torn | OBX Jᴏʜɴ B| Rafe Cameron

[2] John B's Introduction

The Outer Banks, Paradise on Earth.

It's the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses.

Two tribes, one island.

All right. This is Figure Eight, the rich side of the island.

Home of the Kooks. So, guess where we don't live.

And then, this is the south side or the cut.

Home of the working class who make a living busing tables, washing yachts, running charters.

The natural habitat of... drumroll, please the Pogues.

That's us.

Pogues, pogies, the throwaway fish. Lowest member of the food chain. Okay. So, the downside of Pogue life is we're ignored and neglected.

But the upside of Pogue life? We're ignored and neglected, which means we do whatever we want, whenever we want.

That's JJ, my best friend since the third grade.

He's about as local as they come.

Latest in a long line of fishing, drinking, smuggling, 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 cheat.

I got to know Charlie through him.

The two have known each other their hole lives.

Her real name is Charleen, but don't ever call her that. She hates the name because her father gave it to her.

Which Charlie, according to her own words, hates with all her heart.

She is one of the most direct, loyal and honest people I know.

Also a fantastic liar.

The others always tease us that we have a thing for each other. Which might be a little bit true, maybe.

With Charlie comes Michelle, but we call her Mitch.

On the outside she mostly looks like a Kook, but inside she is a Pogue with passion.

But I still think she would like it a lot on Figure 8.

She's the perfect match for Charlie, soulful and attentive. And a talented actress wich makes the perfect duo.

I think the Mason / Singer family is the only family that likes each of us and that we like too.

And that's Kiara, or Kie, as we call her.

When not saving turtles or listening to Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with us.

I'm not really sure why, though.

So, 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.

And 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.

His father's this legendary character, Heyward.

Anything you wanted on the island, Heyward could get for you.

Now, 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.

So, that's my crew.

And that's me, John Booker Routledge.

And this is where I live.

An old fish shack on the marsh. The Château, as my dad used to call it.

There's Dad.

He disappeared at sea nine months ago, looking for a shipwreck.

Who disappears at sea these days?

I miss him.

And then there's Mom. She split when I was three.

Last I heard, she was in Colorado. I think it was Colorado.

That's Uncle T.

Since Dad's vanished, he's supposedly my legal guardian.

At the moment, he's in Mississippi, building houses, which means it's just me right now, on my own, hangin' out with my friends.

Three months after my dad was missing, he was officially presumed dead.

I refused to sign the papers.

Until I see a body, I'm not giving up.