When your parents told you that you were going to stay the whole summer with your grandparents, you were very upset. A whole summer instead of the usual two weeks? That's absurd! You'd have to leave your friends and all the plans you made, and you certainly didn't like that idea. But, the more you thought about it, the more appealing the idea became. Surf all day, bonfires on the beach, and sun kissed skin?
Those were some reasons to go.
As soon as your grandpa pulled into the driveway of their house-well, OVERLY large house, you smiled to yourself, enjoying the breath of fresh air from the stress of your parent's house. Once you had parked and got your bags out of the car, you walked slowly inside, enjoying the beautiful view from their home.
"It's so good to see you sweetie!" Your grandma practically squealed. She grabbed you in a hug and you warmly welcomed her embrace.
You had always felt more at home with your grandparents, and despite feeling sad about leaving your friends, you were very excited to spend more time with your grandma.
"So, I assume you want to go to the beach?"
You smiled, and replied eagerly, "of course! I feel like I haven't been here in forever!"
"Go get your suit on! We can catch up more when it's dark outside. Have fun and be safe sweetheart!"
You kissed your grandma on the cheek before going up to your room and digging in your suitcase for a swimsuit. Once you found a yellow dotted bikini and its matching bottoms, you threw those on, followed by a grey UNCW t-shirt and some green paper-bag shorts. You walked down the stairs and slipped on your Birkenstocks and yelling a quick goodbye, walked out the door.
Okay, so you may have underestimated just how much money your grandparents had. You knew of the socioeconomic divide in the Outer Banks, and you knew for a fact that your grandparents were definitely not poor. With their beautiful (and huge) off-white home, and the acres of property they owned, it wasn't hard to tell they were set in terms of money.
You walked downtown, admiring how charming the town was. As you walked, you felt a little feeling of uncertainty. The fear of not being able to make any friends had finally settled in once you saw two girls laughing together at a small coffee shop.
Shaking off the anxiety, you headed to a store called "Heyward's Seafood." You opened the door somewhat cautiously, feeling somewhat nervous to be alone. You walked in, and heard a loud voice call out:
"Pope, why are you so weird?"
Your head moved to the direction in which you heard the voice, and you saw a tan blonde boy talking to a brown-skinned boy.
"I'm just saying!" The brown-skinned boy said back.
"Chief you got a customer there, might wanna do your job instead of chatting with me," the blonde stated, nodding his head in your direction.
The brown-skinned boy, whom you assumed was "Pope" turned to face you.
"Hi there, how can I help you?"
Your face felt hot. It was just a simple question, why were you so worried about answering? You opened your mouth, trying to think of a response.
"I-um," you stuttered. You wanted to cry. Your first real shot at getting to know some friends and you had already embarrassed yourself.
"Are you okay?" The boy said, worry coming over his features.
You snapped out of the trance of fear you had been in.
"Yeah, I...just-um..." Today was NOT your day.
"Were you looking for something specific?" He asked, sincerity oozing out of every word he spoke.
You sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just, um, I was just walking around trying to get a feel for this place and this seemed like a place that wasn't scary..."
"I'd hope not. You new here? I'm Pope, and that's JJ." He motioned to the blonde boy behind him, who in response did a small two finger wave.
"Sort of? I come here every summer to stay with my grandparents, usually only for a little while, but this summer I'm living with them. Grandma wanted me to "go make friends," so I decided to walk around town and hopefully find someone who didn't totally hate me?"
"Well, you could always hang with us!" Pope said excitedly.
"Really?" You said, relief filling your body. "I don't want to intrude."
"You're not intruding, you're our new friend now..." He trailed off, looking at you.
"(Y/N)," you replied, catching on to what he eluded to.
"Well, (Y/N), JJ and I are going to go out surfing with a few of our friends once I'm done working, would you like to join us?"
"Yeah! That sounds wonderful!" You smiled widely, feeling accomplished for making friends.
"Where you from, anyway?"
You turned your focus to the person who asked, the blonde one-JJ.
"I'm from (Y/S)."
"Do you even know how to surf?"
You laughed slightly. "I've been coming here ever since I was born. I might now be as good as you locals, but I know my way around a surfboard."
"Oh yeah, huh?" He-JJ- moved from behind the counter to in front of you. "Well, we'll see what you've got then."
You felt a blush creep its way into your cheeks. Only 10 minutes into obx life and you had already got a crush? This was sure to be a disaster.
"Yeah, I guess we will."
Pope, JJ, and you walked together to the beach, each holding a surfboard. You heard JJ call to two figures in the distance.
Pope turned to you, noticing the worry on your face.
"Don't worry, those are our other friends, Kie and John B. They'll love you! No need to be worried." Pope explained to you.
"I don't know..." you trailed off. "JJ doesn't seem to like me, and I'm worried it's because I'm not a local." Your eyes started to involuntarily water. You hated it, the fact that your eyes would water whenever you were stressed or scared.
"That's just JJ. He takes some time to get used to new people."
"Alright," you sighed out.
"John B, Kie, that new chica over there is (Y/N)."
"Well (Y/N), welcome to the pogue life," John B said.
"Hey wait, where's your grandparent's pad anyways?" JJ asked, looking at you in a way you didn't like.
"Oh, they live over in the, um..." you stopped, trying to remeber the neighborhood they lived in. "Figure 8 or something? I'm not sure if that's quite right though..."
"Great job Pope! You invited a kook by association to our friend group!" JJ scolded Pope.
"Come on JJ that's not fa—"
"No, Kie, it is. We don't want Kooks in this with us!"
Feeling awkward and out of place, you began to walk back up the shoreline. Tears started to stream down your face as you heard Pope and Kie yelling at JJ. All you wanted was to make friends, and you thought you actually had a chance at being happy this summer.
Part 2?
