The Summer We Turned Pretty

Chapter 7: Bonfire

Deli's POV:

When Belly and I reach the sight of the bonfire I can automatically tell Belly is plotting Taylor's murder. While my dress is more casual and fits with everyone else, Belly's dress is short and tight and more dressy. "I'm gonna kill Taylor." She grumbles I chuckle at her discomfort. 

"Don't worry about it. Just, I don't know, own it. You look amazing." I remind her. "Delilah!" I hear a voice call. I turn and smile when I see Kai approaching me. "I was starting to think you stood me up." He jokes, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and nodding a 'hi' to Belly. 

"Oh, Belly, this is Kai, Kai, this is my sister Belly." I introduce. She gives him a small smile. "Hi." "Sup. Mind if I steal her away for a little bit?" He asks Belly. This time she fully grins. "Go for it. I'll see you later Lynn." 

I nod and together, Kai and I leave her as I hear another boy call out 'gas station girl'. Must be the other cashier. "I've got to introduce you to my friends. Don't worry, they're totally cool." He assures. I chuckle. "Well I hope so. It'd be a bit awkward if they weren't." He grins at this.

"So, Lynn? Did you give me a fake name just in case you decided to ghost me?" I laugh. "Oh, God no. Lynn's my middle name." "Delilah Lynn..." "Montgomery." I finish as we reach a group of four people. 

"Well, Delilah Lynn Montgomery, meet my crew. Guys, this is Delilah, Delilah meet Brookes Morrison, Camille Jackson, Hazel Timmons, and Sawyer Grey. Guys, this is the girl I've been telling you about." He finishes. 

"No shit. You haven't shut up about this girl." Brookes snorts out in laughter. "He's right Kai. Seriously Delilah, you've never met anyone who could talk about you after meeting you for ten seconds like Kai has." Camille teases. I see Kai's face turn red. 

I chuckle, and turn to the flustered boy. "Awe, that's sweet, glad to know I'm that memorable." I joke. The others laugh with me. Kai goes to say something, but commotion behind us causes us all to turn towards where the actual bonfire is. I notice Belly trip and fall backwards. 

I cringe at how everyone is looking at her. "Isn't that your sister?" Kai asks. "Yeah. Hold on a second. I'll be right back." I say. They all nod and I rush to where Belly is, as she is currently back on her feet and looking down at Conrad and some random girl while standing next to Steven. 

When I get closer the others see me. "You too Deli? Did she drag you here as well?" Steven asks, angry. I narrow my eyes at him. "Uh, no. I was invited here by someone. What the hell is going on?" I ask, crossing my arms. That's when Jere approaches us in a jog. 

"Belly! Deli! You both came! Great, we can all hang out, you guys." He grins, throwing an arm around my shoulder. "I'm about to take her home." Steven says. "What?" "Yeah, we're leaving. Are you kidding me?" He snaps, going to grab Belly's arm. She jerks it away. 

"Ok, Steven, chill out. Come on." Jere intervenes, taking his arm away and moving Steven away from Belly. Belly steps back towards me, arms crossed over her chest. "Go, go hang out with Shayla or something." Jere redirects. 

"Let's go." The girl behind Steven, Shayla I assume, mutters to her. He sighs. "Fine. But just stay right here and don't talk to anybody." He instructs. I roll my eyes. "Ok, alright. Chill." Jere intervenes. As Steven walks away Belly turns to him, flipping him off. "FUCK YOU!" She yells. 

"Wow. Listen, both of you." Jere says, turning both of us around and placing a hand on both our shoulders. "For one, I'm really happy you're both here-" "Delilah! Come on!" I hear Kai yell. I turn to see him and his friends gesturing me over. 

"Who are they?" Jere asks, his grin turning to a questioning look. "Oh, just some people I met. I gotta go. Come get me if you need me Bells, I'll be right over there." I say. She nods and I walk back over to the group of five. "What the hell was that?" Hazel asks. 

"Oh, nothing. My brother is just really protective of both me and my sister and his time away from us. He'll get over it." I say, shrugging. "Wow, was that other guy your brother too?" Sawyer asks me. I shake my head. 

"No, that's Jeremiah. Him and his brother Conrad are our moms' best friend's children. We stay at their house here in Cousins every summer." "That's so cool. Come on, sit down. You look so stiff standing there." Kai tases. I laugh and take a seat between him and Camille. 

"So, you have anything planned for this summer Delilah?" Camille asks me. I shrug slightly. "Uh, the best friend I was talking about? Well she got both me and my sister invitations to be debutantes this summer, but I don't know if I'm gonna do it. It's a little out of my comfort zone." 

"Wait really? I was a debutante last season. It was amazing, plus, I was able to meet people who helped get me gigs." Camille says, shrugging. My eyes widen. "Gigs? You play?" I ask, completely shocked. 

"We all do. We actually play together as a band during summer. Why, do you?" Brookes asks. I nod. "Yeah. I write too and I play gigs around where I'm from on top of giving lessons to little kids." Kai beams at me. "Dude, you should totally play for us sometime."

The others quickly follow with a chorus of varying agreements. "Yeah, sure. Ok. I've been working on a few songs lately that I would love feed back on." I say, shrugging. "Well then you met the right person. Kai here writes all of our songs for us. He's amazing." Hazel tells me. 

I look at him. "Really?" "Yeah, totally-" Before he can say anything else the sound of arguing fills the air. My eyes widen when I notice that it's Conrad and some other guy. I think it's the cashier that invited Belly. 

"Shit, Jumper's a dick." Kai mutters, running a hand through his already messy hair. I sigh. "Yeah, but recently, so is my best friend. I gotta go." I mutter, standing. "Delilah, wait!" Kai calls after me as I stand and rush over to the two fighting. 

They start shoving each other and I see Belly behind Jumper, trying to push the two apart. Suddenly, Jumper's elbow flies backwards, sending Belly to the ground. "Belly!" I call rushing to her side. I kneel beside her and another boy who I don't know kneels on her other side. 

"Are you ok?" He asks. "Bells you good?" I ask as a full on fight breaks out behind us. Jeremiah is now trying break them up and Steve is getting closer to them. Suddenly, sirens fill the air and flashing lights flood the beach. My eyes widen. "Crap." I mutter as someone yells, "COP!" 

Kai is now at my side. "Come on, we gotta get outta here!" He  says, hauling me to my feet and dragging me away from the flashing lights towards where the others re beckoning us to hurry up. Once we reach them we all take off running.