"The Summer I Turned Pretty" Fan Scholarship

In "The Summer I Turned Pretty" series, both Conrad and Jeremiah have moments where I loved and hated them. Jeremiah's sweet nature made him a lovable character, but his jealousy and impulsive moments made me strongly dislike him at times. Conrad on the other hand is an intriguing and kindhearted character, but his inability to communicate with Belly at times made him hard to root for. However, by the end of the series, I found myself on Team Conrad for multiple reasons, which all stem from him ultimately being better suited for Belly than Jeremiah. Conrad and Jeremiah's realizations that they loved Belly showed drastic differences in their character that made me Team Conrad. In "It's Not Summer Without You", the second novel of the series, Jenny Han switches the narration from Belly over to Jeremiah, where he reveals the moment he realized he was in love with Belly. He had watched an intimate moment between Belly and Conrad and said "I was jealous. Crazy jealous of Conrad. For as long as any of us could remember, she had loved Conrad. All I knew was I wanted her to look at me like that." However, "We'll Always Have Summer", the third book of the series, which includes Conrad's perspective, when he's asked when he knew he was in love with Belly, he says "There hadn't been one specific moment. It was like gradually waking up. You go from being asleep to the space between dreaming and awake and then into consciousness. It's a slow process, but when you're awake, there's no mistaking it. There was no mistaking that it had been love." As reflected in these two quotes, Jeremiah's love for Belly revolved around his jealousy of his brother, and his desire to beat Conrad. Jeremiah spent his whole life feeling inferior to Conrad, and he only began to show interest in Belly when he noticed Belly and Conrad getting closer. Conrad however had no other reason for loving Belly than that he loved her for her. He felt that way about her long before she and Jeremiah got together, and couldn't fall out of love with her even after believing she no longer felt the same. Additionally, when comparing the two relationships, it's clear that Belly was much more in love with Conrad than she ever was with Jeremiah. With Jeremiah, she was constantly finding herself annoyed over the little details like Jeremiah not remembering that she doesn't like Indian food, Jeremiah ordering an expensive meal knowing Belly's dad would be paying, and other small moments that bothered her enough to include in her narration of events. However, when she was with Conrad, every moment they spent together was described from a place of love, like Conrad and Belly driving up to the summer house one winter together, Conrad teaching her infinity on Valentine's day, and other instances throughout their relationship that Belly viewed as essentially perfect moments. Belly's love for Conrad is much deeper than her love for Jeremiah, as Belly undoubtedly believes that Conrad is her soulmate, and she admits to still loving him even while she is with Jeremiah. Jeremiah is a flawed character, who tries to do right by Belly but ultimately fails largely due to the pressure to live up to the standards that Belly had because of Conrad. which is why I'm Team Conrad. Conrad loves and knows Belly more than Jeremiah ever could and is the better choice for a multitude of reasons, the main being that Belly is more in love with Conrad than she ever was with Jeremiah.