riptide- outer banks

ninety-seven | so high school

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She would've rather drowned in the ocean.

She would've rather gotten into a head on collision.

She would've rather done literally anything else than be where she was.

Because the place she was currently walking in was literal hell on earth. It was just another stupid, stereotypical hellhole to stick teenagers to try to help them control their impulses rather than act on them. A stupid, stereotypical hellhole that just so happened to be called high school.

She didn't particularly care though. It's not like she'd be here much longer anyway. She was a senior and that meant she was almost done. Already being checked out, though, was precisely where her head was. None of it mattered. Not when her best friend wasn't with her.

Carrie swallowed hard as she exited the office. She wasn't nervous. She didn't get nervous over trivial things like this. What she was, though, was hesitant. As cliche as it was, she was the new girl. And in a small place like the Outer Banks, everyone already knew that small fact. Why her aunt and uncle would move them here would remain a mystery to her. But she was here. That wasn't going to change.

She shortly reached her locker, blue eyes shifting down to the slip of paper situated in between her fingertips. The combination was fairly easy to remember. She had no doubt that it would become second nature to her by tomorrow. As she put it in, the lock clicked open. She wasn't given the chance to open it though.

"Hey, you're new, right?"

Carrie didn't bother hiding the irritation on her face as she turned to her left. As she made eye contact with the boy that'd spoken to her, she felt her brow raise. "Way to state the obvious."

The boy seemed shocked by her assertive comment, but quickly shook it off. With a smile, he began to nod. "You're bold. I like it."

She tilted her head down at him. "I'm just honest. People usually don't like it." She paused, eyes narrowing. "Did you need something?"

He smiled again, letting out a small chuckle. "You're not gonna make this easy, are you?" Not waiting for a response, he shrugged. "I'm Mike. Carrera."

"Carrie." She articulated, curiosity beginning to root her in place. "Crawford."

Mike's head tilted at her. "Carrie Crawford...has anyone ever called you CeCe?"

"My best friend would call me C, but no. No one's ever called me CeCe." She admitted.

"Well, let me be the first."

"Please don't."

"Well, new girl," Mike paused, letting out a long breath. "Want me to show you around?"

Carrie hesitated. Why should she trust this kid? He didn't even know her. Yet here he was, being as nice as could be to a girl that couldn't give a shit less. Something was off about this whole thing and she didn't know what it was. What she did know was that this was the perfect opportunity. The perfect chance to be able to understand everything about the Outer Banks.

"Sure." She decided, chin immediately raising. "But this doesn't mean that we're friends. I don't need any. I already have one."

"Oh, of course. I don't want to be friends anyway." Mike shot back.

Carrie just grinned, unable to stop the damned thing from entering her expression. They were definitely going to be friends. She just knew it.

"Okay, so..." Mike trailed off, eyes surveying the fray of teenagers as they began walking down the hallway. "That's Ward. He's with Eddie and Connor."