It won't keep us apart

Epilogue

Richelle's POV

This is for Noah. Tonight's party is all for him, basically our send off for him in his own backyard. The night air was warm from the last remains of the summer sun. Many stars twinkled from high above. One voice spoke out above all the others. On the side of the 'stage', I listened to Jacquie's speech.

"Richelle's here to give a short speech for Noah, let's give it up for her!" Cheers erupt from the room as Jacquie hands me the microphone.

My hand wraps around the microphone. I stare at the sea of people in front of me. They're all so happy, and I want to be happy for Noah. The thing is, I'm not feeling it at the moment. I don't think I'm quite ready to see him go yet. It's not my choice, but why am I afraid?

"Many of you probably know about how far Noah and I go back. How far? We were in J-Troupe when we first became friends. Back then, Noah was actually scared of a lot of things,"  – this earned a laugh from many of my teammates  – "There was a spider, and it was no ordinary spider. In fact, it was that scary that none of the other J-Troupers dared to step foot into the rehearsal room. That day, I was a few minutes late when I saw them standing outside. 'What's the matter?'  I had asked, and they all pointed towards something on the middle of the floor. I pulled a flyer off the pinboard nearby and calmly made my way to it."

I paused. "When I got close enough to the spider, I tried my hardest not to laugh. It was a poor little spider that they were all so anxious about. In the end, I let the spider loose outside and there was a scrawny boy who was watching me. 'Thanks for getting rid of the spider,'  he said. I didn't reply as I watched the spider scuttle away. Then he said: 'You're brave for a girl.'  That was when I finally looked at him. Noah was the one waiting around. From there, our friendship started."

Noah was up at the front of the crowd. He was watching me with an unreadable expression. I blinked away the tears that were welling up in my eyes.

"Noah, I wanted to take this time to thank you for all the things you've done for me. When I finally made it onto A-troupe, we began to drift and the past few years I've struggled to rise up the ranks. It wasn't because I didn't want people to judge me. It was because I didn't know how. That's right, Richelle didn't know how to be a leader," I smiled weakly.

"This year I've learned to break down my barriers, and I'm glad that you were there along the way. I don't know whether I would've been able to do it without you. I wish you the best for whatever you do, wherever you go," the shark charm on my bracelet glinted in the light.

"I'll leave you with this: no matter where you go, this friendship of ours, it won't keep us apart."

A/N: This is it. The end of this story. It's been a long journey writing all of this because it took more than a year to finish this. 

Admittedly, I did go through a phase where I was unmotivated to continue this book. I later came back and started writing again. Seeing all of your support has continued to motivate me to write more often. I can't thank each and every one of you enough. 

To all my readers, new or old, I appreciate all of you for reading this book and even dropping the occasional vote/comment along the way. To those who've been reading every update since the very beginning where I released the first part (you know who you are), it must've been a pain to wait for my updates, but you've continuously supported me regardless.

I'm excited to announce that I'm in the process of writing a new book (not a sequel or anything related to this book), so keep your eyes peeled for more news!

In the meantime, go read my other book: 'Enough | A Bryles story'.

Endless thankyous,

- Ali <3