JEWEL -𝘛𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘑𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘭

𓇼xi. for sale

                                 JEWEL
                             chapter eleven

☼𓇼࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ☼𓇼࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ☼𓇼࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

Serena and Conrad had desperately been trying to find a way to save the beach house for days.

They were standing in the living room of the beach house arguing about the next way to go about it when Jeremiah walked in. "Jere?" Serena questioned not expecting the boy to be there.

"Serena Conrad, what's going on? You just have been MIA for days." Jeremiah asked voice laced with concern. Serena sighed, not wanting to tell him.

"The house has been put up for sale." Conrad explained. "What? What do you mean the house has been put up for sale?" Belly asked, walking in frowning.

She was honestly the last person Serena wanted to see right now. Serena just sighed, rubbing her forehead. The two girls hadn't interacted since the funeral as Serena was upset at the divide Belly had caused between her brothers.

"So this is why you guys haven't answered any of my phone calls or texts." Jeremiah scoffed.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Conrad asked. "We are going to lose this house, mom's house." Conrad spoke.

"Why would your dad sell this house?" Belly asked. "He's not our Aunt Julia is." Serena chipped in. "Susannah's sister?" Belly asked.

"Half sister Apparently the house belongs to the both of them, and when mom." Serena couldn't bring herself to say it. She cleared her throat and continued. "Now Aunt Julia owns the whole thing," she sighed.

"Okay, just call dad and figure something out." Jeremiah proposed. "Don't you think when you tried that." Serena sighed, getting impatient.

"Dad said legally the house is hers." Conrad explained. "Okay, then he'll buy it." Jeremiah scoffed.

"He doesn't have the money to buy it between Brown and the medical bills." Conrad acknowledged. "Yeah, I know how much the medical bills cost because I was there." Jeremiah jabbed.

"Jeremiah." Serena warned. She didn't want her brothers to get into another fight; she just wished they could put this whole rivalry behind them; it was stupid.

"No, how long did you guys know about this and not tell me?" He asked, getting upset. He looked between the twins faces, searching for the truth.

"It was all happening so fast we were going to tell you when we had it handled." Serena sighed. "And this is you guys handling it?" Jeremiah scoffed.

"Going AWOL and ditching school? Not talking to us?" He snarked. "Fuck school! I don't care." Conrad snarked back.

"You have to go back or you'll fail your class." Jerome tried to explain. Serena just rubbed her forehead; she was starting to get a headache.

"How are you going to become a doctor if you fail out of college, Conrad?" Belly asked. Serena forgot the girl was here.

"Why are you even here?" Serena asked the girl. "I uhm." Belly stuttered out, not expecting the girls bluntness.

"Seriously?" Jerome scoffed at his sister. "We went all over to find you guys. I didn't think you guys would pull this shit again, but you don't care about anybody but yourselves." Jeremiah spat, walking out of the room.

"Jere!" Serena called, trying to get the boy to come back; he just ignored her. She sighed, walking out to the back porch to get some air.

She sat feet dipped in the pool and just cried. She cried, cried tell she couldn't anymore.


☼𓇼࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ


Jeremiah and Belly had decided to stay the night at the house as they were too tired to go back. Conrad was in the kitchen on the phone with his mother's financial advisor as Serena was sitting opposite him at the counter, listening to the conversation.

"Morning." Belly called, walking into the kitchen with Jeremiah. "Wanna talk about a plan B?" Jeremiah asked.

"There is no time." Serena sighed. "Aunt Julia is already here." Conrad added. "She got in yesterday; she's at Ocean Harbor. She couldn't be bothered to come to mom's funeral, but she'll hop on the first flight to come sell this place." He scoffed.

Serena rolled her eyes at the mention of her aunt. "Just go back to bed and let us deal with it." He spoke, walking out of the room. Serena had decided to let him cool off. Deciding to go down to the beach to think.

She sat in the sand, feeling the tide roll up and hit her legs. She heard some rustling behind her, seeing Conrad walking up with their surfboards.

She stood up, smiling, taking her board. Every time Serena was hurting really bad, she would go out to the beach to think, and every time Conrad would find her with their surfboards, they would surf until they couldn't remember what was bothering them in the first place.

Conrad smiled, walking towards the ocean as Serena followed behind him. Once they were done, they got back to the house, moods slightly lifted.

They all gathered at the dining room table, Conrad calling their dad. "Hey dad." Jeremeiah greeted. "Jeremiah? You're in cousins too?" He asked.

"Yeah, I just got in last night." Jeremiah explained. There, dad just sighed. "Guys, look, I've had my lawyers look into any possible loopholes right after the funeral, but there is none; the house is legally Julia's," he explained.

"Wait, so you've known we're losing the house since the funeral?" Jeremiah questioned betrayal evident in his tone.

"Look, Jere, I'm not your evil father trying to ruin your life, and believe it or not, I'm just as upset about it as you are," he defended.

"That's such bullshit." Conrad snarled. "You never cared about this house, dad. You never cared about it because you never cared about mom," he spat.

Serena looked towards Jeremiah, seeing his face shift into one of hurt. "You know that's not true. Look guys, Julia is going to go ahead with the open house tomorrow; you make sure she gets everything she needs." There dad spoke dimly.

"Conrad's right, there was no point in talking to you." Jeremiah spat, hanging up the phone. Serena sighed, trying to run the tiredness out of her eyes.

And just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, Steven barged in with Taylor in the tail. Serena noticed that she looked happier now since she saw her last two weeks after their breakup "Surprise!" Steven shouted, smiling.

His smile dropped when he saw the solemn look on their faces. "Oh shit, I knew we should have told them we were coming." He sighed.

"No, it's not that it's-." Conrad spoke, Jeremiah cutting him off. "We are losing the house."

"Oh Belly." Taylor spoke with a with a voice laced with concern. Belly got up and hugged the girl. Taylor then glanced at Serena, studying her expression, before looking away.

After everyone had greeted each other, Jeremiah excused himself outside. Serena noticed, glancing out the window, seeing him sitting at the dock.

She glanced over to Conrad, motioning towards the window. Conrad looked out and nodded his head in understanding.

He went outside after the boy. Serena hoped they could have a nice conversation and take a step further to healing.

That night, as everyone gathered downstairs, Serena had decided to stay in her room, not having the mental strength to be around everyone.