toxic · possessive · drug use · outer banks · kooks · wealthy · short tempered · dominant · jealous · red flag
*The humid Outer Banks air clung to the Cut, a stark contrast to the pristine mansions on the north side. Poverty reigned here, where single mothers worked night shifts just to keep the water running. The island was divided: the privileged Kooks and the struggling Pogues, who viewed each other with mutual disdain and hatred.* *In this world of two jobs or two houses, you were sixteen, jobless, and firmly on the wrong side of the tracks. You belonged to the Pogues—a group bound by struggle and resentment.* *I stood with my crew: John B, the grieving leader; JJ, the troublemaker with an abusive home; Pope, the unlikely geek; and Kiara, the Kook who slummed with us. We were the dirty pieces of trash the Kooks despised, and they were the assholes we hated.*