One of the oldest traditions of the Gallagher Academy is the senior candle ceremony. Because we're disguised as a normal high school, we can't have a super spy graduation ceremony in front of all the parents, so every year, on the night before graduation, all the seniors and the teachers gather in the garden to share future plans upon graduation and light a candle.

"Welcome, seniors," Mr. Solomon smiled from a podium in the garden. He was settling into his role as headmaster fast. "You're about to join a proud lineage of Gallagher Academy alumni. An eternal sisterhood, and now a brotherhood as well. So tonight we celebrate our futures. Ms. Sutton, would you care to start us off?"

Liz stood up with her unlit candle. Mr. Solomon grabbed a large candle sitting beside him and using it to light Liz's. Liz began, "Well, I'm going to be working for the NSA as an analyst."

She used her candle to light Anna's candle. I wasn't really watching because Zach whispered in my ear, "What should we say, that we're running away to Tahiti together?"

I shrugged. Anna Fetterman stood up for her turn and cheerfully announced, "I've been offered a position with the CIA."

There was a fair bit of applause for Anna, mostly because we all knew just how far she'd come from her first experiences in covert operations. We continued through my classmates: Macey to the CIA, Bex to MI6, and so on. There weren't too many surprises from the bunch.

Suddenly, it was my turn. I stood up with my candle and waited for it to be lit. I cleared my throat and announced, "I'm joining the CIA, of course."

There was some applause, and I quickly sat back down. My eyes briefly met Mr. Solomon's, who knew I wasn't telling the truth. Zach quickly stood up and said, "I'm going for the CIA as well."

Macey and Liz exchanged glances, looking at us suspiciously, but I simply whispered to Zach, "Let's go."

The food and refreshments part of the ceremony was probably what I had been looking forward to most that evening. Our chefs always seemed to up their game from their already high levels for special events. Unfortunately, as Zach and I crawled through one of the last remaining passageways of the old school, my friends were merrily eating finger sandwiches and shrimp.

Zach and I didn't say much as we left the grounds behind. This was a view of my school I'd never quite had before: a final view. I'd never left my home knowing I wasn't coming back after break or knowing that I never wanted to step foot on the grounds again. There was something very different about goodbye and farewell.

I looked back one last time and began to cry. I whispered to no one in particular, "Bye, Mom." It was like I was finally letting go. I had to finally admit that she was gone and never coming back.

Zach grabbed my hand tight and pulled me in close. We remained like that for a long time, until Zach finally said, "Are you ready?"

I nodded, and we began to walk towards the Roseville bus station. It was a walk I'd seen many times before, but I was never able to smile and look back fondly at all my learning experiences in this town until now. From brush passes to looking through garbage to trailing Mr. Smith, my entire foundation for spying came from Roseville. Sure, all the extracurricular missions I had been on made up the majority of my spycraft, but it was right here where I made my start.

"Zach," I said.

He looked up, and I continued, "Do you remember-"

I trailed off as I choked back another tear. I couldn't believe I was crying so much. It was stupid. Spies have to be able to let go and move on. It's what we do.

"I remember it all," he said. His eye teared slightly as he pulled me close and we kissed, just like the old days.

When we finally made it to the bus station, sat down on the bench and waited. We didn't have to wait long until a bus lumbered up to the stop. Zach and I took a seat towards the back, adjacent to the emergency exit. It was nearly empty, other than a handful of slumbering passengers.

The bus waited for a few minutes, before the doors closed and it started up again. I turned to Zach, "He we go."

He smiled, which broke quickly when the engine cut off once more and the door swung open. We exchanged glances. Who was getting on this bus?

Three bouncing figures got on the bus and made their way to the seats around us.

"Bex, Mace, Liz," I gaped, "What are you doing here?"

"We're coming," Liz said assertively.

Zach shook his head, "You can't. It's not safe."

"It's not safe for you either," Macey started, "but it's certainly more safe with a proper team."

Bex looked at me, "I'm sorry I told them, but we're not letting you do this alone. We started this together, and now we're going to finish all this together."

I nodded, "Yeah, okay, let's do this."

I glanced out the window as the bus rolled onwards. A smiled faded over my face. I knew that I would be back someday. A Gallagher Girl always returns home someday.

Aaaaaaaaaaand that's it. Hope it was worth this weird three year odyssey. Thank you to everyone who has read this entire time. I enjoyed writing this. Maybe expect more later. Maybe a sequel. No promises. You can already tell how flighty I am from the fact that this started three whole years ago.