The Summer I Turned Pretty, #3
We'll Always Have Summer
by Jenny Han
Contents
Chapter Six
Overview
Belly reels after learning Jeremiah had sex during their breakup, fixating on her own virginity and the intimacy he shared with Lacie. She recalls a tender night tied to Susannah’s memory and realizes the relationship’s innocence is gone. The betrayal reshapes Belly’s expectations for their future.
Summary
Belly obsesses over images of Jeremiah with Lacie, imagining them together in places she can’t escape. The comparison stings because Belly is a virgin and had been saving her first time for when it felt right, recently believing this summer at Cousins with Jeremiah would be it.
She remembers how she trusted that Jeremiah would wait for her readiness, and now feels humiliated by that faith. The idea that Lacie knows Jeremiah in a way Belly does not becomes the sharpest point of betrayal.
Belly flashes back to a month earlier, near the anniversary of Susannah’s death, when she and Jeremiah fell asleep wrapped around each other like innocent kids. That memory, once comforting, now feels contaminated. Belly concludes that everything from March to now has been tainted by his choice, and she questions how they can continue.
Who Appears
- Belly (Isabel Conklin)Narrator; struggles with Jeremiah’s infidelity, her virginity, and the loss of their relationship’s innocence.
- Jeremiah FisherBoyfriend who confessed to sex during their breakup; once tender with Belly, now a source of betrayal.
- Lacie BaroneGirl from Jeremiah’s frat circle; implied hookup partner during Cabo, symbolizing Belly’s deepest insecurity.
- Susannah FisherJeremiah’s late mother; her death anniversary frames Belly’s memory of a tender, innocent night.