"Miss Jacobs." Judge Joan greeted me before asking the others to step out of earshot since the results are private. "I have bad and good news in regards to your pieces."
Crap. "Bad news first please." I don't want to dwell on what it could be.
"None of them won any of the awards." She broke it to me.
"That's fine." I brushed it off. "Are they staying in the gallery?"
"Yes, of course." She nodded. "They'll stay through the whole four weeks."
"Oh good." I felt the tense in my shoulders disappear.
"And the good news." She looked down at her clipboard. "All of your pieces have offers."
"What?" I didn't understand what she was saying.
"Unfinished Manuscripts has an offer of two hundred, Mother and Daughters has an offer for three hundred and the man asked if you could a similar piece of him and his twin sons for five." She read off her notes. "And The Perfect Family has an offer of twelve hundred. All are willing to go higher."
"Seriously?" I asked her. Mason will be happy about not bringing Mother and Daughters home.
"Yes, and here is the information for each buyer." She handed me a piece of paper. "And the Peters gave you the information for Sells, right?"
"Yeah, they sent it with the acceptance notice." I told her and accepted the piece of paper. "Thank you."
"It's not a problem and congratulations." She smiled at me before walking to the pieces next to mine. "Do you happen to know where Mr. Michaels is at? I have his results as well."
"Oh yeah." I pointed down the hall. "He just left a minute or two ago to show his kids the sculptures."
"Thank you." She nodded and left.
"So what award did you win?" Hannah ran up to me the second Judge Joan left.
"Nothing." I laughed and folded up the paper I had been given.
"What?" She asked. "You totally should've won something."
"I did win, just not awards." I handed Mason the folded up paper. "I don't have pockets."
"Yeah, no problem." He took the paper from me and slid it into his jacket. "So what did you win?"
"A lot of money." I smiled at them all. "Each of my pieces got an offer and the buyers are willing to go higher. One of them even commissioned me."
"Holy shit." Mason smiled widely and kissed my cheek. "Good job, Babe."
"That's amazing!" Hannah threw her arms around me and hugged me. "You're gonna be famous real soon."
"Sure I will." I hugged her back. "It's gonna take a lot more shows, galleries, and commissions though."
"I know." She pulled away first. "We need to celebrate, now."
"I have to be here the full three hours." I reminded her. "So you're gonna have to put the celebrating on hold for the moment."
"Fine, and I'll text Johnny just in case he doesn't make it back." She rolled her eyes. "Show us around then?"
"That's my job." Mason tossed an arm around my twin's shoulder.
*****
"My feet are dead." Hannah complained as we all piled into a booth at the diner.
"You're the one who decided to wear heels." Johnny told her as he slid in next to her.
"Well you didn't tell me it was a bad idea." She muttered under her breath as she read over the menu.
"When did you two become an old married couple?" Mason asked them.
"Shut up." Hannah didn't look up from her menu.
"It's Mason." Johnny and I said in unison.
"Are you ready to order?" The somewhat new waitress asked us.
I nodded and we all ordered.
"Who's that?" Hannah asked. "I didn't realize they were hiring."
"They're not." I shook my head. "Erica's been here since Ella was fired."
"When did she get fired and why?" Hannah leaned forward as she asked.
"It happened around the time Mase was in the hospital." I shrugged and felt Mason rest a hand on my leg. "It was one of the random drop bys the owners do, and they caught her being... intimate with one of the managers. A huge no-no."
"Damn." Johnny laughed into his hands. "That must've caused drama."
"Oh it did." Mason smiled and let out a low laugh. "The manager was engaged to the owner's kid."
"How do you know about this?" Hannah looked from me to my boyfriend.
"Hailey told me during one of her visits." He slid out of the booth. "I'll be right back."
"I'm eating your food if it gets here before you get back." I told him as he walked towards the bathroom.
"Then you're paying!"
I laughed quietly and Hannah pretended to gag.
"I'm gonna throw up at your cutesy coupleness." She shook her head a couple of times.
"Han, they're 'just friends,' remember?" Johnny said with air quotes.
"No." I raised my eyebrows at him before looking at my sister who looked as confused as I felt.
"Johnny, they're dating." Hannah told her 'friend.'
"You're dating!" Johnny whipped his head around and stared at me. "Since when?"
"Prom." I let out an awkward laugh and looked back at Hannah. "You didn't say anything to him?"
She just shook her head as Johnny ranted about how we're terrible friends to not tell him.
"A month and a half." He went on. "And you didn't think to tell me, a friend, about the change in your relationship?"
"I assumed Han or Mase told you." I told him as Erica brought our food out. "Thanks, Erica."
"No problem, Hail." She smiled quickly before going over to a couple a few tables down.
"I assumed you two told him." Hannah shrugged and took a bite of her pie.
"I was not told anything." Johnny said and picked at his food. "I thought we were friends."
"We are, Carson." Mason gave Johnny a weird look before sitting back down again.
"Then why didn't you tell me you finally asked Hailey out." Johnny asked him.
"Hannah didn't tell you?" Mason looked at Hannah. "You didn't tell him? Also, Johnny, Hailey asked me out."
"You did?" They looked at me, so I nodded since I was drinking my shake.
"I'm not surprised." Johnny commented and Hannah hummed in agreement.
"Thanks." Mason rolled his eyes and ate a french fry.
"It's not an insult." I told him.
"It is when Johnny has been telling me for years to ask you out." He made a face. "Years."
"That's why I'm not surprised." Johnny grinned at Mason. "She grew a pair."
"Meh." I shrugged and stole one of Mason's fries. "It's was more of he wouldn't shut up and kiss me kind of thing."
"Bullshit." Mason said.
"No." I ate the fry before continuing explaining. "You kept talking and I wanted to keep kissing."
"What do you mean keep kissing?" Hannah narrowed her eyes.
"We, uh, made out a little before I asked him out." I could feel my face heating up.
"No wonder you had rubber." Johnny winked at me before eating his burger.
"The condoms were for Carter and Kevin." Ground, swallow me now.
"And we're not having sex until after high school." Mason added, which made me blush more.
"Ending high school with a bang, eh?" Johnny wiggled his eyebrows while Hannah started laughing.
"It'll probably be more than just a bang." Hannah joined Johnny on the teasing.
"Bow chicka wow wow." Johnny snickered.
"I know where you live." Mason said. "And I know where Hails keeps the deadly paint."
"Don't talk about murdering your friend in public." I told him. "It's rude."
***AN***
Hope you guys enjoyed! There's only a few chapters left and we're so sad!
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~ChasingMadness24 & BriannaVore