chapter eight
to the castillo household

Florence began to look around the empty house, her shoulders slumping in defeat. She couldn't quite believe that Julia would simply move the stuff out of the house without any of them knowing. A feeling of guilt settled within her, if she hadn't suggested and practically forced everyone to leave then Julia wouldn't have been able to do this.

It was like Susannah never existed, and the thought alone made Florence want to collapse into tears.

Jeremiah rushed down the stairs, "Everything's gone."

A door suddenly slammed shut, the group moving to see Julia walking in the back door. Conrad was the first person to approach her.

"What the fuck, Julia?" He asked angrily.

"I'm sorry." Julia responded. "This must be a shock. I-I spoke to your father this afternoon, and-and he and I decided that it would be best not to drag this out any longer than necessary."

"I don't give a shit what the two of you decided on. You had no right to touch anything in this house. Those were her things." Conrad spoke, his anger rising with every word.

Steven rushed forward, placing a hand on the boy's arm. "Breathe, man. Okay?"

Conrad put his hand on Steven's shoulder, restricting his movements. "Stop."

"Everything's in storage." Julia told them. "I made sure that everyone was very careful with every single thing. I'm just doing what I have to do to sell this house."

"Bullshit." Conrad commented. "You could have said something. You could have warned us. All you want to do is fight our mum, constantly."

"Okay, enough." Julia finally snapped. "You're not the only one that's hurting here. And I'm not the one you should be angry with. Your mother could have warned you that this was gonna happen. She just wanted to make me the bad guy, as usual."

"Can she play anything other than the victim in any situation?" Sydney wondered sarcastically, causing Florence to elbow her in the ribs.

"I'm so sorry that she was too busy dying to make your life a little easier." Conrad told Julia. "You know, it sucks that our grandfather loved her more than you, but I'm not surprised."

Conrad then turned and stormed off, pushing Jeremiah away when he tried to stop him. Steven and Florence shared a quick look before they both took off after him.

"Connie, no... Connie." Steven called after the boy, who had his phone already in his hand.

Jeremiah and the rest of the group quickly joined them. "Of course, Dad did nothing to stop her."

"Connie, what can he do?" Jeremiah asked.

"Jere! He doesn't care about us!" Conrad exclaimed as he waited for their dad to answer the phone. "And this asshole wont even pick up my... calls."

The boy got quieter as he turned back around, noticing Skye joining them outside. Florence let out a small sigh, already knowing what was going to happen.

"Did you know about this?" Conrad demanded an answer, walking towards them, pushing Jeremiah away once more. "I'm, no, I'm serious. I'm serious. Did you know about this?"

"I-I didn't know anything, okay? I swear I would have told you." Skye answered him honestly.

"Would you have? Really?" Conrad questioned. "Because we haven't seen each other in ten years. Would a day at the boardwalk have been enough to make you betray your mum?"

"Listen, I know we don't know each other very well, but I-I wouldn't have sideswiped you like this." Skye told him.

"Connie, come on." Steven spoke up. "What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know." Conrad exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Okay we can't just leave. All right? The house isn't sold yet." Jeremiah said as Conrad finally stopped pacing. "We still have a chance."

"A slim one." Skye commented. "I mean, full disclosure, Mum's realtor is expecting multiple cash offers, all over asking, no contingencies."

"Thank you, Skye, for that bleak as fuck assessment." Steven stated sarcastically.

"Steven." Florence reprimanded, hitting him gently.

"What?" Steven sent her a look. "Also, where are we going to sleep tonight?"

"I think there are some sleeping bags in the garage." Belly responded.

"I'm not sleeping in this house." Conrad announced. "Okay, I..."

"We don't have to." Jeremiah reassured his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay, well hotels are usually all booked up around this time of year." Belly reminded them.

"I feel like I should... go." Cam suddenly spoke up. "And I'd totally invite you guys to come stay with me, but it's a pretty small place, so..."

"Yeah, maybe we should go too." Taylor added, looking over at Steven.

"Don't go yet." Jeremiah instructed. "I know a place we can crash for the night."

The group all got in the cars once again, following Jeremiah to his surprise destination, which turned out to be the country club. Florence furrowed her eyebrows as they walked over to the entrance. Jeremiah grabbed his pass from his wallet, pressing it up against the scanner.

"You kept that?"

"Perks of not cleaning out your wallet." Jeremiah shrugged.

"What if there's someone in there?" Belly asked.

"It's been closed for hours and-and there's never any night guards. We're good." Jeremiah replied. He scanned his card, but the light appeared red. "Shit."

"Not a great plan." Skye commented. "It's from Avengers. RDJ."

"I understood that reference." Cam quoted as they both laughed.

"Is that how dorks flirt?" Florence wondered, leaning closer to Conrad to ask.

"I think so." Conrad nodded, his face holding the same grimace as Florence's.

"Can you guys, like, not? For just two seconds?" Jeremiah begged them.

"Okay, there's got to be another way, right?" Belly questioned.

"We could try the pool gate?" Jeremiah suggested.

"Uh, we could also use my mum's key code." Cam shrugged.

"Wait, are you sure?"

"Your mum?"

"Yeah, it's fine. She's the manager at the restaurant here, so..." Cameron explained.

"I mean, wouldn't she get in trouble though, if like, someone checked the logs?" Skye asked.

"Uh, maybe, but she usually works the most randomnest hours so..." Cameron walked over to enter the code.

"Wait." Florence stopped him. "The maybe in that sentence wasn't reassuring in the slightest."

"It's the only option." Cameron stated. "I don't think they'd mind."

"There's not a lot of definite modality in these sentences, Cameron." Florence told him, letting out a sigh. "We can stay at our house."

"Is your mum gonna know?" Conrad asked.

"No, it's fine." Florence let out a small sigh. "Come on, to the Castillo household."

The group all clambered back into the cars and made their way to the Castillo summer house. When they arrived, Florence got out of the car, staring up at the house as Sydney moved to stand next to her, a sense of déjà vu settling over them.

"I don't think this is our summer, Flo." Sydney spoke quietly, inverting her words from the previous summer.

"Neither do I." Florence shook her head. "Come on."

The two sisters walked up to the door, Florence grabbing the spare key from under the plant pot and unlocking the door. Sydney rushed inside, turning the alarm off before it called the police or something.

"What do we do now?" Jeremiah wondered as they all walked into the large house.

"Ugh. Could we scavenge for food?" Skye wondered. "I need something in my stomach other than sugar."

"Allow me to escort you to the kitchen." Cam graciously offered.

"I think there's snacks in there, I'm not entirely sure." Sydney stated.

"There's definitely snacks, there's always snacks." Florence told them.

"Actually can I come with you?" Taylor asked. "I have really specific snack requirements."

"Uh-uh, Taylor. No you're coming with me." Steven stopped the girl. "We'll fashion, like blankets, out of, like—"

"Blankets?" Florence interrupted.

"No, I'm on snack patrol right now." Taylor argued.

"Okay. So? I need your loudest voice to scare away all the murderers." Steven stated.

"Yeah, I'm Team Murderers." Taylor rolled her eyes.

"They do know there's no murderers in our house right?" Florence asked Sydney, who stood next to her.

"Well the dance room has always been a little creepy." Sydney shrugged.

"It's the mirrors." Florence declared.

"Okay, fine. No, I mean, as long as you're cool with, like, sleeping on, like dusty polyester sheets." Steven replied, knowing it would force Taylor to agree.

"I feel insulted." Florence commented.

"Me too." Sydney agreed.

"I hate you so much." Taylor told the boy, stomping after him. "Why do you need help with this?"

"Extra stuff is in the attic." Florence called after them.

"Can we lock them up there?" Jeremiah wondered.

"I would say sure, but I'm not sure they'd get out, and I don't wanna deal with their dead bodies." Florence answered with a tight-lipped smile.

"I'm gonna go find somewhere to sleep, you wanna come?" Jeremiah spoke aloud, looking at the rest of the group.

"I think I'm gonna go with Skye and Cam actually." Conrad answered.

"I'll catch up." Belly told him.

"I gotta find some stuff so I'll find you later." Sydney explained.

"I'll come with you." Florence smiled.

The two walked down the hallway, however Jeremiah slowed his movements, turning to catch Sydney and Belly talking with Conrad, however the two girls were facing more towards each other than anything else.

"What's on your mind?" Florence asked him.

"Have you ever noticed a weird force between them, some invisible string?" Jeremiah wondered.

"Syd and Belly?" The girl glanced at Jeremiah, who nodded before looking over at Sydney and Belly. "Not really... They've always been the youngest, forced to stay at home with the mums while the rest of us go off and do something, it was natural they'd become friends. And they became best friends, childhood best friends, that's a bond that isn't going to be broken easily."

"I guess." Jeremiah sighed. "Syd came to me, y'know."

"When?"

"Some point last year, she came wanting me to give her my blessing to be with Belly because she couldn't breath when she's not with her. I thought she was my friend." Jeremiah let out another sigh.

"She is your friend, Jere." Florence reassured him. "Did you tell her it hurt you too?"

"No, when your best friend tells you that she can't breathe with a person, you don't say that she can't be with her do you?" Jeremiah raised his eyebrows at her.

"If she knew how much it was truly hurting you, she would've given Belly up." Florence told him. "She loves you, Jere, so much, and this is just hurting all three of you."

"I guess." Jeremiah responded.

"And you shouldn't have had to go through all of this alone, I'm sorry." Florence stated.

"It's not your fault." Jeremiah shrugged.

"Still." Florence tilted her head, before wrapping her arms around him, the boy hugging her tightly for a few moments.

"Hey, guys." Belly's voice cut through their hug.

Florence took a step back, sending Jeremiah a small smile. "I'll leave you to it. Screening room's in the basement."

The girl made her way back towards the living room, finding Conrad sat on one of the sofas, a picture in his hand.

"Hey." Florence spoke up, catching his attention.

Conrad looked up at her. "Hey."

"You okay?" Florence wondered, sitting next to him on the sofa.

"Not really." Conrad let out a small sigh.

"It's not your fault." Florence reassured him.

"Everyone keeps saying that." Conrad responded, leaning his head back against the sofa cushion for a moment. "But if it's not my fault, it's not your fault either."

"What?"

Conrad sat up, turning to face her. "I know you, Florence. You feel guilty."

"Well I did basically drag you out of the house." Florence sighed. "If you stayed, she wouldn't have done it."

"So you feel guilty." Conrad sent her a look. "I went on my own accord, it's not your fault."

"You don't hate me for making you leave?" Florence asked.

"I could never hate you." Conrad spoke honestly.

"What did you find?" Florence questioned, referring to the picture in his hand.

"It was on top of the fireplace." Conrad stated, handing the photo over.

Florence took the photo from him and looked down at it. It was of the two of them, from when they were five and six, Florence wearing a long white summer dress and Conrad had a white shirt on, the boy spinning Florence under his arm. The were clearly in the backyard of the Fisher summer house, and seemed to be taken by Laurel as both Susannah and Emmeline were watching them with smiles on their faces and glasses of wine in their hands.

"Practicing for that debutante ball since we were kids, hey?" Florence joked. "And you said I wasn't the kind of person to do something like that."

Conrad laughed softly. "Look at how happy our mum's were."

"I know." Florence let out a small sigh. "I think we got their hopes up, especially since on this day, we danced around the garden instead of getting ice-cream with everyone else."

"You said you didn't want ice-cream." Conrad shrugged.

"Did you only stay because I did?" Florence looked over at him with furrowed brows.

"Of course I did." Conrad spoke nonchalantly. "I actually really wanted ice-cream, but you said you were going to stay and dance around to Taylor Swift so I stayed too, because I wanted to be with you."

"You—I—We are getting you ice-cream to make up for that." Florence put the picture down, grabbing the boy's hand and dragging him off of the sofa and towards the kitchen, smiling at Skye and Cam. "Hey guys."

The girl headed straight toward the freezer, opening the bottom draw and searching for whatever ice cream she could find, which turned out to be about three tubs of varying flavours.

"Thank the lords above that my mum never unplugs the fridge nor freezer." Florence smiled.

Conrad laughed at her fondly, shaking his head as Cam opened another cupboard. "We've found a lot of food for no one being here for a year."

"My mum liked to stock cupboard stuff in case Susannah never got a chance to come and put stuff here for us." Florence explained.

"Ah." Cam nodded. "I heard something crazy today. You know that guy Liam Meyer? That rich kid from the East Side? I heard be bought a Maserati and then crashed it two days later."

"Of course he did." Florence rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so I know the answer is likely daddy's money, but, um, how did a kid afford a Maserati?" Skye asked.

"Yeah, well, that was a whole other thing, because, uh, his grandparents had, like, this trust fund for him." Cam began to explain. "He got a judge to let him access it a couple of years early. Boom. Maserati."

"He got a judge involved?" Conrad repeated.

"Yeah, his parents were pissed." Cam responded.

"Con, you could—" Florence turned to him, but the girl could tell they were already on the same wavelength from the look on his face.

"Cam Cameron, fountain of gossip. I did not expect that side of you." Skye commented.

"You know, I have layers." Cam shrugged.

The group then walked towards the basement where the cinema room was that Jeremiah and Belly messaged they were waiting. They took all of the food down there, placing it on the floor.

"Hey, has anyone heard from Taylor and Steven?" Belly asked.

"No, I can go look for them." Conrad offered.

"Yeah, I'll come with you." Jeremiah nodded.

The two wandered off into the house, trying to find Steven and Taylor.

"Do you know where Syd went?" Florence asked.

As if on cue, Sydney came walking down the stairs, a small smile on her face, the others following behind her.

"Hey, Taylor, I found this in Cam's room and I feel like you know what to do more than me." Sydney spoke up, throwing a small bag of weed at the girl.

"Oh, score, rich person weed." Taylor cheered quietly, sitting down and trying to poke holes in an apple.

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
some jere and flo!!
CON AND FLO CUTIES
syd and flo next chapter
also i'm so close to hitting 1K
followers and im freaking out omg