Watching Daniel play by the shore with his niece, alongside with the guys, was heart-warming. How he picked her up and twirled her around, whilst she screamed and laughed, it was adorable.

It had been a total of six months since he won the custody battle. Six months since we all heard from his father. We all carried on with our lives, eager for graduation.

The fact that we will lose contact after graduation breaks my heart. But we all made a pact that we would at least see each other once a month.

But here we are, all of us spending the day together at the beach. We all knew it may be one of the last moments we will all be together, before we each must go and start university. Mason and Gigi had talked since the beginning of their relationship, about how their lives would be after graduation. Luckily, they both wanted to study in the same state, making the distance easier for them.

Although Jack and Lori had a few issues about where they wanted to study, both decided to give a long-distance relationship a try. At first, they were not too happy with the idea, but after talking to the rest of the group, asking for advice, the couple decided to give it a shot.

Chelsea and Stephanie planned to move out of the state and move to New York, both wanting to pursue artistic careers in fashion. Alex had saved a lot of money to rent a van, and travel around the coast. Since January, he talked about taking a gap year and travel around the world, promising to send us pictures of the locations we would visit. WE all knew that this gap year was going to benefit him as he was the only person who was still unsure about what career he wanted to pursue, but he knew that we were all going to support him no matter what. Daniel knew all along that he wanted to study biology. Being his strongest subject, he was passionate about it and wanted to study marine biology.

I on the other hand, am still doubting on what I want to study in university, but what I do know, is that I want to follow my mother's footsteps. Last week I celebrated 18 months of sobriety with Daniel and Oliver who stood by my side every step of the way. Being with them and celebrating one of my biggest accomplishments, made me realise that helping others, especially those of coming of age, could be something I wanted to do. That is why I wanted to pursue education, specifically for those with special needs.

A lot has happened during the last few months and not only with my graduation and this new chapter in our lives. Three months ago, my father somehow managed to reach out to me. Turns out, Mateo was arrested for sexually assaulting multiple women as well as saving child pornography in his computer. Because he just turned 18, the chances of him rotting in jail were exceedingly high as most of his victims took a step forward and took a stand in the trial. Laura, his mother, took most of his money and ran away, as she did not want to be related to the whole mess, leaving my father to deal with the whole mess. His company was failing, and he had no one. A part of me wishes to feel some sort of sympathy for him, but after years of mental abuse from all sides, I simply ignored my father's calls and texts. He was no longer part of me.

Daniel stood by my side the whole time. He would sometimes grab my phone and answer the call, telling my father to never contact me again. The whole custody fiasco brought us even closer; so close that we both decided to study at the same university here in North Carolina. Even though we were 18, we had already discussed our future. We talked about living together, with Belly, getting married and the subject of kids was even brought up. However, that was a sore subject for me; about a month ago, the doctor sat me down and gave me the worst news a woman could hear. The chances of me getting pregnant were extremely slim because of my previous drug addiction. I could try and I could end up being pregnant, but I was very unlikely to give birth to a healthy baby. When I heard the news, I cried. I knew that Daniel wanted to start a family and I wanted it too. The moment we left the consult, he hugged me and told me that everything was going to be okay; he told me about all the other possibilities such as surrogacy and adoption and that I should not give up. At that moment, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

"Hey!" Daniel spoke out, bringing me back to reality as he ran back to us, leaving Belly, who was being twirled up and about by Alex. "What are you guys doing there sitting? Get in the shore!"

"I need to get tanned for New York!" Chelsea argued as she splattered her pale skin with more suncream.

"I just can't be bothered to move," Gigi mumbled

"Come on guys!" Belly giggled. "Get in!"

"Dude you can do that for the rest of the summer," Stephanie argued. "Get your asses up and get in the water!"

Chelsea and Gigi grunted and remained still, and Stephanie and I looked at each other and decided to move. And by moving, I mean Chelsea and I dragging Stephanie and Gigi to the shore, as the guys were laughing as they watched the whole scene from the water.

And here we are, all of us at the beach in the early evening.

I knew our lives would not be the same after high school. However, I knew that these people had helped me move on from my past, in their own individual way. And right now, I wish I could freeze time. So innocent but sweet at the same time. Sure, we all went through the hardest times, I know I did. But at the end of the day, you realise how lucky you are to be surrounded by a family. A family that loves you and your scars no matter what.

"What are you thinking about?" Daniel asked as he snaked his arms around my waist, his chest pressed against my back.

I turned around as stared at his beautiful face. He lowered his head to kiss me, making me smile as I felt my heart flutter. "I'm just happy," I sighed with contentment. "I'm just so happy".

That is when you realise what life is about.

"It's too cold,

It's too cold

The holes of my sweater"

This is the start of the bonus chapters and im not going to lie, i am very excited heheheheh.

I hope you're all having an amazing start of the summer so far. Don't for get to vote, comment and share this story with others!!

I love you all ❤️