WILDEST DREAMS

chapter one.

"We're the Pogues and our mission this summer is to have a good time, all the time."

Emerson was sitting with a drink in her hand, currently at a house who wasn't finished being built. She knew this would just bring more Kooks, hopefully a lot better than the ones she knew. She didn't get along too well with the rich class, even if she was a Kook as well. She really only was a Kook because of her grandmother, if it wasn't for her, her parents would of probably had nothing.

It never really was her thing to attend the parties of the rich, her mother always insisted that she hang out with Kooks. Emerson just couldn't stand their entitled attitudes, or how they flaunt their wealth around. Now, her friends are known as the lower class, they didn't really have the best houses or clothes like the Kooks but Emerson liked them a lot better.

The separation between the two social classes was painfully obvious. The lower class had to work for everything they had and even then it wasn't enough sometimes but that made them humble and she admired that. They were a lot nicer as well, she guessed it was because they knew how hard life can get so they didn't see the point in being cruel.

She took a sip of her drink as she looked up at John B, who was standing on the edge of the house.

"That's what, a three-story fall to the deck?" Pope said looking up at John B as well. "I give you about a one-in-three chance of survival."

"Should I do it?" John B said jokingly, licking his finger holding it up to the wind.

"Yeah, jump." Pope replied, aiming at him with the drill. John B held up finger guns pretending to shoot at Pope.

"They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers." Emerson directed her attention to Kiera, who was speaking to JJ and her.

"Of course. Why wouldn't they?" JJ asked as Emerson chugged the last of her beer. She turned to look at JJ who still had some of his beer left, he looked at her with a knowing look and handed her his beer bottle. She flashed him a thank you smile, taking a sip from his beer.

"This used to be a turtle habitat," she sighed slumping her shoulder a bit. "Who cares about the turtles, I guess?"

Kiera narrowed her eyes at John B, "Can you please not kill yourself?"

"Don't spill that beer. I'm not giving you another one. Miss. Albertine over here chugged hers like it was the last thing on the earth, I would have given hers to you but-" Before he got a chance to finish Emerson pushed him making him tumble back a little.

"Chuck that beer at him please, I'll kiss you or whatever." Emerson told John B, flirting with the guys was a normal thing, they knew it didn't mean anything.

"Oh, if it'll get me a kiss from you, gladly." He sent her a wink, making JJ groan.

Just as he was going to say something, John B almost lost his footing. "Woah! Oh, shit." He dropped the beer, making all four of them throw remarks at him.

Emerson watched as Pope leaned over the railing, looking at the driveway.

"Hey, uh, security's here. Let's wrap it up."

"Boys are early today."

"Gary, is that you? Gary! Good to see you man!"

"Come on, JJ. Let's go!" Emerson chuckled as she pulled JJ by the arm, dragging him through the door after Pope and Kiera.

They all ran through the house, laughing as they made their way through. They all made it down the stairs, turning around when JJ ran into Gary at the garage door.

"Not much of a hugger, man!" JJ called out as he dodged the security guard. They all ran fast through the lawn, towards the streets. They came across a large fence, Pope being the one to jump over first. Emerson watched as he fell down to the ground, she followed up next. She felt JJ help lift her up from her waist so she could jump over it faster. She then watched as JJ hoped over it without a problem. Emerson helped Pope up and they all kept running, her chest starting to burn from the running.

"Bus is leaving!"

Kiera opened the door for all three of them to jump in, they all laughed and whooped as they jumped in. While John B decided it would be fun to honk the horn.

"Check out Gary gunning for a raise!" Pope pointed at Gary as he ran behind us.

"Wait, slow down!" JJ told John B as he stuck his head out the door, teasing the security guard as we drove away. "You're so close! You can do it!"

"He might have a heart attack." Kiera told them, not liking the teasing of the boys.

"Here you go, man! They don't pay you enough!" JJ chucked his beer at the running man.

"JJ cut it out already!" Emerson looked over at John B so he could tell JJ to stop but instead of waiting for him to say something, she grabbed JJ's arm and pulled him into the truck.

He sat back laughing as John B kept driving. "Oh come on, that sort of initiative is just begging to be punished."

"You're an asshole." Emerson let him know, causing JJ to flick something at her. She rolled her eyes, pushing him away from her.

"The Outer Banks, Paradise on Earth. It's the place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island."

Everyone was laughing as they continued down the road, ignoring the two blond teenagers who were arguing and pushing each other in the back seat.

JJ finally stopped and left Emerson alone, she laid back on the seat. She let JJ, Pope and Kiera talk amongst themselves, while she looked out the window. They passed through the rich people neighborhood, the Figure Eight as they would call it. They continued on to the south side, also know as The Cut. She watched the trees passing by, before looking back at JJ and Pope. She couldn't help but smile at the image before her, JJ was trying to explain something to Pope, that only really made sense to him. JJ was the type of person who would think the most random stuff, and would say them to you not really caring if you wanted to hear it or not.

"That's JJ, my best friend since third grade. He's about as local as they come. Latest in a long line of fishing, drinking, smuggling, and vendetta-holding salt-lifers who made their living off the water. Best surfer I know. Just don't tell him I said that. Mild kleptomaniac and a future tax cheater. Oh, and when he's not busy rolling a blunt, he's probably busy giving Emerson a hard time."

"And that's Kiara, or Kie, as we call her. When she's not saving turtles, or listening to Bob Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with us. I'm not really sure why, though. She's a rich kid, actually. Foot in both worlds. Her family owns The Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash cow with the tourists. You know, I'm not really sure how her parents feel about us, but I guess they feel better that Emerson is with us as well. We all have a thing for her..."

"That's Pope, the brains of the operation... finalist for the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship. And the smartest person I know. Little bit of a weirdo. But, his fathers this legendary character, Heyward. Anything you wanted on the island, Heyward could get it for you. I'm not sure Heyward knew what to make of his oddball son, but it didn't matter. He was a Pogue, just like the rest of us."

Emerson Albertine, a Kook, though a Pogue at heart. She's sort of rejected in the Kook world for being different, she doesn't really care about tea parties or keeping a good reputation. She's the girl every guy wants to be with, whether they were a Kook or a Pogue. We've all learned to accept her into our group, the boys and I flirt with her whenever we get a chance, I'm not quite sure it's a joke for JJ though. She's also probably the biggest feminist I know. When she's not with us or at a party singing or dancing by the fire with any one of us, or arguing with JJ, she's probably at home watching a show over and over again. But 99% of the time we drag her into whatever we're doing, she's also most likely to keep us all in check."

"So that's my crew. And I'm John Booker Routledge."