^^^ELLE'S OUTFIT ❤️

TOOK YOU GUYS LONG ENOUGH!!!

I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS LONG AWAITED CHAPTER! 😄😘❤️

***

"Congratulations guys! We made it!"

At the sound of Sunny's voice ending her speech, the graduating class flung their caps in the air. Pure happiness was on Sunny's face, and when I looked beside me to blossom, I knew that we both knew that we'd made the right decision.

Nick, blossom and I had been called into the office by the Principal and Vice Principal to discuss the Valedictorian spot. We were still tied, and they didn't know what to do. We shocked them by declining the spot altogether, so they asked us who we thought then deserved the spot.

We unanimously chose Sunny because she had just achieved a perfect GPA from her exams.

"She looks so happy," blossom said as she laced our fingers.

"We did the right thing by giving it to her. I know she was worried about her application being waitlisted again, even though I told her that it wouldn't," Nick said as he rolled his eyes.

Blossom giggled. "She needed this."

We had finally graduated, and I won't lie and say that I wasn't relieved. However, I was happier to have blossom with me. I didn't think I'd graduate in a school, much less with a fiancée, and that's what made it all the more special.

"What time are we leaving for the lovely St Barts?" Nick asked once graduation was over. We were milling around, taking photos and what not.

"We're leaving tomorrow morning. The parents want to have a big celebration for all of us. It's at Eli's house I think," Felix replied.

"Right you are my best friend's lady. My parents have gone all out for it, and since they've got the other parents hooked, we all have no choice," Eli jumped in.

"That's fine. It's not the end of the world. We get to hang out together anyway," Wes said with a shrug, which we agreed with.

We took more than enough photos, until it was decided that we'd be meeting up at Eli's house in the next three hours. I think the parents were accommodating the fact that some of us actually wanted to spend time with our partners. Jayme waved at blossom and I from a distance, before turning to leave. He was still not speaking to Nick.

"Oh for goodness sake," Nick said in annoyance as Shane approached us.

"You're going to have to stop avoiding him at some point," I pointed out.

"Don't I get to choose when that point is? Because I'd like for it to be a million years from now," he replied.

"That's not right and you know it," blossom told him just as Shane arrived.

"Nick, can I talk to you?" he said.

"No," Nick replied, earning a slap on the arm from his sister.

"What? He asked an I refused," Nick defended.

"Say what you need to say Shane," blossom told him.

He rubbed his neck, looking quite nervous. "I, uh, kind of wanted to talk to Nick alone."

"Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of them," Nick quickly said, trapping blossom and I in this awkward situation.

"Right! Uhm, I just wanted to know why you kissed me and if it meant anything," Shane said.

"I did what now?" Nick asked.

You see, we still had no idea what happened at the party that had Jayme so pissed off at Nick. Apparently no one else knew, and since Jayme wasn't saying anything, that left Shane, who Nick had been avoiding. The only thing Jayme confirmed to me was that he was pissed off at Nick.

"Yeah, you kissed me like three times. First you kissed me after you saw something that I think pissed you off, and then you kissed me again for good measure. Then later I saw you arguing with some guy before you came back to sit with me, and then proceeding to kiss me," Shane explained.

Nick looked dazed.

"The guy he argued with, did he have dark hair and blue eyes?" blossom asked.

"No actually. He had light hair and I couldn't see his eyes from where I was. There was a guy with black hair who was watching Nick from a distance though," Shane replied.

"Do you remember any of this?" I asked Nick.

He shook his head. "It's all fuzzy if we're being honest."

"So the kisses meant nothing?" Shane asked, sounding undoubtedly hurt.

"I'm sorry," Nick said genuinely.

"That's fine. I won't stop fighting for you though," Shane said before walking away.

"Uh guys, what school was Shane accepted into?" Nick asked us.

Blossom and I looked to each other warily. "MIT."

"Oh great! He's going to be close to me," Nick said with an eye roll.

"He looks pretty determined to get you," I noted.

"I honestly don't have time for him. I'm trying to figure out who I was possibly arguing with if it wasn't Jayme," Nick said.

"If you argued with someone, then there has to be someone who saw you. That much has to at least have happened," blossom said.

"We'll ask the guys when we get to Eli's house," I suggested.

Nick nodded. "I guess I'll see you guys there. Have you heard from Jayme yet?"

"He reported that he'd made it to HQ, but that's it," I lied.

"Ok! I'll see you guys," he said before walking to his car.

I opened the passenger door and let blossom in before getting in on my side. "What did Jayme really say?"

"Things aren't looking good with Nadia. The poison has taken a turn in her system, so they're trying to drain it out somehow. I asked him about what happened with Nick, and he wouldn't say anything. He just told me that he's pissed off at Nick and at himself for letting himself get trapped in his feelings. Blossom, I don't think kissing Shane in front of Jayme is the only thing Nick did at the party," I told her as we drove to a place I was taking her to.

"As I was listening to Shane, I was thinking the same thing, and if we're on the same page, then we both know it has something to do with the guy with the light hair that Nick argued with," she said what I was thinking.

"We need to get our hands on any surveillance that we can from the arcade. I have a suspicion of who the guy might've been, but what I'm trying to connect, is Nick in the whole situation," I replied.

"Who do you think it is?" she asked.

I knew that Jayme had already opened up to her about his life before Cypher and how Franco found him. "Back before Franco found Jayme, he had an apprentice by the name of Izsak. Izsak was a smart kid, and of course before Jayme, everyone believed he was the next Franco. Franco found Jayme and brought him to Cypher, which didn't bother Izsak at the time, until Jayme showed an interest in his father's work. Franco had obviously been looking for this window of opportunity to bond with his son, but that meant less time for Izsak. It took all of two years before Izsak finally snapped. He shot Jayme twice before escaping. He joined Genesis for a while, but I heard he left them too. He's been off the grid since."

"The two scars on Jayme's chest..." she trailed off.

I nodded. "Those are bullet wounds. He almost didn't make it, and he honestly wouldn't have if it wasn't for Franco. There's no parent I know who loves their child the way Franco loves Jayme. After the shooting, they grew considerably closer, until Franco left Cypher. However, I know that they still communicate."

"I thought Cypher's been looking for Franco this whole time. If you knew there was a way to get him, why not say anything?" she asked curiously.

"Blossom, Franco's a good man, despite his flaws and stupid mistakes. It's my fault that he left to begin with, but I knew I couldn't do that to Jayme. I'm pretty sure you've noticed it too, but Jayme isn't exactly the strongest person on the inside. He's very good at hiding that fact though, but I trust that you see right through him. His connection with his father is probably one of the only things that's keeping him together. With Franco locked up and unable to communicate with Jayme, we may as well lose our friend forever," I explained.

"Ok, good point. Do you think that's why he's so pissed off at Nick? Do you think, if Nick was actually talking to Izsak, that Jayme thinks it was the ultimate betrayal on Nick's part?" she asked.

"It's a possibility, but we can't know for sure. We need to find out if it was really Izsak first, and if it was, we need to get Nick to remember what it is they argued about, and how Nick knows Izsak to begin with," I responded.

She laughed a little. "Will it ever end?"

"I may not know a lot of things, but I can guarantee that we will get our happy ending if it's the last thing we do," I told her before kissing her hand.

I know we will both fight for it.

"Why are we here?" she asked once I parked the car.

"Because we haven't left the car," I joked.

She glared at me. "Continue, I dare you."

"I'm kidding! As you can see, we're outside of the amusement park. To be honest, I'm out of ideas at the moment, but I also figured that we should do something normal for once, so I thought why not the amusement park? We can go on a couple of rides, get some candy floss and I can win you a cute teddy bear that I will eventually hate for hogging your attention," I told her.

She laughed, shaking her head. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"Eternity into The Adventures of Bond and Blossom," was my smart ass reply.

"We should totally trademark that," she said with a laugh before leaning in to kiss me.

I went around to let her out of the car before we headed inside the park. It was surprisingly not that full, which I was somewhat grateful for. I just wanted to have a fun filled afternoon with my fiancée and hope that fate didn't have other plans for us.

It didn't matter to me that I was currently dressed in a well fitted black suit and black shirt with no tie, while she looked stunning in a little black dress with gold accessories. We were just two people who came to forget about their problems for a while.

"Aren't we going to be super late for Eli's house?" she asked as we headed to the game booths.

"Does it look like any of us care?" I asked with a smirk.

"Touché! Besides, we'll play the newly engaged couple card," she said.

I chuckled. "That's not a thing, but sure."

I ended up winning her not one, but six teddy bears. What? I love my number. Besides, it's not like she wasn't happy, and like I always say, her happiness comes first. Ok, so maybe it's safety, but you get what I'm saying.

"SO. MUCH. SUGAR!"

"Perhaps it's time to go now," I said as I watched her eat her fifth blueberry flavoured something. I was failing to keep up between the four pieces of candy floss, seven chocolate bars, and other things I couldn't name.

Yeah, someone loves their candy.

"WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO LEAVE? DID YOU KNOW THAT NEW YORK IS THE CAPITAL STATE OF PARIS? YEAH, BUT IT'S A BIG SECRET. THE GOVERNMENT IS HIDING ALIENS FROM US. I WANT TO GET MARRIED IN A PURPLE DRESS. WE SHOULD TOTALLY ADOPT SOME PENGUINS. NAYME IS TOTALLY CUTE! I WONDER WHEN SPARKLES IS GOING TO HAVE LITTLE PUPPIES. WE'RE GETTING MARRIED EVERYBODY!!!"

And I thought she was a fantastic drunk.

I got up and threw her over my shoulder, despite the risk of her throwing up on me. "We're leaving now."

"Is she right?" an older lady asked me. She was sitting with a group of other adults as they watched on amusedly.

"New York is not the capital state of Paris," I replied as I got blossom's teddy bears together.

They laughed as the woman shook her head. "I meant about you guys getting married. We're wondering about the ring on her finger."

"Oh! Yes, we are engaged," I confirmed.

"It looks like you guys have quite the adventure ahead of you," one of the men commented while blossom babbled on about the blue whales and the cotton candy dancing about her vision.

"Oh, you have no idea," I replied.

"Well, we can definitely see that you love her a lot, so congratulations and good luck," they said.

"Thank you," I responded before getting blossom back to the car.

I had to activate the second seatbelt on the passenger seat so that I could strap her down and keep her from touching buttons. I was driving the Maserati, and quite frankly, I couldn't have her killing us in her state.

When we got to Eli's house, it was already getting dark out. I had driven around, hoping that blossom would come down from her high, but no such luck. Instead, she was just going on and on about irrelevant things.

Another thing that was secretly pissing me off.

I mean here she was, having verbal diarrhoea, but not revealing anything worthy. We still haven't gotten around to talking about her shady behaviour, and I was hopeful that she would slip up and tell me something, but no such luck.

"I'm here, and I brought the water and the gum. I also brought the bucket, though I don't understand why you need one to begin with," Nick told me. I'd just parked the car and texted him to come outside and to bring a bucket, some gum and a bottle of water.

"This is why," I told him before opening the passenger door.

"What is wrong with her?" he asked as we listened to her trying to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star backwards.

"Sugar," was my only response.

He rolled his eyes. "And she wonders why we keep it away from her. So what's the plan?"

"Grab her arms," I instructed.

"Ok, but I still don't get what we're doing," he replied as I grabbed her legs.

"We're going to swing the sugar out of her," I hinted.

"Huh?" he said, clearly not getting it.

"We're going to make her sick, so that she throws up," I elaborated.

"Why couldn't you have just said that?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me for thinking you were smarter," I taunted as we swung her.

At first, she was having the time of her life. She was squealing and giggling, until the dizziness settled in. We watched as she slowly but surely stopped being giddy and instead looked sick. That's when I let go of her legs and Nick caught her while I grabbed the bucket. I made it to her just as she hunched over to hurl.

"I hope you learnt your lesson young man," Nick told me mockingly as I held blossom's hair.

That's the second time I've had to do this in my life.

"You can very well trust that I have. I had no idea she reacts like this to sugar," I admitted.

"Trust me, you're not the only one to find out the hard way. She can control herself, but it also depends on the environment. Where were you guys?" he asked.

"The amusement park," I murmured.

Understanding dawned on him. "AKA Sugar Heaven."

"She went nuts. The only other time I've ever seen her this crazy was last week when she killed some guys," I said vaguely.

"Because this is you and my sister we're talking about here, I'm just going to pretend that you guys killing is a normal thing and not freak out like a part of me is doing right now. Instead, I'm just going to kindly advise that you keep her away from anything sugary for a while," he responded.

"Got it," I said with a nod before blossom groaned.

"I hate sugar," she whined.

"Sure you do," Nick told her, earning himself a glare.

"I'm just saying that you should've known better," he told her.

"There was so much of it, even candy I hadn't seen in years. I had to have it," she said briefly before continuing her hurling.

We stayed outside with her until she stopped throwing up. We gave her a bottle of water, before Nick gave her the gum. He went back inside, leaving us outside. I suggested we sit in the car for a while. We sat in silence for the longest time.

"I'm sorry," she finally said.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," I replied.

"I'm not apologizing for tonight and you know it," she said lowly.

"Who were you making international calls to? Who did you call in Cuba, Shanghai and Barcelona?" I dared to ask.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you clearly had Jayme hack into my phone for the sake of trust. I called Franco when he was in Shanghai, and then he was in Barcelona. He had me call an associate of his in Cuba," she replied.

"What exactly is your relationship with Franco like? What is the extent?" I asked.

"He's just helping me," she said.

"And how long ago did you go from him trying to kill you, to him helping you?" I continued.

"Since you went to Germany," she responded.

I frowned. "Did you lie to me at any point about anything he said you should tell me?"

"If you're asking whether or not he told me false information to tell you, then I wouldn't know. My trust in him goes as far as where I'm concerned. I may be joining your world, but I know nothing about it. I wouldn't know if he lied to you or not," she said.

"And what about Frankie? How do you know him?" I asked.

"I obviously met him through his brother. He's also on board with helping," she replied.

"What exactly is this that they're helping you with?" I continued.

"They're helping me with-"

"Guys, you're being requested inside," Nick said, having opened the passenger door.

"We're coming," blossom told him with a smile I'm pretty sure that even he read through.

"We need to have a serious talk about a lot of things blossom," I told her once Nick was gone.

"And we will, at a suitable time. Right now isn't it, and I highly doubt we will get it anytime soon with everything that's going on," she said what I unfortunately knew was true.

"I know, but we do need to talk, whenever that is," I said.

"I promise we will."

We left the car and headed inside, where lo and behold, they were taking more photos. I mean, how many photos could they possibly want to remember this day by? I'm pretty sure it's reached a point where the pictures even start to look the same.

"Where did the two of you go?" Bridgette asked us once the parents gave us a break. We were chilling together in the basement, while they stayed upstairs.

Blossom beamed. "The amusement park."

"By the look on you face, I'm going to guess you had a horrible time," Cash teased.

"Whatever! It was nice spending time with my fiancé," blossom defended.

"Ah yes! Have you guys gotten used to saying that out loud yet?" Wes asked.

"Not even close. I can barely get used to thinking it, let alone saying it out loud," I replied.

"You guys are seriously the cutest, disgusting, interesting and complicated couple I've ever had the pleasure of knowing," Sunny commented, making everyone else laugh in agreement.

"If there ever was a statement truer..." Nick trailed off as everyone's laughs died down.

Sunny had an evil gleam in her eyes as she turned to face Nick. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"Jayme isn't my boyfriend," Nick said with an eye roll.

"No one said he was," Cash jumped onto his girlfriend's evil trail of thought.

Which made me realize something.

"You guys lied," I told them.

"It's not that we lied. We just wanted Nick to remember everything by himself," Eli said.

"Except he didn't. We need you guys to tell us what happened at the party," blossom told them.

"Why does this sound like it's no longer just about Nick?" Felix asked.

"Because it's not just about him. Jayme's pissed off about something, and we need to figure out if we're on the right track here. Shane mentioned that Nick fought with someone last night. Can any of you remember what the guy looked like?" I asked.

"I can do you one even better. I took a photo of the guy," Sunny said, taking out her phone.

"Do I even want to know why?" Cash asked her.

"Melody wanted it because she thinks he's hot," she defended. Melody is the girls' cheerleading team mate.

"Is it him?" blossom asked me, to which I nodded.

"Who?" Nigel asked.

"Nick, do you know who this is?" I asked as I showed him the picture.                                

"That's Zak. He's a guy I met at the mall a couple of weeks back. What was he doing at the arcade though?" he asked.

"Isn't that Iszak?" Malachi asked when he saw the picture.

"How many times have you spoken to him?" blossom asked her brother, simultaneously ignoring Malachi.

"Twice; when we met and when he called me a couple of days ago. At first I was flattered, but then he asked me to get close to Jayme and find out what he knows about something called Sigma," he replied.

"Sigma?" blossom and I said simultaneously.

I could see the curiosity on my best friends' faces.

"Yeah! I think I remember bits and pieces of our argument. He told me that things weren't looking good for Jayme for as long as I don't cooperate. What is he talking about?" he asked me.

"We don't know what Sigma is, but I asked Jayme to look into Phoenix after his father told me to find out what it is. He found a couple of things, and Sigma also popped up in there, but according to Franco, it's nothing solid," blossom instead replied.

Well that I didn't know.

"The guy Zak, is actually Izsak, Jayme's enemy if you may. We believe that besides your boyfriend issues, seeing you with Izsak added onto reasons to be pissed off at you," I added.

"So Jayme's life is possibly in danger?" he asked unsurely.

"You sound worried," Felix teased.

"I think we all know how I feel about Jayme by now, so yes, I'm worried," Nick snapped.

"We'll figure it out, I promise. Nothing is going to happen to him," blossom assured her brother.

I was one hundred percent in agreement.

Attention was diverted away from the topic as we spoke about all the things that we would get around to doing in St Barts. Blossom and I had looked at a way to make sure that we spend enough time with our friends, while also not deviating from the mission.

We called it a night in the early hours of the morning (the irony), agreeing to meet at the airport a few hours later. Blossom came back with me to my place since she's pretty much moved in. I think at this point in time, no one really cares where she stays.

Hours later, we were boarding the jet. The ride to St Barts was a relatively fun one. For the first time in a long time, we forgot about the looming danger and just enjoyed our time with our friends. We almost didn't want to get off of the jet once we'd landed.

"Is Jayme going to be joining us?" Aziel asked as we packed our bags in the SUVs. We were heading to the hotel.

"He's already here. He left last night so that he could set up," blossom informed. He had called us on his way to the airport.

"Should I bother talking to him?" Nick asked me lowly enough for blossom and I to hear.

"I'm going to go with no. I don't know how to approach a situation like this because he's rarely pissed off. However, that's not to say that he won't come to you," I replied.

"How do you know he'll go to him?" blossom asked me.

"Jayme doesn't stay quiet for long when he's angry," I said.

I would know since I've been on the receiving end of his anger, twice.

We headed to the hotel in the three SUVs and it was a short journey since the hotel is only fifteen minutes away from the airport. When we arrived, I went and checked everyone in before we were assigned rooms. I handed out room keys before we split and headed to our rooms.

Blossom and I were met by a surprise in our room.

"How long did you think you could hide from us?" Tee asked.

"What are you doing here?" I asked them.

"Well, Margaux was quite pissed to find out that you went behind our backs to retrieve Two, so she had you spied on. She knows all about your little mission here, and she told us to come on board and make sure that you succeed," Gee explained.

"I'm pretty sure we're fine without you, but if you must," blossom said on our behalf.

She just gets me.

"And what exactly is it that you're helping with?" I asked curiously.

"Whatever it is you're here for," Tee replied.

"You don't know why we're here," blossom said what I'd just realized.

"And I'm pretty sure Margaux didn't send you," I added.

From the way they shuffled, I knew we had them.

"So we don't have anything concrete on you, but my sister let it slip that you guys were planning on taking the BNK down. After what you did to us with Two, we want in," Zee explained.

"Two is my team mate. We did nothing to you except make her the priority she deserved to be. She was on the verge of death when we found her, and had we waited for you, she may not have been lucky to be alive. On that note, excuse us if we don't feel that we owe you anything in particular," I told them just as Jayme rushed into the room.

"Elle, I need your help," he said, looking frantic.

"What's going on?" blossom asked him.

"It's Nick. He's been shot."