This article, “does Belly have the perfect summer,” contains spoilers regarding the Amazon original series The Summer I Turned Pretty season 1.
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Expectations are high for Belly this summer. The fifteen-year-old realizes that she has changed a great deal since last year and hopes things will be different for her this time around. Her best friend Taylor asks what her summer wish is, and she reveals her love for Conrad. Taylor states that he will definitely notice her this summer, with multiple people commenting on Belly’s altered appearance. These heightened expectations and her need to find love this summer are the main driving forces for Belly, but how exactly was her holiday overall? Did she have the summer of her dreams or was it an absolute nightmare?
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 1 – does Belly have the perfect summer?
Let’s start with the positives. Belly always looked forward to her summer getaway, spending time with friends and family in an idyllic location. Yet there was always one thing missing from her perfect summer. She craved a summer romance, mainly with the mysterious Conrad. Well, Belly finally ticks this goal off her wish list. This summer she manages to have three separate flings and does (thankfully) get to kiss Conrad, numerous times in fact. Her first relationship is with Cam. She gets to live the teen dream, going on dates and making out with the boy of her fantasies. The only problem is Belly doesn’t feel the same spark with Cam that she has for Conrad. They eventually split up and Belly continues to pursue Conrad.
Lucky Belly also gets to date the most desired boy in Cousins Beach, Jeremiah. All the girls flirt with this lifeguard hunk, who interestingly never accepts anyone’s invitation to the debutante ball, except Belly’s. She makes out with this heartthrob and takes the stud to the ball. Then of course, her third relationship of the summer is with Conrad, her one true love. This is a trickier romance. The two seemed to argue or dodge one another’s affections for the most part. Although in the end, Belly does get to kiss Conrad, they dance together at the ball and seem happily paired off with one another in the season’s final scene. What more could she ask for?
Well, it wasn’t all plain sailing for the teen. She did have her fair few ups and downs. The girls of the debutante ball weren’t exactly the kindest. Belly’s love for Conrad putting her in an awkward situation with Conrad’s girlfriend Nicole. In one scene, the girls are skinny dipping and Nicole steals Belly’s clothes, leaving her with nothing but her phone. Belly also shed a lot of tears this summer, falling out with friends and of course plenty of boys. Then the news of Susannah’s cancer was a final, heart-wrenching blow for the teen.
It was a real rollercoaster of a summer for Belly. Because of Susannah’s cancer, she found out the hard way just how selfish she’d become, focusing so blindly on her own woes. Other than this revelation, it is unclear what lessons Belly has learnt. She got everything she wanted and although it was a tough summer emotionally, she didn’t have to do that much to complete all her goals, other than by just being herself. Hopefully in the sequels Belly will be more supportive of others and less self-centered, discovering that she can’t just play with people’s emotions all the time in her search for love.
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