𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞
𝐍𝐎𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐃, snuggled into a pillow. her and her family had been working hard all morning to make sure that everything was in order for laurel and her kids. and considering it was summer vacation, she was planning to stay up till the late hours of the night and wake up half way through the day. well, it wasn't actually her choice, that's just how her body was. so you can imagine the amount of complaints that came from her while she helped her brothers and mother clean up their vacation home. if you can't imagine it, i'll just tell you that it was an insane amount. like an annoying amount.
she was laying on her stomach, her arms placed underneath her pillow to add more support. her curls were sprawled over her face, the fisher girl not having a care in the world about how her hair looked. little snores came from her mouth. it seemed like she only slept on her stomach, something that everyone that was close to her had noticed. she was only supposed to take an hour nap and be awake before laurel and her kids came — orders made by her mother. but she had managed to sleep through alarm she had set, so it had been two hours and the conklin kids had arrived ten minutes ago.
isabel conklin, or belly, had walked up to the door of noa's room, an excited smile on her face. she stopped once she had seen that noa had been sleeping. her excited smile melted into a soft one as she took in every detail of noa that she could. the highlights in her hair, something that happens naturally when the weather starts to heat up. her eyes went over the older girl's long tan legs, ignoring the way her stomach fluttered. she took in noa's peaceful form a little longer before she sucked in a breath. she ran into the room and jumped right on top of noa, the fisher girl grunting in pain at the sudden weight.
"noa!" belly screamed as she started to tickle her.
"belly!" noa whined as she turned herself over, grabbing at the younger girl's wrist so that she could stop tickling her.
belly straddled noa's waist as she tried to get her wrists free. but it was no use, noa had a strong grip. without any warning, noa turned them over, the curly haired girl now being on top. belly let out a scream at the sudden movement, making noa smile as she looked down at the conklin girl.
"girls, don't break anything!" the voice of susannah yelled, noa immediately looked over towards her door before she looked back down to belly.
the smile on her face turned into a smirk, tilting her head. "hi, bela."
belly rolled her eyes at the nickname, biting back the smile that was trying to make its way into her face. "hi, elle."
noa grimaced at the nickname, following belly's previous actions in rolling her eyes. she climbed off of belly and stood up, pulling the younger girl up with her. before belly could do anything, she was being pulled into a hug. the shorter girl smiled as she wrapped her arms around noa, breathing in her scent. noa did the same thing, feeling her heart skip a beat when she felt belly hug her tighter. if you didn't guess it by now, noelle fisher was absolutely head over heals for isabel conklin. it's been that way since noa was 12 and belly was 11.
"i missed you, bells." noa mumbled, placing her head on top of belly's.
"i missed you too, noa." belly said, her voice soft.
the two pulled away from one another, letting noa take in belly completely. she noticed the changes in belly, how she had technically became a woman. but that hadn't changed her opinion on belly -- she always thought that the belly was beautiful. actually, she knew that belly was beautiful. she smiled slightly, tilting her head as she made eye contact with the younger girl. this made belly smile as well, following noa's actions in tilting her head.
"why're you looking at me like that?" belly questioned, narrowing her eyes slightly.
noa shrugged, combing her fingers through her wild curls. "you got your braces off."
"i sent you a pic when i did." belly reminded, not seeing the point in noa's reaction.
"1, your phone was like an inch away from your face. 2, you look pretty without them." noa listed, her eyes widening slightly when she had realized what she said. "not that you didn't look pretty with them."
"i know what you meant, noa." belly laughed, noticing how flustered the older girl had gotten.
noa shook her head slightly, walking around belly and to her nightstand to grab her phone. she unlocked her phone to answer all the text messages she had gotten from her mother, brothers, and wesley campbell. she smiled slightly when she read wes' text, him basically asking when the two of them were gonna meet up. she responded, which sparked up a little conversation between the two. that left belly standing there, giving her the opportunity to take in noa's appearance. somehow, the girl had gotten taller, growing another inch within the last year. her curls were wild because of her sleeping, but she obviously didn't care. belly's eyes went to noa's neck, noticing the beaded necklaces that were around it. she smiled when she saw that noa was wearing the necklace that she had made her.
"you're still wearing it." she mumbled, making noa look up at her with raised eyebrows. "the necklace i made you, you still wear it."
"oh. i never take this thing off." noa admitted, which earned a look of confusion from belly. "why would i?"
"i don't know. i just thought you would've by now." belly shrugged.
"i don't think i'll ever take it off." noa told her. "even if it pops, i'll pick up all the beads and replace the string."
"well, that's good to know." belly mumbled, ignoring the feeling that had appeared in her chest.
"i'm gonna go see your mom and brother." noa informed as she walked out the room.
belly followed after her, not being able to stop herself from admiring the way that noa walked. that's one of the things that she loved about noa, she always walked with confidence. even if she was going through the toughest thing in the world, she always held her head up high and didn't let anyone see her down. sometimes belly wished that she was like that. the two girls walked into the kitchen, immediately gaining susannah's attention.
"oh, look who deiced to wake up." she commented, which only earned her a smirk from her daughter.
"i'd still be sleeping if it wasn't for belly." noa mumbled as she walked over to steven. she quickly jumped onto his back, making the taller boy let out a laugh as he reached his arms back to hold onto her. "my, oh my! it's even stevens!" she yelled.
steven groaned as he spun around, a big grin on his face. "and it's noala bear!"
that went on for a few seconds, susannah and laurel watching their kids with smiles on their faces. steven stopped spinning around, gently placing noa onto the floor before he turned around and pulled her into a hug. noa wrapped her arms around his waist as the two rocked side to side.
"all right, get off of me. i gotta go say hi to the true star of the family." noa muttered, pushing steven off her before she went over to laurel. "hi, laurel."
"hi, noa." laurel laughed, wrapping her arms around the younger girl. "you look beautiful."
"thanks, it's a new thing that i'm trying." noa said as she pulled away from laurel, the park woman laughing.
"hey, guys." steven called, gaining everyone's attention, including jeremiah and conrad's. "i mean, i - i don't know about you, but i. . . well, i - i think it's time. . ." he continued, looking down at his wrist as if a watch was on it.
jeremiah and noa immediately knew where he was going, quickly joining in. "for a belly flop!"
belly's eyes widened slightly as she tried to get away, turning around to run up the stairs. steven was quick to grab her, wrapping his arms around her tightly so that she wouldn't be able to escape. conrad, jeremiah, and noa all ran over to them, grabbing one of belly's limbs before they all walked out of the house and towards the pool. noa was quick in sliding belly's phone out of her pocket, not wanting it to get ruined. the group walked over to the edge of the pool before they started to swing her, all of them counting in unison. once they got to three, they let her go, belly flying into the pool with a loud splash.
"how's the water?" jeremiah questioned once belly broke the surface, noa, conrad, and steven laughing.
"guys, i hurt my ankle." belly informed, immediately wiping the smile off of noa's face. belly raised her hand as she looked up at the older teens. "come on."
noa went to go reach for her, but conrad beat her to it, the oldest of the group grabbing onto belly's hand to pull her up. without warning, belly pulled conrad into the pool with her. noa took a step back, glad that she wasn't the one that took belly's hand. she watched as conrad broke the surface, anger written all over his face. he pushed belly back down into the water, the conklin girl pulling him down with her. noa didn't see what had happened underneath, but when the two of them had broke the surface again, belly had pushed conrad off her. noa furrowed her eyebrows, walking over to where belly had swam off to.
"you okay?" she asked as she crouched down, eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"yeah." belly huffed out as she climbed out of the pool.
noa stood up and took a step back, not wanting to get wet. belly happened to see this, a smirk pulling at her lips. noa saw this, immediately realizing what belly wanted to do.
"don't you dare." she said as she took another back.
"what?" belly asked, tilting her head slightly as she took a step forward.
"bela." noa called in a warning tone.
"elle." belly said, saying it in the same tone. "i just wanna hug you."
"you hugged me not even ten minutes ago." noa reminded, eyebrows raised.
belly only shrugged before she lunged forward, pulling noa into a tight hug. noa groaned, only making belly tighten her grip around the taller girl. belly then looked over to jeremiah and steven, not noticing that conrad had gotten out of the pool and went inside the house to dry off. she gave the two boys a certain look, the both of them immediately catching the hint that was being thrown at them. steven walked over to the two girls, gently grabbing belly's phone out of noa's hands before he grabbed the girl's phone out of her pocket. before the fisher girl could do anything about this, jeremiah ran over to them and pushed the girls into the pool, a loud splash echoing through the air.
noa quickly broke the surface, pushing her hair out of her face. she glared over at belly, the conklin girl already looking back at her with an innocent smile. "you little. . ."
"i didn't even do anything." belly shrugged, slowly starting to back away.
noa narrowed her eyes at the younger girl as she started to get closer. then, without any warning, noa started to move faster, not caring about the water that was splashing around her. noa quickly grabbed ahold of belly, dragging her down into the water. the both of them came back up, breaking the surface with wide smiles on their faces. belly quickly shoved noa off her before she splashed the curly haired girl, a scoff leaving noa's lips. this went on awhile, the two girls playing with each other in the pool, neither one of them caring about the fact that they were still in their clothes. jeremiah and steven had ended leaving the two girls there, knowing that they were in their own world now.
✹ ❀ ✧ ❀ ✹
𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 gotten out of the pool, having taken off their shoes before they carefully ran into the house. they went through the back doors, going straight into the kitchen, where susannah was making her infamous iced tea while laurel brough in boxes of food that she had brought on her way. both girls had sat at the kitchen island, ignoring the fact that they were leaving a trail of water behind them.
"you're dripping water all over the place." laurel told the girls, making the both of them turn to look towards her. the park woman then walked away, going to get the girls some towels.
"laur." susannah called, making the woman in question stop. "she's gorgeous." susannah whispered, pointing towards belly.
"i know." laurel whispered back before she went to go complete the task that she had given herself.
"you have always been lovely, but oh, honey, look at you." susannah said to belly, walking around the island before she took belly's hands.
belly laughed, "i think i look pretty much the same."
"you do not look the same at all." susannah shook her head. she then pulled the younger girl into a hug. "you're growing up. you're in bloom." susannah pulled away just as noa reached over the counter to grab the pitcher full of tea, trying to pour herself a glass. "right, noa?"
this made noa freeze in place, her fingers just wrapping around the handle of the pitcher. susannah smiled at he daughter, picking up on the way her cheeks had turned a crimson color. susannah had known that all of her kids would end up with belly. but she just didn't know that that also included her daughter.
laurel had reappeared, handing noa a towel before she wrapped one around belly's shoulders. noa had sent her a smile as a thank you, placing the towel over her head in an awful attempt to stop her hair from dripping.
"laur, she's you all over." susannah said, going back to her iced tea, slicing up some lemons to put inside. all laurel did was laugh.
"people always say i look like my dad." belly said.
"no, when your mom and i first met, she looked just like you." susannah informed, dropping the lemon slices into the pitcher.
"except i had no boobs at all." laurel added, making belly grimace.
noa looked down at the island counter, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. she wondered if she had looked like her biological mother when she was her age. her jaw clenched as she tried to remember what the woman had looked like, but she couldn't. her face was covered, almost like someone had went inside noa's memories with a pen and had scribbled out her mother's face. she doesn't know how long that has been going on, but she had just noticed it recently -- how she couldn't remember what her mother had looked like.
she was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt laurel ruffle her wet curls, making her turn to look at the older woman. laurel raised her eyebrows slightly, silently asking if she was okay. noa gave her a small smile, nodding her head. laurel smiled back, walking over to all of the groceries were on the dining table.
"you should call your father and tell him we got in safely." laurel told her daughter, grabbing a box of cap'n crunch before she walked over to the pantry.
"uh, why don't you tell steven to do it?" belly challenged, noa noticing how she had wrapped the towel around her to bring her some warmth.
"because i'm telling you." laurel answered, giving her daughter a stern look before she walked into the pantry. "he misses you guys when you're gone."
"yeah, but he'll see us at the end of the summer." belly pointed out as susannah handed her a glass of tea. noa perked up when her mother had did the same for her.
"no, he'll be here for the fourth." laurel corrected.
"wait, he's coming here?" belly asked.
"of course. he always comes for the fourth." laurel replied, looking at her daughter with furrowed eyebrows.
"he didn't come last summer." belly reminded.
laurel sighed as she walked over toward susannah. "because we'd just gotten divorce. we're good now."
belly then looked around, noticing that something was missing. well, someone. she smiled when she had seen that noa was basically downing her glass of tea. "where's mr.fisher?"
noa had choked on her tea at the mention of her father, some of it splashing onto her face. she quickly pulled her glass away, going into a coughing fit as she wiped her mouth. belly had gently rubbed her back, wondering why the older girl had reacted the way she did. the one thing that everyone needs to know about noa and adam fisher's relationship is that it was never a good one. adam was fine with his two sons, since that's what he's always wanted. he wanted someone to talk about sports and girls with. but when susannah had informed him that she had decided to take noa in, he wasn't ecstatic about it. he obviously didn't say no, not wanting to be the dickhead that had turned away an orphaned girl, but he had never wanted a daughter. never. noa knew that and she resented him for never showing her the same love that he showed her brothers.
"oh, he's in london." susannah started, walking away from the kitchen island. "they got him going back and forth. he'll join us later in the summer." she came back with a small bouquet in her hand. "for now, it's just the women and the children, just the way we like it."
noa smiled at that, glad that she wouldn't be seeing her dad for awhile. just like her mother had said, it was always the mothers and the five kids. they didn't need anyone else to come and ruin their humble abode.
daij speaks!
wowwwwww did i actually update something???? pigs must be flying. hey guys, i know it's been a long time. i've been wanting to update one of my books for the longest time, but i've been having writer's block and have been struggling mentally. but i'm back, hopefully. i actually miss writing and want to come back, so let's hope that this isn't a one time thing.
i hope u guys enjoyed this chapter🫶🏼