chapter nine
the house is sold

The group began watching the film Jeremiah had chosen but quickly got bored and decided to move their party into the huge garden that belonged to the Castillo's.

"Remind me why we never had summer here?" Steven asked, spinning around in the middle of the grass.

"Uh, my mum preferred Susannah's house." Florence told him. "She said it felt more homely than ours."

"Right."

The boys all began to mess around, Belly and Taylor chatting while the weed apple was pawned off on Skye. Florence and Sydney sat next to each other on the patio.

"You disappeared." Florence commented.

"I went and sat in my room for a little bit, I needed some air away from... everything." Sydney let out a small breath. Florence nodded as Sydney let against her arm, the older girl putting her head on top of Sydney's. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Florence asked.

"For taking everything away from you." Sydney admitted.

Florence moved, forcing Sydney to look at her. "Syd, you didn't do anything."

"I did though." Sydney teared up slightly. "I mean, you aren't with Conrad anymore because I messed things up with Belly, you aren't friends with Belly anymore because I messed things up with Belly, you don't talk to Camden because you aren't with Conrad because I messed things up, you aren't friends with Jere because I messed things up, mum has been there with me for this entire thing meaning she hasn't been with you. I am at the root of all of your problem and I'm sorry for that—I'm trying to do better, to be a better sister. I swear, I—"

"Sydney." Florence placed her hands on the girl's shoulder. "You are not to blame for anything. Things happen, okay? But none of it is your fault, I am still friends with these people, and if I wasn't, it would because of them and me not because of you, I promise. You are the best little sister a person could ask for. I wouldn't trade you, as you are, for the world."

"But mum—"

"Mum hasn't been around for me lately because I remind her of Susannah, that's it, it's not because of you." Florence reassured the girl with a smile.

"Swear?"

"On my life." Florence nodded.

Sydney shot forward to wrap her arms around her big sister's waist, Florence pulling her closer and wrapping her arms around Sydney's neck. Florence placed her chin on top of Sydney's head, closing her eyes for just a moment before pulling away.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Sydney nodded.

"Should we crash out here?" Jeremiah asked loudly.

"Yes!" Steven shouted.

"Oh for sure, have you seen how clear the sky is, we can see every constellation in galaxy from here." Cam agreed.

"You're a bit of a nerd, Cam Cameron." Florence commented.

"The best people are." Cam defended himself, sending her a look.

"Perfect timing because I have discovered the secret of the apple bong." Skye announced, holding the apple in their palm like it was an offering to a God.

"You know that's surprising." Cameron told her.

"I have layers." Skye repeated his own words with a small smile.

The group began to gather all of their stuff for the night, using sleeping bags, duvets, extra blankets and whatever pillows they could take of the sofas or beds in the Castillo household, leaving it all on the patio because they knew they weren't sleeping quite yet. They got all the snacks out, leaving the proper food for the boys to bring over, sitting on the floor as Taylor began to smoke the weed through the apple.

"Taylor, volleyball camp is in four days." Belly reprimanded the blonde as her, Taylor, Skye and Florence sat in their own little group.

Taylor let out the smoke. "It's not like they're going to drug test us. Coach would have had to put that in her email, right?"

"What email?" Belly asked.

"The one that we got yesterday about camp." Taylor informed her. "Have you talked to Coach yet?"

"Um... no, not yet." Belly answered.

"Belly, wait. Why? I swear to God, if you bail on us again..." Taylor groaned.

"No, no, no. I'm not bailing. I want to go." Belly defended herself.

"Okay, well, don't tell me. Tell Coach that." Taylor stated.

"Okay, yeah. I'll text her right now." Belly grabbed her phone, beginning to type out a message as Taylor handed the apple bong to Skye. "You know, I-I... I really just don't want to... I don't want to have a big conversation with her about last season and, I don't know, I feel like, I just want to show up ready to play and prove myself on the court."

"Okay. I love that. It's very Killa B." Taylor nodded.

"Right?"

"Yeah."

"So, I don't text her, right?" Belly questioned.

"Give me your phone." Taylor ordered. Belly handed over her phone, Taylor quickly tying in a message to their volleyball coach and hitting send.

"What's happening over here? Hmm?" Steven suddenly joined the group. "We playing truth or dare or what?"

"All right. Yeah. You in?" Belly nodded, looking up at her brother with a clap. "Um... I dare you to eat the apple bong."

"Ew." Taylor commented, looking up at Steven who was bouncing nervously as he contemplated doing the dare.

"I'm not scared. I've done worse." He spoke in response to Belly's smug smile.

"Yeah, we know." Taylor retorted quickly.

"Unfortunately." Flo added.

"We worked so hard on this." Skye frowned.

"I am so sorry, Skye." Steven apologised, leaning down to take the apple bong out of their hands. "I'm so sorry."

"And now it's..."

Skye trailed off as Steven took a bit out of the apple. Belly began laughing at the boy while Florence grimaced.

"What does it taste like?" Taylor wondered.

"It tastes so—" Steven cut his own words off with a gag, spitting the apple out all over the girls and Skye.

Florence gasped in disgust as Taylor shouted at the boy, who had run off to the bushes lining Florence's back garden.

"That was so grim." Florence commented.

"Wait, wait. He knows he's going to have to clean that up, right?" Cam asked as he and Conrad came over to the girls with the food.

"We'll make him clean it up." Conrad waved him off.

"Cam, you can calm down, y'know." Florence reassured the boy. "No one's gonna get in trouble for us being here, it's my house."

"I know." Cam let out a sigh. "I just... wanna be respectful."

"Please, you're already our most respectable guest." Sydney told him, also joining the group. "All our other guests are the other people around you, including Steven who's puking his guts up in my mother's flowerbeds so..."

"Right." Cam nodded.

"Apple all over my leg." Taylor complained.

"You guys wanna keep playing truth or dare?" Cameron wondered. "Conrad?"

"I'm not playing." Conrad shook his head.

"Come on, dude." Cam pouted.

"No."

"What, you scared?" Jeremiah asked, bringing over the last of the food and joining them on the floor as well, the boy taking a seat next to Belly.

"Where do you, uh, see yourself in the next ten years?" Cameron asked Conrad.

Conrad exhaled, looking up at the sky for a moment. "Here, honestly. Coming back to Cousins. Fourth of July barbecues, digging for clams, surfing with Jere..."

"Making pomegranate margaritas." Belly added.

"Right, right." Conrad nodded. "I just feel like whatever kind of shit you got going on, just come back here, you forget about it."

"Come on, man. Nobody's playing Truth or Dare right." Steven cut off the deep chat loudly, having finally joined the group once again. "It's either you go big or you go home."

"I am home." Florence told him straight face, looking over at the boy from her place in between Cam and Taylor.

"I hate you." Steven responded.

"I agree with Steven. This needs to get way more Euphoria." Taylor waved her hands around.

"Okay. Um... I'll give it a whirl." Skye piped up, everyone hyping them up as they spun their arm around to choose a person, landing on Belly. "Belly. I dare you to, uh, kiss Jeremiah."

The group all went wide eyed as Belly turned to look at Jeremiah. They all sat in awkward silence for just a moment, Florence glancing over at Sydney, who was trying to remain nonchalant about the situation. Skye was just joking around, they never knew the drama they were walking into.

"You know, aren't we too old for that kind of shit?" Jeremiah asked with a small scoff. "Right?"

"Yeah." Taylor decided to move the game along quickly. "Cam, you know the drill."

"Yes. Truth, please." Cam answered.

"What's your biggest regret?" Taylor questioned without hesitation.

"I'm pretty sure deep stuff usually is saved for like, 2 am." Florence commented but she turned to look at the boy next to her nonetheless.

Cam chuckled awkwardly. "Um... I'd probably say, um, not spending enough time with my sister before she died."

"Whoa, I'm sorry. I didn't know." Taylor spoke remorsefully.

"It's okay." Cam waved her off.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Belly told the boy.

"It's okay." Cam shrugged. "It was ten years ago. She was 16. Um, I was just a kid. I really looked up to her. Mm, I still look up to her."

"Does it get any easier?" Jeremiah wondered.

"Yeah." Cam nodded after a moment. "It's always there, y'know. But, um... the pain starts to, uh... you know, feel more like a scar than it does a scab. Like, sometimes something totally random will set you off. Like, um... a song she used to play for you, or um... little yellow tree air fresheners she had in her car and the... pain just feels brand new again. But, um... everything... everything goes back to normal. Eventually. Whatever the hell that means."

"Yeah, the fuck if I know." Jeremiah commented.

"I'm sorry, man." Conrad spoke with a sad smile.

"No." Cam shook his head softly. "I'm sorry about your mum She was really cool."

Before anyone could say anything, Taylor yawned loudly, causing some of the group to laugh at her. Florence sent her a funny look, she understood being tired but to make such a dramatic out of it when Cam walking talking about something meaningful was slightly disrespectful.

"Sorry, Taylor, did we lose you there?" Cam asked her, laughing slightly.

"Oh my god. No, you didn't lose me at all." Taylor disagreed. "All right, like... No, I really love talking about mental health. Like you should look at my tiktok, it's like, 70% therapists. I'm just, like, really fucking tired right now."

"Yeah, I guess it is kind of late." Sydney let out a sigh.

"I'll, uh, I'll got get you some blankets." Steven offered.

"Yeah, let's do it." Conrad agreed.

"Yep." Cam got up along with the other boys, the three of them walking towards the patio where the blankets were left.

"Is this camping? Because I got a badge for that shit in Girl Scouts." Taylor informed those that were left. "Did anyone find an air mattress, by chance?"

"You know, you can go sleep inside, right?" Florence told the girl.

"I'd feel left out." Taylor pouted. "I get major FOMO."

"Fair enough." Florence nodded.

The group then all got ready for the night, taking their separate sleeping bags and blankets and finding their own spaces in the garden so they weren't all on top of each other. Florence laid her sleeping bag out next to Conrad, laying on her back and looking up at the sky.

"You thinking of suing your dad?" Florence broke the silence, looking over at Conrad.

"If it means I can keep the house, worth a short, right?" Conrad wondered.

"Depends if you win." Florence told him honestly. "Lawyer fees are expensive and if you lose, you still have to find a way to pay."

"I know." Conrad nodded. "I just—I wanna..."

"I know." Florence let out a small sigh. "But that's tomorrow's problem, right?"

"Definitely." Conrad agreed.

Florence rolled onto her side, facing the boy, "Goodnight Connie."

"Night Flo." Conrad smiled.

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

They group all woke up the next morning later than they were probably all expecting. Florence squinted at the sun shining on them, looking over to see Jeremiah and Belly smiling at each other and Taylor flinching dramatically away from Steven – a telltale sign they ended up cuddling in their sleep.

"What are y'all doing out here?" A voice suddenly spoke making Florence jump.

Sydney jumped up to her feet, looking at their neighbour, who was staring over the fence at the group from her own garden that conjoined onto theirs. "Just camping outside, Mrs Delaney, stars were so beautiful last night, we couldn't resist."

"I didn't realise you guys were coming this summer, I thought your mum said you weren't?" Mrs Delaney spoke with furrowed eyebrows.

"We just couldn't miss a Cousins summer, y'know how special it is." Sydney lied with a smile.

"Lying comes so easy to her." Florence commented, tilting her head at her sister.

"It's quite terrifying." Conrad agreed.

"Well I'll leave you kids to it, say hi to your mum for me." Mrs Delaney smiled, moving away from the fence.

"We gotta go before she comes around expecting to find my mother." Sydney spun around with wide eyes.

"Go, go, go." Florence demanded, standing up and beginning to put gather all of their stuff up.

The group all quickly put the sleeping bags back in the cupboard, chucking the blankets in the wash and throwing the cushions onto the sofas. They got rid of all the left over food that was made into the bin, and decided to head to the Fisher household.

Before they left however, both Sydney and Florence decided to change. They offered clothes to the others but no one took them up on the offer, a thought the two siblings found gross as they had all slept in the clothes they were currently wearing. Florence quickly chucked on a pair of ripped jean shorts and a white baby tee, putting her converse back on before joining the others.

They all drove back to the summer house, Florence having control of the aux in Steven's car and playing Taylor Swift the entire way back. However, when they arrived, they were met with the sight of Julia and the realtor on the doorstep.

They all approached the two women, Conrad and Jeremiah taking the lead.

"Wow. Look who it is." Jeremiah greeted them.

"Hi."

"It's okay, I'll handle it." Julia reassured the woman. "Thank you very much."

"I'll be in touch?"

"Yes, thank you." Julia bid goodbye to the woman, turning to face the others. "Oh, I wish you boys had gone home when I asked you to."

"You're not getting us to abandon our house, Julia." Conrad stated.

"It's not your house, Conrad." Julia took off her sunglasses, stepping closer to them. "And, um... it won't be mine for long, either."

"Julia, please." Jeremiah begged. "We have an idea, okay?"

"A buyer has made an offer on the house and I've officially accepted it." Julia announced. "I have to go to Boston to finalise the details, but, um, it's done. The house is sold."

And with those three words, they all seemed to freeze.

It was done. There was nothing any of them could do.

For, what felt like the thousandth time, they had lost.

Julia 3 – kids 0.

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
what a boring chapter but some syd
and flo and some flo and conrad
also made an edit of flo and conrad
to so high school so will be posting
that soon
and thought that syd and belly are
so imgonnagetyouback coded