One more chapter left, folks. As we reach the end of this book, I want to thank you for following it.

After I gave away my other story, (thanks to Eris345 for adopting it again), I was unsure if I could finish another story again.

Jay's POV

As embarrassing as it was for my parents to interrupt my (our?) first kiss, I couldn't deny that I liked it. Even the rather blurry picture that Ma sent me the day after (proving they weren't the best with handling anything related to technology) made my heart beat a bit too fast.

Of course, in classic awkward fashion, me and Nya barely talked after that.

Sure, we had the occasional tease from Kai, or every other person I knew urging me to take the next step.

Jokes on them, I had a plan.

But first, duty calls...

I walked out of the campus, Kai staying behind to wait for the others by the lobby. Honestly, I'd have preferred being alone to hearing about Cole decide whether to put a pink or purple bow on Seliel's gift.

I have no idea what's been happening with him as of late. One day he's sulking over his loss, the other he's chasing after Seliel (and probably Vania) to help them set up a party of all things. Zane said it was grief, but he was probably going coo-coo, as Lloyd told me.

Well, that was not important.

Students around me stared as my phone rang, 'Spin!' blaring through my phone's speakers.

What can I say, Lloyd had managed to get me into N-Pop. I didn't think Cole would forgive me for forgetting about 'The Weekend Whip', but he himself had been drifting towards hip-hop for the past few months.

I answered the phone. "Hello?"

A soft voice came from the other side. "Hi."

"Hi Nya!" Gosh, I sounded like little girl saying that. Alright, maybe I was a bit too excited to talk to her again.

"Yeah, hi."

Silence.

She cleared her throat. "Um, I just wanted to apologise."

"For what?"

She let out a sigh. "Gosh, I'm so sorry. I got so distracted with studying and I completely forgot about the shop and... basically everything else."

It shouldn't have felt so good when I realised I wasn't the only one blabbering. Kai said I was a bad influence on her and, well, he was kind of right in a way.

"Don't worry about it, I know your exams are important," I reassured her. "Besides, I've found someone to help out while you're away."

As much as I loved Nya (probably wasn't going to tell her that), Scott was much better when it came to technology (and video games). I never expected my gaming buddy at the arcade to be so experienced, but I wasn't complaining either.

"That's good to hear..." she said. "So... does the plan still stand?"

"Which one?" I wanted to say, but I should have probably saved the best for last. "Um, yeah. Is it too early for you?"

"I'd say quite the opposite," she giggled adorably, making my heart skip a beat.

"I'll make sure to set up an alarm this time," I said, getting up on my motorcycle as I turned on the engine. "Anything else?"

Was I hoping for her to ask me out? Yes. But was I also nervous she would do it before me?

Very much so.

She paused for a bit. "Red or blue?"

I smiled. "What do you think?"

"Hmmm," her voice became more playful. "I'd say... red."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she chuckled. "Skylor's gonna be wearing red anyway to match with Kai."

I had a sudden urge to dress in an all-blue outfit for some reason.

"If you say so," I said. "Gotta go buy the girls some gifts for the party."

Not just for them.

"And I've got to get back to studying about the mating season of squids."

"Sounds fun." I wanted to laugh. "But look on the bright side, you'll have a killer party to go to right after."

"I guess so," she said, "well, bye Jay..."

"Bye, Nya!"

I put my helmet on, driving off into the city.

♡♡♡

Nya's POV

"Kai, get out already!" I called out to my brother, who had been hogging the bathroom for the past fifteen minutes.

"I need to get my hair ready!"

"The party is in six hours!"

"My hair is now!"

I groaned, sinking on the couch next to Jay. I did not need to deal with that at ten in the morning.

Since when did he get up early on a Sunday, anyway?

To my surprise, I heard a small gasp come from my left.

I straightened my back, looking at Jay.

"You look nice," he blurted out.

My confidence plunged down. Wu always told me I needed to get better with eye contact if I wanted to improve my confidence, but Jay complimenting me every time I did certainly did not help.

Well, our kiss didn't help either...

No, I didn't have time to think of that. Exams first, friends (crushes?) later.

Anyway, my outfit had been nothing special; just a white, sleeveless shirt with blue bell-bottoms and white sneakers to match. I wasn't going to go take my exams with a dress on any time soon.

Jay, meanwhile, was dressed much more nicely. He wore a blue button-up shirt along with some darker jeans. Of course, we were both wearing the same brand of sneakers, only his were black.

At least he didn't use as much hair gel as Kai.

Oh, right.

"Thanks," I said, "you look nice too."

He turned to his phone. "I guess we should leave in a bit, huh?"

"Yeah... The exams start at in a few hours, and Stiix is pretty far away, so..."

"A two hour drive with Nya Smith... Sounds good to me," he winked, grabbing his motorcycle key from the coffee table.

"Better drive carefully, Walker."

♡♡♡

The drive was... boring, to say the least.

The food after, though? Amazing.

I forgot how good pizza was. Ever since I got together with... well, him, I wasn't allowed to eat it. 'Too much fat this, too much cheese that'. I was tired of it.

Jay, on the other hand, chose cotton candy as his lunch of choice.

"What? I need the energy if the exams last three hours," he told me, taking another bite.

"You really don't have to," I said. "The party is a few blocks away, you can just go to the party earlier."

He shrugged. "I'm willing to wait."

I smiled at the gesture even though I knew I could've done something more. But I wasn't going to, of course.

Not yet, at least.

"Thanks," I said, looking around the campus, looking towards the West entrance to the building. "My examination room should be right over..."

What was he doing there?

What was Morro doing here?

He was just smoking by the West entrance, talking to some other girl that was wearing his jacket.

I didn't want to admit that my heart rate was rising, but I couldn't dent it either.

My hands were shaking.

Instinctively, I latched onto Jay's arm.

"Can we take the long route?" I asked him, my voice small. I felt like a coward.

Here I was, talking about beating him up and putting him in his place just a week ago when I was too scared to speak the moment I saw him again.

Would he notice me? What would he do? What would Jay do?

What would Jay think of me?

"Yeah, let's go," he said, almost in a whisper as he put his arm around my shoulders.

Slowly, we walked the other way.

And, for once, I felt safe.