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And then there was Maddy. She was our rock and she was the one who made sure we were always safe, no matter what. No matter how she felt, she always made whatever was hers, ours. Even though her mom got a good job as a doctor, they still lived on the cut because raising and paying for a teenage daughter isn't easy. And no one was more respected for it than Kelly Brown. Maddy had the option to go to college, something the rest of us could only dream of. But she promised us that no matter what, she'd never leave us. All of us had a thing for her at least once, Pope in fifth grade, me in seventh, Kie in eighth. But JJ was the one who had loved her since he met her. No one knew how she felt, though. Whenever asked about her emotions, she would deflect and focus on someone else's problem. And though none of us liked it, that's just how she was.
She was our Pogue Princess.
- John B's introduction
<<<>>>
"That's what, a three-story fall? I give you a one in three chance of survival," Pope shouted.
John B was standing on the top of a newly developed house, balancing one foot over the ledge as he smiled at his friends below.
"If you die, JB, I'm going to kill you," Maddy yelled as he stumbled.
"I'll shoot you on your way down," Pope added, glancing at the small girl with a smile while wielding the almighty drill as if it were a shotgun.
"You'll shoot me?" John B joked.
"Bang, bang," Maddy replied, pretending to send bullets into her friend's chest. He pretended to stagger backward as if he were hit but ended up slightly losing his balance and spilling part of his beer.
"If you drop that beer, I'm not giving you another one," JJ called.
As if on cue, a strong gust of wind took the already unstable John B and caused him to drop it onto the deck below.
The Pogues laughed, and suddenly Kiara appeared.
"They're going to have Japanese toilets and towel warmers."
"Can't have my towels cold," JJ replied with mock astonishment at Kie's attitude.
"This used to be a turtle habitat, but who cares about the turtles!" Kie responded, rolling her eyes for effect.
"I do!" Maddy replied, holding up her carved necklace of a sea turtle that Kie had gotten her in sixth grade. With a small smile, Kie lifted her matching chain in salute to her friend. They had gone to protect the baby turtles from the crabs on the shore then, and after Kelly had surprised them with matching necklaces. Neither had taken theirs off since.
