Never Fated To Be |✅|

Epilogue : Enter, The Future

'We're taking a picture. Everyone, smile!'

We took our positions beside each other and smiled brightly. A cheerful 'cheese!' resounded in the huge hall.
We had all beautifully donned our silk black gowns and hats. The exuberant day was marked complete after we had all thrown the graduation hats high up in the air. The juniors had arranged a grand farewell ceremony tonight at the big ball room and everyone was in the perfect mood for a final party.

'Can I get a copy of that picture?' I asked the guy who had the camera in his hand.
'Of course, Valerie. Everyone here will receive a printed copy.' He smiled easily.
That's right. Everyone was familiar with me now. Everyone knew my name. After Jake publicly announced his relationship with me, everyone was all bright eyes and bright praise. Even the girls who were jealous forgot all about catcalls and jeers when they noticed Jake's passion.

His burning feelings of making a certain someone his.

And the best part this time?
The certain someone was me.

'Thanks.' I returned the photographer another smile and walked away.
I was approaching the food table, as always, when someone called my name pretty loudly.
'Stop right there, Valerie!'
I turned around,
'What?' I asked, irritated at the fact that someone had stopped me from devouring the delicious pasta that was waiting on the table not inches away from my hands.

But when my eyes rested upon her beautiful face which looked prettier with the flowing blonde hair that was loosely swishing behind her, I relaxed.
'Did you get that dress?' Zayla asked as she readjusted her graduation hat on her head.
'I was supposed to get a dress? I thought you were doing that for me.'
'Don't be silly, Valerie.' She suddenly pulled me to one side, 'I thought you were gonna go shopping with him yesterday.'
'Yeah, well . . . Something came up.' I looked at the floor.
Zayla's brows knit into a frown,
'Huh?' She stared at me, 'What do you mean?'

I did not look at her,
'He suddenly called me up yesterday morning and said that he had other plans and so we had to, uh, cancel the, um, outing. Or whatever you want to call it.'
Zayla was wide-eyed,
'And you are not joking?'
'Nope.'
She clenched her fists,
'It's called a date, by the way, and he can't just cancel something like that . . . just like that!'
'Why are you angry?'
'Because he promised me he'd--- ah, never mind. I know what I'll do.' She rubbed her right fist with her left palm.

I smirked,
'Huh. I wonder what you're planning.' Sarcasm was definitely dripping from my tone.
'Wha-- aren't you . . . Weren't you, I don't know, fazed by it?' She said dramatically, 'You're his girlfriend for heck's sake.'
'Yeah, and we've been together for two years. Calm down.'
'But he- he can't just--'
'Hey, what's up?' His voice sounded right then and right beside me.

Interrupting our "intensely important" conversation, Luke walked right up and slung a hand 'round Zayla's shoulders.
'What's going on?' Even though my eyes should have been used to his glossy appearance by now, I still had to shield them as Luke smiled.
'We were just discussing a very essential matter, Luke. Come back later.' Zayla said.
Luke raised an eyebrow and somehow Zayla almost literally melted. Good thing she didn't melt completely. It would've been very troublesome if she had as it would've become my job to clean up the um, mess.

'Oh I know what this is about.' Said Luke, 'It's about Jake, isn't it? About what he did yesterday, isn't it?'
'Yeah well--'
'How do you know? I mean, what do you know?' Zayla interrupted me.
Luke smirked seductively at Zayla,
'I'm not allowed to say anything actually.'
'Dude!'
Luke laughed and hugged Zayla sideways. He always did that when he found her cute. He started doing it immediately after Zayla admitted that she had indeed fallen for him.