Disneyland

FIFTEEN

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

- Unknown

• • •

"Did you ever think it would be like this?" Felicity whispers, snuggling into him. Her hair is let out, and she's wearing her winter jumper. Summer flew by quickly and now she is off for university. Along with others. Felicity pushed back her day of moving. She doesn't want to leave just yet.

The last month of summer was spent with Felicity trying to forget about Jay and the last text message. And she did so by spending more time with her friends, trying to turn her life into something more than a pandora box. Felicity is sad. Tears well, put she shoves them into a drawer in her brain, losing its key. But it's the first one she's lost, the spare one is somewhere floating, waiting for something to trigger her to reach for it, unwillingly.

A lot happened in the last thirty-one days. Sophia and Carlos broke up, then got together, Karl and Philippe went on a trip, Eloise and Connor had their first fight (in which Felicity was present during the make-up), and Felicity and Jay stopped reaching out for each other.

"Sometimes it's better like this. When nothing makes sense," Karl smiles, leaning his head on top of hers. He sips on his Belgian beer, passing his bottle to Felicity every now and then. Felicity's smiles dropped then came back again due to the cheery sounds of her classmates drinking and dancing around a bon-fire, as they try to forget that they're not going to be meeting each other for a while, at least.

"Why is that we always think that once we're off to university we all stop being friends?" Felicity asks, trailing her fingers up her arm.

"You ask yourself that, Felicity. You broke up with J-"

"There was more to it. And isn't Helena Kuïjper. It's just, he's pretty. Not jus this face, everything about it. And more I knew of him, the more he gave me, the more I realised I wasn't as pretty as him."

"Is that a poor way of saying you don't deserve him?" Karl breathes, emptying out his third bottle.

"I don't know. . . I don't get him. I guess. . . maybe that's what I am trying to say."

"Well, then, may I slap you across your face?" Karl asks, brightening up.

Felicity chuckles, pulling away. She cuddles back, saying, "You would never hit a girl or Philippe."

"You know my weakness."

And after a minute or two, Gus, Eloise, Connor, Sofia, Carlos and Esther join them, sitting on the edge of the cliff. And they stay their for a few mote minutes.

"Let's go, this is our night," Felicity grins. Getting up, she grabs Karl's hand, pulling him up. They stand their, breaming at each other, then they nod.

And they laugh, and they walk to their crowd. Ones who understands who each one of them are, ones who are just as wild and carefree as them, ones who've seen what they seen, ones who they grew up with. And in that moment, each one of them realise that this is where they belong. Everyone looks around, smiling at all the familiar faces, and they laugh, and the music behind doesn't matter. What matters is that they're together. And they'll always have each other.

And suddenly the spare key is being used, and tears slip from Felicity's eyes.

Not because of bad things, she cries because good things happen.

• • •

"You can come back whenever," Aunt Melanie tells her, sitting on her bed. Felicity's moving around her room, organizing her bag.