It happened a few times this summer.
A storm out over the Atlantic, hundreds of miles away, sending ripples right over the pond.
If you grew up on the Outer Banks, you could just tell.
No matter where you were, you could hear it.
It didn't matter what you were planning on doing that day.
You hit the break, no matter what.
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"Yeah, baby, now that's a perfect swell. It's probably the best of the year!" JJ cheered while reading the surf report off his phone.
Kiara was hard at work waxing her new board. The Pogues, minus Cleo, were gathered around on the upper floor of the shop, excitement buzzing in the air.
"Come on. Are you guys seriously surfing today?" Pope asked with his usual parental tone.
"Oh, don't. Don't," John B immediately grumbled, not wanting anyone to rain on their parade.
"As opposed to what?" Kie asked incredulously.
"Well, I don't wanna sell the million dollars I have in my hand for 50K, so I'm gonna look into this," Pope said, waving the locket for them to see.
"Wait, Pope. You just heard me, right? I said it's a perfect swell day." JJ pointed down at his phone in disbelief.
"Yeah, and there will be other swell days," Pope mumbled absentmindedly, already examining their treasure.
"Party pooper," Grace sang from her spot, sprawled out on the couch. She was more hungover than she'd been in her entire life but no amount of headache would stop her from making the most of the prime conditions.
"Pope, that's like saying there's other pizza to eat, all right?" JJ started, slight southern accent coming through, "Like, come on, now. Are you serious?"
Pope scoffed while gesturing to a half-dead looking Grace. "You think Gracie is gonna be up on a board within the next hour?"
Grace rolled her eyes and shot a hand up to flip him off from her lazy position. "For your information, P, the moment I finish my third coffee, I'll be ready to go. Trust me."
"Listen to your Earth Mother, Pope. She's, like, begging you to surf!" added Kie.
Pope glanced down at the locket. "My Earth Mother is telling me to maximize our intel..."
Kie shook her head in disbelief. "Mine's telling me to maximize the swell."
"You wanna maximize beach day?" John B asked to his wife.
"I'm gonna maximize this tan," answered Sarah, receiving a hum of agreeance from Kie and Grace.
"Okay, everyone have fun maximizing," Pope said, making his way to the steps.
"Oh wait, hold on," John B called, stopping Pope from making his exit, "Wait, where... where's Cleo?"
"Oh, yeah, she just texted me. She said that she was on Pogue patrol, and she's looking for bait in The Cut," answered Pope.
"Lame. Tell her we're closed," pitched in Kiara, wanting as many of her friends to join them for their beach day as possible.
"I'll text her right now." Pope's fingers clicked away.
"Pope, hey, hey, rule number one, Pope, is no working on a swell day. That's rule number one," JJ continued to argue, simply not accepting no for an answer.
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𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 - JJ Maybank
FanfictionGrace Cameron was a Pogue. Always has been. Sure her dad and half-siblings were the Kookiest a Kook could get but her mom had grown up on the Cut so she did too. Her friend group vowed to have a good time all the time but when a boat goes down in th...
