One Year Later---

ASHTON'S POINT OF VIEW---

I'm sitting in a cafe, holding a shitty plastic menu. I've been looking for Jess for a year, and I haven't taken any breaks. I don't know why I'm so focused on finding this girl, I hardly remember Michael's face, but I remember everything about Jess.

Right now I'm in Perth, just colouring on a napkin the map for Darwin. I miss her, a lot. We weren't even that serious, we just went off and on all the time, but I still want to make sure she's okay, I guess. Graduation was yesterday. I didn't go, obviously. I sigh and sit against the red chair. I just want to find her. Why can't she just find a telephone and call me? It's been a year and no one has heard anything from her. I'm starting to think she died or something.

"What can I get for you." I hear a voice say flatly. That... Voice. I look up immediately. "Ashton?" Jess's eyes widen. Wow. I had a year on the road and I did not think about what I was going to say. "W-What are you doing here?"

"Uh. Umm. Okay so you kinda left without saying anything.. Like a year ago.. And we didn't hear anything from you.. So I kinda sorta took Morgan and Michael's car and drove around Australia looking for you."

"Wwwhy, though?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

She smiles, and I melt. "You spent a year in a gross, beaten up car, alone, just to ask if I was okay?"

"Yeah."

She slides in next to me. "Just to ask if I was okay?"

"Well I mean. I wanted to know some other things, but mostly if you were okay." I smile. She laughs, and before I can think of something to say she kisses me.

"I'm really glad you're here." She smiles.

"I'm really glad I'm here too."

CALLIE'S POINT OF VIEW---
I knock on Calum's door, and look in. It's full of boxes. "Come in." He yells from the corner, surrounded by a barricade of stacked boxes. I laugh.

"Are you trapped?"

"Only a little bit." He blushes.

"Annnd by a little bit, you mean.." I walk over to him.

"A lot, yes." He laughs, hanging his head low.

"Dork." I roll my eyes, and start moving the boxes away from him.

"Thank you," He laughs and steps out, which causes us to be abnormally close, because there's a box right behind me so I can't move away.

"Uh, so I was just wondering how the packing was going," I look around, "Clearly it's chaos." He laughs.

"Chaos, yes, that's the perfect word to describe this."

"Rowan's a lucky girl, she gets all of this chaos to herself." I smile.

"Yeah, somehow she's okay with it?" He laughs. "If it were you, however," I roll my eyes, "You'd be in here cleaning like you lost your mind."

"I am not a clean freak." I cross my arms, smiling.

"Yes, yes you are."

"I am not! It just keeps me un-stressed." I look around. "And this is unbelievably stressful, so I'm going back to my room." I laugh, and walk out. I go into my room and shut the door. My phone bings and I run over it as fast as possible.

EMYLIIIIII: babe
EMYLIIIIII: duuuudde
EMYLIIIIII: this dorm is crappy
EMYLIIIIII: They're making me share a room with someone who smells like feet
EMYLIIIIII: this would honestly be 10x better if you were here
EMYLIIIIII: but you're not, so i shall cry

"Calum! Callie! Get down here so I can take a picture!" I hear Joy yell.

"Of what?!" Calum yells back.

"Of you two! It's your last day here, Calum!" Everyone's heading off to college, in their prime, and I'm still here. Having absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with my life. I walk downstairs with Calum, and stop at the bottom step for Joy. Every picture she takes of people is always on the stairs. "Smiiillle!" She beams. We smile, and she puts her fist in the air. "Yes! Perfect! Now four more with different poses!"

MORGAN'S POINT OF VIEW---
"Miiicchaaeellll," I whine.

"Yeah?" He asks, sitting over by the TV doing his best to fix the PS4 controller. He's failing, by the way.

"Can you get me the Cheetos?" I grin.

"Get them yourself." He laughs.

I scoff, "How rude, Mikey, I am pregnant with your child. Hmph."

"Yeah but we shouldn't feed her Cheetos while she's growing. Aren't you supposed to eat lettuce and all that shit?"

"I am utterly offended by what you are suggesting." I say flatly. He smiles and hands me the Cheetos. "Thank yoooouuuu."

"Uh huh."

ASHTON'S POINT OF VIEW---

"So then I got an apartment in Perth, I guess." Jess shrugs. I nod. "Okay quit being quiet, there's obviously something you wanted to ask me besides if I'm okay?"

I sigh. "It's not- It's not important."

She shrugs. "Ask me anyway."

"Um. Did you.. Leave because of me?"

"No. God no. If anything I would've stayed for you. I dunno. I just needed somewhere else to be, I guess."

CALLIE'S POINT OF VIEW---

I lye in my bed, looking at ceiling. It's been a year and a half since I was being torn down everyday by my dad, and scared to be in my house. I forget about it sometimes. It just seems blurry now, like I dreamed all of it up. Jonathan went to jail again eight months ago, this time for like, twenty five years instead of five.

I can't stop thinking about how Calum's leaving tomorrow. For college. And his girlfriend. I wonder if he's going to become one of those cliches of college boys who either wear vests and drink coffee with a newspaper, or going to parties every night and failing his classes. Probably both.

Notes

njcdschduskhcdshfc THEY MATURED SO MUCH IM CRYING


well not morgan and michael but they'll probably never mature XD

-bh