𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄
↳𝖉𝖊𝖇𝖚𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖘 . . .

            "𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐑'𝐒. 𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐍'𝐓 happen again, I can promise you that much", Laurel promised them.

"Tell Mr. Fisher the Chief wants to set up a tea time when he gets back in town", one of the officers answered her.

"Absolutely. Sorry again for all the trouble. Have a good night officers", she said as she lead them out the door.

The woman than turned around to the group of teens. "How could you guys be so irresponsible?"

"Mom, it wasn't a big deal. All right? Seriously. The cops were just looking to break up the bonfire", Steven wanted to defend their actions.

Their mum raised her eyebrows, "Not a big deal? I would say getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking is a pretty big deal, Steven!"

Steven scoffed, "Where were you guys tonight? You guys smoking?"

"What? Keep your voice down. Susannah's asleep on the Couch", Laurel hissed at them annoyed.

"I wasn't yelling! You were. Just so you know Laurel, I didn't drink tonight. I was the DD, I swear", Jeremiah wanted to argue with her but she didn't hear him out.

Laurel looked at Conrad, "You're the oldest. What the hell's gotten into you?"

She them looked at Belly and Grace, "And when the hell did you two leave the house without telling anybody? And what in the world are you wearing?"

"Why are we the only ones who are not allowed to go out?", Belly immediately questioned her mother.

Laurel stepped forward, her gaze still on her daughters, "It's not that you're not allowed, it's that you should've told us you were going. How did you even get there?"

"We walked."

"Jesus. You know better than to walk that far down the beach alone late at night!", the woman started shouting at them disappointed.

"Can you stop treating me like a kid?!", Belly still arghed with their mother.

Laurel shook her head, "If you want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like one."

"Then maybe you should, too", Conrad suddenly engaged into the conversation.

There was a moment of silence before Laurel spoke up again, "What does that mean?"

The boy shrugged with his shoulders. "I hope you realize that tonight could've ended a lot differently if your family wasn't your family", Lauren explained to them, wanting them to realize how serious the situation was.

"We're sorry, Laur", Jeremiah apologized first. "Just- go to bed, guy."

They all went upstairs in silence and Grace felt like shit, for disappointed her mom like she had.

She laid in bed until late at night, cooling her forming bruise on her cheek bone, while cuddling with her stuffed animal and listening to Olivia Rodrigo.

When she woke up the next morning the black haired girl grabbed her jacked and headphones before she made her way downstairs.

Walking down to the beach to watch the sun rise, she spotted Conrad, who probably had the exact same idea.

The girl pulled her head phones out of her ears as she sat down beside him in silence.

The boy looked at her. "Hey", she smiled slightly. "Last night was-"

"Amazing"

"A shit show."

The two looked back at each other, surprised by the answer of the other.

His gaze lingered on her face, "You know you're gonna have a black eye tomorrow, right?"

Grace narrowed her eyes, thinking, "Well, I mean, technically it's already tomorrow so-"

She then gazed out onto the ocean, "Hey, do you remember anything you did last night? You were pretty wasted."

There was a long silence, only the sound of the ocean breaking through. Conrad was looking her up and down, his voice sleepy, "I always remember everything when I drink."

Grace nodded her head and the two fell silent again. Until Conrad thought it would be a good idea to start smoking besides Grace.

The girl smiled at him, while scrunching up her nose, "Let me have a puff."

The boy frowned immediately, "No." She hummed and he shook his head, "No."

"Yeah."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

He shot her a look, but his lips were curved up into a light smile. "Laurel would kill me."

"Okay fine! Then you can't smoke either. If I can't, you can't!", she chuckled at him. The boy stared at her before he broke into a large smile. The larges smile Grace had seen from him since she had arrived.

The girl smirked satisfied with herself as she gazed towards the ocean again.

The boy besides her shook his head as he put the cigarette away, "God, you're still exactly the same."

Grace remained silent and the two enjoyed the peace before Conrad spoke up once more.

"Hey, let's go pick up some of the good muffins before everybody else gets up."

The girl looked at him before she shrugged, "Well actually, I'm going to take a long shower now. But have fun with the muffins."

She stood up and Conrad had a very confused look on his face while he watched her run up towards the house.

Grace didn't look back, knowing that she had to distance from Conrad for a bit. Otherwise she would just fantasies that he actually cared about her.

An hour later the girl joined the other's downstairs in the kitchen. She was almost starving to death, so the girl was thankful that Jeremiah had already prepared breakfast for her.

The brunette boy pushed the bowl of cereals towards her, flashing her a bright smile.

"Morning."

Grace leaned onto the kitchen counter, "Morning."

Suddenly her mom pushed her hair out of her face, "Is that a bruise?"

"Yeah, um, I hit my head on the bathroom sink yesterday", the girl immediately lied while she let her hair fall into her face again.

Her mother frowned sceptically, "You hit your head?"

"Doesn't look that bad", Conrad stated as he sat up on the couch. Grace gaze met his for a small moment but in that moment Susannah rounded the corner, letting out a squeal. "Oh my God!"

The blond woman held up two cards, "The girls are going to be debutantes!"

She quickly approached the two girls and pulled them into a loving group hug.

"It's really not that big of a deal."

Their brother looked somehow very confused, "I'm sorry. Like, Belly and Grace? My sister's? Like, those two things there?"

"Shut up, cretin!", Belly hissed at their brother as she grabbed the milk.

Susannah interrupted their bickering immediately, "Okay, this is gonna be so much fun! Just you wait, there is- uh- there's the tea, the auction, the ball, of course, the rehearsal. I got to write this down."

The woman suddenly gasped, "We need to go shopping."

Suddenly their mom spoke up again, "This sounds- expensive."

Susannah waved Laurel off, "Oh, don't worry, Laur. It's on me. It was my Idea after all, ans we still need to style you for your book party, so- "

"Belly, are you sure you want to do this? Grace, this kind of stuff was never your thing", Laurel turned towards her children.

"It really was never", Conrad stated as he remained sitting on the couch. His mother rolled her eyes, "Conrad, could you please be a little more supportive?"

The woman then faced her two sons, "Now, which one of you is gonna be Belly's, and who's gonna be Grace's escort to the ball?"

"I'm gonna be no one's. I went last year", Conrad answered her grimly, sipping his juice.

Jeremiah stood by the other side if the kitchen counter, "Yeah, and I swore off balls."

Steven immediately let out a loud wheeze, catching Jeremiah's attention. He chuckled, "The dance's, dude!"

Belly's eyes widened, "Oh wow guys! Stop fighting over us!" She laughed awkwardly before she looked at them, "Um, I'm not going with either of you. I'm going to find my own date."

"Wikipedia says debutante balls require instruction in morals and social etiquette", Laurel suddenly engaged in the conversation again.

Conrad slowly left the room, his voice sounding still pretty sleepy, "I'm going for a swim."

"They could both use some etiquette. Yeah", Steven then chuckled, making Grace shoot him a glare that made him go silent.

Their mother shook her head, "No, offence, Beck, but I don't feel like a country club is the best place to teach my girls about morals."

"There a girl debbing this season, and she's bringing her girlfriend as her escort, and the club was fine with it", Laurel started but Grace didn't listen to her any longer as soon as she spotted Conrad outside by the pool.

The boy took off his shirt and shoes before he slowly approached the edge of the pool.

Suddenly Jeremiah pulled her out of her gaze as he brought Belly her breakfast.

Susannah clapped her hands together in excitement, "Well, hurry up! We have shopping to do!"

"It's not like I was getting any work done anyway. "

The shopping trip was pretty exhausting. Susannah was pretty excited and Grace just wanted to make her happy.

The girl played along, trying on all the different dresses the mom's brought them and at last they had enough stuff to work with until the ball.

But after, they had to hurry, because they only had an hour until the first rehearsal. Laurel drove them to the rehearsal and Belly had a big smile on her face.

When the two girls jumped out of the car their mom called after them, "Gracie, Belly I just want you to know that if you two decide you hate it or if the girls are mean or even if the foster is bad, you can text me. I promise I won't say, I told you so."

Grace smiled at her thankful, "It's all right mom. We're gonna be fine."

"Humor me? Use our code phrase and I'll be right there", their mother smiled.

Belly rolled with her eyes, "Mom!" Their mother didn't stop, "You remember it from when you were little, right?"

The two spoke in union, "Lemon Jelly Belly."

"Have fun."

The two girls turned around and hurried inside as quickly as they could.

                   "𝐇𝐄𝐘!"

Jeremiah walked towards them, a couple of folded towels in his hands.

"Jeremiah!"

His mouth dropped open as soon as he saw the two girls waving at him.

"Oh my God! Uh, girls. Wow. I didn't even recognize you two", he began to greet the two surprised.

Belly sighed before she gave him a look, "Tell me the truth. Um, do I look like a fool?"

"Um-", he let out a laugh before he tried to pull himself together. "Uh, no, you- you two look good. You look good."

Belly nodded her head reassured while Grace flashed him a appreciative smile.

"Um, let me walk you over", the Fisher boy suggested to them but Belly hesitated.

"What?"

The girl laughed as she held eye contact with him, "Nothing."

Jeremiah shrugged her weird behavior off before he nodded towards the building, "Uh, let's go."

"Are- are those Pineapples?"

The two followed after him into the building. "Pineapples- that are flow- have you seen flowers before?"

"I- I have but that is for sure, a Pineapple", the boy argued back at her with a small smile on his face.

Belly spun around before she grabbed onto Jeremiah's arm. "So, they have strawberry, raspberry, raspberry type cookies. Oh, they're to die for."

"Okay."

"I still never thought I'd see the day where you were wearing a fascinator", the brunette haired boy chuckled loudly, a large smile spreading across his lips.

They rounded the corner and immediately faced a large crowd of girls, sitting around a couple of round tables.

A couple of them immediately turned around, meeting their gaze before they shot them a confused or partly cold look.

"Jeremiah", a brunette woman them suddenly greeted them. "Paige", the boy nodded at her.

"Where's your shirt ?", she questioned the boy curiously, her brows furrowed.

"It's always a pleasure", Jeremiah stated as he kissed her hand. He then turned around to the girls. "This is Belly, uh I mean, Isabel Conklin and this is Grace. These are the young women my mom told you about, me and my brother's future wifes."

He winked at the woman flirtatious and Belly and Grace both slapped him immediately.

"They're late", the woman stated, while looking at them.

"We- we're so sorry."

"You're both at table two", the woman them smiled at them friendly. Jeremiah suddenly interrupted them again, "Are those little Brie and fug jam sandwiches with the prosciutto?"

The woman shot him a serious look, "Don't you dare. Those are for the girls."

"Okay."

She turned away from them and Jeremiah immediately went for one fo the sandwiches.

"Jeremiah, those are for the girls!", she repeated, this time louder than before.

"Just one!", the boy tried to calm her down before he passe the two Conklin girls, "Knock 'em dead!"

And with that the boy disappeared down the stairs quickly.

Grace gaze immediately fell onto table two and as her and Belly exchanged looks they both had the exact same thought. FML!

Grace was leading the way to their table and when the two sat down there was a weird vibe in the air.

The girls greeted them but some of them, didn't seem very nice. Belly had an awkward smile on her face while Grace didn't even bother to try and suck up to them.

Just then the girl from the bonfire turned towards them, "Hey."

"Hey."

Grace and her exchanged a short look before Shayla suddenly addressed them from the other side. "Hey!"

"Hi!"

The dark haired girl immediately frowned at Grace, "Is that from the other night?"

Grace immediately traced over the spot where her bruise was. "Oh, um yeah."

"Here, let me fix that", Shayla stated before she pulled out her make up and quickly covered the bruise.

"I think we're good."

A small smile appeared on Grace face and she nodded thankfully, "Thank you."

There was a moment of silence before one of the other girls spoke up, "I told my mum that the only way I would do this if I could bring my girlfriend, 'cause I thought it would be a deal killer, but the club has been surprisingly chill about the whole thing."

Another girl spoke up, "I'm honestly shocked."

They all quickly agreed with them before the first girl spoke ipa again, "Literally, Dara, I was expecting a conversion camp to spring out of the bushes. No lesbians and debutantes are, like, a completely juxtaposing idea."

"Opposites."

"Yeah, but Cousins likes to pretend to be woke. Trust me. My family deals with it constantly", Nicole stated understanding.

"The things we do for College applications", the girl in the green dress stated, leaning back in her chair.

"It's insane."

"Don't worry, Marissa. You'll get in everywhere", Shayla stated as she eyed the girl in their opposite.

"Wait. Where are you applying?", Belly suddenly questioned the girl curiously. "You know, the usual. Every Ivy minus Cornell."

"Mh-hm."

"Ithaca is so bleak", a blond girl stated, making all the other's chuckle loudly.

"I know. What about you?", the girl in the green dress questioned Belly.

"Oh, Belly is only a sophomore. Right? I think that's what Conrad told me", Nicole answered for the brunette with a smile.

Belly nodded her head before she looked at her older sister. "Yeah, I- I'll be a junior in the fall. But Grace here, she's off to College by then."

Grace nodded her head but was happy that everyone was too curious about them being new, than her College applications.

"So, is this your first summer here in Cousins?", one of them asked them, but Grace shook her head.

"No, actually we've been coming here our entired lives", Grace gave them a small forced smile before Nicole continued again. "Yeah, she's, like, family friends with Conrad and Jeremiah."

Now the blond one addressed them again, "Um, so are you and Jeremiah, like, a- a thing, or are you gonna take him to the ball?"

Grace immediately shook her head, "No, I probably won't. He's like a little brother to me."

Belly seemed taken back by the blond girl, "Um-"

"Oh, my God, back off, Geeg!", Nicole exclaimed silently while she laughed.

Everyone joined in and Geeg looked at them, "It was a question."

"They're, like, basically related, okay? You have nothing to worry about", Nicole assured the blond girl while Grace tried to not roll her eyes in annoyance.

"I'm not worried."

"Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that, babe."

"Gigi, has had this thing for Jeremiah-" One of the other girls interrupted her, "Ever since he got abs?"

They all laughed again, looking at Gigi. "Pun intended. Absolutely."

"Relax. I'm not into Jeremia Fisher", Shayla said as she laid a hand on Gigi's arm. The blond gave her a look, "Yeah, and your noticing his abs?"

"Ohh!"

"She's too busy eye-fucking the waiter!", the girl in the green dress stated as she gave Shayla a look.

"Dude, that's Belly's and Grace's brother", Shayla exclaimed as she sat up straight.

They all gasped. "Oh my God!"

"Oh, that's gross!", Belly made a disgusted face. They all smirked at them now, "So, what's it like to live with Jeremiah and Conrad?"

"Yeah."

"Conrad's so mysterious."

The two girls were pretty much speachless and to their luck the woman from before saved them from answering this question.

"Hello, debutantes! A few small housekeeping bits I'd like to go over. We have a lot to look forward to this season. Now, I understand some of you might think that debbing is outdated. It's something you're doing to appease your families. But the Cousins Debutante Ball is a part of history. Venerated, yet ever evolving, it's a tradition you'll someday pass on to your own daughters."

Grace's gaze fell onto Shayla, who secretly put some alcohol in the tea that stood on their table.

Gigi immediately went and took it, while the woman at the front continued.

"It is a formal making of this passage of time between your teenage years and your adulthood. One ends, and the other begins."

Paige made a pause and Grace's gaze was still fixed on Gigi and the tea.

"It's a journey generations of women before you have taken. Women who you can learn from and who can inspire you. Debs, at each table is a big sister, who will guide you through the season. So, please introduce yourselves."

The women took a step back and the chattering immediately began again.

"Hey, little sisters", Nicole then suddenly stated as she turned towards Belly and Grace.

Belly chuckled amazed, "Hey."

"Honestly, my parents made me do it last year because, you know, like, all the women in my family have done it. But my big sister was great, and I actually ended up having a lot of fun. So, just don't be nervous. Okay?", Nicole immediately told them before she held up the alcohol. "You want some?"

Grace gaze wandered over to the door where she suddenly spotted the familiar blond head of Ezra.

"Um, sorry, maybe later. I'll be right back", she quickly excused herself before she immediately approached the door.

When she stormed through the doors she spotted Ezra, who was just about to walk down the stairs.

"Ezra!"

The boy soun around, his face expression immediately lighting up when he saw her. "Grace? What are you doing here? It's great to see you again."

The girl looked down on herself, "Uh-"

The boy's genuin smile changed into one of amusement, "Oh, wait. Are you a deb?"

Grace fiddle with her hand as a small amused smile made it's way onto her face as well. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Well, cool. That's nice", Ezra tried to assure her that he wasn't making fun of her. Suddenly Grace felt kind off awkward, why did she follow after him anyway.

She shifted her wait from one foot to the other, before she suddenly pointed towards the doors, "I should get going."

"Oh, uh, yeah of course."

She wanted to turn around but suddenly he stopped her, "Wait a second. Uh- um, would you maybe consider to go to a drive-in movie with me tonight?"

The girl smiled widely as she nodded, "Yes- yeah of course."

Ezra released a deep breath as he nodded his head, smiling, "Cool."

"So, I'll see you later", she gave him one last smile before she turned towards the door and went back inside.

"Okay, yeah. Bye."