The next day, the events of the ball were in the newspapers across the city, and it had even made it onto the news. Some of the witnesses and people being interviewed had asked why savants were being treated so harshly and others had agreed with what had happened. It made me feel sick. I kept the television off after breakfast and shut myself in my room again. I know it bothered Sally and Simon. They had thought that me going to the ball was progress, that I was getting back to being the Sky Bright they loved. And in fairness, up until that point everything about the ball had been incredible.

'We want you to get that tattoo removed.' Sally told me when she brought me lunch that day.

'We don't want you being attacked like that.' Simon added.

'I don't want the tattoo anyway.' I replied. Everytime I looked at it, I thought of Troy carving into my skin and then kissing it. The memory made my stomach churn and my head spin.

'We've found someone that will see you today.' Simon said, nervously.

'That quickly?' My eyes widened in surprise.

'It's a friend... they know what happened to you and they want to help you.'

Five hours later, my shoulder had returned to how it had been before. I hurt like hell. My skin was red raw from the lasers, and apparently I was lucky that no trace was left at all. The woman removing the tattoo had said that because it was recent and because of the type of ink used, it made it easier to remove. She said that it usually took at least three treatments. And just like that, Troy's last hold on me was gone. Over the next week, Jenni and Zed also had their tattoos removed. Luckily, Zed had been able to deny being a savant and the rumours were starting to fizzle out. Afterall, as people were saying, he wasn't doing anything unusual or magical.

The next weekend, Sally took me to get my hair dyed back to my natural colour. It wasn't too difficult. My white blonde roots had started to come through anyway, so the hairdresser was able to colour match the dye. My hair was bleached, dyed and then left in its natural curls and I found myself looking at the girl in the mirror that I used to see. The only difference was the bangs that framed my face, but I had decided that I quite liked them. Everyone said they drew more attention to my eyes. I made another crazy decision that weekend.

'I want to go to the apartment.'

'Sorry?' Sally looked up at me, confused.

'The one I shared with Zed.'

Her eyes widened. 'Honey are you sure?'

I nodded. I wanted to see if I could bring back any more memories and it seemed like the only way it was going to happen. 'Yes, I want to go tomorrow.'

'Well alright.' Sally smiled, although I knew she was uncertain about my decision. 'Would you like me to come with you?'

'I want to go by myself.'

So I did. Sally called ahead to Zed's parents to let them know I was going to be visiting the apartment. Apparently they had just moved into a rented house from the hotel they were in, so that they could be there for Zed and I. It was weird thinking that I was one of the reasons they were staying in Vancouver when I could hardly remember them.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside. It was a beautiful apartment and it was very homely, despite the fact that it smelt of cleaning products. I wondered who was cleaning it for us. The hallway had photographs hung on it and I couldn't stop myself from looking at them. A photograph of Zed and I in the snow with a beautiful valley in the background. Zed and I dressed up to the nines, myself in a black dress and Zed in a Tuxedo. There was a photo that I assumed must have been our prom, both of us looking younger. One that looked more recent, perhaps the winter formal at our college back in December. In all of the photographs we were happy. They weren't fake smiles for the camera, I could tell that they were genuine. It made my heart ache and I felt frustrated. Why couldn't I remember?

I walked into the bedroom and leant against the doorframe. Our blue sheets were clean and crisp with plumped up pillows and silver sequinned cushions. I wondered if we had slept together, if he had taken my virginity. I opened a closet and looked at some of the clothes that hung in there, waiting to be taken out and worn. It wouldn't hurt to take some with me. I had some clothes with Sally and Simon anyway, but it was worth taking some more just incase. I found a small suitcase and filled it with more of my belongings. That's when I realised I was crying. My clothes had small wet patches on them from my tears. From my space on the floor, I looked over at the mirror, at my reflection, and cursed myself for not being able to remember.

That's when I felt like I was transported. In the reflection I could see Zed perched on the bed looking down at me.

'What do I need to take with me?'

'It's a surprise.' He grinned, playfully.

'Where are we going?' I leant up on the bed and looked at him.

'I can't tell you, it's a surprise.' He moved his face towards mine and kissed me, softly.

'I can't believe we're going away for Christmas.'

'Sky?' The voice brought me back to reality. I looked up and saw Zed stood in the doorway, looking at me with concern on his face. 'Are you okay?'

I wiped my eyes and faked a smile. 'Of course.'

'Don't lie.' He said, softly. He sat down on the floor, his back leaning against the mirror. 'Do you want to talk about it?'

'It's so frustrating.' I found myself saying before I could stop myself.

'I know.' He whispered. And of course he knew. He was going through exactly the same thing. 'I want to remember too.'

'We were happy, weren't we?'

He half-smiled at that. 'Yeah, apparently we were. Annoyingly happy according to my brothers.'

I let out a small laugh at that. 'Have you remembered anything else?' He blushed and I knew he had. 'How many more memories?'

'Two. One of them...'

'You don't need to tell me that one.' I blushed, knowing what that memory had been about. It answered my earlier question. Yes we had slept together.

'The other one I remembered yesterday when I came here.' He adjusted his seated position on the floor to make himself more comfortable. 'We were lying on the sofa together, watching the tv. You told me you loved me. What about you?'

'I had one a minute ago.' I said, my voice small. 'We were packing to go away for Christmas. You were sat on the bed watching me pack and wouldn't tell me where we were going.'

He leant his head against the mirror and closed his eyes. 'It was snowing wasn't it?'

I thought back to the picture in the hallway. 'Yes.'

'We had a hot tub outside our cabin in the woods.'

I closed my eyes and desperately tried to picture it in my mind. 'A fur rug, a fireplace.'

'And there was a ball when we were there. I asked you to marry me for the second time. Just before midnight on New Years.'

I could see it. It was as if I was there. I was wearing the black dress from the photographs and I felt like a movie star. Zed was on one knee in front of me, his eyes filled with love. He held out the ring and asked me to marry him. This year. The crowd was cheering.

I opened my eyes and realised that Zed was watching me. 'I remember.' I whispered.

'Me too.'

It was weird how little memories came back to me over the next week. Sometimes I was in the lecture theatre, taking notes and I'd remember Zed sitting next to me and saying something funny. Other times I was eating with Sally and Simon and then I would suddenly remember eating the same meal with Zed. A few more pieces of the puzzle were slotted together in my mind and I started to feel more hopeful. I was less moody and I was happy going out with Jenni without being told I would be grounded if I didn't go.

'I've decided what I want to do this weekend!' Jenni announced to me when we were in the mall on Wednesday. I had to snap back to attention, my mind drifting off into its only little world.

'Oh?' And then I remembered the date on Saturday. 'For your birthday, you mean?'

'Of course!' She replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'Let's go out?'

'Where?'

'Let's go on a bar crawl!'

I laughed at that. 'Are you serious? You want to go out drinking?'

'Sure, you're only twenty once!'

I sometimes forgot she was older than me. Older, but not always wiser. 'I'll be asleep by eleven and I won't be the best company.'

'It won't be just the two of us, silly.' She shook her head as if I was completely mad. 'We can go as a group. Get some cocktails, hit a club, maybe even karaoke.'

'Definitely not karaoke.' I groaned.

'Oh, absolutely!' She grinned. 'And you have to because it's my birthdays so my rules.'

Miss Demanding Birthday Girl wanted me at her dorm at six. Sally and Simon had happily dropped me off and seemed to be even more pleased that I was staying the night with Jenni. Clearly, they wanted some time without me in the house. I arrived with a Birthday Girl tiara, which she was happy to put on, despite currently being in her pyjamas. Rhianna was blasting out of her speakers and she was already singing and she spritzed perfume around the room.

I coughed. 'Have you already started drinking?'

'Of course not! I'm just so happy!'

'Well that's good.' I smiled, wondering if she had had too much sugar.

'Did you bring the outfit I made you buy on Wednesday?' She asked, signalling to my overnight bag.

'Yeah but I brought others too.'

'Why?' She frowned, taking the bag off of me and rummaging through it. 'You're not wearing this out!' She held up a blue maxi dress and frowned. 'We're going out.'

'But the skirt is a bit short.' I replied, biting my lip.

'Sky, the skirt is seriously hot. Put it on, come on, I'll show you it isn't too bad.'

I did as she said, feeling nervous. I hadn't worn a short skirt in ages. It wasn't too short; it was a light coral wrap around tube skirt that made my bum look good. It finished about halfway up my thigh, and Jenni had paired it with a black bralet.

'See, it looks good.' She smiled, placing me in front of the full length mirror.

'Are you sure it's not too short?' I looked at it and she was right, the outfit did suit me and it made my short legs look longer, especially with the heeled shoe boots I was wearing.

'I'm sure! It's longer than what I'm wearing.' She winked and put on her very little black dress. It was strapless and as she rightly said, it was shorter than what I was wearing. But it did suit her. I watched her put powder on her shoulder, hiding the pink mark that had started to fade from her tattoo. She winced.

'Does it still hurt?' I asked.

'Yeah, but yours did too, didn't it?'

'Yeah but the pain was worth it.' I replied with a shrug.

'That's what I keep telling myself.' She smiled. 'I want to get another one though, one on my ankle. Maybe I'll get one tonight.'

My eyes widened. 'I hate to burst the birthday bubble but we are definitely not going to a tattoo parlour tonight.'

She stuck her tongue out at me. 'Spoilsport.'

At about eight, there was a knock at the door and in walked in two girls from Jenni's performing course. Maisie, brunette, and Anna, blonde, as I soon found out, were both from Ottawa. They had grown up together and were best friends, who I surprisingly had a lot in common with. They liked Anime, listening to Ed Sheeran, loved Hollister and were quite surprised to see me as they claimed to have bags with my face on back in their dorm room.

'Oh god.' I cringed, thinking of myself on a back.

'Uh oh, someone isn't ready to party!' Anna flicked her long blonde hair and handed me a beer. 'Best drink up.'

At nine, we jumped in a taxi and headed to Mainstreet, home to lots of bars, pubs and the odd club. It felt great meeting new people and I felt strangely at ease with these new friends. I'd heard Jenni talk about them before, but I hadn't had the chance to meet them properly.

'So who's meeting us here?' Maisie asked as we headed into Afterglow. We flashed our IDs at the security guard and he let us inside.

'Bleu, Rob and Zed.' Jenni replied with a smile. My heart skipped a beat. Zed was going to be there? What if I had another emotional memory?

'Decided it was best not to invite George then.' Anna commented.

'It's for the best, he needs to move on.' Maisie said and Jenni nodded in agreeement.

The guys had already reserved us a table at the back of the bar. They were seated in a booth with brown leather seats, which looked like two corner sofas pushed together. There was a small table in the middle with a single tealight. The walls were covered with bronze curtains, which were lit underneath by soft lighting. It was a classy looking place and it looked expensive.

'Two for one cocktails!' Jenni announced with a smile, as if reading my mind.

'Dangerous!' I replied with a laugh. We reached the booth and the boys stood up to greet us. I noticed that they all hugged each of us, Zed possibly hugging me for a little longer than he had held the others for. Or was I being hopeful?

'First round is on me.' Rob smiled. 'You all take a seat, they'll bring our drinks over. What's everyone having?'

We gave our orders to Rob and he disappeared. I found myself sat between Jenni and Zed, which wasn't a bad place to be but I couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

'So how are you?' Zed asked, breaking the silence between us as Jenni chatted away to Maisie and Anna sat twiddling her hair next to Bleu.

'I'm okay, what about you?' I replied, politely.

'Fine.' He shrugged. 'Any more...'

'A few.' I said quickly, looking around to remind him where we were.

He switched to using our minds to communicate. I've had a few too. It's weird isn't it?

Absolutely. My eyes flicked to his and I noticed he was staring at me with an intense expression. What is it?

Just you. You look incredible. His eyes wandered to look at my outfit and my legs, before flicking back up to meet my blue pools.

Not so bad yourself. Really hot, I wanted to add. His white shirt was rolled up and you could see his arm and chest muscles through the tank top he wore underneath. He smiled at me as Rob appeared back with the waitress, who was carrying our drinks. My Sex on the Beach cocktail was passed to me and a beer to Zed. He clinked his glass against mine and then sipped his beer.

Bar number two was really busy. It was more like a pub and it was full of men and women watching some basketball game on the big screens. We found a table and some stools on the terrace and I was glad that the air was still humid, despite the time of day. My next drink was a vodka lemonade, which was pretty weak.

Bar three was completely dead, so we all grabbed a shot and then moved on.

That was when Jenni announced it was time for some karaoke. I knew she was starting to get drunk. She was quite touchy feely and found everything hilarious. It made me smile. Anna and Maisie weren't much better. In fact, Maisie had been flirting for extra drinks. And Anna spent most of her time hanging off of Bleu, who was obviously enjoying himself. Zed and I seemed the most sober and I wondered why as we walked into the karaoke bar at the end of the street.

'Sky, come and sign up for a song with me!' Jenni shouted, pulling me along by my hand.

'I'm not drunk enough for this Jen.' I replied, with a frown. 'I won't do it.'

'But you have to, your voice is great!' She whined like a small child. She adjusted her birthday sash and pouted at me. 'It can be my birthday present.'

'I've already given you two presents.' I laughed, pointing at the sash and the dainty silver bracelet she was wearing.

'Well then it can be my third present.' She stuck out her bottom lip.

'I'm curious, does that ever work?'

She grinned back at me. 'Sometimes. Rob's bought all of my drinks tonight incase you hadn't noticed!'

I widened my eyes. 'Jen, he's our friend, you can't use him like that.'

'I'm not using him.' She blushed, biting her lip.

'Wait, do you like him?'

'Shh!' She covered my mouth and looked around, although everyone around us was a stranger. 'Look I know it's bad, Sam's meant to be my soulfinder but-'

'Jen, it's okay.' I reassured her. 'You have a right to find someone else and be happy, you can't wait around for him.'

'And Rob knows all about Sam. He wants to punch him.' She laughed.

'So do I.' I smiled back at her. 'Just be careful, okay?'

'Okay.' She grabbed my hand. 'Now that you know my secret... you owe me a song.'

It was ten minutes later when my name was called up and I still wasn't sure about my song choice. I had chosen a song which seemed somewhat ironic, but I knew that at the same time Jenni would enjoy it. Taylor Swift was her guility pleasure, although she hated to admit that.

The music started and I took a deep breath. 'We were both young when I first saw you.

I close my eyes and the flashback starts:

I'm standing there on a balcony in summer air.

See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.

See you make your way through the crowd

And say, "Hello, "

Little did I know...'

I opened my eyes, feeling brave enough to do so. The audience were all watching me intently.

'That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles,

And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"

And I was crying on the staircase

Begging you, "Please don't go"

And I said...

Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.

I'll be waiting; all that's left to do is run.

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess,

It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".

Zed caught my eye and smiled as he watched me, and then I saw a familiar aura around him. Love.

'So I sneak out to the garden to see you.

We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew

So close your eyes... escape this town for a little while.

Oh, oh.

'Cause you were Romeo - I was a scarlet letter,

And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"

But you were everything to me,

I was begging you, "Please don't go"

And I said...

Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.

I'll be waiting; all that's left to do is run.

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.

It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".

Romeo, save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel.

This love is difficult but it's real.

Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.

It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".

Oh, oh.

I got tired of waiting

Wondering if you were ever coming around.

My faith in you was fading

When I met you on the outskirts of town.

And I said...

Romeo, save me, I've been feeling so alone.

I keep waiting for you but you never come.

Is this in my head? I don't know what to think.

He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said...

Marry me, Juliet, you'll never have to be alone.

I love you, and that's all I really know.

I talked to your dad - go pick out a white dress

It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

'Cause we were both young when I first saw you.'

The audience applauded and I heard my friends 'whooping.' Jenni ran over and hugged me.

'See that wasn't so bad?' She grinned. 'A super birthday present! Anna, Maisie, you're up next!'

'Fancy a drink?' Zed asked me, his eyes twinkling.

'Sure I'll just get my-'

'Nope, I'll pay.' He reached for my hand and pulled me through the crowds until we got to the bar. 'You have a great voice. You should sing more often.'

I blushed and looked down at my fingernails which had been painted a light pink colour. 'It's scary.'

'It doesn't need to be.' He smiled. He ordered us each a cocktail and we were served quickly. 'Fancy some air?'

'Sure.' I nodded. I grabbed my drink and followed him outside.

The terrace was quiet. The railings marking off the ground owned by the bar were decorated with fairylights and there were small lanterns hung overhead. It was pretty and also quite...romantic.

'It's funny, something about you just seems so familiar. I've always felt like we knew each other before.' I found myself saying as we sat down on a sofa and looked out to the river.

His eyes widened, as if he knew I was going to say that, and then he smiled. 'I know, me too.'

'Zed what if it's true? What everyone's been saying? What if we really are soulfinders?'

He didn't reply. He broke the space between us, brushing his lips against mine. Suddenly, my mind remembered most of the kisses we had shared together. Some in bed, some outside, our first kiss... it was all there. Every perfect kiss.