Cassie (Book #1 of the "Cassie" Series)

Epilogue (+ Author's Note)

11:10pm

"Merry Christmas." I said, my head resting against his. I nestled against him, his arms still holding on to the back of my red dress and keeping me warm against him. As he held me I looked up to the kitchen wall, admiring the picture of us together next to the calendar, noticing how perfectly we fit in the borders of the red wooden frame. As I laid next to him, I knew this was the best Christmas I could ever have wished for.

...

Whew, okay. I caught you guys up. Thank, God. I told y'all to buckle in! After that, Chad and I both went to bed separately without saying a single word to anyone else about it, even though Hope pretty much avoided eye contact with us the entire night. We knew we had to talk about it in the morning, but for now, it just felt good for it to be our little moment between us. 

I wish I could say that I'm Miss Cleo (the psychic, not Ryan's crazy sister) and I know in the cards where this is going to go next, but I don't. I genuinely don't. I know that Chad and I have a lot to talk about, this was probably going to change the dynamic of our friend group forever, and that I also had to deal with Ryan at school, but my plan is to just avoid him until we graduate. What could go wrong with that idea?

Well... a lot, knowing me.

In the span of four months, I got my first boyfriend, who happened to be my biggest crush, gained the confidence to stand up to my bullies, found out my best friends were being horribly abused, fell for one of my best friends, had an ugly breakup with said first boyfriend, and found myself making out with said best friend in the kitchen on Christmas day.

If I lost you at "gained the confidence", I don't blame you.

If you want to grab me by the shoulders, slap me around the head, and shake some sense into me, I ALSO don't blame you. Hell, maybe someone should.

In hindsight, as mad as I am at Ryan, I know I'm not the only person to blame for our relationship falling apart. There was no trust there from EITHER of us, he didn't like me hanging around with Chad and I always questioned whether or not he really liked me. Towards the end I could feel myself leaning more towards Chad, which is probably why I never stopped him from kissing me when he did, even though I fought back my urge to take him in my arms and kiss him back. Is what I did as BAD as what Ryan did, hell no, but can I throw my hands up and claim innocence... probably not.

I wanna be one of those girls that can say "new year, new me!" but like, I don't know. New year, new MAN maybe.

As I said, I spent so much of my life meticulously planning things, and this year was no exception. Falling for Chad was NOT in my calendar, hell, it wasn't anywhere on my radar for the shit I was gonna do in senior year, but sometimes the best things that happen in life are unplanned, even if you have to catch your boyfriend in bed with his human Barbie doll of an ex-girlfriend before you can get there.

So, my takeaway from that really is my New Year's resolution. I'm done planning things out and stressing when things don't go the way I want. Life is spontaneous, so I'm gonna be spontaneous, and luckily, all Chad knows is spontaneity, so I'm in good hands.

So, my New Year's resolution?

Go with the flow.

Author's Note

Alrighty, that's a wrap! Damn, it feels GOOD to set this book to complete.

Well, for the first book. Honey, the story is FAR from over, heh heh heh. But as of right now, damn, it feels GOOD to set this book to complete.

Fair warning, since this is part of a series, you're probably gonna have moments when you find these characters REALLY infuriating in the future, haha! No, seriously. "Cassie" was just a taster of the drama to come, but we all love a bit of drama, don't we?