THAT AFTERNOON, the group played games in the pool- of course, now Taylor was here, Via felt as though she was outcasted even more. However, Belly made sure that she was on Via's team in every game... without fail. It sounded stupid to Olivia but, in moments like this, she thought Belly felt the same way.

Steven complained as his team lost at volleyball, "This is so unfair. Its three against two."

"You're slipping, Steven." Taylor flirted, a mischievous grin appeared on her face as the girls high-fived each other.

"Let's go!" Belly cheered her team, as she jumped out of the water to hit the ball. Via stopped focusing for a moment, watching Belly in that purple bikini. The colour complimented her sun-kissed skin, and the style of it fitted... Stop! Stop! Stop!

Belly's voice brought Via back into reality, "Livy, hit it!"

But Olivia was too late, as she frowned in confusion, not realising the ball flying right at her. Unexpectedly, Taylor jumped in front of the confused girl, before hitting it in the direction of Conrad and his girlfriend- who were sitting at the side of the pool. The ball collided with Nicole's face, as the whole group went silent.

"Ow!" Nicole winced, as she held her nose in pain.

Via muttered, her eyes wide in shock, "Holy shit."

"Are you okay?" Steven questioned in concern.

Taylor let out a chuckle, "I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"Taylor." Belly warned, before turning to Nicole, "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, no, I'm-I'm totally fine." Nicole lied, "Y-You guys keep playing."

Conrad helped her stand up, "Let me see it. Let's go inside, I'll get you some ice."

"I'm so sorry." Belly repeated, "Feel better, okay?"

"Come on, Belly." Taylor remarked, "Conrad can take of Nicole. Let's go inside and look at ourselves in the mirror some more."

Belly rolled her eyes at Taylor's comment, before climbing out of the pool- she was followed by Jere and Steven, leaving Taylor and Via alone.

"I might go inside." Olivia spoke up after a while of awkward silence, "Are you coming?"

Taylor hesitated, watching as Via swam to the edge of the pool. She blurted out, "You like her, don't you?"

Via paused as her heart dropped, before continuing to climb out of the pool. She wrapped her towel around her waist, "Excuse me?"

Taylor followed her out of the pool, as she pushed herself to climb out, "Belly. I see how you look at her."

Via avoided eye contact, as she spluttered, "I-I don't know what you're on about, Taylor. We're friends, we always have been, we always will."

"You expect me to believe that?" Taylor smiled, as she mocked Via's voice, "Are you okay, Belly? Do you wanna watch a movie, Belles? I love you-"

Via whisper-yelled, "Can you keep your voice down." She paused, as she dried her face with her towel, "We're just friends, Taylor."

Taylor watched as Via quickly walked away. She smirked, "You keep telling yourself that!"

Shit.

***

Just as Olivia thought her day couldn't get anymore awkward, she had to embrace Belly flirting with her new boyfriend at the dinner table. She sat next to Conrad, which was straight opposite the two flirting- she had front row seats.

Jere blurted out, "Do you mind if I call you Cam-Cameron?"

The boy chuckled, "Yeah, man. Feel free. That's funny."

"I'm glad you're here, Cameron." Susannah added, "I know your mom, Denise, from the club. I have heard a lot about you."

"Thank you, Susannah." Cam exclaimed, "My mom says hi."

"Cam, here's some miyeok-guk. It's a Korean birthday tradition." Laurel explained, placing a plate in front of the boy, "Belly told me you're vegetarian, so I didn't put any meat in it."

Cam smiled, "Thank you, Laurel."

Jere asked, sarcasm laced in his voice, "Why don't you eat meat, Cam-Cameron?"

"Uh, the meat industry is the number one contributor of global warming." Cam explained, "And I just, I like animals."

"Well, Belly eats meat." Jere continued, "So, you let her kiss you with those lips?"

Via warned, kicking his leg under the table, "Jere."

"No, uh, I don't judge people for eating meat." Cam explained, "It's just a personal choice. I don't care."

Jere continued, as Steven laughed,  "So, you don't mind if her lips touch a dead animal, and then those dead animal lips touch your lips, right?"

"I don't care, at all." Cam replied, before turning to Belly and kissing her on the lips. Via quickly looked down at her plate, as the whole table went silent. Her heart shattered into a million pieces... again. She got used to the feeling after a while.

Steven and Jere gagged dramatically, as the mom's smiled to themselves. Laurel spoke up, "Belly's allowed to kiss, but that's it."

Belly's face turned red, "Mom. Please, no, you're not funny."

Steven chuckled, "I'm sorry, I just don't understand why anybody would want to kiss somebody who once fully shat in the bathtub."

Belly scoffed, "I was, like, two years old."

"Two? More like six." Steven laughed with Jeremiah.

Belly raised her voice, "Shut up, Steven!"

Olivia cleared her throat, "I remember last summer when we dared Steven to piss in the fireplace, and you stunk up the whole house for days."

Everybody laughed at Steven, as Belly smiled in appreciation at Via from across the table. Olivia felt herself blush, as she quickly glanced at Taylor, who was smirking at her knowingly.

"We were drunk." Steven repeated, "We were drunk."

Taylor scoffed, "On like half a White Claw."

Belly smiled, before hesitating, "Actually, I think we should go to Nicole's party."

The three girls wore their flower crowns to the party which, according to Taylor, made them look ten times hotter. Olivia loved parties, but Belly just being near her made her nervous- and what was worse was that Taylor knew about it.

Nicole welcomed the trio inside, as Taylor quickly went to find the drinks after seeing the girls hug. Belly and Via followed Nicole as she guided them to the other Debutantes- Via's heart dropped, knowing what happened last time.

"You guys, look who's here!" Nicole introduced, as the few Debutantes waved and smiled at the two girls. They all wished Belly a happy birthday, as Belly blew out the candles on the cake in front of her and made a wish. Olivia wished to be apart of her wish.

One of the debutantes, Marisa, looked at Via sympathetically, "I'm sorry about what happened at the meeting. I'd be so angry if those debutantes said those things to my girlfriend."

Via paused at her words- girlfriend. She had never met an openly lesbian before, but it felt nice to know that Marisa felt the same way at Via. She looked around, seeing as the other girls didn't judge her for it, and a wide smile grew on her face. She couldn't stop smiling at the fact that Marisa was happy and people were happy for Marisa. Olivia even felt happier herself.

Via replied, "No, uh, it's okay. Some girls are just... bitches."

"Exactly." Marisa agreed, as she smiled back.

A blonde girl, Gigi, asked, "Via, where's your brother?"

"Gigi." Nicole chuckled nervously, realising that those types of questions made Via feel uncomfortable, like in the last meeting.

"What?" Gigi questioned cluelessly, "Don't twins have that sixth sense, or something?"

Via smiled nervously, "No, uh, we don't. But I saw him near the drinks table."

"Okay, new topic." Nicole exclaimed, as she looked at Belly, "Have you asked Cameron to the Ball?"

Belly replied, "No, uh, I was gonna do it at dinner today but everyone was there."

"Do it right now." Nicole insisted, "Just ask him, he's over there."

Gigi added, "What you're gonna do is you're gonna take him to an empty bedroom and ask him there."

"Gigi!" Dara chuckled, "That's bad advice, don't listen to her."

"Well, that's what my plan was." Gigi shrugged, as she turned to Via, "So, what boy are you gonna ask?"

Dara added, "Or girl?"

Via spluttered nervously, "Oh, uh, I'm not- I'm not sure yet. I'm sure I'll find a boy, though."

For almost the entire night, Via was with her brother, Jere. That was until, of course, Jeremiah hooked up with a guy from the pool. After dancing and exploring Nicole's house, Via stumbled back towards the drinks table.

"Hey." Marisa greeted her, "Are you okay? I've watched you come up here, like, five times already."

"You watched me?" Via repeated, as a smirk grew on her face. She slurred slightly, "Why didn't I see you at the meeting, Marisa?"

"Well, firstly, we were on a different table." Marisa listed, "Secondly, you-"

Via leaned closer to Marisa, speaking in her ear over the loud music, "We should make sure to see each other next time."

Via moved closer towards the girl, as Marisa pulled away. She chuckled nervously, "Whoa. Via, you're drunk and- and I have a girlfriend. I'm sorry-"

"Oh my God. Oh my- I'm so sorry." Via realised before pulling away herself, she looked around the kitchen to see if anybody had seen her. She stressed, "I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was doing- I'm... Oh my God. I'm so fucking stupid."

"No, no." Marisa reassured, "It's okay. We've all done it. Really, it's okay, Via."

"No, but- but... fuck." Via brushed the hair out of her face. She lowered her voice, "I'm not even out to my fucking family yet. I'm sorry-"

"Via, relax." Marisa interrupted, "We're cool. It's cool. It was a mistake, I don't mind." She watched as the girl walked away, "Via, wait. Via!"

"I'm so fucked." Via stressed to herself as she rushed down the crowded corridor, trying to get to the front door, "I'm so fucking stupid."

If she was being honest with herself, Olivia knew exactly why she tried to kiss Marisa. She wanted a distraction from Belly, who had always been on her mind 24/7. She wanted to see if she liked other girls the way she liked Belly- but no girl was the same as Belly. No girl had ever made Via feel something.

Via made it outside, as she sobbed to herself uncontrollably- it made her feel sick, though that could just be the alcohol. She felt so sorry for herself and she hated it. Why couldn't she be normal?

Jere cheered, as Cam attempted to throw a ping pong ball into a cup, "Oh, that was close!" He turned around, after hearing the door slam, before embracing Via in a hug. He had been drinking, Via could smell it on him. He gasped, not noticing that she was crying, "Ollie! Where've you been?"

Cameron noticed she was crying, before glancing at Conrad in concern, "Uh, are you okay?"

Conrad walked over to Via, as Jere pulled away from the hug. Olivia rested her forehead on Conrad's chest as she cried loudly, as the boy frowned in concern. Conrad wrapped one of his arms around her, "Ollie? Why are you crying?"

Via couldn't even form a sentence, as she wiped her tears away from her face. Conrad crouched down in front of his sister protectively, "Talk to me, Ollie. What happened?"

I'm in love with my best friend, Via thought, though she couldn't say that.

Via sniffed, "I-I kissed someone. And-And they told me they already have a girlfriend."

Jere slurred, "I'm sure he'll understand, Ollie. It was a misunderstanding."

More tears swelled in Via's eyes as she continued to look at Conrad, knowing that he knew. He had always known that Via was different. Conrad hesitated, before standing up and hugging Via tightly. She couldn't remember the last time Conrad had ever hugged her- he was never a hugging person, yet he was for her.

"It's okay." Conrad reassured, "It's okay. I'm here."

Via's voice was muffled as her face was pressed against her brother's shoulder, as she sobbed, "It was Marisa."

Jere questioned curiously, "Isn't Marisa that Debutante?... Oh." He paused in realisation, "Oh, Ollie. Come here."

Jere joined his siblings as they hugged, wrapping his arms around them both as he tried to keep his balance. Jeremiah pulled out of the hug when he heard the door click open, "Belly! Hi!"

"I thought you didn't drink?" Belly asked Cameron, who was stood awkwardly in front of Conrad and Via.

Cam explained, "It's water. Jeremiah's been doing all the drinking for me."

"I can certainly see that-" Belly paused when she noticed Via hugged Conrad, "Livy? Are you okay?"

Jere slurred, "She's having an emotional moment because-"

"Jere." Conrad warned, giving him that look to shut him up. He looked at Belly, "She's fine."

"She doesn't look fine." Belly retorted, "I'm serious, what happened? Did someone hurt her?"

Cam broke the silence, as he looked at Belly, "I think maybe we should go. You know, leave them to it."

Belly frowned in worry, before hesitantly leaving with Cameron, though she didn't want to. She wanted to see if her best friend was okay. She had never seen Via so broken and it made her feel so protective- she had never felt that with anyone before.

a/n:
i hope this chapter made sense!!
basically i wanted via to try and kiss marisa because she wanted a distraction from belly- however no other person makes via feel THAT way. hopefully that makes sense for people who thought it was random :)