𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚎//𝙹𝙹 𝙼𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔

Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ｏｎｅ： "Ｌｅｔ＇ｓ ｓｔａｒｔ ｗｉｔｈ ｓｏｍｅ ｉｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎｓ ｓｈａｌｌ ｗｅ？"

    "That's what, a three-story fall to the deck?"
    "I give you about a one-in-three chance of survival."
   I crack open a beer can and take a swig letting the liquid run down my throat as I sit down next to Kiara. I face John B who is currently too close to the edge of the roof for my liking.
"Should I do it?" John B asks, looking back at us
"Yeah, jump." JJ says, encouraging him. "I'll shoot you on the way down." He adds
"You'll shoot me?" John B asks looking back to see if JJ was serious.
  "Yep." He says popping the 'p'. "Pow!" He closes one eye, does a finger gun and pretends to shoot John B.
"They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers." Kie says. We all look at her as she looked at us disgustedly. "This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles, I guess?" She said looking down disappointedly.

   Lets start with some introductions shall we? Our group. The ones who my family doesn't know I hang around.
   First we have Pope Heyward. The first of the group that I met. My best friend since elementary school. He was being bullied by my brother and a few of his bitchy friends when I stepped in and called them out. He brushed it off but we became close after a few days when he thanked me.
   Next, we have John Routledge and JJ Maybank. Met them at basically the same time through Pope. John B and JJ are tied. No closer friends than them. Except maybe Pope and I. John B has been running from some officials for a while now. His mom left when he was 3 and after his dad went missing a few months ago the cops have been up his ass trying to figure it out or put him in foster care. JJ's mom left when he was younger but his dad is around but drugged himself so he couldn't take care of JJ. He usually stays with John B in his house since his parents are both gone. The rest of us do occasionally.
   Kiara Carrera. Kie for short.  I met her a few years ago and I'm still getting to know her. I know she doesn't have the best parents and that they both want to send her to a camp to 'straighten her out'. I also know that she is the most eco friendly person I've met.
   "I can't have cold towels." JJ says to Kie from over where he is leaning on something and drinking some beer.
   "Can you please not kill yourself?" Kie says not looking up.
   "Don't spill that beer." JJ says to John B.
   "I'm not giving you another one." He adds taking another sip of his drink.
   "Whoa! Oh, shit." John B says as he drops the beer and almost falls off the roof.
    "Of course you did." I say rolling my eyes at his actions
    "Smooth."
    " A-plus."
    "Dumbass." We all say mocking John B for almost falling off.
   I hear a car door shut quietly and I stand up walking over to catch a glance of two cops walking over.
    "Hey!" I say catching everyone's attention.
    "Hey, uh, security's here." I say tying my hair up in a messy ponytail and grabbing my bag.
    "Let's wrap it up." Kie says standing up
    "Boys are early today." JJ says after he finished his beer.
    "Humpty Dumpty, let's roll."
    "Let's go, boys." I say. Everyone grabs their stuff.
    "Gary, is that you?" JJ says pointing to one of the two cops
  "Get down." The cop who might have been Gary said as we ran lightly.
"It's me." JJ says hoping to gain some recognition from the man
"Gary, good to see you, man!" JJ says as he smiles sarcastically. We start to run to the Twinkie.
"You're asking for it." Kie shouts to JJ
"JJ!" I shout so he keeps running
"Get 'em! They're comin' your way!"
"Hey! Stop!" The cops yell at us trying to make us stop running
"I got him!" Gary yelled trying to grab JJ to stop him from running away.
"Not much of a hugger man!" JJ says dodging him.
"They're going out front!" I hear one say.
"Go, Pope! Go! Go, go, go, go, go, go!" I scream at him to over the up comming fence.
"Get up, Pope, fatso's coming" JJ encourages
"Hey!"
"Come here, you little pricks!"
"Bus is leaving!" John B says from in the Twinkie. We all hop in but keep the door open.

    "Come on, boys! Whoo!" Kie hollers

    "Hey, hey! Hey! Hey!" One cop says trying not to stumble over their feet.
    "Check out Gary, gunnin' for a raise." JJ says looking over at Pope smiling
    "Come on, Gary!" He continues
    "Wait. Slow down." JJ says to John B as he grabs a empty beer can from under the seat me and Pope are sitting on.
    "Hey! You little pricks!" Gary screams at us. 
    "Hey!" JJ calls to him as if we already didn't have his full attention. He waved the empty can in the air.
    "You're gonna give him a heart attack." I say looking at the group of laughing boys
    "You're so close!" JJ waves the can closer to him. "You can do it. There you go. They don't pay you enough, bro."
    "JJ, stop. Stop." Kie says slapping his arm lightly and giving him a look.
    "Oh, come on. That sort of initiative
is just begging to be punished." He says trying to defend himself.
    "JJ." I say sternly from my seat making him stop and look at me. I shake my head.

    This is the Outer Banks, North Carolina. There are two sides. The cut which is where the hard workers live also known as the non wealthy side. Pope, John B, and JJ all live on the cut. Kiara and I both live on Figure Eight. Figure Eight is the side of the assholes who only talk to others to get in with certian deals. These people are called kooks. Me and Kie are technically kooks but aren't qualified enough to be called kooks. We hang with the 'dirty pouges' as my brother calls them.

    John B pulls over and I open the door hopping out. I sling my bag over my shoulder.
    "Hey." I say leaning against the side of the vehicle.
    "See you tomorrow?" John B asks already knowing the answer. His tan face is crinkled his mouth forming a smile, his hat covering his hair so I can only see a small part of it poking out of the side. I look back to Pope and Kie. Pope is cleaning up but paused to look at me waiting for my response. Kie is looking at me, her long wavy sun bleached hair over one shoulder.
    "See ya tomorrow." I say smiling as I push away from the car and start to walk to my house.