𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 - 𝘁𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗽 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗰

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 3

           Susannah, Laurel, and my mom had taken us all shopping that morning. We parked the car on the side of the road and got out to look. Susannah pointed to one store. Laurel asked, "Are you sure? That looks expensive?" Susannah replied, "It's fine. They deserve it." I followed her inside.

It was full of fancy clothes, jewelry, and shoes. I was kind of happy to be shopping like this. There were so many clothes. I walked over and started picking things up. Victoria was next to me. Belly was with Laurel looking at all the jewelry.

I picked up two sundresses. One sundress was blue and the other one was pink. I liked the blue one because it was longer. The pink dress was shorter and more casual. I then went over and picked out a pair of butterfly earrings. They were very small hoops that had a pedant dangling from the center.

My mom showed Victoria and I pairs of heels which we really liked. I picked out the close toed ones while Victoria picked out the ones that were open in the front. Susannah motioned us to the cash register when we were done. Belly showed me the yellow dress she got with sandals.

It was really expensive and I felt bad, but Susannah insisted it was fine. She has always thought of us three as her daughters. Susannah is like my second mom.

We walked out of the store to the car, but Susannah stopped and motioned us over. It was a dress shop. We sat our stuff down in the car and followed her. The place was big and full of gorgeous white dresses. It was almost like a place where you would buy a wedding dress.

The woman that worked there helped us pick out which ones we wanted. At first I tried on one that was silk and casual but it just didn't look right for the ball. But, Susannah pulled one off of the rack. She handed it to me. I tried the dress on, it was long and white, and the straps went off the shoulders slightly.

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     I decided to think about the dress. We were at home now. The tv was on and I was laying on my side. I heard the door open from the front and laughter. I sat up and peaked over the couch to see who it was.

It was a girl and Conrad walking towards the backyard. I'm so stupid. He probably was just trying to talk to me yesterday. I should have known nothing was ever going to happen between us.

He looked over in my direction and could tell I was watching them. "Oh hey Jules. I would like for you to meet someone," he said. Conrad held her hand and came over to the couch. The girl spoke, "Hi I'm Nicole. It's nice to meet you." I nodded and said, "I'm Juliana." I smiled trying to hide my disappointment. I'll always want Conrad to be happy.

He is my best friend after all.

"I heard your going to be a debutant. I am excited to get to know you this season," Nicole said.
"Your a debutant too?"
She smiled at me and nodded.
"I'm excited to finally be a part of it," I said.

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I was sad about what happened earlier, but I got over it. Belly was out with her new 'friend' Cam. We all knew that they were more than that. Victoria and Jeremiah were in the living room binge watching Harry Potters movies while eating hershey kisses and popcorn. They wanted me to watch the movies with them but I didn't want to be a third wheel.

I was in the kitchen eating my favorite brown sugar cinnamon cereal that Susannah got specifically for me because she knows I like it. I got bored of sitting alone, so I decided to take a swim.

I got changed and wore my dark blue bathing suit. I had my hair down that ran just past my shoulders. I grabbed a towel and headed down to the pool. The patio was dark except for the lights in the water.

When I stepped out I saw Conrad there. He had his legs dangled in the water. "Where's Nicole," I asked him while putting my towel on the lounge chair. He looked up at me and answered, "She left a while ago."

I walked over and sat down next to him. He stared at me when I wasn't looking. I could tell that he was by the corner of my eye. He took a deep breath and finally blurted out, "I don't think you should be a deb."

"It's not you."

I was shocked by what he said. I thought he didn't care. I asked a little annoyed, "But Nicole is a debutant?" Conrad said impatiently, "But Nicole isn't you Jules." I was kind of angry with him about this. "You don't know me as well as you think you do Conrad."

I breathed in feeling my chest tense up. "I do know you. You're the girl that would swim for hours and come in with messy curly hair. You're the girl who would bike in the rain to go whale watching. I don't think being a debutant is your thing," he said.
"Why can't you just support my decisions?"

"I do support your decisions. I'm only saying this because I care about you too much," he said.

I went quiet and looked down at the pool. He cares about me? I never would have thought he could admit it, at least not out loud. "You know what I mean."
I said irritated still, "No I don't know what you mean."

Conrad didn't say anything else. I was so tired of him leading me on. I just got into the pool and went under the water. I thought he would leave and go inside to bed. But he didn't, he just sat there and watched me. I paused and looked up at him.

We didn't speak for the rest of the night. But he kept watching me.