The first time John B met JJ was on the first day of third grade. He was sitting in the school cafeteria, unpacking his lunch, when he noticed a small blonde girl sitting alone at the next table, staring at her hands. Her eyes kept darting to the plate of the kid across from her, as if she was trying not to look but couldn't help herself. Realizing she didn't have a lunch, he quickly stood up, walked over to her, and offered half of his peanut butter sandwich. She blinked at him with big blue eyes, and he wondered if she might refuse. But her hunger won out, and she grabbed the sandwich, scarfing it down in record time. John B smiled and sat down next to her to eat.

"I'm John B," he introduced himself with a big smile. "Want to be friends?"

The girl looked at him with suspicion, as if she didn't know what a friend was. After a few seconds, his smile began to falter, thinking she would refuse. But then she smiled so wide that it lit up her entire face. It was the kind of smile that was contagious, and John B decided she should always smile.

"I'm JJ," she said. For the rest of the day, they talked and joked as if they'd been friends forever.

From that day forward, it was the two of them against the world, and they were inseparable.

Pope and Kie didn't come along until later.

Pope was the first, joining them in sixth grade. He was being targeted by eighth graders when suddenly a blonde girl stepped between him and the bully, a wild glint in her eye. The bully raised an arm and tried to shove her out of the way, but she didn't back down and shoved back. The bully had just raised his fist when another body slammed into him, all wild fury and anger. The bully dropped but stood up as soon as he recovered. He went to punch the boy who had slammed into him, but the girl quickly flew between them and punched him surprisingly hard, causing the bully to stumble back with a split lip.

The new boy pulled the girl away from the bully, ready to continue the fight, but luckily the bully seemed to have had enough and walked away. The boy whirled around to face the girl. "You okay?" When she nodded, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That was stupid, JJ." She just rolled her eyes and smiled at him affectionately, then turned her eyes toward Pope. The other boy finally seemed to notice Pope standing there.

"Uh… thanks, guys. I'm Pope."

From that moment on, the duo became a trio.

Kie came a year later. John B, JJ, and Pope were surfing at the beach when they saw a small tanned girl running back and forth along the shore, scaring away any birds that tried to swoop down. The beach was too big for her to be completely successful, but JJ's curiosity was piqued. While the boys continued surfing, she swam back to shore.

JJ finally noticed the baby turtles in the sand, making their way toward the tide, and realized what the fuss was about. In an instant, she decided to help and started running around like a crazy person. This must have caught the boys' attention because, before long, they were also helping, ensuring no more turtles were snatched up by the birds. All the turtles made it safely to the tide.

Breathless and grinning from ear to ear, the girl ran over. "Thank you, guys!" she said.

After that, Kie completed their group, and everything was perfect. Pogues for life!