Forbidden Attraction (Book 1)✔

♤Chapter 50♤

Finale

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The next two weeks were a blur of bliss and misery.

The week following prom was misery because we had revisions for finals, my friends were officially out of school, I was lonely, and I missed most days of them hanging out without me.

It was bliss because Chris helped me study, he still came and picked me up after school and when I finished my finals on Monday and Tuesday. I only had three because gym is... gym, so I only had to go to school for those two days.

The last three days of school, seniors went in only to have graduation rehearsal in the gym. I was home, so after they finished up, Chris would come and get me and we hung out—sometimes alone, but most times we met up with our friends.

Graduation was closing in on us—on them, I should say. But still on me because this affected me while it was good for them. The big day was the Saturday after the last day of school and finals—today, which was Friday.

It wasn't a question of whether I was going. I didn't have a choice, and I was looking forward to Chris in a suit again, so I wasn't going to miss it anyway.

At noon, I was picked up, and our inner circle met at our regular Starbucks. We decided to have a nice evening, a lowkey celebration of us just hanging out on that last day of school. It meant a lot to all of us.

Currently, everyone was going over their summer plans and I swayed on my chair, happily slurping on a caramel frappuccino. It was my first time having it and it was heavenly.

"Having fun?"

My movements stopped and I looked up, my slurping slowing when I caught their eyes on me. I smiled sheepishly, letting the straw go and licking my lips as I heard chuckles.

"It's good."

"Uh-huh," Nate drawled, giving me an amused grin.

"So," I said, crossing my arms on the table, "what's going on?"

My eyes went to Chris involuntarily and my heart did that thing. He was sporting a beautiful smile and staring down at his drink while fiddling with the straw.

These past few weeks with him have been something else. I was a different kind of happy than my usual and I don't know if anyone had noticed. I felt like I was beaming from inside out and there are times where I feared someone would read my mind and find out what's got me so peppy all the time.

I didn't look at Chris for long but the image branded itself into my brain like everything else he did. I was thankful when Julia replied instead of laughing like some of them.

"What's going on is, I'm spending the second half of summer in New York."

I groaned, loud and exasperated. "You too? Why!"

"Because," she laughed, "I'm taking two courses."

Leaning across the table, I said, "I thought we established that Chris was the one without a life here."

She smiled. "I wanted to get some stuff out of the way." She shrugged, taking a drink from her cup.

I whined pathetically. "Oh, whatever."

"I'm gonna be here for the first half," she said, laughing.

"I guess that's enough," I grumbled, snatching up my cup again.

"Aren't you gonna be busy anyway?" Jess said. "You're doing design stuff with Charlotte and you plan on getting a job."

My lips pursed as I swallowed, and I placed my cup on the table again. "Yeah," I said, sounding unsure, but knowing for a fact my mind was set on doing exactly those things.