Ace's POV
"Bruh, who's that fancy car belong to?" I overhear one of the skaters ask as a dark-skinned man in an Armani suit steps out of said car. Ethan Blake. My phone buzzes.
EthanBlake: Come outside. We can't talk in the school building. Bring your friends.
AceofHearts: Ok.
I send a group text to Rose, Wes, Ava, Uma, Jason, and Aiden. Hopefully we can reach the latter two. Minutes later, almost all of us are outside.
"Where's Jason?" Rose asks. She picks salad bits out of her hair.
"I don't think I even want to know what happened to you," Ava says.
"Trust me, you don't," she groans. "At least this wasn't even the worst of what I've seen lately. You know people have started calling me The Black Rose and hanging up posters of wanting me expelled?"
"And I thought kids were bad in my time," Ethan remarks. "Not to worry, Ms. Brinkwater, when this trial is done, I'm sure all of this nonsense will stop."
"I hope…" she mutters. I put a hand on her shoulder. Besides Aiden and Jason, she's had it the worst out of all of us.When this is all over, maybe I'll take her on a mini vacation this spring break.
"Are all the people I'm representing here?"
"Almost everyone. Aiden is in Jessica's clutches and Jason's been MIA all morning. Word is it he's hiding out in the janitor's closet."
"Can one of you get him out?" Ethan asks, a little annoyed by the inconvenience.
"I'll go find him," Rose offers.
"Mind if I go with you?" I ask. Perhaps if I'm with her, she'll suffer less harassment. Rose nods without looking at me.
We practically run in the hallway.
"Ace." I hear the pretentious voice of the senior class president from behind.
"Penny," I respond in the same tone.
"I've come to offer your your job back," she says.
"I'm pretty sure that's not your call," I snap. "And I don't have time for this. I quit, remember?"
"I understand you were in a rattled state of mind, of course you were bound to make rash decisions."
"I stand by what I said. Rose doesn't get her jobs back, I won't take mine back."
"Ace, the school needs you," I am surprised to hear Rose say. "You don't have to give up your jobs just because of me."
"I promised I'd be all in with you, and I'm a man of my word."
"That's kinda stupid, Ace. Are you seriously going to let her drag you down like this?" Penny interrupts. "I'm sorry you still have feelings for her after everything's she's done-"
"Which is none of your concern anyway. I chose to quit. Besides, I would never work for a group of people as flaky as you all are."
"It won't take long until Rose starts to ruin your rep too, you know."
Rose turns around, her face red with fury.
"Two words. Fuck. Off." She sneers. Penny looks absolutely livid.
"Y-you can't talk to me like that!" She's obviously surprised at Rose speaking back at someone. Everyone expects her to be quiet and take it. Not this time
"You're a hypocritical bitch, Penny. You've always criticized Ace's work long before Jessica's interview came out. And now that he's finally stood his ground and left, you realize you can't do anything without his help, you want him back. If he says he quits then he quits. You have no say in what he does. Now if you'll excuse us, we have better places to be."
Rose and I walk off with our heads held high. When we are out of sight I look at her.
"Did I go too far? I shouldn't have stepped in, I know, I-"
"Rose...that was awesome!" I say, giving her a tight hug.
"Really?"
"I've never seen Penny look so shocked. Heh, serves her right. Let's go get Jason before Ethan wonders where we are."
We arrive at the janitor's closet but stop short when we hear heavy breathing and panting. Rose and I share a look before looking away, blushing furiously.
"There, there, take deep breaths. Christ, Jay. I told you binding your chest like this was dangerous."
"How...did you find...me?"
"When you didn't show up to music class I got worried. I checked the bathrooms, but you weren't there. I figured this would be my only chance to find you without you know who breathing down my neck."
"Babe, I don't know why you're doing this to yourself."
"If she think she's won...maybe she'll leave everyone else alone."
"Babe…"
"I know. But the trial's tomorrow. Surely I can manage one more day in her presence...Jay?"
"...I'm just...scared...what if she does something horrible to you?"
"We've talked about this this morning. It won't happen if we don't believe it so. Let's talk about something more positive. I have an old suit of mine you can borrow for the trial. I'm sure you'd look great in that."
"Really. I can't wait to see you in it."
"Same to you. Although I prefer seeing you without it too."
"Flirt…"
"You're so cute when you blush like that. It starts from the tip of your nose, to your cheeks, then to the tips of your ears."
At this point, I'm trying not to blush myself from all the fluffiness and Rose is giggling at my expression.
"Umm...occupied?" One of them goes.
"It's us, guys. Its safe to come out," Rose says softly. The door opens and Aiden comes out followed by Jason. His chest is oddly shaped. He indignantly crosses his arms.
"How much of that did you guys hear?" Aiden stammers.
"Enough," I say quickly but my face is as red as my sweater. Rose giggles again. I look at her and grin. To be honest, they acted just like us together...when there weren't other people gawking at us. Its kinda cute, but I would never admit that to Rose. "Ethan's waiting for us."
"Who's Ethan?" They both ask.
"You'll see. Come on," I say as we shuffle as fast as we can out of the school building. "I've always wondered why the school doesn't have security cameras to prevent a bunch of teenagers from randomly leaving in the middle of the day to prepare for a trial against their tormentor."
"Oddly specific question, but apparently that never came up during the designing process. My dad did the architecture, but I designed the layout and the hangouts."
Ethan taps his foot as we arrive. I guess he's used to working with big shot clients like Roscoe, not high schoolers like us.
"Quick detour before we get to the suite. Roscoe just texted me to tell be his daughter's been born and...Holy crap...he's going to propose to Addison...but he keeps chickening out."
"I've never known Roscoe to be afraid of anything. Let's get to the hospital and encourage him," Rose says. "After that, we'll start prepping for the trial."
"Why wait? I've trained Roscoe from behind the wheel numerous times," Ethan says, getting into his car. A collective groan rises from the group. "Less moaning, more prepping."
Roscoe's POV
I grip the velvety black box in my hand.
"Come on, Ross. You've dated this girl for years now. Quit being a wuss and just propose to her!" I tell myself. "But...what if she says no? What if she still blames me for doing this to her? What if I'm not ready? Gah, I sound like an idiot talking to myself. Do I do that often?"
I notice another man staring at me as he passes by. Yeah, I do that a lot. I look at the box inside. I bought an expensive ring months ago and yet I can't even tell Addison that I want to be hers forever!
"Ross!" I head Rose call out. She rushes into me as I pick her up and swing her around. "Dude. I'm like, 16. I'm too old for this. Besides, we have other things to talk about."
"Well, now that the baby is born, you have me full-"
"No, not that!" Rose says, pointing to the box in my hands. "I'm talking about you proposing to Addison!"
"Ethan, you told them?!" I turn on my agent/best friend.
"You never said not to," Ethan replies with a smirk.
"Ross, it really seems like you love Addison if you've been with her for so long. How long are you going to keep her waiting?" Rose insists. "And might I remind you, having an unmarried young mother on your hands is not a good look for either of you."
"...you're right. But really...I can start in big movies and win the gold, but what if I can't win Addi's heart?"
"You already have, Roscoe. Now go and prove it to her. Also...I really want to see my new niece."
Her eagerness is something I haven't seen in her for a long time. It makes me chuckle. I take a deep breath.
"Ok...I'm ready. But first I have to make a few changes."
As I run off, Ethan calls after me, "Don't do anything stupid, Roscoe!"
Why does he always say that to me?
A much larger gift in hand I guide the others into the maternity ward. There she is. My beautiful blonde angel lies in the bed with our daughter in her arms. She smiles when she sees me.
"Roscoe…" she says tiredly. I don't blame her. Turns out we had several false alarms before she went into hours of labor in the past couple of days. So, yeah, she's a day early, not that it matters, really.
"Addison," I say back, trying not to cry at the scene in front of me. Rose will never let me hear the end of it. I crouch down to get a look at our daughter. She has a mix of my cocoa skin and Addi's fair skin, but curly brown hair like mine. She got Addi's hazel eyes, though. My daughter looks up at me and tries to reach for me.
"She's perfect," Addison gasps.
"I know. Just like you," I respond, placing the gift in front of her. Addison hands me the baby so she can open the gift. I give her to Rose so I can initiate the next phase of my plan. Addison pulls out a jewelry box. Inside of it are all the treasures we've collected over the years together. Ticket stubs, pictures, you name it. Addison's eyes widen when she picks up a card.
"Addibabe," she reads. "These past years we've known each other I've been on an emotional rollercoaster. You've been like my rock this whole time, whether it's stopping me from punching Brian Ratzik in the face (he totally deserved it for treating my queen like trash) or simply being there when I wanted to give up and head back home. I loved nearly every minute of our time together even through your pregnancy...but I think it's time we stopped being boyfriend and girlfriend...because I want us to be husband and wife."
Addison sits there in shock as I get down on one knee.
"I've been in love with you for a very long time, and I know I should have asked this a long time ago, but Addison Sinclair, will you marry me?"
We all wait with baited breath for Addison's response.
Just when I start to think this was a terrible idea, I hear her whisper, "Yes."
"W-what?"
"Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes, Roscoe!" Addison exclaims, throwing her arms around me. Rose and her friends cheer in the back. Even our little daughter seems to be smiling at us. We spend the next few hours just celebrating.
"Ethan, this is exciting and all, but should we get back to the trial?" I head Rose ask.
"I know but...let's just enjoy this moment of peace for a little while longer," he says with a smile. "We could use more of these in the days coming ahead."