HAVING WOKEN UP around 4 PM, it was to say Tabitha wasn't the tiniest bit suprised when John B was not home, and Cyril was scoffing down the last scraps of his late breakfast. Unfortunately, John B hadn't been able to guide her round the rackety kitchen and show her where all of the food is, so Tabitha — being her clumsy self and not wanting to break anything — decided to settle with the left over cereal that was perched up on the shelf.

     Sitting on the sofa beside Cyril ( who had now finished his food and began to pant heavily ), Tabitha ate her cereal in silence, waiting for John B to come home. Suddenly, a loud rattle bounced of the windows, followed by a short-cut laugh and an awkward cough. Nearly jumping out of her skin, Tabitha whipped around to see a shirtless blonde boy scratching the back of his neck, his cheeks blushing bright red as he realised it was not John B on the sofa, instead, random girl he had never seen in the Outerbanks before.

     Opening the door with caution, Tabitha asked. "Er... you alright, mate?"

     He had much of a similar reaction to John B, pure shock evidence on his face as she spoke in her thick Scouse accent.

     "Yeah, yeah," it was clear he was trying to play cool and calm down from the temporary shock, but the awkwardness is his voice betrayed him. "Who are you...?"

     "Oh — Tabitha," she grinned, "What 'bout you?"

     "Uh, JJ." was all he said. After a moments of awkward silence — for JJ, Tabitha was instead admiring the boy infront of her with gigantic heart eyes —, JJ spoke up. "Is John B in?"

     "Nah, JB left whilst I was still asleep."

     "Asleep? JB?" JJ muttered slowly, mainly to himself.

     "Yeah, I slept in the guest room last night—" JJ was further confused by these words, he assumed John B had found some girl willing to hook up with him for the night. "—after he found me on the beach with Cyril, real scary dog."

       JJ simply stared at her with a great amount of confusion writen on his face. "What?"

      "Oi — shit for brains, did you not just hear a word I said?"

     Before JJ for retort back at the rude comment, a familiar voice greeted the two.

     "Hey bro," Tabitha internally cringed at the word. "What are you doing here?"

     "Came to help set up for the party, what else?" JJ responded to John B, looking between Tabitha and John B.

     "Shit... forget to tell you I went out for stuff for tonight, sorry." he apologised before turning to a tired Tabitha. "You didn't see the note I left in the kitchen?"

     With furrowed brows, Tabitha backed up inside of her house and shuffled towards the kitchen.

     "Oh..." Tabitha nawed down on her lower lip and turned towards the two boys, who had now entered the house. "Must of missed it, sorry?"

     Shrugging off her shit apology, John B handed the two large plastic bags towards JJ, pointing a finger at him. Tabitha almost laughed, it looked like a father telling off his sulking sun. "Let's start getting ready for tonight, and don't let Kie see those plastic bags." then suddenly, he dashed off outside.

     "JB!" Tabitha called as she followed him. "What's happening tonight?"

      "Throwing a party!" he called back, throwing a smile her way. He was secretly happy with this new required nickname, it made him glad Tabitha was getting comfortable around him.

     "A party?" Tabitha panted as she neared closer to him, helping him kick away the dead weeds and uprooted plants.

     John B was clearly ready to show Tabitha how life was in the Outerbanks, mainly as a Pogue. He assumed she had been to a party before, since she had ran away she clearly had the balls to do other adventurous things.

     And clearly, Tabitha knew how to party.

     "A party."

     To say the least, Tabitha was absolutely fucking hammered. And expected, the party was in full swing.

     Funiture inside was misplaced awkwardly and askew from its original resting spot, occupied by either random strangers hooking up and letting their drunken mind control the night, or lovesick couples completely oblivious to the chaos around them. The night sky was dark, the twinkling stars showing off its glittering bodies for the night, large colour lights beaming around the household and smoke machines covering the "dance floor", which in reality was the damp turf near the speakers where people had gathered to dance. Tight-skirted girls danced along with other tight-skirted girls and shirtless guys, the clothing cladding onto their sticky bodies as the head of the night consumed them.

     Tabitha found herself gripping onto JJ's hand, who should had cozied up too over the passing hours, as she got spun around till she was dizzy. JJ, who had been giggling non-stop ever since the two began to dance, had been suprised when Tabitha and himself had so much in common, they spent the majority of the night dancing away or whispering immature jokes to one another.

     Tabitha had caught sight of the other "pogues", personally, Tabitha thought the word was stupid and quite frankly made her laugh. But she didn't know what else to call them, so she grudgingly stuck with the funny word. But not once had she spoke to the other two, who she learnt were named Pope and Kiara — Kiara was sat down on a log with others, complaining about the world and gushing about the beauty of turtles and the destruction of its habitat, and Pope... Tabitha hadn't really seen much of Pope.

     Suddenly, Tabitha felt another hand grab her and spin her round, she soon found the comfort of John B. Now, John B was really trying his best to welcome Tabitha, he happily became accustomed to her mad nature when setting up for the party. And he found a great deal of happiness surrounding her, and he knew that he wanted to around her ever since, aswell as protect her from whoever she ran away from wherever. There was no romantic feelings pricking at his heart when around her, merely joy and great happiness, and it hadn't even been 24 hours with the bouncy brunette.

     "Hey-Hey, Teddy!" Teddy had become a recurring nickname over the past few hours, it certainly wasn't what Tabitha was used to being called, but it served well. "Come and meet—come and meet Pope and Kie!" said John B, stumbling over his drunken words.

      JJ's face seemed to light up like a bulb, John B's words apparently being the greatest idea of them all. JJ grabbed onto her hand and rushed her over to where Kiara and Pope had now joined together, moulding over their beverages and clearly not the slightest bit tipsy.

     "Woah— slow down, cowboy." Kiara laughed, pushing JJ's shoulders away as he tumbled over with Tabitha.

     "You're a... you're a cowboy?" Tabitha asked, eyes wide as she turned to JJ.

     Pope, who was visibly shocked by her foreign accent and clueless words, couldn't help but snicker at the new girl.

     "Oh, hey." Kiara smiled warmly as she turned to Tabitha, "I'm Kiara."

     "Tabitha." she smiled back.

     "This is Pope," said Kiara, helping Pope out with his loss of words. "He's not mute, just, like, awkward." Tabitha simply nodded, barely taking any of the words in.

     "Wanna dance?" she asked, so suddenly and quickly in nearly scared Pope out of his skin. She knew was supposed stay down low, but right now, she couldn't care less.

     Gulping, Pope turned to his three friends, who were all nodding enthusiastically.

     "Uh, yeah, sure." his hand was interlocked with hers as they ran into the damp and crowded "dance floor".

     They were dancing to the music of the auburn summers, brooding along to the beat as their fingers stay intwined. Crazy child, they sang and screamed, laughing and giggling til the sun rose and they find themselves in uncomfortable positions on oddly placed furniture or stained floors.

    She was loud, fawn-eyed and thrilling, with freckles kissing her blushed cheeks. She was so pretty that he could cry, the beauty of she undeniably unique and trancing — she was a fine broken china doll, with misplaced pieces and uneven edges, rough corners and sharp cuts that leave your heart bleeding into the winter, now stained blood red, snow. The Orion star watched upon its collective belt, gazing and glaring down at the young teens with light spirits and pumping blood, be drenched it's darkness upon and prepared to unleash the corruptness upon them, their happiness draining down along with their last ounce of unattainable love.

     Pope planned on staying home tonight, listening to music until 2am with bright screens blaring at his face under the darkness of his room, with spilled drinks over his wooden floorboards and waiting until the cherry sunrise awoke. The brightness would have strained his eyes, making it impossible to catch eyes of the beauty beside him, dancing in his arms as a stranger with no fear of danger. But, Pope was glad he didn't stay home, he was pulled in like a night-time vixen and captured as her prey, and perhaps in this moment Pope was glad he stayed home, but would it forever feel that way?