The summer sun was hot, blazing down onto the streets of Kildare Island as the wind whipped through the air, bringing the breezes of the impending Hurricane Agatha, who was set to hit land any day now. Locals all over the island hurried to prepare for the storm, some even going so far as to evacuate the area, while others chose to stay and wait it out, hoping for the best.

Dylan Bates strolled through the grass, one hand holding onto an almost-finished cookie dough ice cream cone, the other hand intertwined in her boyfriend's, Kelce Smith. The two of them walked, trying to finish their ice creams before the summer heat could melt the freezing cold treat and laughing at how the other seemed to struggle in their attempts.

Dylan and Kelce continued to walk up the hill that separated the main street of Kildare Island from the neighborhood of Figure Eight, where the wealthier families of the island resided, Dylan's and Kelce's included, known as Kooks to the residents of the other side of the island, The Cut. On The Cut lived the group known as the Pogues, who Dylan and her friends usually tended to avoid if they could help it, though they still tended to run into each other in town or at the occasional party from time to time.

As they walked over the top of the hill and the mansions of Figure Eight came into view, the smile dropped from Dylan's face as she took in the sight of a large number of police cars parked outside her house, red and blue lights flashing. To her, everything seemed to move in slow motion as she dropped the cone in her hand and took off running down the hill, trying desperately to figure out what was wrong, but it seemed as if she were moving through molasses, preventing her from getting home to her family.

"Dylan!" Kelce yelled, running after her, and she finally reached her front lawn, running around a car towards where her front door lay open, two police officers emerging with her father, hands cuffed behind his back and a stony expression on his face as he stared down at the ground.

"Dad!" Dylan exclaimed in surprise, causing Dustin Bates's head to shoot up suddenly, eyes searching frantically for the source of the sound until they landed on his daughter. "Dad, what's going on, what are-?" 

"Dylan, go inside." her dad ordered frantically, not wanting his daughter present to see him in such a state.

"You've got the wrong man." she attempted to tell the police, walking towards them. "Whatever it is, he didn't do it."

"Linda!" Dustin called back towards the house, Dylan's mother appearing in the doorway with red rimmed eyes as tears flowed down her cheeks, and Linda Bates rushed down the front steps, gathering her daughter in her arms as Dylan began to cry.

"Mom, what's going on, where are they taking him?" she asked, her breathing growing quicker as she watched them put her father in the back of one of the squad cars, and Linda put a hand on the small of her daughter's back, guiding her inside with Kelce close behind them. "What did he do?"

Dylan, Linda, and Kelce walked inside the house to see a number of officers walking around, pulling different paintings and other belongings from the walls, carrying them outside without even so much as a passing glance to the three of them. Dylan watched them in awe, anger pulsing through her body as she watched them walk around her own house as if they were the owners.

"They can't just do this." she insisted. "Where are they taking everything?"

"Honey, it seems that your father has been dabbling in some... other affairs at his job." Linda explained solemnly, her own voice breaking at the words. "He's being charged with embezzlement, and the bank is repossessing everything in his name." her voice fell flat for a moment before she continued, Dylan's stomach beginning to twist into knots. "Including our house."

Dylan's head began to spin as she took a couple steps back, bumping into Kelce, who shot out a hand to help steady his girlfriend on her feet. She shook her head adamantly, pushing away all of the thoughts surfacing in her mind.

"No," she insisted. "No they can't- they can't take our house. Where else are we supposed to live?"

"I'll have to make some calls, but since everything was in your father's name, and not mine, we're going to have to downsize quite a bit." she said. "It looks like we'll have to start looking for a place on the other side of the island."

Dylan stepped away from the two of them, her head still spinning as she stumbled outside, taking a seat on the front steps and burying her face into her knees, trying to remind herself to take deep breaths. When she and Kelce had left late that morning to get lunch at The Wreck and grab ice cream in town, everything had seemed so normal. Her father had given her a hug goodbye, and her mother asked what she wanted to have for dinner that evening, and whether or not Kelce would be joining them. Now the picture perfect family she'd always had, the home she'd grown up in, all of that was gone in the blink of an eye.

"Hey," a voice spoke up, and she looked up to see Kelce take a seat next to her. He wrapped an arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder, looking anywhere but up at his eyes, afraid of what he might be thinking of her current predicament.

It was no secret what Kelce and his friends, Dylan included, thought of the lowlifes that dwelled on the other side of the island. Now that she would be living in The Cut, she figured it was only a matter of time before that was how he saw her, too.

"We'll figure this out." Kelce insisted, and Dylan finally looked up at him.

"Promise?" she asked, her voice small.

"I promise." he said. "It's you and me, Dyl. You know I'm not going anywhere, right?"

She sighed softly as he kissed her forehead. "Right."