"No, no, no," Leo said, kicking a box in my direction. "Keep your stuff on your side or I'll end up with your clothes."

                "You can't fit in my clothes. They'd fall right off you," I said, picking the box up and setting it with the rest of my stuff.

                "Ha-ha. You're hilarious," Leo said. He jumped on his skateboard and slowly rolled through our little dorm room, making sure he'd gotten all of his stuff.

                I looked around our empty room, feeling sad. Today was the day we all left the Academy and went back to our hometowns.

                Once Constance left us alone, the rest of our time at the Academy was great. We spent the next few months annoying teachers, sneaking off campus to run around in town, and spending time outside of classes together just hanging out and having fun.

                I was closer to the kids at the Academy than I'd ever been to my friends back home. There was nothing you could hide around here, and no reason to hide any of it. I was open with them- probably a little too open, sometimes.

                And Kaz, that little shit I called my boyfriend, had made me so happy since we'd started dating. He'd even watched Sharknado with me one night (I tried to put on Rubber after but Kaz stole the remote and threatened to break up with me on the spot, what an asshole).

                I would never understand how Aaron could have Kaz and let him go. I hoped to god that Aaron sent all those messages to Kaz because he missed him. I wanted Aaron to miss Kaz, because he deserved to suffer after what he had put Kaz through.

                Kaz was very slowly starting to open his eyes to the abuse he'd been put through at Aaron's hands. He was finally starting to realize that he deserved to be treated kindly. Sometimes he still got surprised by how much we cared about him, but he was adjusting to it day by day.

                Our door banged open and Mikayla came in. She had a few hoodies and T-shirts slung over her arm.

                "Hey!" Leo said. "You could've given those back before I packed up my clothes."

                "Be lucky I'm even giving them back," Mikayla said, tossing Leo's clothes onto his bed.

                "Hold on, hold on." Leo dug through them and picked up a Waterparks T-shirt. He sprayed it with his cologne and tossed it to Mikayla. "There, your prize for not murdering me this year."

                Mikayla grinned at Leo and punched his shoulder. "I'll give it back at some point this summer."

                "Oh, please, you might as well write your name on the tag," Leo said, rolling his eyes.

                We checked the time, realizing our parents would be here soon. Everything was packed up and ready to go, but I didn't want to leave.

                After this came college, which meant even more separation from Kaz. We'd figured out that we only lived about a 30 minute drive from each other, and had found a spot in the middle we could meet and hang out at. We had also worked it out that I would go spend a week staying with Kaz at the end of the month, once we were all settled back in. I was praying that I wouldn't run into Aaron, but Kaz said he knew the right places to go to avoid Aaron.

                I'd been on and off the phone with my parents, keeping them updated on me and my friends and boyfriend, hoping to ease them into the idea of seeing me and Kaz together when they picked me up today. Very, very slowly, my parents were trying to come to terms with my sexuality.

                "All packed?"

                I turned at the sound of Kaz's voice. He was leaning in the doorway, Beckett and Pete waiting behind him.

                "All packed," I confirmed, gesturing to our boxes. "Thanks for that observation."

                "Watch it, O'Malley." He pushed himself off the doorframe and came into the room, followed by Beckett and Pete.

                We stood together in the room in silence for a moment. We had plenty of pictures to remember the year by. I'd learned that Kaz actually loved having pictures, so he'd broken out his phone quite a few times to capture the year. But pictures would never replace this time of here and now, of being alive in this very moment.

                All of us were dressed in our uniforms, having gone to a last day ceremony earlier. It felt weird to know that when I took my uniform off today, I'd never have to put it on again. The maroon vest had become such a constant sight in my life over these past few months.

                The teachers here would carry on in their ways, but I had a feeling Constance would think twice before messing with kids like Kaz. Kaz's goal had never been to change this place, only to help the kids here get through it alright.

                And we were alright. We were incredible, in fact.

                "No more late night hand jobs," I said with a sigh, kissing Kaz's cheek.

                He put an arm around my waist. "You're staying with me for a week," he reminded.

                "True. I wonder if I can keep a dick down my throat for seven days straight," I said thoughtfully.

                "Get a room," Beckett said, scowling.

                "This is my room, you intolerable little brat," I said, flipping him off.

                Beckett took his yo-yo out of his pocket and smirked in satisfaction as I ducked behind Kaz. Beckett began to play with his yo-yo, waiting for me to come out of hiding. That thing could hurt when it hit you. He'd left a painful bruise on my leg after I'd told him that I'd accept him as a human being when I couldn't count his age on two hands anymore.

                "Cut it out," Kaz said, flicking Beckett in the ear and easily ducking out of the way of the yo-yo.

                I backed away from them after a distrustful stare in Beckett's direction. I peeked out of the window and mentally sighed.

                "Slew of parents," I announced.

                "Better go find our families and get out of here," Kaz said.

                We gathered together and went out into the hallway, meeting up with the Siggeir brothers as we went down the stairs. Now that they were allowed to be together, they were hardly ever apart. Siggy kept Rogan in check, and Rogan made sure Siggy could remember how to smile and laugh and just have emotions in general.

                The eight of us stepped outside and around to the front of the building. There was a gathering of parents and kids reuniting, and we all looked around for our own parents.

                "Mikayla!"

                A man with similar features to Mikayla hurried over to her. Mikayla smiled and hugged him tightly.

                "Hi dad," she said.

                "I was talking to Leo's parents," Mr. Holly said, smiling at her. A couple walked up behind him and Leo sighed and went over to them.

                "Hey," he greeted.

                "Hi Leo," his mom said, giving him a one-armed hug. "You're so messy. Tuck your shirt in."

                "Good to see you too, mom," Leo said, making no moves to fix his shirt.

                "Kaz!"

                Kaz turned and smiled as his mom and stepdad waved and hurried over to him. He hugged both of them.

                "Mom, David, this is O'Malley," Kaz said, pulling me up next to him.

                "Hi, nice to meet you in person, I think your son just stole my wallet again," I said, slapping my pockets.

                "Casimir!" Kaz's mom shot him a look and he pulled my wallet out of his pocket.

                "I'm surprised you even noticed," he said, tossing it into my hands.

                "I've noticed that whenever your hand gets near my pocket, my wallet tends to go missing," I said, tucking my wallet away.

                "Casimir, this school was supposed to help with that habit," his mom, who I had learned was Mrs. Mumford now that she was remarried, said. But she didn't look angry; she looked overjoyed to have her son back.

                "Well, it's helped with some things, but not that," Kaz said, holding up car keys. "Sorry, David."

                "Kaz!" Mr. Mumford checked his pockets and took the keys from Kaz. "It's hasn't even been two minutes and you're already stealing from me." He smiled fondly at Kaz, though.

                I looked around, realizing that the Siggeir brothers were with their adoptive parents, Rogan grinning as he talked to them and Siggy sighing in exasperation at whatever Rogan was saying. Pete had reunited with his parents, his mom hugging him and his dad checking Pete's pills.

                "Killian?"

                "Oh sweet mother of god I am not prepared for this," I said in horror, grabbing Kaz's vest. "Hide me."

                "It'll be fine," Kaz said, prying my hand off his vest as my parents approached us. "I won't even steal from them."

                I looked up as my parents stopped in front of me. They looked between me and Kaz, and I let out a nervous laugh.

                "Hey there parental units. This is Kaz. Casimir. It's not spelled how you think it is. Anyways, he has bad hair and hates bad sci-fi movies but he can also be a decent person," I said, gesturing to Kaz. "He's my, uh, boyfriend."

                Kaz slapped his hand over my mouth and held his free one out to my mom. "Kaz Warrick."

                She shook his hand, and then my dad did. Kaz let his hand drop from my mouth, at ease as always.

                "I wouldn't have gotten through here without him," I said. "I mean, really, I wouldn't. Did you know it's pretty much impossible to make friends around here if Kaz doesn't like you?"

                "Not true, Malley. Rogan and I can't stand each other but he still has friends," Kaz said.

                "Well, whatever." I looked at my parents nervously, waiting for them to burst into tears or drown me in holy water or whatever.

                But my mom just stepped forward and put her arms around me. "It'll be good to have you back home."

                "Oh, shit," I said as my eyes watered. I hugged her back, too tight, my face hidden against her shoulder. I didn't even realize how badly I'd needed to hear those words from her. To know she still loved me and wanted me around.

                I felt my dad patting me on the back, since he wasn't a big hugger. But at least he still wanted to touch his son. At least he wasn't disgusted by me. They were here, and they were accepting me back home, and they were trying to adjust to the idea of me having a boyfriend. God, I was so happy.

                I pulled away from my mom and hastily wiped at my eyes as Kaz's parents introduced themselves to my parents. The rest of our friends came over to us, flocking around us.

                "I told you he'd cry," Mikayla said, holding her hand out.

                "Damn, I thought he'd be too shocked to," Leo said, pulling $5 out of his pocket and slapping it into Mikayla's waiting palm.

                "I knew he would. It's Killian, after all," Beckett said, snapping his yo-yo up into his palm.

                "Someday I'm going to strangle you with your own yo-yo," I said in annoyance.

                "I forgot if I bet or not," Pete said, scrunching up his face in confusion.

                "You did, and you owe me $10," Leo said, wincing when Mikayla elbowed him in the side.

                "Hey, one last group picture at the Academy," Mikayla said, nudging Kaz.

                "Yea," he said, grinning. "One last picture of the crew at the Academy."

                He pulled out his phone and handed it to his mom. We gathered together, Kaz and I standing next to each other with Beckett on Kaz's other side. Mikayla and Leo stood together behind us, Pete with them. We threw our arms around each other and grinned at the camera, the kids who had made it out of Constance Academy stronger than we had gone in. This place hadn't broken us; it had helped us find ourselves.

                Kaz's mom took a few pictures before handing the phone back to Kaz. He slipped his phone into his pocket and we all looked at each other, laughing a little.

                This was it. This was the end.

                "Hey, we're meeting up in a few weeks," Leo said. "Stop looking so gloomy, you downers."

                We had picked a location that was middle ground for all of us to meet up at over the summer. I'd volunteered to pick up Pete since he lived surprisingly close to me. But then I'd immediately regretted it because I remembered that Pete was coming off his drugs this summer.

                "Hey, don't kill me when I pick you up. It's rude to murder the driver. Plus you'll be stranded because you don't have a license," I said to Pete.

                "I won't kill you!" he said, laughing, still drugged and in a forced euphoria for the moment. Why did I have such poor decision making skills?

                We followed our parents upstairs and helped them move our things out of the rooms. Pete needed the most help since walking up and down stairs so much was hard on his bad knee, so we all pitched in to help his parents clear the room out.

                Once we had moved everything out, we stood outside, our parents huddled off to the side and waiting for us. Waiting for us to say our goodbyes.

                "Keep up my legacy here," Kaz said to Beckett.

                Beckett smiled and nodded. "I will."

                He still had a few more years at the Academy. Something told me he'd work hard to keep up Kaz's rebellious work here.

                We all stared at each other, no one wanting to be the first to say goodbye. This was really it.

                "Thanks for dragging me into the world of delinquents," I said, my big mouth kicking things off for us. "Leo, thanks for being a kickass roommate and letting me suck Kaz's dick in peace."

                "Killian, thanks for not letting me walk in on that ever," Leo said. We grinned and bumped fists.

                "Kaz, thanks for not snoring," Pete said, joining right in.

                "Pete, thanks for being oblivious to every time I ever stole your wallet to buy myself a drink from the vending machine," Kaz said.

                "You...wait." Pete frowned. "You said Killian gave you the money."

                "I lied," Kaz said. "But I think I made up for it by not snoring."

                "When I'm sober, I'll kick your ass." Pete was grinning, excited at the thought of sobriety.

                "I'll look forward to it." Kaz grinned right back.

                We all looked back at our waiting parents and knew we couldn't keep stalling. We had to leave the Academy at some point.

                "I'm going to text bomb the shit out of you," Leo said, hugging Mikayla.

                She hugged him back. "I'm going threaten to block your number but never actually go through with it."

                "Good luck with coming off the drugs," Kaz said to Pete, slapping him on the shoulder. He turned to Beckett. "And you? I have high hopes for you. When you graduate this place, I'll be there, a bitter 24 year old man in debt from college, ranting about how back in my day you fought with a yo-yo and once smashed a piano with a baseball bat."

                "You're an ass." Beckett hugged Kaz, and Kaz hugged him back, brothers in the same strong sense that Rogan and Siggy were.

                They released each other and Kaz turned to me. He pulled me into his arms, kissing my neck as he hugged me.

                "I'm glad you got sent here. I'm glad it all worked out in the end," he mumbled.

                I hugged him back, his body a familiar warmth by now. "Stop acting like this is goodbye. We're going to see each other again soon."

                "I know, I know. But you helped us. You helped all of us," he said.

                "And so did you. You kept everyone strong and in touch with their illegal talents," I said.

                He laughed, body shaking against mine with the force of it. "Shit, Malley, I'm going to miss your big mouth saying stupid things every day."

                "I'll text them to you," I said. "I'll also text you pictures of my naked body, if you want."

                "Tempting. We'll see." He pulled away and kissed me on the lips.

                "Who knew I'd end up dating a thief with an undercut and an ego problem," I said with a sigh.

                We reached out and held hands, turning to face our waiting our parents. The others flanked us and we walked towards our parents.

                My parents eyed mine and Kaz's hands, but didn't say anything about it. Kaz and I released hands as we reached everyone.

                "Bye, crew," Kaz said, smiling.

                "Friend, not leader," Mikayla reminded him, hugging him. "We'll see you in a few weeks, Kaz."

                We huddled together for one final group hug, these people who had helped me grow and who had tolerated my memes, my sci-fi movies, and my inappropriately timed jokes. I might still be a total baby when it came to fights and whatnot, but I'd like to think I'd grown a little more confident in their presence.

                We pulled away from each other. Kaz caught my arm and kissed me again, both of us relieved knowing that we'd see each other again by the end of the month.

                I got in the car with my parents, looking out of the window as the others did the same. Kaz got in his car and rolled his window down, waving to all of us as his parents pulled away from the Academy.

                I smiled and leaned back against the seat as we drove away from the Academy. Conversion Academy was a fitting nickname for a place that had changed my life in all the right ways.

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A.N.- At 200 Microsoft Word pages (94,142 words) this is my second longest story just under Just A Spark. And you guys supported every page of it.

Thank you all so much for the support on this story and the enthusiasm for it. I'll be posting the Kaz/Aaron prequel this week (hopefully tomorrow if all goes well) so I hope you guys will check that out, but if not, I'm just glad you stuck this one out with me. Please, let me know what you thought of the story, and who your favorite character was!

A lot of people told me that this story was different from my others. Can you guys tell me how it was different? What you liked/didn't like about it?

Thank you so, so much for taking this journey with me and Killian. I hope you guys enjoyed your time at Conversion Academy just as much as the characters did!

Update (5/12/17): I wrote a spinoff about Beckett at the Academy when he's a little older. It's called "The Only Faith" if you want to check it out!