Strawberry Sunscreen - JJ Maybank - Outer Banks

Chapter 6 - Pilot || Part 6

Elizabeth Thornton's eyes widened as she heard the echoes of voices dancing around the empty home, signaling that someone had been there currently. She sighed of relief as she heard a female voice, knowing that it couldn't have been Gary or his partner.

"Can you please not kill yourself?" A girl's voice rang throughout the skeleton of the house. The voice of this girl belonged to none other than Kiara Carrera, a resident kook. Despite being born into money, Kiara was a pogue at heart. She was an apprehensive world activist, constantly putting the environment first. The girl had her foot in both worlds coming from a pogue father and kook mother and was forced to balance the two. Kiara was undoubtedly beautiful and smart in every way, which was visible to her friends who all secretly crushed on her.

"Don't spill that beer. I'm not giving you another one," explained JJ Maybank, who took a sip of his own beer while analyzing his friend, John Booker Routledge's behavior. JJ Maybank was a hot-headed blonde, always ready to defend his friends til the end. He was fearlessly loyal, which got him into a fair amount of trouble-- but he wouldn't change a thing. Him and John B had been friends since entering the third grade and have gotten each other into trouble ever since.

As if on cue, John B attempted to balance on one foot, almost following and once again dropping his beer. "Whoa! Oh, shit," John B exclaimed, watching as his beer crashed to the ground and spilled everywhere. John B, the apparent leader of the group, was struck with tragic news in the past nine months-- his father had gone missing, having apparently disappeared at sea. Having no other parental figure in his life, he was stuck with his uncle T, who rarely made an appearance to the Outer Banks. Therefore, he was a CPS nightmare. Elizabeth cringed as she heard the almost full drink fall to the floor, unsure of what the commotion was about above her.

"Of course you did," JJ stated, rolling his eyes at the boy who just stared at the beer falling towards the ground, a sad look on his face.

"Smooth" said Kie, rolling her eyes at the boy in an attempt to hide the smug look on her face as she watched him.

John B groaned and extended his arms pointing to the ground where the beer had fallen. JJ looked from the beer to John B in disgust, "A-plus."

Before John B could retaliate to any of his friends, shouting was heard from the driveway of the newest Kook home along with a police siren. It was no surprise to the pogues that the police would show up here— in fact, it was rather expected.

Pope looked over the railing, watching as the security vehicle pulled in and two men exited the car, "Hey, uh, security's here. Let's wrap it up." Pope, the brains of the group, was a finalist for a prestigious scholarship, the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship, which would pave his way to college and out of the Outer Banks to pursue his dream of studying forensic pathology. This also meant that Pope had to keep his nose out of trouble. This wasn't exactly easy due to his adventurous and rambunctious friend group who always seemed to find trouble whichever way they turned. Pope was undoubtedly the smartest friend, but was certainly a bit strange.

"Boys are early today," JB exclaimed, leaning forward to watch the officers step out of their patrol cars and begin looking around the outside of the home.

"Elizabeth Thornton has to be around here somewhere," the group heard Gary tell his partner, who nodded along. "The trespassing call-- it could definitely be her."

"They're looking for someone," Pope explained, overhearing their conversation.

"Well they're going to be upset when they find us here, so why don't we start moving?" Kiara stated, pushing the boys ahead.

"Humpty Dumpty, let's roll," JJ mockingly instructed, rolling over onto his side in order to get up.

Below the deck hid Elizabeth Thornton, who had expected that the house she was currently standing in had been abandoned. The Landon family had been in Florida while the house was being built, so the only people who could have been there might have been workers. With the presence of the cops along with the teenage sounding voices from above, Elizabeth found out very quickly that she had been wrong. The cops who had shown up were less focused on the breaking and entering pogues and more focused on the kook with a reputation for drugs, alcohol, and occasional shoplifting. Elizabeth began to panic as she heard the voices from above her begin to get closer as they climbed down from the top of the house towards the ground floor. She wasn't completely certain who these kids were— but there was only one way to find out.