Adriana P.O.V.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the graduating class on San Diego High School 2015!"

When Mr. Harvard yelled those concluding words into the microphone the air was suddenly filled with graduation caps. I turned to Madison with tears racing down my cheeks with a splitting grin plastered to my face. Madison ran over and hugged my tightly, tears of her own starting to fall.

"We made it, Adriana. We survived."

I laughed and pulled away, giving her knuckles,

"No more Mr. Martin!"

She yelled back,

"No more fake sluts!"

Then we both paused and yelled in sync,

"NO MORE CAFETERIA LUNCHES!"

We laughed when Reece came over, slinging his arm over Madison's shoulders,

"Thank God for no more cafeteria lunches babe."

She giggled and blushed slightly with embarrassment. Reece chuckled and placed a soft kiss on her lips, which made me awkward and turned away. I started to look for Jake.

Zero ran up to me and threw his cap at me,

"Hey there graduate!"

I laughed and threw his cap back. He scooped me up into a hug and whispered,

"I knew you could do it."

Suddenly, I was dragged out of Zero's embrace and I smacked into a hard chest.

"Only I get to hug you, Bookworm."

I twisted and smacked Jake's chest,

"Dude, that's my brother, what the hell?"

Behind me Zero chuckled,

"I dunno Jake, my sista is pretty bangable. I'm considering incest."

Jake pouted and pressed a kiss to my lips while looking Zero in the eye the whole time. Males, what can you do?

Crystal ran up to us, hugging Zero first then giving me a tight hug of my own. Just as she opened her mouth to say something a loud deep voiced boomed behind me,

"ADRIANA!"

Mr. Collins ran towards me in a outfit that looked like a knight. When he saw me frown at it in confusion he frowned and announced dramatically, lifting one hand high in the air,

"I am Lancelot, knight of the Round Table!"

Mrs. Collins placed a hand on his shoulders,

"Honey, please just shut up."

Mr. Collins pouted and lowered his hand, looking meek and embarrassed, like a reprimanded puppy. Rosaline handed me stuffed bear with a graduation cap and cheered,

"Congradulation!"

I smiled and kissed her cheek,

"It's congratulations and thank you."

Mrs. Collins gave me a slight smile,

"You deserve to go to college. What do you want to do?"

"A lawyer."

I answered without hesitation. Mom had been a lawyer, she would be proud if I was one too. Besides, I may not have been Valedictorian but I wasn't stupid. I was smart enough to be anything I really wanted to.

She gave me a blinding happy smile,

"That's wonderful. It makes me very happy to give you this then."

She pulled an envelope out of her handbag and handed it to me. Then she pulled out another envelope and gave it to Jake. We glanced at each other and I whispered,

"Open it together?"

He nodded and counted down to three.

"One...two...three...GO!"

We ripped open the envelope and found a folded single piece of paper. I pulled it out and nearly fainted. My hands trembled and tears raced down my cheeks. Jake was in a similar state, minus the tears of course. I choked out,

"How...?"

Mrs. Collins just waved her hand,

"You seem to forget that I am the richest woman in the United States. I took it upon myself to enroll you. You don't have to go of course but the offer is there. Go ahead dear, read it."

Madison, Zero, and Reece had all come over and were waiting for me to speak. I swallowed and tried to read in a clear confident voice,

"Congratulations Miss Adriana Layman, you have been accepted into the prestigious school of...Yale University."

Everyone gasped and Madison squealed in joy,

"Oh my God Adriana that is your dream school!"

Jake whispered after me,

"Congratulations Mr. Jacob Collins, you have been accepted into the prestigious school of Yale University."

I stared at him, my brain not clearly translating anything I was hearing. I turned to Mrs. Collins,

"This is too much... I couldn't possibly accept this... you've already done so much for me that I can-"

Mrs. Collins cut me off coldly,

"Miss Adriana, when your father called me six months ago, he asked me to take care of you. When I accepted that roll, I undertook taking care of everything for you. College is part of taking care of you. And no one under my care is going to have anything but the best. And no offense, the tuition is what I make in about one day of work, so it's really nothing to me. Please accept."

My body thought before my mind did and the next thing I knew I was bawling and throwing myself at Mrs. Collins, engulfing her in a hug.

"Oh my god thank you so much! You will not regret this! I will work so hard and be in the top of the class and make you proud!"

"Hey I'm gonna be in your class too what makes you think you can beat me?!"

Jake piped up in annoyance and I untangled myself from Mrs. Collins, smirking at him,

"Because I am a girl and I'm smarter than you."

"You sexist ass of a girlfriend!"

He started to chase me and I laughed, weaving in and out of parents hugging their children as I tried to escape. It didn't matter that my parents weren't here today, I had a family of my own now. And that was something pretty special to me.

~~~~~

I was sitting in my room later that night, ironing my gown and cap before putting them away. Madison had dragged me out to party for hours till she dropped, drunk out of her mind.

Reece had driven me home and it was now nearly one in the morning. I yawned and changed into my pajamas, which consisted of one of Jake's t-shirts and short sleeping shorts. I had just slipped into my bed, ready to turn the light out when there was a loud pounding on my door.

I buried my face in my pillow and groaned. The last thing I wanted to do was get up.

My door opened and I heard feet walking towards me but I was too lazy to raise my head. The bed lurched as the person sat down. A familiar scent wrapped around me and I groaned,

"Jake please let me go to bed."

He chuckled and started to tickle me,

"Why go to bed at the beginning of a new day?!"

I screamed and felt my face flush as I tried to escape from him,

"Fine fine just let me go!"

He took his hands away and I raised my head out of my pillow and he gave me a big boyish grin. I rolled my eyes and sat up,

"What the hell do you want?"

He looked offended and placed a hand over his heart,

"Is that how you greet the lover of your dreams?"

I scoffed,

"You wish."

He kissed my forehead,

"I do wish, love. Now common, put on some clothes and meet me out front. Oh, and pull your hair back."

He left the room after giving me a quick kiss on the lips. How long would it take for me not to blush at the slightest sign of affection?

I rolled out of bed and walked to my mirror in my closet. My cheeks were a deep red. I sighed and started to pull on a sweater with a heart on it. It would obviously take me a while to stop my heart from leaping around him.

~~~~~~~~~

How I found myself speeding down a highway in the middle of the night on a motorcycle, I cant really remember. All I know is that for some wacky reason I am.

I rested my head on the leather jacket clothing his back and sighed. The stars were beautiful this time of night, or should I say morning. My ponytail had come undone after a while and my hair now flew wildly behind me, probably getting tangled beyond belief.

Finally Jake pulled off the highway and went down a little off road. I yelled over the breeze,

"Where are we going?"

He replied,

"Its a surprise!"

I sighed. For a bad boy, he was such an immature dork sometimes.

We drove in silence for a few minutes then I saw a large building in the distance with a large garden full of trees in the back. I blinked in surprise. It was where Mrs. Collins had thrown that dinner party. It was also the place Tirana had told me she was engaged to Jake.

Overall, there were no positive memories of the place.

Jake parked outside the main entrance way and turned the bike off. He helped me off and started to pull me in the building.

"Is it ok we are in here?"

Jake chuckled,

"Of course it is. I own the place."

Damn rich guy.

We reached a door that I vaguely remember leading to the garden. Jake entwined his fingers with mine and pushed open the door.

My first thought was wow.

The dark garden I remember was now lite up with hanging candles. Rose petals littered the grass. I know it was cheesy and cliché but when it happens to you in real life, it's beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes and I turned to Jake and chocked out,

"You did this for me?"

He blushed slightly and nodded sheepishly, tightening his grip on my hand.

We walked aimlessly for a while till we ended by the swing in the willow.

Then he began to talk,

"You know, that night had not really ended like it was supposed to. If I can, I want to go back in time and have a redo."

He pulled out a black rose with gold streaks and handed it to me. I frowned in confusion. Why a black rose?

He kissed our entwined hands and explained,

"I was originally going to give you a red rose but this explains how much you mean to me so much better."

He pointed to the black,

"This is me. Before I met you I was so black and ugly. I thought nothing was worth my time. But then a little bit of gold came into my life. You made me understand beauty and taught me to love myself a-a-along with y-you."

He fumbled slightly over his words which made me smile. He was nervous.

He straightened up and stared me in the eye, which was quite a feat considering I was nearly a foot shorter than him.

"I love you Adriana. I know this is late. But Ri, will you do me the great privilege of being my girlfriend?"

My heart swelled with love as I stared at the man humbling himself before me and baring himself to me.

Tears stung my eyes as I flung myself at him, dropping the rose on the ground. I hugged him tightly with my face buried in the crook of his neck as I whispered,

"I love you too. Of course I will be your girlfriend."

I pulled back and saw a large smile break out on his face. He pressed his lips to mine hard, singing with passion and happiness. I kissed him back and let him lower me onto the grass, kissing me all the while.

I ruined the moment by yelping in pain.

Jake frowned and pulled out the squashed rose. He pouted and showed it to me,

"This is what you do to the symbol of my love?"

I giggled and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down to me,

"I know I know, I'm such a mess."

He rested his forehead against mine and whispered,

"Your my mess."

I laughed and kissed the tip of his nose,

"Well wasn't that charming? Thats not exactly what the guy usually says there."

He smiled at me,

"Thats what I say to my girl. And plus you called yourself a mess first and I cant really argue with that."

I slapped him teasingly,

"Don't be mean! You're supposed to tell me I'm perfect."

He made an o shape with his mouth.

"Well you're a perfect mess. Hows that?"

I rolled my eyes,

"Better."

His eyes crinkled with amusement and he smirked at me. I silently stared up at him and traced his smile with my finger tips. His eyes darkened slightly as he stared at me as well.

I broke our staring contest by whispering,

"You blinked I won."

He laughed and gave me a quick kiss,

"Thats what you say after you touch my lips like that and give me that sexy look?"

I blushed,

"Sorry my brain tends to shut off in these situations?"

He smirked and leaned forward and whispered in my ear,

"Does that mean I'm making you aroused?"

I screamed and tried to wiggle away from him,

"No! Let me go you pervert! Who says that?!"

He grabbed me and dragged me back,

"I'm never letting you go. Common there is no reason to be embarrassed I'm a good looking guy!"

"I feel like being your girlfriend is going to kill me before I'm twenty."

He smirked again,

"Trust me, killing you is not on my agenda."

I rolled my eyes,

"Wow thats a surprise. Thank you for that, Jacob."

He furrowed his eyebrows and whined,

"Don't call me Jacob, you sound like my mother."

I sighed and wrapped my arms around him,

"Jacob, I really don't deserve you."

He whispered back,

"I'm going to overlook the fact you just called me Jacob. And you do deserve me, you deserve someone amazing."

Wow isn't he humble?

I kissed his cheek and smiled at him,

"You are amazing. I'm so lucky you can put up with me."

He chuckled and ran his finger down the line of my jaw, sending shivers down my spine,

"I'm so lucky that I have the opportunity to put up with you. Adriana Layman, you make me so happy. You really are the only one for me."

I grinned and leaned into his palm as he kissed me.

"Your mine, Ri. Sorry but your stuck with me."

"I'm yours. I always was."

This felt so right. He felt so right. Being with him felt right.

There are times where nothing makes sense and it seems like it will never get better. Sometimes all you want to do is give up and give into the darkness. But there is always some light somewhere to grab onto.

For me, Jake was that light.

It seemed like everything in my life, the good and the bad, had been leading up to one thing: Jake.

Some people are never given the opportunity to have true love, and the to experience the utter perfection of it but I have had that chance. I have had the chance to love Jake.

He protected and loved me when no one else would or could and that just made me love him all the more.

And loving him was the best, most perfect wonderful part of my life.

It was right. He made me right. With him, everything was right.

~~~~~~~~

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