"Dylan," Kelce said groggily, accompanied by the sound of rustling bed sheets as he rolled onto his side, throwing an arm around her waist.

"Hmm?" she asked, keeping her eyes closed as he pulled her closer, her back now resting against his bare chest.

"Are you awake?" he asked.

"Mhm," she murmured.

"Liar," he chuckled, kissing the top of her head.

"I'm awake," she insisted, finally opening her eyes and looking over at her boyfriend, the setting sun outside the window illuminating the room in a golden glow. "I'm just taking advantage of this much needed AC, it's really helpful this time of year."

Following the beach cleanup, Dylan and Kelce had gone back to her house to pick up her phone and a change of clothes for Margot's party, before opting to hang out in the air conditioned Smith family home, thanks to the backup generators Kelce's dad had installed around their property for hurricane season. While Kelce had fallen asleep after working out in the sun all day, Dylan had tossed and turned, her nerves about the evening ahead worsening as more and more of the alcoholic buzz had faded from her system.

She couldn't get Margot's words from earlier out of her head, telling Kelce to bring the Pogue along to her party. While she knew Kelce hadn't heard what she said, Dylan couldn't help but feel she was starting to be the punchline of some inside joke to everyone but her. Margot, Sarah, Topper, Kelce, Sarah's brother Rafe; her friends who still lived the life encased in bubble wrap still carried on as if nothing had changed in their lives, and it was up to Dylan to play the same charade, even if that couldn't have been further from the truth.

She now had a foot in two camps, but it was only a matter of how long she could keep pretending everything was okay.

Kelce smiled, moving so he was hovering over her, and he reached up, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face before leaning down to kiss her. She kissed him back, slowly letting her worries from earlier wash away with each kiss, bringing her back down to earth, and to Figure Eight, where she belonged.

"I love you," he murmured against her lips, causing her to smile in response.

"I love you too," she said, bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck to pull him closer.

Dylan let out a contented sigh as Kelce trailed his kisses down to her neck, letting herself live back in the moment. For a second, she let herself forget about the Royal Merchant, and what her new friends back on The Cut must be doing at that moment. For a second, running through graveyards and hiding from men with guns was nothing more than a story in her head, a fantasy she'd concocted to combat a summer away from her true home.

"Hey, Kelce?" she asked, catching sight of the clock over his bedroom door reading that it was shortly after eight. "What time's the party?"

"Nine," he murmured, his voice muffled against her neck.

"We should get ready," she said, and he sighed in response, causing Dylan to giggle as his warm breath tickled her neck.

"Ten more minutes," he said, looking up at her and causing her to smile in response.

"Fine," she relented. "Ten more minutes."

****

By the time Dylan and Kelce arrived at Margot's party, the sun had fallen low beneath the horizon, the coastline of Kildare Island nearly pitch dark, with the exception of the Figure Eight generators and the odd bonfire illuminating part of The Cut. The Griffin family home was packed with Kooks, the music from the speakers drifting all the way down the block as the two of them walked from Kelce's house. Dylan let the music wash over her, filling her with excitement for the evening as she forced herself to push out the nerves that threatened to take over. After all, she hadn't been to a Kook party since well before her father's arrest, nor had she seen several of her former classmates from Kildare Country Day School that would more than likely be in attendance that night.

The porch lights greeted Dylan and Kelce as they walked hand-in-hand up the stairs, in through the open door to the foyer. Everywhere she looked, the place was packed with people, all turning to stare as she followed Kelce through the house, keeping her chin held high.

"That's Dylan," she could hear voices echo, causing her to clutch Kelce's hand a little tighter. "That's Dylan Bates."

"Doesn't she live on The Cut now?" another asked.

"Don't listen to them," Kelce assured her, voice just loud enough for her to hear over the loud music, and Dylan nodded as Kelce placed a kiss on the side of her head.

Dylan and Kelce paused in the kitchen just long enough for Kelce to fill two red plastic cups with beer, and he handed one to her before they made their way out to the backyard, where most of the partygoers surrounded the pool, a few sitting on the edge or even choosing to go for a swim themselves. Towards the center of the backyard stood Margot, chatting with a few other girls Dylan recognized from school.

"You made it!" Margot exclaimed as she caught sight of Kelce, her gaze quickly moving back to see Dylan at his side. "Hey," she smiled, though Dylan could see it didn't quite meet her eyes.

"Hey," Dylan said, nodding as she brought her cup up to her lips and took a sip.

"Yo, Topper's on the roof!" a voice shouted, cutting through the air as Dylan looked up, seeing Topper clad in nothing but a pair of teal swim trunks, a red plastic cup in hand as the crowd began to cheer and a cocky smile bright enough to light the powerless homes back on The Cut.

"Let's go, Top!" Kelce shouted up to his friend, raising his cup in Topper's direction like a salute.

Dylan watched as something from behind Topper caught his attention, and he stepped back, extending a hand as Sarah came into view, clad in a pink bikini. "Sarah!" the crowd began to chant, and Dylan found herself joining in. "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!"

"Hi guys!" Sarah yelled from on top of the roof.

"Jump!" someone shouted from the back of the group, as more and more began to chime in. "Jump! Jump!"

Dylan watched as Topper looked over at Sarah with a wicked grin, and the smile fell off of her face for a moment as they talked before Topper leaned forward, picking her up bridal-style and causing the crowd to cheer louder. Sarah clung on tightly to Topper as he began to step towards the edge, shaking her head frantically.

The crowd continued to chant as Topper laughed, leaping off the roof as Sarah let out an ear-splitting scream on the way down. They hit the pool with a giant splash as the partygoers erupted into cheers loud enough to be heard on the other side of the island, and emerged from the water triumphantly as Sarah began to laugh.

"Can you believe this girl right here?" Topper exclaimed, soaking in the glory as he pointed to Sarah with a proud smile on his face, snaking an arm around her waist as she wrapped hers around his shoulders. "The coolest chick in the OBX!"

"Go, Sarah!" Dylan and Kelce cheered.

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Topper exclaimed as Sarah began to laugh.

"You're crazy," she laughed, pulling him closer.

The music began to play louder as the party continued, and Dylan began to dance as people continued to mill in the middle of the backyard. As the crowd packed in tighter, Dylan eventually lost sight of Kelce, but she continued to dance with her classmates, sipping at her drink and finally starting to feel like she was once again blending in with her crowd.

As Dylan finished her drink, she began to weave her way through the waves of partygoers, in search of the kitchen for a refill. As she moved, she looked around for Kelce, but the tall boy was nowhere to be found amidst the sea of Kooks. She followed the trail back inside to the kitchen, topping off her plastic cup before she began to hear a group of people cheering in the living room.

Making her way towards the source of the noise, Dylan stopped short, nearly choking on her drink as she took sight of the scene before her. At a table in the center of the room sat Rafe, Topper, and Kelce, as well as a few girls Dylan didn't recognize. Lines of white powder covered the table, and as Topper leaned forward, inhaling one of them, Kelce and Rafe began to cheer him on, also under the influence of the substance in front of them. Kelce didn't notice Dylan standing behind them, and her heart sank as she watched him follow suit after Topper, Rafe clapping the boys proudly on the back.

"Enjoying the party?" a voice spoke up behind Dylan, and she turned to see Margot standing with a drink in her hand and a smug smile on her lips.

"Y-yeah," Dylan stammered in an attempt to keep her composure, trying her hardest to fight the urge to look back over at Kelce. "Yeah, it's great,"

"You should be over there with them," Margot assured her, gesturing towards the boys, but Dylan simply shook her head.

"Oh no, I'm good here," Dylan said, raising her cup slightly.

"Oh, that's right," Margot said, taking on a condescending tone. "You can't afford to go over and hang out with the boys right now. Not with what Rafe's charging for coke tonight, anyways."

"Do you have a problem with me, Mar?" Dylan finally snapped, looking back over at the redhead. "Did I do something?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Margot asked, gesturing to the party around them. "This party's for Kooks, babe."

"Well yeah, but-" Dylan started, instantly sobering up at her words, but Margot quickly cut her off.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're not a Kook anymore, Dylan." Margot continued. "No one wants anything to do with you now that you're out of Figure Eight."

"So what, we can't be friends anymore just because I live on a different part of the island?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's just temporary, while we get everything sorted out with my dad."

"Keep telling yourself that, babe." she said. "The only reason you're even at this party is because Kelce brought you, and he's my friend. If it weren't for him, I never would've let a Pogue dirty my doorstep." Dylan's blood turned to ice in her veins as Margot shot her a sickeningly sweet smile, blowing her a kiss. "Enjoy the party, Dylan."

Dylan's heart leapt into her throat as Margot spun on her heels, and she watched as the redhead left to go join the boys, handing Rafe a twenty dollar bill before taking a seat between Kelce and Topper. As she leaned down towards the table, Dylan forced herself to turn around, setting her drink down on an entry table near the door and running out onto the lawn, not caring who she bumped into on her way out.

She stopped to try and catch her breath as the world began to feel like it was spinning, but soon forced herself to at least make it onto the road before letting the tears spill down her cheeks. Her entire life, she'd considered these people her friends, but thanks to a different area code on the south side of the island, that had all changed overnight.

Dylan took one last look up at the house she'd spent countless nights in, for various sleepovers and birthday parties growing up, to the endless amount of parties Margot had thrown whenever her parents were away, her dad usually working an overnight shift as the chief surgeon at St. Olive while her mother was away visiting Margot's older brother Zachary on the mainland. A place she'd once considered a second home was now no more than a stranger, the four white walls trapping the memories inside.

Wiping her eyes and turning back on her heel, Dylan slowly began to walk down the street, moving further and further from the house. She knew it was a long walk back to The Cut, but she didn't quite feel like talking to Kelce in his current state, nor explaining to his parents why she'd left him behind if she'd gone back to his house alone. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, the battery newly charged at Kelce's house during their nap, but she knew it was no use calling for help, as the signal still hadn't been restored and her mom's battery was long drained from the hurricane.

As she walked, passing the borders of Figure Eight as the generators became few and far between, leaving Dylan in near pitch-darkness, a faint glow could be seen at the end of the street, as The Wreck hadn't yet closed from its late weekend summer hours. In the parking lot, she saw her mom's car, and a little further down the Twinkie was parked. At the sight of the vehicles, her heart began to flutter, along with the hope that maybe she wouldn't have to walk all the way to the other side of the island, after all.

Dylan pushed open the door, which gave a resounding tinkling sound from the bell overhead. The power was out, but the restaurant was lit with a number of lanterns positioned throughout the dining area, casting it in a warm golden glow. She first caught sight of Mike Carrera, who gave her a welcoming smile, and further down at the other end of the room sat JJ and John B at a long table with Pope at the countertop behind them, as Kiara refilled their glasses of water and then took a seat to join them.

"Dylan," Mike greeted. "Is everything okay?"

"Hey, Mr. C," she said, plastering on a smile. "Yeah, everything's fine. Is my mom still here?"

"Dylan," her mom's voice joined the mix, and she looked over to see Linda walking back towards the counter with a pitcher full of ice water in her hands. "What are you doing here, I thought you were staying at Sarah's tonight?"

"Yeah," Dylan said, nodding as she tried to quickly think of a lie. "I was, but she wasn't feeling very well. Probably just got too much sun during the cleanup down at Masonborough. I was going to call, but the signal's still out, and I remembered you were working tonight so I thought I'd come by."

In all honesty, she hadn't seen Sarah since after she and Topper had jumped in the pool, and she hadn't had the faintest clue of her mother's work schedule for that night, but to her relief, Linda seemed pleased with her answer. "Well, Kie and your new friends are here if you'd like to join them." she said. "We should be out of here in about forty-five minutes. Is that okay?"

"Sounds great," Dylan said, nervously eyeing the other side of the room, but before she could weigh the pros and cons of trying to ask her mother to just take her car back home before the others could see her and come back to pick her up later, JJ glanced over, his eyes meeting hers.

JJ quickly turned back to the other Pogues, saying something she couldn't hear, and the others looked over, giving her a smile and beckoning for her to join them. She walked over, grateful the room was dark enough to hide the redness that was no doubt still evident in her eyes from crying, and took an open seat beside JJ as Kie passed her a glass of water and a basket full of fried shrimp and french fries.

"I got my dad to take pity on us and give us the food he had left over from tonight." Kie explained by way of greeting. "Eat up."

"Thanks," Dylan said gratefully, taking a sip of the water.

"Weren't you supposed to be at some big Kook party tonight?" John B asked. "We could hear the music from all the way down here for a while, and figured that's where you might be."

"Yeah," she said simply, shrugging. "I got bored, so I decided to head home."

"You were going home?" Pope asked, exchanging a brief look with JJ, and Dylan nodded in response. "Like... all the way home?"

"It's a nice night for a walk," she said, trying to keep her cool as she shoved a french fry into her mouth, silently willing them not to ask anymore questions.

While she could see them exchange looks with one another, to Dylan's relief, they didn't ask her to elaborate further, and as the conversation moved onto a fishing trip JJ and John B had in the coming weeks, Dylan busied herself with the food in front of her, even as her stomach twisted from thinking about the events of the party, taking any semblance of an appetite along with it.

She forced a smile as John B threw a french fry at JJ, the blonde boy expertly catching it in his mouth as the others at the table began to cheer. The boys started to finish their plates, and Kie moved towards the battery-powered stereo Mike and Anna kept on top of the counter, turning up the volume as the music began to play louder. She started to dance, pointing over to John B as he slowly grabbed his cup of water and stood up, making his way over to her.

As soon as John B was up dancing with Kie, JJ glanced over at the counter to see Pope still invested in his food before looking back over at Dylan. "So, are you going to tell me what really happened tonight?" he asked just loud enough for Dylan to hear over the music, causing her to furrow her eyebrows as she looked back at him, confused. "Or are we going to just keep pretending that you're here because you got bored?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said nonchalantly, taking another sip of her water.

"I mean, nobody ever accused me of being Kelce's biggest fan, but I find it extremely hard to believe he'd let you walk all the way back to The Cut just because you were bored." JJ pointed out. "You'd think he'd be a gentleman and drive you home or some shit. And, no offense, but from here your eyes look like you smoked a shit ton of weed, but I know that smell like the back of my nose and you don't smell like it."

"Don't you mean the back of your hand?" Dylan asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I know what I said," JJ retorted, reaching forward to steal a french fry from Dylan's basket and popping it into his mouth.

Dylan sighed, feeling everything in her about to break free, and she willed herself to keep her composure, not daring to cry in front of JJ Maybank. "In all honesty, Kelce is probably too coked out at the moment to notice I even left." she said simply, crossing her arms over her chest as his eyes widened.

"I... see," JJ said, nodding slowly.

"I'm not mad that he and the boys were off... doing that." she said, trying to find the right words. "It's not my thing, but he can make his own decisions. I lost him, at the party, and when I found them, Margot was right behind me. She spewed a bunch of shit about how nobody wants to be around me now that I don't live on Figure Eight, and that Kelce bringing me was the only reason she'd let a Pogue dirty her doorstep."

"She said what?" JJ asked, moving as if he were going to stand up from his seat, but Dylan reached out and grabbed his shoulder, holding him in place.

"Please don't make a scene," she begged, shaking her head and glancing over to see if anyone had noticed. However, to her relief, John B and Kie were still dancing, and Pope was watching their moves. On the other side of the restaurant, Mike and Linda were working on their closing chores, none of them the wiser as to the conversation between the two teenagers sitting at the table. "My mom's worried enough about how our move's been affecting me and my friends, and I really don't want the others to know."

"Margot said that about you?" he asked again. "As in like, your best friend? The redhead I normally serve daiquiris to with you at the country club in the summers?"

"That's the one." she said. "I guess the friendship only came with the territory, and it's not mine anymore."

"Well, the opinion of one of her so-called dirty Pogues might not mean much to you," JJ said. "But fuck her. See those guys over there?" he asked, pointing to John B, Pope, and Kie, and Dylan nodded. "We may talk a bunch of shit about each other, but at the end of the day, they're my family. And if you can't say the same about your group of Kooks, then I'd say it's time to get some better friends."

Dylan let his words hit her as she fought her hardest not to cry again. JJ Maybank usually spewed a lot of shit, no one could deny that, but she knew deep down that he was right in what he was saying. It wasn't hard to take one look at the four of them and know how deeply they cared for each other, the sacrifices she'd seen them make in the one day she'd spent with them alone. Even when he'd kept calling Dylan a Kook and telling her to go home, he'd still protected her from the men who'd ransacked the Chateau. And while, usually the answer to his question would've been that yes, she could say the same about Kelce and the others, she was no longer sure that she could count on any of them to be there when it truly mattered.

Dylan opened her mouth to respond, but it was quickly interrupted by Kie, who stopped between their chairs and put a hand on each of their shoulders, pulling them up along with her. "C'mon guys, come dance with us!" she exclaimed, moving back towards where John B still danced with Pope now next to him.

Dylan stood up, looking back over at JJ as Kie left them alone once more. "Please don't tell any of them about this, okay?"

JJ nodded, giving her a reassuring smile. "Your secret's safe with me, princess."