𝒜 𝒮𝓊𝓂𝓂ℯ𝓇 ℒ𝒾𝓀ℯ 𝓃ℴ 𝒪𝓉𝒽ℯ𝓇|| 𝒿ℯ𝓇ℯ𝓂𝒾𝒶𝒽 𝒻𝒾𝓈𝒽ℯ𝓇 𝓍 𝓇ℯ𝒶𝒹ℯ𝓇

E I G H T

I was in the kitchen sitting on the island on my phone. It was Belly's birthday today. I was so tired and Belly walking in looking happy and pretty.

"Morning everyone!" Belly said looking at us smiling.

"Belly buttons getting old finally," Steven said biting into bacon. Jeremiah hugged belly and smiled. I walked over and hugged her tightly. Belly wasn't that hungry so we went to open gifts. We sat in the living room and she was opening gifts. Belly opened up one that was from her mom, Laurel.

It was a book about collected poems.

"It's a first edition I got it from a rare book dealer," Laurel said and Belly was looking at the book.

"Turn to the bookmark page," Laurel said smiling. They started singing the poem from the book which was Sunnah's favorite. Susannah used to make us recite it all the time.

Susannah then handed Belly her gift and it was a beautiful necklace. I smiled while looking at it.

"Oo I'm next!" Jeremiah said handing Belly his gift. Belly began to open it and it was a small key you can attach to a bracelet.

I hand my present to Belly and she opens it. It was the first she had always wanted. It was a perfect color for her too. She opened it and her face it up.

"Wow! This is the one I wanted!" She smiled a lot. I was so happy to see her smile.

"My turn!" Steven said chucking it at her.

"Steven!" Laurel said.

I watched her open the present and it was a Princeton hoodie.

"Wow, Steven I can't believe you spent money on me," Belly said looking at the hoodie and smiling.

"It's so you don't steal mine next year when I get in," Steven said, and then Alex gave his present to Belly.

"Wow! bracelets! I have been wanting to get more!" She said smiling.

"I heard you saying that so I went and got you more!" Alex said smiling as well.

"Conrad you wanna give Belly your present?" Susannah said looking at Conrad. I looked back at Conrad.

"Sorry I forgot," Conrad said looking down. It was silent for a moment. How could Conrad forget her birthday? That's so shitty of him.

"Uh, That's cool um I wasn't expecting anything anyways, so," She said while still putting a smile on her face when I could tell she was hurt by it.

"Oh, So I got to go. Um, I promised Cleveland that I'd show him knots today, so" Conrad said getting up.

"Happy birthday belly" He added then walked out. There was a silence for a bit. Till Jeremiah spoke up.

"Hey, why don't we practice driving before we pick Taylor up from the bus station." When Jere said that belly nodded and smiled a bit.

"Sure," Belly said smiling. They both got up and belly-looked at me.

"Aubrey you wanna come?" Belly asked and I nodded and got up. We all walked to Jeremiah's car and I got into the back. Jeremiah got into the passenger seat and Belly got into the driver's seat.

"Slow and steady you're doing great just keep going straight. Okay?" He said pointing at the road and one of his arms was resting on the outside of the door. Belly nodded. Belly looked scared and I was just sitting in the back bored.

"You excited to see Taylor?" Jeremiah said raising his eyebrows at belly.

"Yeah, Uh, of course. so excited" Belly said. You could tell she was not excited at all.