Agape || Rafe Cameron

Chapter One

"First, I'd like to thank Agatha for what she's brought us", the young man began, raising a freshly opened bottle of beer. "Fewer child services, more crabs, let's toast!"

The group of teenagers complied with a simultaneous burst of joy before taking a sip. The girl's doe eyes wandered over her friends before drifting out to the marsh, cleared by the hurricane that had struck the Outer Banks the day before.

Her new life had truly begun when she met the Pogues a few months ago. John B was employed on the Druthers, and she had crossed paths with him when she arrived during a purely fortuitous visit to the deck. And since then, without being able to explain why, their lives had become intertwined. 

The air suddenly became more breathable when she left Figure Eight for the first time to join her group in the Cut, and her heart seemed to really beat during boat trips all together in the marsh. 

She had traded her city clothes for light ensembles, usually consisting of denim shorts and graceful colored bikini tops. Her hair remained pinned up in a braided bun with a floral clip her mother had bought her. The memory, now tinged with bitterness, came to mingle with those of the Pogues.

John B was what you could call the leader. He had reached out to her directly and hadn't let go since.

Kie had become like a sister to her. She was the only girl in the group and was more than thrilled to have another female join their ranks.

Pope was the brains, but above all, he was a friend with whom she could debate everything and nothing until the early hours of the morning.

And then there was JJ. If she had to describe him in one sentence, she would probably diagnose him with a golden retriever personality hidden behind a very good-looking exterior.

The life she now led by their side was far more tumultuous, and it went without saying that the group had a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some nights, she would return to TannyHill, recounting her adventures to Sarah until dawn.

However, not everything was perfect.

Lakelyn had never been very comfortable forming new connections, and even less so when it came to owning up to her status as a Kook around the residents of the Cut. Maybe Rafe's ridiculous behavior towards them, which she had observed from afar since her arrival, hadn't helped either. 

So here she was. 

Nearly three months of walking this tightrope, balancing between hanging out peacefully with her friends and hiding her true nature of a spoiled child.

None of them were aware of it for the moment, and she seemed to dread the day they would realize they were living in a constant lie. The more the days went by, the more her thoughts gravitated toward this reality she refused to acknowledge.

"Pope, can you go a little faster please", ordered JJ, placing his foot at the front of the boat.

"Off we go," sighed the brunette, unsurprised, as she joined John B at the other end of the boat to escape the inevitable consequences of what was about to happen. 

The boy had bet the same as she did and welcomed her into his little refuge to spare her from another beer shampoo that would reek for the next ten days.

"I don't know why he keeps trying; he's already failed like a hundred times..."

JJ was always the most eager when it came to pulling stunts that would impact the entire group. Lyn was convinced that he could do anything as long as someone told him it was a stupid idea.

"If I may," Pope interjected fully, "you're holding the bottle at the wrong angle..."

The British girl straightened up, clearing her throat with a small cough.