Strangers ~ Conrad Fisher

ten

TW: mention of self harm scars.

A few days had passed since Conrad and I's fight. It was belly's birthday. We were all down stairs eating breakfast when she walked in.

"Good morning everyone." She spoke.

"Happy birthday!" Everyone said in sync.

Everyone gave belly her gifts and Conrad left to go help some writer, Cleveland, on his boat.

"Hey you guys wanna go hang out in the pool?" Belly asked us.

"Uh yeah! Anything for the birthday girl." Jere said.

Jere and Steven headed up stairs to get changed. I did the same.

I heard a knock at the door. I thought it was belly, but when I opened the door Susannah was standing there with a smile on her face.

"Can I come in?" She asked. I opened the door and walked towards my bed. "So I know that the first deb experience wasn't what we hoped for, but I really want you to be there to watch your sister. You might enjoy it."

"Susannah, you know what happened last time I was in that room. I'm not sure if I can go back and see all the girls. They probably wouldn't want me there anyway."

"I know, and I never expected that to happen and if I did, I wouldn't have asked you to do it in the first place. But this year could be different. All you'll have to do is show up and watch your sister."

"I'm sorry I'm not sure." I said.

"You don't have too, I just really want you to be there." She said.

"I'll think about it, okay. But I can't promise you that I'll say yes."

She nodded and left.

I got into my dresser and searched for a swimsuit. I found a bikini that I bought a few years ago, hoping to one day fit into it.

I tried it on, and to say that I've never felt this feeling before in a swimsuit. I felt pretty, confident. After all, I had lost a bunch of weight last year. I looked in the mirror and saw the scratch like scars on my thighs. They were sort of faded, but if you looked close enough they were still there.

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I walked downstairs and got in the pool. Soon after everyone else joined.

"Let's play chicken." Belly said.

"Fine but I'm with you, I don't want Vic on my shoulders." Steven said.

"Wow, sorry I'm so massive Steven." I said laughing.

"He's just not strong enough to carry a fine women like yourself." Jere said.

"Are you sure jere?" i asked concerned.

He gave me a soft smile, "of course."

Belly got on stevens shoulders and I got on jeres. We started to play and we were winning. We were laughing so hard I could barely push belly anymore. Finally, I took one last push at belly and she fell backwards causing Steven to fall too.

Jere and I started cheering while the other two were arguing.

"Are you guys playing chicken?" A voice asked.

We turned towards the house to see Nicole and Conrad standing by the pool.

"Um yeah it was belly's idea." I said.

She nodded. Giving a look to Conrad.

Time went by and we decided to play volleyball, jere and Steven against belly and I.

We were totally dominating. It was belly's serve. She raised it up and went to hit it, but instead of going over the net, it found it's way over to Nicole, hitting her in the head.

She gasped. She put her hands to her head and started to groan.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." She said.

"Here let's go inside, I'll go get you some ice." Conrad offered.

They got up and started walking inside.

"Conrad will take care of Nicole. Come on V, let's go look at ourselves in the mirror some more." Belly spat.

Conrad stopped and looked at me. Obviously I told belly what he said. She was my sister, she'd always have my back.

"Yeah, have fun with that." He said unimpressed.