Summer of Jonnor

If You Only Knew

Jude dashed into his room excitedly. He grabbed his phone and dialed Connor.

"What's crackin', cakes?"

"Moms ended my grounding, so we can hang out today, if you want to."

"If I want to? What kind of silly question is that? Of course! What do you want to do?"

Jude thought about it. "Maybe the beach? You think Myranda and Kyle would want to come? And maybe Sophia and Taylor, too?"

"Sounds great, why don't you call them and let me know."

"K. Love you, Mr. Adams-Foster."

"You most, Mr. Stevens."

Jude disconnected and called Kyle, then Sophia and Taylor. He didn't have Myranda's number but Kyle said he would call her.

Jude dialed Connor back. "Ian and Taylor will pick me up in fifteen and we'll come right over."

***

Connor was on the beach next to Myranda and Sophia. "You two are a ship now?"

Sophia nodded. "We're calling if M-Y-F-I-A but saying it like Mafia."

"Mafia," Connor laughed, "that's awesome."

Sophia grinned and squeezed Myranda's hand.

Jude was out in the water up to his chest. "Hey Connor," he called.

"Duty calls," Connor said to Sophia.

"Duty or booty?" Sophia said.

He grinned back at her and ran into the water.

"Where did Taylor and Kyle go?" Sophia asked.

"They went off to talk about Ronnoc," Myranda said.

"Oh. I can't wait for Ronnoc, it's gonna be the event of the summer." She smiled at Myranda.

***

Connor swam up to Jude and kissed him. "Hey hottie."

"How 'bout this idea?" Jude said to him. He dived under the water and pulled Connor's swim trunks down. Connor looked up at the sky while Jude was mouthing his knob...underwater of all places! Jude resurfaced. "The only bad part of this one is having to come up to breathe."

"I thought you weren't into this dangerous thing," Connor said to him.

Jude shrugged. "I changed my mind. I agree, it's actually kind of fun, seeing what you can get away with."

He was about to dive again when he heard Sophia shouting. He stopped and looked at the beach. Another boy/girl couple had walked by, Myranda was sitting on her towel crying and Sophia looked like she was ready to belt someone. "Fat-shaming is NOT OK!" she yelled. "DO YOU THINK IT'S NICE TO BE CALLED THINGS LIKE THAT?!"

The boy raised his hands up and he and the girl ran away.

Jude and Connor came out of the water as Sophia sat down by Myranda, who was still bawling and shaking. Sophia hugged her.

"What happened?" Connor asked.

"Those jerks were making weight jokes," Sophia said. She squeezed Myranda's hand. "It's okay baby, you're beautiful and I love you."

Myranda took off her glasses and wiped her eyes.

Sophia looked up at Jude and Connor. "Sometimes I just want to be able to say to people, 'if you only knew how painful your words are.' They can be weapons of mass destruction just like bullets and bombs."