𝐌 𝐀 𝐓 𝐈 𝐋 𝐃 𝐀 ; 𝐣𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫

𝟑: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝

𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚𝐡'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

"People change? What the hell does that mean?" I ask Steven.

"Who knows man. Girls." He sighs sitting, patting me on the shoulder before walking off with Shayla.

"Dude, next round c'mon." The guy hands me a beer and I gladly take it.

"Steven!" I hear a familiar voice yell. I let the buzz of the alcohol take over and forget about the voice. Until I hear another big yell. I look over and see Belly and Tilly standing in front of Steven. Then Belly falls. People chuckle while Tilly helps her up, checking to make sure she's ok.

Conrad and Belly then begin fighting. What the hell is going on.. Tilly tries to calm them down, but Belly only gets angrier. I run over and put on a happy face.

"Belly! Tills! You guys came! We can all hang now."

"Uh, no. I'm taking them home." Steven says.

"What? No!" Belly protests.

"Yeah, we're not going home. Susannah and Laurel didn't even notice us leave." Tilly explains.

"Steven bro, it's cool. Go hang out with Shayla or something."

"Let's go." She says.

"Fine. But you guys stay exactly where you are and don't talk to anyone." He says.

"Alright buddy, chill," I say, nudging him on the shoulder. As soon as Steven is out of sight, Belly walks away from us.

"Belly! Wait!" Tilly yells as she chases after her.

"Hey, it's ok. Just let her cool off for a bit." She sighs.

"I knew this was a bad idea. I should have stopped her."

"Hey, well I'm glad you're here." I pull her towards my side, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Walk?" She looks up at me and I nod. We start moving towards the shoreline in comfortable silence, kicking sand at each other every once and a while.

"Did I tell you that you look amazing yet?" I wiggle my eyebrows making her laugh. She had on this cream tie-up shirt with matching shorts. I don't know what it is, but damn did it look good on her.

"No, you didn't. But, thank you." She smiles, moving the hair behind her ear.

"So, what's changed since last summer?" I look at her and she shrugs.

"What do you mean?" She disguises her voice to sound clueless, but I know she can pick up what I mean.

"When Conrad asked you about the deb ball, you said people change. So what changed?" I knew there was something she wasn't letting on.

"Nothing. Just a saying."  She looks at me with a small smile. I stop walking.

"What?" She laughs, looking at me.

"What's going on Tills?" She shakes her head.

"Nothing is going on Jere, I promise." She walks back to me, sticking her pinky out. I lock mine with her and proceed to do our little dance that had been our version of promise since we were 10.

"You know I'm here right? Whatever it is."

"I know, Jere-Bear. Thank you." She takes a deep breath and pulls me in for a hug.

"I missed being here." I hug her tight as I feel her body loosen from its usual stiffness.

"I missed you being here." She chuckles.

"I missed you too Jere." She pulls away pinching my cheek. Her eyes move past my head, making me turn around. There was a big commotion gathering around the fire. Conrad was in the middle and Belly was running up.

Tilly went fast to a sprint, making me sprint too. "NO! BELLY!"

❀❀❀

𝐓𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

Running to Belly, my heart pounds. I hate running. Conrad is arguing with some guy and they start pushing each other. Belly gets in the middle to break them apart when someone's fist hits her cheek.

"Belly!" I yell. Conrad looks stunned and stops moving, allowing the guy to tackle him.

I crouch to help Belly stand up and so does a curly-haired boy. I check her cheek and see a bruise forming. Bright lights then start flashing a sirens sound.

"Shit!" I pull us away.

"We gotta get outta here." Jeremiah says from behind us. We walk towards the car with Belly next to us. I help Conrad in and Belly waits with the boy.

"Belly let's go. Get in the car."

"Uh, well Cam can drive me home. Right Cam?" She looks towards the boy and he nods.

"Oh yes. It's not a problem. I'm Cam, Cameron." He introduces nervously.

"Your name is Cam Cameron?" Jere raises an eyebrow. Cam shakes his head.

"No Belly, I'm not letting you ride home with some guy you just met." He scoffs.

"Actually we met in 7th grade right?" Belly asks.

"Yeah, Latin convention. So you know, not strangers." He smiles.

"What do you think?" Belly looks at me. I stare at Cam for a minute trying to figure out if we ever knew him. I couldn't remember, but I could tell Belly really didn't want to go home with us.

"Cam seems nice. Have her home in an hour. No later!" I scold. He nods as I turn to Jeremiah.

"Let's just go." He sighs defeated, but starts to pull out.

"Shit Steven!"

❀❀❀

"Thank you officer! Again, so sorry for the trouble." Laurel smiles. The door closes and she turns to us.

"What we're you guys thinking?" We all start talking at once.

"Shut up! Where's Belly?" She looks between all of us.

"Um, before I snuck out I told her to get us snacks at the market. I knew she wouldn't want to go so I made up a reason to get out." I lie. I couldn't let her get in trouble.

"We're really sorry Laurel." Jeremiah says.

"Yeah we're sorry mom." Steven echos.

"Super sorry." I whisper as she takes a deep breath.

"Just go to bed guys." I break right towards my room and shut the door.

I send a quick text to Belly letting her know what happened and what I told Laurel. I climb into the bed with the comforter wrapped around me.

I hear a slight knock. I listen again and hear it from the wall behind me. Jere's room was right across from me. He knocks twice, letting me know he's there. I knock twice to him and finally close my eyes.

I'm so tired.