The Kindness In Your Heart

Prologue: Graduation

     "Y/N L/N." The announcer called my name and I made my way to the stage.

     "Congratulations," said the school principal as she shook my hand.

     "Thank you," I replied. I was now a proud high school graduate, as were Mark, Amy, Tyler and Ethan. Today was also a very special day though, as today was the day I would finally face Mark and Amy, and at last tell them about my decision.

     "You don't know how proud I am of you, Y/N." I turn around to see Mr. Hartley, smiling ever so widely.

     "Thank you, Mr. Hartley. That really means a lot coming from you." I return the smile.

     "With all the hard work and effort you put into training yourself, I'd say you earned it. But of course, it was all thanks to Captain Wild E.N.D, ey?" His gaze is focused behind me, and I turn to see a sweaty Ethan.

     "Hey!" Ethan shouted as he ran up to me.

     "Well, I'll leave you two be. Congrats, once again," Mr. Hartley leaves with a chuckle.

     The ceremony was basically over and everyone was taking photos with their families. Everyone except for Mark, Ethan and me that is. The three of us had grown distant from our relatives, and did not tell them about graduation.

     "You ready?" I ask Ethan as I gently pull his arm.

     "You bet I am! The real question here though, is are you ready?" I nod in response, then lead the two of us to where the three musketeers were celebrating amongst themselves.

     "Y/N!" They all shouted in unison once they saw me.

     "Hey, I'm sor-" Mark begins to say something, but I quickly interrupt.

     "Mark, Amy, Tyler, I'd like to introduce you all to Ethan." I pull his sleeve gently so he would be standing next to me, and the three of them could see him clearly.

     "Party boy!" Amy shouts, and Mark and Tyler exchange confused looks. Ethan waves at Amy shyly.

     "Suh dude!" Mark says, offering out a hand to shake.

     "Yo!" He replies, accepting the handshake.

     "So that's his name, huh. Well, I'm afraid to say this to you, Y/N, but we've already met." Mark nudged Tyler quite harshly, and Ethan takes one step back.

     "What are you talking about?" I ask.

     "That's um, another story, this is a new one. We don't need to bring this up now," Ethan states, but I still remain confused.

     "Exactly," Mark says, a hint of anger in his tone.

     "Mark, do you want to meet my parents?" Amy then asks, but Mark chooses to ignore her. What's going on?

     "So how'd you guys meet?" I try again. I wanted so badly to know, but at the same time I wanted to relax the tension going through the boys as they exchanged glares with each other.

     I see Ethan open his mouth to speak, but he remains quiet as Mark beats him tol it. "That's none of your business, Y/N," he growls.

     "Hey, I was just asking!" I snap back at him. I then grab Ethan's sleeve again and begin to pull. "Ethan, let's go! This was a mistake!"

     "Y/N, wait!" I feel him pull back. "You can't keep running away from this. Come on, we came for you to say something, remember?"

     "Right." I huff and roll my eyes while turning back to the group once again. "Tyler, I don't think this applies for you. But Mark and Amy, I need to talk to you about a decision I have made."

     "What is it?" Mark replies with arms crossed. Amy gives a look that tells me to go on.

     "So you know how I've been somewhat avoiding you all?" I begin. Amy nods.

     Mark turns to look directly at me. "Yeah, why have you-"

     "I have my reasons for it, but that's not what I want to talk about now." I feel myself tensing up, but almost instantly relax as I feel Ethan place his hands on either side of my shoulders.

     "You can do this," he whispers into my ear.

     "I'm moving in with Ethan," I blurt out. It feels just like ripping off a bandage.

     "You're what?" Scolded Mark.

     "Hey, calm down," Amy said in a soothing voice. Mark seemed hesitant on staying quiet, but soon enough, he let's silence overtake him.

     "Sometime last month, Mark and I had an argument..." I say, turning over to Amy and Tyler. Their faces were serious with a bit of worry, but they did not say a word. I took it as a signal for me to go on. "After the argument, Ethan had texted me, saying to meet him at Starbucks. While there, I told him everything and he let me stay at his place that night. I was afraid to go back and face Mark after it all, so I begged Ethan to let me stay another night, and then another, and another. Basically you get the point. I stayed with him for a whole month, more than what I was supposed to."

     I look at Tyler and find him with an expression full or hurt and... anger? However, I chose to ignore it and not let my current confidence stop flowing.

     "I still don't know what terms I'm on with Mark. And the day of the argument, Ethan said that if things don't work out with Mark, I could make it official and move in with him. So after avoiding you three,it seemed pretty obvious that things weren't going to get fixed. With that, I made up my mind. I told Ethan about it and well here we are."

     "I say go for it," Amy chirped in. "Do whatever makes you happy. I dont know how things are between you and Mark right now, but I do hope things get better between the two of you." I smile at her words as I feel Ethan's chin lay on my shoulder, but also see Tyler eyeing Ethan up and down. Not in a good way.

     "You know, I find it funny how you're both talking about me when I'm standing right her-" Mark tries to speak, but Tyler cuts him off.

     "The three of us can help you move your things tomorrow afternoon." He then shifts his gaze to Ethan. "And if things don't get too messy with Y/N, maybe the five of us can be friends."

{💝~💙}