royalty! || jj maybank

six!

(  the boneyard  )

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄♔⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

IF POGUES WERE IGNORED AND NEGLECTED, KOOKS WERE THE OPPOSITE: CONSTANTLY UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.

There was only one place where Pogues and Kooks alike united, and that was the Boneyard. A long stretch of beach, dotted with wreckage from years gone by. An abandoned buoy, a fallen palm tree. Hell, last time there had been a storm as bad as Agatha, people had placed bets on whether the wreck of the Royal Merchant would wash up.

Lucy, the sensible friend, had won quite a lot of money from those bets.

At the Boneyard, Kooks didn't have rich parents watching over their every move, and Pogues got to party without the police shutting them down. They didn't have parents to bribe the law enforcement like the rich kids did, after all. It was a win-win situation.

Of course, there was always a little bit of class warfare. That was what made it so exciting.

Sarah and Lucy kept it a tight-lipped secret, but parties at the Boneyard had always been their favourites.

As the four kids climbed out of Sarah's black Volvo, Sarah and Lucy shared a conspiratorial look, matching grins on their faces. Rafe, ever the actor, put his arm around Lucy's waist, pulling her close to him and leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. Lucy heard a whistle from the crowd, and hid a scowl.

Lucy could feel the eyes of other partygoers on them as they walked in, clinging to their every move. Topper grabbed a cooler of beers they'd brought with them, and cheers echoed from their onlookers.

          "Rafe, mind if I borrow your girl?" Sarah's voice was syrupy-sweet, and Rafe shot her a glare, but relinquished his hold on Lucy, who gave him a grateful smile. Without giving her a moment's notice, Sarah grabbed Lucy's hand eagerly, snatching her away.

When Lucy next glanced at her boyfriend, he'd busied himself with Topper and the beers. Predictable.

          "Look at this, Luce," Sarah said, out of breath as they stopped their running. Above them towered a red buoy, the kind designed to ward off the big trawlers and cargo ships when they came a little too close to shore. Kind of ironic that it had wound up lodged in the sand of the Boneyard, but it certainly added something to the landscape of the place. "You can see it all from up here!"

          "Any shipwrecks?" Sarah laughed. "Dead bodies?"

          "Shut up."

Lucy heard footsteps, and glanced over her shoulder, seeing Topper advancing towards them.

          "Your bitch is here," Lucy said, and Sarah glanced over her shoulder.

          "Shut up."

          "Sarah! Be careful!" Topper hurried over, worry plain in his voice, and Lucy rolled her eyes.

          "I'll leave you to it," Lucy called out, and Sarah smiled down at them, waving her goodbye. Luckily for her, Rafe was nowhere to be seen. She crossed her arms around herself, looking at the scene around her. There were people everywhere, Pogues and Kooks in distinct groups, miniature versions of the Cut and Figure Eight. They didn't need fences to separate them. No, they could do that well enough all by themselves. Little campfires had sprung up all over, the Tourons who didn't know any better clustered around them like lost little lambs.

Lucy laughed to herself. The kids who came to the Outer Banks for a week with their families never had any idea what they'd gotten themselves into. Kildare County was never quite as idyllic as anyone expected — Lucy thought that was one of its charms.

She walked down the long stretch of sand, still damp from the surge. This whole place would have been underwater barely a day ago. The typical party noises faded into the background as she walked, Sarah's laughter floating away on the wind. The breeze was picking up now, ruffling Lucy's hair to and fro. It was colder than she had thought.

Lucy wondered if she really knew anyone here. Beyond Sarah, she didn't make it her business to have friends on this island.

The end of the beach snuck up on her. Not the end, per se, but a fallen tree that looked a welcoming enough seat for her taste. The remnants of a small fire pockmarked the sand, its creators long gone, the ashes still smoking. From here, she could see Sarah, perched atop the grounded buoy, and a small smile crossed her face. Even now, her best friend was above them all.

Sarah had always been the real queen of the OBX.

Lucy wasn't enough of an idiot to kid herself into thinking that there was room on that throne for two. She would take her time to return to the party, Lucy thought. Take her time without Rafe, without all of it, a passive observer from the sidelines. A different kind of pretending, one that she was not nearly so accustomed to.

Pretending to be normal had never come easily to her.

Here, though, leaning against the sturdy bark of the tree, she almost fell for it.

          "Hey, Lucy."

She turned her head to her right. Lucy had thought this strip of beach empty, but evidently not. There was Kiara Carrera, looking just as she always had on the island. Looking like she was at home. 

          "Kie?" Lucy's voice was understandably incredulous. Kiara laughed bitterly.

          "You don't get nickname privilege." The disdain in her voice was clear. Lucy shook her head. "I didn't think I'd see you here."

          "Did you think you were the only one who could find out about a party?" Lucy's words had a second meaning. Kiara fell silent, and Lucy looked at her, the other girl's eyes unreadable. Hard. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna call the cops." Kiara scoffed.

          "Real mature."

          "You know me."

They fell into an uneasy silence. The truth was that Kiara did know Lucy. For one wild summer, they'd been inseparable. Lucy, Kiara, and Sarah. As close to the three musketeers as island kids could come. Kiara didn't know everything, of course. She had never been told about Rafe, had always been the outsider of the trio, but Lucy knew she was a smart enough girl to put two and two together.

It didn't take a merit scholarship to connect those dots. They were etched into her skin.

What had happened between the three of them was left unspoken. She supposed that was why the two girls sat in silence now. They didn't know how to talk to each other anymore.

It was difficult to reconcile a girl who felt at home in the Outer Banks with a girl who dreamt of nothing but leaving. 

Lucy doubted there was a way to do so at all.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄♔⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

soooooo jj was gonna come into the story this chapter

but lo and behold

he didn't 😌

(also this book kinda?? got a lot of reads very fast?? thank you so much i love you all???)