𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 - conrad fisher

𝟬𝟬𝟬,‎ ‏𝗽 𝗿 𝗼 𝗹 𝗼 𝗴 𝘂 𝗲

         𝒯he waves were crashing against the shore, exciting the children who came a little closer to the wave and squealed with joy when the water touched their feet.

    Little Conrad Fisher sat down on his bottom in the sand, watching as Jeremiah and Steven were some of the kids having fun in the waves, and sighing in frustration. He had a cold and was not allowed to enter the water. His mother, Susannah, had forbidden him. He had barely convinced her to let him leave the house, so he could not take her word for granted.

    When he turned his gaze to where the girls, Belly and Eden, were playing with dolls in the sand, pretending they were at a beach party, he couldn't help but smile a little. The summer breeze played with that girl's soft brown hair, as every now and then it would surround her face with a wild dark strand, making her blow her nose in displeasure and wrinkle her nose in that adorable way, as she removed it. The way it made Conrad's heart beat a little faster than usual.

    Conrad stood up from the sand, shaking the sand off his pants, and walked towards them.

    As the girls played, a shadow had appeared above them, blocking out the sun and causing them both to look up at the person in question. When they saw that it was Conrad, each girl reacted in her own way; Belly smiled sheepishly, immediately wondering if she had chosen the right way to tie her hair that morning, as Eden's smile from before was gone, her face now showing creases on her forehead mostly covered by bangs and her lips pulled into a pout.

    "What are you doing here, Conrad?" Eden asked, crossing her arms over her chest, to try and look serious in front of him as she closed her eyes a little to manage to look at him —because of the sun behind him.

   It wasnt hidden from anyone.

   Eden just couldn't stand all of the three boys that had to be around Belly all day, every day. She was jealous of them. And besides that, they weren't the nicest people either, they always annoyed her. Sometimes Conrad seemed to be a bit of an exception, like in moments like this when he moved away from the group to actually acknowledge their presence, but she didn't like him because he was older than her and she had the impression that the boy always enjoyed to boss the others around.

    Conrad chuckled at the sight of her displeasure, and he wanted to sit next to her, but she gave him a warning so he stopped. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted me to help you build a sandcastle for your dolls." His voice was hoarse, he spoke more through his nose, his coldness being too obvious.

    The brunette rolled her eyes, as her friend clapped her hands lightly, in excitement, and she was looking at her friend, begging her with her dark hopeful eyes to say yes.

    Eden dropped her arms back to her sides. "We could make a sandcastle ourselves, if we wanted one. Our Barbies are at the beach, not in any kind of a castle, not even a sand one."

    "Okay, okay," he raised his hands as a sign of defense and stepped back a little, as not to be right in front of the sun anymore. "Can I sit with you guys?"

    Eden sighed dramatically. "Why are you here, Conrad?"

    Almost every time, with rare exceptions, the three boys were inseparable and they brushed her and Belly aside, saying that little girls like them had no reason to play among them. That's why she couldn't stand them. Because even though she knew that Belly was pretending not to be affected, she knew that her friend was thinking about what she would do if she didn't have Eden. How she would she have to play by herself.

    "Go to Steven and Jeremiah," the girl added.

    "I can't," said Conrad. "I have a cold and I'm not allowed to go in the water."

   "You have a cold and you want to play with us?" She asked displeased, and he nodded. "What if it's contiguous?" She wrinkled her nose at that thought, and silence fell between them, the boy not knowing what else to say. She had a point.

   Belly moved closer to her friend, placing her hand in front of her mouth to whisper in her ear without the boy hearing. "Can't we just let him play with us this once?"

    Eden gave him another look, gesturing for him to move away from them so he wouldn't hear them, and he did exactly that, immediately realizing what her gesture meant. "That way he could see what it's like to be left on the outside," she replied.

    "But I'm not on the outside!” Belly complained, grabbing her friend's hand, trying to convince her. "I have you."

    But what if you wouldn't have me anymore? Eden wanted to ask her, but she didn't. She just sighed.

    "Okay, fine," she agreed and Belly smiled at her immediately, letting go of her hand to wrap her arms tightly around her neck, whispering to her about how she is the best best friend in the whole world. Smiling weakly as she slipped out of Belly's grasp, Eden then turned her gaze back to Conrad. "You can play with us."

    Conrad smiled slightly at her, being more than satisfied that he had managed to convince her to also let him play with them.

     And since the girls weren't going to play with him with their dolls, so they put them aside and the three of them started playing hide and seek.

    It was Belly's turn to count, so Eden was the first to start running, ending up behind a fairly tall rock somewhere at the bottom of the seashore. She was holding her breath, trying to listen to where her friend was going, when another body appeared next to hers.

    Conrad Fisher, breathing heavily, because of his stuffy nose and because he had to run towards there, was trying to stay on his bent knees so he wouldn't be discovered just because of his height.

   Eden threw her head back against the rock, exhaling in displeasure, as she looked up at him.

   She was so beautiful, even if she was always mad with him. The boy always compared her to the older sister from The Chronicles of Narnia film series, who had been his first celebrity crush. The same long brown hair, the same soft eyes and the same strong personality.

    "You couldn't find another place?" She whispered-yelled to him, being annoyed by his presence in the same hiding place as hers.

    Conrad stood up just a little to check the area and then dropped back to his bent knees. "I didn't have enough time," he complained, but he was actually lying. He wanted to get closer to her, just the both of them, and he took advantage of the first opportunity he got.

    The girl rolled her eyes and when she heard Belly's footsteps, she dropped down on the sand, pulling him after her by his hand, forcibly putting her hand over his mouth when he wanted to ask her why she did it. Then she removed her hand from his mouth, motioning with her index finger close to her lips for him to remain silent. And it wasn't hard at all for him to do that, as long as he could watch her honey-colored eyes look at him, her fear of being caught being so easy to read in them.

    When the girl wanted to say something, having barely enough time to even be abable to open her lips —under the watchful eye of the boy in front of her—, Belly appeared out of nowhere. "Found you," she said and smiled victoriously, having no idea what she had just interrupted before it even got off to a good start.

    The two stood up from the sand, shaking off the sand on their clothes and they carried on with their game, even though Conrad couldn't get his passion for Eden out of his mind, which had just gotten even more intense. And in the following days, Eden also caught the cold because she was so close to Conrad, so she was forced to stay at home and miss one of the few days she could spend with her friend, who, just like the Fisher brothers, was in Cousins Beach only for the summer.