the kegger
THE BONEYARD IS where the pogues and the touron decided to throw the kegger.
It was a gorgeous evening, the sun wasn't too hot but the water wasn't that cold. The dead and hollow beach wood logs reinvented themselves as seats for the bonfire. John B and Pope carried the 130-pound metal can and Kie carried its corresponding cup. JJ was on red solo cup duty and Martha was on garbage bag duty.
About six o'clock rolled around when loads of outer banks teenage civilians came to the shore. JJ and Martha hung out with the rest of the pogues, playing drinking games and telling hilarious stories. As Kiara was going on about astrology for the fifth time today, a buzzed JJ decided to explain to Martha about the ways of life.
"It's like this three-layer burrito. There's us and our friends, the working class derelicts from the cut. Then, as you know, there are the kooks, rich second-homers. Mostly from poncey-ass boarding schools, just rich trustafarian posers. Our natural enemies. And then there are the tourons. Totally clueless. here for a week on vacation with their families. Chum for the sharks."
Martha giggles, nodding her head along to the conversation. "Like, baby shark?" She reaches out with her arms and does the shark biting/ clapping motion of the song. "Do do do do do do doo"—
— "Mcfly, cut it out! I just got that song out of my head!" JJ laughs along with her, pushing down her arms.
"Sorry baby, it's just so catchy!! And why are you explaining this to me like I don't know already? I've come here every summer since I was little, I'm basically" —
— "A kook?"—
"Washed up chum."
"No, you're not! You're like an ocean's pearl or- or sea glass that keeps on returning to the beach! And even if you were washed up chum —which you're not— sharks cannot get enough of you." JJ points out, bopping her nose.
"Did you just call yourself a shark?" Martha leans in.
"Oh please, you like how I bite," he snarkily replies.
Both smile as they lean into a short and playful kiss. Their smiles continue to grow wider as they pull away from each other.
Martha leans in to go for another but she hears a concerned voice calling after his girlfriend. Sarah's name was being called.
"Sarah! Sarah, be careful, okay?"
Martha's face contorts into a puzzled state, allowing J to follow her gaze and look at what's troubling his girl. "Great, the kook princess is here, which means her brother is somewhere too." He whispers, his jaw ticks at the thought of the eldest Cameron.
Martha ignores his statement, she's worried about Sarah's safety as of right now. I swear to God, if she falls and hurts herself, I'll be the one to kill her.
"What are you doing? C'mon get down," Topper says as he holds out his hand. Sarah is on top of a rusty buoy, she could easily get hurt if she has one slip up.
"I'm going to say hi, okay? Get me a drink, darling." Martha states, before kissing JJ on the lips and going over to talk to her old childhood friend.
She runs up behind the kooks and pounces on Sarah. The action scares the princess so much that with a yelp, the pair of girls fall onto the sand.
"Marty?! Never do that again," Sarah laughs as Marty looks down on top of her. Even with sand in her hand, Martha knows she is beautiful.
"Well, I'm sorry that someone has limp noodle legs! You always gotta be ready Sally!" Martha gets up and pulls her childhood friend along with her. They laugh again and finally hug each other.
"You remember Topper and Kelce, right?" Sarah states, breaking away from the hug.
"Yeah, I remember them. Hi guys, long time no see." Martha waves hello to the guilty-looking boys she saw at the Wreck not even less than 36 hours ago.
"Martha, I am so sorry about what happened back at the Wreck, I had no idea those photos weren't"—
— "It's okay Kelce, I saw your face, I accept your apology." Martha smiles, glad that he had some decency. Kelce gave a small smile as appreciation.
"Wait, wait, wait! you knew!" Sarah yells at Topper. "And did- did you say anything to him?!"
"It's none of my business Sare"—
— "No! Don't play that card with me! We'll talk about this later. Walk away! I can't even look at you right now! Walk!" Sarah yells at her boyfriend, pointing towards the bonfire pit.
The commotion creates a small scene in front of a crowd that JJ and John B were in.
Kelce taps his hand on Topper's shoulder, before dragging him towards the keg.
"Anyways, I saw you with Maybank earlier, just be careful with him. Heard he's a player."
"Well, he can't be as bad as your brother."
"Marty, I'm so sorry that happened to you. I am planning to tell Ward about it, but every time I try, Rafe is always there. I will tell him."
"Thanks, Sarah, I'll keep that in mind. See you later." She drops the conversation, not really knowing where to take it next. She smiles, before returning to JJ and John B.
"What was that all about?" John B questions as Marty gladly accepts the red solo cup JJ has gotten her. "Nothing, don't worry about it."
➵ ➵ ➵
THE SUN HAD SET QUITE SOME TIME AGO, and the full moon surprisingly didn't bring any craziness among the party-goers... not yet anyway.
A drunken JJ and a sober Martha were walking on the beach together, they went out for a private talk about the incident between Sarah and Topper. JJ told her that John B was really worried about his big sister and that he really wants Martha to open up to him. She decided she was going to tell him either later tonight or early tomorrow morning.
As they make their way back to the bonfire, the couple runs into a buzzed John B, and JJ offers him a beer.
Coincidentally, Sarah and Topper start to head home, and the couple crosses paths with the drunk boys.
"You leaving Sarah?" Marty asks. "Yeah."
JJ, being the reckless and drunk boy he is, offers the beer to Sarah instead as a parting gift.
"Hey! Hey, Sarah! Sarah, can I interest you in a tasty Milwaukee beverage?"
"No, thanks."
"Oh, come on. Is it not fancy enough for you?" JJ taunts, waving the alcohol in her face.
"No. We were just leaving."
"Hey, you know what? I'll take it." Topper interrupts. "I'll- thank you, man. I appreciate it."
"That's nice, but I didn't ask you. If you said pretty please, maybe, but you didn't."
Martha, Sarah, and John B can tell this bickering is just adding flames to the fire.
"Oh, pretty please. Pretty please?"
"Yeah. So, Sarah, you can have it." JJ offers Sarah the drink one more time, making Martha mad.
"J, Sarah said no, so just give it to Topper. Let him have it." Martha says but her demand is cut short from Topper hitting the cup out of JJ's hand and making it spill on the both of them.
"Martha!" Sarah yells, ready to scold her boyfriend but Marty reassures her friend that she's okay. "It's okay, it's not a big deal."
"She said she didn't want it, you" —
—JJ grabs Topper's shirt and pushes him away. Topper pushes him back too. The fight is escalating very quickly.
"Okay!" JB steps in between the two and holds back his best friend "No, no, no, no."
"You're so funny, man," JJ calls over Johnny's shoulder. Pope and Kiara are soon there too, to calm the hot head down. Martha tries her best to help, but nothing seems to be working.
"DIRTY POGUES!" Topper yells from across the stand. John B turns around and pushes the kook hard.
"John B! We're supposed to be incognito, remember?" Pope says, stepping in front of John B. Martha and Kie hold JJ back from causing anything more.
Sarah tries to control her boyfriend, "babe, babe, babe, babe" but it's too late.
Topper swings a right hook into John B's face, totally blindsiding him and causing the pogue to fall to the ground. While he's down, Topper takes dirty blows like kicking him in the stomach.
Topper continues to taunt and mock as he kicks Johnny deeper into the water. "Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?"
"John B! Sarah! Get your boyfriend on a leash, please!" Kiara shouts.
The beach was screaming at each other to fight while poor Sarah mercilessly tried to calm them down. But John B never backs down from a challenge; he gets up and tackles Topper into the crashing waves.
"John B, let it go!"
"Give it to him!"
"Stop, you guys!"
John B does a hard right jab into Topper's eye and a left jab into his rib cage.
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" JJ encourages his best friend.
"Come on!" JB rallies the crowd up with anticipation.
"Yeah, you wanna go?" Topper taunts.
After a few mean punches and tackles, the fight goes deeper and deeper into the shallow shore then it takes a sudden shift. Topper overturns the fight completely with one over-the-shoulder throw and holds Johnny's head in the water.
"Oh my god, Topper! No!" Martha can hear Sarah's worried voice yell at her boyfriend to stop acting like a deranged lunatic but nothing is stopping his rampage.
Martha thinks for a moment but she knew she had to act quickly. She licks her lips, to take a sip of liquid courage, before whispering to JJ about her plan.
"I know what you're planning to do but just follow my lead instead. And don't use that gun until I tell you to!" She yells into his ear, before running over to the two boys.
When she reaches them, she tries to pry Topper off of her baby brother. "Let go, you buffoon!! You're drowning him! Stop!" She pulls on his arms but it's no use. His skin is too slippery from the cold water droplets coating it.
Instead, she moves behind the murderous kook and hesitates in what she is going to do, but hearing that choking and suffocating sound of John B dying, she goes for it.
"Fine, Topper! You wanna do it the hard way? Here's the hard way!" and she kicks him in his balls.
The crowd cringes at the sight as Sarah's boyfriend falls into a crouching position. "Fuck! You bitch!" He yells at her, his face contorting in discomfort and pain.
"What?! Someone had to stop him from drowning poor Johnny here!" Martha yells toward the crowd before kneeling in the waves and lifting her brother's head with her hands. Once she knows that he is safe and breathing again, she begins to yell over the waves behind her.
"FIRST OFF!" She looks for her beloved friend in the crowd of onlookers. To Martha's surprise, she found her smiling at what she had done to her boyfriend. "I believe he won't be in need of a punishment anymore!"
Marty felt her baby brother's fingers tug on her wrist, "punishment for what?" he whispers after a few seconds of quiet time.
"I'll explain later."
"SECONDLY! Topper," she looks over at the boy, "Your apology is accepted."
"AND THIRDLY! SHOW'S OVER EVERYBODY! GO THE FUCK HOME!"
Martha connects eye contact with her pogue before smirking and winking at him. He returns the smirk with a nod, and raises his gun, and starts shooting it into the air.
"Okay, everyone, listen up! Get the hell off our side of the island!"