The Summer My Sister Turned Pretty

Chapter 1: Summerbreak

"We're leaving in the next 5 minutes!" my mother yells from down the hall.

I can't help but smile to myself. It was almost time. In a few hours I'd be in Cousins Beach.

Home.

I hear my older sister Belly giggling with her best friend Taylor about something from the room next to mine. All of my clothes are already together, I last minute packed the night before while binging He's Just Not That Into You. All I had left to do was to gather simple last minute things like my toothbrush. If we didn't leave soon mom would get stressed and today was too good of a day to be ruined by small things.

"Hey, I'm running things to the car is there anything you want me to take?"

I turn my head to see my older brother, Steven, at my doorway. He's carrying one book bag slung over his shoulder with a charger and his cell phone in his hand.

"Just that, please," I reply pointing to my yellow suitcase.

He doesn't respond, only takes the suitcase and heads to the car. I scan my room one more time. There's nothing I'm forgetting, right?

My eyes land on an old picture from Cousins.

It's the five of us lined up in the summer house pool- Conrad, Steven, Belly, Jeremiah, and Me. We're all soaking wet and sunburnt from the beach with big smiles plastered on our faces, none of us over the age of eleven. Steven stands on the very right looking next to him at Connie as the two boys laugh. Belly, of course, is on the other side of Conrad with her goggles lopsided at the top of her head as she admires him. I stand to the left of Belly smiling up at the opposite brother, Jeremiah, who stares down at me with the exact same look.

It's perfect. We're perfect.

I smile once again to myself before grabbing my phone and the last of my bags to put in the car. Then I say a final goodbye to my room before heading out the door.

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      A little over an hour into the trip and I catch myself looking out the window again. The road signs fly past me as Steven drives. Mom is asleep in the front seat and Belly is in the back next to me humming along to music playing on the radio. A quiet sigh escapes my mouth as I shut my book and slide it into my tote bag sitting at my feet. There really is no point in trying to read. I'm too excited. I've always loved this drive.

      Here's the thing about the beach- I've been going there my whole life. The summer house we visit every year belongs to my mother's life long best friend, Susannah. Mom went there with her even when she was young. Most kids would hate leaving their friends for the summer, but I don't really mind. It's all I've ever known. Beach sunsets. Surfing. My epic sea shell collection. Bonfires. Giant brownie ice cream cones covered in chocolate sprinkles from the local ice cream shop.

      There's a lot of great things that come with Cousins, but the boys are my favorite.

      Well, more like a boy.

      Susannah has two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. We've grown up together our whole lives. When the Fisher boys are brought up everyone always thinks of the oldest. Conrad Fisher- football superstar, handsome, mysterious, smart- but he's not the boy. He's Belly's. She's been in love with him for as long as I can remember. Maybe I never saw what she sees in him because of how far apart in age him and I are, or maybe I just never cared to see. Either way Conrad was never even considered when it came to boys for me, but Jere was.

      Jeremiah Fisher is so much more.

   Like Conrad, he loves football, but it's not what he's known for. No, Jere isn't known for the things he does, but rather the person he is. Kind, personable, funny, and always there when you need him. It's like he has a special gift of brightening up any room. He's unapologetically himself, never embarrassed. That's what I love about him.