The Deep End » Outer Banks [JJ Maybank] BOOK ONE

I: Submerge

submerge
verb. cause to be under water.

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Lee had always loved how the water of the bay looked in the morning light. It reflected golden beams all the way down to the ocean floor, cutting through the murk and illuminating the beauty of the sea life. She pushed at the water above her head for a moment, her eyes squinting open as she watched her honey brown hair swirling in the morning sun. Kicking up to the surface, she inhaled deeply, treading in the cold water and letting the warm sunlight wash over her face. She loved the feeling of strength that the water gave her—it was like being invincible, for just a moment. Every time that she was in the water, Lee was proving to herself that she had the strength not to drown.

"Lee!" John B's voice rang out through the water.

She glanced to the dock, brushing the water out of her eyes to see her friend standing there, urgently waving at her.

"Lee, move!"

Lee frowned curiously before hearing a yell to her left.

"Heads up, Pogue!"

She caught a glimpse of Topper, a Kook that she had never gotten along with, driving his boat straight towards her. Lee took a deep breath as the boat hit her ribs, pushing her under the water as John B shouted her name.

Underneath the boat, Lee scrambled to find a handhold to prevent herself from sliding into the propeller, which was chopping furiously at the water. She was becoming desperate as she could feel the water being sucked backward and pushed out by the propeller, scraping with her nails along the side of the boat. Just as she began to feel the strong pull of the propeller, her hand found a grip on the bottom rung of a ladder. Lee pulled with all of her strength, heaving herself towards the side of the boat. As soon as her feet were pressed against the side, she kicked away from the boat, swimming as far as she could before surfacing.

On the surface, Lee gasped for air, turning as she heard her friends calling her name from the dock. She paddled over, barely registering that JJ and Kiara were yelling at Topper for doing something so reckless. Pope and John B reached their hands out to her, pulling her onto the dock as Topper called out to her again.

"Hey, Lee, try to stick to the swimming zones next time!" he shouted before gunning away in his shiny wakesetter.

"Swimming zones, my ass," JJ cursed as Kiara wrapped Lee in a towel. "He was trying to hit you."

Lee exhaled softly, shivering as the morning air stung her skin. "Normally I notice boats coming. How the fuck did I miss him?"

"To be fair," John B said, "He wasn't exactly trying to alert you that he was coming."

Lee nodded in agreement, pulling the towel tight around her shoulders as Kiara pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I will never doubt your swimming abilities again," Kiara swore, rubbing circles on Lee's back. "That propeller would've pulled me right in." Lee was released from the tight embrace, but Kiara kept a firm grip on her arms. "Are you sure you're okay? He hit you pretty hard—you're already bruising!"

Lee glanced down at her ribs. Sure enough, a purple bruise was beginning to bloom from the center of her abdomen. She was suddenly aware of their sharp pain as she pulled away from Kiara.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Lucky for you dimwits I'm still here to save the day," she joked.

She wandered away as her friends continued talking about Topper. It wasn't the first time that he had done something dirty like that to Lee or her friends—he and the other Kooks had a tendency to mistreat Lee and her fellow Pogues. The distinct wealth gap between the two groups allowed the Kooks to get away with many things, and the Pogues had long since given up on reporting such things to the police. Corruption was rampant in the Outer Banks.