Everything Changes-The Summer I Turned Pretty

One

        It is my favorite time of year.

We just arrived at our beach house–my brothers Jeremiah and Conrad, my mom, and I–and are just waiting for the arrival of the Conklins, our best friends.

Mom is working on some finishing touches to the cleaning that her hired staff already completed before we came, and Conrad is upstairs in his bedroom. He told us he'd come down as soon as he heard the Conklins arrive. Jeremiah and I are too excited to wait and decide to sit out on the step in front of the door.

The Conklin clan, as I refer to them, consist of Laurel, Mom's best friend since forever, Steven, and Belly. Steven's the same age as Jere, seventeen and going into their senior years of high school, and Belly is half a year older than me. We're both fifteen, but Belly will be turning sixteen during our time on Cousins' Beach while I won't be sixteen until the winter. She's going to be a junior and I'm only entering my sophomore year in high school.

     We hear their car roll into the driveway and Jeremiah and I both leap off the step and run towards them before they even get out. Steven and Jeremiah give each other a bro hug, as Jere calls it, and me and Belly hug as well. When she releases me, I notice how much different Belly is this year.

Her braces and glasses are gone, and she's wearing shorter shorts and a crop top–something she was always too embarrassed to wear. Also unlike the past, Belly and I were no longer the same height. I have at least a few inches on her now. Jere makes sure to point that out.

"Kristin, how tall are you now? You know what, it doesn't matter. It's already obvious that Belly's short," he teases. Belly swings a playful punch at Jere's shoulder but stops when the front door swings open and Conrad steps out.

"I liked you better with glasses," Connie calls, coming towards us but aimed specifically at Belly.

Belly just shrugs. "Well I like me better without them." She has the same shimmer in her eyes that she's always had whenever she looks at my oldest brother. It makes me a little uncomfortable and I look at Jeremiah for help.

He smiles in my direction and taps his wrist. "I think it's time for,"

"A Belly-flop!" Steven finishes excitedly. He puts his sister into a headlock and waits for me and Jere to grab Belly's feet. Then he and Conrad each take an arm.

Belly squeals as we run her through the gate into the backyard which overlooks the beach. I almost get distracted by gazing over the ocean when everyone runs faster. I stumble to catch up without releasing Belly's foot.

We swing her over the pool on the back porch and on Steven's count, we throw her in.

When Belly bursts back through the surface of the water, she sputters and spits a mouthful of water at Steven. "Guys," she says then. "I think I'm hurt. My ankle," she holds out a hand for assistance getting out of the pool.

I bend down and reach for her, but Conrad's arms are longer and reach her first. Instead of him pulling Belly towards us, she pulls him and he stumbles into the water himself.

"That was pathetic!" Jeremiah shouts at Conrad in the middle of fits of laughter.

Belly and Conrad are swimming close to one another now, and it looks like they are whispering to one another before Belly shoves him away. They both come out of the pool and Belly announces that she's going inside to see our mom.

"I'll come with!" I say and hurry to follow her inside.

Mom and Laurel are talking quietly in the kitchen when we walk in, but both divert their attention towards us. Mom looks amazed when she sees Belly. "You're beautiful," she says and wraps her in a hug. Belly has always gotten many compliments and much of my mom's attention over the years. I look quickly at Laurel, who I love like an aunt, and wish that she treated me the same way Mom did to Belly. Instead, Laurel was always the stricter of the two mothers, the more intimidating one.

I knew she loved us though, even if she didn't show it like Mom did. A few years ago, when Mom had cancer, Laurel drove to visit us every couple weeks throughout the year to maintain things
around the home and make sure that not only Mom was doing okay, but so were Conrad, Jeremiah, and I.

"Hey Laurel," I say, walking up to her and giving her a side hug.

"Kristin," she says with a hint of humor. "You're taller than Belly now."

Well, I tell myself, at least she noticed something about me. I've come to the point of accepting that Belly will always get the most attention between us two girls, even though I never believed it was fair. Mom told me once, when I was younger, that she only saw Belly for about three months out of the year and had to squeeze in all her love to her in that time, versus I got all 365 days for my love to be spread out.

        I smiled. "That's what Jere said too."

Mom looks at us and grins when Laurel says, "Jeremiah has always been the observant one, hasn't he?" Then she ruffles my hair, which is loose around my shoulders. Ruffling hair was something she usually did to my brothers, not to me, but I shrugged off the odd gesture. As I reach up and readjust my brown curls back around my shoulders the way I like them, Laurel adds, "You're getting tall, growing up."

I chuckle awkwardly the way I do when people tell me I'm growing up too fast, or something along those lines. "Tell that to the boys," I tell her. "But tell Conrad he doesn't need to grow up too fast."