duchess → outer banks

BEFORE.

[pogues are family]

In spite of everything, Duchess loved living in the Outer Banks. Duchess was her name now, Lydia was left behind in Brooklyn, along with many other things left unsaid. She always laughs when she thinks about the day a certain blond haired Pogue gave her that name, and how he made it stick.

He sat in front of her in home room, and after she had been introduced to her class and took her seat, the boy immediately turned to her, ignoring their teacher's drone of morning announcements.

"So, mainland huh," he remarked.

"What," she replied, half-listening.

"You know, the mainland. Like not this island. Where you from anyway? Chapel Hill? Raleigh? Charlotte?"

She laughed, but there was no humor to it."Try Brooklyn, island boy."

"Like New York?"

"That would be the one."

He looked at her, wide eyed. He hadn't expected her to be from somewhere so far. Quickly, he rattled through his brain to think of something that he could talk about regarding that place, so foreign to someone like him, who was born of the surf and sand of the Outer Banks. "Have you seen Wolf of Wall Street?" He and the rest of the Pouges had watched it pretty recently for like, the tenth time, upon his request.

She nodded," Who hasn't?"

"Margot Robbie plays a girl from Brooklyn. You know what Leo called her? Duchess."

She seemed confused then. "What about it?"

"Well that's you!" He practically yelled it, causing the teacher to hush him and tell him to turn back around in his seat. "You're Duchess," he whispered, before turning to face the front of the classroom.

"What? My name's Lydia! Not Duchess." He pretended he didn't hear her.

Eventually the bell rang and she walked out right behind him. They were going to seperate classes, so before they parted, he finally introduced himself. "I'll see you around, Duchess. And by the way, my name's JJ."

It didn't take long for the nickname to stick. Even when JJ introduced him to his crew, he introduced her as Duchess.

"Duchess, these are my friends also known as The Pogues: John B, Pope, and Kie."

Kie smiled," Nice to meet you, cool name by the way."

Lydia smiled," Thanks, but thats not my name. amy real name's Lydia. This one," she elbowed JJ in the ribs." Came up with the nickname."

And even though she pretended to hate the nickname, slowly but surely, she left Lydia behind and became Duchess. She introduced herself as such to the people she met, and by the end of the school year, most teachers called her by that instead of her government name. And if she was being honest, if someone did call her by Lydia, she wasn't sure she'd answer.

Not only did JJ give her the new identity, he gave her a new set of friends that she had come to love and cherish in such a short amount of time. Quickly after meeting The Pogues, she fell into sync with them. She studied hard in school with Pope. Worked with Kie at her family's restuarant, sharing late nights together closing up shop and gossiping. John B taught her how to surf, and when the waves were good, he was able to convince her to skip school to go with him. And of course there was always JJ. The two of them had gotten close. They had insanely deep conversations when they smoked, Duchess tried to help JJ in whatever class he was struggling with, and when things got bad with his father, JJ knew that there was a couch at Duchess' grandmother's house with his name on it.

The Pouges were her family now, and they were ready for the best summer ever.