Chapter 3: Final party, final goodbye

That night Rikki couldn't sleep.

She was laying in her bed, her eyes closed, but she wasn't sleeping. She was thinking about what Will had told her earlier. She turned to one side, opened her eyes and looked through the window.

The stars were shining brightly. The night sky was so beautiful.

She closed her eyes again, trying to escape from her thoughts. She felt the start of a darkness coming after her. Darkness that seemed so familiar. It covered her like a blanket and she felt falling deeper and deeper.

Suddenly her alarm clock turned on.

She lazily turned it off and opened her eyes. The sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. She clumsily got out of the bed.

She had to meet the girls in an hour at the moon pool. Then she remembered last night.

She went to the bathroom and looked herself in the mirror. She was so confused. Having had no idea how she felt anymore, she had no clue what to do. All she knew was that she loved Bella like her sister and couldn't and wouldn't betray her.

In a way, she was glad that she was going to England. That way she'd have a chance to stay alone with her feelings and figure out what to do.

She washed her teeth, dressed up and walked out of the trailer to the nearest water. She dived in and headed straight to the moon pool. But when she surfaced she thought that she had mistaken the place.

It was full with colorful balloons, at the floor there were two or three big pillows, at the left corner there was a CD player, and on the right there was a netbook with a projector next to it. The walls were covered with big deep blue curtains. Then all of them – Cleo, Bella, Lewis and Will showed up from behind the entrance and shouted cheerfully "Surprise"!

Rikki was speechless.

"Guys, this is-I don't know what to say-it's amazing!" She gave them a big smile.

Lewis and Will pulled her gently out of the water and she dried herself off. Then she jumped on her feet and hugged them all.

"Thank you for everything, I love what you've done with the place!" She exclaimed and small tears of happiness filled her eyes and the eyes of the other girls.

The group tied in a hug again. That day was only for them.

Will turned on the music and all of them started dancing. Then when they got tired, Lewis turned the netbook and the projector on and they all sat on the pillows holding each other's hands and facing the wall upon the moon pool. He had made a slideshow of all their pictures. They all watched in silence, with tears rolling down their cheeks. During the slideshow, there was a soft music for background – a song called "You Are My Life". When the slide show finished they all stood up and tied in a hug again.

Rikki looked at her watch.

"I have to go. It's time." She said looking at their faces. "I will miss you so much!"

She hugged each and every one of them.

"We'll come to the airport." Cleo said through tears.

Rikki nodded with a small smile. Then she turned around and jumped in the moon pool, disappearing in the water. Cleo and Bella followed her, while the boys rushed to the other entrance and to Will's boat. That was it and they all knew it. She was leaving.

{ * }

She was already at the airport with her father when they arrived.

They all hugged her again and told her how much they'd all miss her. Then she started crying too, which was unusual, because they all knew that Rikki Chadwick never cried.

But now she did.

It was so painful that she felt only the tears will make her feel better. They all were crying too. It was such a heartbreaking scene, that all the people around them started sobbing quietly, looking at the group with sad faces, but also with a smile, because they were touched of the love and the friendship in the scene before them.

Rikki as the first to come to her senses again. She qucklly wiped her eyes and joked, "We better stop crying, everyone's looking at us like we're kind of freaks."

The whole group laughed. It was good to know that there was still something funny they all could laugh about.

Then suddenly they all heard a familiar voice.

"Rikki, may I talk to you for a minuite?"

The voice really surprised them but not as much as it had surprised Rikki. She turned around to face the person who owned the voice.

"Zane?!"

He was looking at her with red, puffy eyes and that meant he had obviously cried. He was wearing her favourite black leather jacket of his, a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Zane was looking handsome as always.

"I really need to talk to you." He said.

"But I don't." She said and he was surprised now cold her voice has become. "Don't waste your time trying to convince me to stay. It's not worth it. I'm going to England and that's it."

Rikki didn't want to sound so harsh, but she was afraid if he'd ask her to stay she wouldn't resist. She turned around to face her friends, but the next thing Zane said surprised her so much that she truned around to him again.

"I wasn't going to make you stay. I think you should go." He looked her straight in the eyes.

Deep in his eyes, tears started to form.

"All I ever wanted was to make you happy. I made many mistakes along the way and I know how much I hurt you more than once. But I loved you and I will always love you. That's the honest truth. I want you to be happy, because you deserve it. And if that means going in England then go. I have no intention to stop you. And I have no intention to ask you to come back to me. Whatever you do, wherever you go, just be happy. And please, remember me."

A tear rolled down his cheek but he quickly wiped it away.

The group was staring at him with amusement and admiration on their faces.

Rikki ran to Zane and hugged him tight.

"I can never forget you." She said in his ear. "Thank you for those beautiful words. It means really a lot to me to hear them."

And she kissed him on the cheek. But when she started pulling away he touched her lips with his. The stood like that for a few seconds when he pulled back.

"That was my final kiss. A kiss for goodbye." He truned around, walking away and leaving Rikki with small tears streaming down her cheeks.

It was hard for both of them to say goodbye. Even though Rikki broke up with him, her heart was still bleeding. Cleo and Bella slowly walked over to her and hugged her tight.

They heard a loud voice who announced it was time for the passengers on Rikki's flight to go the plane. The group tied in a hug for one last time.

Then Rikki followed her father through the door in front of them and disappeared behind it.

"This is it." Cleo said and started crying. "She's really gone."

Lewis hugged her while she was crying havier. Bella started crying too and Will with tears on his cheeks hugged her.

They just stood there like that. Cleo, Lewis, Bella and Will were all gonna miss Rikki so much.

But they didn't knew what was about to happen. The didn't know how much they'd have to go through and how much their lives will change maybe forever.