Making it.

Chapter 36 - Sweet endings.

A/N: First of all, I have finally written and reached 100 000 words on this book and it's crazy to think that I initially wanted to end it at 70 000. So thank you, to everybody who has been with me from the very beginning, thank you to Pia - one of my biggest supporters and the girls who has more or less forced me to continue writing this book -, thank you to every single reader, commenter, voter and follower. Thank you for every emotion that you have associated with Faking it and Making it. Thank you for deciding to follow Hailey on this journey of growth, love and so many findings. Thank you for giving me the chance to make and impact in this world and raise my voice through writing. Thank you. I love you.

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My first day in pre-school was terrifying. There were so many kids that seemed to already know each other due to some kind of early get together I wasn't invited to. Or, I was and nobody had told me. The girls were all shuffled into a circle in one corner while the boys were talking to one another in the opposite corner. And I stood in the middle of them all, not knowing who to go to because on one hand, the girl's topics were never really something that had caught my attention in the first place and on the other hand, I simply wasn't sure if the boys would accept me in their little group. Maybe I was also scared that they would scream that I have cooties, but that was a thought I had to push down the back of my mind instead of voicing out loud in front of everybody. While I was contemplating on a decision that would have probably changed my entire life – dare I add at the stunning age of six and a half – I didn't notice how the nice lady I remembered as being called Nicky Della, made her way to crutch down next to me. A polite gesture since she was probably doubled the height of myself.

"Don't know where to go to?" She had asked me, her voice sounding sincere instead of mocking, the way I had expected to be asked because what girl doesn't want to go and hang out with girls?

Looking at her sideways, I nodded, switching my gaze from the giggling girls to the relaxed boys.

I realised how her face had itched a little bit closer to mine and how her lips spread out into a huge smile. "If you ask me, I would tell you to follow your heart." She whispered and my eyes opened wide at her sentence before I nodded once again, my entire body turning to face all the other kids.

And I went to the boys.

I think back to this moment in my life as I stare back at the principal, Mr. Brown, holding one of the longest speeches I have ever had to witness in my entire life. God, can he make this a little more bearable for all of us students?

An elbow nudges me into my left rib and I look to Luke, who raises and eyebrow at my distant state.

"Everything alright? You aren't getting cold feet now, are you?" He asks with a smirk while I just shake my head, the long, red curls standing out from the blue gown.

"Just remembering my first day of school. I can't believe it's been already almost twelve years since that day."

"Me neither."

"I can't believe that it's already been an entire school year since you first insulted me." Sammy adds from my right and I smile as I remember all the other times I've shot comments and 'bad words' at him.

"And we will remember that day forever in our minds." Luke laughs, intertwining his fingers with my own ones, a hot breeze passing over all of us students as we sit outside in boiling sun.

"Just like we will remember everything else we went through together. Until we are all old and wrinkly." His best mate finishes and I look at both of them with a stern look.

"Do you want to make me cry now or since when have you become so poetic guys."

"I would never be this dumb to make my cousin cry and then have to deal with her."