𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 • steven conklin

𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

the games began and eden and steven were up against belly and taylor.

eden cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck around, trying to get any kinks out of it.

they had the ball first and eden spiked it over the next hardly, thinking neither girls could get it, but taylor hit it over the net.

steven went to hit it, but eden ran in front of him and volleyed it over the net, causing the girls to miss the ball.

"i had that, you know." steven said to eden who ignored him.

they continued playing and it was getting heated between taylor and eden, which was mostly on eden's part.

taylor hit it over the net and it went over eden's head and landed behind her.

steven went to get the bell, but eden stomped over and grabbed it, then flung it over the net, hitting taylor hardly in the face with it, knocking her onto the ground.

"what the hell!" taylor yelled.

"eden!" belly exclaimed and gave her a shocked look.

eden started breathing heavily and stared at them before looking up at steven.

"why would you do that? what is wrong with you?" he whispered to her.

"you guys are disqualified. off the sand." the ref said.

steven scoffed and walked off of the sand.

eden shook her head and ran off in the opposite direction.

susannah sighed and stood up, following after her daughter under the water tent where she had been just before her game started.

"eden, honey, what has gotten into you?" susannah asked.

eden turned around and faced her mother with tears in her eyes.

"i don't know, mom. i just feel so stupid. i made jace hate me, i jumped into something with steven too soon and now he hates me, taylor and i have a feud, and i can't control my anxiety. i don't know what's wrong with me. i'm such a bad person." she cried.

"oh, flower." susannah said and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "you never have been and never will be a bad person. you are a gift to this world. you have made mistakes, sure, but that doesn't mean you're a bad person. mistakes are meant to be fixed. everyone makes mistakes. you're so bright and so smart, i know you can do it."

eden nodded. "thanks, mom."

"of course, my baby. i'll find you a ride home and you can take a nice hot shower and rest."

eden nodded. "okay."

"okay."

susannah kissed her forehead before walking away, leaving eden to sip her water by herself.

🌊

after a ride home from laurel, eden took a shower and put on a white t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts.

since she was alone and the house was quiet, she grabbed her book and trekked downstairs to read it.

she wrapped herself into a blanket, then got comfortable on the couch with her feet up.

she was reading the song of achilles.

she had gotten to the part where patroclus gets exiled from his kingdom.

she knew most of what was going to happen because she saw it on book tok, but she was so, very interested that she needed to read it as soon as possible.