Daylight

6.- shopping.

The girls walked down the street,
"Hey, Tilly, is that a bruise?" Susannah questioned, inspecting her face worriedly.
Matilda lied, "I walked into someone." she shrugged.
"Walked into someone?" Laurel questioned, also looking worried.
"Uh, yeah." Matilda nodded, mustering a smile.
Unexpectedly, Belly nodded aswell, "yeah, I saw, some girl was tipsy and went straight into Matilda." she chuckled, feeling as if she sort of owed Matilda after what she said last night. Matilda felt shocked, not only half hour ago was she swooning over Conrad, evil eyeing Matilda, and now she was covering for her?
"Oh." Susannah shrugged, "alright." she smiled.
Belly changed the conversation, "hey, what about that shop?" she pointed.
Susannah nodded, following the two girls into the shop along with Laurel.

The girls all wondered round, looking at fancy clothes.
Susannah picked up two grandma looking blazers, in pink and purple, and held them up against Matilda and Belly. the two girls looked in the mirror, then at eachother and burst into laughter, causing Susannah and Laurel to laugh too.
"Suze!" Matilda laughed,
"What?" Susannah replied, smiling, loving the blazers.
"We look like literal grandmas!" Belly told her, chuckling.
"No!" Susannah argued, still smiling,
"Yes." Laurel responded, chuckling.
———

After trying on what felt a million white dresses, Belly dramatically collapsed onto the floor, after Matilda leant against the changing room door, sighing, out of breathe.

"You girls, you look like princesses!" Susannah gushed, smiling in awe.

"They look like tooth fairy's." Laurel raised a brow.

Matilda looked in the mirror, shifting uncomfortably, while Belly uncomfortably tugged at the sleeves of her dress.

"But Laur, looking at the detailing on Belly's, that beautiful lace on Matilda's! everyone's eyes will fall out of there heads when they see our girls."  Susannah said, dreamily.

The girls both smiled, flushed.

Laurel chucked, "I love you, but you're ridiculous."

"I love you so much, and I know I'm ridiculous." Susannah responded with a childish smile.

There were two dresses, hanging on the rack, that Matilda and Belly were both eyeing up. They were different to eachothers, but both had simple beauty.

"Hey, Suze, what about those?" Matilda questioned for the both of them, pointing to the dresses.

"No, they're far too simple honey."  Susannah responded, shaking her head.

Belly let out a sigh,

"But Beck, the dresses do seem far much more Matilda and Belly." Laurel pointed out,

"Laur, trust me, these girls go all out." Susannah told her pointedly.
———
Conrad floated on his surf board, staring endlessly into the ocean, without Matilda, he was purely surrounded by his thoughts.
His breathing hitched as he thought about his mom, and everything he knew. Conrad so badly wanted to tell Matilda, Jere, or even his mom that he knew, but he just couldn't. It would break Matilda, and Jere, and it would ruin his moms perfect summer if she knows he knows.

Everyone knows something is off with Conrad, ever since he found out, Matilda was straight on his back about his bad mood. He felt terrible, he had been lashing out at her, his mom, and Jere, and he didn't explain why. He felt like he was being swallowed up at the thought of his behaviour being so toxic , but he knows this is for the best. He would rather suffer with this alone, and let everyone else wonder about his mood swings then tear everyone apart for their last summer.

At first, Matilda noticed his strange behaviour months ago , as said, as soon as he found out really. Conrad doesn't know that Matilda secretly beats herself up about the fact she doesn't know what's wrong. She doubts herself as Conrad's partner, feeling as if she isn't good enough for him because she couldn't even figure out what's the cause of his such, sudden, strange behaviour . What Matilda doesn't know is that Conrad loves the fact she noticed straight away, and that she cares so much, but he sometimes wonder if she didn't care so much, maybe he wouldn't feel so guilty about not telling her what's going on.