VIA HAD told Evie everything, as they cleaned an empty room in the beach house. Via was a state: her eyes puffy from crying, her nails bitten down to the skin, her hair sticking to her wet cheeks due to her tears. Olivia hadn't felt this bad since... She couldn't bring herself to think of her mother.

Evie convinced Via to join the others in the kitchen, as Aunt Julia and Laurel had come back inside. Via's bloodshot eyes scanned the kitchen for Belly uncontrollably- where was she?

Via was pulled out of her trance by Laurel, asking her a question, "Via, did you hear what your Aunt Julia said?"

Laurel frowned concernedly at the girl, who was looking at her in confusion- Via hadn't heard a word. The girl was even more confused because of the teenagers around her practically jumping for joy.

Julia repeated, "I've decided to pull out of the sale."

Laurel questioned Via again, trying to figure out why her face was blank to any emotion, "Isn't that wonderful, Via?"

Via spoke hoarsely, "Yeah, I guess."

Laurel looked at Skye, Steven, Evie , and her brothers who were all smiling, before remarking, "Don't celebrate yet. We still need to convince your dad to buy the house from Julia."

While everybody waited for Adam to arrive, Via found herself in the kitchen alone. She was stress baking- taking her mind off of the pain that she was truly feeling inside. Via had made a variety of meals already: muffins, fruit bowls, Micky Mouse Pancakes.

"You're stress baking." Laurel said as she entered the kitchen.

"I'm not." Via replied avoiding eye contact as Laurel sat down on a stool opposite her. 

Laurel remarked, "So, you're baking for your dad?"

"No." Via deadpanned, "I'm baking for myself."

Laurel sighed, leaning her elbows on the kitchen table, "Talk to me, Via. What's going on?"

Via turned away from Laurel, pretending to look for something in the cupboards behind her, "Nothing's going on."

Laurel said, "I saw you and Belly fighting on the deck."

Via's eyes burned with tears at the mention of Belly.

"It was an argument." Via's voice broke, "It's fine now."

Laurel hesitated, before guessing, "Was it a friendship argument... or more than that?"

A tear dripped onto the kitchen counter from Via's eye, as the girl just shrugged. She cried quietly to herself, causing her shoulders to shake up and down.

Laurel stayed quiet for a moment, before standing up and walking around the kitchen table to meet with the girl. Laurel hugged her tightly, making Via's cries muffle in her clothing.

Laurel cupped Via's face, as she reassured, "It's okay."

Via sobbed as she shook her head, "No, it's not. I-I'm never going to be special... to her."

Laurel comforted, "Belly loves you, Via. When we leave Cousins after summer, she never stops talking about how much fun she had with you." She paused, "Everything's going to be alright."

"Hello?" Adam's voice became louder as footsteps approached the kitchen. Her dad walked in, scoffing at the food on the table, "What's this? You don't bake."

Via wiped her tears quickly, before sniffing, "I do actually. You're just never here to see it."

Laurel lied, "We figured you be hungry after the long drive. So we made you breakfast... for lunch."

Adam looked at his daughter, "Where's the rest of them?"

"How should I know?" Via replied, before muttering, "Probably hiding from you-"

"Via." Laurel warned.

"It's done. Julia sold it." Adam replied.

Julia entered the kitchen, "Actually I, uh, changed my mind."

Adam scoffed, "Let's get something straight here. I'm not letting the kids loose anything. This has been out of my hands since the start. So don't go making me the bad guy here."

"You are the bad guy." Via snapped frustratedly, "Can you seriously not see how much damage you've caused?"

"Me?" Adam questioned, chuckling in confusion, "What have I done?"

Via looked at Laurel, an expression of pure anger written on her face, "Is he fucking serious-"

"Via." Laurel warned again, "Why don't you find your brothers?"

Via nodded, glaring at her father as she left the kitchen, walking straight into the gathering of teenagers as she turned the corner. Via whispered, "What are you doing?"

Jeremiah put a finger to his lips, as the group hid behind the wall, listening into the adult conversation.

Adam retorted, "So, you're just gonna dissolve the trust and gift the kids the beach house? I'm surprised you would support that."

"When did I ever say that?" Laurel asked, "I just want you to move some money around to buy it for them."

Adam scoffed, "What?"

"Fair market value, terms negotiable, of course." Julia explained.

"I think I'm gonna go now because that's... that's not happening." Adam replied, "End of story."

"I have a question for you." Julia asked, "Why is it that those kids have been trying harder for the last three days to save this house, then you have in the last several weeks?"

Laurel added, "Listen, Adam-"

"Shut up, Laurel." Adam snapped, "You don't get a vote."

Jeremiah grabbed Conrad's arm, as he attempted to storm over to the situation. Via shared an angry expression with Evie, who seemed to be getting as protective as Conrad.

Adam continued, "I know Suze made you feel like this house was part yours, but it's not!"

"Where do you get off saying shit like that?" Conrad blurted out, as he stormed around the corner.

"Con..." Adam frowned, as he saw the rest of the kids entering the kitchen. He looked at Laurel, "Did you really think railroading me would change my mind?"

Laurel scoffed, "Excuse me, but fuck you!"

"Suze wouldn't want us fighting like this." Adam argued.

"You have no idea what she would want!" Conrad shouted, "You lost her a long time ago."

Via wiped the tears that rolled down her cheeks, "Please stop yelling."

Laurel asked, "Can't you get passed your own grief and see what it means to your kids? Just do this one last thing for her."

"Being here is hard. Really hard." Adam lowered his voice, "Uh... She's everywhere here."

"Dad." Jeremiah pleaded, "Please."

"I'm not letting them use their trusts." Adam explained, "If we sell the Boston house, that could give us enough. You'd all be at school mostly anyway, but we can't afford both houses. Is this really what you want?"

The siblings nodded, smiling at their achievements, though Via couldn't stop herself from looking at Belly- she's what Via really wanted.

Olivia sat on the sand, looking into the distance in front of her. She picked up cups of sand, playing with the grains in her fingers as she watched the sunset. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't take her mind of Belly. Via hadn't seen her since what had happened...

Jeremiah sat next to his sister, staring into the distance as she spoke, "I know you're still pissed at me about last night. I've been thinking about what to say to you all day." He paused, "I should've known... about you and Belly."

"I didn't expect you to know." Via replied, "Belly wanted it to be a secret."

"It was still a shitty thing to do, though." Jeremiah breathed, "I'm sorry. I wouldn't of... kissed her if I knew."

Via shook her head, "I should've told you how I felt about her. Like, how I felt about her for the whole of my life."

"You had a crush on Belly for ages?" Jeremiah asked curiously, finally turning to look at his sister, "And nobody knew?"

"Nobody knew, except Evie." Via explained, "And, I guess, Connie knew. He always gave me signs that he knew... but then he'd hook up with her."

"I'm sorry." Jeremiah replied, "I really had no idea. I should've noticed sooner-"

"It's not your fault. You didn't know." Via replied with a shrug, "I, uh, broke up with her this morning anyway... so, uh, you can do whatever now."

"That explains why she was crying." Jeremiah realised, "She really loves you, Ollie. Like, out of all of us."

Via frowned, "I wouldn't say that."

"I would." Jeremiah explained, "Trust me. You know Belly, she has her reasons. She was probably just confused about it all. When did she come out?"

"At Steven's graduation party." Via explained, "We got together that night... but, she was quite drunk. She wasn't ready at all."

Jeremiah hesitated, before speaking, "Can we just make a deal to tell each other things? No matter if it pisses us off. I don't want to fight with you anymore, Ollie, you're all I have."

a/n:
   ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT????!!!!