Special Tutoring

Epilogue

*last chapter... thank you everyone for staying with me for this journey of 2 years, despite my abysmal speed in updating. LOVE you all and hope you support my future works!*

"Liebling, darling masochist," Ethan declared. "Always going back for more, even after your family and I told you to stay away from Amy."

"We could have found better ways to indulge your fetish than hiding behind couches, avoiding getting shot."

I enjoyed his gentle scold, hanging onto his every word like a desperate koala bear would the last eucalyptus leaves in the entire forest as we chatted on the phone.

I was missing him so much since he left for Germany. Once the doctors confirmed he was ok other than a bruise on his right cheek when Sam Rhodes landed one on him during the scuffle, he had to take off on the next available flight. But not before kissing me goodbye at the hospital. Despite that, I still felt abandoned like the woman in Casablanca (I don't watch it, my mom does) and cried for hours after. Daddy thought that it was PTSD that finally sank in, but Mom understood and drew him away so that I could cry in peace.

Until he called.

Then I stopped.

Then I cried after he had to end the call.

Luckily, it was only for a short while.

Whether it was the ensuing media furore ("High school sext blackmail!", "Prom turned hostage situation", "Quarterback hero turns felon" etc) or the hushed tones and pointed stares of everyone in our small university town that drove my parents to do a complete 180 on their decision to accept the Gräfin's kind offer to have me (and Qin as my guardian) stay at her summer house, I didn't know or care. All I knew that it was definitely not due to my tears, they were hard hearted that way. Adversity builds character, is one of Daddy's favorite sayings).

All that mattered to me was that in a week's time, I would be back in Ethan's arms and we would brave the German summer together, hand in hand. Not even the fact that I would finally cross paths with the mysterious Natalie, or attend her wedding to Jogi the betrayer, would dampen my enthusiasm.

I resolved to spend the next week cramming as many German phrases into my brain as I could. It was easy because there was nothing else to do. My family had to hide out at an extremely dull business hotel while the contractor overhauled the badly damaged lower floor of our home. Other than its proximity to the university, it boasted minimal appeal, since it had no swimming pool and 50% of its TV channels were news channels and the other half, ancient reruns.

Still according to my parents, I could have had it worse. According to my mother, for the kind of transgression I have committed, I should be staying at a dingy motel with rats underfoot. But appearances must be kept, which was why we were here. In the middle of boredom town.

Not that I minded of course. I was glad to be alive and kicking already so I didn't mind being grounded. Besides, I was not ready to return to society yet, with that fugly bruise on my cheek that was taking its time to fade. So I was perfectly contented to stay indoors ordering from room service, ostensibly studying German while flipping through Teen Vogue.

The rest didn't fare so well. Emily who was physically unharmed (she said she still woke up in the middle of the night screaming now and then), was sent away to spend a quiet summer on her aunt's farm at Wisconsin. Trevor broke another rib and suffered some internal bleeding from Sam Rhodes' aggression. This time his parents had their way. His father accepted a job transfer and once Trevor recovered from his injuries, the entire McGill family would move to Dallas, Texas. Talk about unrequited lovers. Emily was the true victim of the entire situation, she finally met someone she liked and now he was going to move 1.5K miles away. Thank god for the Internet and hopefully after Senior Year they can reunite at an Ivy League somewhere.