FOR THE BETTER PART OF HER LIFE, EMERY MELVILLE HAD BEEN WITH THE POGUES

she couldn't remember a time before she was surfing with john b, or planning her next sleepover with the routledge boy. laying in between him and jj under the crisp white sheets in her bedroom and watching movies on her tv while amelia supplied them with bottomless snacks, varieties of chips, soda, and candies that would give all three kids the best sugar high before they eventually crashed on the couch after a just dance battle.

she met mara when she was seven, the two attending the same afterschool program. they enjoyed each others company, and after lots of pleading and even lying to her parents, mara convinced them to let her transfer out of her kook school into ordinary public school with emery and the boys.

when she was nine, emery was given a dvd by amelia- 10 Things I Hate About You- as a birthday present. when the disc was scratched beyond belief from the countless number of times it had been played but the boys, emery, and mara at movie nights, she bought another one, as well as make a couple dozen burners. once she realized it could be done with countless other movies and even cds, emery realized there was a market for bootleg discs at the public school in kildare- barely any of the pogues being able to afford a name brand dvd.

they met pope and kie when they were ten, the two practically sprinting to emery when they found out she was selling burners of their favorite cds and movies, mainly kie looking for marley, which emery was able to provide for five dollars a piece.

when emery was thirteen, ainsley joined the group, which they had dubbed 'the pogues' as the island saw them as just that. emery and mara were corrupted souls, girls who had the vastest potential but turned out to be just as good as the ones they slummed with. and while a few kook parents- the ones up their asses who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth- thought that their kids being seen with them was the worst thing to ever happen to their leather lined, gold plated name, most of- if not every kid on the island- loved the girls. mainly because levi was emery's brother and they felt obligated to, but also because they treated them like people, not a price tag based on prada, dior, and chanel.

when emery was fifteen, kiara ditched the pogues to go back to the kooks. less than a month later, big john disappeared, leaving john b needing his friends more than ever before. emery could see how hurt he was that kiara would leave him so easily, and at the first chance she got. emery and mara never left the routledge boy, and while mara couldn't be there for him near as much as emery could, he still knew she was there when he needed her.

neither one of the girls ever imagined, that in a million years, they would be stuck in the middle of the ocean on an old cigarette boat running away from the cops- fleeing the country from the cops, at that- with john b framed for a murder he had not only not committed, but had been committed by rafe cameron.

but alas, john b, emery, and mara were all squeezed together on the boat, attempting to stay out of eyesight of the cops they knew to be patrolling the water.

"holy shit." emery breathed. they were passing the large labyrinth of tents that had been set up by the police and sbi, all for the purpose of finding john b.

"i'd be honored if that was all for me." mara mentioned bluntly from behind them.

"if we kill the lights, go dark, and shut the engine off, the tide will pull us out when it goes down." emery mentioned.

"so we'll go dark." john b stated, already shutting the gps and all the lights off, emery going to the back of the boat to kill the engine.

"i feel like an accessory right now." mara stated in a flattered tone, making emery laugh quietly.

"hey." john b said quietly to emery, cupping the girl's face. "we're gonna make it."

"uh- guys?" mara questioned from behind them. "i wouldn't get you hopes up just yet."

emery turned, the girl's face suddenly illuminated. but the moon was behind her. emery and john b both turned to face the shore, watching as all the lights in the outer banks turned on, seemingly in slow motion.

"john b- the lighthouse!" emery stated in horror as she watched the light flicker a few times before shining fully, already starting it's rotation.

and the light was moving right towards them.

"guys, start the engine." john b said, but it was too late. as emery and mara started towards the back of the boat, both girls were blinded by the lighthouse's bright light shining down on them, immediately shielding their eyes.

"start the engine!" john b shouted, emery and mara attempting to pull the chord, but it wouldn't work.

"it's flooded!" emery yelled back, john b rushing to the back of the boat to choke the engine, pulling the chord hard, the engine suddenly roaring to life.

"come on, come on!" mara urged, rushing the two teens forward as john b throttled the boat forward. however, the cops had gotten to them, boats coming from all directions.

all directions but south.

however, as their luck would have it, there was a tropical depression blowing in from the south. the three teens could see the sheets of rain falling in the distance.

"we have to go south." emery commanded, mara looking at her like she was insane.

"into the storm?" she yelled, emery nodding.

"yes, mar- into the storm!" emery shouted over the wind as john b turned the boat away from the cops, driving straight south. the water was beginning to get choppier, rain pouring onto the teens as the small boat battled the waves.

suddenly, static crackled on the radio, a voice none of them wanted to hear in that particular moment booming from the other side.

"john b?" jackson melville asked, his voice shaking in fake sadness for the teens on the boat. "john b, you have to turn around. you are taking those two girls into a storm you cannot survive- you are taking emery into a storm you guys will not live through. please, john b, if you really love my daughter, you will turn that boat around. i promise i will talk to ward, we'll make everything right. just do it for emery."

john b turned to his girlfriend, who shook her head before grabbing the mouthpiece of the radio, mara's eyes going wide.

"emery- no!" she exclaimed, but emery had hit the button.

"dad?" she asked, jackson's voice immediately replying on the radio.

"yes, baby, yes, i'm here. please, make him turn the boat around, please, emery."

"you knew it wasn't my fault." emery gritted. "you knew it wasn't my fault your marriage fell apart and yet you let me think it was! and as some sort of petty revenge, you blame my boyfriend for a murder he didn't commit! it was rafe cameron, and you know it! you were there!" emery was screaming now, while also holding onto the side of the boat, trying to stay on as it rocked haphazardly over the waves.

"emmy, please. make him turn the boat around- i will make everything up to you-"

"how?" emery screamed into the radio piece. "you left! you were never my dad and never have been, i don't love you and i don't care what you have to say to me. because you're a liar who manipulates his children to get his way- levi practically worshiped you and you tried to turn us against each other when you walked out- i hate you-"

the melville girl couldn't speak anymore. in fact, it was proving to be difficult to hold herself up in her state of hysteria. a sob escaped her mouth, jackson speaking up again.

"emery, baby, please don't cry. i'm your dad, remember?"

"a dad wouldn't have left. a dad would have loved me. and last time i checked, we share no blood. you aren't my dad. i don't have one." emery choked. before jackson could say anything else, the girl had grabbed the radio piece by the chord, ripping it out of the boat and tossing it overboard right before a large wave made the boat tip backwards but not quite flip. both girls screamed, latching onto the metal pole next to them.

"get in the hold- get the life jackets!" john b shouted over the rain, mara doing so and quickly helping john b with his, the boy unable to let go of the wheel without the boat tipping. just as emery fastened hers, the click of a black plastic clip ringing in her ears, a faint echo of mara's doing the same being barely audible over the rain, a large wave rose up in front of them.

"hold on!" mara shouted, emery latching onto john b's arm and wrapping her free arm around mara's shoulders, right as the wave lifted the boat, sending it crashing- upside down- into the water.

in all their emotional distress, all three teens had failed to notice the cops were no longer behind them. they could've turned back unscathed.

but now they were gone.

lost to the waves that they swore would bring them freedom.

torn apart from everyone and everything they cared about most.

THE POGUES HAD BEEN TAKEN TO ONE OF THE TENTS SET UP BY THE COPS.

obviously, the cop car john b had stolen had a gps in it. thankfully, john b, emery, and mara were out of sight and out of mind before the cops arrived, but it didn't stop them from taking jj, kiara, ainsley, and levi with them for questioning.

emery and mara's families were both notified that their children appeared to have been on the boats. it was to the shock of every pogue sitting in the tent when levi melville was escorted in wearing a pair of handcuffs and practically throwing into the chair next to jj.

"dude- what the hell happened?" jj asked, levi shaking his head as he attempted to move his wrists in the cuffs to make them more comfortable.

"shoupe. that dumbass wouldn't tell me anything about where emery is, they don't even know where the boat's at." levi mentioned, eyeing the pogues skeptically.

"we don't know where they're at either." pope defended himself quickly.

"hey!" levi shouted at a passing cop, motioning to the cuffs on his hands. "i'm not gonna go anywhere, can you take these off?"

the cop hesitated, but eventually complied, unlocking the cuffs with a small click, levi rubbing his sore wrists.

"do you guys know where they're going?" levi asked, sounding more concerned than he was threatening to rat them out. the simplicity of the matter was that he was worried about his sister.

"we don't know." jj said confidently, chewing on his lip as the cops around them all began discussing the fast approaching tropical depression moving towards the outer banks. any type of weather would put their plans of going to mexico at an almost immediate halt.

"hey!" someone shouted from the bank. "that's them!"

the pogues and levi all practically flew to their feet, seeing, sure as shit, the phantom sitting in the middle of the ocean. emery and mara were attempting to start the engine, but the cops were already dispatching units out there.

"holy shit." levi breathed anxiously, raking his hands through his hair as he began pacing around the tent.

"it's the phantom!" someone else exclaimed, the small boat suddenly moving.

"they're going south." ainsley mumbled from next to jj, his mouth drying immediately at the girl's shaking voice.

"they're not supposed to go south." he mumbled, shaking his head.

"they need to call their guys off- hey! there's a storm that way, stop chasing them!" levi shouted, but instead of acknowledging the melville boy, the cops continued to shout orders to the men driving the boats chasing his sister. levi turned, making eye contact with the maybank boy his he did, rushing towards him and grabbing his arm.

"lee- let him go!" ainsley demanded.

"what do you know?" he gritted, jj shaking his head. "why would emery tell you and not me- im her brother-"

"and so am i!" jj exclaimed loudly, levi faltering slightly before his grip on jj's arm tightened again.

"i'm not talking about your little sisterhood bullshit, okay? she's my sister by blood." he spat, jj shaking his head and clenching his jaw.

"she's my sister by blood too." he whispered. "your mom had an affair with my dad. she had twins, those twins were me and emery. there's a box at the chateau with all the letters and shit between them."

"levi!" someone shouted from the entrance of the tent.

jackson.

"dad?" levi asked, jackson nodding, holding his arms out for a hug from his son- the only child he raised that was biological his. but levi shook his head.

"no." he whispered, stepping back towards pope and behind jj.

"lee, your sister is going into a storm that she will not live through-"

"okay, so tell your cop friends to back off!" levi shouted. "i know they're practically living in your back pocket now."

"lee..." jackson trailed off. "come on, think about emery, you have to think about emmy."

"emery hates you." levi whispered lowly. "you weren't there when she almost died, you weren't there when she had panic attacks and nightmares, and you sure as hell weren't there when she'd call drunk at three in the morning because she was at a party and her ride ditched her- i'm her half-brother and i was more of a dad then you ever were. i held her head back when she threw up, i held her when she cried, i took her shopping, i bought her metal music cds, i was the one who taught her how to wax a surfboard- you can't walk out and decide you want to be a dad when it's convenient."

"okay- lee, we're not talking about that!" jackson shouted. "i'm trying to save your sister and you want her to just go into the storm?"

"if it means getting away from you? then yes." levi whispered. "she wasn't the only one who hoped you were dead after you left."

jackson, seemingly taken aback by his oldest sons outburst, turned on his heel and stormed out of the tent, pulling his jacket hood over his head and shoving shoupe as he walked into the tent, the man giving him a confused glance before continuing into the tent, removing the hood of his yellow rain coat. the five anxious teens congregated in front of the table that shoupe was standing behind, looking all of them over.

"did you find them?" pope asked anxiously.

"no." shoupe said bluntly.

"so they got away?" kiara asked hopefully, shoupe hesitating.

"we lost them." he said suddenly.

"how the hell did you lose them?" levi asked, his voice raised and wavering slightly.

"what do you mean you lost them- like, they're gone?" pope asked, shoupe hesitating again.

"we don't know." everyone was silent for a moment, but jj, who had stayed mostly quiet for the whole ordeal, suddenly started yelling.

"you drove them straight through the storm, man!" he shouted. "are you kidding me?"

"jj- stop!" levi pleaded, the realization and dread finally setting in.

emery was gone.

his sister, his rock, the one who was always there for him and he was always there for.

she was gone.

"come here- i'm gonna kill you!" jj screamed, attempting to jump towards shoupe, but he was held back by multiple cops. "i'm gonna kill you, you bastard!"

"jj, stop!" kiara yelled.

"we're still looking for them." shoupe assured the kids, but now it was pope's turn to be upset.

"he didn't kill anyone, and you knew it." he said, eyes wide in rage.

ainsley hadn't said anything. she hadn't shed a tear, screamed, or moved. she simply stood there, with a hand over her open mouth, frozen in shock.

"guys?" someone called from outside the tent, jj and levi's heads snapping towards the entrance as amelia walked in, levi not hesitating to collapse into the arms of his mother, strangled sobs escaping him as amelia rubbed his back gently.

"she's gone, mom, she's gone." he cried, tears pouring down amelia's face as she nodded. ainsley's dad, issac, was the next to come console his daughter, following immediately by the carreras and heyward's. amelia looked up, levi's gaze following hers, both of them seeing jj, who's eyes were welled with tears as his lip trembled.

he had lost everything.

mara, who he loved so much it made him forget he had a life to live, who made him so happy every time he saw her, who was one of the people who actually cared about the situation at his house.

john b, his brother, his best friend, and most of all, a place to go when things got to be too much for him. someone who invited him into his family with open arms, someone who jj saw as practically family.

emery.

emery was jj's rock. his twin. his sister. his best friend. someone who he cared about more than anyone, who he'd risk anything for. she had always been there, through good and bad, when he or anyone needed him.

emery was gone.

"j..." amelia whispered, removing one of her hands from levi's back, beckoning jj towards them. his lip trembled as he took a step towards them, but at the feeling of amelia and levi's arms wrapping around him, he crumbled.

"mom." he sobbed, clinging onto amelia and levi with all the strength he had, the two melvilles doing the same, all of them crying as they held each other. jj felt another pair of arms around the tops of his shoulders, and when a head laid next to his and he smelled the cologne mara had gifted pope at last year's secret santa, he pulled away from amelia and levi for a moment to hug his friend. the pair were soon enveloped in the arms of levi, kiara, and ainsley.

eventually, the groups eyes felt raw from crying so much, like they had physically run out of tears to cry.

"you're coming back to our house tonight." amelia told jj firmly, wiping her eyes.

"i can take you. if you want." levi said quickly, jj nodding, blinking the tears out of his eyes quickly as he followed the melville out of the tent, and to his truck, which the two sat in in silence for a couple seconds.

"so... what now?" jj asked, his voice hoarse from how much he had cried, levi shrugging.

"i don't know how you exactly... move on from this. she was so important to everyone." he stated, voice strained. "and... i think the worst part of it all was knowing the last time i saw her- i pushed her away, jj. she tried to hug me and i shoved her away."

jj wrapped an arm around levi's shoulders, both boys crying again just when they thought they couldn't anymore. but it was a crying where they could relate to each other. yes, the rest of the pogues had lost friends, but jj and levi had lost their sister.

"they were everything." jj mumbled. "mara was... kind of my girlfriend, john b was my best friend, and emery was my sister- i don't think i can remember a time i wasn't friends with emery."

"is this shit gonna get easy?" levi asked, tears still pouring from his eyes as he pulled away from jj, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"no." jj said almost immediately. "it's not."

it had hit the maybank boy like a rock.

his girlfriend was dead.

his sister was dead.

his best friend was dead.

everything he had left in the outer banks had died all at once.

kens speaks 🪐

just like that, season one is over

expect LOTS of jj and lee content in s2 bc they're gonna become each other's emotional support.

i have to give the BIGGEST shout out to harringtonssss aka mara

her name is a character in this book and she's tagged at the bottom of pretty much every chapter of it for a reason.

every so often when i would lose motivation, i would go ask mara for an update of her book summertime sadness (go read it because it's a literal masterpiece) in exchange for an update of this book, or my other book she stars in 'waves'.

if mara hadn't accepted my deals, for one, this book wouldn't exist, and for two i definitely wouldn't have finished it with nearly as much speed as i did.

every message board convo, pm, comment thread, head cannon, chateau roast and john b appreciation post has helped me meet my favorite person on this app. ily mara, and thank you for all your help while writing

anywho, im so excited for s2 (even tho its lowkey my least favorite season to write) and everything i have in store for my couples

rip tidal s1 era, you will forever be iconic