SO IT GOES
002. | "summer house"

The families all joined at the dinner table for their annual first-night dinner, usually, it was full of laughter and reflections of their last years. Yet this time the only voices that were heard were Jeremiah and Steven.

That was until Laurel started to groan at her son's behaviour, "Steven, I swear to god, if you look at that phone one more time, I'm putting it in the screen basket." He was no doubt texting some sort of girl or stalking the summer kids' Instagrams seeing which one he would hit on tonight.

It was the night of the first annual bonfire, an event they had been going to since they became teenagers. Well almost all of them went to the party, Cecelia and Belly always stayed home with the moms and watched movies where Hallie and the boys danced and drank with absolutely no care in the world.

"It's just, we want to see your beautiful faces. Can dinner be a screen-free zone?" Susannah added, her voice laced with a bit of a chuckle at the end of her sentence. "You know, like the olden days." Scarlett winked but despite the mom's requests, Steven was still looking at his phone.

"Hals!" Jeremiah yelled across the table before snatching Steven's phone, warning her that the phone would be heading to her so it didn't hit her in the head. He quickly tossed it over like he was throwing a baseball, Hallie quickly caught it and chucked it onto the chair behind her. "Guys!" Steven whined.

"Boom! Nailed it." Jeremiah jumped up in the air, hitting her palm that was held out for him to high five. "Nice one!" She exclaimed with the same level of enthusiasm. The two continued to cheer for themselves.

"Okay, okay, okay, we get it, you've been working out, Jere." Steven was slightly irritated but part of him found their excitement kind of hilarious. "Same goes for you, Hallie."

Celia decided to join in on the conversations, "Oh, you're just jealous because Jere has a better body than you," laughed jokingly to Steven. "And that Hallie's arms are bigger than yours," Belly added.

"Uh, no, actually, it's all about the lean look now. Otherwise, you can't wear tailored suits."Steven explained to all of them, sounding very convincing. Causing everyone at the table to chuckle at his answer.

"Tailored suits." Conrad mimicked Steven's voice, chuckling at the same time. Putting everyone's attention now onto him, being that this was the first thing that he had said during the whole dinner. "When are you leaving for training camp, man?" Steven asked him.

Hallie was also curious. Conrad had always played football for as long as she remembered, it was the same thing with her and volleyball. It was just something they had always done. "Uh, he quit football." Jere cut in to save him.

"What? Seriously?" She blurted out, not meaning to spit it out like that but she was absolutely lost. Conrad didn't love his sport, she knew that but that didn't mean she wasn't absolutely shocked.

Her eyes flew towards him, trying to read him, but he had gotten better at hiding his emotions these days. It annoyed her that she couldn't tell what the boy was thinking anymore. She had just completely zoned out, lost in her own mind at that point until Susannah had run away from the table and dropped a piece of paper in both Belly and Celia's hands.

"I wrangled you both an invitation to the Debutante Ball, and Hallie they want you to be a sister this year." Susannah basically squealed at them.

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ:*

The bonfire was supposed to be fun, but with the way everyone's relationships were with each other she was doubting that it would be the case. As much as she wanted to focus on the late-night beach Volleyball, sitting listening as the waves pressed against the sand and the warmth the fire gave up that always made her so happy she couldn't.

When Conrad made his way outside, having the same idea as Hallie, he spotted her. She looked beautiful as usual, She was no longer in her travel deep blue sweatshorts and the matching sweatshirt that went along with it.

No, she was wearing a frilly green skirt that grazed her mid-thighs, along with a tight white tank-top that had a higher neckline but was cropped quite a bit. Her messy bun had been replaced with a couple of loose curls in her hair, and her face had a bit more makeup covering it.

But Conrad always thought she looked beautiful despite what state she was in. She wasn't one to usually care about her appearance but tonight she did, which caused a slight pang of jealousy to shoot up Conrad's body.

"Are you going to keep staring at me like a creep or sit down?" Hallie asked, taking a sip from the glass bottle. She could feel his eyes on her, and she could see his reflection in the pool.

He was hesitant at first to sit down beside her, but they both knew they had to play nice, not for their sake but for their families. When he sat she realized there was a lit joint between his lips.

They kept a large distance between them, it was almost on the side of an uncomfortable amount of space. "So what you wanted to quit football so you could start a new hobby of smoking?" Conrad had always been so against smoking anything, especially marijuana, claiming that real athletes didn't put shit in their bodies.

"What's so wrong with that?" He raised an eyebrow at her before inhaling the joint, blowing it out in her face, causing shivers to tickle her spine. "Nothing, just have fun with the changing of your brain processing." She rolled her eyes at his newfound attitude.

She was really only quoting him to get some sort of reaction out of him, "Well I can say the same thing about you and your phone or the beer in your hand." He had a quick comeback, the bickering had already started and they both knew it wouldn't end.

"Says the guy who has reeked of beer since I got here." Hallie spat back at him, He went to spit something back but they were interrupted by two giggling boys coming out of the house followed by Belly and Celia. "First bonfire of the summer!" Steven yelled out with excitement.

All right, we're totally taking my car." Jeremiah laughed, "and you are not driving." He added. The two boys caught the ex-couple sitting by the pool and Jere's eyes went wide. "Come on guys! We're leaving, you ready?" Steven asked the two of them.

She nodded, standing up and joining her two favourite boys by the door. Passing the to younger girls who were in their bathing suits looking to go for their usual late-night swims. "Can we come?" Belly asked, Hals looked over at her sister who was shaking her head, silently telling her that she didn't want to go with them, even though she knew Hallie would be fine to take her.

"Bells, the moms are excited for your usual movie night!" Hallie cut in hinting that they should stay home. "Uh, you're not coming," Steven added bluntly, she knew it was the loving older brother that was saying but it didn't quite come out that way

"Let's go, slowpoke." Jeremiah grinned, grabbing onto her hand and dragging her to the car.

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ:*

Hallie was already walking aimlessly around the party until she spotted Conrad cozying up with a girl, a girl she was not a fan of Nicole. Nicole was the girl Conrad took to the deb ball last year right after the two broke up, leaving her alone and scrambling for an escort days before the event happened.

It was petty and she knew that but she didn't want to watch them make up all night, and if she was... She didn't want to be sober in the slightest and with that, she chugged down the beer. Opening another one with just her teeth, a party trick she learned years ago from Jeremiah.

"You know, that is going to break your teeth one of these days." She heard a voice from behind her, "Is that Kaylee Parker I hear." She turned around coming face to face with her beautiful old friend.

Hallie and Kaylee met almost four years ago now, they had become quick friends from the moment they met. She was one of the things she looked forward to seeing every summer, Kaylee lived about a 5-minute drive away from the Fisher's beach house and they hung out as much as they could in the warmer months of the year.

The two became inseparable last year when both were forced into doing the debutante ball. Spending hours together at the countless events and rehearsals for the event of the year in Cousins. "The one and only." Kaylee smiled back at her, before running to hug her friend.

They embraced for a minute or so, making up for the lost time. "C'mon, we need to get him out of your sight line." The two walked along the beach, catching up on all the drama of their year.

"Susannah got tickets for both of them?" Kaylee laughed as Hallie told her about how the debutante ball legacy she now has was passed down to her sisters. "That women can do anything." She chuckled along with her.

"Hey, are you going to do the whole sister thing?" Kaylee asked her friend, she was sure that it was the last thing Hallie would want to do but she figured since Belly and Celia were doing it there would be more of a chance she would participate again. "I think Susannah wants me too, and if Cece agrees I'll do it, I don't want to leave her alone."

Part of Hallie was afraid to leave Celia alone to do it, Belly was pretty chatty and it was easy for her to make new friends but Cece, Cecelia was quiet around new people and the whole eyes on her thing would already make her uncomfortable and if her being there would make her feel more comfortable Hallie would be there in a heartbeat.

"Which one of the boys do you think will take her?" Kaylee questioned.

Hallie laughed at the idea, "I have no clue, none of them want to go but let's be honest... She wants Jere to go with her but Steven will do it if he has to."

Kaylee knew from the moment she met Hallie that there was a tiny crush going on between her and Jeremiah so it wasn't a secret to her. "Well if she needs an escort, Mason can take her."

Mason Parker was Kaylee's little brother, the same age as Cece. Their younger siblings were actually part of the reason that they bonded, Mason was a nice kid she had hung out with him at many parties. "That would be so amazing, we could have a whole joint party then." Hallie laughed.

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of someone yelling and a flop on the ground. Both of their heads snapped in that direction, "Speaking of Celia and Belly... Isn't that them?" When Hallie took a closer look she saw her baby sister and her god sister.

"Fuck." Hallie whispered before running in that direction, almost slipping on the sand. "Belly? Cece?" She yelled out while sprinting, she saw Steven looking pissed off beside a girl who she thought was named Shayla. Belly was yelling in the direction of Conrad and Nicole.

Once Cecelia saw her sister she quickly went to her side, not expecting that the moment the two got there that everything would turn to shit. She looked slightly panicked that her older sister was about to yell at her. "Hey, what's wrong, what are you doing here?"

She didn't want to come, she wanted to sit in her pajamas and watch a movie, but instead, she was in her older sister's clothes to try and fit in with a beer in her hand and all because she wouldn't let Belly walk to the beach alone at night.

"Belly wanted to come, I didn't want her to come alone." Celial sighed, grabbing her sister's hand in comfort. "I didn't think she'd yell at both Steven and Connie."

"It's okay, c'mon you can hang out with Kaylee and me."

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ:*

The night went fine after the arrival of Belly and Celia, Belly found some boy to hang out with and Hallie just hoped that she was alright with the boy. Cece had stayed with Hallie and Kaylee, and Hallie was just drunk at this point.

It was all going well until she felt a new presence beside her. "Looking good, Hals" It just made her laugh as she turned around to see him. "Hey Logan." She smiled.

Logan Winters, her saving grace a year ago. The debs seemed to be the talk of the night and he was her escort last year. He was a pretty boy, with Deep brown hair with a slight curl to it and stunning hazel green eyes.

"How's your beer? You're not driving right?" Logan asked awkwardly while wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "No, don't worry." She chuckled, at his fear of her driving intoxicated.

"Jere is driving." She reassured him. Hallie always liked Logan; he was a sweet boy, but right now he was on the same level of intoxication as she was. "You still single?" He asked, giving a little wink, Logan developed a bit of feeling for her after the Deb ball. So part of him prayed that the answer was a yes.

"Yep, no boy in my life." She smiled, sneaking a look at Conrad while she was at it, who was no longer eating Nicole's lips. "Cool, cool." He smiled back at her, before grabbing the empty solo cup out of her hand.

"I'll grab you a new drink, don't move."

She watched him walk to a table not taking her eyes off him, she didn't plan on moving but of course, Conrad Fisher had to ruin that for her. She began to hear Conrad's voice angrily arguing with another boy.

She immediately left her sport, running to the crowd that was beginning to form around the two boys. Once she reached it she could see a man who was talking to Belly earlier who Celia told her she met at the gas station earlier today. He was holding was looked to be Conrad's beer, "I paid for this shit, give it back."

Hallie rolled her eyes, but knew if she didn't step in things would go from bad to worse. "Hey, just give him the stupid beer back." She yelled over the crowd loud enough for everyone to move so she could get between the two of them.

"Really, you're going to get your little bitch fight for you?" The gas station boy now yelled at the two of them but hearing him call his ex-girlfriend a bitch made Conrad lose it and he swung his fist at the man.

And the pair began to fight and unfortunately Hallie happened to be right in the middle of it and one of the fists collided with her nose. Causing her to fall onto the ground clutching her now very bloody nose. "Shit!" She cried out, making Conrad stop in his tracks.

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ:*

Hallie's head was a bit fuzzy as they drove back to the beach house, the car was too full, to the point where she was sitting on Steven's lap. "Keep looking up." He would tell her everyone once and while that the bleeding hadn't quite stopped yet.

The drive was smooth, and some people in the car were over the moon happy while some were not impressed. Steven and Belly were both in high spirits being that they had both been kissed and had attention on them. Where Jeremiah and Hallie were both slightly pissed off at the night, Conrad was too drunk to think and Cecelia just simply didn't care anymore.

It was all fine until Jeremiah was pulled over by a cop, "have you kids been drinking?" he asked and no one dared to speak but it was pretty obvious and it wasn't just that they would be getting in trouble for tonight.

They got back to the house quickly, with a lovely police escort. Laurel was not very impressed when she found an officer at their door. "Officers, thank you. It won't happen again, I can promise you that much."

"Tell Mr. Fisher the chief wants to set up a tea time when he gets back in town." The officer spoke back to Laurel, being in the fisher's house was always a saving grace.

"Absolutely. Sorry again for all the trouble. Have a good night, Officers."Laurel bid them goodnight before turning to the group of teenagers. "How could you guys be so irresponsible?"

"Mom, it wasn't a big deal. All right? Seriously." Steve sighed, not wanting to get a lecture at 2 am. "The cops were just looking to break up the bonfire." Laurel scoffed at her son, "I would say getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking is a pretty big deal, Steven."

Laurel looked straight at Hallie who was still plugging her nose and looking up at the ceiling hoping that she wouldn't bleed on the floor. "You." She pointed at her, "I'll talk to you later but I'm sure your mom wouldn't appreciate you bleeding all over Susannah's house, so go clean up."

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･ﾟ:*

She had sat in the bathroom for a good hour putting her head over the sink. She was half asleep in the bathroom until there was a knock on the door. "Come in." She mumbled out and Conrad walked through the door.

"Hey." He whispered, it was obvious that he was still a bit tipsy she could hear it in his voice. "Hi." She replied.

"I'm sorry." That was all he could say to her.

authors note!
hola hola plot twist cut off end lolz! let me know what you think!! also only cece's sister and friends will call her cece she has many nicknames lol. thank you for your love and support with this book <3