The Pseudo Semicolon

EPILOGUE

The sunny June morning shown down on Devland as he walked out of his house. He stood on the sidewalk, checking his watch impatiently. They were late.

Sure he could've walked to school, but ever since the beginning of senior year, he had been hitching a ride with Aubrey, Mark and Ivan.

Senior year.

Devland couldn't believe it. After the shitshow that was Junior year, he never thought he could achieve this sort of normalcy. After they left the crime scene, news of the Elites' arrests made the papers. A little while later, they got out of jail but regardless, they all packed up and moved away once they realised that the people of Halderberry weren't ready to forgive them for their crimes.

What really hurted Devland the most was that Akira moved away too, somewhere near his college that Devland helped him pick out. He also helped with the cost despite Akira's various protests. However, he was happy.

Akira deserved the world.

After he left though, Devland felt lonely even though he had Aubrey, Mark and Ivan. Since he had faced much worse, he decided to give socialising another go, even though it wasn't easy. He made several mistakes, but his new friends stood by him, helping him grow out of his brother's shadow and become more at ease of being himself.

"Sorry sorry, I had to grab some lunch along the way." Mark apologised as he parked the car in front of Devland.

"He bought the whole supermarket!" Aubrey exclaimed from the passenger seat as Devland got inside. He nodded at Ivan, who gave him a friendly smile in return. He liked Ivan.

"Eugh how long has it been since you brushed your hair?" Devland made a gagging noise as Aubrey's face flushed as red as her hair.

"No one has time to brush their hair everyday!" Aubrey protested as Devland immediately got to work taming her bushy mane.

"I brush my hair." Ivan supplied pointing to his coily black curls. He had dark skin paired with the most startling hazel eyes that Devland has ever seen. Both Akira and Devland had come to a silent agreement that Ivan looked like a Greek God rather than a normal teenager.

He wore a loose red hoodie today, with blue jeans and a pair of sneakers. Ivan handed a plastic blue hairbrush towards Devland, who kindly accepted it and started combing Aubrey's wild hair.

Devland parted it sideways before braiding the shorter side and clipping it to the back. He purposely let some rebellious strands curl at the sides of her face, knowing how much Mark liked to play with her hair.

They have been dating for two months now, and Devland was really happy for them—but that didn't stop him from making gagging faces with Ivan whenever they got too lovey-dovey.

"Is Akira coming today?" Mark asked, carefully parking his car in the parking lot. The four of them got out and started walking towards the school as Devland replied.

"I told him not to come." Devland shrugged, "He's already busy with all his part-time jobs plus, the amount of workload his college is giving him is terrifying."

"Such a good boyfriend you are." Aubrey lightly swatted his arm, "But it's just one day, Devland, I'm sure he won't be that behind."

When Mark saw Devland's slightly gloomy face, he interrupted, "Let's not think about that for long. Guys, can you believe that we're graduating?"

"Time passed by so quickly." Aubrey immediately jumped to another topic. She was like that—energetic, bubbly and hyperactive. Devland thought he would find her exhausting, that he would struggle to match her tempo, but he was surprised to find that he could actually keep up with her.