AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so since I've had some reviews saying you wanted an epilogue, I decided to write one. A few reviewers said I didn't include Gabriella and Evan towards the end, which is true. So, I hope you enjoy this epilogue to see where they ended up! And if you felt that the story ended fine without an epilogue, you don't have to continue reading :)

EPILOGUE

*ONE YEAR LATER*

"Babe, carry these books, will you?" Tina asked Joel as we neared him and Hayden, though it was more of a statement if anything. Her boyfriend nodded and took them from her right away.

"You are so whipped," I heard Hayden say to Joel. I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see me yet.

"Hold these," I ordered, shoving my few books into Hayden's arms. I turned to wink at Joel on behalf of my boyfriend's comment.

"So are you," Joel said, smirking at Hayden.

Hayden briefly shrugged before I kissed him lightly on the lips. "Thanks," I said against his soft lips, intertwining my fingers with his as we walked to my house. My car, Edwin, was in the shop after I convinced my dad to finally take him. Hayden offered to drive me to school, but since it's been nice out lately, I decided to walk to school (surprising, right?). And, my ever loving boyfriend chose to walk with me from my house every single day.

"You two are still meeting up with us at the café tomorrow, right?" I called behind me.

"Yeah, text me when you're leaving!" Tina said as she and Joel walked to his car. I turned back around and walked in silence with Hayden for a few minutes.

"So, how was your day?" he asked me.

"Tiring," I said, letting out a short sigh. "I can't believe we'll be done with high school in a few months."

I looked up and saw Hayden nod. "Yeah, it seems like yesterday you were dared to kiss me at the mall," he said, smirking down at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't remind me."

"Why not? That started everything, and you know it."

I smiled, remembering the first few encounters we had about a year ago. They weren't exactly nice ones, on my part at least. "Sure, I guess it started everything, but I thought you were annoying then. I still do, actually."

"Oh really?" Hayden replied, putting his arm across my shoulders to bring me closer. "I don't think I'm annoying."

"Sometimes you are." I noticed we were basically at my house by then, except I tore my gaze from my house to his eyes instead. Hayden's mischievous smile made me raise an eyebrow in question.

"Well, if you say that, I guess I'll have to live up to that now." Before I could reply, he dropped our school things on my front lawn and wrapped his arm around my neck as he ruffled my hair.

"Hayden, stop!" I shouted through my laughter. It's not like I really cared about my hair, it's just that this was the quickest way he could be annoying.

I finally pushed him away enough to get out of his grip. When I narrowed my eyes playfully at him, he started running away from me.

I ran right after him and yelled, "Hayden Ulysses Jackson!" He immediately stopped right where he was, in the middle of my front yard. I stopped aw well, about ten feet away from him.

He turned to face me with a joking glare. "You did not just say my middle name out loud."

I grinned at him. "Oh, did I? I'm sorry Hayden…Ulysses Jackson!" I exclaimed, adding his middle name again just to annoy him. He hated his middle name, which I finally found out a few months ago. Believe me, it took a lot of bribes to get him to tell me. Too many, in fact, which is why I simply asked his mother instead.

I crossed my arms as Hayden slowly walked toward me. "You think that's funny, huh?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, trying to hide my grin. "Maybe." In one swift movement, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

"Hayden, put me down!"

"Nah, I think I like this view," he replied, probably staring at my butt.

"If you don't put me down, I swear I'll…"

"You'll what?" he pushed. I could hear the smirk in his voice, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I slipped my hands under the back of his shirt, feeling his back muscles to get him all hot and bothered. Of course, my strategy worked. Almost. He seemed to trip over something, causing us both to tumble to the ground.

"Ow," I groaned.

"What do you mean 'ow'? You landed on me," Hayden said. I looked down into his eyes.

"This is your fault. I said you were annoying, and you went and proved my point," I said, unable to stop smiling after seeing his gorgeous face in front of me.

"I was just living up to your expectations," he stated.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, whatever." I moved to get off him, but he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I stared at his lips for a few seconds before weakling answering, "Inside."

"What for?"

"Uh…to do homework?" I offered.

"Don't be silly, it's Friday. I like you right here," he replied before kissing me. We remained there, me on top of him in the middle of my lawn, before my brothers interrupted us.

"Get a room already!" Tyler shouted, Robby and Brody agreeing with him. I pulled back from Hayden and stood, helping him up. My two brothers walked inside, as did Brody. I was glad Hayden's brother was okay with us. Actually, he seemed better than okay since he had a girlfriend now. I was relieved when I heard that news, mainly because it meant he was officially over liking me.

"C'mon, let's go inside," I said. Hayden picked up our school things and followed me inside, straight to the kitchen.

"Do you want anything to drink?" I asked.

"Sure, I'll take water." I gave Hayden his water bottle as he sat at the island counter. As I poured myself a glass of orange juice, I randomly brought up the fact that Gabriella didn't get accepted into the fashion institute of her dreams.

"So, Gabriella's not going to that fashion institute in New York."

"Why not?"

I smiled evilly. "Apparently they rejected her, so her father is paying for her to go to a different institute. I bet they would've rejected her if he didn't donate so much money to them." Hayden didn't reply, so I continued with my latest news.

"And I heard Evan got accepted to a Florida college on a football scholarship," I added. I hadn't spoken to Evan since last year, other than the occasional greeting in the hall, but Joel still talked to him sometimes. He was the one to tell us the latest news with Evan, while Olivia heard the news about Gabriella through 'very accurate sources'.

"Oh," Hayden replied.

"I think Caylee got into that college in northern California, the one she really liked. I'm not sure though," I continued. I glanced at Hayden to see his reaction, but he was just staring at his water bottle, looking uninterested in my comments.

My main motive for bringing up this college conversation was because we never really talked about our relationship after high school. Out of both of our college picks, only one was the same. I already knew he got in since his acceptance letter arrived a few days ago, but I was still waiting for mine. And if I didn't get in, I wouldn't even know what to do about us.

"That's good," he said.

"I'm still waiting for my letters," I stated, still watching his reaction.

"I'm sure you'll get in to whatever one you want," Hayden said, his gaze still on his damn water bottle.

I sighed. "What if I don't?" He finally looked up at me with a questioning expression.

"Don't worry, you'll get into whatever college you want to go to the most."

"What do you mean, whatever college I want? Don't you know I want to go to college with you?" I replied in a frustrated tone.

"You do?"

I narrowed my eyes at Hayden. "Of course I do! Why wouldn't I? We only applied to one of the same colleges, so what if I don't get in? What will happen to us?"

Hayden pushed his water away and turned his stool to completely face me. He took both of my hands in his, staring straight into my eyes. "Aurora, whatever happens isn't going to change the way I feel about you. There's going to be a hell of a lot more problems than a few hours separating us, at the most. And that's if you don't get into the college, which I know you will because you are extremely intelligent, amazingly beautiful and adorably cute."

I grinned at his last few adjectives used to describe me and wrapped my arms around his neck. I kissed him hard on the lips before apologizing. "Sorry for freaking out, it's just that, we didn't really talk about life after high school."

He grinned back at me. "I love you, and nothing's going to change that, okay?"

I nodded. "I know. I love you too."

Hayden's Point of View:

"It's about time you two showed up!" Caylee happily said once Olivia and Aurora walked into the café. Aurora told me to meet her at the café since Olivia was picking her up, so I busied myself by talking to Joel, Tina and Caylee until they arrived.

"Sorry, I had a few…setbacks," Aurora said, grinning like a mad woman.

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Setbacks?"

"Yes, she did, but before she gets to that, I want to announce my news. I'm going to the University of Las Vegas!" Everyone at the table immediately congratulated her.

"I bet there are great parties every night," I said.

Olivia shrugged with a smile. "Probably."

"Well, since you're sharing your news, I guess we can tell you where we're going," Tina started. She looked at Joel, urging him to continue.

He cleared his throat before declaring, "We're both going to Brown University." They were both congratulated as well.

"What about you two?" Caylee asked, looking between Aurora and me.

"Well, I don't know about my boyfriend here, but I'm certainly going to the University of Southern California," Aurora said, grinning as she looked at me. USC was the college we both applied to, hoping we'd go there together. Upon hearing this, I was ecstatic.

"You got your acceptance letter?"

She nodded. "Just this morning. That's why we were late."

"That's awesome!" I jumped up and pulled her out of her seat. My first reaction was to pick her up and kiss her, so that's exactly what I did. Hey, call me lame or whatever you want, but I just found out I was going to college with my girlfriend. Obviously I was excited.

Aurora wrapped her arms around my neck tightly as she kissed me back, until she broke the kiss and chuckled along with our friends. "I take it you're going to USC with me then?" she said as I set her back down on the ground.

"Hell yeah I am! Nobody would dare tell me I'm not."

She grinned up at me. "It's a good thing there's been enough dares then, isn't it?" I nodded before kissing her once again. There definitely was enough dares between her and our group of friends. But then again, that's how we met. Without the dares, I wouldn't have met Aurora.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Alright, now it is OFFICIALLY over! I hope you liked this epilogue, and I'll be checking reviews to see what you thought about it. Again, thanks for your support and all of your previous reviews! I can only hope that this story will continue to entertain other readers, or possibly give you inspiration to finish your own story? As for me, I'll be working on my new story, The Music Goes On. Check it out if you want to!

~Savanna :)

P.S.—At the first part if this chapter, I thought of the song 'Nothing Can Change That' by The Secret Handshake. That's what gave me some conversation ideas, just so you know :D