𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝙒𝙄𝙇𝘿 𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏

Epilogue: About That Letter...

Francis lied on his back on his bed, gazing up at his phone as he held it above himself. He scrolled through a social media page that had all the photos and videos taken at the party from nights ago. He smiled to himself as he scrolled through the feed, seeing images and video clips from various points of the night. Images of party goers taking shots, dancing on the dance floor, some even pulling practical jokes on other party goers and the immediate aftermath of said jokes. But the ones he really liked were those taken of him in the fox mask during the tournament. He grinned even wider, seeing candid images of himself as he stood in the crowd in between each match, busting out his dance moves on the floor, and videos of himself walking out onto the dance floor, his final breakdance routine, and him taking off his mask. The images and videos received hundreds of likes and shares, dozens of comments asking who he was or stating they had wished they were there for the party. 

But his all-time favorite picture was one taken of him and Ariel in their tango dance at the end of the tournament. He found himself staring at an image of him and her in their final pose at the very last note of the song. After a moment, he downloaded the image to his phone and texted the image to Ariel. Francis continued to smile to himself before hearing a knock coming from the other side of his room. He lifted his head and looked to the sound, seeing his mother standing in the doorway. 

"Knock, knock." She said, smiling to him. 

Francis sits up on his bed, locking his phone. "Hey, mom. What's up?" He asks. 

"Just seeing what you were up to. And I wanted to ask you if you decided on what school you thought about applying to." His mom says.

Francis didn't know how to answer the question anymore. Before the party, everything he did was to work towards getting into his dream school. But after the party, he realized that in order to do so, he would have to leave everything he had just fallen in love with behind. 

"I... still haven't really come to a full decision yet." Francis answers, rubbing the back of his head. 

Francis' mom let her hand slide from off the door frame and had entered the room, sitting on the bed next to him. 

"Look, I can tell you are having a tough time about it." She then says, Francis glancing over to her. "I can imagine how hard it must be to choose going to your dream school and leaving your hometown behind. But if I can offer you any piece of advice, I'd tell you to follow your heart." 

"Really?" Francis asks. 

"Of course, dear. With grades like yours, you could go to school anywhere you wanted. Of course, the academic side of me is screaming for you to go to the best school you could possibly get into. But as your mother, I just simply want you to do what would make you the happiest, whatever you choose for that to be." 

Francis thought to himself for a moment. "That... actually helps me out a lot. Thanks, mom."

His mother smiles to him and wipes a bang of his hair on his forehead. "You're more than welcome, dear. No matter what you decide to do, I will always be proud of the man you are starting to become." 

Francis smiled to her, leaning in and giving her a hug. His mother returned the hug. 

"Oh, and please try to help your father out today with cleaning out the attic. He's been grumpy about it the past few days." She says, rubbing Francis' back. 

"You got it, mom." Francis says. 

Francis' mother then stood up from the bed and proceeded to exit the room. Francis then ran his hand through his hair, letting out a soft sigh. After debating with himself with the decision for what seemed like hours in his mind, he then smiled softly to himself before reaching back down to his phone. But just as he was about to grab it, his phone began to ring. Surprised, he picks up the phone to see that Drake was calling him. Wide eyed, he answered the phone.

"Hello?" Francis greeted. 

"Hey, man." Drake spoke through the line, sounding almost a bit dejected. 

"What's up, man?" Francis asks, starting to become concerned. 

"Uhm... nothing much, really. I was just cleaning out all the stuff from the back seat of my car and... I found your backpack in here. You left it in here the day of the party." He answers.

"Oh. Shit, I'm sorry, man. I'll stop by later on today to come get it." Francis says. 

"Well, that's not the entire reason I'm calling." Drake then says, a sigh being heard from the other side. 

"Oh, what's wrong?" Francis asked. 

"Well, when I pulled it out, I grabbed it by the bottom part. And when I did, a part of your zipper was still open, and a letter fell out." Drake answers. 

Francis' heart dropped. "Ah... damn. Look, I didn't want you guys to find out about that this way." Francis says. 

After a few moments of silence, Drake's voice returned. "You plan on leaving us behind, Fran?" He asked, his voice sounding incredibly dejected. 

Francis thought once again about the decision. He knew whatever he told Drake in this moment, he had to commit. But after thinking for a few moments, another smile runs across his face. 

"You know, those preppy schools are super overrated, anyway." Francis says, walking over to his bedroom window. 

"Woah, seriously? You aren't leaving then!?" Drake asks, his voice bubbling with jubilation. 

"Come on, man. How could I leave my two best friends behind? Plus, if I went off to some super high-nosed university, imagine how all my fans would feel if I suddenly just decided to skip town." Francis says, gazing out his window, watching as a car begun to pull up in front of his house. 

"I knew there was no way you could deal without us, bro." Drake says as Francis watched as the car sat idle in front of his house. Suddenly, he had felt his phone vibrate against his head. He removes the phone near his ear, looking down at it to see a text message from Ariel, reading a text that had a heart emoticon followed by the words "the prize". He smiled to the message before looking back out window, seeing Ariel step out from the driver seat of her car, looking up to Francis as he stood in his window and waving before blowing him a kiss. 

"Hey, man. I'd love to shoot the shit with you, but Ariel just pulled up to my house. We got another hang out date today." Francis says after bringing his phone back to his ear. 

"Oh, sorry bro. I'll let you go then. See you this weekend, Fran my man." Drake says, hanging up his line. 

Francis smiled as he held up his index finger to Ariel and steps away from his window, stuffing his cell phone into his pants pocket. Grabbing his wallet from his nightstand, he then strolls over to his door of his bedroom. As he begun to step out, he took a glance to the fox mask that sat on top of his wardrobe dresser. Smiling, he then reaches up to it, tapping the mask on its forehead. 

"See you later, Shuffle Kid." He says to the mask before turning off his bedroom light and steps out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.