happier ⇒ the summer i turned pretty

ELEVEN!

belly and avalon had debutante training again the next morning. jeremiah had already left for work before the girls went to practice. conrad was out working with a friend of laurel's.

both the girls still haven't asked anyone to the ball. but, steven had been asked by shayla, the girl he met at the beach party.

belly had to dance with nicole until she found an escort. avalon was dancing with the instructors daughter. everything was going okay until avalon stepped on the girls foot. she had to step out, which left avalon with nobody.

she stood there awkwardly, marking the moves by herself. all of a sudden she heard a familiar voice come up to her.

"may i have this dance?" jeremiah held out his hand.

"you may." she chuckled, grabbing his hand.

"why aren't you at work?" she asked.

"i'm on break so i thought i'd look in on the magic in here." he joked. "then i saw you by yourself and i wanted to step in."

she smiled at him, then frowned quickly, "move your foot the other way!"

he laughed and fixed his position. "sorry m'lady."

"mhm." she lightly laughed, nodding her head.

the two were dancing and sharing laughs. it was like yesterday didn't even happen.

after they finished up the dance, jeremiah had to go back to work. avalon was stuck dancing once again with the instructors daughter.

she had a much better time dancing with jere. they flowed together easily. she was so tempted to ask him to escort her to the ball, but she knew he wouldn't want to. dances aren't really his thing.

avalon was running low on options though. she hadn't met any boys this summer like belly did. she was surprised belly hadn't asked cam yet.

after deb training, belly went to hangout with cam. avalon was at home talking with the moms.

"have you found someone to ask to the ball yet?" susannah wondered.

avalon sighed to herself, "nope, not yet." she tried to smile so susannah wouldn't feel bad.

"oh honey, you'll find someone i know it." she put her hand on avalon's face and rubbed it with her thumb. "do you know if belly has asked cam yet?" she asked.

"i'm not sure. i think she was planning on it though." avalon answered.

later that day

after dinner, the moms decided they were going out to the bar. they needed some time away from the kids. they've been home all summer doing house work, or spending time with the kids. there was nothing wrong with that but they needed some time for just the three of them.

cam had asked belly to hangout, so she went to hangout with him. they decided to go mini golfing. steven went to hangout with shayla, and conrad went to nicole's. they all went their separate ways for the night, except avalon and jeremiah.

jeremiah was about to leave the house to hangout with a few people he met at a party. he grabbed his car keys off the counter. before he walked out of the room, he noticed avalon sitting on the couch by herself. she sat there quietly on her phone.

"what are your plans for tonight, av?" he asked excitedly.

it felt like her heart had dropped to her stomach at that question. she was the only one with no plans. she hadn't met anyone this summer. she'd only spent time with the people at the house. she was always with at least one of them so she never had a chance to really meet anyone new.