Cold Love // Hayes Grier

epilogue

even though i dont like this story anymore and i havent updated in like forever i thought it deserved an epilogue.

6 months later.

Cara.

I could ramble on and on about how me and Hayes were saved, but it is still painful. All you need to know is that we were rescued three days after being captive, and now my mom and Cameron have moved to Florida to the clinic.

I smiled as my hands glided down the pink dress my mom had given me for Christmas. I said I didn't want it, I knew how much money she was spending on Cam and I didn't want her to waste it on me. No matter how hard I tried she somehow won and I am now wearing the dress to my graduation.

I know, it's not that big of a deal that I'm graduating from middle school, but after what I've been through this year I actually deserve this.

I performed a small turn in front of the full length mirror the Grier's had in their home and contemplate my appearance. Many of the scars and bruises were still sort of visible, yet I didn't feel the need of covering them. They represented who I am and how strong I was.

I heard a couple of honks from the outside and quickly rushed downstairs. I grabbed my speech from the kitchen table and took it to the car with me.

Francesca waved at me and so did Emily. I genuinely smiled and got into the back seat right next to baby Rebecca. Neither of us spoke a word besides the greetings, I guess there wasn't much to say.

Emily was attending the same high school as Hayes and Trevor were going to, as for me, I was accepted into the California Academy of the Performing Arts. I had auditioned for musical theater, with Popular from Wicked since it was in the musical I rehearsed the most, and got my acceptance letter on March 2nd.

We pulled up to the school and it was already flowing with eager eighth graders waiting for their promotion. Em and I got out of the car in unison as we started going to the backstage door indicated for students.

I wouldn't say everyone, but a lot of people would give me looks because of my wounds. I suddenly felt belittled and wanted to just run back to where I came from. Emily noticed and grabbed my arm, giving me a sweet smile before we went to Ms. Gretchen to pick up our gowns.

They were red, representing our school color was the last thing we could do before we left, but every time I looked at it I couldn't stop wondering if we were gonna break into a HSM number.

I helped Em get into hers as she helped me with mine. After that it was just to make ten minutes of butterflies pass fast with an endless amount of selfies to take up our storage.

Approximately 1,110 selfies later, the cliche graduation song began to play as we were taken to our seats. Different from regular graduations, our school decided to seat us by homeroom and not by alphabetical order, which meant I could seat with Emily.

Our principal walked up to the podium and began his speech about how great this year was and how wonderful we were before they began the achievements ceremony. Knowing I wasn't getting anything from those categories I sort of dozed off for forty five minutes until they called for the valedictorian, meaning me.

Trembling and nervous, I tried my best to not trip on my heels as I walked there. I tried my best to stay straight as I held the paper tighter in my hand. I shook the assistants' principals and the principal's hand before standing on the podium. I unfolded the paper and cleared my throat before I began.

"Students, parents and faculty thank you for being here today to be a part of our class of 2015 promotion. Students as for today we shall no longer call ourselves kids, but really really really young adults," I said causing the audience to laugh. "As our academic journey continues to grow so do we as individuals. I know that if I look back and think of the person that I was at the beginning of the year it is clearly obvious that I am not the same; not only physically but mentally. Everyday we continue to grow and shape ourselves to the person we want to become in the future, even if its a famous football player, a teacher, or even a professional cheerleader; we make ourselves better everyday to achieve that."