EPILOGUE

SEVEN YEARS LATER

"Mr. Cecera, see me after class." The professor roared to the entire auditorium. Some girls giggled behind me.

My neighbor groaned. "Geez, would you stop being such a suck up already! It's not going to get you through school any faster."

I smiled at him. "I know." I gathered my coat and my American Court Cases text book, following my professor into his office.

He smirked at me, "Getting lip because you're getting cozy with the professor, eh? I wouldn't worry about it. They're just jealous, Cecera."

"Yeah."

He was still grinning at me. "Cecera, what are you planning to do after graduation next year? Work in AIG's law branch like your father?"

"No, I . . . I want to work in medical law." I folded my trench coat over the chair and set my brief case with my books underneath it.

"Ah, I see."

Silence.

"You know, Cecera, you've never really been much of a talker, but you know that I like you. You know that I like that you work hard and present your points accurately and concisely. So I've got a friend coming up this weekend. He works for Blue Cross, and maybe you'd like to talk to him a bit."

I smiled again. "No, that's okay. I'm intending on representing the patients, not the companies. But thank you for your offer, professor. Now I'll be going now, and I'll have that proposal for you tomorrow afternoon."

My professor nodded. "I knew you'd say that . . . try to relax a bit tonight, alright? You've been working too hard on this tumor case with me."

"Yes, professor."

I exited his office, and the university along with it. I sighed to myself, rebuttoning my trench coat. Things had certainly changed, hadn't they?

A young boy bumped into me on the street, his hair as orange as a basketball. "'Scuse me!" he scurried past.

My smile spread. A familiar orange bob flashed into my mind.

I was doing it all for him. I'd straightened up and cleaned off all my old shit. Yeah, I didn't curse as much, or mouth off, but I was still the same underneath, actually. I'd just frozen my eighteen year-old self inside me, underneath my frown lines and furrowed brow. Reggie Cecera the drug dealer was still here.

But still, everything had changed.

I missed him, more than you could believe. I thought of him at almost every waking moment. Every awkward kid made me smile because they reminded me of him. All the stories of foster care abuse or medical horror stories rattled me to the point that I wanted to end them.

Yeah, so I guess I had changed underneath, too.

I was still grinning somberly to myself when my blackberry did its familiar beeping. I sighed. Damn that old professor, always wanting me to do all his work for him. "Yes, Reggie Cecera speaking?"

"Hi, Mr. Cecera? This is New York University's Special Care Unit calling. We have some great news that we thought you'd like to hear immediately."

My heart swelled in my chest, not wanting to believe that the hospital was calling to tell me anything other than insurance information.

"Your friend, Todd Hayes? He's woken up! He's awake. I mean, he can only move his face, but . . . ."

I wasn't even listening anymore. I dropped my phone onto the concrete, in a dead sprint for the hospital.

I'm glad that we both got to keep our promise.

I'm kind of sad that I had to finish this with under 100 reviews. I was hoping that everyone would stick with me to the end. But bottom line, I hope these characters made as much of an impact on you as they did to me. This is the first novel that I ever finished.

Love,

-DoT