He Has a Heart

Epilogue

Two Years Later..

I quickly rushed to put my black heels on and then proceeded to look around at my room. I went over the checklist in my head.

Dress? I looked down at my dress, check.

Makeup? I walked to the mirror and looked at my carefully done makeup, check.

Shoes? I rolled my eyes at my silliness considering I just put them on.

I shook my head, hoping my nerves would leave so I can focus on one of the most important days of my life. Graduation.

What is graduation? It's not only the end of high school, but the goal I needed to reach in order to begin my life in the real world. I'm not finished yet. Most teens would enjoy life after this. Most would think that the hard part of life is over and done with. When in fact, the easy part is over with and the hard part is starting.

Goodbye easy high school life, and hello complex college life.

I ran my hands down my dress and smoothed down any leftover wrinkles. I rubbed my sweaty palms together and sighed in nervousness.

"Baby!" I jumped at the sudden yell and looked behind me at my mom and saw her standing at my door, her eyes watering and tears threatening to stream down her face. My dad walked in behind her and placed his hands on her waist, smiling proudly at me.

"You're growing up," she sniffled and grabbed a tissue from my night stand. She quickly dabbed at her eyes and rushed over to me, wrapping me up in a tight embrace.

"Don't leave me!" she sobbed and I rubbed her back in what I hoped was in a soothing way.

"Mom," I chuckled and looked at my dad. He rolled his eyes at her, but I could see the redness in his eyes, "I'm not going to college today.." I trailed off as my mom pulled away to look at my face. She had tears covering her cheeks and already her eyeliner was running.

My stuttering had gotten a little better with speech therapy these passed two years. Of course, it's not over yet. I need to keep going to speech therapy and I don't think my stutter will ever go away completely, but if it can get better, I'm willing to try.

I focused back to my mom and watched as she reached her hand up to my cheek and cup it, "I know, but you're almost there," she smiled and wiped another tear away.

I smiled back at her and grabbed her hand, "I know, you sh-should fix your makeup though," I replied and she looked mortified for a moment before rushing out of the room.

"You know I'm proud of you," I heard and turned to my dad who spoke from the door. He walked over to me slowly and placed his hands on my shoulders. I nodded my head at him and pulled him in for a hug. I felt as he wrapped his arms around me and I sighed into his shoulder.

"I know," I whispered back.

~~~

"Oh my God! We finally graduated!" Yelled Deb right in my ear as she squeezed me into a hug.

Throughout these two years, I managed to keep Deb as my friend, well best friend. We got through thick and thin and although after the news escalated about what happened to me, she stuck by my side.

Even if she's loud and outgoing and I'm the complete opposite, we get along perfectly fine. Opposites do attract, as they say.

"Can you believe this?!" Her eyes watered and she fanned her face to not ruin her carefully done make up, "I can't believe it!" She continued yelling and crying and I smiled at her.

"It's okay Deb," I hugged her to me and rubbed her back as she sobbed uncontrollably onto my shoulder.

Over her shoulder, I saw my family approaching us, my mom blowing her nose into a tissue, and my dad smiling amused at Deb.

"Deb," my dad interrupted her sobbing and quiet mumblings and she turned to him, "can we have our daughter back?"

Deb smiled sheepishly, wiped her eyes, ignoring her smudged make up and nodded, "I'll just be with my family," she muttered and shuffled away.

"Okay!" My mom suddenly squealed, "picture time!" I sighed dramatically.

"Mom!" I whined and she was already shaking her head, and at that moment I knew that no one would be able to object.

After about ten agonizingly painful minutes and twenty pictures later, Deb ran over again and I sighed in relief.

"My turn!" She yelled and it was only then that I noticed the camera in her hands and I sighed dramatically again.

"Oh cheer up! It's memories," she said as she wrapped her arm around my shoulder and held the camera up, "say cheese!"

I smiled and she snapped the picture.

She gushed over the picture, but that became background noise.

My mind drifted to Jared. After he graduated, he got accepted in a college in Texas. I was so proud of him, I still am, but all my happiness went down the drain when he broke things off with me.

He hadn't wanted a long distance relationship. I wanted to try and work through it, but he insisted that it wasn't going to work.

The morning he was going to leave, I stayed with him at the airport. The last day I was going to see him probably ever. Those few hours together were spent acting like the cheesiest couple ever.

As soon as his flight was called, I remember my eyes watering and my heart aching. I didn't want him to leave.

I had pulled him in for one last hug. I had laid my head on his chest and hugged him tightly. I remember a few tears escaping.

What I remember the most though, was the four small words he whispered in my ear, "I love you, muñeca."

I had sobbed and cried, "please don't leave me, I love you too," I had begged him not to go. Not after we had confessed our love to each other.

But, he placed one last soft kiss onto my forehead, and one gentle kiss on my lips before pulling away and gathering his things.

He walked away without a second glance back.

I had thrown myself on one of the plastic chairs and pulled my knees to my chest and sobbed.

I had sobbed for hours at an airport.

I shook my head from the memory and blinked back the tears that had started to form. That was two long years ago.

Although it was in the past, Jared helped me in that year. He helped me to talk, he helped me to get out of my shell.

If it wasn't for him, I'd probably still be getting raped every six months, but because of him, the man, whose name I finally found out to be Ivan White, was found guilty and given many years of jail time.

For that I was grateful to Jared Cruz.

Despite the fact that he left me here two years ago, he helped me out of a dark hole. And he didn't leave me here helpless, so I guess he really does have a heart.

~~~
A/N:

So that is the end of He Has a Heart!!! Phew! I know it took long, but it's finally over!!

Now, you need to comment if you want a sequel, if not, I won't make one. If I do, it will be about Jared and his life and why he acted how he acted.

If there are any confusions, feel free to post a message on my message board, comment, pm me, and I will answer. I know this book wasn't super long, but I wasn't planning on writing a very long book.

If you want a sequel, I will post a note about it. I will notify you all about it and give you all a summary. But I will only write a sequel if and only if you want one, if not, I won't.

I just felt like I needed to repeat that ^^^

I just want to say a super BIG thank you, to those who stuck around, commented, and voted, despite the fact that it took me so long to update sometimes. SO THANK YOU!!!

~Nat