Worlds Colliding (The Summer I Turned Pretty) Book One

chapter 4 - Summer Heat

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Flashback 1 - Childhood, Fourth of July

Morning - Beck House - Outside

It was just before the Fourth of July party / AJ's party.

Red, white and blue balloons were all over the place, with elegant party decorations, with a big cake for AJ's birthday the next day.

AJ: (voice over) "The Fourth of July is the day before my birthday, July 5th. So every year before this year, the adults combined the 4th party with my birthday party, so that Dad, John and even Adam could all be there, since they all had work all over the world. It's all about traditions. Susannah decks out the whole house, the dads come up for the weekend, the families steam clams and shoot off fireworks."

Seven-year-old AJ was blowing out the candles on the cake, causing everyone to cheer and smile.

Khalid brushed back Young AJ's hair. "That's perfect."

"All of us being here together is perfect," Adilah agreed. They all smiled in agreement. Adilah turned to Young AJ, kissing her head. "Family is forever, and we'll never stop loving you."

"All of us, the extended families, are forever," Khalid agreed. "Us, and all of these guys."

Young AJ grinned. "Forever and ever."

All the kids smiled, as the adults nodded contently.

Young Conrad made an infinity sign in the sand on the ground. "Yeah, like this."

"Like what?" Young AJ asked, looking over.

"Infinity," Young Conrad answered. "It's really cool. I learned it in math class. So, you know how numbers keep getting bigger and bigger? A hundred, a thousand, a milion. To get to the biggest number in the world, you'd have to keep counting, because there's always a bigger number. It's boundless. But it also means forever. Imagine it's a racetrack. You see how there's no starting or ending point? You could travel endlessly around those curves. Goes on forever. That's infinity. Just like Adilah and Khalid were saying. Just like all of us."

Adilah and Khalid smiled, nodding.

"That's right," Adilah answered.

"Absolutely," Khalid said.

Everyone smiled.

Shortly after, standing on her own, Young AJ was having the time of her life as she was dancing around on her own. Granted, she started to feel a little bit of pain in her arms and legs, and she was having a little issue breathing.

She didn't even realize anyone was watching, since she thought the kids were inside and that the adults were setting up the fireworks.

But Adilah, Khalid, Reagan, Helaena, Laurel, Susannah, Boaz, John and Adam were watching after they finished setting up for the fireworks. They were smiling and didn't want to interrupt her moment on her own or for her to get embarrassed if she knew they were watching.

Young Conrad, Young Jeremiah, Young Belly, Young Steven and Young Percy ran outside to join the party when they saw Young AJ dancing.

Young Steven and Young Jeremiah booed teasingly, while Young Conrad, Young Percy and Young Belly were cheering and clapping.

Young AJ jumped and turned to face them in surprise.

The adults laughed lightly at this, all smiling fondly at the kids.