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This story starts when it was hot and it was summer and the moment she stepped out of the car, I knew I was done for. She had legs for days. I didn’t even need to look at her face. Red hot lust filled every inch of my being. I was gonna hit that.
Except, before I could even speak my best wattpad line, he entered the picture. Conrad. He was her Prince Charming, and we all knew it. Belly had been in love with Conrad her whole life. And, as much as I tried to deny it, he was in love with her too -despite his never showing an interest and thinking she was just a kid- they were star crossed lovers. Except with nothing in the way. I knew it, everyone knew it. But that didn't matter. My selfish heart (or lack thereof) was sick of Conrad getting everything. Everyone. I wanted to be the golden child for once. And the best way to do that, was to take Belly right out from under him.
I forgot that I was supposed to care when she hurt her ankle in the pool, let Conrad take care of her as always. It wasn’t long before I remembered though, so I quickly went to her room and convinced her to come swimming with me, before Conrad had a chance. In the ocean, I play fought with her just for a chance to feel her up. She really did get hot.
Later, when she turned up at the bonfire, I made sure to smile at her, act like I wanted her there. But then I got distracted by these girls that I knew would put out, and some curly haired dude got talking with her. I didn’t mind though, I don’t care who is with her as long as it’s not Conrad.
It’s good actually, I can give up on my plan for a bit if she’s going to be dating this guy. I go back to throwing darts at the photo of Conrad’s face in my room for a few weeks, until the unimaginable happens, making me pick up my game again. (Note- it may have looked like I was insanely jealous of this Cam guy on her birthday, but I promise you that was just sibling vibes).
So, it’s the fourth of July, and I see them almost kiss out on the pier. What the fuck. I’m filled with anger and jealousy, not because I really like her, but because I don't want him to have her. I try to murder them with a firework, but unfortunately I miss because I’ve never been as good as Conrad at throwing things. Or catching things. Like cheeseburgers.
I’m not sure almost blowing their heads off was enough of a death threat to stop them getting together, because she is like a moth to a flame when it comes to him. As soon as I get up the next day, I notice Conrad is the happiest he’s been in months. It must be because of Belly. Shit. And while it's perfectly reasonable for a 16 year old girl to be held responsible for a grown man’s happiness, I’m going to mess it up.
I make a beeline to the Country Club to really set my plan in action. I dance with Belly at the deb ball practice, which is tedious, but at least some of the debs are looking at me, so I guess I might get some action out of it.
Conrad turns up, all good intentions and the purest of morals. Except Belly can’t tell if he’s waving at her or the girl he’s actually dating, which is a point in my favour.
Afterwards, I run into Nicole, the one who has been seeing Conrad since the start of Summer, the one whose house he’s been sleeping over, and tell her she should ask him to the Frank Ocean concert she’s going to. It’s way out of line, because they’ve only been hanging out for a few months now, but she doesn’t notice how strange it is for me to suggest it. Lucky she seems to think they’re exclusive- maybe him staying at her house and not seeing anyone else all summer gave her that idea- and I get away with it.
When I see Conrad later he says he’s going. Excellent. Now he’s out of the house, I can get Belly out of his pure, angelic clutches and to myself. Except I’ve messed up the math, because the concert isn’t until next weekend, and I want to make my move tonight. Either way, I’m sure it’s changed the trajectory of our lives. It was a big move, I won’t lie.
I almost feel bad, because he’s clearly in love with Belly and only continuing to date Nicole because of some awful trauma that he is hiding from the family, and he only ever started dating Nicole because he is a sad boi. I’m sure she doesn’t mind at all that he’s stringing her along, she’s happy to waste her whole summer on him as long as it means he has a good time in the midst of turmoil. It definitely doesn’t reflect anything on his character, that he’s using her like that.
It makes me angry, actually, and filled with jealously as green as the firework I tried to kill them with last night. Why is he so perfect? Why does he always do everything to right way like this all the time? Him kissing Belly while dating Nicole, and while Belly was dating Cam, is the sort of thing he’d do, with a strong moral compass like his. Letting both girls have a bit of the great Conrad Fisher while letting Cam have the night off. He’s such a good guy. One day, I’ll be as good as him.
So, I lurk in the shadows like the villain that I am, listening to everyone’s conversation so I can say exactly the right thing to convince Belly to be with me. I just have to work around her free will, make her feel like she doesn’t have any choice.
I get her when she’s vulnerable. The most vulnerable she’ll ever be, probably. (I mean I could wait until she finds out my mom has cancer and hit her with an ‘I need you’ to get what I want, but obviously I don’t know that part of the plot yet, so her being upset over stamp collecting Conrad will have to do).
I know the pool is her sacred place, so I jump right in, smashing all her boundaries because I can. I catch her off guard, lay out a speech I got from chatGPT, and boom, she’s kissing me. I kiss people all the time, so I know it’s good, and suddenly I’ve got her right where I want her.
Now this is when the plan starts to go a little bit awry. She doesn’t speak to me for almost a week. And it’s nothing to do with the kiss invading everything. It definitely didn’t affect her. I bet she doesn’t even remember it. She’s not dreaming about it or anything. It wasn’t like it was real, and scary, and so she’s avoiding me. It’s only because she really wants Conrad. I know he’s like a hamster on a wheel in her head. Just Conrad Conrad Conrad round and round, there isn’t a single other thought in there.
Meanwhile, I’ve realised that my mom has been acting strange. She’s tired, and smoking a lot of pot. She’s been sick with cancer before, so I start to get worried. I ask Conrad about it at a party, and he deflects in that kind, caring manner he always uses. I can tell he’s looking out for me, like he always does. I’m glad he doesn’t make me feel like an idiot for worrying.
It annoys me though, because everything about him annoys me, and I decide I need to amp up my plan to get Belly out from his spell. I had my chance at the volleyball game today, but instead I made things worse. It was because I never take anything seriously and Belly and I would never work in real life. It had nothing to do with the fact I’ve never been good at volleyball. I didn’t even try, I just didn’t really care about her enough to suddenly be good at something I’ve never been good at. I am the worst.
Anyway, Conrad came swooping in, and the extremely long sequence of them playing volleyball together made me realise that they are meant to be. If they can win a tournament like that, how good would their marriage be? Unbreakable, I’m sure. Unless he decides later that marrying her was a mistake and tells her in front of a whole room of people to publicly humiliate her. But sweet, golden Conrad would never do something like that. And if he did, it would definitely somehow be Belly's fault. She's always making him say things he doesn't mean. She's awful like that, controlling the words that come out of his mouth.
I’m trying to figure out how to make my comeback, when my phone rings. It’s Belly. Sometimes these things are just fate.
It’s perfect timing, because Conrad’s off with Nicole- that girl he has been seeing all summer but is definitely not dating - she seems mad, which is really unfair on Conrad because he is just trying to do his best. She shouldn’t have dated him. Everyone in this town should be well aware that Conrad is in love with Belly. It’s Nicole’s fault for not communicating with Conrad, not asking him if he happens to be chasing his mom’s best friends daughter that he told her was ‘just a sophomore’. She should have really taken the hint when on Belly’s birthday, Conrad decided to ditch Belly and hang out with Nicole instead. I mean if that didn’t make it obvious to Nicole that Conrad was in love with Belly, it’s her own fault. The fact that he slept over at Nicole’s house that night should have made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t interested in Nicole at all. Or when he was canoodling with Nicole in front of Belly on the Fourth. Girls, I swear. How do they get themselves in these situations?
So we pick the girls up, and Belly gets in my car. I must have orchestrated this somehow, because there’s no way she would do that of her own free will. It’s a win for me though.
She says some stuff, I can’t remember what, but we end up kissing and she puts my hand on her boob -woooo- and asks me to the deb ball.
In the driveway before the deb ball, I lay it on thick- I twirl her and kiss her and offer to support her all night. I just want her to know that we’re together. I mean a random hook up isn’t doing this shit, are they? It’s part of my plan to lock her down with me, so she can’t be with who she really wants, my brother.
I make sure to really hype her up at the deb ball. Tell her she’s a goddess. Look at her like she hung the stars.
But then, because I just can’t help being an asshole, I completely abandon her, and grab my moms phone. It’s just a stupid deb ball anyway, I don’t care if I ruin it for her. I think I might find some good gossip on my mom’s phone, so I take it and leave Belly alone. Ha. See what she thinks about that.
Outside, I learn that my mom is dying. I don’t know why I waste time crying when I should be inside dancing with Belly. That is clearly far more important than this, and I don’t even care that I’ve ruined Belly’s big night. I really am just an asshole.
When I go back inside- not because I pull myself together enough to be there for Belly, but because I’m hungry or some other selfish reason- I see Belly dancing with Conrad. I’m tempted to go and pull them apart right there and then, but instead I wait until the end of the dance. I have to watch them dancing together in a way that is so hot and steamy I’m surprised the whole place hasn’t gone up in flames. When the music finally ends, I approach them with nothing but anger in my heart.
I’m so mad at Belly for dancing with Conrad that I ignore her, focus on him instead. I want to tell him about mom, about her being sick again. You would think it’s because my natural instinct is to let him know what’s going on with his mom, to work through this together- but it’s not. It’s for some cruel, evil reason that even I can’t come up with right now. Whatever my intentions are, they’re never good.
He knows! I can see it in his eyes! He has known for months that our mom is dying and he’s let me spend my whole summer slutting around and making evil plans to steal Belly, when I could have been spending time with her. But I’m not even mad about that. I’m mad that he was dancing with Belly, that he has ruined my genius plan. He must not get away with this.
So I punch him. Right in the face. I can pretend it’s about mom, but really I’m just an angry, cruel little man. Take that, golden boy.
I am actually devastated about the fact that my mother, the only person who has ever really seen me - apart from Belly, thank god I still have her- is dying, that I forget about my master plan to ruin Conrad- for awhile. But don’t worry- that’s what season 2 is for.
When Belly comes to me in the morning and tells me she kissed Conrad, I’m angry. Not because we were just kissing literally 12 hours ago and I thought we were starting something. Not because it hurt that she didn’t talk to me before starting something with him. Definitely not because I just found out my mom is dying from cancer last night, and I need my best friend. It’s none of those things, not for a second. It’s because I’m angry and jealous that she chose Conrad over me, when I was about to win.
I pull the cancer card to try and make her feel bad. I know I shouldn’t, I’ve already had a full 12 hours to come to terms with the fact that my mom is dying and everyone in my family kept it a secret from me for months. It’s not even relevant anymore, I had actually completely forgotten about it until Belly came in the room. I don’t know why I expected my best friend not to kick me when I'm down, at the worst time in my life. I should have congratulated her, given her a high five, and offered to officiate the wedding. But I’m not that guy. Too evil, you see.
I didn’t win, so now I’m fuming. I hold it against Belly for like 8 months. I know I should call her, support her while my mom is dying, but it turns out that being the only person at home with a dying person is actually pretty full on.
Not that I can complain, Conrad had to do this his whole life. Every summer, he had to watch the three of us kids, all less than 1.5 years younger than him (don’t do the math, trust me, it doesn’t work). How much pressure that must have been! Basically the same as being the sole carer for our dying mother. I mean, he wouldn’t know about that, because he stuck his head in the sand and skipped out on all of that. I guess it was more important to bone Belly on the floor and excel at college. At least he was helping Belly with volleyball and keeping her grades up too, I’m sure.
I only pick up the phone because I think now that her and Conrad have broken up, maybe I really will get a chance to hit that. I mean, she’s so fickle she doesn’t care who she ends up with, as long as it’s a Fisher, and I’m one of those! It’s worth a shot anyway. You would think I would be grieving the recent loss of my mother but instead I’m still just brimming with lust and anger.
Conrad is missing, you see. I don’t really care, but I still call all his friends and drive around looking for him, just because I have nothing better to do. He still hasn’t returned my calls or replied to any of my texts, and I start to actually worry he’s not alive. And what would the point of my existence be then? If I don’t have Conrad to compete with? Except when we get there I find out he’s been texting his roommate about taking notes, and I’m reminded again what a good, solid man Conrad is. Still being responsible about his school work at a time like this! I’m glad he didn’t bother to let me know that he is still alive, as long as he has notes for his class. He was always very good at prioritising the right things. Like I’m sure he made sure to spend lots of quality time with our mom the last summer she was sick, and not spend it leading on two girls.
Anyway, Bells looks hot but I’m jealous when Conrad’s roommate mentions how sad Conrad was when they broke up. I’m not jealous because I still have feelings for her and it hurts to think of them together, I’m just pleased that Conrad was hurt, and I start to wonder how I can make it even harder for him.
Belly decides to come with me. I tell her I don’t want her to, but really it’s all reverse psychology- part of my evil plan to ruin Conrad’s life.
On the way back to Cousins, the Jeep gets a flat.
I’m angry. Because I don’t know how to change a tyre and that’s a clear indication of how terrible a person, and love interest I am. It’s not because I’m stressed about what is happening with my clearly struggling brother, a month after our mom died. It’s got nothing to do with the fact I have to sit in close proximity with my ex best friend, who lead me on and then ditched me for my brother the day I found out my mom was dying. It’s got nothing at all to do with the fact that the last time we were in a car together, we were kissing and went to second base and she asked me to be her date to the deb ball. Not a single one of those thoughts are in my head. I’m just angry because I have a flat tyre. It’s the worst.
Belly tells me she knows how to change a tyre, but she doesn’t help, she just tells me what to do in a way that is condescending and not actually helpful at all. I guess this is the girl that grew up being taught things by Conrad, so it makes sense this is how she thinks you teach someone something. I’m going to get a D in tyre changing, just like she did in Trig.
We end up fighting because I’m embarrassed I can’t change a tyre.
I hide my embarrassment by making stuff up that I’m angry at her about. Like ditching me for my brother at the worst time of my life. Like not being around when my mom was dying. Pretend like I needed my best friend at the time. Really, I didn’t. It works though, and somehow I get her to admit to forgetting about me. I mean, it’s not true. I’m the one that pushed her away. She texted me at least twice after last Summer. She never called, never came to the house with Laurel to try and talk to me. When she admits to focusing on Conrad and forgetting about me, I can’t believe I’ve twisted her thinking to make her believe that. It’s not like she was constantly on the phone to Conrad and never calling me. It’s not like she said she’d bring food up to me at the funeral and left because of Conrad instead. It’s like she’s a puppet and I can get her to say whatever I want.
But we end up hugging, and I manage to fake some tears, and I make her cry, which is a win. I swear she looks at my lips when we hug, and I have to look away. Not because there’s still clearly feelings still between us, or we want to kiss each other. I know that hamster is still on a wheel in her head. Conrad Conrad Conrad.
I pretend to be her friend again after that. Plan: make Conrad’s like miserable by taking his ex girlfriend, is in full swing.
I do stop and get pie for her when I hear her stomach rumble, because who would drive a girl all the way to Cousins and not stop for food, or have any prepared? I’m not a monster. There’s probably only dusty cocoa at the house anyway, and I’m not that much of a loser I’d make Belly go hungry.
When we get there, Conrad is there. So he is okay. Although the way he is fiddling with the painting above the fireplace is a bit concerning, and he looks like he may have aged about 10 years since I last saw him. He’s being very mature about missing school, and it turns out the house is for sale. He seems to think stroking the painting will solve the problem.
He is rude to Belly about being there, which is fair enough. Who does she think she is, spending all day on a bus and searching his college and coming here to help me find him, anyway? She’s actually just as much of an awful person as I am. I’m sure he’s being mean to her for her own good, anyway. It’s another one of those signs that he is deeply in love with her. How could he not be? It’s so obvious when he tears her down and belittles her and treats her like a child.
I leave, which I intently regret, because I’ve left them alone together and I’m so insecure that I can’t actually cope with them being in the same room at all.They've got that invisible force between them, the one that makes them almost kiss all the time. Oh, hang on, no. That's me and Belly. Belly and Conrad have the force that makes them always bring out the worst in each other. Whatever it is, it's invisible and I'm wildly jealous of the way it allows him to ruin every single important moment in her life. I wish that could be me.
Except Belly ends up in my room, sitting on my bed. She knows I can’t make my bed though, which is another strike against my name if I ever want to be with her. I acknowledge how hard it must be for her to be here, and thank her for coming, just to try and cover up my lack of skills with the sheets (not to be confused with my skills between the sheets, which I do not lack).
I see her and Conrad talking at the pool after that, I’m sure he is also thanking her for coming and apologising for being so cruel to her when we arrived. There’s no way he’d waste the opportunity to start to fix things with her. Since he loves her so much.
The next few days fly by. We go to the boardwalk, and I can tell Belly still loves Conrad when she yells ‘eat my dust, bro’ at him. She clearly still sees him as the love of her life. Meanwhile he dares her to go on the Tower of Terror, knowing she's terrified, and is going to sit back and watch her freak out on it on her own. He is always challenging her like that.
As evil and narcissistic as I am, it seems cruel just to watch her do it on her own, so I offer to go on it with her. Except I’m terrified too, and we end up reaching for each other for comfort. It’s almost like there’s a charge building between us when we lock eyes, but that cant be true. Not with Conrad just below us. Why would she ever choose the guy that falls with her, over the guy who just watches her fall from the sidelines? That would be crazy.
Conrad doesn’t even notice us holding hands, which is annoying because I wanted to make him jealous. I guess he just doesn’t really notice Belly at all, actually. I’m going to have to up my game.
We end up staying at the Country Club overnight because the house is empty. Nothing like going back to the place your world fell apart for some fun and games.
We play truth or dare, and Skye dares Belly to kiss me. That jokster! I don’t do it, though. Even though it would hurt Conrad. I must forget that that’s the whole reason I’m here. The whole reason for my life.
Belly comes and talks to me afterwards. She asks why I didn’t kiss her. It’s an interesting question. I assumed she would think it was because of Conrad, but clearly she isn’t thinking about him at all. Which is weird. Maybe the hamster wheel is broken.
I tell her that it’s because if I kissed her I wouldn’t be able to stop, which is just a line I saw in some fanfic I was reading last night, and doesn’t at all mean If I love you again I wouldn’t be able to stop. Not in any way.
I realise that she wants to kiss me, and maybe I can sneak in and steal Conrad’s girl after all. He’s making it very easy with the lack of attention he’s paying her. And she seems to have forgotten that he’s alive when we sleep next to each other all night. It’s like she forgets he is literally right above our heads. Yet, I know they are still in love with each other. I know that even though she chooses to sleep next to me, that it’s him she really wants.
We have a party! I throw some more watt pad lines at Belly, and I almost get her to kiss me on the couch where anyone could see. The plan is working! We all end up drunk and fighting though, and I am very, very mean to Conrad.
He tells me to grow up (again) and tries to make another decision without talking to me. It’s not like I took care of our mother basically by myself the year that she was dying. It’s not like I have grown up. He should make all the decisions, even though he was barely around last year because hiding from reality is what he does. I should just let him walk all over me, like he always does to everyone.
Anyway, calling him a coward and someone I don’t want to know is something I do just because I’m really mean, and not because he has repeatedly made decisions that hurt me over the last year. He is a literal angel, and I should be nicer.
I see him and Belly come back in from the beach, both clearly upset, and I realise that she chose to go to him, again. Like she always does. Maybe my plan isn’t working after all. I need to step up the manipulation and cruelty. If I only I had some mud to throw, or a concert to send Conrad to.
In the morning I follow Belly to the beach after Laurel slaps her, because even though I know she wants to be alone, I want to insert myself. She starts defending Conrad, and I control her by cutting her off. It’s not that I don’t want to re-hash the last time she chose him over me and broke my heart, when I know it’s what’s going to happen again. I just like not letting her speak.
She tells me that there is nothing left between her and Conrad, but I know she is just in denial, a stupid, confused little girl who doesn’t know her own mind or heart and is just lying to herself. She can’t possibly ever get over a mediocre man who uses her insecurities to hurt her and makes her hate herself. Just because she wants to move on, doesn’t mean she gets that choice. No woman should ever get to make a choice like that. Not on her own! She needs Ivy College attending white guys to make it for her. Plus destiny and my mother have other ideas. But I’m still hoping to make out with her later, even though I know she's destined to marry Conrad. This is about her picking her future husband at the ripe old age of 16, after all.
We end up helping Conrad study. His junior high school biology knowledge is top notch and I’m sure he’ll pass this very difficult college exam. And then I’ll see him shipped off to Stanford, as far away from Belly as possible. I definitely don’t need my brother around since my mom just died, and it’s complete coincidence that I had planned to go to college 15 minutes from him. I’ll be nothing but happy to have my brother on the other side of the country, as long as he is away from Belly. I just want to win, and that’s only possible if he is far, far away. I've got no concern at all about being with Belly if she still wants him. That would actually be best case scenario. Who wouldn't want to be with someone who dreams about their brother? I'm all in.
We drop him off at Brown, and I know this is my last chance to get him back. To steal Belly. So I lay on the charm. I know exactly what she wants in a guy, and it just happens to be everything I am anyway. So I get to be myself for a few hours and lure her into my deceitful web. It’s evil brilliance.
I can tell I’ve got her when she wants to kiss me in the gymnasium at Finch. But, I’ve got a better idea. If I time this perfectly (I’ve improved since the Frank Ocean situation), we can kiss right where Conrad can see us. On his car preferably. At his college. I’ll make sure Belly is still wearing his sweater too. And it works. Perfect. It’s exactly what I wanted, Conrad to interrupt the moment Belly and I finally kiss. Wouldn’t want it any other way.
I’ve managed to manipulate Belly so drastically that she wants to take Conrad’s car and leave him at college with all his dorm stuff. This plan is going even better than I expected.
Conrad is a delight as we try to drive home. I’m not sure how Belly couldn’t want this man. He is cruel, condescending, petty and just downright creepy the whole way. I better make sure I lock her in quickly, before she remembers what a good catch he is.
A storm ends with us stuck at a motel together. I’m going to use that reverse psychology trick again, since it worked so well last time, and convince them to talk to each other. It could go terribly wrong, because allowing them to talk when they are so clearly madly in love with each other might backfire, but I have faith in my plan. I even fake some tears, to make it look like I have a heart. Really, I’m just so excited to be this close to winning.
I really only tell Conrad and Belly to talk to each other because I know she’s already picked me, and I want to rub it in his face, make him hurt more. I mean, that makes no sense if they are truly in love with each other, because wouldn’t they just work it out when they spoke?
But anyway, they don’t.
When I wake up in the morning, I leave. I’ll tell Belly it’s to get breakfast, but in reality I want Belly to panic and think she’s lost me again. Just incase she hasn’t actually chosen me yet (even though I just said she already has). Because really, she only wants me because she’s worried that I’ll take my friendship away again. I almost ruin the whole plan by telling her that we’ll always be good, and then panic, because what if she takes me at my word and doesn’t choose me? I didn’t plan on ever following through on these words. I knew she was picking me. Or did I know it was always going to be Conrad? I don’t know. I can’t keep track of my own delusional theories at this point.
Anyway, she chooses me! She kisses me. I kiss her.
I did it! I took her faster than you could say sabotage.
But it’s in this moment, that I realise it. I’ve fucked up. Massively.
It hits me like a tonne of bricks. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with Isabel Conklin.
And now she’s mine.