Let me just begin by saying how immensely grateful I am for everyone reading and leaving their thoughts about this story. Please don't stop! You all have no idea what it means to me. As promised, this chapter holds a lot more Peeta and some brief glances into what winning the Fellowship is going to mean for him. Please enjoy!
Katniss POV
Style of the Day: White v-neck t-shirt, black faux leather bomber jacket, boyfriend jeans, all-black chucks.
Song of the Moment: Are We There Yet by Ingrid Michaelson.
There were days when I used to wake up and not recognize the girl staring back at me in the mirror; those days following the accident. Those days when I would go to squeeze onto the piano bench next to my father and sing old townie songs about days in the factory or nights at the bar, only to realize that his voice would never again mingle with my own. There were days after I got out of the hospital, that my mother wouldn't even look me in the eyes anymore.
The crash wasn't my fault, everyone kept telling me; the grief counselor that the school appointed Prim and I, the doctors when they realized that I was awake again, Gale every time he visited the hospital.
I knew better than that, though. I heard the whispers of the nurses when they thought they'd given me enough morphling to finally fall asleep.
Poor girl, she'll probably never forgive herself.
She's lucky she's just walking out of here with a few casts. That's more than we can say for Dad.
Don't you know? She was the reason her father wasn't paying attention to the road! She was the reason…
They were callous and careless with their words, but they were right. If I wouldn't have been begging him to sing our song -hadn't been trying so hard to demand his attention that I adored and he so freely gave- he would have seen the car. He would have been able to steer away from the drunk driver that killed him on impact.
It hadn't been that way in years, though. I at least knew my mission each day: wake up, support Prim, go to school and go to work. There wasn't much space for anything else (and I probably wouldn't have allowed for it even if there were). And I was content with that; maybe not exactly happy, but definitely content.
Until Peeta came along.
He shook up everything. He gave me the impression that I may actually be able to lean on someone else. He made me feel like I didn't have to be strong all of the time. He saw something beautiful and gentle and pure in me that I hadn't seen in years. And those things scared me. I was scared of thinking that I could love someone who could be gone the very next day. I was scared that he saw through me.
And when I saw that painting in the gallery, I knew that I'd let him too close.
So I ran. I ran and I had regretted it every second following.
Madge and Johanna hadn't exactly been the most supportive friends about it, either.
"Can you please answer that? I swear, if I had a guy as persistent as him, I'd marry him on the spot." Madge commented while buckling the strap on her obscenely high heel. Peeta had called roughly a hundred times in the two weeks prior and even stopped by the apartment once, but I'd ignored every attempt at contact. The reality was, things between us were bound to be screwed. We were foolish to ever think otherwise.
"Bitch please, you'd marry any guy who bothered to call you back after the first date." Johanna scoffed from her place in front of the full-length mirror. Madge threw a pillow at her from her place on her bed, which Jo caught effortlessly. "But sappy here has a point, Everdeen, you need to figure this shit out. I'm getting sick of lying to that kid about where you are. Did I tell you he even spoke to me in Campus Center yesterday? Took everything I had not to mace him in the face."
Madge squeaked out a laugh and nodded her agreement.
"Let's not do this again, okay guys? Peeta is too good for me, too earnest. He doesn't realize it yet, but it won't work. I need to be alone. That's where I shine." I forced a quick smile. "Besides, if I was in a relationship, would I be able to wing woman for the two of you tonight?"
Jo rolled her eyes and poured herself a shot of Jack. "Keep your help, Brainless," she knocked back her whiskey straight with a scowl, "I'd be better off with peppy."
This time it was my turn to scoff. Given, I wasn't much of a wing woman, but she'd definitely do better at the club with my help rather than Madge's. We were headed to Seven, one of the best music venues in town. They had been pestering me for weeks to leave the house, and finally, after an entire day of harassment, I was going out. Begrudgingly, mind you, but I was going none-the-less.
I thought about Peeta and the first night we ever hung out. I flashed back to the way his hands had felt on my hips during the show and the way we moved together so effortlessly. I thought about how comfortable I had felt with him, how I'd let my guard down. And I remembered exactly why I couldn't let it happen again.
"Why does everyone act like I'm no help?" Madge pouted, crossing her arms over her bedazzled chest. She had a tendency to go completely over the top with her outfits.
Seven was packed, as usual, when we arrived. Madge and I flashed our fake ID's quickly before slipping into the muggy club. There were way more bodies moving against each other than I enjoyed. Leaving Johanna and Madge to their own devices, I made a beeline for the tables in the back to secure seats for the three of us. The band that was playing tonight hadn't taken the stage yet, which was the only appealing aspect of this entire experience. There was no feeling like live music.
Without looking, I plowed into someone's chest, effectively managing to spill a disgusting brown liquid down the front of my shirt.
"Oh jeez, my bad I-" I looked up to apologize to the form I'd just rammed into and met a face that I knew all too well. "Gale? What are you doing here?"
While I usually enjoyed the bands that Seven managed to book, Gale had always hated this place. Probably because they hadn't let his rag-tag group play there yet.
"Uh, Catnip, I mean err- Katniss.. I wasn't expecting to run into you tonight." He scratched the back of his neck nervously and looked around the room. "This isn't my usual spot, you know."
It was so strange, standing in this room full of people with someone just a month ago, I had known better than myself- and feeling no more connected to him than the mass of bodies surrounding us. How quickly things could change.
"Yeah, thought you hated this place." I brushed my hand down my top, attempting to wipe off some of the excess liquid.
"Here, let me help," Gale quickly ushered me to the side, grabbing a napkin from a nearby table. He reached forward, attempting to assist. "Listen, Katniss, I really want to talk to you about what happened the other day. I was completely out of li-"
"Kat!" Before Gale could finish, a familiar voice cut him off. Directly over his shoulder, Annie sat waving excitedly, Peeta's friend, Finnick sitting right next to her. "Katniss, come over here!" I looked back to Gale, who had already picked up his half empty glass and was making his way towards their table. Sliding in quickly, I noticed that there was another face at the table that I hadn't noticed when we were standing up. Gale scooted close to her and I knew that the confusion was evident on my face. Annie was smiling broadly, pointing me towards a seat. I decided that standing was probably best for now.
Instead of mentioning how strange it was for me not to be sitting, Annie continued as though nothing was wrong. "Well, you already know Finn," she motioned to her boyfriend and he offered me a shy smile. I couldn't even begin to address how awkward that relationship was going to be now. I nodded in his direction quickly, but turned my attention back to Gale, whose arm was now strewn across the giggling blonde's shoulders. "And this is my cousin, Maysilee! She graduated from State last year."
The girl, Maysilee, gave me a broad smile. Her teeth were perfect and her hair fell in perfect golden curls around her face. If she didn't seem so genuinely nice, just like Annie, I would have had no problem hating her on sight. "Hi, it's nice to meet-" Gale nuzzled into her neck and she attempted to stifle a giggle. "Gale quit!"
Never mind, I definitely hated her.
Annie piped up again. "Maysie is an actuary. She does the finances at the textile factory in town." Maysilee nodded.
"Yes, which is how Gale and I met, actually. Do you two know each other?"
A million different things ran through my mind in that moment (wringing her perfect little neck was ranking pretty high on the list). I looked over at Gale who was currently giving me a half-hearted smile like he knew something that I didn't. If I hadn't spent my entire life reading those expressions, I would have mistaken that look for pity.
He had begun what sounded like an apology just a moment before, so perhaps taking some time from our friendship was exactly what he needed. He seemed to have found a woman who was making him happy, not one that caused him undue stress (completely unbeknownst to her, of course) and heartache. He looked lighter. He didn't look like the guy who I'd once called my best friend that was for sure.
I shook my head gently, offering a half-hearted smile of my own. "Not exactly. We used to, though." I gave my best to the rest of the table before turning quickly to leave. That was the last straw. What was wrong with me? Why did I insist on pushing away everyone that mattered to me? Why didn't I apologize when I had the chance? Why hadn't I tried harder to get him to talk to me after that day in his apartment?
Feeling the burn of unshed tears behind my eyelids, I made my way towards the front door quickly. Before hitting the street, I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning me back around.
"Catnip, don't go." I looked up at Gale's face, still fighting against my instinct to cry. "I didn't get to say what I wanted to back there. You need to know how sorry I am for how I acted that day in my apartment. It was completely out of line and totally uncalled for. We we're better friends than the way I treated you and I'm so ashamed of myself." Reaching around me and enveloping me into a hug, he spoke into the top of my head. "You don't have to forgive me. Hell, you don't even have to say anything. I just wanted you to know that I miss you, Catnip."
But I did forgive him. I hugged him back as hard as I could and pulled back to look at him. "Did you have to choose someone so peppy, though? She's worse than Madge!"
Gale rolled his eyes and threw an arm over my shoulder. The two of us started walking away from the club, heading nowhere in particular. "Shut up, Everdeen. You'd actually really like Maysie if you gave her a chance. Besides, she makes me happy." Even I couldn't help but smile at that. Gale deserved to be happy. It had been far too long for either of us. "And besides," he rumpled my hair, "Baby Blue Eyes isn't much better. That guy is way too nice."
I cringed at the sound of Peeta talk.
"Yeah, things with me and him aren't exactly gonna work out. You know me, I like to fly under the radar, keep things quiet. He's a…"
I trailed off and Gale stopped walking. "Good-fucking-guy, Katniss. I really hope that's where you were going with that." I turned to him with a puzzled look. "Yeah, I can't believe that I'm saying it either. But there it is: Peeta Mellark is a saint and you're letting him get away."
"Hawthorne, listen…"
"No, you listen," he shook my shoulders, "you gotta make this right, kid. Not that we've been together all that long, but when you find something that works –like with me and Maysie- you gotta do what it takes to keep it. Lord knows I've had to check my ego at the door a couple times."
I nodded. As much as it annoyed me to see my best friend turn into some type of Dr. Phil doppelganger, he had a point. I grabbed his arm and tugged him back in the direction of the club. We had somehow wandered a couple blocks away without even realizing it. "And what do you suggest I do? Since you're such and expert now."
He shrugged a bit and punched my shoulder.
"You just do what you do best, Catnip."
Peeta POV
Style of the Day: Black cardigan, plaid button up, khaki pants and Sperry Top Siders.
Song of the Moment: Promise Less or Do More by The Whitest Boy Alive.
One thing I'd learned in my life was that mistakes made couldn't ever truly be undone. The things that you say or do, no matter how much you want to rectify them, can't be reversed. It's a harsh reality and one that I wish that I could negate, but I simply can't. Growing up, so many times I wished that my mother would apologize for hitting me or even express the most remote sense of remorse at her actions. And no matter how many times I wished for it, some things just never happen.
And if it ever did, would it even matter?
Probably not. It might feel nice to get that moment of comeuppance, but really, whom would it be helping? The idea of forgiveness is fickle. Relationships in and or themselves are fickle- not to mention delicate. Which isn't to say that they're not worth having, but they must be worked at.
These are all things that I understand. Understanding, however, is much more simple than execution. My heart, on the other hand, refused to believe that the best things in life weren't worth fighting for.
"Peeta? Oh dear, someone tap that young man." The eccentric group advisor clapped from the head of the conference table. Before the kid next to me had a chance to signal for me to take my headphones out, I paused the track. The woman's voice was shrill enough to be heard over the soft indie rock in my ears.
"Sorry, Effie." I commented, wrapping the ear buds' cord around the iPod and shoved the whole thing into my pocket. We had only met once, the night of the gallery, but I knew that manners were a big deal to her.
She placed one carefully manicured finger to her temple in despair. "That is just fine, Peeta. Please, let's refrain from listening to those contraptions for the remainder of our time together, hm?" She made eye contact with everyone around the table, making sure that no one was following my poor example. "I declare, one day you kids and your technology will be the death of me."
Sighs of annoyance rang out around the table. Whether it was towards our over-the-top advisor or myself I couldn't yet tell. Either way, I decided to keep the music to a minimum for the remainder of the meeting. I knew that would drive Katniss up a wall. She couldn't go longer than a class period without slipping into the realm of serenity only music provided her.
Katniss.
I had successfully gone fifteen minutes without thinking about her. Which was more than could be said for the past few weeks of my life. I hadn't been able to do anything without her crossing my mind for one reason or another. God I missed her.
This was my problem.
"Can you please quit moping? You're making me feel really guilty about my wonderfully smooth and loving relationship with the beautiful Annie Cresta." Finn commented loudly, trying to beat the sound of his blow dryer. He claimed the 'air drying' process did 'absolutely nothing' for his roots. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
It was a fair deduction on his part, though. I had a bit of a killjoy ever since the gallery. Not that I wasn't excited about the opportunity or anything, but because of what it took to get it. "Give me a break, dude. You've been out with her every night this week, so I must not be killing your mojo too much."
He finished blow-drying and ran some gel through his hair. He was on his way out to dinner with Annie. Last night had been the movies with Annie. And the night before had been studying with Annie. And the night before that had been clubbing with Annie.
So maybe I was a little jealous of Finn and Annie.
"Now, now, young grasshopper, don't be sassy." He crossed our shared bedroom and sprayed some cologne in the air before walking through it. "You know what I think you should do about this whole thing."
I rolled my eyes and laid back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling in frustration. "I'm not standing outside her window with a boombox like John Cusak in 'Say Anything', Finn! She won't even be photographed with me, how embarrassing would it be for me to show up on her doorstep with my early 90's speaker system?"
"Peeta, listen, aren't you the one who always taught me that women love a man who says what he means and shows her too? If you love Katniss, which I think you do, then you can't give up on this. Annie tells me that she's a tough nut to crack. You just have to keep chipping away until she does."
I kept that in mind every time I dialed her number with no response. Tried not to forget it as I waited for her to show up at the coffee shop after her morning classes like she used to. Forced myself to think about every night as she hosted her show, alone, the way she liked it the best anyway.
"Now," Effie clapped excitedly, "I do hope you all came prepared for this! We have some very exciting things to discuss, but first," she clicked some keys on her laptop, illuminating the board behind her, "congratulations on the achievement of a lifetime! You all should be very proud. Not many get to sit in your place."
The screen shown a picture of all of the Heavensbee Fellowship winners the night of the gallery, gathered in front of the featured painting: my featured painting. Every face looking thrilled to pieces except for one. Front and center, sandwiched between Haymitch and Plutarch Heavensbee himself, I looked absolutely wrecked. Not a far cry from my appearance currently, surely.
This meeting, intended to discuss the plans and organization of the program, was the first reason I'd had to fix myself up in days. Since Katniss had made it abundantly clear that she hadn't wanted to talk or see me, I'd only left the house for work and class. I hadn't even been to the radio station for the show. The sound booth was a sacred place for her, so if she wanted to avoid me, I wouldn't dare impede on that.
"Dude!" The guy next to me whisper-hissed to gain my attention and jerked his head towards the board, where Effie once again looked at me impatiently.
I attempted to straighten up in my seat, which I had began to slouch into. "Yeah uh, sorry, what was the question?" In my periphery I noticed a girl with long auburn hair scoff and roll her eyes. She probably would have been pretty if I didn't have the distinct feeling she wasn't my biggest fan.
Effie rolled her eyes and pointed at the screen again. It had changed to a photo of just Plutarch and me. I did look at least remotely cognizant of what was happening in this one, a tepid smile on my lips. Even though the evening had taken a turn for the worst, I was in the presence of one of the single most influential artists of our time. Even romantic misfortune couldn't change what a big deal that had been. Still was.
"My goodness, my dear boy, you must pay better attention if this is going to work. I said another congratulations were in order for being the Fellowship's featured artiste this year. You," she inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, "have the priv-e-lege of studying under Monsieur Heavensbee himself. It is quite the honor."
If I weren't already under such a watchful eye I would have laughed at her strange accent. We didn't get to hear voices like hers at Templesmith. "Oh um, yes, it is quite the honor. I'm very lucky." The girl with the hair voiced her disdain with a snort so loud even Effie couldn't ignore it this time.
"My dear!" She placed a hand over her heart and looked to her in shock. "That is no way for us to treat one another."
The girl, looking directly at me, narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Effie, but some of us are actually interested in learning about the program. The one some of us have been dying to get into our entire lives. The one some of us had to actually work for." Finally, she snapped her head back at the head of the room, crossed her arms over her chest and smiled sweetly. "But I will keep my opinions to myself if it pleases you."
Effie nodded curtly and continued with her spiel, thankfully, diverting the attention away from me for the remainder of the meeting.
Although the girl hadn't exactly been discrete about her dislike for me, I couldn't help but agree with her, even a little bit. She had a point about her probably wanting this more than I did. Not that I didn't recognize the magnitude of this award, because I definitely did, but I hadn't put in the time to earn it. I had made a couple pieces about a girl that I thought I was falling for and my drunken professor entered them in a contest- probably on a whim. I hadn't worked for it like most of these kids had. It was pretty much handed to me.
And if it meant getting Katniss back, I would give it all away in a heartbeat. Even I felt as though my thought-processes were pathetic and rather childish at the moment. But hey, the heart wants what the heart wants.
The rest of the meeting went by rather quickly. From what I could gather, Effie had been involved in the program since it's inception, the brains behind the operation. She took care of all the planning, managed lodging, organized travel. She had some pretty close ties to the art world –not an artist herself- just deeply passionate about beautiful things; which, despite her peculiar accent and snooty attitude, even I could respect.
When the meeting finally ended, I said a few polite hellos to the students that I'd be spending my entire summer with before heading towards the parking lot. Once again, Finn had lent me his car, since my bike wasn't exactly a suitable mode of travel across state lines. Due to me sheer magnitude of this Fellowship, the winning students had been flown in from various parts of the country for our first official meeting. Luckily, it'd been just a few hours from State.
"Hey, dude!" Before I got out of the front of the building, I turned at the sound of someone trying to get my attention. The guy who had been catching me slipping the entire meeting jogged towards me.
"Oh yeah, hey man. Thanks for keeping me out of more trouble back there during the meeting- I've been slipping lately." I commented as he reached me and extended my hand. He slapped it twice, turned it into a fist and then blew it up. I wasn't sure, but it seemed like he had just made us an official handshake. I liked him immediately.
"Don't sweat it, brah, we gotta look out for each other, right?" I nodded my agreement with a laugh. "I'm Willis by the way, but everyone calls me Woof. Everyone except Lady Marmalade in there." He laughed loudly and flicked his thumb in what I figured was Effie's direction. I had a feeling that Woof and I could be good friends. He reminded me of Finnick almost instantly. His easygoing personality and amusement at Effie's antics were a nod to my best bud.
"Nice to meet you, man. I'm Peeta. Where you headed? Maybe I could give you a lift?" I nodded towards the car, jingling the keys aimlessly. As much as I wished that I could stick around, I was itching to get back to school. At least there I could figure out what my next step should be with this whole Katniss debacle in relative peace.
"Nah dude, don't sweat it, I'm just boarding back to the bus station." He lifted up the heavily decorated longboard in his hand and I was surprised that I hadn't noticed yet. "I just wanted to say an official aloha before you jetted off. And," he lowered his voice, looking around conspiratorially, "I had to give you props for pissing off Delly like that. She's usually mean, but never as obviously… You really got under her skin, man!"
Woof laughed again and threw a hand on my shoulder for support. "That look she gave you! I thought she was gonna come flying out of her seat!"
"I really don't know what I did to get her so worked up, though." I scratched my neck in confusion. "We've never even met."
He straightened up and wiped his now teary eyes with the back of his hand. "Oh dude, she hates everyone. Always has. We went to the same boarding school back in high school, in SoCal, and she's just competitive. I mean, I've always been into art, but this is like, her life. I think she's just pissed that she's not the best for once. Anyways, she at least kept quiet about her disdain for the human race before. You really got her goat."
Not to say that I'm the nicest guy around or anything, but I wasn't used to dealing with people not liking me. Well, except for Katniss. She'd hated me up until… Well, technically she hated me again, so time didn't really matter.
After Woof had finished explaining that cranky girl- Delly, to me, we exchanged numbers before heading in our separate directions. My gut was telling me that he was going to become a pretty close ally this summer.
The ride back to campus was filled with the most upbeat playlist I had on my iPod. If I let myself listen to anything even remotely depressing, I was bound to start thinking about Katniss, which never led to anything positive. Just as I attempted to change the song that blasted through the speakers (Finnick's car had surprisingly great bass for a Honda Civic), my phone rang. The caller ID flashing Finn was enough to get me to turn down the music.
"Hey dude, what's going on?" I answered, ready for the distraction that he was sure to provide.
"Peeta? Hello," The voice on the other end wasn't that of my best friend, though. Instead a soft tone that I immediately identified as Annie's filled the receiver. "It's me, Annie. Where are you right now?" I checked the mile-markers around me.
"Um, hey Annie. I think I'm about twenty minutes away, why? Is there something wrong?"
"No, well, yes, but not in the way you might think. I believe you're close enough to pick up WCUX, right? The show is on and I think you should be listening." I was confused. First of all, Katniss didn't broadcast Midnight Ride on the weekends, she never had. Second, it wasn't late enough for her to be on. It was barely even 10 o'clock.
"Annie, what's going on? This doesn't make any sense." She simply clicked her tongue on the other line, obviously impatient with me. From what little time I'd spent with her, even I could tell that Annie being impatient was a rarity. "You know what? I'll just turn to the station now, okay?" I hung up quickly so I could focus at least a modicum of my attention on driving. I turned the dial and found the station easily. It was a call number I couldn't forget if I tried.
I nearly had to pull over at the sound of Katniss' voice filling the car. It had only been a number of days since I'd spoke to anything but her voicemail, and hearing her almost broke me. I couldn't place it, this feeling that I had for her. It didn't make any sense, logically. We hadn't even been dating, really. Just hanging out a little- and yet I didn't want to be without her, not anymore.
I hadn't even felt this way for Clove, a girl that I'd been dating for months, back when that was a thing. No, this girl, this girl with the sour attitude and half-smile and grey eyes and great (yet occasionally frustrating) taste in music, was the one who made me ready to drop any and everything to be with her.
Like I said, the heart wants what the heart wants.
"Well, folks, as I'm sure you've realized, I'm not supposed to be on the air right now. Actually, your usual weekend host, the… Tasteful Cato Koch is banging on the studio door, just dying to get in here and kick me out," I couldn't help but laugh. Katniss had never expressed anything but disdain for Cato. Even though we weren't together, I could see the hateful glare she was shooting at him through the glass right now.
"And he'll be back to inundate you with a number of disgustingly Top 40 rock hits in just a minute." I could hear the faint sound of beating on the door. Even though the booth was designed to be soundproof, it could only withstand so much. "Before that, though, I just had a few things to say. I've messed up a lot of things with a lot of people in my life and I've never been one to admit that. But, I owe you an apology."
A muffled Cato finally stopped shouting in the background. My breath hitched in my throat as I waited for Katniss to continue.
"I screwed up. I should have been proud of you, shouldn't have run away when things got hard. And you know I'm not one for words or anything, so I'm just going to play a song. Hopefully you're listening. Hopefully you know who you are. And hopefully you haven't given up on me yet."
She took a deep breath and sighed into the microphone.
"So here's Linkin Park with Somewhere I Belong."
I had nothing to say
And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me
And I let it all out to find
That I'm not the only person with these things in mind
I took the first exit available and pulled the car into an abandoned Taco Bell parking lot. If there was any doubt remaining, I knew now that she was talking to me. She had remembered my guilty pleasure band, my favorite song. And as the notes filled the speakers, I listened to the lyrics with more intensity than I ever had before.
I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along
When I was going through my rebellious teenage phase, holed myself up in my room, blasting Meteora as high as my boombox would allow, never had I considered that these words, this band would hold so much meaning. Finally, all of those things that I'd been yearning to hear from her; the admittance to the fear, the ability to be honest with me, show that I was something more than a warm body- all being delivered in the form of one song. And even though I never would have pushed her to it, the realization was almost enough to get me choked up.
And I've got nothing to say
I can't believe I didn't fall right down on my face
Looking everywhere only to find
That it's not the way I had imagined it all in my mind
Before I had even realized what I was doing, I had turned the ignition and was speeding back towards the highway. Looking around to check the perimeter for lurking police officers, I peeled from lane to lane (there were no cars at all, really, nobody was headed to Panem at 11 o'clock on a Saturday night), trying to get back to Templesmith, to Katniss.
I will never feel anything else, until my wounds are healed
I will never be anything till I break away from me
I will break away, I'll find myself today
Linkin Park would probably never be mistaken for poetic, but they were honest. And their lyrics rang more true tonight than they ever had before. I was a man in love.
I was a man in love with a girl who might just love him back.
Well everyone, thank you all for reading- this chapter hopefully answered some questions and got you excited for our upcoming conclusion! I'm planning ONE MORE CHAPTER for Radio Rebel and can't believe the ending has come upon us so quickly. For those of you really enjoying this story, fear not, I am seriously considering a sequel (: Anyways, as usual, please leave reviews and let me know what you're thinking!
