Warning: This story contains spoilers for "The Summer I Turned Pretty" Season Two.
After eight episodes of beach house parties, childhood nostalgia, Taylor Swift songs and summer love, "The Summer I Turned Pretty" finale is here, and Belly is faced with a choice between the Fisher boys: Conrad or Jeremiah?
Told through a series of flashbacks, Season Two unpacked how her relationship with her first crush Conrad developed after their kiss on the beach closed out Season One.
What began as sweet phone calls turned into dates, including an intimate night spent at the Cousins Beach house. But after Susannah's death, Conrad's grief created distance between him and Belly leading to their breakup at prom.
This summer, Belly and Conrad seek closure for their failed relationship, while she and Jeremiah resume their friendship, after she picked Conrad over him. But feelings start to develop, leading them to kiss in the penultimate episode, which Conrad witnesses.
“There are multiple, gradual shifts throughout the script,” Lola Tung told TODAY.com before the start of the season. “You start to get a little torn between the boys.”
With all the cards on the table, who did Belly pick at the end of Season Two, and why?
Who does Belly pick, Conrad or Jeremiah?
In the end, Belly picks Jeremiah. The two slowly fall for each other over a movie night, holding hands on a rollercoaster, a friendly splash fight in the pool and finally, with a confession from Jeremiah.
"If I fall for you again, I don't think I can take it if you change your mind like last time," he says, after Belly asks for a second chance at a relationship between them.
She responds by saying Conrad was a "dream," something she no longer wants.
"I want something real," she says.
In the finale, after the two are caught kissing by Conrad, the trio still has to make it back home, but unfortunately get caught in a torrential rain storm on the way. They pull over at a motel and all have to share one room.
Conrad is upset about their burgeoning relationship and lashes out at Belly, telling her he never wanted her. But Jeremiah doesn't buy it, and before he's ready to commit to Belly, he asks her to get closure with Conrad. Conrad meanwhile admits to Jeremiah that he's still in love with Belly.
Later that night, Conrad tells Belly he didn't mean what he said.
"I still want you, of course I do," he tells her. Before she can respond, he adds, "You don't have to say anything, I just wanted you to know that."
The next day, Belly shows Jeremiah that she picks him with a sweet kiss as Beyoncé's "XO" plays.
Then, in a heartbreaking moment for the Conrad fans, set to Swift's song "Exile," he tells Belly they are just friends, and he's walks away, leaving Jeremiah and Belly to be together. In her inner monologue, Belly tells her former love: "I evict you from my heart."
Jeremiah then drives Belly home and brings her to volleyball camp, where she fights for her spot back on the team.
Why Jeremiah? Let Lola Tung explain
Tung says Conrad's actions played a role in shifting the object of Belly's affections.
Episode Six, during which Belly and Conrad finally discuss why they broke up, marked a "turning moment," Tung says.
"She's confessing how hard she would've fought for this relationship, and he just doesn't seem to want to even try to fight that hard, or never really seemed to want to fight that hard," Tung says. "And it's just like, why would you keep fighting for someone who doesn't want to fight for you?"
Meanwhile, "there is someone who wants to fight for her, and who has for so long" —Jeremiah.
As for why Jeremiah let himself trust Belly, actor Gavin Casalegno tells TODAY.com his character is "always looking for a window to vulnerable with Belly."
"When something's on his heart, he might not go about it the best way, but eventually it gets talked about," Casalegno says. "He goes through some changes at the beginning of the season, but after that, his heart is just an open book. He's like, 'Here I am,' and he's very unapologetic about it."
What happens to Conrad at the end of Season 2?
Conrad ends Season Two having lost Belly. But after his late night study session in Episode Seven, he passes his final exam and plans to transfer to Stanford University for the following semester.
In his last scene, he takes a bus back to Cousins Beach and tells Belly and Jeremiah he'll see them for the Fourth of July.
Most of the lingering conflict between Belly and Conrad stemmed from their inability to share how they felt.
Christopher Briney says Conrad's hesitation to open up to Belly arose because he "felt like he knew what she wanted and knew it was not his place to try and get in the way of that."
Conrad's experience processing the grief of his mother while learning to manage his anxiety and panic attacks was a major part of his journey, and something he mostly kept hidden from Belly.
"As much as he can be trouble, I think he's aware of that fact," Briney says. "Not that he is aware of the effect that he has, but I think he knows how persistent he could be."
"(Conrad's) like, 'That's not my place. I need to choose them over me, because I love them more than I love myself' is probably the truth of it," he adds.
Will there be a Season 3? Yes! A week before the Season Two finale aired, showrunner and author of the original book series, Jenny Han, announced on Instagram that "The Summer I Turned Pretty" has been renewed for Season Three, with 10 episodes.
"We’ll Always Have Summer," Han captioned a photo of Tung, referencing the title of the third book in the young adult series. "So excited to finally share that we’re coming back to Cousins for Season 3, and this time we’ll have 10 whole episodes."
She added that work on Season Three has halted due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher has said that the union is financially prepared to strike for six months.
"It’s been hard not being able to work on the show because of the ongoing strikes, but we can’t wait to get going on Season 3 as soon as we’re able," Han wrote.
As for what Season Three might hold, the third book opens with a time jump, following Belly and Jeremiah's relationship two years into the future, both now at college. According to the book's blurb, "their relationship hasn’t exactly been the happily ever after Belly had hoped it would be."
Even though Belly ended Season Two with a boyfriend, a healing relationship with her mom and her spot on the volleyball team, her final words signal that nothing is set in stone.
"The future is unclear," she says. "But it's still mine."
