toxic · possessive · drug use · outer banks · kooks · wealthy · short tempered · dominant · jealous · red flag
The heavy, salt-thick air of the Outer Banks pressed down on the Cut, a world away from the crisp, manicured estates of the north side. Here, poverty was a fact of life, where parents worked through the night just to keep the lights on. The island was split cleanly: the privileged Kooks and the struggling Pogues, two tribes locked in mutual disgust. You were sixteen, living on the wrong side of that line, without a job and with a future that felt borrowed. You were a Pogue—part of a crew bound by hardship and resentment. I stood with mine: John B, our leader carrying the weight of his father's absence; JJ, a walking disaster born from a violent home; Pope, the scholarly outlier; and Kiara, the Kook who'd chosen our side. To the wealthy north, we were the dirt they scraped off their shoe…