~ Epilogue ~
I was taking my backpack out of my car trunk when two strong arms encircled around my waist. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. "You smell really good."
I laughed, "Thanks." This morning I had taken a shower with my favorite strawberry scented body wash. "Ready for the first day of school?"
Logan kissed the top of my head, "As long as you're with me."
"You are so cheesy, you know that?" I teased.
"But you like it," he winked at me. I laughed at him again.
"Ew, look who's here." I'd recognize that voice anywhere. Barbie. And her posse.
"Ew, look at the skank gang," I retorted, looking them up and down. They had nothing on me; the best they could do is walk away. Barbie huffed at my reply, swung her hair in the air, and strutted off. Why couldn't she have done that first?
"Hey there love birds! Ready for your first day of school?" Lexi asked as she walked up to us with Alex following suit.
"Uh, yea? It can't be that hard right? I mean after what we just went through with Darell and all..." I said in an unsure tone.
"Lighten up Kiddo. High school's easy and it's your last year anyway," Alex replied easily. I guess having a normal life can't be any harder than how my life was. After the whole Darell incident, it was practically summer. We went to the beach, the mall, out of the country. All in all we had an amazing summer. On top of that we committed to trying to put aside our jobs this year. Talk about living life to the fullest.
"I think we need to get to class before the b-" Lexi was cut off from the bell ringing. What a deja vu moment.
"Wow, we're late on our first day of school. Terrific," Alex said sarcastically.
"We're fashionably late," Lexi commented.
"That's only for girls. Guys don't do that."
"Guys can do that. You two can be the first."
"No way."
"There's always a first for everything."
"There isn't for me."
"Oh whatever. You can just be tardy then."
"Um, guys. We're gonna be really late if you don't stop talking," I said putting emphasis on the word 'late.'
"Fine, fine. Let's go." Lexi grabbed my hand in hers and started towing me out of the parking lot. Right then, my phone rang. "Tori, you're phone's supposed to me off during school hours..."
"I know, but it's Tom," I responded, pulling my phone out of my pocket. Tom had healed from his accident in record time. The doctors told us it would take about two months for him to recover. Much to our pleasure he was better after only three weeks. His leg is permanently scarred from the severe burn, but he can still walk and feel his legs. The nurse had said he might have needed his legs to be amputated. That just about scared the hell out of Tom. No way in heck, would he go down without a fight.
After he was released from the hospital, he tagged along with me on a few of our trips including the one out of the country. He started renting a condo in L.A. For the summer until he figured out where he wanted to buy a house.
"Hello?"
"Hey Tori. I just wanted to let you know that I've officially bought a house! I'll be moving in this week. You girls won't have to keep living in that apartment anymore," Tom explained in an excited mood.
"For real? That's great! I was starting to miss you again. That sounds so awesome though. I can't wait!" I said enthusiastically.
"I know same here. I've been lonely without you."
"Aw, Tom don't make me cry!"
He laughed, "Chill Tori. I was just being dramatic."
"Yea, sure. Hey, I gotta go. I'm already late for class," I said ready to hang up.
"Wait! Tori! I forgot to tell you. There's another assignment on hold for you."
Did I forget to mention, I didn't tell Tom about our plans? "Sorry Tom, but we're kinda putting that behind us."
"But if you don't do it the-" I cut Tom off by pressing the end button.
"What did he say?" Lexi asked. Logan and Alex caught up to us; they were standing in front of me now.
"He said we had another job to do, but I told him we weren't going to do it. We're living a normal teenage life!" Lexi laughed at me before continuing to drag me off to class.
The first four classes were either boring or hard. Two of my classes had the worst teachers ever! Not only did they have a monotone, but whenever they lectured, they sat down with their face glued to their notes. If I looked up the word boring in the dictionary, my teachers would show up.
As for the hard classes, the teachers were the strictest I've ever met! I could already imagine them with long rulers in their hands, ready to hit anyone who dared challenge them. One of the teachers assigned a three page essay due in two days and the other gave us a fifteen page homework packet to complete by the end of this week. Talk about stress on the first day of school!
I couldn’t have asked for anything better; the lunch bell rang. This class I had without Lexi and the boys. Students quickly filed out of the classroom as I stood up and gathered my things. When everything was packed up, the class was already empty. I guess I’m not the only one who doesn’t like this class. Once I stepped out into the hallway, groups of students pushed their way around each other catching me in the middle of it. Multiple bodies brushed against me before I finally made it to a clearing. Why can’t people be a little more considerate? They are beyond rude! Not even one sorry! It’s called common courtesy people!
“Tori!” someone called from the parking lot. I recognized the voice as Lexi’s. Standing on my tiptoes, and looking over everyone’s heads, I searched for her. I spotted her standing next to my Lamborghini. I picked up my pace and all but ran towards her.
“Hey Tor-Tor!” she greeted.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Want to go out to lunch with me and the boys? They’re already in my car waiting.”
“Yea, I’m starving!” Then, of course, my stomach grumbled. Lexi eyed my stomach and chuckled. She walked to her car, me following her. As I opened the door and climbed in, I was met with loud barks of laughter. Turning in my seat to look behind me, I saw Logan and Alex arm wrestling. They were equal in strength so each of them were trying to get the other to laugh in an attempt to make them falter.
“No wrestling in my car! I don’t need to find sweat and drool on my car seats!” Lexi commanded, glaring at them through the rearview mirror. The boys let go of each others hands and wiped their mouths.
“What are you doing?” I asked, eyebrows raised.
“Lexi said we drool so we’re making sure our mouths are dry.” I chortled, shook my head and turned back around.
“So where to? Who’s hungry for what?” Lexi looked at them through her mirror again before focusing her eyes back on me.
“Sushi.”
“Pizza.”
“Salad.”
“Really guys? I’m not going to three different restaurants,” Lexi stated, pulling out of the school parking lot. She turned right instead of left where all the food was.
“Why are you going this way? All the food is the other way,” Alex inquired from the backseat. He sat on the edge of his seat with his hands holding the side of Lexi’s seat.
“We’re going to my house. That way you guys can all order delivery for the food you want. Everyone gets what they want.”
“Sweet,” Alex replied. “That’s a smart idea.”
“Because I’m a smart girl.” I burst out laughing and Lexi scowled at me. I’ll admit, Lexi wasn’t dumb, but she wasn’t exactly the definition of smart. Usually she thought more rationally than me when we were on a mission. Academically though? Hell to the no. I could have more A’s than her even if I was taking college classes and she wasn’t.
Lexi pulled into the apartment complex and parked in one of the front spots ignoring the valet. Again. He should have known not to sneak into our car and look though our stuff. Once Lexi put the car in park, the boys jumped out of the car, yanking on me and Lexi’s arm. Well, they’re really hungry. We both tried stalling as a joke, but they ended up lifting us up over their shoulders and carried us all the way to the front door.
“Stop being in such a rush! My goodness! Can we breathe?” Lexi exclaimed reaching in her bag to get the house keys out. When she got the door open they both bolted in the house making a bee line towards the phone in the kitchen.
“Talk about impatient,” Lexi said to me. She dropped her purse on the table next to the door and hung her jacket on the coat hanger. I did the same.
“They are hungry boys that need to be fed,” I stated. “Besides this will be one of our first times finally eating at home. Enjoy it!” I smiled at her, then walked off into the kitchen. Hopefully the boys haven’t killed each other.
“Here Tori!” Logan chirped, tossing me the phone.
“You’re done?”
“Yea, we ordered really fast. We’re hungry.” I laughed, I can tell by the way they stormed into the house.
“Alright then,” I mumbled and dialed one of my favorite taco shops.
It rung twice before I heard, “Hello, this is Paco’s Tacos. How may I help you?”
“Hi, can I have a burrito and a salad?” I answered.
“Yes, no problem. That’ll be fourteen, sixty-five. It will be ready in five minutes. Would you like delivery?”
“Yes please. And thank you,” I said before hanging up.
I waltzed back into the living room where everyone was sitting together on one of my sofas. They were huddled together looking at a piece of paper. “What’s that?”
Lexi looked up, “It’s a fax from Tom. It’s the job that Tom was telling you about over the phone.”
I told him we weren’t doing that stuff anymore! I stomped over to Lexi and snatched the paper out of her hands, crumbling it into a ball. Logan gave me a skeptical look and Alex leaned back onto the sofa with amusement written on his face.
“Hey! Tori! I was about to read it!” she protested. She is so irritated with me now...
“What happened to normal lives? Remember we all said we wanted to put this assassin stuff behind? Reading a mission is NOT moving on! Getting over something doesn’t involve bringing up the past. We can’t have a normal life if we don’t give being an assassin up! We can’t have it both ways,” I lectured, now out of breath from my rant.
Lexi cocked her brow and then stared at me in a softly, “You’re right. Lingering on the past will just hold us back.”
“I feel the same,” Logan interjected, nodding his head.
“Ditto,” Alex agreed.
“So, no one is going to have a problem when I burn this piece of paper?” I questioned, holding up the paper ball in my hand.
“I wanna burn it!” Alex exclaimed joyfully. He reached in his pocket and produced a lighter out of it. He walked over to me, turned it on, and placed it underneath the paper so it went up into flames immediately. Quickly maneuvering to the fireplace before the fire burned my hand, I threw it in there. It was still ablaze for a minute before I died down into nothing. All that was left from the note were ashes. A new beginning.
“Cheers to our new life?” I announced uncertainly with my hand raised.
“Cheers!” Lexi said lifting her hand up too as Logan and Alex did the same.
“To a new life!” Logan chanted.
“To a new life!” we all cheered at once.
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THE END!!!!
Wahhhh! I can’t believe I actually, finally finished the story! I fell both sad and relieved. This story seriously needed to end sometime soon haha
So I’m still thinking about writing a sequel or new story in the future :) As of RIGHT now, I’m not going to write anything! When I say future, I mean like next year. So that’s about four or five months from now. At the moment I want to focus more on editing because I love it and I have a lot of school work to do anyway. If any of you need an editor, don’t be afraid to ask me! :)
...O gosh. This is the last time I’m ever going to say this! (excluding the fact that I might write another story)
COMMENT, VOTE, FAN!!!! -Stephiee