LEONORA AND ISABELLE SAT under the big-rooted oak, waiting for the other six to show up. somehow the roots were comfortable to sit on, no continuous shifting seating positions and no sore bottoms after standing up. 

"leo?" isabelle softly asked the older girl, gazing up at her. 

leonora looked down at the girl who stood on the roots while leonora sat up in the tree trunk.

"what's up, isabelle?" the valentine girl replied, peering down at the roots to look at the smaller girl.

"do you think the loud music was a one-time thing?" 

"do i look like the people who live there?" leonora sassed. instantly feeling bad as she saw isabelle's face drop. "i'm kidding! i honestly don't know, i guess we'll find out tonight."

isabelle nodded her head, feeling better that leonora had been joking around with her. isabelle widow felt relieved that leonora felt comfortable joking around with her.

paloma, armani and athena all came running towards the big oak together. armani's eyes were watering from laughter whereas paloma and athena looked plainly annoyed.

"what happened?" isabelle asked, a small smile on her face as she watched armani hold his stomach, a wide grin spread across his face.

"they—" he started laughing after only one word got out. leonora lifted an eyebrow, still sitting on the tree. 

"we asked number twenty-three if they could turn their music down tonight if they happen to blast it again, and they said 'not a chance' and slammed the door on our faces!" athena grumbled. 

paloma nodded along, walking to sit down on the roots, slamming her feet into the ground with every step she took.

the five waited patiently for AJ, adelaide and elliot who seemed to be taking their own sweet time. after three minutes of waiting, elliot showed up out of breath.

"what the hell happened to you?" athena asked, taking a small bit of her annoyance out on the boy.

"new neighbors. . ." he puffed, lazily throwing his hand back in the direction he came from. "they have a pet—" he stopped to catch his breath. "—goose!" 

armani burst out laughing as he noticed a white feather in elliots hair. the boy stood up from the tree and pulled the feather out, handing it to elliot. 

AJ and adelaide walked over, looking at elliot in confusion. the mayz boy rolled his eyes at their stares and sat down on the grass.

"thank you all for turning up!" leonora's loud voice scared everyone but isabelle, paloma, athena and armani. 

adelaide put a hand on her heart in shock, looking up at leonora who seemed to be silently laughing at their reactions.

"we need to do something about number twenty-three, that's why i called for a group brainstorm!" she announced, leaning on a higher, thicker branch.

athena groaned at the girls loud, bossy voice. leonora shot a look at the fourteen-year-old. AJ pursed her lips, enjoying the silent drama. 

"sorry," athena quietly said. 

"no, it's my fault. i'm bossy, i know. nobody ever fails to tell me," leonora sighs, no way was she going to get emotional in front of a group she just met the night before. 

"anyway!" AJ called out. "continue, nora," she smiled up at the girl in the tree.

leonora nodded gratefully, hopping out of the tree and pausing as she waited for elliot to pay attention. 

"this isn't drum class, buddy," she interrupted him pretending to drum on the grass with two twigs he found. 

"whatever. this isn't leonora is always in control and is bossy time either, but here we are," he fired back, sighing as he saw the girls face drop. 

leonora nodded with an unreadable expression on her face. she turned back to the tree, flashing everyone a fake smile. 

"right. does anyone have any ideas they would like to pitch? i assume you're all tired of me already," the girl spoke. 

"tired of your dramatics, yeah," someone muttered under their breath, leonora didn't catch who but felt upset. just when she thought she could make new friends. 

•° ✿ °•.

"yes, i know. dick move, elliot.
she was just— i don't know,
whenever she talks my stomach
feels icky like i'm about to be sick.
i definitely saw her expression change and
obviously, i feel awful. i just needed that
feeling to stop. it did, but it turned into
guilt instead of the weird feeling."
— elliot.

°•. ✿ .•°.

"maybe— maybe it's a one-time thing, so we don't have to worry too much about it," athena suggested, noticing the thick tension.

elliot crawled closer to the roots of the trunk, sitting cross-legged right next to where leonora stood. the valentine girl rolled her eyes, paying no attention to the childish boy. 

"yeah, maybe," adelaide smiled at athena. 

"but what if it's not? what will we do then?"

"what about, if it's not we can all meet each other in the middle of the street again? if it doesn't happen again, we can sleep in peace," elliot shrugged, glancing up to leonora for validation, except she didn't budge or look at him.

a chorus of agreements flowed through the air as the group began to go off-topic and talk to each other. if it was to happen again, they want to know each other better.

leonora excused herself and walked towards the ice cream truck across from the playground that she had spotted earlier. 

"what can i get ya?" the male in the truck asked leonora as she scanned the menu that was painted to the side of the truck.

"i'll get two cookie-funk ice creams, please," she smiled, doing the math on how much she needed to pay in her mind. 

"seven dollars, thirty-six cents," a voice spoke from behind her, causing the girl to jump in fright. 

"i know," she sassed, realizing who the voice belonged to. the man in the truck handed her the two ice creams as leonora placed the cash on the ledge. 

"here," she handed one of the cones to the boy who followed her. 

"you weren't kidding, huh?" elliot grinned, eating the ice cream. 

leonora shugged, walking back to the group. the other six noticed the ice cream in her hand and instantly got up and ran to the truck.

"i was going to shout them all but whatever, saves me money," she shrugged, sitting down on a root.

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

         "YOU GUYS CAN come back to my place if you'd like? we can chill out by the pool?" AJ asked the group as they finished their ice creams under the oak tree. 

everybody agreed happily, except for leonora. AJ looked at her confused, wondering why she didn't want to come for a swim. 

"i think i'll just head home, you guys have fun though!" 

the group (minus leonora) headed back to azaria's house. 

"cannon ball!" armani screamed, plunging under the cool water, splashing adelaide who sat on the sit of the pool. 

"mani!" adelaide squealed, removing her sunglasses and glaring playfully at the boy. 

isabelle and athena lazed around on a pool float together, chatting about random things. 

"hey, do you think leonora's okay?" isabelle randomly asked.

"i hope so, why?" 

"i don't know. she didn't want to come swimming, it sounds weird," isabelle shrugged, re-applying sunblock to her shoulders. 

"maybe she has body image issues?"

"who has body image issues?" elliot curiously asked as he rested his elbows on the pool float. 

isabelle stared at athena with wide eyes, neither of them knowing if they should tell anybody.

•° ✿ °•. 

"the funny thing is;  elliot is
super cute but it's so obvious to me and
AJ that he likes leo! and she doesn't
seem like his biggest fan after his
attitude today. i doubt leonora has
body image issues, i hope she doesn't.
she is absolutely beautiful. and so am i!
self-love, people. self-love!
— isabelle

°•. ✿ .•°.

"nobody," isabelle was quick to respond.

elliot chuckled, continuing to rest his arms on the float, hoping the two would give up on their secret and tell him. 

"i can keep a secret, izzy and thena," he told the two. 

athena furrowed her eyebrows worriedly. sighing in relief as she spotted adelaide swimming over.

"um—" she purposely began.

"hey ladies! oh, and elliot," adelaide excitedly greeted the trio. elliot groaned, glaring at athena.

"you're smart, kid. i'll give you that," he pointed his finger around before swimming over to AJ and armani. 

"what was that about?" the redhead wiggled her eyebrows at athena.

athena laughed, shaking her head. isabelle hopped off the floatie, starting to feel herself burning. 

"nothing, he was annoying and i was about to tell him what i was going to say but i knew you'd interrupt me before i said a name, so thank you."

"you're welcome?" adelaide laughed in confusion.

NOTES:

→ HAHA you're welcome. you asked
for more 'gifts' and i delivered!! i hope
this chapter was good. 

→ i'm trying my hardest not to revolve
the majority of the story around nora because
she may be the 'main character' in the story
but i still need to focus on your oc's!!

→ if you couldn't tell leonora is kind of like
kristy thomas (from the babysitters club) mixed
with richie tozier (from IT). 

→ anyway, i absolutely love reading and replying
to your comments so spam the comments & i'll
do my best to respond. 

→ i love you all and thank you so much for your
sweet comments about my writing, i literally want
to cry reading them. i don't think my writings that
good but hearing you say that is so nice!! 

→ have a great day. i love you all and here is
some motivation for you: 🌸🦋💖💗💌💘
you're all amazing <33