The past is always there - The summer I turned pretty(Unfinished)

Fuck you, Steven

We all go upstairs so they can show me around.
On the right, it is Laurel's, Susannah's, and Steven's room.
On the left, it is Jeremiah's, Belly's, Conrad's, and my room, which used to be a guest room.
Wow. This house really is huge.

We go into my room. It is so pretty. The bed is next to the window, which is huge. It has baby blue sheets. The drawer, desk and dresser are all baby blue. "Heidi told us your favorite color is baby blue."
Heidi is my social worker.
"Yeah, it is," I say, walking over to the bed and look out the window.
The view is just... wow!
I turn around and sit down on the bed. "I love it. Thank you."
Jeremiah comes over to me and sits down next to me. When he puts his arm around me, I flinch.
His touch feels like fire, trying to burn the skin on my shoulders.
I have to force myself to not pull away.
Shit. Did he notice that?
It doesn't seem like it.

"Want to go for a swim in the pool?" Belly asks. I smile and nod, happily. "Hey! I wanna join too," Jeremiah says, in a childish voice, which makes me laugh. "Count me in!" Conrad says. I smile even bigger.
I guess they do like me.

I turn to Steven. "Do... do you wanna join?" I ask, slowly.
"I'm going to my room," He says, but not to me. To Laurel. He just ignores my question and leaves.
I understand it is hard for him to accept this, but he can at least TRY to talk with me!

***

I change into my bikini and go downstairs.
When I get down, the others are already by the pool. They're sitting on the edge, with their legs in the water.
They're all already very tan.
I mean, obviously. They've been here for a while already.
Conrad and Belly are sitting next to each other on the short edge, Jeremiah on the long edge on their left. Jeremiah sees me coming, and smiles as I sit down on the edge opposite of him.
I smile back.
"Hey" Belly says. Conrad has his arm around her. He kisses her neck, which makes her giggle.
"you guys are actually annoying, you know that right?!" Jeremiah tells them.
Wait, they're dating?
John never said anything about that.

"Should we play a game? What about..." he stops, acting like he's thinking really hard, before he says, "what about chicken fight?" he looks at Belly.
"You know how much I hate that game!!" she says to him, laughing. "Come on, Bells." He jumps in the pool and swim over to me.
"Actually," I begin.
"Can we play volleyball instead?" I look at him, waiting for his answer, hoping he doesn't ask why.

"Sure," he says, shrugging.
He turns to Conrad.
"Me and Evie, you and Belly."
Conrad jumps in the water, as he says, "game on!"

We play for a while, before Laurel calls us in to eat dinner.

***

We're sitting by the table, eating dinner. Steven's sitting right in front of me, clearly trying to avoid eye contact. It is pretty obvious that he doesn't want to get to know me. I didn't think I would care, but I do. I mean, he is one of the only family I have left – of the people I count as family, which is just him and Belly – and he can't even be bothered to get to know me, like, at all?

I sit quietly and just eat my dinner, when Susannah turns to me. "So, Evie, how has your first day been?"
Again, she has that smile on her face. That smile that makes you happy inside. That makes you warm inside.
That smile that makes me feel important to someone again.

"It was pretty good, actually. I had a lot of fun," I say back, smiling as I look from Jeremiah to Belly to Conrad. "Maybe you guys can show me around in town tomorrow?" I ask the three of them. "Of course!" Jeremiah says, smiling, the same was as he mother.
A warm smile that makes you feel important and loved.