~
"A lot can happen in a year"
~
Two Months Later
"You can't make me!"
"Austin you're causing a huge fucking scene! It's our last final!"
I'm standing beside Dwight in the school's parking lot and sigh, watching Travis as he tries to drag Austin out of his truck.
"He's such a child." Dwight says, a small smile coming onto his face.
"Child is an understatement." I say with amusement as I watch the scene unfold before me.
It's been two months since the trial, and since Mason went to jail. I wish that I could say people at school stopped treating me like crap, but the sad reality is that most people still believe Mason.
However, I literally don't give a shit anymore.
I know the truth and so did the people in the jury. He's locked up, that's all that matters.
The rest of the school year seemed to fly by as we are now about to walk into the high school for the last time, to take our last final.
Austin wasn't this ridiculous the whole week, but I think he's just burnt out now. He's one of the smartest guys I know, so it's not that. He just doesn't want to take another final.
Not that I blame him.
"Fine, but I want it to go on record that I resisted." Austin says as Travis finally pulls him out of the truck.
"Whatever the fuck lets you sleep at night." Travis mutters, rolling his eyes and slamming Austin's truck door shut.
"Easy! Be gentle." Austin says, but quickly shuts up when Travis throws him a glare.
"Come on Austin let's go." I say looping my arm around his with a smile.
"Did you finally get the pequeña mierda?" Sierra says and Chase chokes out a laugh beside her.
"Yeah, he was dramatic as usual." Travis mutters under his breath.
"I heard that!" Austin says, shooting a glare at him.
"You ready for the history final?" I ask Chase, changing the subject.
"Not even close. Someone wouldn't let me study last night." Chase says, smirking at Sierra who just rolls her eyes causing us to laugh.
Chase and I's friendship was a little rocky after the trial. He still felt incredibly guilty and would avoid me. That was right up until Sierra had enough and knocked some sense into him. We ended up talking and Chase finally forgave himself. It didn't take long for us to go back to normal.
"Don't make it seem like something great. I was nervous about my mom's sperm donor being here." She says, hitting his shoulder.
"Ew. Why is Nicohoe here?" I ask in disgust.
Sierra chuckles at my dig at her dad and shrugs. "He wanted to see me graduate or some bullshit like that. He's probably only here for Mateo as usual."
Chase wraps an arm around her and pulls her close, kissing the side of her head.
"Just say the word and I'll kick his ass." He tells her and she laughs.
"I know." She says, smiling gratefully.
The bell rings, signaling that school is about to begin.
"Okay, ready?" Kara asks from beside Jake.
We all walk into school together for the last time, and I couldn't be happier.
'~'
"Let's fucking leave this place bitches!" Sierra yells, throwing her papers in the air behind her as she comes towards me and Jake at our lockers.
School ended about five minutes ago and Jake and I are just cleaning out our lockers before we head out forever.
"Hold up." I say before quickly shoving the rest of my stuff into my bag and closing my locker.
"Okay let's go." I say and we all head out.
"Don't forget about the party tonight." Austin says as we part ways.
The Miller's are throwing an end of the year party and having a huge bonfire tonight. Ever since Mason went to jail, I've started to attend more parties and I'm not as terrified anymore.
It's refreshing to see how much my life has changed for the better since he can't hurt me anymore.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Travis says sarcastically, causing us to laugh.
Austin just rolls his eyes before getting in his truck.
I follow Jake and Kara to his truck. I rode with him today because I honestly didn't feel like driving.
"Babe can we stop at McDonald's?" Kara asks Jake as we pull out of the parking lot.
"Sure." He says, bringing their joined hands up to his mouth for a kiss.
I fake gag in the backseat causing Kara to blush.
After talking Jake into paying for mine and Kara's McDonald's, we finally get home and I see Jordan's Tahoe in the driveway.
"I can't wait to meet Noah!" I say, practically jumping out of the truck.
Arianna had her baby about a month ago and since they were planning to come for Jake and I's graduation, we haven't met Noah in person yet.
I race Jake inside and end up victorious, heading into the kitchen where I see Arianna holding Noah, and Jordan sitting next to her.
"Oh my gosh, he's perfect." I say, my breath catching as I stare at the precious baby boy in Arianna's arms.
"Thanks, I try." Jordan says jokingly, causing me to roll my eyes.
"You try? I'm the one who pushed him out." Arianna says and I smirk at Jordans offended look.
"I'm wounded." He says, holding a hand on his chest.
"Do you want to hold him?" Arianna asks me.
"Yes." I say softly, walking over to her.
She places Noah in my arms and I'm almost overcome with emotion as I hold this tiny baby.
Noah whimpers softly before settling into my arms, his eyes staring at me.
"Hi little Noah." I say softly, smiling at him. "I'm your auntie Emma and I'm going to love you so much."
A tear falls from my eyes but I ignore it, holding him closer to me.
"Okay it's my turn." Jake says after letting me hold Noah for a few minutes.
"Fine, I guess I'll share." I say playfully, handing Noah to Jake.
As soon as I hand him over, I walk over to give Jordan and Arianna a hug.
"Where's Ryder and Sophia?" I ask curiously.
"It's nap time." Arianna says, and by the look on her face, I can tell she's happy about it.
I chat with them for a little bit longer before grabbing my backpack and heading upstairs with Kara.
"I can't believe we're done with high school." She says, happily sighing as she lays down on my bed.
"Me either. All that's left is graduation." I say with a smile.
"I'm going to miss you so much when you're at Baylor." She says, her smile fading.
"You're going to have Jake, and be living with Sierra. You'll be fine." I say, sitting next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
When I finally announced that I would be going to Baylor and not Texas A&M, it was really hard for Jake and Kara to accept that.
Jake was sad because we have never really been apart from each other, and now we're about to be apart for a whole school year. Kara was sad because we've been there for each other since elementary school.
Regardless of the emotions, we're all so happy for each other. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad that I was leaving Jake, Kara, Sierra, Travis, and Chase to go to college, but I'm going to have Dwight and Austin so it's not so bad.
Chase and Jake are going to be rooming together, while Sierra and Kara are as well. Travis decided that college wasn't for him, and he's going to be going into business at the tattoo stop with his dad.
"I know I'll be fine, but I'm still going to miss you." She says, hugging me back.
We stay that way for a little while before I hear kids screaming downstairs and I sigh.
"I guess we better head downstairs." I say softly and she nods.
As soon as we walk downstairs, we're met with chaos. Trevor finally got here, and his kids are playing with Jordan's kids.
I'm not sure playing is the right word though as they are screaming at each other.
"Yikes, what happened there?" I ask, pointing to Ryder and Zachary.
"Zach took Ryder's toy and won't give it back. I would get involved, but why would I do that?" Trevor says, causing us to roll our eyes.
"Because you're a parent?" My mom says, hitting him on the head.
"Maybe that's what I want y'all to think." He winks.
I laugh as I go over to hug him and Katelyn.
"What time are y'all leaving for the party?" My mom asks me.
"Probably in a few hours." I tell her.
"Will you be here for dinner?" She asks.
"Probably not." I say and she nods.
"Auntie Em, come play!" I hear Ryder yell, causing me to smile as I walk over to where him and Zach finally stopped screaming at each other.
"What are we playing?"
"Hide and seek!" They yell and I laugh before closing my eyes and beginning to count.
'~'
"Damn Em, you look hot as hell." Travis whistles as I approach him and Dwight later that night at the party.
Earlier this week Kara and Sierra managed to drag me to the mall and I ended up buying new denim shorts that cling to my ass, a white crop top with a light sheer cardigan, so I decided to wear that tonight.
"Thanks Trav, you don't look too bad yourself." I say, smirking at him. "I see you're rocking the all black look, as usual."
"Someone has to." He says with a smirk.
I take in the party and stare stunned at the amount of decorations. There is a huge banner saying 'Congrats Class of 2019' strung from one tree to another, fairy lights strewn around it as well. The entire party was illuminated with fairy lights and I caught the spot where the DJ was set up. Off to the right, there are tables filled with food and drinks, which I know for a fact is already spiked.
People are already swimming in the lake and others are dancing to the music that's being played extremely loud from the speakers.
The twins really outdid themselves.
I turn my attention to Dwight who's still staring at me.
"Dwight?" I say and he shakes his head.
He coughs, rubbing the back of his head.
"You look good Em." He says and I grin.
"Thanks Dwight." I say and from the corner of my eye, I see Travis nudge Dwight in the ribs.
"All right ladies, enough of the compliments. Let's swim!" Austin says, breaking our little circle and dragging Travis to the lake. They make it a race and Travis reaches the water first, diving in, but Austin manages to somehow tackle him midair and they crash into the water.
Laughing at them, I quickly take off my crop top and shorts to reveal a blue bikini, taking my hair out of the bun before running to jump in the lake as well.
I surface and instantly get covered in water again as Jake dives in also. I push my wet hair back and laugh as he also resurfaces.
"I feel like we should do something about that." Jake says as he points at the war going on behind me.
Austin and Travis might as well be trying to cause a tsunami with the amount of waves they're making in their fight.
"I think they'll be fin–'' I'm cut off with a faceful of water and sputter.
"Run Jacob." I manage to get out before I'm chasing him.
"You better swim faster than that!" Some guy from the football team yells at Jake, causing him to laugh.
He gets caught up being cocky and I take advantage of it, jumping on his back and pushing him underwater.
I only manage to succeed for a few seconds before he completely stands up and flips me over and under the water. In response, I grab him at the last second and we both go down.
"Okay! Truce!" Jake coughs, putting his hands up in surrender.
I grin at him in victory and get out of the water to catch my breath.
"It's good to see you smiling again." Sierra says, coming up next to me with Kara.
"It feels good to smile again." I say honestly.
She smiles at me before Kara speaks up. "Okay who's ready to get revenge on Jake? If we all gang up on him, he won't stand a chance."
"I'm down." I say and Sierra agrees too.
So we end up doing just that. We creep up behind him when he's talking to his football buddies and drag him under.
We laugh as he splashes water at us, but quickly we quickly retreat as his football friends start to back him up.
"Hey, I'm going to go get a snack." I say to Kara and she nods, swimming over to a group playing with a beach ball.
I dry off as best as I can, and go over to the food table.
"Hey Emma." A voice behind me says and I turn around to see Bridgett.
"Hey! How are you?" I ask giving her a quick hug.
"I'm good, they did an incredible job." She says gesturing to the party. "Tell the twins I said thanks."
I nod and pop a cookie into my mouth.
"Also, I owe you my thanks too." She says, giving my arm a squeeze.
"For what?" I ask in confusion.
"Standing up to him, to Mason." She says quietly.
My breath kind of catches at the mention of his name. Now that I'm not being tortured by him constantly, I've been working through the trauma and coming to terms with it, but sometimes there are certain triggers.
Like his name.
"Oh, it is what it is." I respond quietly.
"Emma, you showed me that it's okay to stand up for yourself and stand up to someone who abused you. I would have never had the courage to stand up to him if it wasn't for you."
"When did you stand up to him?" I ask curiously.
"Not too long after he went to jail. I thought it was something that I needed to do, so I had my dad drive me to the station."
"That must have been hard." I tell her sympathetically.
"Like I said, you helped me with it. So thank you."
"Of course." I tell her with a smile.
She gives me one more hug before leaving and going to her friends.
"What was that about?" Sierra asks, looking over at Bridgett.
"Just something we needed to talk about." I tell her with a smile.
"Alright come on, Jake and Chase want to play chicken and you're joining in this time." She says, practically dragging me back to the lake.
"Who's shoulders am I supposed to use?" I ask her, confused. I never play chicken with them.
"There's a perfectly working and able Dwight over there. Use him." Sierra gestures in his direction flippantly.
"Dwight!" She yells, causing him to look over at us.
"What?" He yells back.
"Get your ass over here!" She yells back and he rolls his eyes, but swims over to us.
"Emma needs someone's shoulders to play chicken and I'm volunteering you." Sierra says and Dwight looks at me with a smirk.
"Okay, but be ready to lose." He says, pulling me into the water.
As I come back up from the water, I hit his shoulder for pulling me in unexpectedly.
"It's like y'all just want me to drown or something." I say playfully.
"What, us? Never." Dwight says with sarcasm.
I just roll my eyes and we head over to where Jake, Kara, and Chase are waiting.
"Who's ready to lose?" Chase says arrogantly.
"Definitely not us." I say, fist bumping Dwight.
Chase rolls his eyes and we all assume our positions behind the guys.
Dwight goes under water and I prop myself up on his shoulders before he comes back up.
I hold on to his arms as he stands all the way up.
"You're so tall." I say, feeling like I'm flying with how tall he is.
"You'll be fine. It gives you an advantage seeing as how Jake is short." He says, causing me to laugh.
"Okay! Ready?" Austin yells in an announcer voice, causing the people around us to look over.
"One, two, three!" He yells, and as soon as we hear three, we are battling each other.
I took down Kara very easily and it's between Sierra and I. Dwight holds onto my legs for dear life as I'm battling Sierra.
Luckily for me, I come out victorious as Chase's hand slips and she's vulnerable to my shove.
She falls into the water and I laugh as Dwight lets me back into the water.
"Yes!" I yell, high fiving Dwight.
"Whatever, that wasn't fair." Sierra says, being the sore loser that she is.
"Baby it's not good to be a sore loser." Chase says, and she sends him a death glare, causing us to laugh.
"My turn!" Austin yells, tackling Travis.
"Get the fuck off of me!"
'~'
"Are you nervous?" Jake asks from beside me, as we stand by our seats.
"I can't imagine anyone is as nervous as Chase right now." I say with a smile, watching as all of the people in the stands watch us walk to our seats.
Chase has worked his ass off in school, and it paid off because he's the valedictorian. He's been stressed about his speech for the whole week, even though we've told him over and over again that he's going to be fine.
"Me either." Jake says with a smile on his face.
Once we are all seated, we go through the opening statements from our principal and stuff. I'm anxious for Chase as his time is getting closer. He looks so nervous on the stage and when they call his name for his speech, he looks like he's about to pass out.
He gets up to do his speech, and talks about our lives these past four years and the memories we've made and are going to make. In short, Chase does an amazing job, I don't know why he was nervous because he's a good public speaker.
After his speech, the salutatorian gets up to do her speech and then it's time for us to go up on stage.
As the names are being called, I get all nervous and jittery. This is it.
"Kara Marie Johnson!" Jake and I yell as loud as we can for her, seeing as how her parents couldn't be bothered to show up to this.
More names get called, and as we get closer I start to shake my leg. I don't know why I am so nervous.
"Travis Jacob Laine."
Claps are heard throughout the room, but we're all screaming as loud as we can for them.
"Austin Levi Miller." The principal says a few names later.
As Austin walks up on the stage, I see him make eye contact with Chase and before I know what's happening, Chase is up and pulling him in for a hug.
It's hard to believe that just a few months ago, Chase and I didn't know if our twins were going to make it to graduation.
Just the thought makes me a little emotional and I feel Jake wrap an arm around my shoulder.
After Austin and Chase's emotional hug on the stage, they call Chase's name and then continue on.
"Emma Kay Richardson." The principal calls my name, and I make my way on stage, smiling at the section in the stands that is louder than most of the people.
I wave at my family and smile when they get even louder.
"Jacob Grant Richardson."
The screams are the same, but there's more cheers from our peers.
"Sierra Grace Rodriguez."
We watch as she struts across the stage, not even stopping to shake the principal's hand. She grabs the degree and turns to the audience, flipping everyone off which causes cheers from the audience.
The staff look taken aback, but they still continue on.
"Dwight Alexander Smith."
I look over to where his mom and little sister are, and Ms. Aria looks so proud of him as she's wiping tears off of her face.
They continue going through all of the names and when they finish, they do their closing statements and have us stand up, moving our tassels to the other side.
You're Gonna Miss This by Trace Adkins starts to play and we all gather in the touchdown zone of the football field. We count to three and all throw our caps up together.
As soon as we throw our caps, I turn to hug Dwight seeing as how he's right next to me and my twin is sucking face with Kara.
"We did it!" I say excitedly.
"I'm so proud of you for getting here." He says softly, holding me tight.
I smile as we hug and then as we pull apart, I'm dragged into Jake's arms.
"I'm so glad you are here for this." He says and I see tears fill his eyes.
"Ditto." I say, hugging him tight.
We all end up in a group hug, laughing together.
Soon enough, families are let onto the field and come towards us.
I want to focus on my family, but all I can focus on is how Annalee comes running towards Dwight, and he kneels down and opens his arms wide for her.
She giggles as he picks her up and tickles her before setting her back down. My heart bursts at how adorable the scene is before I turn towards my family coming towards us.
"My babies graduated!" My mom says, pulling Jake and I into a hug.
"Well we couldn't stay in high school forever mom." Jake says sarcastically, causing her to roll her eyes.
"You shut your mouth Jacob. Let me have my emotional mom moment." She says, and Jake smiles before pulling her in for a hug again.
We continue to hug each of our family members and take lots of pictures before deciding it's time to go to the restaurant.
As we are walking to our cars, I take one last look at the school and emotions seem to consume me.
So much happened in this place. So many good and bad memories but somehow in the end it was all worth it.
If someone asked me a year ago if I thought that I would make it to this day, I would have laughed and said no.
Yet, here I am. Not only am I here, but I'm happy for the first time in a long time.
Mason took so much from me, and for a while I felt like I was free falling to my demise.
But, my family and my friends caught me, and showed me that life was worth living. And I owe it all to them.
It's funny how at the beginning of the year, I sat in my car terrified to go into the school because of Mason. And now, I'm the one leaving the school while he's sitting behind bars.
Life is funny isn't it?
'~'
The end!
We can't believe that this is the last chapter of the book. Free Falling (we changed the name) has been a roller coaster, but we are so glad that you chose to ride it with us.
There will be an epilogue, most likely coming in a few minutes, and then 5 bonus chapters. The bonus chapters will be coming randomly and not on a set schedule.
Keep an eye out for an author's note explaining what's going to happen after this book!
Again, thank you for your support. We couldn't have done it without y'all!
We love y'all!
~Marie Black :)