The Outer Banks, paradise on earth. The sort of place where you either have two jobs, or two houses. Two tribes, one island.
The younger girl survived because of her friends. For them. The first five or six months after her father disappeared were...
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The last thing Olivia Routledge could have expected was to see her father's compass fall into her brothers hand. Yet it had been there, clear as day; familiar copper colour, etched design and all. Even the scratch that ran along the back of it was there, reminding the girl of an unfortunate mishap back when her father handed her a fishing rod for the first time. She could have laughed thinking about it, if she wasn't so in shock.
Unfortunately, Olivia wasn't good at dealing with her feelings. Not the kind she had tried for so long to push away, at least. The dread that filled her stomach and anxiousness in her chest; emotions that caused her to run away and hide inside, away from all her friends.
She had spent so long convincing herself that her father was gone, that he wasn't coming back. Was she going to be proved wrong by a piece of metal? As John B had always said.. their dad was the last guy who would ever get lost at sea. People would say the boy was in denial, and at one point the girl had been too. It wasn't easy to accept the fact that their father, a man so equipped with knowledge to deal with the sea, could have died from it. But she knew, after a month or so had passed, that was it. She had to accept it. Because how could she go on thinking he was alive out there when she wasn't able to find him?
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JJ Maybank crept on to the porch of the Château, cheerful as he could be for a Monday morning. Noting the paper on the door from the department of child services, he banged on it loudly.
"DCS! I know you're in there!"
Noticing his best friend laying on the pull out couch, he slammed his fists into the window next to him. A groggy John B let out a 'woah', too stubborn to show the blond he had gotten him. JJ laughed. "Gotcha, slick."
A few minutes later, and the blond stood in the kitchen, waiting for the second Routledge sibling to appear with her brother.
"Hey Livy," said John B, a soft edge to his voice, "s'time to get up, we have somewhere to go." The girl let out a groan and burrowed herself deeper into the blanket, much to her brothers dismay. "Go without me." Her sandy coloured hair fanned out over her pillowcase and he gave it a gentle tug. "C'mon, before I have JJ yank you outta here." At his threat, she clambered out of bed, a glare on her face. "Look," said John B, his tone serious, "finding that compass was totally unexpected, and neither of us handled in perfectly. But I just think, that maybe, even if we don't believe the same thing... we're in this together." His sister nodded. They weren't necessarily on the same page about their father, but they certainly were with this. They needed to stick together, no doubt about it.
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"I'm just saying, " said JJ, "I don't understand why you don't at least try with Kiara." John B shook his head, glancing at his sister through the rear-view mirror as she tried not to laugh at his expression. "She clearly likes you." The blond continued, "She's like, 'Oh, John B'."
