Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"We're the Pogues, and our mission this summer is to have a good time all the time." John B thought to himself as he balanced on the roof of a large kook house project under construction. His brown hair blew in the wind showcasing his tanned skin and green eyes. The sun was setting, leaving the sky in a beautiful mix of orange and blues. His younger sister, Elizabeth Routledge stood behind him as she casually flipped through an old book she had found. Her light brown eyes squinted as she studied the page. The girl was wearing a white skinny strapped crop top and long blue jeans her light brown tangled curls were tucked neatly under a pink bandana. Out of all of the Pogues, she was the most 'Kook-like'. Elizabeth preferred to dress up to a certain extent, unlike her brother and friends. There was something satisfying about taking the time to choose and match up outfits and then see the outcome. She hasn't told anybody yet but one day she would love to own a boutique and design clothes.
"That's what, a three-story fall to the deck?" One of the pogues, Pope spoke up from the lower deck. His eyes darted worriedly between the two siblings. "I give you about one-and-three chance of survival." Elizabeth rolled her eyes lazily tossing the book towards her best friend JJ who sat with his legs dangling off a railing. The blonde boy messily reached his arms out catching the book. He glared at her before chiming in on Pope and John B's discussion. She ignored the boys who started a playful discussion. She was too busy pacing on top of the roof counting all the tiles.
"They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers." The youngest pogue missed a step almost slipping off the roof at the sudden outburst from her other friend, Kiara.
"Dude!" Elizabeth groaned regaining her footing while she glared at the older girl.
"Can you please not kill yourself?" Kiara said to both siblings. Elizabeth huffed sitting down on the roof. She ran her fingers through her brown curls trying to get the tangles out. She can't remember the last time she brushed her hair. The 15-year-old continued to zone out her friends. Her eyes where locked on the distant skyline, completely in a daze. She humed a random tune strumming her fingers on her thighs.
"Hey!" A gruff voice shouted from the driveway of the house.
"Hey, uh, security's here, Let's wrap it up," Pope informed the group of teens.
"Boys are early today," JJ stated standing up.
"Humpty Dumpty, Let's roll!" John B nudged his zoned-out sister with his foot. The girl quickly realized the situation standing up from the roof.
"Finally! I've been itching for some action!" She spoke to no one in particular. Exchanging a lopsided grin with Kiara she began to stretch. Scaling down the house she giggled, John B and JJ started mocking the security guard who usually chased them off of the property. "Whoo!" She shouted along with the other pogues as they ran through the house dodging and sliding passed walls and objects. She slid under JJ's arm as the group ran down the stairs.
"Keep up old man!" She taunted towards the blonde Pogue.
"Liz!" JJ gave her a playfully pointed look as she ran in front of everyone else.
"Hey stop!" Gary called out. Liz's eyes widened when she saw the older man right in front of her. Quickly she ran the other way almost tripping over JJ who had slipped on the floor. Once the group got outside they hopped the fence. With the help of JJ, she climbed over the fence successfully. hearing a groan followed by laughter Liz turned around to see Pope laid out on the ground.
"Come on Po!" She helped the boy up. Gary's calls got closer and closer. She turned just in time to see Gary get stuck on the other side of the fence. She stuck her tongue out at the man diving into John B's ugly brown van, the Twinkie. She looked out the window as she caught her breath watching Gary run after the van while calling out to the pogues.
"Check out Gary, gunnin' for a raise!" John B taunted from the driver's seat.
"Come on Gary!" JJ called out.
John B purposely slowed down the van. JJ stuck his body out the side door, "You're so close! You can do it. There you go." He stuck his hand out to Gary. When Gary got closer JJ threw Liz's book at the security guard.
"Chapter 3 is spicy!" Liz stook her head out of the van throwing the stumbling man a thumbs up. Pope held onto her other arm securely.
"They don't pay you enough!" JJ called out grinning from ear to ear loving the adrenaline rush.
"You little pricks!" Gary calls out right before the Twinkie sped away. The group laughed together. Elizabeth shook her head at her friends looking out the window at the Outer Banks, the place she calls home.
"The Outer Banks. Paradise on earth." The Twinkie passes into Figure 8. There where large houses with pools on each corner. Elizabeth stared at them longingly.She prayed one day she would have enough money to have a house as big. "If you can afford it. It's the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes one island. This is Figure Eight, the fancy part of the island. Home of the Kooks....guess where we don't live. " The Twinkie then crosses a bridge. The scenery changes to run-down houses and shacks. "This is the south side or The Cut. Home of the working class. Natural habitat of the Pogues."
+OBX+
The Pogues sat on the Routledge kids boat, the HMS Pogue. A small boat gifted to them as kids. They carried out most their mischief on the small boat.
JJ was vaping, Pope was reading a book, Kiara had her headphones in watching something, and Elizabeth was throwing a tennis ball in the air. "The downside of Pogue life: we're ignored and neglected." John B pulled a large net of fish out of the water. "The upside of Pogue life: we're ignored and neglected, which means ... we do whatever we want, whenever we want."
Elizabeth scrunches her nose at her brother when he threw a fish at her. "Fuck off John Booker!" She flipped him off throwing the slimy animal back at him. JJ who was driving the boat laughed covered by a cough. "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 Elie I said that."
Later that night the pogues were at a party on the beach like usual. It was known that the Pogues couldn't resist a good party. Kiara sat talking to some tourists about how bad plastic was for the environment. "And that's Kiara, or Kie, as we call her. She hangs out with us... I'm not really sure why though. She is a rich kid actually. Foot in both worlds. Her family owns The Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash cow with the tourists. We all sort of have a thing for her. Definitely don't tell Elie I said that either."
John B laughed to himself watching Pope try to awkwardly flirt with a girl."And that's Pope, the brains of the operation. The smartest person I know. A little bit of a weirdo. His father is Heyward, anything you wanted on the island Heyward could get for you. " John B walked around the party spotting his sister doing some odd dance in front of JJ most likely trying to convince him to let her have a beer.
"And that goofball over there is my younger sister Elizabeth, nobody really calls her that though. She's the most hyper out of all of us. Always bouncing around with energy and no matter what she always has a bright smile on her face. The two of us are actually half-siblings her mom left her on our doorstep when I was 6 and since then I've been protecting her with everything I got. The Pogues also love her and watch out for her. She's the youngest... our baby. Please don't tell her that either."
