We Come Alive 5

The End Of A Journey

After four long, eventful years, the seven boys met up at the athletic building since they had all agreed to meet for the first official day of summer for all of them.

Diego was the last one to arrive with Ethan. When he walked into the common area of the offices, he saw Manny showing Andrew the photos from her own graduation with the other homeschooled students in the area.

Ethan instantly joined Jose and Jacob on the floor as they clapped to Esmeralda to try to get her to walk to them. The baby would stand on her legs and take one or two steps to them, then fall onto her hands and knees with a bright smile with her one little tooth on display.

Ricky walked out of Sam's office with a bag of chips in his hand as he looked over Manny's shoulder to see the photos of her holding her official diploma with one hand and her daughter with the other.

"You happy to be out of high school?" The Egyptian teen asked, walking over to Diego but addressing his words to Manny.

Manny nodded, even though Ricky wasn't looking. "Yeah. I never thought I would see this day when I found out I was pregnant, but luckily I was graduated before she was even born."

Jose, Ethan, and Jacob erupted into cheers when Esmeralda stood up and waddled over to them quickly. She gripped onto Jose's shirt to steady herself as she smiled and giggled at all the attention she was getting.

Esmeralda held her hand out to Mateo when he waltzed out his office with Stephen right behind him. Mateo smiled at Esmeralda and waved, but let the boys play with her. Sam and Victor slowly made their way out the office behind them, Sam using his walkie talkie to talk to Danny who was throwing out some old supplies outback.

Stephen looked around at his friends, but an obvious one was missing. "Where's Clover?" He frowned.

The room grew silent as the boys looked at one another. Diego nudged Ricky's arm with a concerned look.

"Where is she?" He asked. "When's the last time you saw her?"

"Couple of days ago," Ricky revealed. "She was in the group chat when we said we were coming here. She knows about it."

The boys whipped around, a shimmer of hope when they heard footsteps coming inside the room. Danny looked taken back by the sudden attention but just leaned against the doorframe.

"What?" He frowned.

Andrew glanced beside him to Manny. "You two are inseparable. Where is she?"

Manny gave them a saddened look. She put her phone down in her lap and sighed. "By now? Georgia."

"What?!" The boys all screamed.

Esmeralda jumped and begun crying from the sudden shock. Manny scooped her up into her arms and held her when she came to her mother for comfort.

"What do you mean Georgia?" Jacob asked, puzzled. "Why would she be in Georgia?"

"Because that's where she's going to college." Sam clarified.

Victor shrugged his shoulders. "She had to go. Caught a flight last night."

Mateo reached into his back pocket and pulled out a yellow notepad paper folded up. He held it up to them. "She came over to my house yesterday to say goodbye. Clover starts summer conditioning this week; she has no choice. She wrote this note sobbing for all of you. Said that she couldn't face the people she loved the most to say goodbye."

Ricky jumped over all the chairs to take the note before Stephen could reach out and take it himself. The six other boys crowded around Ricky to read it, but since they all couldn't see; Stephen read it aloud: