b

The HMS Pogue, infamous on The Cut, was currently anchored in the marsh. The crew's way of being away from everyone and everything. Here they could spend hours basking in the sun, smoking a J, and enjoying eachother’s company. And that’s exactly what Isabel found herself doing. 

While Kiara sat on her phone at the bow, Pope close behind reading a book, and John B fishing, Isabel was laying at the stern, her feet rested on JJ’s lap as they passed a joint. Laid out in her new bikini, courtesy of her mom when she visited the Mainland, Isabel found herself at complete and utter peace. Using JJ’s shirt as a makeshift pillow, she rested her head and closed her eyes. JJ, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, turned his head to look at her. Slowly, he raked his eyes up her body, making sure to soak in every inch. 

“What are you lookiung at?” asked Isabel, pulling her sunglasses up onto her head so she could get a better look at the blonde boy. It hadn’t taken her long to feel his eyes on her. She could always feel his presence. 

“What? Uh-nothing!” squeaked out JJ. He cleared his throat and divered his attention to John B, who was pulling his net out of the water. “Nice haul, dude. Look at that. Been all bait for, like, three weeks.”

~

JJ, John B’s bestfriend since the third grade. He’s about as local as they come. Latest in a long line of fishing, smuggling, vendetta-holding salt-lifers who made their living off the water. He’s probably the best surfer out of the bunch, just don’t tell him that. Mild kleptomaniac and a future tax cheat. Oh, and he has a fat crush on Isabel. Always has, always will. 

Then there’s Kiara, or Kie. When not saving turtles or listening to Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with the Pogues. So, she’s a rich kid, actually. Foot in both worlds. Her family owns The Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash cow with the tourists. It’s still undetermined  how her parents feel about her choice in company. All the guys sorta have a thing for her. 

Pope, the brains of the operation, finalist for the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship. And the smartest person any of the pogues know. His father’s this legendary character, Heyward. Anything you wanted on the island, Heyward could get it for you. No one’s really sure Heyward knew what to make of his oddball son, but it didn’t matter. He was a Pogue. 

And then there's Isabel. She’s about as Kook as they come, money wise. Her dad’s some bigshot lawyer out on the Mainland and her mom used to be a model. Besides the Cameron’s, her family is one of the richest, most prestigious families in the OBX. Unlike Kiara, all the Pogues know exactly how her family feels about her choice in company. They hate it. But, she and Kiara have been friends since before they could walk. When Kiara fell in with the guys, it was a given that Isabel would too. It took a little time to come around, but quickly everyone fell in love with her charming nature and she was claimed as one of their own. 

Finally, John B. Named after his father, who went missing at sea nine months ago looking for some shipwreck. No one is really sure what happened, frankly a little afraid to ask. Right now, John B “lives” with his Uncle T, who is off building houses in Mississpi. Meaning, the Château, was his domain now. It was some old fishing shack on the marsh, but now, it’s become John B’s only home. 

Slowly, it also became home to all his friends. It was the calm away from the storm, a place where they could all be together. Whether you were hiding from the cops or your parents, the Pogues knew they could find solstice at the Château. Which is where Isabel currently found herself, curled up on the pullout couch beside Kie. 

“Morning, John.” Isabel spoke. Her phone kept buzzing beside her, presumably her mom begging for her whereabouts. 

“Morning, ladies.” John B said as he made his way through the house picking up a picture of his dad and hanging it back up on the wall. 

“Bro Iz, are you gonna answer that?” asked Kiara. “It’s gonna explode if it keeps buzzing, I swear.” Reluctantly, Isabel picked up her phone and made her way towards the bathroom, a small attempt at some privacy. She shut the door behind her, tried to lock it, then remembered JJ had broken the lock last week. 

She walked to sink and placed her hands on the sides, looking up at herself in the mirror, taking in one last moment of peace before she felt her mother’s wrath. Her phone started to vibrate against the sink and her peace abruptly ended. 

“Hi Mom,” spoke the girl, her voice still filled with sleep despite the late hours of the afternoon. Her mother’s booming voice came quickly on the other end of the line. 

“Where have you been?!” the woman exclaimed. “I have been worried sick! I haven’t heard from you since yesterday. I thought teenagers were supposed to be glued to their phones.” 

“I’m sorry. I’ve been at John B’s, you know the service isn’t the best here.” It was a weak excuse, but one that was totally plausible in The Cut. 

“Does the service stop you from coming home and sleeping in your own bed too?” The woman took a deep breath and sighed, continuing in a lighter tone. “Just come home, please.” 

“I will.” responded Isabel before ending the call. Putting her phone in her pocket, she opened the door coming face to face with a worried JJ. 

“Everything alright?” The boy asked. 

“All good. Just my mom.” JJ knew exactly what she meant. 

“Come on, I’ll drive you.” The girl smiled at the boy, grateful for his kindness. The two started making their way through the house, saying their goodbyes. Once outside, they made their way to the Twinkie, JJ coming to open the passenger door for Isabel. 

Thank you,” she said with a smile. JJ made his way over to the driver’s side and started the car. Together the two made their way through the island in silence, comfortable silence. JJ looked over at the brunette, watching her hair blow in the wind and the sun hitting her face. 

there might be some errors between the first chapter I posted and this one, I wrote them seperately.

“We’re the Pogues, and our mission this summer is to have a good time, all the time.” 

“That’s what, a three-story fall to the deck?” questioned Ivy. She sat beside JJ, their legs hanging off some scaffolding they claimed as “their spot”. Ivy swung her legs back and forth, every once and a while giving JJ a little kick to entertain herself. He’d give her a kick back, acknowledging her boredom. The two didn’t thrive well in calm environments. “I give you about a one-in-three chance of survival”. 

“Hm.” Replied John B, standing atop the roof of some unfinished house in Figure Eight. Balancing on his left foot, his right leg was found out in front of him. Egging Ivy on, he gave his finger a lick and stuck it out in front of him, checking the wind. “Should I do it?” 

“Yeah, jump.” Pope stood below them, a random drill he had found on the construction site in his hand. “I’ll shoot you on the way down.” He raised the drill up and pointed it at John B, squinting one eye like he’s aiming to shoot. 

“You’ll shoot me?” John B made his own gun using his fingers and pointed it back at Pope.

“Yep.”

“Pow!” Pope claimered back pretending like he had actually been shot. Ivy let out a small giggle as she slowly shook her head, used to the boy's antics. 

“They’re gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers.” said Kiara as she came out from the house, judgement written all over her face. 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t they?” JJ replied as Ivy took his red baseball cap off his head and placed it on her own. He turned to look at her, licked his lips and gave her a nod. 

“This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles, I guess?” continued Kiara. She looked up to notice Ivy and JJ in their own world, him trying to get his cap back and the girl fighting to keep it on her head. A small smile broke through Kiara’s face watching the two. Then she noticed John B acting a fool and it quickly went away. “Can you please not kill yourself?” 

JJ had given up on getting his cap back. He told himself it was because he was lazy, but deep down he knew it was because she looked better in it anyways. She always looked better in his stuff. Pulling his eyes away from the De Loughrey girl, he looked over at John B. “Don’t spill that beer. I’m not giving you another one.” 

And just like that, John B lost his balance and the beer slipped out of his hand. “Whoa! Oh, shit.” It fell to the deck with a loud smack, beering splattering everywhere. 

“Of course you did.” JJ said as he shook his head.

“Smooth.” replied Kiara. 

John B let out a long groan as he stared at the beer dumped all over the ground. 

“You’re a dumbass.” laughed Ivy. As the group continued to make jokes at John B’s expense, a loud voice interrupted them. 

“Hey!” 

The teenagers all turned around to see who had made the noise. Pope looked around the corner in an attempt to get a better view. “Hey, uh, security’s here.” He stammered out. “Let’s wrap it up.” 

Everyone let out a collective groan and started to move from their previous positions. JJ turned to Ivy, “Boys are early today” he said. She looked up at him with a mischievous smile and nodded. “Humpty Dumpty, let’s roll.” JJ yelled out, firing eveyone up. 

“Let’s go, boys.” Kiara said as she started to make her way through the house.

“Gary, is that you?” questioned Ivy as she made her way down from the scaffolding. JJ stood waiting with his hand out, waiting to help her down. She let out a quiet, thank you, when she grabbed JJ’s hand. “Gary, good to see you man!” This made JJ laugh as he watched the brunette girl taunt the old man. 

All 5 of the teenagers made their way through the sliding door and into the house, if you could even call it that. It was just being built, just a big empty property for the Pogues to use as their personal playground. Everyone was cheering and laughing as they made their way through the house. 

At the bottom of the stairs, JJ made a left turn, pulling Ivy with him. The two ran with their hands interlinked. As they moved, they came face to face with Gary. “Shit, shit,shit!” exclaimed the girl, trying to turn and pull JJ the other way. JJ, not expecting the force from behind him, lost his balance on the concrete floor and slipped. Thankfully, he quickly recovered and followed Ivy the other way. 

“Get ‘em! They’re comin’ your way!” Gary yelled at his partner who was coming from the other direction. Gary’s partner caught up to JJ and Ivy and in an attempt to catch the boy, tried wrapping his arms around him. 

“Not much of a hugger!” JJ said as he slipped from the man’s grip. Ivy started laughing at the look on the security guards face. Needless to say, the man was NOT happy. “Go, Pope! Go! Go, go, go, go, go, go!” 

Pope, the least athletic out of the group, tried to hop the fence. More like he threw his body over it and hoped for the best. His body landed on the other side with a loud thunk and he let out a loud groan. JJ effortlessly jumped over the wooden fence and stood next to the dead looking Pope. He waited until he saw Ivy’s familiar face pop up from the other side before he grabbed her waist and lifted her over the top, gently putting her on the ground. 

“Get up, Pope, fatso’s coming” called JJ as he started to run, following the head of long brown hair who was running to the Twinky, where John B and Kiara sat waiting. 

John B in the driver’s seat started to impatiently honk his horn, “Bus is leaving!”

One by one, three bodies launched themselves into the Twinky with big smiles and loud laughs. Kiara went to close the door, but not before the five teenagers saw Gary running after them, hell bent on not letting them get away - again. “Hey, hey! Hey! Hey!” yelled Gary, making very little movement compared to the Twinky. 

“Check out Gary, gunnin’ for a raise” Ivy's head was stuck out the window, watching with pure joy on her face. “Come on, Gary!”

JJ turned to John B, “Wait. Slow down.” John B let off the gas a little, wanting to see what JJ had planned. JJ stuck his head out the window as Gary begged the kids to slow down. 

“You’re gonna give him a heart attack.” said Kiara as she laid back against one of the seats, with a small smile on her face nonetheless. JJ grabbed onto the handle in the backseat and held his body out the side of the moving Twinky. 

“You’re so close!” taunted the blonde boy, beer can in his hand. “You can do it. There you go.” Slowly, Gary got closer to the beer before JJ just threw it at the man. “They don’t pay you enough, bro.” 

Kiara took hold of JJ’s grey shirt, pulling him back into the car. “JJ, stop. Stop.” Relunctantly, JJ let his body get pulled in as he shut the door. Making his way to the back of the Twinky where Ivy sat, watching this whole exchange in a fit of giggles. 

“Oh, come on. That sort of initiative is just begging to be punished.” He tried to reason with Kiara, but she wasn’t having it. “At least Ivy thought it was funny, didn’t you Princess?”

Ivy ignored the way her stomach flipped at the silly nickname and turned to Kiara, “Come on Kie, it was atleast a little funny.” She held out her thumb and pointer finger - freshly manicured, by the way - and left little space between the two to get her point across. 

“Did you get your nails done?” JJ asked, grabbing the girl's hand. He held her fingers and looked at Ivy’s hand. 

“Yeah, I did.” She answered with a small smile on her face. Even though the girl was the island’s Pogue Princess, she was still a Princess. Therefore, she allowed herself small luxuries such as taking care of her nails, hair, and skin. 

“You can be a pretty Pogue,” the girl would always say in her defense. 

Quickly, the topic of conversation got changed and the teens were deep in conversation as they spent time in eachothers presence. 

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL IS OUT I CANT WAIT TO WATCH IT TONIGHT

Agatha, you saved me from that reaper, and you made me want to see the world in more than just black and white. And no one has ever done anything like that for me before. And it made me realize… 

‘but i’m your step brother’ me:

‘but you have a boyfriend’ me:

‘but i’m your best friends ex’ me:

‘but i’m your step brother’ me:

‘but you have a boyfriend’ me:

‘but i’m your best friends ex’ me: