Author's note: Trying something new. It's been a while since I've uploaded anything. All characters here are owned by the lovely Jenny Han. This is just another take on how things could go...some scenes continued, some parts cut out as we move in a different direction. I think you get the picture.

So on with the show.

The chill of the water wasn't lost on her as she glided through it. Stroke after stroke moved her just beneath the surface, diligently. It wasn't like swimming in the daytime, where the temperature ratio between sun and water was a shock to the system. This was like the opposite of a slow burn; The warmth coming from within, leeching out as the liquid cooled her down.

Belly's mind needed cooling down, too. Her irritation from Steven's constant interjections was causing her to feel borderline harassed, like he had something to prove to his adopted "brothers". Like he needed to seem more like an adult, and less like the child he accused his sister constantly of being.

That same irritation made her momentarily forget the object of her perhaps undeserved affection at the other end of the pool, toking on a joint that he adamantly had reminded her just last summer was a horrible thing to be putting into anyone's body; That only losers would do so. Was he, Conrad Fisher, a new entry to the Loser's Club?

She stopped mid-stroke and turned to look at him again.

"Well, I still think you should quit."

Turning in the water she missed his raised eyebrows that caused deep furrows to appear on his forehead as Conrad's mind slowly warmed to teasing her.

"What'll you give me if I do?" he asked with a sly grin.

The question caught her off guard. Belly's mind moved a thousand miles a minute as the white matter they had previously discussed struggled to come up with a coherent response. She turned, keeping her own features as empty as possible.

She looked at the surface of the water, not at Conrad, as she tread closer to him, fingers cutting side to side through it. The closer she got to him the more she allowed her eyes to roam upward. Belly had never been this bold before and hoped her outsides weren't shaking as much as her insides right now. Just a few more inches.

Conrad, surprised at her movements, was watching Belly equally as carefully, trying not to betray his own thoughts. He didn't know how to register this new Belly, who was slinking her fingers up his thighs before placing her hands flat on either side of them to boost herself up closer to his level. He leaned down into her, close enough to smell the chlorine of the pool water mix with her own, natural scent.

Belly moved her head to the side of his, just past his left ear and whispered.

"Nothing. I think you should quit for yourself."

She launched herself backward and twisted to dive back below the surface, rising again several feet away before Conrad could even react. Taylor Jewel would be proud.

"Belly..." Conrad began, but was quickly interrupted by Steven and Jeremiah exiting the patio doors. The rest of his sentence died on the tip of his tongue as she swam to the opposite side of the pool.

"First bonfire of the summer!" Steven proclaimed.

Belly didn't register the other words Jeremiah was saying about driving or not driving. An idea sprung to her, something teenage Belly had asked before and would once again be shot down.

"Can I come, too?"

"Uh, no," Steven replied. Jeremiah threw him a look then smiled lightly at Belly.

"The moms are getting everything set up for your movie night," he said.

Conrad looked at Belly, nodding.

"See ya."

She sighed and dipped back into the water, once again being taken as the little sister. And here I thought maybe, just maybe... Sometimes 'maybe' wasn't meant to be.