SO IT GOES
001. | "summer house"

The window in her room had betrayed her by allowing the morning light into her bedroom, ruining her solid hour of sleep. Hallie Adler had been restless all night, she had wide awake thoughts running through her head about the summer ahead. She had been dreading this coming summer since well last august.

Three families joined to stay at Susannah's beach house in Cousins Beach, the Fishers, the Conklins and the Adlers which happened to be the one she belonged to. They stayed there all summer and usually it was the best part of her year but this year everything was different.

There was only one person she dreaded seeing and that was Conrad Fisher, the 17-year-old boy who would always give her butterflies no matter how much heartbreak he had caused her. He used to be her best friend, no one knew Hallie as well as he did, he knew every pet peeve, every favourite she had.

The thing about their friendship was that it was easy to slip over the line into a real relationship, and that's exactly what it did almost two years ago now. He was her first everything and part of her assumed he would also be her last, she loved him in a way that she didn't know was possible.

But after their very heart wrenching break up last year, it was hard to even see his face in pictures. She didn't just lose her boyfriend, she lost her best friend and that was almost harder than saying he was her ex-boyfriend.

She was a different girl than last summer, physically and mentally.

Hallie was always an attractive girl, but her appearance had been altered. After last summer she threw herself into focusing on her volleyball career, causing her to get into a better shape than ever before, it wasn't necessarily a healthy coping mechanism but it worked.

Her muscles were more defined and grown, the braces that resided on her teeth had finally come off and bright blonde hair had faded into a diary blonde colour that complimented her eyes.

In a lot of ways spending her year alone made her mentally stronger, but she was also growing up and began to put a lot more pressure on herself. She saw the world clearer now that she wasn't living in a fairytale world with prince charming.

She sighed trying to focus on the happier memories she had on that beach, trying to push her negative thoughts until her bed sank down due to another person's weight on the mattress. Two pillows came flying at her head followed by the laughs of her younger sister and mom. "Okay, okay I'll get up." she threw her hands in surrender.

"You got one hour, kid, and looking at this floor you have about... I'd say nothing packed." Her mom, Scarlett shook her head at her eldest daughter, not surprised at her lack of organization. "I'm going to run and grab you coffee and breakfast can't have our uber driver falling asleep on the road." It was now Hallie's turn to smack her mom with a pillow as she got up and left the room. She chucked it across the room, just missing by an inch. Before Scarlett exited the door, she turned back smirking at the fact she was fast enough to dodge the pillow.

Celia grabbed her sister's hands pulling her onto her feet despite her groaning, "C'mon Hals, I'll help you pack."

Cecelia was packed and ready to leave a week ago, she was overly excited to see all of her summer friends. She also hoped that this summer would give her sister some sort of closure, Cece had noticed the change in her sister more than anyone else.

It was also her last summer with her big sister before she was off to college, well before Conrad and Hallie went to college. She was hoping to get some quality time in before she left.

The girl scrambled through her closet, she didn't want to dress to impress Conrad but part of her wanted to dress to make him jealous, though she wouldn't admit that due to how wrong that sounded. She just threw the clothes at Celia and she folded them and put them away.

"Really?" Cece chuckled from behind her, She whipped her head around to see her baby sister holding up a piece of fabric. "What? It's a top." Hallie laughed back at her, knowing what she was about to say. "A top? This is a bikini minus the waterproof fabric."

Quickly Hallie snatched it away, throwing it back into her messy closet. "Noted." She stuck her tongue out.

Once all the clothes were out, Hallie decided to have a little bit of fun before they left. "So," She sat down on the floor beside the suitcase. "You excited to see Jere?" She nudged her baby sister, Celia would never admit it but over the last couple of years, she started to have the slightest crush on Jeremiah Fisher.

Jeremiah was Conrad's younger brother,  almost exactly a year older than the youngest Adler sister. He was a complete sweetheart, energetic and fun. His mom Susannah often compared Jere to a Golden Retriever being he shared all the same traits as the dog.

He was a very attractive-looking boy especially as he started to age, Hallie thought it was adorable the way her baby sister would sneak gazes at the boy. "Shut up." Celia rolled her eyes.

"Girls! Are you ready?" Scarlett yelled from the bottom of their stairwell, saving Cece from speaking on the matter but raising her sisters nerves higher than they were.

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ:*

Hallie drummed her hands on the steering wheel of her SUV, on her 6th hour of driving and listening to her little sister sang some sort of song by an indie band that no one had ever heard of. "They just got there, Belly just texted" Celia announced to her older sister and mother who sat in the back seat.

Hallies heart pounded as they reached the sign that had 'Welcome to Cousins Beach'. All the memories rushed back into her head as the summer breezes invaded through the car windows. She watched as the city rushed by, seeing all her favourite places. The pier where she and the younger girls would go on early morning bike rides, the grocery store where she would force Steven and Jeremiah to drive her to, and the part of the beach where she and Conrad would watch the sunrise.

She forgot how much she did love this place, it was beautiful and easily brightened the mood when you stepped foot past that sign. The last ten minutes of their drive went by fast, Taylor Swift blasting through their speakers as they pulled up to the beach house. She spotted a very wet-looking Belly Conklin first.

Isabel was the same age as Cecelia, they were always very close. Hallie was like a big sister to Belly, she looked up to her and always wanted to be like her. She also had the biggest crush on her ex-boyfriend but when they were dating she thought it was adorable.

She looked so grown up, it had been forever since they had seen the Conklin family and she was absolutely gorgeous.

As Hallie  pulled the car to a stop, Celia and Scarlett quickly jumped out of the car, overly excited to see their second family members. They were all there well, everyone except for Conrad. Hallie began to follow behind her family.

She slammed the door shut, throwing attention onto her and after Steven Conklin hugged her mother he came running to her. "Same old Hals." He smiled at her before pulling her into a tight hug.

Hallie loved Steven, he was like her therapy animal.  She texted him if she ever just needed to talk to someone. If she had to pick, Steven was her best friend, he truely was. "Stevie." She smiled into her shoulder, starting to feel more at home by the second.

But she was quickly stolen away by one Jeremiah Fisher, hugging her back while he began to spin her in the air. "Hallie-Bear." He yelled, grinning ear to ear, she started to laugh and squirm in his arms. "Put me down, loser." She chuckled.

He eventually put her down but turned her around to give her an actual hug, "I missed you so much." he mumbled squeezing her tight and she returned the gesture doing just the same. His blue eyes became distracted by the older version of Hallie and he quickly ran to hug her mother, basically attacking the woman.

She looked around to see her two-second moms standing at the door frame, watching her. "Laurel! Susannah!" It was her turn to jump in excitement like a puppy dog, sprinting towards them almost knocking the both of them as she jumped into their arms.

She adored her mother's best friends, the Adler girl's father was never really around. They saw him for holidays but to him holidays were about every three years. Susannah and Laurel made up for that they always made the two girls feel so loved and appreciated and whenever their mom needed help the two women were always there by her side.

"Hello, sweetheart." Susannah kissed the side of her head before she pulled back from the two women, "Look at you, muscles." Laurel spun her around getting a good look at the girl who was like her eldest daughter. "Gorgeous as ever." Susannah complimented.

She looked away due to all the loving words the women gave her, but really part of her was looking around to see if he was around. Being back here made her miss him even more than she did when she was at home.

As if Susannah could read her mind she told her, "He just ran into town to grab something." The woman gave her a sad smile. Beck knew that at least one of three girls would end up with one of her sons and she was always certain that it would be Hallie and Conrad, the two oldest kids in their group.

"Okay." The young girl gave her a small smile.

"He misses you too, you know Connie he probably won't admit it but he does," Susannah revealed, she knew that she shouldn't get involved in their relationship but she loved the both of them and only wanted the best for them.

Hallie didn't want to admit back to Laurel and Susannah that she missed him too, so she just gave a nod before leaving upstairs to unpack her bags. "She hasn't been the same since they stopped talking," Scarlett commented once her daughter walked up the stairs.

"Neither has he."

The three moms wrapped their arms around each other's waists before Laurel looked at her best friends, "They will figure it out." Having some hope that things would work out.

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ:*

She had always loved this room. For her 15th birthday, Susannah had taken her on a shopping spree to decorate the room however she wanted, it was one of her favourite memories.

They decided on a pure white shiplap for her walls, giving it the beachy feeling that she loved. Hints of dusty pastel pink surrounded the room, everything from her throw pillows to her favourite surfboard that hung up on the wall. The furniture was mixes of white and natural wood colours, and the walls were covered in pictures from all their past summers.

As she admired her surroundings two giggling girls came and hopped onto her bed, giving her a slight scare. "Well hello, you two." Hallie chuckles before sitting back on the bed with them. Belly wrapped her hands around the girl's shoulders being that she was too distracted by Celia's arrival at the time to say hi to the older girl.

"You look so grown up kiddo." She smiled looking at Belly in awe, her braces had come off just as Hallie's had, but Belly's cute little glasses had also disappeared and she was growing into her more grown-up body.

"You don't have braces!" Belly yelled looking into the girl's teeth, balancing herself by holding Hallie's arm. "And you're so muscular." She gripped her arm harder than before.

"Why didn't you send pictures!" The youngest girl yelled, causing Celia to laugh at her friend. "She was waiting to flex her abs on us all." Her baby sister exclaimed.

The two just kept giggling at the girl but were interrupted by a knock on her bedroom door. The mystery person entered the room, "Who got abs?" the voice asked.

She knew that voice well, almost too well. It was one she missed, the way it had a hint of mystery in it but also fluctuated to a higher tone when he got excited. Conrad made an appearance clear leaning on her now open door.

He was the same beautiful boy he had always been, with a few minor changes. He had gotten taller, his hair was more styled than before, and the cute glasses he had worn for the last couple of years had disappeared. He just looked a bit more grown-up the last time she had seen him.

"Connie!" Cece almost fell off the bed with excitement, her sister had always been close to the boy especially in the years that they dated. Conrad flew down whenever he could to come and see Hallie, meaning that Celia had also seen the boy year-round.

The younger girl ran up to him giving him a simple high five, Celia was never a fan of physical affection. Then it became really awkwardly silent in the room, "Celia let's go down to the beach with Jere." Belly suggested before pulling the girl out the door.

Leaving the two in the room alone.

She didn't know what to say, she had been practicing a speech in her head for months but nothing came out of her mouth when she went to speak.

"Your hair got darker." That was all Conrad could say, he felt the same shock to see her. He wouldn't admit it but he missed that laugh more than anything, she was just as beautiful as she always had been.

He had so many thoughts racing through his head and all he could point out was the fact that her hair was no longer her usual shade of platinum blonde

"And you've gotten taller." She said back, her voice was quite monotoned. It was something he wasn't used to.

He raised his eyebrows at what she had said to him, "What? I thought we were pointing out the obvious."

Part of her wanted to jump in his arms and kiss those lips she loved so much but she couldn't because he wasn't hers anymore.

This was the most awkward conversation she had ever had in her entire life. "How are you?" She bit her lip not wanting to ask but feeling the need to ask.

He opened his mouth to give her some sort of answer, he had to be honest with her because she would be able to tell he was lying the moment he spoke out the words.

"Dinner," Laurel yelled up the stairs at the kids left in the house... saved by the bell.

authors note! I hope you like it so far!! And how do we feel about Olivia holt as the faceclaim??? anyways leave ur love if you want ;)