Two Worlds, One Girl // Rafe Cameron

Intro

The Outer Banks, Paradise on Earth. It's the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses.

There is Figure Eight, the rich side of the island. Home of the Kooks. So, guess where we don't live.

And then, this is the south side or The Cut. Home of the working class who make a living busing tables, washing yachts, running charters. The natural habitat of... drumroll, please...the Pogues.

That's us. Pogues, pogies, the throwaway fish. Lowest member of the food chain. Okay. So, the downside of Pogue life is we're ignored and neglected. But the upside of Pogue life? We're ignored and neglected, which means we do whatever we want, whenever we want.

Then there are my friends.

First up, 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 him I said that. Or tell Lia, she's vying for that crown. Mild kleptomaniac and a future tax cheat.

And then there's Kiara, or Kie, as we call her. When not saving turtles or listening to Marley, or getting a dolphin tattoo, she hangs out with us.

I'm not really sure why, though. So, she's a rich kid, actually. Foot in both worlds. Her family owns The Wreck, this Outer Banks institution. Total cash cow with the tourists. You know, I'm not really sure how her parents feel about us.
We all have a thing for her.

And then Pope, the brains of the operation... finalist for the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship. And the smartest person I know. Little bit of a weirdo. His father's this legendary character, Heyward. Anything you wanted on the island, Heyward could get for you. Now, I'm not sure Heyward knew what to make of his oddball son, but it didn't matter. He was a Pogue, just like the rest of us.

Lastly there is Amelia or Lia. She was born a Pogue and lived right here down the road from me but after her dad grew into this multi million businessman over night, she moved to Figure Eight in her big fancy house. It's probably the only time we like to step foot on that side of the island is to hang there. She may have all the looks of a Kook now but underneath her fancy clothes, she's every bit a Pogue and always will be. She enjoys filling us in on the Kook gossip from all the events her dad makes her go to now he's rich.

But he's a good man, David Wilson. Although he has money now, he never forgets where he came from and serves as a reminder that even the worst off can get off the Cut.

And remember I said we all like Kie? Well JJ definitely is in love with Lia and has been for as long as I know him. I think he pretends to like Kie to cover it up. I'm surprised he hasn't burnt a hole in her head with all the staring he does.

So that's my crew!

And then there is me, John Booker Routledge.

And this is where I live. An old fish shack on the marsh. The Château, as my dad used to call it. He disappeared at sea nine months ago, looking for a shipwreck. Who disappears at sea these days? I miss him. And then there's Mom. She split when I was three. Last I heard, she was in Colorado. I think it was Colorado.

That's Uncle T. Since Dad's vanished, he's supposedly my legal guardian. At the moment, he's in Mississippi, building houses, which means it's just me right now, on my own, hangin' out with my friends. Three months after my dad was missing, he was officially presumed dead. I refused to sign the papers.

Until I see a body, I'm not giving up.