𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊: 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓
𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄
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❨2021❩

"this was a bad idea. maybe i should just go home," belly stopped walking abruptly as she began to worry once they arrived on the beach.

"you'll be fine, i promise," willow assured her, linking her hand with the nervous girl's as she began to walk through the sand and towards the rest of the teenagers.

though, they didn't get far before a guy that looked much older than both of the girl's approached them, recognising belly as 'gas station girl' which led willow to believe they had met before. he offered belly a drink but willow quickly pushed his hand away. "she's good, thanks," willow sent him a less than friendly look as she declined on belly's behalf only for the boy to offer it to her instead which, again, she rejected.

"so, uh... you got a boyfriend back home?" the boy asked, eying belly as if she were prey and getting very close to her which was clearly making her uncomfortable.

"okay, you need to leave," willow tugged belly behind her a little as the boy continued to come closer.

"who even are you?" the guy said in a rather threatening manner, standing at least half a foot over her as he talked.

"someone who's gonna beat your ass if you don't back the hell up," the hot-headed blonde didn't back down as belly stood uneasily behind her, looking around as if to search for help or to see if anyone had noticed the scene that was starting. "she's fifteen. go hit on someone your own age," willow added.

upon realising belly's age, the guy quickly backed off. "my bad," he said without much remorse at all as he began to walk away. belly quietly thanked her for her help before someone called her name.

"belly?" a voice asked which, after turning towards the person, the girl's realised belonged to steven who was accompanied by a short brunette girl that willow recognised from last summer. "what are you doing here? and, i- i'm sorry. what are you wearing?" steven asked as he approached the pair, shocked and annoyed to see his sister here and in the outfit she was in.

"don't get mad. i invited her and she just borrowed some of my clothes," willow answered for belly knowing he was less likely to get mad if it wasn't his sister's idea. "shayla, hey! how are you?" willow turned to the girl who she became friends with last summer.

"i'm great! it's good to see you again, willow," shayla responded with a polite smile. willow was about to reply but got distracted when steven grabbed belly's arm and pulled him with her despite belly trying to break free of his grip and asking him to let her go.

"steven, she's fine. let her go," willow tried to stop the argument between the siblings as it escalated as did shayla. the conklins threw insults at each other as they claimed the other was embarrassing them until belly tried to pull away from steven's grip one last time only to find herself falling onto the sand, coincidentally, right in front of conrad who was making out with a girl neither belly nor willow recognised.

"bels, are you okay?" willow asked but she was now more focused on conrad. it clearly hurt belly to see conrad with another girl and she was quick to send him a snide remark about conrad hating the red sox despite the girl wearing a red sox hat.

the attention of many bystanders was drawn to them as belly continued to take out her frustration on conrad. after belly asked who the girl was, she introduced herself as nicole which immediately made willow realise who she was. "conrad and i went to the deb ball together last summer," nicole explained.

"i thought you said that deb balls are bullshit, and all debs are sheep," belly reminded conrad of his comment earlier when the topic of belly and willow being debutantes came up at dinner.

"okay, belly. let's go," willow tried to tug her away as conrad called her a brat, knowing that she wasn't going to back down.

"well, you're an asshole," belly snapped back, ignoring willow. jeremiah then caught sight of the two girl's and ran over, seeming much more excited than anyone else was to see belly here.

"belly, you came!" jeremiah exclaimed, not noticing the obvious tension between everyone as he continued on to say, "great! we can all hang out, you guys!"

"i'm about to take her home," steven said which confused jeremiah.

"steven, seriously?" willow rolled her eyes at belly's overprotective brother.

"yeah, we're leaving. are you kidding me?" steven was clearly pissed at willow's choice to bring her in the first place.

"hey, steven, chill out. go hang out with shayla or something," jeremiah told him which willow mentally thanked him for as shayla urged steven to go with her. steven reluctantly agreed but not without sending her a warning and demanding that she didn't talk to anyone. "okay, all right, chill," jeremiah said with an airy laugh as steven and shayla walked away.

as he left, belly turned around to him and shouted, "fuck you!" earning some cheers from teenagers watching the scene.

"okay, i'm getting a drink. jere, can you stay with her?" willow asked and the boy nodded, starting up conversation with the brunette as the blonde wondered off in search of a drink. conrad saw her walk off and quickly stood up to follow her. it wasn't until he was right next to her that willow realised conrad was there.

"why did you bring her here?" conrad asked, clearly referring to belly as they walked side by side now.

"she's not a kid, connie. you and steven still treat her like she's twelve but she's grown up and she can do whatever she wants without either of your permission," willow replied as conrad offered her one of the beers he had bought earlier that day which she gratefully accepted.

"well, she acts like she's twelve. i don't know why she has such a problem with me today," conrad scoffed as he opened his own beer and took a sip of the alcohol.

"because you've been an ass all day and she likes you. the last thing she wants to see is your tongue down some random girl's throat," willow reminded him. she had told him plenty of times about the girl's crush in hopes that he might one day reciprocate it knowing how badly belly wanted him to which belly would kill her for if she knew but each time he just brushes the topic off.

"i haven't been an ass and i can kiss whoever i want. besides, i didn't even know she was gonna be here tonight," conrad responded as they continued to walk along the beach away from all the noise, ignoring the loud chatter of teenagers behind them.

"please, you have been the biggest ass ever today and if i weren't such an amazing friend, i'd probably be mad at you right now," willow replied with a hint of playfulness and sass in her tone which made conrad roll his eyes.

"and you've been really annoying today," conrad retaliated but willow knew that he was just pissed off that she was right.

willow ignored the insult and instead asked, "how much have you had to drink? you smell like a distillery." willow cringed as her nostrils burned from the smell of cheap beer. the same cheap beer she had just downed a bottle of herself while they were walking but conrad must have had to drink a lot of them to smell this strongly of the beverage.

"i do not. i'm barely drunk," conrad slurred which only further suggested that he was in fact very drunk and he had never been one to drink excessively in the past.

"your inability to walk in a straight line says otherwise," willow pointed out. "ease up on the beers, connie," willow suggested.

"your one to talk," conrad quickly shut down her suggestion and turned around, walking back towards the bonfire leaving the girl a fair distance behind him growing tired of her judgement though it wasn't at all her intention to belittle him, she was just concerned. he wasn't wrong though, usually the positions were reversed. willow was typically the drunken idiot and conrad would be trying to talk her down.

"conrad!" willow shouted after him but he ignored her and walked over to a group of other drunk teenagers. "douche," she muttered under her breathe, walking back in the same direction except now she was heading off in search of belly, figuring she had left her alone long enough especially since she could see jeremiah flirting with a girl near the water so he clearly had left belly despite willow's request earlier.

willow searched for a little while and the longer she couldn't find her, the more worried she became but that worry settled when she saw belly sitting in the sand next to a boy she hadn't seen before. she was smiling and seemed to be happy so willow decided against going over and interrupting but even if she wanted to, her attention was quickly pulled away and over two guys yelling at each other, one of which she realised was conrad.

willow rushed over as they began pushing each other around. it took a minute but, after getting a closer look, she recognised the other guy to be the same guy she was arguing with earlier because he was hitting on belly. "what the hell is going on?" willow asked them.

"he's trying to take my beer," conrad responded, his eyes remaining fixed on the guy stirring up trouble in front of him.

"just let him have it, conrad. we'll get another beer," willow said but she was ignored as the fight between the two got even more intense. conrad nearly stumbled backwards into the sand after earning a forceful shove from the boy across from him. which not only angered conrad but willow too.

"hey! i've already told you once today, back the hell off of my friends!" willow confronted the much older guy who just laughed in response, not taking her seriously at all.

"or what?" the guy challenged and as much as willow wanted to punch him right in his smug face, she turned around and gripped onto conrad's arm, tugging him away.

"he's not worth it, come on," willow told conrad and he reluctantly listened, letting go of the beer bottle and allowing the blonde lead him away from the scene but when he heard the guy's voice again, he stopped, clenching his jaw.

"go ahead and walk away, coward," he taunted causing conrad to quickly turn back around and send the boy stumbling backwards from an aggressive shove which led to a bunch of people crowding around the group of teenagers, curious as to what all the commotion was.

"connie, stop!" willow shouted as the two pushed each other around just as belly ran up to the scene and, in an attempt to stop the fight, ran straight up behind the two boys. upon noticing her there, willow called out, "belly, be careful," worried that the naive girl was gonna accidentally find herself in the middle of the fight and get hurt which is exactly what happened when the older guy's elbow came backwards and made contact with belly's face sending the brunette onto the ground with a thud.

"belly!" willow rushed over to the girl, kneeling down to wipe the hair out of her face and check to make sure she was fine. "are you okay?" willow asked, concerned as she could already see the inflamed area that was hit.

"yeah, i think so," the girl replied groggily as she reached up to touch her face, wincing as she did.

"guys!" jeremiah caught sight of the fight and rushed over, trying to break the boys up which was when willow stood up and turned back around, now pissed off that belly had got hurt.

"what the fuck is your problem?" willow yelled as she walked towards the boy who was now standing on his own since jeremiah had managed to hold conrad back.

"willow! willow, no!" jeremiah let go of his brother and tried to grab onto the fired up blonde, knowing that she would not likely walk away as easily as conrad. it wasn't a rare occurrence for her to get into brawls and it was very unlikely that everyone would walk away okay afterward when she did happen to find herself in such a situation. jeremiah failed to restrain the girl as she sent a punch directly into the side of the guy's face. "shit," jeremiah muttered.

"fuck off, bitch!" he shouted back and, with size, age and strength on his side, gripped onto her forearms, throwing her backwards onto the hard sand. willow's head hit the ground but her hands that she used to try and break her fall got most of the impact. jeremiah rushed to her side to make sure she was okay.

"willow!" conrad shouted, his eyes wide with shock as he watched everything unfold. willow pushed herself up off the ground a little so she was sitting as jere inspected her face for any cuts or bruises. her head was spinning from the fall but, after a few seconds of dizziness, her vision focused again.

"you good, danvers?" jeremiah asked though he could tell that she was a little disorientated by her delayed answer.

"yeah, yeah, i'm fine," willow dismissed him but he stayed by her side anyway.

the minute conrad could see that willow was okay, his concern and worry for the girl almost instantly turned into anger which, mixed with the amount of alcohol he had consumed that night, caused him to head straight towards the guy, throwing a string of punches at him until he was on the ground. the two boys hit each other leaving each other bloodied and bruised while drunk teenagers cheered them on.

"crap," jeremiah muttered as the boys launched themselves at each other over and over again but it was much more violent than last time so he knew better than to try insert himself in the middle of that.

"conrad, stop it!" willow shouted from the sand. conrad then managed to pin the boy to the ground, punching him repeatedly in the face which was sure to leave a mark and likely a broken nose as well. "he's had enough!" willow added, now becoming scared about his lack of control over his own anger after a few too many beers.

before the fight could escalate too much more, flashing lights and sirens approached as a cop car drove up the beach towards the bonfire. "cops!" teenagers started to yell and run in a million different directions now less focused on the fight but, while everyone else's self preservation instincts seemed to kick in, the two boys were too enthralled by hurting each other to notice the two officers get out of the squad car and approach them.

"shit! come on, we gotta go," jeremiah said as he helped willow off the ground but once willow was standing, she pushed him away.

"no," willow shook her head as jeremiah tried to lead them away from the scene. "just get belly and get her out of here, jere. i can't leave," willow told him. she didn't want to leave conrad behind and jeremiah knew that. "please," she added and the younger boy hesitantly agreed with a small nod and headed over to where the boy willow saw belly with earlier was helping her up.

after seeing jeremiah get belly off the beach and take her towards where she assumed he had parked the car when they arrived, she let out a relieved sigh before turning back to conrad who was now being yelled at by cops. "conrad, please stop!" willow pleaded for him to cooperate with the police before he got into even more trouble than he was already going to be in.

"break it up!" the taller officer shouted as the other ripped conrad off the beaten boy, restraining him tightly and before she knew it, willow was being loaded into the back of a cop car next to conrad.

𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎
𝐋𝐈𝐕 <𝟑
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i'm so so sorry i haven't been active lately. i know it's been forever since i updated any of my fics but i will try to write more often so i can get chapters out to you faster!

anyway i did warn you last chapter that this one was gonna be hectic so you're welcome.

i wrote this entire chapter in one sitting which is so strange for me but i'm slowly getting my motivation back which is good!

that's all i guess. i hope you like this chapter <3

❨12.10.2022❩
© livsluvrs