013 Mrs. Covington Rehearsal

Julia woke up smiling, getting up chipperly before putting on her white sundress, white heals, a gold necklace and the turtle necklace. She curled her hair quickly so they were loose, then walking downstairs into the kitchen, where everyone except Belly.

"Morning." She muttered, stealing Jeremiahs's orange juice and taking a sip of it. He looked up at her, ready to yell at whoever it was when he saw her smiling down at him as she drank it. He quickly smiled, remembering last night when they kissed, then looking at her dress and heals. His jaw dropped quickly as he looked her up and down.

"Wow..." Julia rolled her eyes with a smile before pushing his chin up so his jaw had shut.

"Pick up your jaw, you'll catch flies." She snickered, putting his orange down and walking over to her mom.

"Hey, are you ready? Oh, you look so pretty!" Laurel smiled, hugging her daughter.

"Thanks, Mom." Julia smiled before pulling away from the hug and sitting down next to Conrad. He smiled at her before eating more of his cereal.

"Where's Belly?" Julia questioned, looking around. The two girls had their dance rehearsal with Mrs. Covington, which Julia was dreading since she couldn't dance formally. But, she did it for Susannah because she couldn't crush her dream to see Julia and Belly dancing in white, and she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"In the car." Laurel said before standing up, patting Julia's shoulder. "Come on." Julia stood up, smiling over at Jeremiah before the two left the room. She heard Jeremiah yell "Good Luck!" To her, causing her to smile to herself.

***

Julia and Belly walked into the country club after Laurel dropped them off, smiling at each other. "So, what's going on with you and Jere?" Belly questioned, smirking torwards Julia as she frowned.

"What? Nothing's going on?" Julia asked nonchalantly, trying to hide the truth that they had kissed last night.

"Yeah. I'm not buying that." Belly tilted her head at Julia, causing her to scoff.

"Okay, well it doesn't matter because if something did happen- which nothing did- I wouldn't tell you. Not trying to sound mean but you did kind of sell me out yesterday in front of Nicole, Shayla, Gigi and Cam. So... Oh, and you told Shayla about Steven and Taylor, which you had promised to keep secret." Julia reminded her with a smile, causing Belly to sigh, looking down.

"Yeah, I know. I messed up and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I've ever said this summer, actually. I know I've been kinda, like, mean to you, I guess it's because you get more attention from the family than I do. I was jealous."

"What? Bells, I don't get more attention that you do. That's crazy. Yeah, I get to hang out with the boys more, but they love you just the same. They only pick on you like that because you're the youngest. It may not be fair treatment but it's because they love you." Julia smiled at Belly. "And I forgive you."

"Yeah?" Belly nodded.

"Yeah. Mh-hmm." Julia chuckled before they made it to the dance rehearsal, looking around in nervousness as they saw all of the people dancing or standing around in conversation. Julia sighed, realizing neither of them have dates. Although Jeremiah told her he would be hers, he had no choice but to go into work that day since there was only one other person at work. She assured him she was okay with it since Belly was there, too.

"Come on, we'll be each other's dates." Julia smiled, holding her hand out as Belly slowly took it before the two walked out into the crowd, Julia helping Belly get into position.

"Okay, don't worry you just step around in a square motion." Julia showed Belly the steps slowly, making sure she didn't mess up or get sloppy.

Before they could finish practicing, Shayla walked up to the two with Steven, who surprising after last night, look as happy as they've ever been.

"Hey, Belly. Hey, Julia." Shayla greeted happily, Steven smiling down at her.

"Hey." Julia said before pursing her lips.

"Hey." Belly muttered awkwardly. "I'm so sorry I was such a mess yesterday. I... I really hope I didn't screw things up that bad." Belly said with a face formed with worry that the girl wasn't going to forgive her.

"It's okay." Shayla shook her head. "We're good." Steven chuckled at Shayla's words as Julia smiled to herself, happy that Belly didn't ruin things too bad.

"Yeah. But you were a Tasmanian devil, though." Steven reminded her. Julia laughed, knowing it was the truth.

"Be nice." Shayla told him. "We've all been there. The first time I got drunk, I FaceTimed each one of my exes, one by one, and made them tell me why we broke up." Julia's jaw fell open slightly as she laughed. She was glad that Shayla was so forgiving and that she would make her feel better about what happened.

"Exes? Can I get, like, a ballpark figure?" Steven suggested, looking at Shayla.

"Attention, everyone." Paige suddenly walked in, an older lady next to her. "Please welcome our debutante waltz instructor, Ms. Covington, all the way from Ms. Covington's School or Ballroom Dance in Newton." Everyone began clapping their hands, Julia looking around the room.

"Thank you, Paige. As you all know, the waltz is the most highly anticipated part of the ball." Julia raised her brows at Belly in worry before smiling. "So, please join your partner's now... Come on." Julia pursed her lips before walking closer to Belly and holding one of her hands. "And we will begin with the fundamentals, starting with the box step. When the music starts, you do not..." Belly began speaking to Julia while they slowly got in foot with the steps, smiling as Julia nodded at Belly.

"Yeah, good job. See, it's not too bad once you learn it." Belly nodded ina agreement while giggling. Belly looked up, loosing focus and stepping on Julia's foot. She winced slightly, but quickly getting over it.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry." Belly smiled at her big sister, who shook her head quickly.

"No, no, it's okay. Really." Belly sighed before they synced their feet up again, smiling. After a while, Ms. Covington had told everyone to pick up the pace, so Belly looked up in worry, but Julia nodded, reassuring her it was okay. Julia looked over by the door for a quick second, her eyes falling in confusion and happiness when her eyes fell on Jeremiah, who was smirking at her in the distance.

She smiled, shaking her head with a soft laugh before he started walking torwards her. "Hey, ladies." Jeremiah smiled, walking up to them with his hands on his hips. Belly turned her head in surprise. "Mind if I steal your date?" Jeremiah questioned Belly, who smirked before nodding. She's always known that they liked each other, it was just a matter of time before they knew.

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Shortly after Belly was left without a date, Nicole stepped in, seeing her alone.

"So?" Julia smirked. "Didn't you have to work?" She questioned, holding his hand as he put his free one on her waist.

"Well, yes, that was true. I didn't want to miss this, so I skipped my coworker a ten if he let me come down here for a little." Jeremiah smirked at her, causing her to shake her head.

"You know, you're gonna get in trouble." Jeremiah whistled, grabbing Steven's attention who was just feet away. He quickly gave him his tux shirt before Jeremiah threw it on, putting his hand back on her waist, grabbing her hand. Julia smiled, shaking her head before looking up at him. She couldn't help but get lost in his eyes as he stared down at her, the both of them surely thinking of last night.

"So, are we gonna talk about last night?" Jeremiah asked, joining her foot movement.

"Yes." She shrugged nervously.

"Okay, when? You know, we have to talk about it eventually. I wouldn't want you getting bored of me." Jeremiah smirked as he spoke, causing Julia to shake her head.

"Never." She muttered, smiling as he stared down at her.

"Jules. What I said, I meant it." Jeremiah started. "I really do like you, and I-I don't want you thinking that I used my job as an excuse to get out of this, because I would love nothing more than to dance with you. I was just... I was just always too scared to say anything. I didn't want to get rejected by the one girl who I've always liked." Julia smiled up at him, mesmerized by him completely.

"I know you were serious. And I wasn't mad that you couldn't make it. And, I meant what I said, too. I really, really like you, and I totally understand if you aren't ready to, like, I don't know... Get in a relationship- it wasn't like a huge idea or anything, not anything that I've been thinking about... I just, understand if it's not what you want." Julia stuttered a lot, causing Jeremiah to chuckle, finding her cute when she was rambling.

Jeremiah smiled down at her. "Well, I was thinking about it, a little. And, since you haven't had, like, time to think any everything, I'll wait. I'll give you time and I'll be here when you're ready." Julia's smile grew wide, not really knowing what to say to him. She didn't expect for him to be so willing to wait for her after years of her getting sick of waiting for his answers.

Suddenly, Jeremiah began swaying Julia around less gently, causing her to laugh as he moved them torwards the door. Julia looked over at Gigi and Dara who were giving the two cold glares. Julia widened her eyes when Jeremiah moved away from her, starting to talk to the speaker.

"Hey, Alexa. Play "So Pretty." Julia dropped her head in the hand which Jeremiah wasn't still holding, laughing in embarrassment.

Once Alexa started playing the song of Jeremiah's request, Julia giggled, watching as he started dancing. Belly and Nicole looked up in confusion before everyone else also looked up, Julia shoving Jeremiah away from her with a laugh. Everyone started cheering Jeremiah on, the room filled with everyone whooping.

Jeremiah continued dancing, his eyes remained of Julia's as he took the tux cover off and spinning it in the air before he threw it back to Steven, who was also laughing.

Everyone eventually joined Jeremiah's dancing, the boy holding Julia's hand as the blonde girl twirled around, both of them laughing. Julia then moved to Belly, the two girls and Jeremiah jumping in the air excitedly.

"What is going on here?" Everyone quickly shot up straight, nobody dancing anymore. "Jeremiah Fisher, why aren't you at the pool?" Paige questioned, walking into the room.

"We had a code brown. Yeah, we lost the keys to the chemical closet." Jeremiah said. Paige sighed before opening her book and pulling the chemical closet keys out and tossing them in the air at Jeremiah. "Thanks. Catch ya later, Jules." Julia shook her head as everyone looked over at her as he winked before walking away, Julia trying to hold in her laugh.

"Get going, Jeremiah." Paige warned as she looked over her shoulder.

***

After Julia finished with the rehearsal, Julia had walked straight out into the back of the Country Club where she knew Jeremiah and Steven worked. She walked past the pool, Jeremiah sitting on one of the stools by the snack bar which Steven attended.

"Oh... That's all breast meat with the special pesto aioli sauce, right?" Jeremiah assured questionably.

"I'm not your personal chef, all right? But yes. I walked all the way to the kitchen to get it." Steven chuckled, Julia chuckling softly behind the two, causing Jeremiah to turn as she sat next to him. He smiled at her, before eating a fry. She stole one from his plate as Steven did as well.

"Mmm. Mmm." Jeremiah hummed, pointing to the food. Julia giggled, taking another fry before reaching down at her feet and taking her heels off. "You know it's all love." Jeremiah held his fist up at Steven.

"You know, I loved the show. Paige's face was priceless, and so were your dancing skills." Julia laughed, looking torwards Jeremiah.

"I am the best, aren't I?" He questioned, smirking at her as he ruffled her hair, causing her to aggressively smack his hand after scrunching her nose.

"You are." Julia nodded in agreement before ruffling his hair in return of his gesture. She saw in the corner of her eye, Gigi and Dara walking up to the three, both wearing bathing suits.

"Steven." Jeremiah turned around to see the two girls, Julia trying to hold back her eyes roll. "Can we please get two Slushies?" Gigi spoke with a flirtatious tone before eyeing Jeremiah, who looked away to eat more of his food, clearly not interested since his eyes were already interested in someone else.

"Mm. Yeah, yeah, coming up, ladies." Steven said before walking away.

"Thank you. Um, that was the most fun waltz rehearsal, like, in the history of waltz rehearsals." Gigi told Jeremiah, continuing to flirt with him causing Julia to roll her eyes before taking another one of Jeremiah's fries.

"Yeah." Dara agreed. "You came just in time. Your girl Julia's a disaster in heels. Belly too, a little." Dara commented, looking at Julia with a smile as if she was trying to be nice, but it was in no means sent torwards her in a nice tone. Julia gave her a fake smile as she tilted her head.

"You know what? Julia's actually a good dancer, Belly too. The waltz is just dumb." Jeremiah defended Julia and Belly, turning around and rolling his eyes with a clenched jaw. The blonde Conklin sister pursed her lips as she watched him, looking up and down at him to see him adjust in his seat uncomfortably.

"Here you go, ladies." Steven walked back torwards the group with two Slushies.

"Perfect, thank you." Gigi smiled before taking the drinks.

"Always." Steven nodded.

"Oh, Gigi." Julia turned around, grabbing Jeremiah and Gigi's attention. "I know a place that teaches people who struggle with dancing in heels, should I sign you up?" Julia rolled her eyes before turning back to Jeremiah who gave her fist bump as Gigi and Dara walked away angrily.

"That's my girl." Jeremiah laughed, tapping her nose.

"What's their deal?" Steven questioned torwards the two girls who were walking away.

"Well, uh, Gigi wants a boyfriend and has always been mean to Jules, and, uh, Dara bit me once." Julia chuckled, her mouth falling open exasperatedly. Steven laughed along with Julia, who was shaking her head.

"Yeah, it's a long story." Jeremiah nodded with pursed lips.

"I knew I didn't like them." Julia muttered, looking over her shoulder before shrugging, not caring much.

"You want to get out of here?" Jeremiah asked Steven.

"I can't."

"You're no fun." Jeremiah argued.

"Not-not all of us have a trust fund, Jere, all right? Some of us need to work." Steven defended, wiping the counters of the bar. Julia raised her brows knowing that was a lie.

"Yeah, yeah. Bullshit. You would be running out the door the second Shayla called you. No doubt." Julia shook her head, looking at Steven with a tilted head.

"Yeah." Steven agreed quickly. "I mean, it's Shayla." Steven shrugged.

"Dude! You're whipped." Julia snorted a laugh as she shook her head in disbelief at her older brother, sharing a glance with Jeremiah. When Steven was called back into the card room, which the two had no idea existed, Jeremiah and Julia were left at the snack bar alone. Jeremiah shrugged, reaching for one half of the sandwich, then taking the other in his hand and holding it out in front of Julia.

Julia smiled before shrugging, taking the other half.