The Summer My Sister Turned Pretty

Chapter 4: Bonfire

In all the years my family has come to Cousins I've never really gotten out much- in the teenage aspect I mean. While the older boys had ease making friends with the local kids our age, Belly and I tended to stick more to the moms and the house. Yet here I was, standing in front of my mirror holding up outfits while Belly helped me decide what to wear to the beach bonfire.

Never thought I'd catch myself saying that.

      Belly sat on the edge of my bed in a pink dress Taylor had let her borrow, working on her hair as I offered possible outfits choices for me. I started with tight ripped jean shorts and an off the shoulder white American Eagle top.

      She considers it a moment before responding. "Hm, no," she says.

      Next I hold up a periwinkle blue dress with tiny while flowers printed on it.

      She shakes her head.

      Then a black pair of shorts with a green halter top.

      "Not that one,"

      Finally, I hold up an orange beachy low cut dress.

      "No,"

      I huff. "Belly!"

      "Okay! Um," she starts rummaging through my clothes "Here, how about this?" In her hands is a white skirt and baby blue tube top.

      "Are you sure?"

      "Yeah, totally. You always look so good in this skirt and the tube top matches it perfectly. Just trust me,"

      I raise my eyebrows at her, but accept the outfit anyway. After changing I add a few small braids to my hair and apply some tinted chapstick.

      "Okay! Let's go!" Belly cheers.

      She grabs my hand and we carefully step into the hallway before tiptoeing down the stairs. We freeze for a second at the sight of the moms on the couch. Fortunately for us, their backs are turned as they giggle with each other over the movie- both mindless of what's happening behind them. Belly smiles as I take another step. She focuses again and holds her finger to her mouth, reminding me to stay quiet. Grabbing my hand the two of us silently giggle together as we successfully sneak out the back door and to the beach.

      Now, we actually laugh- giddy over the fact we just pulled off sneaking out for the first time.

      "I can't believe they didn't notice!" I say.

      "I know!" she laughs. "We must be good at this, maybe we should do it more often,"

      "Yeah right. How far is it anyways?"

      "Just a few miles down,"

      "A few miles! Bells, you're joking," I stop walking causing her to stop and look back at me.

      "Don't worry, it'll go by quick. I need to talk to you anyway," she reassures grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

      I look back at the beach house, feeling unsure for a split moment. I can only imagine mom's reaction if she knew we walked this far alone at night. At least I had Belly with me, but I still tried my best not to think about worst case scenario and how dumb of an idea this probably was.

      "About what?"

      "I think Conrad and I kind of had a moment," My interest grew as she continued. "So today when we first arrived and he greeted me- I don't know," She shakes her head looking up for a moment. "I could be crazy, but I swear he looked at me different,"