𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

001. School Year.

JOSIE FORBES now stood before her mirror in the corner of her bedroom. The school semester was right around the corner and she had to go back. She sighs, straightening out her blazer before pulling down her skirt just a bit. She hasn't seen JJ, Pope or Kie in weeks since John B and Sarah went missing.

She sighs, pulling on her socks before slipping on her shoes. Her socks were halfway up her shin and her shoes are slip-on white sneakers. After everything, being questioned by the police and having to accept John B and Sarah were lost at sea or dead, Josie was ready to move on now. Especially with school.

She walks down the staircase and spots Nova by the door, a piece of toast in his mouth as he grabs his car key. "Ready to go?" His question comes out muffled and she nods before they exit the house and go to the car. In the car, Josie mostly stared out the window.

"I'm so done with the Kook Academy," she sighs as she leans against the window. "I wish I could go to the same school as my friends." She says, closing her eyes with a small sigh. "Yeah? And what? Be delinquents with them?" Nova says and Josie just sighs.

"What's with the sudden hair change anyway?" Nova suddenly asked as he glanced over. Josie sighs, glancing over at him. She had gone to Charleston a couple of days ago with her mom and got a hair salon appointment where she got blonde highlights. "I-I don't know... Shit happens?" She shrugs softly.

At their school, Nova got out first and Josie sighs, following after him. "Have you even talked to your friends since everything went down? That night..." Nova looks at his sister as they walked into the school building and Josie glanced around, noticing eyes are on her.

"No..." She says and grips her backpack tighter. "They're still looking for them. Maybe they're still alive." Nova looks at her and she glanced at him. "Doubt it... They went straight into that storm, Joey." She says before walking the other way. "See ya," she waved and he waves back, walking towards his locker.

Josie now waits patiently outside the principal's office, bouncing her leg up and down quickly. "Can you stop?" She quickly looks to her right at a girl sitting two seats away. "Sorry... the principal never calls me in." She sighs, rubbing her hands onto her skirt and the girl nods. "Me neither but I'm new so that's probably why." She says and Josie looks over at her.

"I'm Josie. Josie Forbes." She held out her hand and the girl with dark brown long hair looks at her, smiling. "River Lachey." She held out her hand and shook Josie's. "Cool name... never met a girl River before." She says and River chuckles, glancing away, looking back at her book in her hands. "So... where did you move here from?" Josie asked.

"Uh, Florida... Yeah, my mom didn't like it there. She said she use to live here when she was younger so she wanted to come back to her roots or something." She shrugs and Josie nods,. "You'll definitely love it here. Our sheriff just died if you haven't heard." She says as she looks away, sighing loudly. "Oh, shit. Seriously?" River's eyes widen slightly.

"Yeah. And, uh, my best friend got lost at sea." She said and sighed. "Basically OBX is a shit show that is not to miss. Good luck here, River." She says and then the principal's door opens. "Josephine Forbes?" He says, waving the girl in and she stood up, huffing.

"Hit me straight with it, Mr. Jensen." She says as she sits down across from him. "I heard about your friend recently... uh, died?" He says and she shook her head. "Our newest sheriff, Shoupe killed him." She says, sucking in her cheek. "Right..." The man looks away. "I'm just concerned everything that happened this past summer will distract you away from your studies, Ms. Forbes." He tells her.

"No. Not at all. I'm ready for this school year." She says as she nods and he nods back. "Good to hear that, Ms. Forbes... Uh, call in River Lachey, please?" He says to the phone suddenly and the girl walks in next. "River, this is Josephine. Josephine, this is River." He says, gesturing between the two girls. "We've met..." River nods, sitting down.