MARLBORO NIGHTS [JJ MAYBANK]

bring it on, aggie

KAROLINA SCOTT REGRETTED CUTTING BANGS; her sister had warned her, but who was Karolina if she had listened? However, now, lying flat with her legs hanging off the scaffolding perched on the side of an unfinished house on the Figure Eight, she definitely wished she could tie the strands away from her face without having them stick out. She was sweltering in the late afternoon heat of the Outer Banks, her thin spaghetti strap crop top not helping cool her down as much as she thought it would, and she was left to hold the unopened beer's condensation to the pressure points on her wrists. JJ had brought one for everyone, but Karolina wasn't feeling it that day.

"That's what, a three-story fall to the deck?"

She slowly pulled herself into sitting position, letting her sunglasses slide down her nose to see the boy talking. Pope Heyward looked up at the roof: "I give you about a one-in-three chance of survival." John Booker Rutledge, a tall, curly haired masterpiece of a kid, stuck a finger in his mouth and held it up to the wind, humming. "Should I do it?"

"Yeah, jump. I'll shoot you on the way down," encouraged Pope, holding a drill up to his face and squeezing one eye shut. John B laughed. "You'll shoot me?"

Pope confirmed, while John raised a finger gun in his direction, going, "Pow!" as he imitated pulling the trigger.

"They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers," came a voice from below them; Kiara, a pretty mixed girl with beautiful brown curls, smacked the bottom of Karolina's hightop, scoffing as she came into view. "Of course they would, why wouldn't they?" muttered Pope, lowering his makeshift gun. Kiara, whom they often called Kie, shook her head. "This used to be a turtle habitat, but- who cares about the turtles, I guess."

JJ, who leaned against the railing a few feet from Karolina, piped up, like it was obvious, "I can't have cold towels." When Kie spotted John B dangling a foot over the edge of the roof, she sighed. "Can you please not kill yourself?"

"And don't spill that beer," called JJ, shaking his head, "I'm not giving you another one." Karolina tilted her body sideways, standing up as she sung, "He's definitely gonna spill it."

CLANG. Not even a second later, the beer splashed onto the spot she had been sitting in. John B cursed, and Kie pursed her lips just as JJ chimed, "Of course you did. Right as I told you not to." A smile played on Karolina's lips: "Get down here and I'll give you mine."

A car door slammed in the distance. "Hey, uh, security's here," Pope announced, slapping the railing anxiously, "Lets wrap it up." Karolina extended a hand to JJ, helping him to his feet. "Boys are early today," he mused.

Karolina swung down the scaffolding in front of JJ, joining Pope and Kie on the deck as John B slid down the roof. "Gary, is that you?" called JJ teasingly, waving at the heavyset security guard walking up the stairs after them, "Is it time?"

Kiara shook her head, though a smile still graced her lips. "You're just asking for it." John B turned abruptly as Pope nervously ushered them into the house. "JJ!" shouted the security guard, Gary. Karolina laughed, whooping loudly as she followed her goofy friends into the house's garage. JJ lead the way, scrambling to change directions when Gary met them at the bottom of the stairs, hollering, "Hey, get back here!"