Summary
In Chapter 19, Steven leaves the beach house to go on a college tour with his dad, and we learn that he won’t be returning again that summer. While Belly and her brother frequently bicker over the course of the novel, she realizes that she’ll miss him when he’s gone. What’s more, she feels as if Steven’s presence helps maintain the status quo of “boys against girls,” and that his leaving will somehow disturb this equilibrium, potentially creating discomfort.
Chapter 20 is a flashback scene in which Conrad defends an 11-year-old Belly against the teasing remarks of Steven and Jeremiah. When Steven remarks that a comment Belly made is “stupid,” Conrad defends her: “’I don’t think it’s stupid. I think I agree with her.’ Conrad gave me this look, the kind of look I bet soldiers give each other when they’re teaming up against somebody else. It was like we were in it together."
Chapters 21 to 27 deal with scenes in the present. In Chapter 21, Belly is invited to a Fourth of July bonfire party hosted by Clay Bertolet, another Cousins Beach regular who is slightly older than the Fisher boys. She attends, along with the Fisher brothers. It is her first-ever party, and she feels out of place. Clay, Jeremiah, and Conrad seem comfortable in this scene, and are all talking to girls, leaving Belly alone. Uncomfortable, Belly looks around and pretends to be busy. Eventually she notices another person standing by himself, and approaches him.
She notes that this boy is tall, with long lashes that lend him a friendly, boyish charm. The boy, whose name she will eventually learn is Cam, recognizes her from a Latin Convention that the two participated in in the eighth grade. Cam won first place in the competition, and Belly second. The two connect instantly, and Cam, leaving the party early, offers Belly a ride home in his car. She agrees, but when she goes to say goodbye to Conrad, the two get into a fight—he won’t let her get into the car of a stranger. Cam and Belly end up staying at the bonfire longer, and Cam ends up giving Belly his hoodie when he notices that she’s cold.
Chapters 22 through 27 deal with Belly’s budding romantic relationship with Cam. The two call each other and go on a series of dates. Eventually, Cam asks her to go to a party with him. Conrad and Jeremiah insist on also going to the party. While at the party, Cam and Belly are again connecting well when suddenly Belly realizes that Conrad has started a fight with an older, tougher, and stronger man. She quickly runs over and tries to intervene, quickly realizing how drunk Conrad has gotten. She and Jeremiah take him home in the car, but not before Belly and Conrad share an intimate moment in the car, with him stroking her hair. She senses that Conrad wants to tell her something, but before he gets the chance to, Jeremiah returns.
Belly feels torn between her longstanding crush on Conrad, stoked by the car scene, and her budding romance with Cam. Ultimately, Cam asks her out to the drive-in, and she agrees, but only after first worrying about whether “[they] were going to have to make out.” Despite this worry and some apprehension on the date, Belly begins to feel comfortable with Cam when Cam opens up about how he was able to remember her from that Latin Convention they competed in years ago: he tells her that he thought she was “maybe the prettiest girl [he’d] ever seen.” The two kiss, her first real kiss with a boy she is romantically interested in. The pair continue to see each other for weeks, and eventually Cam comes over to the Fisher home for dinner. Though Jeremiah teases him at first, Cam is eventually accepted by him, Susannah, and Laurel.
When Cam takes Belly home from their drive-in date, Belly hears her mother and Susannah fighting. Concerned, she asks the two what they are fighting about, but the two women deny that they were fighting at all. Laurel walks off, still upset, while Susannah brushes off her own feelings and asks Belly how her date went. Belly excitedly recounts that she had a great time.
In Chapter 26, Conrad breaks the news to Belly that Susannah and Adam are getting a divorce, the reason for Susannah’s sadness this summer and also why Adam has not made a single appearance at the summer home that year yet. Belly realizes that the divorce must be both why Conrad has been so withdrawn and why Susannah has been so sad all summer.
In Chapter 27, Cam is invited over to the Fisher house for dinner, where he meets Susannah and Laurel. Conrad eats early and skips the group dinner. During the meal, Jeremiah asks Cam why he doesn’t eat meat, and how he feels about kissing Belly, who is a meat eater, on the mouth. Proving that he really doesn’t mind, Cam kisses Belly right at the table. Laurel chimes in that Cam isn’t allowed to do anything more, and bursts out laughing. Mortified by the teasing, Belly attempts to leave the dinner table with Cam in order to eat alone with him on the porch. He refuses to, telling her to calm down, leaving Belly feeling even more embarrassed. However, she acquiesces and sits back down; after this initial awkwardness, Cam settles in comfortably into the dinner dynamic. After the meal, the pair walk on the beach together, and Cam expresses that he thinks Conrad may be interested romantically in Belly because of “the way he looks at [her].”
Analysis
Steven's departure serves as a symbol that this summer will be different—Belly will be left alone with the Fishers without the presence of her brother. Further, Steven's departure introduces the theme of initiation: with her big brother gone, Belly has the freedom to join parties and activities that she otherwise wouldn't have been invited to, leading 16-year-old Belly to experience a series of “firsts.” She thus becomes “initiated” into “big girl” experiences that she did not have access to in previous summers.
For instance, this year, Belly is invited to Clay's bonfire, and the experience is a novel one for her. This novelty incites excitement and fear, especially when she finds that the older Fisher boys know exactly how to behave at parties, leaving her to be by herself.
In fact, being alone for the first time is the facilitating factor for Belly's firsts: only by being left alone at the party does she venture to speak to Cam, who becomes another series of firsts for her—a first real kiss, first romance, first time bringing a boy home to her mom.
At the same time, other firsts outside of Belly's realm of control crop up: Conrad begins to behave differently around her, getting drunk, aggressive, and moody, but also strangely seeming to care more frequently; she hears Susannah and her mother fighting for the first time; and learns that Adam and Susannah are getting divorced.
These sets of new experiences that Belly has can be understood as two contrasting poles: on the one hand, she finally gains some agency—she's allowed to go to a “big girl” party for the first time, ventures out to speak to a boy and starts to build a potential relationship with him. This newfound agency on Belly's part contributes to her growth and self-exploration. On the other hand, factors out of her control also force her to confront new and uncomfortable realities, like that of an at-times belligerent Conrad, Susannah's divorce, and being afraid of needing to make out with Cam at the drive-in. She must navigate these exciting, confusing, and at-times-scary new experiences, whether they are within or without her control.
