back at the summer house, stella was sitting on the edge of the pool in her black bikini, talking to taylor and isabel. jeremiah, steven, and andy weren't that far away, talking about their own stuff.

taylor laughed and leaned in closer to the other girls. "conrad is going to lose his mind when he sees you in this bikini."

isabel's eyes flickered between taylor and stella. "taylor..."

stella shook her head and let out a quiet chuckle. "belly, i know about your little thing for connie. don't worry."

"oh," she replied simply. her eyes wandered around before saying, "wait, is it that obvious?"

"i don't think so," stella said, leaning back on her hands. "but that might just be because connie's kind of dumb-"

taylor was still on the topic of isabel's bikini. "but seriously, you look good, belly."

isabel's cheeks flushed a light shade of red. "no- no, i doubt it. i honestly think he couldn't care less."

"come on, belly." taylor rolled her eyes.

"no, seriously," isabel protested. "he didn't even get me a present this year."

stella sat up and put her hands on the edge of the pool. "wait what?"

she recalled the conversation that she had with conrad about the gift. she told him to give it to isabel. and he hadn't.

"yeah, he claimed he forgot," isabel explained then tilted her head at stella. "stel, you were there. why do you sound so surprised?"

"oh, uh, i just forgot or something," she lied terribly, pointing to her head.

"ugh, what a little bitch," taylor sneered, referring to conrad.

stella furrowed her eyebrows and agreed. "yeah."

not very far from the girls, the boys were not talking very subtly. the girls could hear their conversation from where they were sitting.

"i can't believe you went against my very sound advice and went and got booed up anyway," jeremiah said.

both of the girls rolled their eyes with a giggle, but stella kept her eyes on him. she was laughing with the girls, of course, but she was also interested on jeremiah's "sound advice".

"i guess," steven stammered, looking away from the other boys. "i mean, she's like the hottest girl i've ever met."

andy chuckled and put a hand on steven's shoulder. "dude, you just threw your summer away."

taylor played with her pony tail and smirked. "we know you're gossiping about us over there."

"yeah, you wish!" steven shouted back.

the two other boys started laughing to themselves but jeremiah didn't look away from stella, who was attempting to fill up a cup of water in her hands and drop it on isabel's head.

taylor gasped, making everybody look in her direction. "let's play chicken."

"no! not chicken!" isabel protested against the idea.

on the other hand, stella was all for the idea. "yes! oh my god, we have to."

she was already in the pool by now, getting herself warmed up. jeremiah was already subconsciously floating closer to her.

"oh, come on, it'll be hilarious." taylor stepped closer to the boys.

jeremiah pushed the other two boys away from the wall of the pool and splashed them. "hey, i'm down. come on, guys."

andy rolled his eyes. "fine," he pouted.

"as long as i'm not paired up with stel," steven said, making up an ultimatum. "she loses every time."

"dibs on jeremy," taylor giggled again with that same flirty laugh.

stella couldn't help but feel a little sick to her stomach when she would do that. 

isabel threw her hands up in the air. "oh, great. that means i'm stuck with steven."

"that isn't fair. are you kidding me? they're so much lighter," steven objected, referring to stella and taylor.

isabel scoffed, ignoring his protests. "oh, i'm sorry i'm so massive. i wouldn't want to break your delicate little shoulders."

"no, you're just taller than them is all. that's-" steven tried to explain, but isabel splashed him right in the face. "oh, come on!"

"you're such a complainer. let's just switch," taylor said, swimming away from jeremiah.

steven nodded happily. "fine! fine. okay. but stella's bad at chicken so i don't want her."

"hey!" stella laughed in response, sending another splash in his direction. "i'm great at chicken!"

jeremiah sent her a sarcastic look that said really? stella attempted to splash him too, but he lightly pushed her hands away. "if you're so great at chicken, then we'll be together. come on."

taylor was giggling while getting on steven's back. andy and isabel were trying to get up too. stella turned jeremiah around by his shoulders and counted down. "okay, wait. three, two, one..."

she climbed onto his shoulders and balanced while she was being lifted into the air. "you guys are going down," jeremiah boasted, locking eyes with steven then andy. "undefeated. undefeated."

stella laughed then noticed jeremiah struggling to his hair out of his face. she helped him by wiping the wet hair away from his eyes while still on his shoulders.

"no!" steven shouted, trying to keep taylor on his shoulders.

taylor scrunched her nose up. "ugh, steven! why are your shoulders so slippery?"

"uhh, maybe it's all that oil you slathered on your legs," he defended himself, still struggling to keep her up.

jeremiah smiled up at stella who was also laughing with her hands on top of his head.

"uhh, maybe if you had some hair on your chest, i wouldn't be sliding all over the place," taylor shot back, making a face at isabel and stella.

"okay, let's just go. let's just go," steven said in the midst of everyone else's laughter.

andy floated closer to the other two with isabel on his shoulders. jeremiah and steven did the same with stella and taylor.

"alright. three, two, one, go!" jeremiah counted quickly, hoping to get an advantage.

stella and isabel immediately went for a push. taylor and stella shared a mischevious glance before pushing isabel off andy's shoulders. stella and taylor were the only ones left in the air now.

"oh, snap!" jeremiah laughed, keeping his hands on stella's legs.

"taylor, i have to betray you," stella said dramatically, attempting to poke at her shoulder. "damn it! why won't you fall?"

the two girls laughed hysterically while trying to push each other off the boys' shoulders. stella started to gain an advantage while taylor was starting to become unstable in the air.

"oh my god!" steven shouted, starting to fall. jeremiah and stella were cheering louder and louder as the other team fell slowly.

steven and taylor had failed to beat stella and jeremiah. taylor floated back to the surface with a surprised expression. steven came out of the water with a similar expression on his face.

"oh yeah! give me some," jeremiah cheered, putting his hands up for her to grab.

taylor and steven were bickering about why they had lost. jeremiah and stella were not done celebrating just yet.

"still the champs! still! the! champs!" he bragged, returning his hands to her legs. stella hollered and rested her hands back on the top of his head.

they were interrupted when they heard a voice from behind them. "hey, guys!"

they all turned around and saw nicole and conrad walking in through the back gate. 

"hey, nicole," isabel greeted, almost sounding star struck.

stella smiled, still excited from her victory. "hey!" she said, dragging out the word.

"hi. happy birthday, belly," she said kindly, readjusting her bag over her shoulder. she raised an eyebrow and observed the scene in front of her. "are you guys playing... chicken?"

"hell yeah. me and j just won," stella announced proudly. she turned to steven with a cocky smirk. "who said i was bad at this? who said it?"

isabel was still staring at nicole. "it was- it was taylor's idea."

taylor introduced herself. "hey, i'm taylor."

nicole waved, finding taylor in the group of teenagers in the pool. "hi..."

"she's my best friend from home," isabel added, still smiling brightly at nicole.

"just visiting for the weekend," taylor said.

nicole tilted her head to the side. "oh. that's cute."

"yeah," isabel replied shyly.

the energy in the pool had gotten awkward from this conversation. stella was playing with the wet curls on jeremiah's head to cure her boredom.

isabel looked around at everyone in the group. "you guys want to play a real game?"

a chorus of agreement came from the crew. a sneaky smirk arose on jeremiah's face. "sounds good," he said before dumping stella into the water with him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

the group was now playing a game of volleyball in the pool. it was the girls versus the guys. to sum up the game so far, the girls were killing the guys. conrad and nicole had decided to dip their feet in and watch from the edge of the pool.

it was jeremiah's turn to serve and of course, it was great. as expected, steve slipped up, earning the girls another point.

"you're slipping, steven," taylor teased him.

the boy held the ball in his hand. "yeah? okay, now it's on."

the bickering went back and forth before he served it back to the other side. after a few good hits, stella hit the ball directly at steven. he couldn't get it back over the net. that was another point for the girls.

"aw, we messed up," jeremiah laughed loudly. it was just a game anyways.

after a few more serves, the boys had finally scored their first point in a while. they celebrated, making the girls roll their eyes.

stella scoffed and pointed to an imaginary scoreboard. "okay, scoreboard! scoreboard!" she laughed, reminding them of who's winning.

the score had pretty much evened out by now. surprisingly. it was taylor's turn to serve. 

she spun the ball in her hands, preparing for one of her good serves. "i don't think you're ready," she smirked.

andy rolled his shoulders back, preparing for the ball to come flying over the net. "come on."

taylor hit the ball powerfully, but it went completely out of bounds. stella watched the ball go flying right into nicole's head.

nicole held her forehead, right where the ball had hit her. "ow!"

taylor and stella stifled their laughs. "oh my god," stella chuckled.

stella hid her face in taylor's shoulder while she apologized. "oh my god. i'm so sorry," she said between giggles. "i didn't..."

isabel was embarrassed. really embarrassed. "taylor," she said sternly.

that was a vibe kill, stella thought, referring to isabel's reaction.

taylor's and stella's smiles slowly disappeared. "it was an accident," taylor said guiltily.

isabel shook her head annoyedly. "i'm so sorry. are you okay?" she asked nicole who just shook her head. 

"yeah, no, i'm- i'm- i'm totally fine," she insisted. "y- you guys keep playing."

conrad's face and voice were monotonous. "let me see it. let's go inside. i'll get you some ice," he said, almost glaring at the girls.

jesus, where did that come from? stella thought.

her and jeremiah shared a look of awkwardness and confusion then shrugged. whatever.

"conrad, it's okay," nicole said calmly.

isabel was still being a suck up to her. "i'm so, so sorry again, nicole. feel better, okay?"

"yeah," nicole replied.

isabel looked up at her still. "yeah?"

stella glanced at taylor who felt really shitty about this whole thing. she sighed knowing that she would feel shitty too if her best friend was obsessed with another random girl that she'd never met.

"come on, belly," taylor said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "conrad can take care of nicole. let's go inside and look at ourselves in the mirror some more."

it was silent among the group for a moment. "yeah, have fun with that," conrad said before leaving to help nicole.

stella looked between the two girls. alright, did i miss a chapter? she thought.

the boys were starting to get out of the pool. stella was debating between going with the girls or hanging out with jeremiah, who was waiting for her to go inside with him.

"hey, stel. you coming?" taylor called to her.

stella looked between her and the boy. "uhh... actually, no. i'll catch you guys later, yeah?" she replied, trying not to sound too mean.

"okay, we're going on a walk on the beach," taylor informed her before leaving with isabel. "make sure to invite your mystery guy to dinner tonight!"

stella nodded, giving her a thumbs up. she made her way towards jeremiah who was waiting with a smile. 

"i was thinking fro-yo," he said, the minute that she approached him. "even though dinner's in, like, three hours."

"no, yeah, i'm down," stella agreed, grabbing her phone and towel. "let me change before we go."

jeremiah nodded and let her go inside. on the way to her room, stella took out her phone and went to messages.

i mean, what's the harm in inviting him? she thought, referring to daniel. is there harm?

she decided that there wasn't much harm in inviting daniel to the dinner tonight, so she did.

she heard jeremiah's voice from down the hall. "stel, you ready?"

not even close, she thought before tossing her phone down on her bed.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

okay, i'm working on making chapters longer so how was this? also was this boring? pls let me know :)

pls vote, comment, etc. THANK YOUU
i love everybody's comments <3 as long as they're nice lmfaoo

if you guys have any ideas, PLEASE comment them down below :))

[ unedited ]