The Tough Girls Club

Epilogue

The sun streamed through the window of my bedroom, and I flickered my eyes open, slowly remembering where I was and what had happened the night before.

I realized a strange thing was occurring, something that had never happened before. I wanted  to get out of bed. What a concept. I didn't think there was ever a time in the past three years where I wanted to get out of bed and experience life.  And perhaps, just maybe, that would be my greatest triumph of all.

I stepped out of my bed, making sure to step over Clara, who was still asleep on the bedroom floor. I stumbled down the hallway, into Alana and Kelsey's room.

"G'morning-" I started to say before I noticed that although there where two beds in the room and two girls to sleep in them, one of them was clearly empty. Kelsey and Alana had snuggled up to Alana in one of the beds, and they where very clearly spooning. Alana opened one eye to look at me, flipped me off, and closed her eyes again. Even though she had just given me the middle finger, she was smiling.

And so I walked out of the room, thinking about how worlds collide in ways we never expect them to.

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"Hey guys, come look at this," Zoey said.

Since Miss Rose didn't have any kids, it was our job to clean out her attic. Although it was a veritable treasure trove for cool stuff, it was also filled to the brim. We had been working for three days and were still cleaning.

Zoey held a large manila envelope in her hand. On the front, in sweeping cursive, was written "For the Ladies of The Tough Girls Club." She turned the envelope upside down, and out tumbled seven pieces of notebook paper.

"This one says 'Dear Clara' on top," Arine said, "and this one says 'Dear Jamie.' There's one for all of us."

I picked up the piece of paper with my name on it and opened my note. It read:

Dear Jamie,

I haven't known you for very long. But for the few months I have known you I have found you to be kind, brave, and smart. I want you to know that wherever you go, whatever you do, the world will bw lucky to have someone like you. You are a gift to the world, dear Jamie, and I've been privileged to know you over these past few months. Whatever comes your way, remember: you are strong enough. You've always been strong enough.

Love,

Miss Rose

---2 years later---

"I can't believe the thing that's breaking us could be something so mundane," Emily groaned, "I always thought we'd be the Tough Girls Club, unbreakable, together forever, you know? Not something that's going to be ruined by motherfucking college."

We were laying on our backs, watching the stars. The end of august smell in the air reminded me of what I already knew: tomorrow I would leave for college, ending my last summer with the Tough Girls. And frankly, that scared me half to death. Everything that I had done, the friendships I had made over the summer, just to be taken away? It was terrifying.

I tried to busy myself with looking for constellations, then with listening to Clara's breath next to me. Anything to distract myself from thinking about the possibility of never seeing the Tough Girls again. I wanted to go to college. I really did. But I also didn't want to loose what I had laying right next to me.

"C'mon, it can't be that bad, right? We'll still see each other." Arine said.

"Yeah, we'll see each other accidentally at WalMart when we're 30," Clara responded, on the verge of tears.

We were all adults, at least in the eye of the law, and we all had our own adventures to attend to. I was heading off to UC Davis, Emily was going to Kenyon, Zoey was going to University of Florida, and Clara was headed to Wesleyan.  Alana and Kelsey had rented a cheap apartment in New York, insisting that they'd figure it out. We all had each other's phone numbers, sure, but then again we'd all heard the stories of friend groups who where inseperable until they went to college and never spoke again.

"Maybe it'll all work out, y'know? Maybe we're just assuming the worst. We can't be separated like this-" I stopped talking, knowing I couldn't say anything that would make us feel better. We just had to hope, and wait, and hope some more.

"I hate to be a party pooper, but it's already midnight and I have to leave at eight tomorrow," Emily said.

I took a deep breath, savoring the moment, and then I sat up.

I rode my bike home in tears that night.

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Kelsey, Alana and I were the only ones left, and once I said my goodbyes I would be joining the college kids.

"So, do you have condoms, booze, and a bikini?" Alana asked, leaning against the side of my mom's minivan, currently filled to the brim with everything needed for a pleasant college experience.

"No!" I said, loudly, and then leaned in and said, "I did pick up a box of magnums but didn't know how to get vodka without having my I.D. checked. Anyways, how are you lovebirds going to survive in New York?"

"I don't know," Kelsey said. "Waitressing. Sheer will power. Prostitution." Alana and Kelsey were standing with their arms around each other, and they looked happy. Their relationship had survived and flourished over the past few years. I was a little jealous, but mostly I was happy they were happy.

"Honey, we have to go, " my mom said, appearing from the back of the minivan. "Say your goodbyes."

"Bye Kels," I gave her a hug tears streaming down my face.

"Bye babe."

I then gave Alana a hug, still crying.

"It was fun, ace," she whispered in my ear.

And with that, I was gone, lost to the future, while hopelessly trying to cling to the past. I slammed the car door, wrapping my hands around my knees.

"So, honey, did you have a fun summer?" my mom asked.

"The best," I responded.

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And that's the end. Thanks so much to everyone who supported this story. I've read some parts over, and wow it was shit. But I wrote it a year and a half ago, and hey, the plot was decent.

When I was writing this story, it represented everything that I wanted. I wanted to healing from my abuse. I wanted a good group of friends who went on adventures. I wanted a place to fit in. This story will forever be a part of me because of that no matter how badly written it was.

I went through some hardcore depression a couple months after I stopped writing this. But I'm better now. I'm getting better, I am.

Thank you to the friends I made and all my cringe worthy memories with them. Thanks to writerbug44, who made me so excited when I was featured in her story and she made me my cover, even if she was giving those out for free. And thanks to you, the readers, for supporting me.

As you can tell, my writing skill level has changed quite a bit. I will be editing and reconstructing this story, as well as writing something new. New, edited chapters will be released weekly or so, but I will be keeping the original. Once I've released all the edited chapters on here I'm going to switch them with the old ones so that the edited versions are in the front and the old versions are in the back.

Picture on the top is Amandla Stenberg, who plays Clara.

Song of the day is Viva La Gloria by Green Day. I think it's a good song to end this on.

Thanks, guys. It's been a wild ride.