"So this was your idea of fun? Trespassing?" Nathan asks JJ as the gang made their way into the unfinished house.

After texting for a bit, JJ invited him to hang out with him and his friends. Nathan knew all of them. Never really talked to them though. Just a few words here and there, most school related. Which is why JJ's friends were pretty surprised when he told them who they were going to pick up. They were pretty nice though when Nathan got into the van. They made him feel welcomed.

"Oh come on! It's barely the beginning of the day. This is where we chill. Besides, it has to feel a little exciting to break the rules for once." JJ teased. Nathan just rolled his eyes and took a seat on top of the beam of the deck.

He couldn't deny it. It was exciting to be breaking the rules when his whole life he had followed them. It's not that he was too afraid of his mom to break them, more so that if he broke them, then he would be disappointing his dad.

"So, Nate. What you been doing this summer?" Kiara asks leaning against the beam beside him.

"Just been reading and spending time with my sister."

" Can you believe he reads for fun?" JJ teases from where he's sitting

"Ignore him." Kiara chuckles. "So how's your sister doing? We missed her."

Katelynn was actually pretty popular with the pogues. Actually, she was a living legend with them.

Before she left for college, she was the life of the party. Always doing things no one expected. One thing she's known as is the girl who took off her clothes and ran to the freezing cold water in the middle of the night, everyone else following behind her. But that was when she was 16, before Her's and Nathan's dad passed away. After that, she followed all her mother's rules. For four years she was the golden child. She still is.

"She's good. She's glad she's home, she absolutely hates college." He smiles and Kiara chuckles.

Suddenly, Kiara takes a hold of his wrist and pulls him towards the house. " Come on. Let's see what this place is gonna look like."

A few minutes later they come back outside after looking through the house.

" They're gonna have Japanese toilets with towel warmers." Kiara exclaims.

"Of course they are. Why wouldn't they." JJ calls from above. Nathan looks up at the boy and his hanging feet, jumping up and tapping one. JJ smiles.

" This used to be a turtle habitat. But who cares about the turtles, I guess."

"I can't have cold towels." JJ says sarcastically.

Kiara looks to the roof at John B. "Can  you please not kill yourself?" She retorts.

"Don't spill that beer. I'm not giving you another one!" JJ calls. And just then, John B drops the beer in his hand.

Nathan laughs.

"Of course you did, like right when I told you." JJ yells.

"Nice." Nathan says when he finishes chuckling.

"HEY!" The group hears.

"Hey, uh, security's here. Let's wrap it up." Pope exclaims.

JJ taunts the security guards as he climbs down the scaffolding. The rest of the group waiting for him and John B.

Nathan just stands there unsure of what to do, until JJ finally gets down.

"Let's go!" JJ says and grabs Nathan's hand, pulling him through the house.

Nathan let's go when one of the guards grab JJ and he follows Pope to the front of the house.

"Go, Nate!!! Go. Go. Go. Go. Go." JJ exclaims behind Nathan. Nathan quickly hops over the fence, JJ following close behind.

The van shows up in front of them and Kiara calls from inside. " Come on boys! Whoo!"

Nate, Pope, and JJ hop inside.

"You Can do it. You can do it. There you go." JJ taunts the guard running after them. "They don't pay you enough, bro." JJ finishes.

"JJ. Stop. Stop." Kiara laughs.

"Oh come on! That sort of initiative is just begging to be punished." He says with a chuckle and they all burst into laughter.

Nathan takes a moment to look around at the people around him. The smiles. The laughter. The fun they're having. Nathan realizes that maybe he didn't have to be so lonely all the time. Maybe he could finally be a part of something. Maybe they could be his people. And he smiles at the thought and then laughs at something JJ said.

For the first time in a long time. Nathan felt happy.

—————————

Later that night, Nathan makes his way into his house. It was 8:00 on the dot. The rest of the group were gonna spend the night at John B's. They invited Nathan, but he declined, saying he had to do something the next morning. He didn't, but he didn't want to tell them that his mom doesn't let him sleepover at other people's houses.

The house was silent except for the soft sound of the tv. Nathan went into the living room to see his mother asleep on the couch. He makes his way there and kissed his mom on the forehead, covering her with a blanket. She stirred and opened her eyes sleepily.

"Oh you're home. I was waiting for you, but I must have fallen asleep."

"Sorry I'm home later than usual, I hung out with some friends."

"That's great! Was it with Rafe and his friends?"

Nathan thought about his answer. If his mom knew he hung out with pogues she might just put him on house arrest. Especially since one of them was JJ Maybank, who's notorious for breaking the rules.

"Yeah. Yeah. I hung out with them." He nodded.

"That's great, honey." She says softly, already falling back to sleep.

"Goodnight, mom." He says and makes his way to his bedroom.

He kicks off his shirt and shoes and jumps on the bed. He was too exhausted to change out of his shorts.

He was already falling asleep when he hears a buzz on the nightstand. He gets his phone and sees a text from JJ.

Hey, did you have fun today?

Yeah lol, thanks for inviting me

That's good to hear
The gang thought you were cool, they're hoping you could hang tomorrow. You down?

Yeah sure, sounds good

Okay, cool

Serious question now, what do you do when you're not reading? 😂

I do a lot actually

I'm listening

Suddenly Nathan didn't feel so tired and found himself texting JJ almost all night.

Okay, I usually like to write almost 3000 words each chapter for most of my stories, but I think I like keeping this one a little short. Especially since the series only has 10 episodes out rn. Hope you guys enjoyed!! Bye!!!