DRAPETOMANIA
— chapter one —
it's been a few hours since kelsie's arrival home and she's enjoying her pre-boarding school freedom once again. the pogues are stationed at a brand new beach house that was built in kooklandia for some absent minded tourons to get their shred of obx life in for a week.
kelsie's on the roof with john b, admiring the view of the sunset on the marsh, beer in hand, "thats what, a three-story fall to the deck?" asks john b, one foot on the roof, the other dangling lazily off the side as if he was going to jump right off.
"i give you about a one-in-three chance of survival." remarks pope sarcasm laced in his voice, "hm. should i do it?" laughs the brunette looking back at kelsie who shook her head, snickering at the boy's idiocy.
"yeah, jump." states jj as serious as possible, "i'll shoot you on the way down."
"you'll shoot me?" asks john b pretending to be offended, "jb don't be an idiot and jj don't encourage him?" scoffs kelsie like an out of patience mother.
kelsie is the mom of the pogues and she always has been. she looks out for her friends and is always there for them when they need someone. it's basically her job to make sure the pogues have fun all summer but stay safe in the process. "they're gonna have japanese toilets with towel warmers." complained kie walking onto the deck.
"of course. why wouldn't they?" asks jj.
"this used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles, i guess?" groans kie.
"no one cares about turtles as much as you do kie. and can you please not kill yourself?" askes kels to the boy on the ledge of the roof as he takes a swig of his beer.
"don't spill that beer. i'm not giving you another one." yells jj from the deck.
and without fail of course, not even five seconds later john b drops his beer onto the deck. "oh shit."
"smooth."
"a-plus."
"dumbass."
"wow."
the pogues aren't even remotely surprised at their friend's stupidity.
"hey!" yells a voice off in the distance.
"hey uh- security is here." says pope frantically as he begins to quickly gather his shit together.
"let's wrap it up"
"boys are early today."
the pogues all scattered from where they were towards the van, all whilst the guards chase behind them.
jj mocks the security guard gary and it makes kelsie giggle. it was like nothing had changed.
the friends drive off and on the way to the cut they pass the iconic sign. the iconic teal blue sign titled "OUTER BANKS - PARADISE ON EARTH" now means something to kelsie.
the pogues are family. they've known each other since they were little kids when the boys popped into the wreck one day. the pogues are all unique in different ways and are their own individual characters....
kelsie and kiara carrera.
kiara and kelsie or kie and kels as they're called. twin sisters who when not saving turtles, listening to marley, or getting matching dolphin tattoos hang with the pogues. though no one is sure why. they're rich kids whose parents own the wreck, this outer banks institution, total cash cow with the tourists. the pogues aren't really sure how their parents feel about them but they all sort of have a thing for one of the sisters.
jj maybank.
about as local as they come. latest in a long line of fishing, drinking, smuggling, vendetta-holding
salt-lifers who made their living off the water. best surfer in the outer banks but no one can tell him that. mild kleptomaniac and a future tax cheat.
john booker routledge.
unofficially the official leader. lives in an old fish shack on the marsh, the chateau as his dad used to call it. his dad big john disappeared at sea nine months ago but who disappears at sea these days? he really misses him. his mom split when he was three and uncle t is his legal guardian who's in mississippi building houses.
pope heyward.
brains of the operation. finalist for the lucas t. vanderhorst merit scholarship. smartest person the pogues know. little bit of a weirdo. his dad is this legendary figure heyward. anything you wanted on the island he could get for you. no one's sure if he knows what to make of his oddball son but it didn't matter because he's a pogue like the rest of them.
kelsie wakes to the smell of the salty marsh in her senses and weight over her body. jj has himself wrapped around her on the pullout in the chateau's living room. she runs her fingers declinatelo through his hair and he begins to wake up. the girl can't lie to herself and not admit the crush she had on jj two years ago still isn't evident. kelsie's kind of assumed jj still has the same feelings too because of the way he's been acting towards her. he's given her a lot of affection since she's arrived but she can't complain.
"morning sleepy head." laughs kelsie at the dead weight still half asleep beside her, "good morning beautiful." mutters jj his voice raspy from just waking up, his playful flirting first causes her to lightly push his head away that was previously laying on her shoulder. but deciding she's not ready to get up just yet, she reciprocates his affection by nuzzling into him and shutting her eyes.
"yo, have you guys been outside?" asks john b coming into the living room, disrupting the sleeping pair's peace , "i have polio bro, i can't walk." mutters jj tightening his grip around kelsie.
"come on we gotta get up sometime." says the girl pulling herself out of jj's grip. kelsie puts her messy tied back hair down and puts on the closest article of clothing she sees on the floor next to the pullout over her bathing suit.
the brunette hands the half awake blonde a beer as a peace offering leading him to follow her outside, "agatha did some work huh?" asks jj.
"yeah she did." responds john b.
"what you thinking?" asks kelsie leaning against the fallen tree gesturing toward john b.
"i'm thinkin' that storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh maze. all those drums are gonna chase the crab."
"what about dcs?" questions kelsie, "yeah wasn't that today?" adds jj wrapping his arms around kelsie from behind.
"nah they're not getting on a ferry."
"hi miss amy! you guys get through it?" yells jj from the boat, rudely interrupting kelsie's sunbathing which causes her to squint annoyingly at him.
"still here!" replies the older blonde woman.
"she totally looked at me." whispers jj.
"i saw it." replies john b nodding his head in assurance.
kelsie rolls her eyes at jj. "aw kels are you jealous?" asks jj as he lays down on top the girl engulfing her in his arms. she doesn't reply, instead she just nuzzles her head into jj. "pogue on pogue macking is just non existent. why is it even still a thing anymore?" asks john b.
"there's no pogue on pogue macking jb." comments
the brunette girl pushing jj off her, his body thudding onto the metal floor of the small boat.
"yeah, okay. you two have been in love with each other for years and i don't even wanna imagine what you guys have done."
kelsie and jj stay silent. the brunette stares blankly at the clear sky and the girl's mind is filled with all sorts of thoughts. john b wasn't neccessarily wrong. the two have been best-friends for as long as they can remember and as they got older feelings emerged. the pair has always flirted with each other and it wasn't a secret. but no pogue on pogue macking always stopped them from ever being official.
kelsie's intrusive thoughts are interrupted by john b's talking. "we have a safety meeting. attendance mandatory."
"i can't. my pop's got me on lockdown." complains pope to the other pogues as he fills up buckets on his dad's dock. jj stands at the front of the boat and whispers into his shoulder like it's a walkie talkie.
"your dad's a pussy. over." kelsie stifles a laugh,"oh i heard that you little bastard." yells heyward toward the blonde boy, "we need your son." argues john b, "yeah, island rules. day after a hurricane's a free day." tells jj.
"who made that up?" asks heyward, clearly not impressed, "uh. pentagon i think we have security clearance. i have a card."
"think i'm stupid? kelsie smack your little boyfriend up side the head maybe it'll get him to use his brain."
kelsie and john b laugh while jj stands there like a child who couldn't get the ice cream flavor he wanted.
"i'll do it tomorrow. i promise. tomorrow."says pope pleading to his dad, "hell no. you doing it right now." argues heyward.
"get in the boat. make a run for it." whispers jj gesturing for pope to make his great escape, "boy if you get in that boat!" yells heyward as his son jumps swiftly onto the boat.
"go! go! go!" yells jj to john b who revs the boat away from the doc, "get your ass back up here!"
"i promise i'll do it tomorrow dad" pleads pope hoping for some semblance of mercy. as the teens drive away heyward yells to his son, "love you pops!" yells pope back to his dad.
"oh top of the mornin' to ya." says jj in a british accent as the boat approaches kelsie's twin, "good morning." replies kie.
"morning sista." says kelsie in a sing song voice. kie leans down to kelsie and kisses her on the cheek and sits down next to her before opening the cooler. the girl proceed to hand out beers to the other pogues.
"salud!" say the twins as they cheered their beers with jj, "skoal" replies the blonde before they all go bottoms up.
the pogues chat amongst one another until jj decides he has an "amazing" idea. the boy walks to the front of the boat with his beer can in hand, "hey pope. can you go a little faster?"
"it's not gonna work like the other 6,000 times" exclaims jb not convinced.
jj begins to attempt to drink his beer with the wind but instead ends up getting it all over the twins. kelsie leans against the boat, unable to breathe because of how hard she's laughing.
"all right you're done."
"all right. stop."
suddenly the boat comes to a screeching hault and jj and kels are launched off the hms pogue and into the water. kelsie emerges from the water with the little strength she has left in her body.
"jesus pope!" yells kie worried for her sister and her friend's safety, "you okay jj?" asks john b.
"i think my heels just touched the back of my head." groans jj responding.
"kels?" continues the brunette boy, "i'm all right." replies the girl catching her breath. all the teens groan in various levels of pain and discomfort.
"pope what did you do?" askes the blonde boy rubbing his neck.
"sandbar. the channel changed." replies the boy a little shaken up, "no shit." groans kels.
"ugh this is probably gonna mess with whole place up. hey i saved the beer though." smiles the boy proud of himself.
kelsie notices pope squinting sharply at the water, "guys. i think there's a boat down there." exclaims pope.
"shut up what?"
"no way"
"no, no. guys im serious. there's a boat down there."
the pogues all look where pope was pointing behind jj.
"holy shit he's right. let's go." says kie in shock.
the remaining pogues strip down to their swimsuits and jump into the water. they all swim underwater and all see the same thing, "that's a grady white. a new one of those is 500 gs easy." exclaims jj.
"that's a primo rig." replies kels.