"Best friends are important. They're the closest thing to a sister you'll ever have."
The summer that Belly brings Taylor over to Cousins Beach with her is one that causes tension between the two best friends. In fact, Taylor's presence causes resentment that threatens to undo years of friendship. Laurel, however, in keeping with her role in giving sage advice that Belly does not appreciate until later, advises her daughter to cherish her friendship with Taylor. Of course, Belly doesn't take the advice to heart in the moment, but does later on, in reflection.
In the dark you can feel really close to a person. You can say whatever you want.
On an evening beach walk with Cam, Belly tells him that she's glad he came over to have dinner with Susannah, Laurel, Jeremiah, and her. The dinner started out uncomfortably, with a potential conflict broken up slowly by easygoing banter. Only with the cover of night does Belly venture to say these things, and yet, a hint of disingenuousness lies in what she says, for "when you walk on the beach at night, you can say things you can't say in real life...you can say whatever you want."
For me, it was almost like winter didn’t count. Summer was what mattered. My whole life was measured in summers.
Every summer, Belly eagerly goes to the beach house with her family, happy to see Jeremiah, Conrad, and Susannah. Summers represent a space where life can be different, where she can also experiment with new identities while being close to good friends. In particular, she looks forward to the annual Cousins Beach trip because it means being close to her longtime crush, Conrad. In her winter days, she finds herself daydreaming about Conrad in class. Each new summer represents the opportunity for her to finally act upon her crush, for something to happen with Conrad.
I got out of the car and slung my bag over my shoulder. They didn't even notice me walk up at first. But then they did. They really did.
Belly looks forward to summer every year, but this summer is special, for it is the one in which she has "turned pretty." With this newfound physical beauty, Belly finds herself attracting the romantic interest of the Fisher brothers, who had previously viewed her like a "little sister" for the first time.
The Belly Flop was something they'd started about a million summers ago. Probably it had been Steven. I hated it. Even though it was one of the only times I was included in their fun, I hated being the brunt of it. It made me feel utterly powerless, and it was a reminder that I was an outsider, too weak to fight them, all because I was a girl.
Each summer, Belly finds that she is set apart from the boys because of her gender. One manifestation of such setting-apart is the tradition of the "Belly Flop," in which Steven, Jeremiah, and Conrad fling Belly into the pool on her front—her belly. As said in the quote, she doesn't like being seen as an "outsider" and wishes that she could be "in with the boys" as Steven is.
I didn't notice right away that their family had more money than ours.
At some point in her childhood, Belly has the realization that the Fisher family is wealthier than her own. Adam Fisher, working as a banker, helps support his family in a comfortable life. The class difference between the two families' backgrounds explains some of the differences between Susannah and Laurel. Belly notes that Susannah is lavish in her gift-giving, purchasing young Belly expensive jewelry for her birthday; in contrast, Laurel is frugal and practical, buying her sheet music that can be used all year rather than any extravagant present.
She said, "She's fourteen. Where will she wear a dress like that?" Susannah said it didn't matter, that it was made for me. I knew we couldn't afford it, my mother was newly divorced, after all, but I still pleaded with her. I begged. They got into an argument right there in the boutique, in front of people. Susannah wanted to buy it for me, and my mother wouldn't let her. I told them never mind, I didn't want it, even though I did. I knew my mother was right, I'd never wear it.
The difference in wealth between Susannah and Laurel causes conflict when a young Belly falls in love with an expensive, impractical purple dress at the mall. Susannah is ready to purchase the dress for Belly, but ever-rational Laurel won't allow her to. Both a personality and a material difference exist in Susannah and Laurel: Susannah is more open to the purchasing of impractical, decorative items, as well as more materially able to buy such items (i.e. she has the money to afford them). Laurel is both less open to such items and less able to afford their purchase. However, we later discover that Laurel returns to the mall and buys the dress for Belly without saying a word to her daughter.
My birthday always marked the beginning of the end of summer. It was my final thing to look forward to. And this summer I was turning sixteen.
“Every birthday [Belly has] ever had has been in [Susannah’s beach house].” Over the years, the celebration takes on a ritualistic symbolism in not only the commemoration of her birth, but also the recognition that it is time to put the carefree fantasy world of summer behind and head back to the quotidian reality. This particular year also marks one of those landmark birthdays that symbolize a turning point in maturation—it is the year she turns 16, the one in which she also “turns pretty.” From this moment forth, summer has begun to end, and so has Belly’s childhood.
They looked alike. I'd never noticed how alike they looked. But right then they looked like brothers.
Though Belly underscores the differences between Conrad and Jeremiah all throughout the novel—for her Conrad is temperamental and irresistible, Jeremiah is loving and a great friend—she suddenly realizes that they look quite similar, which should be no surprise because they are, after all, brothers. In this moment, the two are fighting, with Jeremiah airing his frustrated feelings at Conrad's blasé attitude and moodiness in the face of their mother's cancer. Despite his similarity in appearance to Conrad, however, Jeremiah still cannot attract Belly's affection, which he desires, suggesting that rather than appearance, something else attracts Belly to Conrad.
"What's wrong with her?"
"She has a summer cold," my mother said automatically.
My mother was a terrible liar. Susannah had been spending a lot of time in her room, and there was a sadness to her that hadn't been there before. I knew something was up. I just wasn't completely sure what.
Before she finds out about Susannah's cancer, Belly passingly notes that Susannah hasn't been herself this summer, and that both Laurel and Susannah have been gone from the house more frequently than in past summers. In fact, the entire household works to keep Belly in the dark about Susannah's cancer so that they can fulfill Susannah's wish to have one more normal summer.
