ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴇʀ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀɴᴅ|ᴊ.ꜰ

🀣𝟢𝟢𝟦🀣

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏᴜʀ
↳ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ ɢɪʀʟꜱ.

I'd struggled with my self image since I was nine. I'd look at the pretty girls around me and realize that I'd never come close to matching their status. Blue eyes, blonde hair; brunette's and wide hips and long legs. I didn't have any of it. My hair was naturally black, and I'd go on to dye it many different colors before turning it pitch black.
My legs weren't long because I was only 5'5, and my eyes were plain old brown. My hair was long though, it reached my thighs. Susannah used to call me the real life Repunzel and even convinced me that the movie was made about me. It wasn't though, if that wasn't already obvious. I'd never felt good about the way I looked, not even this summer; the summer I turned pretty.
I'd end up going to that party after all, but I would skip out on Jere and I's pre-game mini golfing. It was hard enough dragging myself out of bed to even eat breakfast, mini golf was the last thing on my day's itinerary. Belly was sitting on the steps with gas station boy, aka Cam Cameron. Jeremiah and Conrad had deemed him that after embarrassing him and Belly in front of the entire party.

They did that a lot, but not for the reasons Belly thinks. She was naive sometimes. And even though she's my best friend and I shouldn't say shouldn't say stuff like that it was the truth. Isabell Conklin was born naive, and it was no surprise that it followed her into her teenage years. I'd left her alone to do her thing, not that she had any real game. But neither did I, and that's just one of the many reasons we're best friends.
I kind of just roamed since I didn't have anything to do or anyone to talk to.
While walking around for the eighty billionth time, I'd run into no other than Mateo Rodríguez himself. He carried a cup in his hand and looked oddly bored for someone who loves Cousins Beach parties. "Come to spill my business and try to embarrass me again?"
Mateo shook his head and lead up against the wall. "Came to make amends, actually. I've been a dick to you," he said. I scoffed. "More like an actual terror, but whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess." Maybe I was being a little too hard on him, but he was a literal terror to me after last summer. "I'm sorry for the way I acted last summer."
"I'm sorry, too."

He sighed. "I shouldn't have been so hard on you... I mean, I out of all people should know what it's like to want someone you can't have. Just... Don't make that same mistake with whatever guy you choose next," he finished. I nodded in understanding. Mateo reached his hand out towards me, "Frenamies?" He asked. And we laughed, one that reached all the way up to our eyes.
I'd take his hand. "Frenamies." We'd catch each other up on everything that's happened in our lives because even though we ended off bad, the connection we once had, even as friends, was still thriving. He told me about the divorce and how he lives with his dad, and how he's actually happy about the decision. And I told him about my little apartment in Chicago and all the plant babies that hang from the ceiling.
We migrated to the living room where Conrad and Red Sox girl was all over each other. It was pretty disgusting and I felt awful for Belly. But she had Cam Cameron now, surely she wouldn't care anymore, right? Mid way through our couch conversation, Jeremiah had came and sat down next to me. "Mateo," he said. Mateo just smiled at him. "What's up, Jeremiah?"

I could already feel the tension beginning to rise. "Just wondering why you're hanging out with Nani," Jere said. Of course. It's one thing to be a protective best friend, but it's another to try and control who hangs around me. "We're cool now." Mateo looked between Jeremiah and I for a second before his eyes fell down to his cup.
Guilt. I'd known that look anywhere. Mateo and I were a thing before I turned pretty, I know so much about him. And his tells were so obvious that you couldn't ignore them and move past it. "I didn't know Nani liked being friends with people who break her heart." I knew it was coming. I knew he would bring it up reopen old wounds. That's what Jeremiah does when he's mad, he makes everything hurt all over again. "That's ironic coming from the other guy who broke her heart."
I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed my things and shot up from the couch. "Where're you going?" Jeremiah asked. But it felt more like a demand. "As far away from you two as possible," I said. "I didn't even do anything."
"Yes, you did. You brought it up, Jere. You always bring it up. You brought it up after it happened and when I was back in Chicago and even when school started. You don't need to rub it in my face that no matter what I do, no ones gonna stick around."
His face softened and those beautiful blue eyes had dimmed. If we weren't in the middle of an argument, I'd wrap my arms around him and tell him everything's gonna be okay. But we are in the middle of an argument, and Jeremiah was the one who'd started it.