Chapter 18: An End and a Beginning

He knew where she'd be. He found it slightly scary that he already knew her so well but at the same time faintly reassuring. She may have lied to him but that didn't change the fact that he had still found out about her. There were truths in the darkness he was sure and her apology had seemed genuine enough. Maybe he should forgive her. But not without a good chat first.

Kori watched the clouds float across the sky distantly. It was such a beautiful day. It wasn't a day to feel depressed or to say such horrible things to people, but deep down Kori knew she had made the right decision. "At least I cannot tell myself I didn't try," she said to herself sadly.

"And who's to say you haven't succeeded?" asked Richard sitting down and stretching out beside her.

"Richard!" Kori's cheeks turned bright red. "I…that is to say…I didn't know you came up here…," she finished stumbling.

He gave her a half smile. "Well I knew you would. Remember that night on the Ferris Wheel?"

Kori felt her heart break a little more. "Please Richard, I…" she faltered. "I have hurt you so much." A tear dripped down her cheek. "I cannot tell you how sorry I am."

There was silence for a while until Richard looked up. Removing his shades he looked at Kori. "Did you really mean what you said back there?"

"I meant everything I said," said Kori sincerely. "But which part are you referring to?"

"The part where you said…," his voice dropped. He was taking a gamble here. "…you said you cared about me." There was no reply. His stomach plummeted. Not meeting her gaze he started to get up when a small hand pulled him back down. Startled he looked into her eyes. They were shining. Shining with so much emotion he found it hard to breathe all of a sudden. "Richard," said Kori voice perfectly clear. "Richard, I love you."

It was like everything that had happened before was a bad dream. Kori was here, sitting next to him, on the roof of the school, and she…she loved him. He thought his eyes were slightly wet as he kissed her, kissed her so hard he wasn't sure where she ended and he began. When they finally broke apart he smiled. "Yeah. Me too I think."

And for Kori that was a pretty good start.

OXOXOXOXO

"It's good to see you've settled in here Kori," said her teacher with a smile. "And I've marked your English assignment. It's a little unorthodox but I showed it to the other teachers. They agreed that it was very…touching lets say."

"I cannot take full credit for it. Everyone contributed," said Kori joyfully.

"Of course. That is why I had to fail you." Kori's eyes widened. "But don't worry, you still have time to submit me a proper assignment. As for your first one I am happy to tell you that it has won our schools' annual writer's prize. I'm sure you and all your friends can think of something to do with the prize money."

Kori laughed excitedly. "I'm not sure that we are in need of anything right now Miss, but I'm sure they will be very glad."

"Good, good." Before Kori could go Miss Gray beckoned her down. "I also wanted to say, well done for putting that Kitten in her place. It was about time someone had the guts to do it." Kori hid her smile nodding. "Of course since I'm a completely unbiased teacher I never said that," she said eyes back on her marking. Giggling Kori walked back to her seat, her English assignment still firmly in her hands. "Who knew everyone would get a happy ending?" she thought reading the quotes that had made hers and Raven's assignment.

A Blonde and a Redhead

"I'm a flirt. I'll admit it straight off without a care in the world. But there's this thing about flirting. When you don't care about someone it's no trouble at all, but when you do (care I mean) you find you don't do a single thing right. I hope Terra likes a bumbling idiot."

"He's a big, red haired, blue eyed flirt. But he's lovable and I need that."

A Rebel and a Rule

"I'm going to make it my top prerogative of the year to make her laugh."

"I don't know if I can let go of something I've held onto for so long. But I think, for his sake, I can give it a try."

A Challenge and a Winner

"I've made bad decisions before and some bad choices. But when I look at Bee I know I'm making the right choice and that's all there is to it."

"He made me keep my promise. Not that I really mind."

A Question and an Answer

"It might be a step forward and two steps back but I can live with that. Because I want to know her better. I want to know about her life and her feelings and about her. And the first time she says 'I love you' I'll know I succeeded."

"He's still that weird, short, big mouthed kid he was a few years ago. Strangely enough I had feelings for that weird, short, big mouthed kid and somehow I think I still do. I look at him and cheesy as it sounds I see flecks of yellow in his eyes. Yellow and Purple. Raven and BB. It sounds…complementary."

A Girl and a Boy

"I look at her and I see forever in her eyes. Guys aren't supposed to think that. But then there are a lot of things guys aren't 'supposed' to do that I don't really care about. Cos' I do see forever. I see us tomorrow, and the day after and the day after that. I see us ten years from now. I see us scary as it is as grandparents. And I want her to know that she's the best thing that ever happened to me. The first time I can look beyond the next few hours and be happy with what I'm seeing. The first time I can understand exactly why it used to be so easy to jump off the trapeze when my father was standing below. The first time I can look at someone and tell them I care. Cos I look in your eyes and I see forever…and I think even forever isn't long enough for this."

"I thought I was nothing. Or more importantly I thought that to be something I had to prove myself to other people. I was wrong. When I began to fall in love with Richard it was the beginning of my emancipation. When I said what I did to Kitten and stopped giving a damn what certain people thought I was near there middle. And when I told Richard I loved him and nothing could change that I knew I'd achieved it.

Because in the end it's all about letting yourself free. Because all I did was let myself fall and trust that he would catch me. And he did.

An End and a Beginning

Author's Note: There you go guys! Big cheesy happy ending =) More like an epilogue cos it's really short. Also with the last line I feel like I need to give credit to somewhere because I am sure I didn't come up with that on my own. If anyone remembers where it's from can you please tell me so I can credit it? It's from a Cardcaptor Sakura fic with a blind Li who Sakura takes care of. I read it a long time ago but I still remember it now because it was so good and I highly recommend it!
Anyway hope you all enjoyed the story! Take care and happy reading!