^^^SHE'S GORGEOUS!!! ❤️

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR GETTING S.I.X TO A MILLION!!! 🙌🏾💃🏼😘

***

"This is your last assignment for this class, so pick your partners well," Mrs Parks announced before returning to her desk.

"Hmm, I wonder who I'm going to pick to be my partner," blossom said, tapping her finger on her chin.

I got up from my chair. "There's Denise. She'll make a great partner."

"Xander," blossom said lowly in warning.

"I'm kidding blossom. You're my partner in everything. I'm just going to get the instruction package," I said before leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"You'd better be kidding," I heard her mumble, making me laugh to myself as I headed to get the package.

"Six, I'm surprised to see you in class. I don't think I've ever seen this much of you in class before," Mrs Parks commented. She's one of the few people that are not afraid to actually talk to me in this place, and the only teacher I actually like.

I shrugged. "I had nothing better to do with my time."

"Glad to see you have such a high level of enthusiasm for learning," she said amusedly.

"No offence Mrs Parks, but I know that textbook like the back of my hand. I'm guaranteed to get an A for this class, and every other class I'm enrolled in actually. I don't need to be taught anything, so I don't need to be here," I replied.

She looked behind me. "She must be something special."

I followed her line of vision to find that she was looking at blossom, who was laughing with Sunny. She looked so immaculate then since the sunlight from outside caught her perfectly, making her look like the angel she is.

"She's everything," I found myself responding. At that very moment, blossom turned to face us, and she smiled when she saw us both looking her way.

"Well, as a teacher, and your teacher particularly, I can only say that I'm happy that you're doing well in your life," Mrs Parks said as I turned back to face her.

"Every teacher's dream," I commented, making her smile.

I took the package and went back to sit down. Since we'd come back from the island, and before I left for Germany, blossom had made it a point to sit next to me in all our classes. Because people are so afraid of me, I'd always sat alone.

I won't lie and say it doesn't feel good to sit with her. Having her that close to me just brings me a sense of comfort and peace. After the past couple of weeks we've had, having even that small moment of peace is everything.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, bringing me out of thought.

"Just about how peaceful everything has been the past two weeks," I replied.

And that wasn't a lie.

Our bruises were gone and she was back home, sleeping over at my place occasionally. After Margaux heard about the attack by The Dragons, she approved my getting a new place, and the twins set up the surveillance and security systems there.

We haven't experienced anything else, and neither have we received any new information on anything. Of course being in this line of work teaches you to always expect things to change in the blink of an eye, which is why I was letting myself enjoy this peace.

Something tells me it's the calm before the storm.

"Things have been quiet huh?" she asked with a scowl.

"I know what you're thinking, and I want you to stop. We both know that a storm is coming, but can we just enjoy this time before it does?" I sighed.

She reached over to hold my hand, lacing our fingers. "What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing really. I just don't want to worry or stress over anything right now. I just want to be in the moment, doing stupid assignments with my girlfriend and just enjoying the peace," I replied.

She smiled. "I'm pretty sure that can be arranged."

"Good!" I said before pecking her lips.

The assignment was to make a presentation on the topic each pair picked. The presentation could be presented in any form. The important thing about it is that it had to be educational. Mrs Parks has questions on each topic that she will ask the class after each presentation, and then marks will be awarded based on how many of the answers the class gets right from the information they learnt in your presentation.

Easy enough!

"I'm thinking of going to football practice today," I commented as we walked to the cafeteria. I was surprised when I looked to my side to find no one there.

All my friends were stood in shock behind me.

"Did he just...?" Cash asked.

"I think he did," Nick said.

Blossom came to check my temperature. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Is it so wrong that I want to go to practice?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Considering the fact that you've been a student here for almost three years and have never been to a single practice session, we're going to go with yes," Sunny replied.

"Fine then! I won't go if it's such a big deal," I said before turning and continuing my way to the cafeteria.

"It's not that we don't want you to. You're just full of surprises. That's all," blossom said on everyone's behalf.

I shrugged. "I only have three weeks of my high school career left, and one high school football game left. Let me be."

"Well, my dad will definitely have the shock of his life alright," Sunny commented as we all sat down.

"He'll live! Are well all ready for prom?" Nick asked.

Prom was coming up in two days, and it's all anyone is talking about lately. The football game is next weekend, and it's the championship game. It got postponed a few times, but it was finally happening, and I won't lie and say I'm not amped for it.

When you've been robbed of a whole lot things like I have, especially a childhood, you tend to appreciate the smaller things that bring you even the smallest amount of joy, and for me, my football career is exactly that.

After blossom that is.

"Well, we got our dresses weeks ago already, so you should be asking the guys really," Felix said.

"Six hooked us up with our suits already," Eli informed proudly.

Blossom turned to me. "You did?

"You said, and I quote, 'all hell will break loose if the guys don't bring their A game for prom'. Couldn't allow the guys to let the girls down," I said with a smirk.

"Who are you?" Bridgette joked.

Nick chuckled. "Love does crazy things to a person Bridge."

"Speaking of which, did you say yes to Four?" blossom asked Bridgette.

I'd received the green light from Margaux since I basically annoyed her into agreeing to let me let the guys in on everything, and that went smoothly. They weren't all that shocked to learn the truth, and I learnt that Cash had known for over a year and just chose not to tell me.

Anyway, telling the guys everything means they also got to meet Malachi and Mordecai. We all only recently learnt that Malachi is bothered by the fact that Bridgette doesn't seem to be the least bit interested in him. She was put off by his introduction to her, so she's been ignoring him since.

Malachi does not do well with rejection.

And I truly do mean that.

The past Saturday morning saw Bridgette waking up to her bedroom showered with her favourite flowers, from the floor to the ceiling. Hell, the only place that didn't have flowers was her face, and only because Malachi knew that would wake her up for sure.

But then again, he drugged her so that she'd be asleep long enough for him to orchestrate his plan.

It's safe to say that Bridgette was pissed off, and it's safe to add that that did not deter my best friend. He proceeded to shower her with gifts the entire weekend before asking her to let him be her prom date.

"Don't mention that devil child's name in my presence," Bridgette said with narrowed eyes.

"Technically, that's not his name," I commented. I laughed internally when she threw me that glare that entertains me.

It's just too much fun pissing Bridgette off.

It took me being with blossom to realize that I had been a shit person towards Bridgette. She really is one of my closest friends, and she's one of the coolest people I know. I only wish she could see that about herself and actually let in someone who deserves her love.

At this point in time though, I don't know if that person is Malachi. As I mentioned before, he lives for danger, and the only time he entertains the female species is when it is mandatory on a mission. Either than that, he's more into his gadgets than anything.

Which is what is so intriguing about his fascination with Bridgette.

He's only known her for less than a month, but it took my own situation to realize that time doesn't matter, especially to people like us. I knew there was something about blossom from the moment I lay my eyes on her, so maybe it's the same for him with Bridgette.

"Come on Bridge! What have you got to lose? The boy is fine as hell, and he bought you the best of everything you like. What more could you want?" Felix asked her.

"Can everyone just let it go?" Bridgette snapped before she stormed out of the cafeteria.

"Go talk to her," blossom told me.

I scowled. "Me?"

"Last time you sent him to talk to Bridgette, things didn't go so well," Aziel just had to remind.

I'd already told blossom about my relationship with Bridgette. I may not have been the guy she wanted me to be, but I was still her friend I guess. There were times when we actually just sat and talked, granted she did most of the talking.

Bridgette has not had an easy life.

"Things are different this time round, and he knows why I'm saying he should be the one to go," blossom replied.

"I don't think she's going to want to talk to me of all people though," I argued.

"She will, and you know it. You may not have been her boyfriend, but we all know that your cold personality is what allowed her to open up to you without the fear of being judged," Cash replied. We all knew the basics of Bridgette's life, but I guess I'm the only one who knew the full story.

"Are you sure?" I asked blossom.

She leaned in and kissed me softly. "She needs a shoulder to cry on, and I trust you both."

"Alright fine," I sighed.

I got up and left the cafeteria, knowing exactly where I was going to find Bridgette. Again, it took my relationship with blossom to realize that I actually knew more about and paid attention to Bridgette than I'd realized. As I suspected, I found her and she was hunched over, crying.

She sniffed. "Go away Six."

"How did you know it was me?" I asked as I sat next to her.

"You're the only person who I told about this being my secret spot," she replied as she wiped away her tears.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere so you may as well tell me what's wrong," I told her.

"Elle's made you soft," she commented, staring at the roses in front of us.

"She didn't make me soft. She just made me realize what's important. You're my friend Bridge, despite whatever fucked up past we have. You're important," I assured her.

She was quiet for the longest time before she sighed. "I'm not as Elle."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"It means that ever since I found out the truth about you, One, Five, Three and Four, it's made me rethink everything, including being friends with you all," she said.

"I'm lost here," I pointed out.

"I don't know how she does it Six. I don't know how she can be ok with the person she loves willingly leaving her side to face danger in the face," she explained.

And that's when it dawned on me.

I put my arm around her. "Bridge, Malachi isn't your dad."

"That's his name? Malachi?" she asked, to which I nodded.

I could trust her with this, that much I knew.

"It's a nice name, but he's still an asshole. I know he's not my dad, but my dad looked me in the face and promised that he was coming back to me. Do you know how painful it is to have them come to your door with that stupid flag to tell you that you've lost your loved one? He didn't have to go back Six, but he did. He promised me that he was coming back, and now he's gone. I refuse to put myself through that again."

She bawling, and all I could do was hold her. When you've gone through half the shit I've gone through, it's easy to sympathize with situations like this. I may be trained to handle my emotions, but that doesn't render me heartless.

Which is why I completely understood where she was coming from.

I took my arm from around her and waited for her to calm her crying before I said anything else. "I met Malachi when I was nine. He and his brother had just found out that they're parents were agents who had gone rogue. They got tempted by all the money the evil side was offering, except the twins wanted none of it. They barely escaped before the organization found them. Malachi was so angry then, and it he stayed that way until their thirteenth birthday. The organization got him a couple of gadgets, and that's when he found his new obsession. He confuses all of us. He's the most difficult person to read, and that's coming from someone who's been known to read people in seconds. My point here is that I have no idea why the hell Malachi loves facing danger in the eyes the way he does, and it's probably not fair of me to say this, but I was hoping you'd find out."

"Me? Why would he even tell me?" she asked in confusion.

"He's very closed off, and he doesn't even open up to his own brother. He's never shown an interest in a girl before. The only time he entertained females is if it was a requirement on a mission. This is the first time we're seeing him like this, and well, we were hoping that you would be the key to unlocking him," I explained.

"Like Elle, with you," she commented.

I nodded. "Like blossom with me."

"You guys save the world right?" she asked.

"To an extent," I replied.

"Well, I don't want to take him away from that. If facing danger is something he does to play his part in saving the world, I don't want to turn around and be the one to tell him that I don't want him doing that anymore for my own selfish reasons," she argued.

"You have no idea how many times blossom has been mad at me for leaving to go on a mission, but do you want to know what she told me?" I asked, to which she nodded.

"She told me that she has full trust in my love for her, and that it's what will help me stay alive to come back to her. I'm not saying that your dad didn't love you enough to come back to you. What I'm saying is that your dad was a soldier, and there's only so much training that soldiers can get. What we do for a living has a more rigorous training program, which means that we have a much better chance of surviving danger. I know that losing your dad wasn't the easiest thing. I can only try and convince you that you have to make peace with it and hopefully give Malachi a shot," I replied, hoping she understood what I was saying.

"You're asking a lot from me here," she admitted.

"Hold on," I told her before taking out my phone and taking out my phone.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class or something?" Mordecai asked as he answered his phone.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Well, Alac's pretty pissed off with this whole Bridgette rejecting him thing. I have never seen him like this before. We're at the arena," he replied.

Perfect!

"How many?" I asked.

"He's on three, why?" he asked.

"I'm on my way. Taunt him and make sure he reaches his maximum level," I told him.

"Ok, but why?" he further questioned.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes and I'm bringing Bridgette with me," I informed.

"Alright! See you then," he said before I hung up.

I stood up and helped her up. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to get blossom and then the three of us are heading out," I replied.

"We can't just leave. What about the rest of our classes?" she asked, following me out.

"School will still be here even tomorrow Bridge. Besides, I highly doubt you're emotionally stable enough to face anything academic related right now," I pointed out.

"Ok good point, but I still don't feel right about this," she said as we walked back into the cafeteria. It was still lunch, and our friends were laughing at something.

"Blossom, we need to leave," I told her.

She stood up. "Ok, but where are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there," I replied.

I was glad that they both trusted me enough to follow without any questions. Since I was driving my Tesla again, it meant there was space for Bridgette since unlike the Maserati, the Tesla seats five people. Blossom however chose to abandon me to sit with her best friend in the back.

Making me look like a badass chauffeur for them.

"Are you ok?" blossom asked her as I drove us out of the school.

"I'm not, and I have a gut feeling that whatever Six has in store isn't going to make me feel any better about that," Bridgette replied warily.

"You'll see when we get there," I told them both.

From the rearview mirror, I could see blossom comforting her. She'd stopped crying, but I could tell that she was welcoming the show of support from blossom. We arrived at the arena minutes later, and after I put in the password, the titanium door opened. I drove in and switched off the car before the elevator moved us down.

"I will never get used to things like that," I heard blossom comment in awe before the elevator stopped moving.

I got out of the car and let the girls out before asking them to follow me. The various rooms were being used for training, but I was looking for the room the twins were in. When we arrived, the system had just announced an added player.

"He's sitting on six," Mordecai commented.

"What the hell did you say to him? That's the fastest he's ever reached that level," I questioned.

"I told him that now that he failed to win Bridgette over, then I might go for it," he replied.

"I said make him angry, not make him want to kill you," I pointed out.

"Well, it worked. He's imagining my face on all of these things," he replied.

Malachi was currently engaged in a virtual training session. To us, he's in an empty room with weapons, that allows him to navigate through the training, while to him, he's engaged in scenarios that test his thinking and physical capabilities. We could however see what he was seeing through the virtual glasses.

"What is this?" Bridgette asked as we watched the scenario on the screen. Malachi was currently fighting off six highly skilled fighters with a ring of fire surrounding him.

"You know how I told you that our training was rigorous?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Well, we didn't stop training just because we became agents. We train as much as we can, whenever we can. This virtual system puts us in situations that test us, and I know it isn't the real thing, but it does work for the real world. The levels get more dangerous the higher you go. The highest level is level fifteen, and only one person has ever made it there. I myself have only made it to level twelve. Malachi's highest level is eight," I informed.

"You told her his name?" Mordecai asked me.

"She needs to know if she's going to trust him," I replied just as Malachi reached level seven.

Bridgette gasped as Malachi ducked five daggers thrown at him. "Oh my God!"

"It's not real Bridge, remember that. However, also keep in mind that most of the scenarios in this system will most likely never happen because of the ridiculousness of everything they come up with. However, beating those danger levels only means real life becomes that much easier to handle," I explained.

Mordecai and I were shocked when Malachi reached level eight. "That's the fastest he's ever taken to get to this level."

"He looks so angry," blossom commented. It must come as a shock to her to see him like this as well since the two of them are always so playful with each other.

"I want to see if he can beat this level," I said as I approached the intercom system.

"What are you doing?" Mordecai asked me as I clicked the button. Malachi was catching a breather before facing his greatest enemy yet.

"Alac, imagine that you have to beat this level to get to Bridgette," I told him.

"Xander?" he asked in confusion.

I heard blossom giggle behind me. "Well there goes your identity."

"Elliephant?" Malachi said.

"Focus Alac! Pretend that beating this level gets you to Bridgette. Is she worth it?" I asked.

And that's all it took.

Mordecai and I watched in disbelief as Malachi not only defeated the level, but broke the record for the fastest time taken to complete a level, let alone two. His maximum level was now sitting at level ten.

"What the hell just happened?" Mordecai asked me.

"Why do you guys look so shocked?" blossom asked me.

"That's never been done before. He beat the level in the fastest time ever recorded in the twenty years that this system has been running," I explained.

"I get it now," Bridgette said so lowly that I almost didn't hear her.

"What do you get?" blossom asked her.

"Six, or Xander rather, told me that you believe in his love for you to keep him alive because he fights to come back to you. I know I just met Malachi, but after what I've just seen, it's clear that he likes me. I'm willing to give it a shot if that's what he wants," she explained.

"It is."

We turned to find Malachi standing at the doorway of the operations room. I could see some curious faces behind him. They probably wanted to know more about the record that had just been broken by him. He was dripping with sweat, and he was shirtless.

I could only cover my girlfriend's eyes.

She laughed, smacking my hands. "Get your hands away from me you insecure freak."

"I'm not insecure. I'm just avoiding you getting scarred," I justified with an innocent smile.

Or bullshitted rather; whatever tickles you fancy I guess.

"There's nothing scarring about Alac's abs you dweeb," she told me. He cleared his throat, bringing us back to reality.

"Hi," Bridgette said to him, suddenly shy. It was a definite change from the sassy girl poor Malachi has been dealing with.

He sent her a small smile. "Hi."

They stood for the longest while, just staring at each other.

"How about Alac takes Bridge on a tour?" blossom took over in suggestion.

"I need to shower first," Malachi pointed out.

"I'll wait," Bridgette told him, which made him light up like I've never seen before.

"Give me fifteen minutes," he said before heading out for the showers.

"What's with you guys and taking fifteen minutes to shower?" blossom asked me.

I shrugged. "Training."

"Mordecai," Mordecai told Bridgette.

"Is that your name?" she asked him.

He nodded. "I have never seen my brother like this before, and I won't be that sibling that threatens you. Just promise me that if he opens up to you, you'll cherish that. The fact that I'm his twin and I don't know much about him goes to show just how closed off he is. Just please promise me you'll take care of him."

She looked undecided for a split second before giving him a small smile. "I promise I'll try."

"Thank you," Mordecai said before walking out.

"Thank you," she turned to me.

"You should really thank blossom. She made me come after you," I pointed out.

"Thank you Elle. You're the greatest friend I could've ever asked for," she said, hugging my girlfriend.

"You're most welcome. You're my best friend. However, while I've come to terms with the past, which one of you lovelies is going to be the one to tell Alac the fun story that you two screwed?" blossom asked us.

"You are," both Bridgette and I said without hesitation.

"Yall must be out of your damn minds!"