Unexpected | ??

Epilogue

The adrenaline was coursing through my veins. This was a different type of thrill. Now, I sorta understood why Dean was so obsessed with this lifestyle. It felt good. Powerful, even.

He pulled us into a familiar classroom and I looked around, seeing Mr. Cullen give us a confused look.

"Ice, she needs ice," Dean ordered. The teacher nodded and ran to his storage room.

Meanwhile, the others arranged the desks to be in one big circle. I sat down on top of Mr. Cullen's desk, as I always did. My legs dangled as I looked at my knuckles for the first time. The adrenaline wore off, inviting the pain. I winced as I realized how much my hand was hurting.

Jaz stood in front of me, with tears in her eyes. "Oh, Jaz... I'm so sorry..." I truly felt terrible. No one should have to come out on someone else's terms.

She surprised me by pulling me into a tight hug. "I love you so much. Thank you for that," she whispered. I hugged her back, squeezing her as tight as I could.

Mr. Cullen came back with an ice pack and she moved away, taking a seat at one of the desks. Dean took the thing from him and placed it on my bruised knuckles.

"So, anyone care to explain why there's a herd of teenagers in my classroom after school?" Mr. C asked, looking at everyone. It didn't even occur to me that we weren't all his students. He had no idea who Will, Emma, and Dylan were – besides the stories I told. Reece, I'm not so sure about.

"Taylor had some personal vendetta against Bella and decided to take it out on her today," Emma began.

"But then Dean held her back so she wouldn't beat her ass," Will continued.

Jaz grinned. "But then she outed me in front of everyone and Dean let her so to defend my gay ass."

My eyes widened. "Jaz! You just told him!"

"Yeah... he knew..." she trailed like it was obvious. I shrugged. Maybe it wasn't the biggest deal for her anymore. I just wondered when she told him.

"Wait... Taylor Smith?" Mr. Cullen asked. They all nodded and I was amazed they knew her last name because I did not. Why would I? I hated the girl. "Ohh, right. I knew she hated Bella."

My eyes widened and I whipped my head toward him. "What? You did?"

He chuckled and sat down on his desk chair. "Yeah, I know a lot about my students. You'd be surprised what people write about in their journals. That's how I knew about Jasmine's romantic interests..." Ah, that explains it.

"Interesting..." Dylan trailed.

"Wait, wait, wait, I can finally put names to faces!" Mr. Cullen excitedly chirped. "Okay, you're Dylan, you're Emma, you must be Will?" he asked, pointing to the respective people. They all had weirded out expressions and I knew this wasn't about to end well for me. "Oh, sorry, I'm just recalling you from the stories Bella has told me." His smirk made me realize he was embarrassing me on purpose.

All of their surprised eyes met mine and I awkwardly looked at the floor. It was mortifying when someone found out you talked about them behind their backs.

Luckily, they didn't speak more on the topic and I was saved from potential embarrassment.

"So what, you two are finally together?" Mr. C asked, skeptically eyeing Dean's hand on top of mine.

"Shut up," Dean mumbled.

A deep chuckle rumbled through him. "You know, it was only a matter of time. When I read that this random chick was writing about my brother in her weekly journals..." –both Dean and I stiffened– "...Man, I was like 'I like her.'"