Ain't Shady Baby, I'm Hot

1

It's just me right now, on my own, hangin' out with my friends.

A motorcycle made its way onto the property as John B was walking out back. Evidence of the party that had been thrown just the night before everywhere.

"You call a cleaning crew, B?" Xena shouted as she got off her bike. Her hands rising to take her black helmet off. And like a scene in a movie, the light fell through the trees just right making her red hair glow as she tossed her hair to fluff it out. "Your yard looks like shit, B." She added, ruining the movie magic.

And that is, Xena, or as I call her T. She's the entire package. Brains, brawns, and if she caught me saying this she'd knock me out-- but she also isn't too bad to look at. But if she knows, she doesn't show it.

She moved here to Outer Banks just before sophomore year. Or for her, junior year. Her parents are divorced but she's got a potential stepfather in the works. His name is Gray and according to Xena, he is head over heels for her mom, Marie Bayford. Speaking of, her mom works at the Kook Academy meaning she, unfortunately, has to go all dolled up and dress the part. She lives on 12th street, right in the middle of Figure Eight and The Cut. Since she wasn't born here and because she wasn't on one side or the other-- she got to choose her own narrative. So, she chose to be a Pogue when she first moved here, and thank goodness she hangs out with us. I couldn't count the number of times she's saved our asses.

Why she chose us? Well, it's kinda like Kie- I'm not really sure.

You see, T is what you'd imagine the classic alpha female in all the weird teen movies and books would be. Literally, the day she moved here, she already had enemies and she met us. And like someone of her personality, she went after the biggest dog on the island. Intentional or not. She went after the Kook Prince himself. Which she did pretty well if I say so myself.

The island used to be run by the kooks and their kook royalty, and sure, they still technically do, but since Xena moved in under a year ago-- she's been stirring all that up. It's one of the reasons she didn't transfer immediately out of the Kook Academy, it was the heart of her plan. And since she only has one more year to go- she just decided to wrap up senior year there.

Now she may act like a tough bitch all the time, but she's got her demons. Her battle scars. She opened up to us slowly. We know about her rich-ass prick of a father, and we know about her addiction.

It's funny, I'd have thought she was this perfect badass bitch. She still is, but like everyone else, there's one thing she keeps going back to.

She's a fighter. In all senses and tenses possible. But she's a literal fighter. Both semi-pro and used to be street-style illegal. She promised her mom she wouldn't go back around this past winter, but somedays, we'd find her in the back of the gym she works at nursing herself back to health. She told us this spring that once she turns eighteen later this summer she won't go back, ever.

We believe her. And so far, she hasn't since she said it, she's too smart to risk the chance of getting caught. She's got a career to look towards. She could actually make it big. Whether she sticks to boxing or if she does something else.

Most days, we wonder how we get her to stay friends with us Pogues.

"Alright, enough lounging around. Let's go. I didn't leave the gym early to pick up all this muck by myself." Xena spoke, dragging John B out from his hammock much to his disapproving groans. The slightly hung over John B was caught off guard again when he noticed she was still in her workout clothes.

"Eyes up here, B. I won't hesitate to deck you. It would make your hangover a lot worse." Xena grumbled as she grabbed the boy's wrist, he didn't refuse and let her drag him around.

"Ah, Pope, lovely to see you. Let's go." Xena grabbed the sleeping boy from off the porch couch as well before dragging him inside.

"Mornin' Kie. I'll get you in a minute." Kie mumbled something before rolling over to go back to sleep.

"Why does she get to sleep longer?" Xena turned around to Pope's whine.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Xena dropped the two boys in the kitchen, grabbing trash bags and tossing them at them. "The faster you get it cleaned up, the faster you go back to sleep." Xena crossed her arms as the two boys didn't move. "Go!"

Once John B and Pope were outside picking up, Xena made her way to the backroom where she could here JJ talking to someone.

"You better hope your ass isn't naked. I'm coming in." She shouted pounding on the door.

"Oh shit! Fuck off, X!" Xena snorted before kicking open the door. JJ only called her X when he had a girl there.

"Hello, sorry, I need to borrow this fucker for clean up. He'll be back in an hour." Xena ignored the shock from the blonde on the bed as she grabbed her blond yanking him away. "Wifey, I was getting some." His protests falling on uninterested ears as she booted him out of the room and shut the door behind them.

"Go help your boys clean outside. The faster you clean, the faster you get back to hooking up."

JJ didn't argue as he just grumbled the entire way back out of the Château to where John B and Pope were cleaning up. Xena took the time to walk over to Kie and shake her awake.

"Hey, lets get the kitchen cleaned up while the guys are outside."

"Fine, mom."

"Yeah, I love you too, Boo."

And yeah, she was the mom of the group. But a badass all the same.

We're going to miss her next summer when she goes off on her own. Just thinking about that makes me want to plot some diabolical plan to keep her here. I wish it was summer forever.