Debby eventually did her side of the work, staying back at the beach until late evening to finish up all the filing, all the teens working at the beach were going to be relieved of their jobs as school starts again and would only work part time doing whatever jobs they wanted to or none at all, Debby was one of the students who wouldn't be working anymore now that she would have school to focus on. Being the new girl of course making things more complex than it should be.
   
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"Hey Debs, ready for level up 101" L greeted Debby as she entered the beach office, "can't believe it's our last day working on the beach already" she added "you don't want to spend the last two weeks of summer working here, now do you? You of all people have got a lot planned out" Mandy said smiling, joining in the conversation "you girls are lucky, I'll still be here for a while until my college resumes again and that's like in 2 months" she added "you're absolutely right, you know me so well already" the other girl smiled amused. "Cleared all your stuff out?" Debby asked Lilian, "yeah I have" she replied, "where's everyone by the way Phil, Steve and Sandy? even Ezra? You think all the lockers are cleared out by now?" she asked again referring to the rest of the beach staff that were mostly students at waterway, "they'd be here soon, everyone's clearing out today don't worry I'll make sure of it and then you girls don't forget about the party this Friday, let's kick off the end of summer with a blast, you know how it is Lilian" Mandy reminded the girls about the beach party, apparently the same one Ezra had invited Debby to.

"It's finally all over, now we could just chill, by the way I haven't seen Ezra all day while we'd been clearing out lockers and stuff, heard anything from him?" Lilian asked Debby as they lounged on beach chairs finally done working for the summer, "I don't know where he's been, pretty weird that I don't even have his number but asides that well I gotta tell you something" Debby said blushing furiously at the end of her statement and scratching her head in nervousness "what?" L asked "well Ezra sort of asked me out" "no flipping way! Ezra what" a shocked Lilian sputtered out the pina colada she was sipping on, "he did nottttt" she said still surprised "when did you both ever get so close? He's asking you out already!" Debby just blushed in answer, getting uncomfortable with Lilian's reactions, she sipped from her own mocktail to avoid Lilian's scrutiny.

"Wellll, spill Debs!" Lilian urged dragging the Ls in the word wellll "okay okay, it was the day before yesterday I think, before we met up at the slushies cafe to talk about the whole school and bullying thing" she said shyly "woahhh, it's been that long and you're just saying, reallyyyy" Debby just chuckled slightly embarrassed and continued "well he asked me to go to the beach party this Friday" "well we are all going to that" Lilian mused "but it's super cool that Ezra asked you, I mean he's like one of the most eligible around here, you knowwww" she added wiggling her brows for emphasis "except there's one problem" she said seriously and Debby asked slightly alarmed "what's it?" She questioned "Ezra used to date your sister".

Now that was a shocker, Debby went into a rippling coughing torrent, she literally choked on the mocktail, most likely went in the wrong hole cause girl was tripping and spilling her mojito on the sand. "What do you mean he used to date my sister? How am I just knowing that the guy I've been sharing an office space with dated my sister! shit so why is he asking me out for any reason if he dated Dorothy?!" Her reaction was quite alarming and Lilian found it a little bit amusing

"How do you not know girl, everyone knows" she asked rhetorically looking at her friend oddly "well have you forgotten? I'm the new girl in town, I practically don't know anything about all of you" Debby said exasperated from what she just learnt "that certainly needs to change but first what are you going to do about your date with Ezra?" Lilian asked "of course I'll have to not go on any date with him, why would he even keep that away from me and act like it's all okay" Debby wondered aloud "pfffttt..." Lilian scoffed "you can't not go out with him simply because he dated Dora, rumor is she didn't really like him and stuff so he broke up".

"I don't care what rumor is, anything that's Dora's, I really don't want it besides I don't even like Ezra so it's pretty okay to just ditch" I said "isn't this like the first date you'd ever be on Debby? Here's what I think you should do, give this first one a try, if it sucks then fuck Ezra besides it's not exactly a date date, I mean it's not intimate, it's a beach party that's gonna have all of us there too so there's really nothing to be worried about if you ask me" Lilian pressed "that's the problem, I'm actually asking you" Debby said as a joke and chuckled after "that's right, you're asking me, anyhoo the gang will be here soon ..." "you mean your gang" Debby interrupted "for me, my gang is just you" she finished "yen yen yen, you'll love my friends soon and they'll be your gang in no time" Lilian said with her tongue stuck out "we should get to planning this level up version of us
before they arrive" she added.

"So what's it gonna be like?" Debby quizzed "here what I think you need to do, let's create a bucket list of the coolest, most amazing things you've always wanted to do but you know because you've led the most boring life ever known to man, you've been unable to live through these things and then our goal for the two weeks we have would be to do them! While at it you'd gain confidence without even realizing it and hopefully maybe fall in love or something like that, like in the movies" Lilian explained her brilliant plan that had Debby left with her mouth open "you gotta be kidding me L, that's been your awesome plan all this while?" She asked dumbfounded by the lack of planning put into Lilian's plan "well" Lilian chuckled nervously

"The bucket list is the main thing, if you're bold enough to actually accomplish this list we'd create then you'd be confident enough to be you and do you and also repel the fucking bullies and that's how we'll get your life on track Debs but first of, we definitely would do a wardrobe change, so we're going shopping when they get here" Lilian finished assessing Debby's outfit from head to toe, she was wearing a large rock band Tee and some blue washed denim jean shorts, if she needed to get in control of course she'd need to grab more attention to herself by showing off how sexy it could be to be big, this is what Lilian thought.

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1. Skinny Dipping []
2. Get a boyfriend  []
3. Break his heart []
4. Fuck an ex []
5. Shoplift []
6. Get Instagram []
7. Do weed []
8. Attend parties  []
9. Makeup  []
10. Jump off a cliff  []
11. Go clubbing []
12. Throw a party  []
13. Attend a beach party in lingerie []
14. Fight a bully []
15. Start your own fan club []
16. Run for any office in school: prom queen, class president, club president, whatever really []
17. Get wild!

This was the list that Lilian presented to Debby while they lounged and waited for Lilian's friends to arrive so they could go shopping, "are you almost done writing your list L?" Debby groaned getting restless from waiting "chill, I writing the last thing, actually I think I am out of ideas so here just take it and read through it" Lilian said handing the paper over to Debby "wait let me take a picture so I could over it with you just in case your jaws drop" she said sarcastically and took a picture before handing it over to Debby

"Alright, let's see what you have in your head" Debby said as she perused the list and boy was Lilian right, her jaws dropped from the first item "skinny dipping? You want me to go skinny dipping? You know I would never show off my body just like that let alone go skinny dipping, are you out of your mind girl?" Looking at Debby smugly, Lilian replied "you may not know it yet Debs but skinny dipping is an important exercise that shows how comfortable you are with yourself, I mean if other people comfortably skinny dip with their flaws, why can't you, it isn't because you want to show off nudity, nahhh, don't get me wrong of course that happens but the aim here is to be sure you're comfortable in your skin girl, just like the name says skinny dipping, besides it doesn't mean it's the first thing you have to do.

The list is just in a very random order, once you're comfortable enough we could do that but you've got to do it to make sure you've passed the stage and in 2weeks" she explained to Debby who looked only half convinced and was still going through the list, "how am I supposed to magically get a boyfriend in 2weeks? Something I haven't done all my life and not just that but break up with him and even fuck my ex after, Lilian! What is this list!" Debby asks alarmed as hell.

"It's what we are gonna call revenge body but in this case you're not changing your body, you're embracing it and doing everything cliche" she said with a small smug smile "how do I know you again?" Debby asks clearly shocked at the outrageous list Lilian expects her to complete in 2 weeks "you actually want me to steal? You gotta be kidding?" She asks again "don't worry it wouldn't be so hard and just one time would be enough ti tick that off the list, everybody has at least shoplifted at some point in their life but of course you haven't" Lilian points out "well I guess it's not too late for social media" Debby said referring to the Instagram on the list "of course it's not late" came her friend's reply.

"I can do parties, I mean if I'm trying to get comfortable it makes a lot of sense and makeup too but what the hell is weed on this list for? I'm not gonna turn into an addict cause I'm trying to be cool and fearless, yes I tried weed at the party but c'mon" eyes turning into accusing slits, Debby pointed out suspiciously

"God that town definitely did a number on you because who the hell thinks smoking weed will make you an addict, well sure if you smoke it everyday and can't seem to stop you'd become an addict but you just gotta try it to feel free at parties you know and believe me girl, it's not even bad, it's a feeling you'd like, it elevates you and I'll be there to make sure you don't over do it, I'm anti-abuse you know" her adviser said, maybe involving Lilian in this whole thing and listening to her in the first place was a bad idea, Debby thought.

"why are you looking at me like that? You better not be second guessing this cause it's surely gonna happen, trust me there is nothing unusual about all these things, you've just not been living" Lilian chided and Debby sighed still looking through the list that she wasn't so sure she could go through now after all but she continued anyways "explain jump off a cliff L", "oh that's pretty easy, the best way to do that is to go for a swim right off a cliff, we usually do that on the last day of summer as a ritual but it happens all summer long just for fun, so instead of jumping straight to your death, we jump to have fun in the water" Lilian explains with excitement at actually getting this done with Debby leaking out of her.

"Clubbing, throw a party, attend a beach party in lingerie, fight a bully, start my own fan club, run for a school office, get wilddddd?" Debby reads out dragging the wild "what does get wild even mean?" She queried "you'd find out pretty soon but in the simplest terms it's basically getting along with whatever I wanna guide your through, you can be rest assured Debs I definitely wouldn't be taking you through anything self harming or dangerous so chill out okay" Lilian tried to calm Debby down cause she looked like she was going to go into flight mode any moment from now, apparently a lot of things about branching out scared the girl shitless. "Hard to believe you're such a scaredy-cat but it's okay, all that is gonna change in no time" she added with a wide smile "all you have to do is trust me Debs and you'll be the bitch we need you to be before the end of the first half of the school year" L promised.

"There you guys are, I'd been checking around to see which spot y'all were lounging at and I couldn't find you" Grace says, coming up right behind her were Jace, Pete, Ann and Landon "where's Veronica and Ed?" Lilian asked knowing which of her friends weren't present, Debby didn't even notice who and who wasn't in the group "hi guys" she greeted them quietly as they came close enough, "hey Debby" Ann said back "hi Debby" Landon said and the rest chorused a "hi" in reply back at the same time "I don't know, I think we left them at the parking lot, you know those two, always taking a time out to make out like their lives depended on it" Jace said brushing aside the missing couple "ouu, steamy stuff" Lilian said teasing the couple in their absence as the rest of the group took seats around her and Debby.

"We've been here for so long, I'm bored already" Debby complained "yeah you guys came late so we should just grab lunch and head to mall already" she suggested we'll more like stated cause that was most likely what the group of friends were going to do, "I actually agree we should go shopping already, I'm pretty bored here on the beach plus it's really hot you guys" Veronica said siding Lilian "where are we eating at?" Anna asked "instead of slushies, let's do the mall, I'm actually tired of the beach right now, besides we have a party here Friday right? I bet we could do away with some beach scenery before then" Jace said and everybody nodded in agreement.

"Okay the mall it is, I'm calling shotgun, whoever's car I enter" Lilian called standing upright and getting ready to sprint to the parking lot. "Did that mad girl forget she came with her own ride?" Debby asked to no one in particular "I'm pretty sure she did" Pete said chuckling in amusement as everyone else casually walked after a sprinting Lilian. The girl was peculiar for sure, very different from the kind of person Deborah assumed her to be, she was the actual life of everything in reality and had so much main character energy.

The group got to the mall in record time, their cars lined like a convoy as they all headed in the same direction, first thing on everybody's mind was food and the summer. Debby sat less tensed about their presence and more tensed about the bucket list Lilian had come up with but in that moment she tried not to mind and just focused on eating and being more friendly with L's group of friends.

They got lunch from the food court in the center of the mall and then headed to start shopping "so I'm getting a totally new look this year, the exact kinda look I take to parties, I'm bringing it to the main scene" Lilian said excited.

"Finally some good bad bitch energy, this is definitely going to be a fun year" Veronica said squealing, "why don't you boys go do your shopping and we'll meet you back at the food court once we're all done" Anna suggested and the boys agreed not wanting to dragged through lingerie stores for any reason at all "don't forget to pick something nice for me babe" Landon called to Grace, "eww you guys get a room" Lilian yelled and we all laughed cringing at their cheesiness, "see y'all later" Landon said laughing, while Ed kissed Ronnie bye and the boys waved the girls off leaving them to do their thing and going away to do theirs.

With the fits the girls made Debby try on, they were definitely raging, "I can't believe I'm gonna wear this to the beach party" Debby said to the girls "trust us, you'll look amazing" Ronnie said picking out more dresses for herself "I don't doubt it" Grace concurred and Anna and L nodded in agreement while Debby blushed red like a tomato "let's go pay for these, I'm sure the boys are waiting for at the food court" Grace said "shut up you just can't wait to show Landon what you got" Anna accused and everyone laughed cause it wasn't a lie.

"Let's go guys" and the group of girls headed to meet the boys at the food court. "Can't wait to see how you look in the fits we got, Ezra is gonna go batshit about you when he sees you on Friday"

A/N:
There goes another one, I just might actually finish this book. Would definitely take a while but I'm sure of it, I haven't read this like a reader just yet but I sure hope it's not pathetically cringeworthy 😅
Thanks a lot for reading Loving Me for Me, I love you already.

It's the list that Lilian made for me 😂 let's see how the girls get Deborah Chanria to become a different person and actually complete the list, with the end goal of defeating her bullies, how is that supposed to help? I guess we'll see.

What do you think about the characters so far? Share your thoughts with me about the characters and scenes in the comments 🫶 I look forward to hearing from you ☺️
Also, vote for LMFM, would you🥺

Love,
Sushi