once.

"Agatha did some work, huh?" JJ stated, it was phrased like a question, but anyone who could see the state of the chateau knew it wasn't up for debate. He walked out the back porch, beer can in hand and took a swig of it.

"Yup," Beau agreed, looking back down at the chickens and wincing at the pain in his neck. He got whiplash last night during his wipeout and the pain in his neck was still very noticeable. He rubbed the back of it to try and soothe some of the pain. "Aggie's a bitch, man."

Once Beau had made sure all the chickens were fed and back in their coop, he fumbled his way over to where John B and JJ were standing. It was a bit of a struggle because of the knocked down trees and broken tree limbs that had fallen during the storm. His dirty, torn work boots barely had any grip left on the bottom, which made having to climb over hurricane debris that much harder.

He sighed when he looked at the small boat John B had started to clear off. It didn't look damaged which was good, but the leaves and twigs and who knows what else that had gotten stuck in there during the storm were going to be a nightmare trying to clean out.

"What you thinkin'?" JJ asked, letting out a burp. Beau wasn't sure if he was talking to him or John B, but thankfully the latter responded so he didn't have to.

"I'm thinking that the storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh. All the drum are going to chase the crab," John B replied, stepping up into the boat to clear out more debris.

"Sounds like good fishing to me," Beau smiled at the prospect.

"What about the DCS thing?" JJ reminded.

"Oh, shit. That's right." Beau's eyes widened. That DCS visit could be bad for multiple reasons. First, John B getting sent to some foster home on the mainland and probably never to be heard from again, which would not be good. But second, Beau had been staying at the Chateau with John B ever since his parents kicked him out two weeks ago, so if DCS caught up with John B, they might catch up with Beau too and then he'd be royally fucked.

His parents had never really cared about him per se. He was the oldest and often reminded of the fact he was a mistake. He wasn't sure why his father decided to tell him that one night when they were taking care of the goats in the pasture, but when he did, it really changed everything. The family dynamic, how his parents spoke to him and about him and how they treated him. It was like once he knew about being this unwanted thing his parents were stuck with, they felt like they could treat him like such.

First, it was being a built in babysitter for his younger siblings, then, it was being forced to do farm work when he was supposed to be at school and eventually he couldn't take it anymore. He finally decided to ask—yell— at his parents to figure out what was going on and what he did to deserve this shitty treatment. As soon as that question was asked and his parents felt trapped with him, they gave him the boot. Jokes on them though Beau always thought. Now, they would have to pay for the labor he did for free.

"Nah," John B shook his head, staring off into the marsh and simultaneously assuaging whatever worry Beau had cooked up in his mind. "They're not getting on a ferry. Not after that," He gestured to the boat still almost completely filled with broken twigs from the live oak it sat under.

"C'mon," John B turned to face Beau and JJ, holding a small stick with the leaves still attached. "It's god telling us to fish."

"I don't have any of my gear though," Beau remembered. "I've been on an involuntary fishing detox for like two weeks."

Unfortunately, when his parents kicked him out, he really didn't have enough time to grab much of his stuff before he had to leave, so he grabbed the essentials, clothes, toiletries and the stash of weed he'd been hiding. No fishing gear had been thought of when he was actively being thrown out.

"Don't you have the lures and pole you got from what's her face's store," JJ asked, pointing out a fact that has somehow slipped Beau's mind.

Reese. That's who JJ had been talking about and yes, her dad had been kind enough to give him some gear for free when he stopped by a few weeks ago before he got kicked out. It also happened to be the last time he'd hung out with Reese, which was just about a month ago. That thought left a sour taste in Beau's mouth. She was too busy with her kook friends to even think about hanging out with him it seemed like.

Either way, it gave Beau an opportunity to keep some fishing gear at the chateau since that's where he usually was when he wasn't at home.

"Oh, yeah," Beau nodded, trying to remember where he ended up putting the gear. "And, her name is Reese," He added on at the end. He may have been pissed off at her right now, but they were still friends and he'd make sure that his other friends knew her name.

"Her name's Reese, John B," JJ mocked, making faces at John B to impersonate Beau. "Did you know that?"

"Whatever," Beau brushed off, rolling his eyes.

It was then he remembered the phone call he'd had with her yesterday and her promising to come over to hang out only to be half paying attention to their conversation the whole time. Still, he hoped that she'd show. Judging by the angle of the sun, it was probably around noon, maybe a bit earlier. So, if she was going to show, it would be soon.

He believed she'd follow through with what she said and if she didn't, it would be last time he believed a word out of her mouth. She'd spent a month making and breaking plans with him and at first he was understanding, but now it just felt insulting, like he was the backup friend.

"Actually," Beau started, trying to approach the topic simply and without over complicating things. He knew the pogues weren't in Reese's fan club, but they tolerated her, so hopefully they'd understand him inviting her to come to the chateau. "Reese said she might be coming over later," He said calmly. "Maybe we should wait a bit."

JJ and John B both looked at each other and Beau knew the look all too well. It was the same look someone gave their friends when their enemy walked in. "Dude, are you serious?" John B asked.

"Yeah, well," Beau stammered. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's a kook," JJ responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Beau understood the two tribes, one island mindset, but he never subscribed to it. He figured that they're all people and at the end of the day and that's what mattered. He knew his opinion was in the minority when it came to this topic, but it didn't mean it was any less valuable.

The whole kooks versus pogues thing seemed like it was just an excuse to be mean and prejudice to people. Sure, there were cultural differences, like a kook definitely wouldn't have the same life experience as a pogue, but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends.

"There's no way she's coming," John B reiterated. Though, it sounded like his words had another meaning. Beau didn't understand. They were friends with Kie and she was basically a kook. And, he wasn't saying that to be mean, which is how some people would take it, he just genuinely thought there didn't need to be this big feud between the two.

"Why," Beau asked. "What's the big deal? Who cares if she's a kook? Kie's one."

"Woah," JJ started, holding his hands up to explain his point. "Kie's a pogue. Through and through."

"Okay," Beau shrugged. "But, that doesn't explain why you guys don't like Reese."

"Do we have to spell it out for you?" JJ laughed, not believing that Beau could be so oblivious and naive at the same time.

Beau just raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "She's dating Rafe Cameron," He said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The Cameron's are like kooks on steroids and she might as well be one of them."

"Yeah, also, she's not into you, man," John B added on. Beau felt this small ball of rage start to build up inside. He knew his friends didn't like Reese all that much, but saying she was a Cameron was just crossing a line. She may have been dating one, but she didn't treat pogues like scum.

The Cameron's were the only exception to Beau's 'we're all the same' philosophy which may be hypocritical or whatever, but if anyone had special treatment because of their wealth it was them.

Another thing that really pissed Beau off was everyone constantly saying he had a thing for Reese. They were just friends. Sure, he hung out with her the same amount if not more than his other friends, but that's because they grew up together. There was no way, no possible way, he had any romantic feelings for her at all and anyone who said otherwise was mentally unstable.

Just wanting this conversation to be over so he didn't have to deal with accusations of being in love with his best friend or any more of this kooks versus pogues shit, he spoke up, promptly ending the conversation. "I'm waiting."

John B and JJ shared a look. Beau knew what it meant, that he they thought he was being stupid. He was letting his feelings for Reese, his non existent ones, dictate his actions. But, that was just not true. He wanted to wait partially, yes, because he wanted to hangout with her, but also so he could finally get a reason why she'd been blowing him off time after time to hangout with those kooks.

It's not like he couldn't see where his friends were coming from. Usually kooks were fairly rude and inconsiderate, so he understood the distrust from that perspective, but they had met Reese. Maybe it was the Rafe thing that had them so riled up. To be fair, Rafe got everyone annoyed or upset because that's kind of just who he was. An annoying, stuck up, psychotic rich kid with daddy's money.

And another thing, if Reese actually wanted to be here, she would've been here by now. It's not like her to be late, so the fact she wasn't here and it was almost afternoon didn't make matters any better. But, even still, Beau decided he'd wait and he didn't care if his friends did or not.

"Fine," John B gave in. "We'll wait."

"If she ain't here in an hour, we're leaving your ass, though," JJ added on.

"If she isn't here in an hour..." Beau trailed off. He didn't know what to finish his sentence with, but if she essentially stood him up again today, he doubted he'd even speak to her again. A friend can only take so much of being put second before they can't do it anymore.

An hour came and went. It was almost embarrassing having to walk out of the chateau to face his friends who'd been fixing up the Pogue and say that Reese was in fact not coming.

So, Beau didn't say that, he simply said, "We fishing or what?" He didn't want to spend the day upset. He had too much sadness going on in his life and if his so called best friend didn't bother to show up, he wasn't going to waste his time thinking about her.

﹒✿﹐♬ ﹒⤹

THE MARSH WAS surprisingly had very little debris from the hurricane. It was almost like Agatha had skipped right over it and went towards the houses more inland. It had that usually marsh smell to it, sulfury and a bit muddy, but Beau had grown used to and actually quite fond of the smell over time. It was where he had some of his best memories.

The HMS Pogue surged forward now that everyone had climbed safely aboard or at least as safe as they could be for a group of pogues. They'd picked up Pope first and his dad was less than thrilled to see his son running off and skipping out on post hurricane chores for the day.

Then, they'd gotten Kie from her parent's restaurant, The Wreck. It was a pretty nice place, good food and service. Although, Beau could tell her parents didn't like their little friend group very much. They liked Reese pretty good though, so whenever her and Beau would go there for lunch to catch up, Kie's parents were pleasant to him. They had a really good sea food boil and sometimes when Beau hadn't gotten enough to eat the night before, he'd dream about it.

So, there they were. Out on the marsh, not a care in the world. Just hanging out with their friends. Beau had his fishing pole in one of the slots right off the side and had his line pretty slack trawling behind the boat. If fishing was good, like he and John B suspected, he might be able to catch some dinner.

JJ had just decided it would be an amazing idea to stand at the front of the boat and hold out his beer to try and see if he could drink it from the sheer force of the wind blowing in his face. Safe to say it was a bad idea as it resulted in beer getting everywhere.

It was all fun and games until the boat hit something in the water causing it to come to an immediate halt and everyone on board lurched forward. That included JJ taking a front flip from the bow into the marsh and Beau, who'd been standing up messing with his fishing pole, to fly forward and nearly face plant into the floor of the boat.

Thankfully, he caught himself in time as to not fall over. He looked back at his friends, just to make sure they were all okay. From the looks of it, no one was dead or injured, just slightly perturbed.

"Jesus, Pope," Kie exclaimed, her hand resting on one of the built in seats on the HMS Pogue. He noticed the stack of woven bracelets that covered her wrist and looked down at his own. They all had the same bracelet, all of the pogues that is. Last summer, Kie had decided they all needed friendship bracelets, but she forced them to learn how to it with her. So, while all the bracelets had the same pattern and colors, they varied in skill.

It was then Beau noticed his fishing pole had flown out of the holder. He groaned internally and accepted that his only fishing pole could've been damaged. "Pope," He started. "If my line snapped..."

Beau took a few steps over to the back of the boat to pick up his fishing rod and his face contorted with frustration when he realized the line was slack. That was his only line. He didn't have any extra hooks or lures that he could tie on the line.

"Sandbar," Pope offered as an explanation after everyone had called out that they were alright. "The channel changed."

"No shit," JJ retorted as he swam up to the boat. Beau walked over to the stern of the boat and held out his hand for JJ to grab so he could pull him up and out of the water. This wasn't the first time that one of them had gone flying off the front of the HMS Pogue and Beau guessed it wouldn't be the last.

"Hey, I saved the beer though," JJ smiled, holding up the beer in his free hand and taking a swig.

"That's great, JJ. Really. I'm so proud," Beau rolled his eyes and used his legs to hold the brunt of JJ's weight as he lifted the boy out of the water.

"Guys," Pope said, attempting to get the attention of his friends. John B and Kie were talking about something that Beau had drowned out had he was more focused on trying not to drop JJ. "...I think there's a boat down there."

As if losing all the concentration he'd had when he heard what Pope said, Beau let go of JJ and he toppled back into the water.

"Shit, my bad," He called out to JJ, not really paying much attention as his focus shifted to Pope.

"You serious?" He asked as a chorus of unimpressed quips from his friends rang out in response to Pope.

"Yes, dude," He nodded, his eyes not leaving the water in front of the boat. He pointed to murky water a few feet in front of him. "I'm serious, there's a boat down there."

Beau hurriedly took a few steps over to where Pope was standing to look down and there it was. The white roof of a boat sitting at the bottom of the marsh.

"Holy shit," Kie breathed out, astonished. "He's right. Let's go."

It wasn't long before both John B and Kie had jumped into the water and swam out a couple of yards to the wreck.

Beau should've felt excited. They found a boat and if they turned it in, they'd get some sort of finders fee, but instead he felt dread. If there was a boat down there, what happened to the owner? Moreover, if something did happen to the owner, what if it happened to them when they went to explore it?

As if verbalizing Beau's thoughts, Pope asked in a joking manner, "You think there's a dead body down there?"

Beau groaned internally at the thought. "Dude, don't say that," He insisted. "Bad mojo," He waved his hands around as if to make his point clear.

"Get your asses in here," JJ called out to the two of them, as three out of the five were already in the water waiting to go down to see the wreck.

With that, Beau threw off his shirt and hat. He ignored the uneasiness building in his chest and jumped into the water following Pope.

It was cold, a little too cold for the beginning of summer. But, that was probably because the hurricane had messed with the currents on the water, making the warm water circulate down to the bottom.

He came up for air and shook his head, trying to get the wet hair out of his eyes. He swam over to his friends and without warning they all dove down to the bottom of the marsh.

He took a deep breath before following. As he went deeper, he felt his ears pop uncomfortably at the pressure of the water. He grabbed hold of the top of the boat and used it to push himself further into the water. It was difficult to make out what type of boat it was in the dirty water, but he'd spent enough time at the marina with Reese and her father to know what a Grady-White looked like.

He grabbed hold of the metal railing and pulled himself forward a bit more to get a closer look. Beau was confused at first, because this boat looked brand new. As in, recently bought and only used a few times. No person in their right mind would take this boat out during a hurricane, let alone not prep it before the storm.

He, John B, and Pope all surfed the surge last night. They all saw a boat that looked exactly like that one go over the waves. This was too big to be a coincidence.

Then, with that realization, the uneasy feeling was back only this time it felt like someone was sitting on his chest. He felt like he couldn't breathe. It wasn't until he saw his friends push off the boat and swim back up to the surface, that Beau remembered he was underwater and that was most likely the reason he felt that way.

He surfaced quickly after the rest of the pogues and gasped for air. "You guys saw that right," JJ asked almost immediately. He was clearly excited and Beau wasn't about to let his random thoughts about this being a bad sign ruin his friend's excitement. It was probably nothing anyway. "That's a Grady-White. A new one of those is like 500 G's. Easy."

Getting back to the HMS Pogue and being able to breathe for a few minutes allowed their conversation to flow more quickly. "Yeah, that's boat we saw when we surfed the surge," John B recalled, pushing the wet hair out his face. "Maybe it hit the jetty or something."

"You surfed the surge," Kie asked, looking to John B and then over at Beau and Pope.

Beau nodded. "Got the neck injury to prove it," He grimaced. It was meant to be a joke, but the pain he'd been ignoring in his neck all day was very real.

"Pogue style," Pope added on, giving JJ a high five.

"Wait," Pope realized, as if remembering a key fact everyone else was forgetting. "Do we know whose boat that is?"

Beau had a few ideas. Probably some idiot from the other side of the island who didn't know how to properly use their boat. Going out in a storm was an insane risk and only a person with zero boating experience would be crazy enough to do it.

"No," John B began, opening up the storage below the stern to grab the anchor. "But we're about to find out."

﹒✿﹐♬ ﹒⤹

THERE WAS PROBABLY over two hundred people at the marina. After John B had used the anchor to weigh himself down to get to the wreck faster, he resurfaced with a motel key, much to everyone's disappointment.

So, when Kie suggested they go to the Coast Guard to report the wreck, he was onboard since it seemed like the next logical step. He figured if they weren't in trouble, speaking to government officials who didn't know anything about the pogues wouldn't be such a bad thing and a finders fee meant not having to work his ass off all summer. Not that Mr. Harbour wasn't nice, but working at his best friend's father's shop every single day wasn't his idea of fun.

However, as soon as they got to the marina it felt like a bad idea. It was utter chaos. There were people everywhere inside the municipal building and all over the docks. Beau thought he even saw a few animals walking around. It would be at least a two hour wait to talk anybody who would be able to give them a reward.

They'd pulled the boat over to one of the clear parts of the dock, mostly empty with a few people walking back and forth from their boats with trash and debris. Beau grabbed the bowline and tied it tight around an anchor on the dock.

"So, what's the plan," He asked as everyone else stepped onto the dock. JJ handed Beau the hat he'd taken off before getting into the marsh.

"Good question," John B stated, looking around the scarily busy marina. He groaned and put his hands behind his head.

"Why don't we just split up," Kie offered, though she said it like the most obvious thing in the world.

"That could work," Pope agreed, nodding. "There's a line over there," He pointed to the very, very long line of people in front of a tent with a few tables and people in uniform sitting behind them. "And, probably one inside too. Some of us wait out here, the others wait inside."

"That's going to take forever," JJ groaned. "And, it's hot as balls out here, dude. If we're waiting, I call going inside."

Pope rolled his eyes, "Fine."

"I'll go with him," Beau told the rest of the pogues. He honestly didn't care about the heat, but he'd rather not get a horrible sunburn on his arms from waiting in that line outside.

Plus, if he was remembering right, there was a bait and tackle shop on the bottom floor of the marina building which meant he could get some lures. He didn't have a lot of money, but why waste your money on food when you could waste it on ways to catch your own food?

"Okay," Pope nodded. "Whoever gets done first, meet back at the Pogue," He directed, looking specifically at JJ who was known for being bad at following plans.

"Okay, okay, alright," JJ laughed, putting his hands up in defense. "Meet up at the Pogue. Got it."

Beau and JJ started making their way over to the doors that lead to the municipal building. They'd have to climb up the stairs that lead to the floor where the front desk was and all the offices. If Beau had to guess there was probably an incredibly long line they'd have to stand in and it would take a very long time.

As nice as that finders fee sounded, standing in line for upwards of three hours may not have been worth it. Then again, finders fee equalled no summer work and no having to face Reese. At this point, that sounded amazing to Beau since the thought of seeing Reese or even having to talk to her made him upset.

"How much to you think they'll give us?" JJ asked, already scheming on how he planned to spend his cut the finders fee, if they even got one. "I'm thinkin' since it's a Grady-White, we got a shot at like 15 G's."

Beau almost laughed at that. That seemed like a generous over estimate on how much they'd actually be getting. Realistically, Beau figured it would be a lot lower, but he was done thinking realistically. Ever since he got that twinge of fear after finding the boat, he didn't want to think like that again. It wasn't a feeling he enjoyed, so by following logic, thinking unrealistically, he'd feel better.

Beau whistled to show his reaction to JJ's estimate. "That would be nice. 3,000 for each us."

"I'd quit my job at the Island Club with money like that," JJ insisted. "Find someplace with people who don't look down their nose at me."

"You and me both," Beau laughed. It's true, he did hate being thought of as less than. Even, if he didn't like the 'us versus them' mentality, he wasn't a big fan of when people generally thought they were so much better than him, which happened quite often while working at The Seafarer despite Mr. Harbour's best efforts.

"I'd get new fishing gear," Beau started. "Maybe a cheap dirt bike that I can fix up." He turned to look at JJ as they approached the door leading to the stairs. "Where'd you get yours?"

It was then that he slammed into someone walking out the door as the time he was walking in. He looked down, blinking a few times to recover from the shove and come face to face with Reese Harbour. The very same Reese that was supposed to be hanging out with him today, but stood him up and the Reese who was supposedly his best friend. He furrowed his eyebrows as she took a step back.

What was she doing here athe marina? Shouldn't he be hanging out with her other friends since that's all she ever did anyway?

"Look who it is," Beau said, his voice sounded friendly, but his face told a completely different story. His eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth pulled into a frown. He felt upset, almost betrayed. "The girl of the hour."

"What?" Reese asked, looking around. Beau rolled his eyes. Playing dumb was a new low, even for her. As if she forgot about the plans they had. 

"Forget about us already?" He asked, gesturing somewhere behind him and next to him. The rest of the pogues were somewhere in that long ass line and JJ stood there next to him, but it didn't feel awkward. It felt like he had one of his best friends witnessing him finally stand up for himself after being put second for months.

Beau was tired of being treated like he didn't matter, especially by the person who he'd grown up with. He didn't want to think about it anymore, but as soon as he pushed this girl out of his mind, she came back even worse than before.

"What?" She asked again, although it didn't feel like a question. It felt more like a sarcastic comment, like she heard him, but what he said was ridiculous. "No, no." She waved her hands in front of her face. "Of course not, Beau."

"So, where were you?" He was upset and he had every right to be. Reese blew him off to probably hang out with her loser boyfriend. Again, he hated people who thought they were better than him and Rafe was king at making him feel like shit about himself.

Another reason to be upset. Reese was lying to him, to his face. She clearly forgot about their plans, but was too high and mighty to admit that's what happened. Beau felt like he didn't matter to her anymore, and that felt like a stab to the gut. After years of friendship an explanation would be nice.

"I'm sorry," Reese apologized. "Last night, I don't even know what happened," She started to explain. "I think my dad is missing and..." She trailed off.

That caused Beau to pause the dialogue in his mind. Her dad? Missing? Beau's face contorted in confusion. That couldn't be true. Mr. Harbour wasn't the type of man to just vanish or go missing. He was a responsible and sensible guy, one that Beau looked up to. While he may not have wanted to work for the man for the whole summer, he was still a good dad and over all guy. Better than his dad, that was for sure.

He watched as Reese lowered her head and started at the ground. He followed her gaze and his eyes landed on her leg, a bandage cover up what looked like a nasty wound. How'd she get that? How'd he notice sooner? Was he so blinded by anger and hurt he couldn't see that his friend was obviously not doing well?

"Wow. You look like shit," JJ commented as if seeing the same thing that Beau had. While it was a good description, it was not necessarily something he guessed Reese wanted or needed to hear right now. "Yo, what happened to your leg?"

Beau hit the back of JJ's head. Again, he was asking important questions, but Beau could tell Reese was not in any mood to be on the receiving end of JJ's humor right now. It was like all the anger and frustration and sadness left his body when he saw how upset Reese looked. Yes, he was upset, but at the end of the day she was still his friend. Even though he was treated like a second choice, he wouldn't do the same to her.

"Thanks, JJ," She muttered, brushing past the pair and walking away.

"Great, JJ," Beau groaned. "Really fucking great."

"What, dude? All I did was be honest," He shrugged.

Beau just stared at JJ. "You serious right now?" Beau supposed that since JJ only really hung out with the pogues he didn't know where to draw the line at being honest and hurting feelings since that wasn't really a line with their friends. Well, maybe a faint line that was barely imprinted in the sand. A line that didn't apply to people who didn't know the pogues or JJ that well.

"Just," Beau started, looking past JJ and in the direction that Reese had walked off in. He couldn't see her anymore, but he had an idea of where she might be going. "Go tell everyone I went to The Seafarer."

"You're going after her?" JJ asked, disbelief in his voice.

Beau inhaled sharply. "Yeah, guess I am."

"You, my friend," JJ started, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't even start," Beau responded, shrugging off JJ's hand. He knew what he was going to say. That Beau was Reese's bitch or that he was down bad or some other phrase that would suggest be had romantic feelings for Reese when that couldn't be further from the truth. All he wanted to do was make sure his friend was okay, even if sometimes she didn't do the same for him.

﹒✿﹐♬ ﹒⤹

"I DON'T GET IT," Kie announced as the group of pogues walked down the dirt road leading to The Seafarer. "Why are we helping her?"

Beau sighed and stopped walking. His shoes caked in mud. The pogues left a trail of footsteps in the mud behind them since the ground was still wet from the storm. They'd had to walk around mud puddle after mud puddle to get to the rental shop.

This is exactly why he didn't want the other pogues coming alone. It was clear they didn't have any opinion on what happened to Reese, especially from Kie's comment.

"Then, why did you come?" Beau asked, exhausted. He's had to deal with this kooks versus pogues shit for too long. If a pogue and a kook wanted to be friends and saw each other as equals who gave a fuck? "If you don't 'get it', why are you here?"

"Excuse me?" Kie asked, her tone upset. "Why did I come? Because you're my friend and I care about you! Even if you're worried about some kook who treats you like trash!"

Beau opened his mouth to respond, but John B beat him to the punch.

"Hey, hey," John B stepped in, trying to be the pacifist. "Stop. Alright. We're pogues, we stick together. That's why we came," John B gestured to the group. "No pogue left behind."

"Yeah, man," JJ chimed in. "P4L."

"Look," Pope started. "It doesn't matter if we aren't friends with Reese," He directed his gaze at Kie when he said that. "You're friends with her, so we'll go with you to make sure she's okay."

"Doesn't mean we're chill with her, though," JJ added on, probably to clarify, but it felt like a jab at Beau from their conversation earlier this morning.

"Dude," John B reprimanded. "Time and place."

"So," Kie spoke up. "We're helping her because she's friends with Beau and Beau's a pogue and our friends, so we're supposed to help him?"

"Yeah," John B nodded. "Basically."

"Fine. Whatever, let's just make sure she's okay so we can go back and get our finders fee." Kie started walking forward again, the mud shifting on the ground as she walked.

Beau was about to reply when a loud shriek that rivaled even the best horror movies echoed around the buildings that surrounded them. The dirt road that lead to The Seafarer had a boat house just off to the left and few restaurants nuzzled back into the trees that surrounded the marsh not too far from where they stood.

Beau's eyes widened and he turned around to face the direction where it came from. That was the direction of The Seafarer and that voice definitely sounded like Reese. He'd never heard her like that before. Without a second thought, he took off running.

He passed Kie within a few seconds and kept going. He tripped a few times on the slick mud beneath his feet and even fell when his foot hit uneven ground. The muddle puddle he fell in stained his shirt and legs with dirty, brown water, but that didn't stop him.

He was back up on his feet in seconds and rushing toward the rental store. It wasn't long before the building came into view as well as the large downed tree blocking the front entrance.

The front porch of the shop was littered with broken planks of wood and debris from fallen trees. Beau skillfully flung himself over the large tree trunk that blocked the doorway and landed on his feet with a thud. He was wearing the work boots he got from JJ since he didn't have much when he was kicked out, so the debris didn't bother him as he approached the front door.

"Reese," He called out once he was close enough to hear panicked breathing from inside. "Are you okay?"

"Do not come in here," She called back, her tone clearly frightened.

"What happened," He asked again, hoping to get an answer. "You're really scaring me here."

"Just go away," Reese demanded, this time she sounded agitated. Like she was annoyed by even his presence.

He turned to look behind him to see if the other pogues had caught up with him yet, wondering if maybe that was the reason why Reese wanted him to leave. They hadn't, but he heard voices getting closer, so they were nearing.

"I heard you scream, I know you're not okay," Beau told her, placing his ear to the door to try and hear anything that would help him figure out what happened. "If you're worried about the pogues, the aren't here, so—"

"Go away, Beau!" She shrieked. "I mean it, leave me alone. I don't need your help or anyone else's!"

Beau felt a pang in his heart. Reese had done plenty of things to Beau over the past few months, but yelling at him was new. Beau didn't like it. He felt horrible at even the thought of her being upset with him, but now as it was coming to pass, he felt even worse.

Then again, if she was already mad, him opening the door and at least making sure she was okay with his own eyes wouldn't make the situation even worse. Before Beau could even weight the options in his head, he grabbed the door handle and shoved it opened.

He stepped inside, his boots clunking against the floor. "Reese, I—"

As soon as his eyes searched the room and fell on his friend, he froze. Reese's head whipped around at the sound of Beau's voice. "I told you not to come in," She spoke, her voice now soft and wavering.

Beau couldn't believe his eyes. It wasn't possible. There was no way. He remained still, eyes tracing over Reese's form. "You," He started, but stopped, not knowing what to say. He shook his head and took a step closer to her. "You have a tail," He laughed in disbelief. "What the fuck, you have a tail?"

He stared, taking in every last detail, from the dark orange scales at the fin to the flecks of white that highlighted it. He noticed how Reese's clothes had disappeared and in its place, well obviously a tail, and scales that covered her chest and shoulders and back in intricate patterns. How her hair looked damp from water with no source other than the shallow puddles on the ground.

He noticed how Reese seemed petrified, not only about herself, but about him. That he was there, witnessing this moment. He walked closer to Reese, slowly moving forward. He crouched down next to her, holding her gaze.

"You can't tell anyone," Reese whispered. "You can't."

Beau nodded almost instantly at her request. "Yeah, of course. But," He laughed slightly, not knowing how else to react. "How did this happen, Reese?"

"I... have no idea," Reese breathed out. "Everything from yesterday is a blur. I can't..." It looked like Reese was struggling to get the words out. Like even trying to remember anything was painful.

He may have been upset or angry or everything in between, hurt by Reese's words and worse. But, right now, he had to let all that go because his friend, his best friend needed help and support.

"Hey," Beau soothed. "That's okay, you don't have to know." He put a hand on her shoulder, holding back making a face at the feeling of scales coming into contact with his skin.

"But," Reese tried to argue. "I need to know," She insisted. "My dad, he's missing, and now I have a fucking tail and I don't know what to do—"

"We'll figure it out together," Beau assured, cutting off Reese. "Everything. We'll figure it out. The tail, your dad, anything else."

Reese's eyebrows furrowed as her face grew confused. "Why? I've been so horrible to you, Beau. I've been a shitty friend. Why would you even want to help me?"

Beau only smiled. He'd been wrong to be upset at her earlier. Clearly, she'd been dealing with a lot yesterday, it was no wonder she forgot about their plans. While, no, that doesn't excuse her behavior the past few months, Reese was regretful and upset with her own actions. Maybe after they figured out all this, they could sit down and have a conversation about their friendship and how Beau felt less than as of recently.

"Reese," Beau started. "Us 'pogues' have a saying." He thought back to only minutes earlier when ironically he'd heard the phrase from his friend. "No pogue left behind."

"But—"

"It doesn't matter," Beau shook his head, knowing that Reese would say she wasn't one. "A pogue is someone who stands with their friends, no matter what, and Reese, you've been by my side since junior high. You're a pogue in my eyes."

"Even if you think the kook/pogue rivalry is overrated?"

Beau laughed, this time it was a real laugh, not one of uncomfortableness. "Yeah." He nodded. "Now," He said, looking around for a something to dry Reese off with. "Let's see if we can't figure out how to get you back to normal."

Before he stood up, Reese grabbed his arm. She stared at him, her eyes searching his. "Thank you."

Beau could tell that was a loaded statement, but he didn't have time to unpack everything Reese meant when she said that. All he knew is that he was happy he could help his friend and that he felt this warmth inside him every time he got Reese to look at him.

"What the actual fuck," A voice called from the doorway.

REESE !

THE TALL GRASS that surrounded the shore itched her legs as she walked around the motel and over to the front. She kept swiping bugs off of her and dry blue grass irritated the skin on

her legs so bad she could hardly walk.

Reese hastily walked around a few fallen tree limbs and a mattress with mysterious stains she didn't even want to know about, eventually making her way up to the front of the parking lot where a police cruiser had been parked.

She looked down at herself to see mud stains and debris all over her. Her overalls had been caked in dirt, probably from when she fell at the rental shop and her shoes were dirtied from her walk up to the motel from the boat. She groaned. At least it would make her story more believable to whoever she was going to talk to.

Reese hurriedly made her way around the blue and white truck and then put on her best worried face. Her brown hair was disheveled and tangled which helped sell what she was going for. She saw deputy Shoupe, at least that's what she thought his name was, and another lady talking to what she could only assume to be the motel manager since he was pointing like he was giving directions.

She mustered up whatever courage she had remaining after the earlier events of the day and rushed forward, panic in her voice. Did Reese want to do this? No. But did she make a promise? Yes.

"Hey," She called out, running up to the officer with her steps faltering. She played up the injuries she'd gotten last night, hoping it would distract him long enough. "Please, please help."

She watched as both of the officers turned to her, their attention being taken away from going up to where the pogues were and over to her. The woman officer, looked suspicious, but still walked over to Reese, placing a hand on her shoulder, comfortingly. Shoupe stayed where he was, as if assessing the situation.

"Are you okay?" The woman asked, looking Reese over and lingering on her bandaged leg.

"No, no," Reese spluttered, trying her best to sound anxious and frazzled. It wasn't too hard considering all she'd been through and the fact she still hadn't had a chance to figure out where her dad went. "Please, you have to help me."

Reese looked at the officer with pleading eyes and she turned to her superior, Deputy Shoupe. Reese had heard stories of him, though she was almost positive she'd never met him before. Her dad had, seeing as they went to high school together, but Reese was never friendly with the man.

"Now, hang on a minute," Shoupe said, holding is hand out. "You're Harbour's kid, ain't cha?" He asked, narrowing his eyes as if it would help him identify Reese.

"Yes, yes," The brunette girl nodded rapidly.

She watched as Shoupe turned his attention back to the room he and his partner were no doubt heading too, the same room the three boys had entered maybe 10 minutes ago.

Internally, Reese screamed. She was supposed to be the distraction and it didn't seem to be working.

"Well, then if you don't mind waiting just a second. I'm sure we can figure something out for you, we just have more pressing business to handle," Shoupe said, nodded for his other officer to walk away from Reese and start heading up the stairs.

"No, no wait," Reese insisted, taking a couple steps, as if to follow them, and then stumbled, playing up her injury. "He's missing. My dad's missing!"

She didn't want to go out and say it, especially not to an officer since her father may have been involved in some really bad stuff. If they looked to much into his disappearance then they might figure out what else he was up to as well. Not that Reese knew what it was, but it couldn't be good, especially after what she over heard last night.

Shoupe turned around at her words, slowly, as if he was still trying to process the girls words. "What?"

"He's missing," Reese repeated, which made it feel all the more real. "He's been missing since last night. I tried to call the station but the phone lines are down, so I tried to find you. Since you know him."

"You're serious?" Shoupe asked, waking closer to Reese in suspicion.

"Yes," She said exasperated.

Shoupe shared a look with his partner, one that Reese couldn't understand. "Well, if that's the case, my partner here will take you back to the station and you can fill out a missing person report. How's that sound? I'll be there soon to get a witness statement."

"You—you aren't going too?" Reese stumbled over her words.

"No," Shoupe shook his head. "I've got a couple of things I need to figure out here. Your dad being missing isn't the only thing wrong on this island."

"But," Reese started, but was ushered closer to the police car by the woman officer with Shoupe.

"Come on," She said. "It will be alright," the officer said in some failed attempt to make Reese feel better.

"Shoupe please," Reese pleaded, using her best acting. She had never been good at it and didn't understand how people could fake something like emotions, but this time she tried her hardest. "You know my dad. You know he wouldn't just run off. Something is seriously wrong and I need help."

The deputy sighed and turned back to look at the motel that he was no doubt about to search. "Look, I know you're not like these Pogue kids running around the island and stirring up trouble, but right now there's bigger things going on than your dad being missing. I'm sorry to put it that way, but it's the truth. Now, if you'll just go to the station and write out a report I'm sure we can figure out what happened."

Shit, shit, shit, Reese cursed internally. This wasn't working and now Beau and the pogues were about to be caught snooping around a potential crime scene which was a very bad look. Not to mention she might be implicated in that since she came up to them.

"No!" She stomped her foot, turing up the drama. "If you'll won't help me, I'll look myself," She insisted. If the pogues were going to be caught despite her best efforts, she would not be there when they did and this seemed like the only way out of what she'd started.

"Now, hold on a minute," Shoupe started but was cut off when Reese made a break for it. She darted in between the two cops and down the asphalt path that lead to gate of the motel. "Hey! Reese," Shoupe called behind her.

She didn't stop even at the idea of being chased down by the police. She ran through the tall grass ignoring the sea grass rubbing against her legs and all the way around back to the shore line where the H.M.S Pogue was sitting.

"Hey, what happened? Aren't you supposed to be distracting them," Kie asked frantically as Pope attempted (and failed) to throw rocks at the window of the room the others were in to alert them.

"Long story," Reese managed to say out of breath. "Police, not believe, go," She huffed out as she held her side.

Pope turned to face her. "What did you say to them?"

"I just said that my dad was missing and needed them to help me find him," Reese said, still out of breath.

"And you ran away from them? Shit," Pope cursed. "They are going to know something's up, we have to tell them," Pope insisted, throwing another rock at the window of the motel to get the trio's attention. Instead of hitting the pane of the window, it clattered onto the fire escape below, making a loud clank.

Reese gave sarcastic look toward Pope, "That's how you throw?"

"He was on the math team," Kie answered frustrated, picking up yet another pebble and launching it at the window. It fell just short and clattered against the rotted wood window sill.

Reese scoffed and grabbed a couple of pebbles from the bank of the marsh and reared back before rocketing them toward the window. They hit it pane with a sharp ding before dropping to the ground. Both Kie and Pope stared at her.

"What?" Reese shrugged. "I play softball at home," she answered their questioning looks. When she wasn't spending the summer with her dad, she was at her mom's house for the rest of the year. Not her choice, but until she turned 18 it wasn't really up to her. Softball made it better at least, but being away from her friends and her boyfriend, even if he was a pain the ass sometimes, was really difficult.

It was then the blinds of the room peeled back and Beau's face was just barely visible through all the grime built up on the left pane. He gave a questioning look to the group.

Almost simultaneously the group of three standing on the bank of the marsh whispered as loud as they could, "Cops!"

Reese waved her hands in the direction they were coming from while Kie waved her hands to get the attention of JJ and John B, and Pope kept trying to get the message across.

Reese could feel her heart rate spike, pounding against her chest, as her, Pope, and Kie all raced back to the boat. She jumped onto it, careful to avoid any water from the marsh. She didn't realize how difficult it would be to avoid water. Kie and Pope crashed behind her, piling onto the boat and trying to look as nonchalant as they could.

Now, they could only hope the boys would understand what they were trying to say and find a way to hide or get out of the room.

"Shit," Rees cursed, realizing her fatal mistake.

"What, what?" Kie asked, out of breath either from the anxiety of maybe being caught or running to the H.M.S Pogue.

"They talked to me, if they see me with you guys, they'll for sure know something is up," Reese said, panic bleeding into her voice.

Kie's eyes widened at the realization. She looked at Pope and back at the window of the room the boys were in. "Should we peel?"

Pope shook his head. "You never leave a Pogue behind."

"Then, what are we going to do?" Reese asked.

"Just, just get in the water and hide behind the boat," Pope answered, thinking up a solution on the spot.

Kie and Reese made eye contact, both knowing exactly what would happen if Reese went into the water, even touched it. "No," Reese immediately responded. "That's, that's definitely a bad idea. I'm not doing that."

"What other choice do we have? Either you go or we all get caught and I'll lose my merit scholarship. Also, the others will be caught too. So." Pope shrugged to finish off his sentence.

Reese looked to Kie again, silently pleading with her to say something that Pope would listen too. She shook her head. "He's right."

"What?" Reese asked, shocked at the words coming from Kie's mouth. "Are you kidding?"

"It's just water," Pope said. "Yeah, it's a little dirty from the storm, but it's not like you don't go surfing in the ocean which is literal fish shit."

"That—" Reese bit her tongue before she could say what she wanted to, which would be spilling her newfound secret to Pope. She wanted to say, I can't, I'm apparently a mermaid and can't get wet or I'll sprout a tail. Instead, she just kept quiet and sat still.

"Reese," Kie started. "Do you want Beau to get caught? That's what might happen if you don't get out of here." Kie was smart to use Beau's wellbeing against Reese like that. She knew they were close, so telling Reese that he may get into serious trouble was definitely one way to get her to what she wanted.

"Kie," Reese hissed. "You know I don't want to," She gritted her teeth, pretending to smile hoping Kie would get the message.

In a hushed whisper Kie responded, "Just go home after you get into the water. No one will see you, but if you don't we'll all get caught."

"Are you kidding me? I've never swam with a tail before. I have no clue what I'm doing," Reese whispered harshly.

"It'll be fine. We'll come get you once you're back on land and everyone is back on the boat."

"No. I already risked my reputation and basically my dad's too trying to distract the cops. That was all I promised, so I'm staying here until you think of something better."

"Okay," Kie said defeated, standing up and motioning for Reese to do the same.

Reese, confused, stood up as well, thinking maybe Kie had thought of a less favorable solution but one that didn't compromise Reese's secret.

"So, you'll do it?" Pope asked, looking behind him at the two girls, not having heard their hushed conversation.

"I'm sorry, but you're a Kook and they're my friends," Kie apologized before shoving Reese backwards into the marsh behind her.

"What the—" Reese said, but her voice was muffled as she was enveloped by the water below her.

"Kie!" Pope called out, watching as Reese fell into the murky water. "Why did you do that?"

"She wasn't listening. She'll be fine," Kie assured.

"Well, at least she's hidden now. We'll get her out once the coast is clear. Though it's still not great that you pushed her."

"Like I said, she'll be fine. She's going to swim home."

Pope whirled his head around at that and stared at Kie, confused. "Swim home?"

"That's what I said."

﹒✿﹐♬ ﹒⤹

THE WATER WAS COLD and now so was Reese's opinion about Kie. After their shared experience of her becoming a mermaid literally in front of the other girl, Reese thought she would be more understanding and maybe stand up for her in circumstances like the one they were just in, but boy was Reese wrong. 

So, there she was, sitting on the dock behind her house, three towels covering the length of her tail, which was probably a good couple feet longer than she was tall. Thankfully, her father kept the cabinet on the dock stocked with towels and other supplies for emergencies. This was probably not the emergency he had anticipated, but still an emergency nonetheless.

While swimming back from the run down, gross motel the Pogues were at, Reese had made a couple of discoveries. One, she can breathe underwater. Not something she would ever have thought possible. Two, she can swim, like really fast, though it took her a while to get the hang of it. And, three, she was absolutely never going back in the water. Surfing, boating, and fishing be damned, that transformation was terrifying.

Her vision went white, she felt paralyzed for seconds on end and she could feel the scales forming and legs coming together to form the tail. It wasn't painful per se but it was uncomfortable and not something she wanted to do again. Also, the fact she had no clue how or what happened to her that made her this way was also terrifying thought by itself. Add that to the transformation, nightmare fuel.

And, it took forever to become human again. Unless she had some sort of special skill that was specifically meant for drying off quickly and reversing the tail thing, she was stuck with a long, useless on land, tail for hours. It had already been close to two and half hours since she was pushed off the boat and she was still waiting to change back.

"Reese!"

She quickly turned her head around and panicked filled her body. If someone saw her like this... she didn't even want to think about what would happen.

"Reese?" Beau called out again, this time more concerned when he saw her lying on the dock.

Relief washed over her when she saw her friend. "Beau," She smiled. "I'm glad to see you're not in jail."

"Why would I be in jail," Beau feigned, pretending that he hadn't done anything.

Reese just gave him a sarcastic look as he sat down next to her. She moved the towels a bit more to cover her tail fully.

"It's still so crazy to me," Beau said, putting his weight on his hands and leaning back.

"You and me both," Reese laughed, but there was no humor behind it. "But, at least you aren't the one with a tail."

After a couple moments of silence, Beau spoke.

"Listen," He started, "I heard about what happened."

"Oh, I get it. Kie sent you here to apologize because she can't do it herself."

"No, no, that's not what this is," Beau shook his head. "I'm here because I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"So, she didn't even say sorry, got it," Reese nodded, pursing her lips. "That's great, I didn't think we were getting along anyway."

"Reese, come on, don't be like that," Beau said.

"Why should I not? She pushed me off a boat when she knew about this," Reese gestured down to the tail that she could feel start to tingle slightly, like pins and needles.

"Yeah, but she did it because she knew that you could swim and it was because her friends were in imminent danger. That's not totally uncalled for since you weren't really listening."

Reese scoffed. "I wasn't listening? Because that totally justifies pushing someone off a boat!"

"Reese," Beau said indignantly. "That's not fair."

"Oh and fair is making someone do something they don't want to do and making them go through a traumatic event."

"What are you talking about traumatic? You've gone swimming dozens of times."

"Yeah, before I had a fucking tail! This is ridiculous," Reese said, scooting slightly away from the boy next to her.

"What's ridiculous is you not understanding why she did it!"

Reese shook her head again. "I can't believe you. I seriously can not believe you. You're taking her side? Really? We've been friends longer than you've known her and you're choosing her over me?"

"It's not about picking sides, Reese," Beau replied calmly.

"Then what is it about?" Reese asked, ripping the towels off of her and standing up. Her legs had finally reappeared and she'd be damned if she was going to sit here and listen to any more of Beau's bullshit. "If you like her or whatever, just say that. Don't give me shit for being upset about her actions."

Did she really just say that? She hated fighting with Beau. They'd been friends for so long, but recently he'd been different. Maybe she was different too, but that didn't mean she wanted their friendship to change.

"Like her?" Beau asked incredulously. "I don't like Kie. Well, I do, as a friend, but not anything else."

"Yeah right," Reese laughed. "You're taking her side and defending her."

"Reese, it's not like that. Why are you being like this?"

"Stop lying," Reese demanded and stomped her foot. Just then, water from the marsh came flying into the air, over the covered portion of the dock where the pair was standing, and thudded against the roof.

Both Reese and Beau froze. "What was that?" Beau asked.

"I don't know," Reese said, looking down at the water behind her. It was still rippling with motion.

Beau looked at her contemplatively. "You don't think...?"

"Think what?" Reese asked, not understanding what he was getting at.

"Think that Kie is in the right? And that you deserved to get pushed into the water?" Beau answered with another question, staring directly at Reese to see what would happen.

"Are you kidding me? After everything I just said?" Reese waved her hands again, frustratedly. Another splash of water came from the marsh behind her and landed on the roof again. She swiveled around to gaze at the water below her.

"I knew it," Beau exclaimed, walking up to Reese. "You did it."

"I did what?"

"You! You're making the water move."

Reese turned to look at Beau, who was now directly behind her, looking over her should into the water. "I am?"

"Yeah. That's why I said that, to see if it was actually you or if I was losing it. Try it again."

Ignoring the first part of what he said, Reese stuck her hand out over the water. She had no clue what she was doing but this felt right. She spread her fingers and narrowed her vision to only focus on the water in front of her.

Slowly, it started to move. The water began to ripple out from where her hand was placed above it. She began to lift her hand higher and the water followed. It sprouted from the center of the ripple and rose through the air. It followed Reese's hand as she brought it higher and higher.

"Holy shit," Beau commented, watching from behind her, eyes wide.

"I can't believe it," Reese whispered in disbelief. "I— I am moving water. With my mind. Oh my god, I sound crazy."

"It's not crazier than saying you had a tail a couple minutes ago."

So much had happened in such a short amount of time. Her dad went missing, her and Rafe fought and he locked her in her room, something she'd definitely be talking to him about later, she grew a tail, helped distract the police, and now she can move water with her mind. Not to mention that multitude of other insane things that had happened.

"I guess," Reese shrugged. She dropped her hand and the water fell back into the marsh, splashing up onto the dock. She stepped out of the way slightly as to not get water on her legs and bumped into Beau, who was standing directly behind her.

Beau cleared his throat and stepped back a bit. "Sorry."

There was a momentary silence, an uncomfortable one to say the least. It was as if their argument had been cut short and neither wanted to continue it. Reese didn't want to because she knew she always said things she'd regret when she got upset. She could only guess why Beau didn't want to.

"Um," Beau started, breaking the silence. "I came over because I figured you wanted some, like support or something. You've gone through a lot and..." He shook his head. "Well, you know I'm always here for you. There's this thing going on at the boneyard tonight. A kegger. We should go."

"A kegger? Like, drinking?" Reese tilted her head to the side. As much as she wanted the distraction from everything that's been going on, she needed to find her dad more than anything. At least some clue as to where he went.

"Yeah. You know, a rager and all that stuff. I thought it might help you get your mind off everything."

"Beau," Reese started, about to decline the invitation, but he continued.

"I'm sorry for arguing and ignoring your feelings. You're my best friend and I'd never want to hurt you or anything like that, I just get frustrated that you don't like my other friends. I know I don't control that."

"Beau," Reese said again, this time trying to get his attention and stop his rambling. Beau had this tendency to over explain things and when he apologized, he would go on and on even though he already got his point across. It was kind of sweet actually.

"But, I know I can get Kie to apologize if you just come tonight. Everything will be okay again, maybe you guys might actually get along," He nodded.

"Beau!" Reese grabbed his shoulder. "It's fine. I'm over it," She lied. She was still very much upset that he took Kiara's side over hers, but if he liked her and didn't want to tell Reese that was his own problem. "But, I'm not going to a party tonight, let alone a party with her there."

"But, you just said you were over it?"

"First, I'm over our argument. Second, my dad is still missing. I need to be out looking for anything that can tell me what happened, not at some party."

"Oh shit. I forgot about that," Beau admitted, finally understanding why Reese was so stressed out.

"Yeah, so..." She trailed off, not really sure where to go from there.

"Well, I can help. After the whole kegger thing. I just have to be there. It's something about laying low—"

Reese internally sighed. Once again the Pogues were taking precedence over her. Not that she had room to talk since she'd been hanging out with Rafe and Sarah a lot.

"It's fine, Beau. I'll be fine. I'm going to the Cameron's to see if Ward or someone saw him last night. Go to your kegger thing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Reese said rather firmly, ending the discussion there.

It wasn't long after that Beau left, promising he'd be back after their little party and that he'd help her with whatever she needed.

The only problem with Reese's plan is that she didn't have any way to get to the cameron's. It was only a 5 minute drive but upwards of a 20 minute walk. Her car and her bike were both back at the marina. She didn't want to walk after just getting her legs back, not to mention the large ass cut on her leg that still ached.

Unfortunately, with no other option, walking would have to be what she did if she wanted any help finding her dad or any clues that lead to where he went. Maybe she could even find answers on what the key she found at the seafarer was or what it belonged too.

﹒✿﹐♬ ﹒⤹

"I'M SORRY, REESE. I HAVEN'T SEEN HIM," Ward Cameron said with sympathy, a small frown on his face to express his empathy.

Reese had managed to walk up to the Cameron's and almost immediately find Ward out in the yard picking up debris from the grounds along with a crew of other people. At first he thought she was looking for Rafe, but when she told him what was going on he got visibly tense and solemn.

"Are you sure? You didn't prep anything for the storm yesterday? " Reese asked, trying to go through every single possibility that she could think of.

She didn't remember anything from last night accept that her dad went to the marina and that he was blackmailed. She didn't know by who or why, but she knew it happened.

"Reese," Ward started. "I want to help. Your dad is a close friend of mine. I just don't recall him being around last night."

"Didn't you help him with the boats," a voice called from the hallway. It was Sarah. She walked in with her arms crossed. "Hi, Reese," She said with a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"You did?" Reese tilted her head to the side. She gave a small wave to Sarah to acknowledge her presence before turning back to Ward.

"Oh, that's right. I did. With all the storm prep I completely forgot," He laughed. Almost immediately after, his gaze fell down to Reese's leg, specifically the bandage there. "Are you okay?"

At the swift change in topics, Reese almost got whiplash. She followed his gaze down to her leg where the gauze had turned a gross shade of brown from the marsh water and the seagrass she'd walked through.

"Holy shit," Sarah remarked, waking closer to her fried and staring at the large bandage.

"Sarah, language," Ward reprimanded.

Ignoring him, Sarah continued. "That looks bad."

"Yeah, it hurts," Reese remarked, stating the obvious. "I think I fell."

"You think?" Ward repeated, also approaching Reese with concern. His eyebrows pinned together.

For as long as her and Rafe had been dating and even as long as her and Sarah had been friends, Ward told Reese he considered her family. That she was always welcome there and he treated her like one of his own kids. So, the fact he was visibly concerned for her wellbeing wasn't out of the ordinary.

"Well," Reese looked down sheepishly, momentarily forgetting the reason she'd come here in the first place. "I don't actually remember what happened. Rafe says I might have a concussion, but I still remember certain things."

"And your memory still hasn't come back," Sarah asked.

"No," Reese shook her head.

"I'm no doctor," Ward said, looking into Reese's eyes. "But, I think you need to go to the hospital. Get looked at. It could be brain damage."

"Dad!" Sarah exclaimed. "Don't scare her."

"I'm not trying to, I'm just worried."

"Okay," Reese said. "But, I'm not. I'm worried about my dad. So, if you can just—"

"I think your dad would want to know his daughter is safe," Ward cut in, nodded his head as if to get Reese to agree.

"No offense, Mr. Cameron, but I'm more worried about my dad than a scrape on the leg and some memory loss."

"Ward, please," Ward insisted. No matter how many times he told Reese to call him by his first name she never listened. "And, I know your dad wouldn't want you to be walking around hurt."

At this point Reese was getting increasingly frustrated that Ward wasn't listening. He kept insisting on making sure she was okay, changing the subject, and overall avoiding the conversation she wanted to have entirely.

"Reese, if you can't remember what happened, it might be worth it to get checked out at the doctor or something," Sarah reasoned.

There was not just one reason for not wanting to go to any sort of doctor, but two for Reese. The first being she needed to find her dad. The second being if any single amount of water touched her at the doctor she would sprout a tail and be experimented on for the rest of her natural life.

"No, I'm seriously okay," Reese insisted. "I just want to know what happened to my dad."

Sarah looked at Ward before relenting. "Okay, but if you change your mind let us know."

"I will," She said to Sarah and then turned her attention to Ward who was back to looking uncomfortable. "So?"

"Well, let's see. I was within at the marina prepping The Seafarer, but the I came back here. He may have stayed at the marina to ride out the storm," Ward divulged.

Great. That was no help at all. That was literally everything she already knew, so the fact Ward just told her that was completely useless.

Reese sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Okay, thanks."

"Tell you what," Ward said suddenly. "I'll do what I can to find out what happened."

That was odd. Ward went straight from wanting to change the subject entirely to now wanting to help Reese figure out what happened?

"Thanks, but I already tried reporting it and the police were pretty useless," Reese said.

"Dad has some serious connections. If he can't figure out what happened then I don't think anyone can," Sarah added.

Come to think of it, that did seem like the truth. Reese's dad undoubtedly had connections in high places as well, he knew Shoupe for goodness sake, so the fact Ward knew people too wasn't too far fetched.

"So how's about a compromise?" Ward suggested. "I stay here and use my 'connections' as Sarah put it, to find out anything about what happened to Ford, and you hangout with Sarah so she can make sure you're okay. Make sure you aren't going to pass out and lose your memory again, huh? Sound like a deal?"

It did sound nice. Reese wouldn't have to do any work and she got to hangout with her friend while Ward did some investigative work she probably wouldn't be able to. But at the same time, this was her dad they were talking about. How could she not try to figure out what happened herself?

"Uh," Reese stammered.

"Look," Ward said. "You've got nothing to worry about. If anyone can find out what happened to Ford, it's me. Take your mind off it for a while and go be a teenager. When you get back, I'll have found out what happened."

Reluctantly, Reese agreed. Taking her mind off things for a while couldn't hurt, especially not if Ward was out looking for answers.

Sarah and Reese left the room rather quickly after that, letting Ward do whatever he needed to do to figure out where Ford was in private.

They took the stairs up to Sarah's room and before long Sarah was taking clothes out from her closet as if trying to figure out what to wear for something.

"What are you doing?" Reese asked, jumping onto Sarah's bed and bouncing a bit as she landed. She spread out on her stomach and kicked her feet in the air as Sarah pondered her choices.

"Trying to figure out what to wear," Sarah replied simply, holding up a green floral dress in front of her. Reese shook her head as if to say no and Sarah threw  it aside.

"Where are you going?"

"We are going to the boneyard," Sarah smiled.

Reese rolled her eyes and groaned. "Are you seriouuuus?"

If there was once place she didn't want to go, it was there. Kie was going to be there which is the one person she did not want to see for a very long time and Beau was also going to be there and she was still very much upset with him.

"Yes, come on, it will be fun," Sarah insisted, throwing a flowy, blue halter neck dress at Reese.

It landed directly on her face and Reese flinched, pulling the article of clothing off of her and holding out to look at it.

"I'm so sure," Reese remarked sarcastically, tossing the dress aside next to her.

"It will!"

"In case you've forgotten, both of us are not on speaking terms with Kiara who will in fact be there."

"That's the reason you don't want to go?"

"Duh," Reese said, flipping over and grabbing a book off of Sarah's nightstand and flipping through it.

"Oh these shoes would be so cute with that," Sarah said with her head halfway out of the closet, a pair of white sandal wedges in her right hand. "We're going."

"Ugh, fine," Reese relented. She sat up, putting the book down and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Hand me the shoes."

﹒✿﹐♬ ﹒⤹

THE BONEYARD WAS PACKED with people. Everywhere Reese looked there was a group of people. Some getting beer, some sitting down on fallen trees, some messing around by the water. Kooks, Pogues, and the tourists all coming together to get absolutely hammered. Thankfully with all these people around Reese hoped she wouldn't run into anyone she didn't want to see.

The only thing she hadn't considered beforehand was that the boneyard was a beach. And where there's a beach, there's water, and where there's water there's a chance of sprouting a tail. She decided she would be staying as far away as possible from anything remotely close to water, which meant no beer either.

The sand was course between her feet as she walked over to a log and sat down. Sarah had run off somewhere with Topper and left Reese all by herself. So much for hanging out. It didn't bother Reese too much though, she hadn't really had much alone time to think about and process everything that's happened.

The rough grain of the dry wood was almost uncomfortable, but Reese wouldn't sit in the sand without a towel. She didn't mind it but it got everywhere and felt gross afterward.

Her mind wandered to what Ward had said earlier, well, more accurately what he didn't want to say. He almost didn't tell her he saw her dad last night and only did when Sarah outed him when she walked in. Reese couldn't figure out why though. Maybe it had just slipped his mind? Everyone had been busy prepping yesterday so that wasn't a crazy idea.

But even still, Reese couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. She just couldn't put her finger on what. Something about what Ward had said felt wrong, maybe it was his tone or his expression, but there was definitely something he wasn't telling her.

"I didn't think you were coming," Beau said from behind the brunette girl, taking a seat next to her on the log.

"Here I am," Reese smiled weakly. "Yeah, uh, Sarah convinced me, but now I don't even know where she went. Probably off somewhere with Topper."

"Where's ol' Rafey at? Shouldn't he be like forcing you away from me or something," Beau laughed like he'd said something funny. He was very obviously drunk, there was no denying it.

Instead of making some quippy one-liner about the amount Beau clearly had to drink, Reese answered honestly, "I don't know, actually. I haven't seen him since this morning."

"Well, good," Beau said, swinging his arm around Reese's shoulder, a red solo cup in his hand. Reese could smell the booze in the cup, it smelled horrendous. She was never the biggest fan of beer, but if it was the only thing to drink it would do in a pinch. "Because that means we get to hang out."

"Yeah," Reese nodded absentmindedly, still thinking about the interaction with Ward.

"Blue is a really good color on you, y'know that?"

Taken aback by the sudden compliment, Reese looked at Beau bewildered. "Thank you?"

Beau didn't reply and they settled into a comfortable silence. Beau was just smiling out at the beach, people watching and Reese kept replaying the conversation she'd had earlier.

"Hey, Beau," She said.

"Yeah," He hummed, clearly content.

"If someone says they don't know anything and then get caught in that lie when they actually know something, what does that mean?"

Beau blinked a couple of times before shaking his head as if to clear his mind. "Run that by me again."

"Well, it's just that I was talking to Ward earlier—"

"That's your first mistake. Ward is no good," Beau says, taking a sip of his drink. Since he was holding the cup in the hand attached to the arm across Reese's shoulders, she was forced closer to him as a result.

"Hey," Reese said, moving her head out from under his arm to put some distance between them. "I'm being serious."

"I am too," Beau shrugged. "I don't like him and I don't care if he's your boyfriend's dad or if he owns half the island. He's bad news."

"Okay, well, can you just listen?" Reese asked, grabbing the cup from Beau's hand to get his undivided attention.

"I was drinking that," He deadpanned.

"Not until you listen," Reese instead.

That's when it looked like Beau noticed that Reese didn't have a drink. "You're not drinking?" He asked and tilted his head, then as if answering himself he nodded. "Well, I guess you didn't plan on coming so that makes sense."

"Beau, listen." Reese demanded, holding his chin and forcing him to focus. "I need your opinion, like a serious, no bias or bullshit opinion, okay?"

Beau blinked a couple of times, trying to process what Reese had said and then slowly nodded.

"Good. So, I was talking to Ward about my dad, right? He said he didn't know anything, but then Sarah said that he helped my dad prep his boat last night before the storm and then Ward tried to change the subject altogether. Don't you think that's, like, a little suspicious?"

Beau was silent for a second before laughing loudly. "I am waaaaay too drunk to understand any of what you just said."

"Dude," Reese groaned, swinging her head back in annoyance and looking up at the stars.

"Whaaaat? It's a party, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So forget about your worries for two seconds and then tomorrow worry about them again."

"That's such bad advice," Reese insisted, but a small smile made its way onto her face.

"I see that smile," Beau said, poking Reese to get her smile wider.

"Stop," She giggled, pushing his hand away.

"See? There's the Reese I know," Beau laughed, poking her shoulder again.

He went to do it again when a hand grabbed his wrist and yanked it away from Reese. "She said stop," Rafe said, his tone grave and his eyes dark.

"Found him," Beau quipped, wrenching his wrist out of Rafe's grasp.

"Rafe," Reese greeted, surprised. "I wasn't being serious," She shook her head. "We were just goofing off."

"I don't care. When my girlfriend says to stop, you fucking stop," Rafe hissed down at Beau.

At that, Beau stood up, standing just a couple inches shorter than Rafe. "Relax man," He said, putting his hands up in the air as if to say he was innocent. "I know her well enough to know when she actually means what she says."

"For sure," Rafe said sarcastically. "That's why you've been bothering her for the last ten minutes."

"First of all," Beau started. "It's honestly creepy you watched us for that long. Second, I've known her longer than you have been dating, so yeah, I think I know her pretty well."

Beau turned to leave, muttering something under his breath and giving a quick goodbye to Reese.

"What did you just say to me?" Rafe asked, specifically asking about what Beau had said under his breath.

"Babe." Reese grabbed Rafe's shoulder to stop him from walking any further. "Just leave it."

"No, I want to know what this asshole just called me," He snapped, but not specifically at Reese, just generally. Reese knew he was just frustrated since he didn't like Pogues in general, but Beau was his least favorite.

Beau turned around to stare directly at Rafe. At this point the commotion had caused the group of three to attract a couple of stares and Reese even saw Sarah waking up behind her with Topper not far behind.

"I called you a dick, alright?" Beau yelled, holding his arms out as if inviting everyone to hear. "I called Rafe Cameron a dick!"

Now people were really staring. Kooks, pogues, and tourists alike were all fixated on the altercation between the two boys.

Rafe clenched his jaw and laughed dryly, but there was no humor in it. "You're a little bitch, you know that?"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really. You can't stand that I'm with Reese and you aren't."

"Baby, seriously. Let's just go, okay," Reese urged, tugging on Rafe's arm, but he didn't budge.

She tried to keep these two apart since she knew they didn't like each other and she feared something like this would happen. If Beau hadn't been super drunk then maybe there would've been hope, but not with how impaired he was right now.

"It's obvious that you're so obsessed with her that you're willing to make a move on my girl when I'm not around. It's fucking pathetic," Rafe insulted, stepping closer to Beau.

Over Rafe's voice, Reese could hear someone ask what was going on and another person ask why they were fighting. She heard people talking over each other and speculating about why this fight was happening and if someone would actually throw a punch.

Beau's eyebrows went up in fake surprise. "You're so full of shit," He commented. "It's not my fault you're so insecure in your own relationship you have to make shit up to make yourself feel better."

"Just admit it," Rafe said. "Better yet," He waved his hand around to emphasize his idea. "Just admit you're a filthy Pogue who doesn't have a shot with Reese or any Kook for that matter."

"Rafe," Reese growled. "Stop it."

"Not until he says it" Rafe countered.

It was then Reese surged backwards with the weight of both Beau and Rafe pushing her. She came to realization as she hit the sand that Beau had tackled the taller boy to the ground.

Reese groaned in pain as she found her bearings and got to her feet, dusting the sand of the blue dress she was wearing. She took a couple of steps back to get out of the way of anymore tackles and regained her composure.

Shouts and yells from the crowd that accumulated around their group flooded her ears and she saw Beau on top of Rafe, throwing a punch square to his jaw.

"Oh my god," She whispered as Sarah came up next to her.

"Are you okay?" She asked worried.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Reese mumbled distraught.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, me and Beau were just talking and then Rafe came and," She shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around what just happened.

"They are going to kill each other," Sarah told Reese worriedly. "My dumbass brother."

"We need to stop it," Reese agreed, but was unsure how to go about it.

Another punch landed on Rafe's face and before Reese could even process what happened Rafe grabbed a fist-full of sand and threw it directly into Beau's face, effectively blinding him.

"Stop," Reese screamed, attempting to get either of their attention.

"Rafe, stop it," Sarah cried directly after to no avail.

As if seeing Beau on the ground was a call to action, John B sprinted forward through the crowd and kicked Rafe in the stomach.

Rafe recoiled backward and stumbled a bit.

"Shit, shit, shit," Reese cried, becoming increasingly more panicked

"Dirty Pogues." Reese heard from somewhere behind her and then Topper shoved Beau down to the ground as he was trying to get the sand out of his eyes.

"Topper stop!" Sarah screamed.

This was the worst thing Reese could imagine happening. Her boyfriend fighting her best friend and other people getting involved. How did this even happen?

Rafe took a swing at John B and landed one on his cheek, dodging an incoming punch from Beau who was back on his feet, one eye closed from the sand.

Topper left another blow on John B's face which sent him tumbling to the ground. Topper then dragged him over to the water and kept kicking and pummeling him until he couldn't get up.

Despite everyone's pleas to stop, Topper beat John B until he looked like he would black out and Rafe and Beau continued struggling against one another.

Reese couldn't make out what Topper had said to John B, but she knew it couldn't have been anything good.

She watched in terror as Topper proceeded to hold John B's head underwater as if subjecting him to the same fate his dad had.

"Oh my god," Reese said breathlessly. She didn't know what to do. Like when she overheard that conversation in the dark marina building, she felt frozen, stuck in place.

She watched helplessly as JJ walked over to Topper with something metallic in his hand, glinting in the moonlight, and pressed it to the back of his skull. It was when she heard the click over all the noise she realized it was a gun.

She felt the breath leave her lungs, the same way it did when she heard the same noise at the marina only that time is was her father's life in danger. She couldn't move or catch her breath. She just stood there motionless as everyone and everything began to move slowly.

She saw people running, fleeing the scene once a gun became involved. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rafe stop what he was doing and turn his attention toward her, leaving Beau standing with his fists up.

She felt the world go silent around her, the only thing she could hear was her dad pleading for his life in an echoey, dark foyer with an unknown man who'd just killed someone.

She felt a tug at her arm and stared at Rafe as he grabbed hold of her elbow and started to drag her away from the scene unfolding in front of her.

"Get the hell off our side of the island," She heard JJ yell distantly as he fired the gun into the air twice.

She flinched at the sound. Her ears were ringing and her throat felt tight. She couldn't breathe and could barely understand what was happening around her.

She felt Rafe urging her away from the beach, away from Beau, who was now staring at her with concern, away from the gun, and away from Sarah who was still there.

It wasn't until a couple seconds later Reese found the courage to actually move her legs and run with Rafe away from the beach. Not because she understood what was happening, but because it was what Rafe was trying to get her to do.