The Little Red Notebook

To Old Friends and New Beginnings

"Jesse, come on! We have to be at the meeting in five minutes!" Radar yelled, bursting through the door. Ever since Petra left Beacontown, Radar had been bossier than ever. Perhaps he was trying to be like Petra, Jesse thought to herself, chuckling a little. Before Radar ran in, Jesse had been standing next to Lukas, talking about his latest book. She gave Lukas an apologetic look before being dragged off by Radar. "Sorry, Lukas! We have to go!" he screamed, and ran with Jesse out of the hall. "Hey! Wait up!" Lukas yelled, running after the two of them.

Radar was determined to keep holding on to Jesse's arm and to keep dragging her along with him until they got to the meeting. He dodged every obstacle in his way while still managing to hold on. At last, the pair arrived at the building, Lukas only seconds behind. "Radar, ow!" Jesse said, removing her arm from his grasp and wincing. Radar just shrugged. "Sorry Jesse, it had to be done," he said. Jesse glanced over at Lukas, who seemed to be out of breath. "Hey Lukas, how-" she started before Radar grabbed her arm again and dragged her inside the building.

Lukas sighed and walked in after them. "Sorry we're late!" Radar said to the group, "somebody was busy talking to a little blonde boy." Jesse took a seat next to Lukas, who was already seated, and playfully rolled her eyes. "Is it a crime to help someone with their book?" she said, laughing. "Yeah, it's not-" Lukas started before being cut off.

"Let's begin!" Radar announced, making sure that the meeting wouldn't be delayed any longer. "First order of business, what should we do about Ivor's latest build?" he added. Lukas stifled a laugh; He was thinking about Ivor's latest build. It had been a tribute to Harper, gone horribly wrong. Jesse elbowed him to stop him from laughing, though she was having a hard time containing herself as well. One of the council members shot Lukas a look, which only made him want to laugh more.

"Lukas, you're a member of the Order of the Stone," a white-haired council member spoke, "you need to learn how-" At that moment, the door to the building opened. Everyone went silent and they were intrigued by the person standing in the doorway. "Jesse?" said the figure. She recognized the voice, but she couldn't quite put a finger on who it was. They stepped into the building, which made it easier to identify them. "Aidan?" Jesse said, staring in disbelief. "Well don't just sit there!" he joked. She got up and ran over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Wow, Aiden? What are you doing here?" Lukas asked, curious why the ex-member of the Ocelots was standing before them. "I, uh- I just wanted to apologize," he said, scratching the back of his neck. Lukas had been around Aidan to know that he did that whenever he was really nervous. "Listen, Jesse," he said with a sigh, "I want a second chance. Ever since what happened in Sky City, I... I just couldn't forgive myself. I shouldn't have been so stupid, and I'm really, really sorry."

The room was silent for a moment, waiting to see what Jesse was going to say. At first, she didn't say anything. Instead, she just wrapped her arms around Aidan again and gave him a long hug. "I forgive you, Aidan. We all do. Everyone makes mistakes," she finally said, breaking the silence, "the important thing is that you learn from those mistakes." He nodded. "Trust me, Jesse, I've learned," he responded.

The room erupted in cheers, happy that Jesse had made up with her friend. "Lukas?" Aiden said, hoping that he'd get up. He did and walked over to Aidan. "Listen, I know that we haven't always been the greatest of friends, even when we actually did talk to each other every day, but I hope you know that I want to apologize to you as well," he told Lukas, "I know I probably hurt you the most out of everyone here, and, well, I understand if you can't forgive me."

Aidan had a hurt look on his face as those words escaped his mouth. Everyone could tell that he was obviously dreading Lukas' response, even Lukas himself. After another moment of silence, Lukas gave Aidan a hug as well. "Of course I forgive you," he said to Aidan, "after all, we agreed to be friends forever: through the good and the bad and the ugly."

Once again, the council members started cheering. "To old friends, and new beginnings!" Jesse said happily, putting an arm around both Lukas and Aidan. Nobody seemed to care about the meeting anymore. In fact, it was nice not having to worry about fixing the problems in Beacontown. It was nice for everything to be perfect.