I'm back from camp and I had the best time of my life!

Also, a couple friends and I started a dancing channel on youtube! If you like Bad Apple and Love and Joy and things of that nature, please support us! Our username is "Nelements"! Thank you so much!

I hope you like this next chapter!

Meiko stood up with a whoop. "Finally! Been waiting all week for this!"

Kaito leaned forward, a smile on his face. His excitement was clear, but contained.

Miku sat up straighter. No smile.

That was when I realized it. Our friends didn't know that whatever was in the envelope would affect our entire lives. Kaito and Meiko's reactions made that obvious. If they knew that this could be the last time they saw us, they wouldn't act that way… right?

For a second I thought that maybe Miku was aware of our deal with Ty, but I quickly dismissed that. Miku wasn't smiling because this was work and she took work seriously. And because the numbers in every envelope she was related to translated into an amount of money that could save her best friend's life.

I didn't need to look at Rin to know what her face looked like. She would wear a mask of indifference just in case the results were bad. She wouldn't let herself cry in front of all these people. The only sign she showed was the death grip she held my hand with. I didn't mind. I was responding in the exact same way.

Scanning the faces of the line of managers behind Ty, I noticed that only a few were aware of the possible outcomes. I saw Camille twiddle her thumbs nervously. Devon kept blinking, as if he couldn't bear to see us go after he worked so hard to find a line of work for us. Riley didn't show any sign of knowledge, but I had a feeling that he knew.

Ty met my gaze unflinchingly. That was who he was after all. He cared about his clients, but he would do what he had to do. Still, I thought I could see pain just behind his eyes.

Riley pulled another table up beside ours and everyone stole chairs from surrounding tables so that we were all sitting in a circle.

Ty took the seat to my left.

"Well, let's see them," Kaito prompted after about five seconds of silence.

Ty held the envelope out to me. "You two want to open it?"

I stared at the deep yellow of the paper and reached my hand out, but I couldn't make myself take it.

Rin's hand reached over me and took it, positioning the envelope in between us. She gave my right hand one last squeeze before we both took a deep breath, lifted the flap with our thumbs, and pinched the stack of paper inside between our fingers.

I looked at her.

She looked at me.

We slid the stack of paper out.

We stared at the text for a moment, trying to make sense of them. Which number were we supposed to be looking at? Rin flipped the first page down and we were faced with a bar graph. On the third page was a pie chart.

After two minutes of fruitless search went by, Meiko became impatient. "Well?"

I handed Ty the sheets, sparing him from having to glance over my shoulder. He immediately found it. "Well it's not where we thought it would be, that's for sure."

My heart sunk.

Riley snatched the stack, scanning. His eyes went wide. "These almost beat Miku's World is Mine."

Miku held her hand out for the papers and Paula fetched them for her.

Her eyes bugged. She flipped through the pages, her eyes growing wider with every passing second. "A million for each?"

I couldn't move. A million? For each? That was way more than we needed. My breath came in short gasps. The only thing that tethered my sanity to the world was Rin's hand, but she was losing herself as well.

I was only able to snap out of it when Ty's hand came down on my shoulder.

I looked up past his lemon-yellow tie and into his face. He was smiling.

Whoops of delight and triumph circled the table. I saw Meiko popping open another bottle of sake in celebration and passing them around to anyone who accepted. Kaito was suggesting that everyone go to an ice cream parlor. Each of the four managers along with Miku poured over the sheets, bringing out calculators and notebooks to tally the earnings.

I had thought that the turning point in our lives had been when Ty discovered us, but at that moment, glancing around the table at the faces of the friends we had made, I knew that it was the news of our ratings that was the real turning point because it meant that the change was permanent.

I really really hope you all liked it!

Thank you so much for reading! Any thoughts about what's going to happen next? Post in a review!