Pooks

Chapter 1

No 5 am alarm today. No early morning surf sesh. No pissed off mom shouting at me from the shore to get changed for school. No mom at all. No pinchy school uniform and no skirts.
No breakfast either, this place looks it hasn't had a meal cooked here since I was last here and that was 5 years ago.
I slept on Barry's couch. I came here late last night and just crashed out. Rafe dropped me, he said he wanted to be there for me but I know it was just so he knew exactly where Barry lived. Where I live.
Rafe and Barry don't get on, they never have. Rafe never liked him even before he was a drug dealer, said Barry was always getting me into trouble as kids. He wasn't wrong but Barry was my brother, back then that meant something. I'm not so sure anymore.
Things were awkward with Barry when I got here but like I said it was late so we didn't talk much. He and Rafe carried my bags in, which was awkward enough. They didn't talk much either but I saw Rafe say something to him outside before he left. If I know Rafe it was probably to make sure he looks after me. I miss him already.
Barry showed me the room that's eventually going to be mine once he moves all his junk out of there. Barry lives in an old fish shack on the marsh. He used to live in a trailer but when dad made his money he sent Barry some to get a better place. Money to keep away. Hush money.
Thank god though because living in a trailer in this heat sounds like hell. Not that Barry has air con, or anything really. I mean you should see this place!
There's clothes everywhere and I mean everywhere. On the floor, the couch, the chairs, the table, the shelves, the ceiling fan. I even saw a shirt in the kitchen sink. Apart from that though it's not really messy, there isn't anything Barry has to make it messy. I mean yeah it could be tidier, there's a few beer cans on the floor and the bins are full of them, but it's not like there's dishes in the sink or anything because I don't think Barry owns any. The walls are bare, no photos or anything. Even the couch is bare no cushions just the pillow I used that I brought from home.
Home.
I mean my old home. This is home now.
I should be grateful, stop being such a- a kook! If it wasn't for Barry I'd be living on the mainland right now with a mother who doesn't care. I'd be an hours drive from any decent surf and I wouldn't know anyone or anything. I kinda owe Barry big time.
Plus I used to love it here! I used to love how it was everything Figure 8 wasn't. No toxic parents, no stuck up kooks, no boring banquets. Just me and Barry, old movies and surfing. Maybe this won't be so bad. Maybe Barry and I just need to warm up to each other again. Maybe-
"Y/N! GET YOUR ASS UP YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE!" Barry yells in his thick accent.
You roll your eyes. "I'm already up!" you call back. Barry hasn't come out of his room yet. You heard him still awake talking on the phone in his room when you got up for a drink at 3 am. Talking to clients? A girlfriend? I don't really know Barry anymore, like I said it's been years since I've been here.
Barry stumbles out of his doorway and into the living room, if you want to call it that. His long hair is pulled back into the same bun he had yesterday and he can't open his eyes properly yet. He rubs them and shuffles into the kitchen. He splashes water on his face and leans against the sink staring at his feet as the water drips off his face onto the floor. Gross.
He's not facing you but you still look at him when he speaks. "You're not gonna be late on your first day because I'll get the blame okay?" You look away and don't say anything. "Social services will be hot on us for a while, after a week or so they'll calm down especially with summer here, just keep it together for a week kid." You look back up at him even though he's still facing the sink and smile.
He grabs the shirt that you moved out of the sink yesterday, dries his face with it and puts it back into the sink soaking wet again. That's not a shirt, that's his towel. Gross.
"It's a joke I have to go in, it's the last day of term!" you moan. Barry doesn't say anything or look at you. He's busy pulling a cigarette out of the packet from his pocket. He finally turns to look at you offering you one from the pack. You shake your head "I don't smoke"
Barry chuckles as he lights up and inhales. "And it's gonna stay that way" he blows out.
"You didn't even finish school, why do I have to go in for ONE day?!"
"You wanna end up like me kid?" He makes a good point.
You roll your eyes and grab your empty bag. New school means new books, new books that I don't have yet. You slip your shoes on and turn to leave. You kinda think Barry is going to stop you, I don't know to wish you good luck or whatever but he doesn't. You don't stop to say goodbye either. You walk out the door, across Barry's yard, our yard, and toward your new school.
You know the way, you know the cut well. If not from growing up around here with Barry you and Sarah are always sneaking on here for boys or parties. By "boys or parties" I mean parties Sarah got us invited to or boys that fancy Sarah. I was always sort of thankful those types of boys were never interested in me. It would always end with Sarah crying and Rafe and me trashing their cars or golf clubs.
You smile, I miss them both. Figure 8 is a 20 minute drive away if that but it might as well be another country when you're here. The Cut is a different world to Figure 8.
Kildare County. It might sound similar to Kildare Academy but trust me it isn't. Sarah's told me horror stories of Kildare County. Apparently a kid got stabbed there once with a pen and she said a girl had her pony tail cut off by her own math teacher for falling asleep in class! Good thing I don't wear pony tails.
It feels weird not wearing a uniform. Good weird. I hated that uniform, first off as you know the skirt. Then you had to wear shoes that hurt and shirts that were always slightly too small that made creepy male teachers stare a little too long at your chest.
Today I have on shorts and a t-shirt, my cap and Converse. This is how I usually dress anyway, when I'm not being forced into a dress or a shirt that's too small. I guess being forced into uniforms and dresses is all in the past now. You can't help but smile at that thought.
Mom used to always have a go at me for how I dressed. It was never girly enough for her. "Can't you ask Sarah to borrow some of her clothes?" She'd say. No offence Sarah I love you but she dresses like Barbie and Kim K had a baby. I mean she looks great, duh, but it's just not me. One thing I'm not worried about today is looking like a kook, I've always been told I 'dress like a pogue' which I always thought was funny. I once wasn't allowed in the Country Club because they thought I was lying about having a membership. Rafe went mad. I lost moms membership card the day she gave it to me, Sarah and I traded it to a blonde pogue boy in exchange for access to a beach party at the bone yard last summer. Best decision ever the party ruled. Of course Rafe found out and you guessed it, he went mad.
I got this baseball cap when I was a kid. When I first started getting into surfing dad (before he ditched me) took me to a surf shop to look at the boards. I wasn't allowed one because of mom and her dumb rules about being lady-like. I couldn't stop crying so he bought me this cap to cheer me up, that's also the day Rafe practically gave me his board.
The cap is the colour of sand which is what I like most and it says "active lifestyle" on the front in green. Kookiest sentence ever I know but it's so battered and beaten now that you can barely read it. A few of the letters have faded and it looks more like "tiv tyle." There's holes on the cap part from when Rafe's dog got it one time but it fits perfectly and I'm emotionally attached to it now so it's not going anywhere.