Final Fantasy

Part 7

"Wake up Vale." Someone says to me in a singsong voice, with a gentle shake to my arm. I slowly open my eyes to see Cassandra Millie and Ruby standing over me, smiling so big I worry for their skin, that will undoubtedly stretch to a point of no return. "If your about to murder me atleast let me get funeral ready." I joke, looking worriedly towards my friends. They never look at me like this, It's weird. "Haha funny Vale. We want to know everything!" Millie screeches, causing her eyes to bulge out of her head even more. I blush instantly catching onto what they're talking about. "Oh that explains the looks." I say grinning and shifting into a sitting position. "No time for comfort! Spill Vale." I chuckle at my friends' enthusiasm and start telling them how my night went, when it was just me and Kade. When I'm finished all three of them jump on my lap and start screaming words of joy at me. "Ahh Vale, I'm gonna cry! You guys are such a power couple." Ruby says while flicking a fake tear away with her finger. "Literally you and him together is making me want to get boo'd up now, what the fuck." Cassandra says putting on a false disappointed face. I smile at my friends and pull them in for a hug when we hear a knock on the door. "Come in" I yell to the visitors. The boys run into the cabin and push the girls off the bed so they can dogpile on top of me. Fuck they're heavy. "OK ow. You guys aren't a hundred pounds of bone anymore!" I say loudly trying to squirm my way from under them. "Awe Vale you love us, and we're celebrating. Our boy is about to be laid on the regular!" Lucas jokingly says. I slap his head gently and he snuggles closer to me. I look out from underneath the boys to see Kade leaning on the door frame smiling from ear to ear at me. "So you told them then?" I ask him throwing imaginary daggers with my eyes. He shrugs and crosses his arms replying "Was it a secret? Was I supposed to be your mistress Vale? I'm much too pretty to be a side piece." My friends all laugh with Kade and I take the chance to crawl out of the pile. I land on my feet taking a dramatic deep breath and leaping over to Kade. He opens his arms and I fold myself into him, resting my head on his chest. "Good morning, gorgeous." He whispers in my ear, kissing my forehead in the process. We stay intertwined for another moment before his hands fall, letting me free. I smile up at him before saying "Good morning, Handsome." We continue smiling at each other when our friends let out a loud 'awe' drawing our attention to them. Maleek hops off the bed and takes long strides until he is standing next to us. He flings his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to his side. "Now listen here Kade, this is the love of my life right? So you hurt her, we hurt you, yes?" He says sternly. Kade throws his hands up in surrender and nods his head in understanding. "And also I was her first kiss, so there." He jokes, sticking his tongue out at my boyfriend and kissing my cheek before taking a step back. "What?" Rickie yells jumping up from the bed. "I thought I was your first kiss?" He says, while plastering on a look of fake hurt. "No it was me, wasn't it?" Sean chimes in. I bite my lip and chuckle without giving an answer. "Vale you whore! Millie screams between laughs. I shrug my shoulders and kick the boys out so we can change. Dressed and ready for the day we meet up with the boys outside our cabin and head down to get breakfast. When we arrive the teachers are standing at the front of the dining hall looking pissed and the students are sitting at the tables facing them. "Where's the food at?" Lucas says out loud, drawing our attention to the fact that no one has food in front of them. "Sit." one of the teachers demands of us. We follow instructions and listen to what the teachers have to say. Ms.Willis steps forward and looks around the crowd before starting her rant. "I am so beyond disappointed at some of the students here right now. To think that we planned this trip for you all to have fun and enjoy the outdoors, but instead some of you chose to use this trip as a pitstop between school and a party." My heart stops, how did she find out? I slyly look towards my friends who look as panicked as I do, and they shake their heads in confusion. "Now we know exactly which students were there, and we are giving them a chance to step up and tell us the truth." She looks around the dining hall, waiting for someone to step up but no one does. We all sit in silence thinking about how she knew about the party. "No one is going to fess up?" she questions, but gets no answer in return. "Alright, fine I guess we will have to name names. Alek stand up please." All heads whip towards Alek as he stands up looking very flustered. "Alek the police identified you as the student who went to the party. Now is your chance to tell us who was with you. Speak now child." She says sterly, staring at Alek very intensely. Alek looks down at the floor before connecting eyes with me and giving a slight smile. Oh no, he's going to rat me and my friends out. Shit I knew last night's stunt with Kade would bite me in the ass sooner or later. Kade senses my nerves and takes my hand in his as Alek looks back at our headmistress. "I was at the party last night, but I went alone." He says, causing me to gasp and sigh in relief at the same time. Why would he take the fall for all of us that went last night? I look over at my friends and they all look relieved as well. "Well then, you will be punished greatly for your little night out." Ms. Willis says. I can't let him take the fall for us, least of all for me. I squeeze Kade's hand and he whispers 'don't' clearly sensing my motives. I stroke his cheek before standing up. "Alek." I say, drawing everyone's attention to me. "Do you have something to say Valeriarian?" the headmistress asks me. Alek shakes his head at me and answers her. "No she doesn't, she's probably just wondering when they can eat. We can discuss everything elsewhere headmistress, so my classmates can enjoy the rest of their day." She looks between the two of us before addressing me. "Is that true Valeriarian?" I nod my head looking down, and taking my seat once again. "Right, then Alek follow me and the rest of you take this as a teaching moment. Enjoy your meals." She says leaving the building. The chefs distribute the food but no one in the hall touches it. "Why would he do that?" Millie questions us. "I don't know why he helped everyone else but I know why he helped us. For you Valeriarian." Cassandra whispers and I shoot out of my chair, walking towards the exit. I quickly make my way out and away from the building. I find a park bench in the field over from the hall and take a seat. Alek spared me and my friends because he liked me, and all these years I just turned him down and treated him badly. I take a deep breath and see Alek walking towards me. I stand as he approaches and immediately question him. "Why Alek? That was stupid of you! You could be expelled." He doesn't answer but instead sits on the bench, looking completely unfazed. "Sit Vale." He says. I do as he says and he looks over at me with a smile. "I've tried to get with you for years Vale. I did really like you but seeing you and Kade last night put everything into perspective for me. I realized that I had been going after you the completely wrong way and taking the fall was my attempt at an apology. I hope you can forgive me and we can become proper friends, if I'm not expelled today." He chuckles a little bit and I smile slightly. I'm at a loss for words but I nod my head in agreement, and pull him in for a hug. "I'm sorry too, Alek. I've been horrible to you." He shakes his head before saying "Just be happy with Kade, ya? Do that and I'm happy. And tell him I'll beat his ass if he hurts you." We laugh together and hear "I'd like to see you try to beat my ass." We turn to see Kade smiling behind us. Alek stands and walks until he is in front of my boyfriend. "Well I'll certainly try if you do hurt her, so don't ok? I would like to not get my face smashed in." He chuckles slightly and runs his hand through his hair. Kade nods and with one last look towards me, Alek walks back towards the head office. I stand from the bench and walk into Kade's open arms. "How are you?" he questions, kissing the top of my head gently. "I feel better now that I've talked to him, but I still feel horrible." I tell him honestly, leaning back so I can look him in the eye. "I know, baby. He doesn't seem too upset by it though, so don't upset yourself too much over this." I nod and give him a quick peck on his lips. "Let me take you back, Maleek almost ripped my arms off when I suggested to come find you alone." I laugh and agree, knowing that my friends will one hundred percent come find us in a rage if we don't get back. We walk back to camp hand in hand and see our friends standing outside the dining hall waiting for us. They see us walking and rush to meet us. "Vale are you ok?" Ruby asks me, touching my shoulder in support. I nod my head and Cassandra apologizes for suggesting he took the fall for me. "Don't be sorry Cass, that's exactly why he did it. I talked to him." My friends share a look but don't question me any further. "Ok, while you guys were away they told us our activity for today. We're playing laser tag in the barn." Rickie tells us. That should be fun, take my mind off of things for a while. We head to the barn and the entire place is black with LED lights everywhere. "This is the coolest set up." I say and my friends nod their heads in agreement. We grab the gear and split into teams for the first round. The bell sounds and our teams split into the maze. Maleek, Rickie, Cass, Sean and I are on one team while Lucas, Kade, Millie, Ruby and an add-in, are on the opposing team. Me and Kade thought it would be more fun if we were playing against each other for the first few rounds, so we agreed to join different teams. My team planned to take different routes to the other side of the maze so we could ambush them from every corner. As I pass by a column my mouth is covered by a hand, and I am pulled behind it. "Shh." He whispers in my ear, freeing my mouth and spinning me around. "Hi." I say biting my lip. He gifts me that sexy smile of his and using his thumb, he removes my lip from in between my teeth. We lean into one another and slam our lips together. I press myself impossibly close to him and his grip on me tightens. I let out a soft squeal at how tightly he is holding me, but I don't feel like stepping back. His tongue grazes my lip, asking for entry and I open my mouth to allow him more access. I hear the sounds of the lazer guns going off and I reluctantly pull myself away from him. "You're distracting me from the game." I say breathlessly, as he starts to suck on my neck. "That was the whole point, doll. Less of your team to come for mine." I chuckle and reply "But your team is down a player too." He freezes like he never thought of that before, and starts laughing with me. I give him one last kiss before insisting we head back to the game. "No more cheating, Kade. I'm going to help my team." He nods and as I turn to walk away he takes his lazer and shoots the target on my back. I gasp and turn around with wide eyes. "Kade!" I scream to which he chuckles and says "Game time baby." Before winking and running in the opposite direction. I shake my head in his direction with a smile and run to the other side to assist my teammates.