Pic; Jace.

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I've always thought prom sucked. It was a waste of time and energy and it's stupid and overhyped.

According to Molly and Trish though, it was a time to be free, to dress up, to await eagerly. It's not that I don't agree because I partially do. It's not often I get a chance to wear a tux and a bow tie and the Armani cufflinks that grandma got me a year or two ago for Christmas so it's especially nice being able to do all of that.

But was prom worth it? Liam says that it's just full of girls with caked on clown make up who wear glittery heels they can barely walk in that they eventually take off at the end of the night anyway and a whole lot of cocky guys who banter about how 'fit those birds look' and 'how they'd very much like to bang them someday'.

Even though I now had a gorgeous, blue eye boyfriend, I still felt that prom wasn't worth splashing out a lot of cash on to just get crisps and sandwiches and a bunch of overplayed pop music in return.

We got to the venue in the nick of time. It was pretty full already, which made me feel like a celebrity as I stepped out of the fancy limo and had everyone's eyes on me.

Cockily, I straightened out my tie before lending Jace a hand to step down from the limo. It was quite a big jump, but he just slapped my hand away and stepped down himself.

"Don't do that, it makes me feel like a girl." He laughed.

"But it makes me feel all gentlemanly!" I grinned.

He just shook his head and waited beside me as everyone else got out the limo.

"Wow." Was all one person behind me could say.

"Ahhhhh!!! It looks so awesome!" Rebecca screamed and walked away, probably to find some of her friends. Or a life. Who knows.

"We did a freakin' amazing job on such a low budget, well done lads. Great venue choice, Zach." Some guy from the prom committee commented and patted my back.

"Let's get in, I wanna get my jiggy on." Jace laughed.

"The only place your jiggy will be going is to my-" I started saying, but was cut off as Ben laughed a little too loudly and pushed us all gently towards the entrance, mumbling something under his breath about too much information.

I snickered as we walked past the threshold of the grand entrance. It was like a fairytale because it was in the shape of a semi circle and it was wooden with black old fashioned latches.

Inside however, was a different story. The place looked fantastic, almost ethereal. Was this even real? Did I really do all of this? It was truly something that was magical. Everything electric blue and white, almost Christmassy looking. A big dance floor was in the centre of the room with white tiles that have little twinkling LED lights beneath. Around the dance floor were big round tables, seating ten people each and right at the front was a wooden deck to act as a stage. The DJ was on one side, a mic was in the middle, a drum set and piano at the back and Jace's red guitar on a stand at the middle.

A vivid memory of Jace playing 'Superman' at the pub made me grin as wide as a child getting a giant collection of sweets and I felt my body warm up once I felt Jace's arms around me.

"You did great." He mumbled in my ear and licked it cheekily before backing away and laughing. I frantically wiped at it and frowned.

"When's your performance then?" I cocked a brow, he shrugged. "9:30 ish?"

"You wanna dance?" I grinned, and wiggled my hips as I scurried closer to him and stretched my arm out. He slapped it away and grabbed my waist only to move us closer to the middle of the floor.

I didn't care how stupid we looked, I knew I couldn't dance and Jace was well, he was okay at it I guess. We both looked like fools as we flailed out arms about and wiggled out hips to Shakira and Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.

"Hungry?" He asked, pacing his dance moves and moving closer to me so that I could hear him over the booming speakers.

I smirked and leaned into his ear, "for you, always."

He shoved me away and rolled his eyes; a ghost of a smile played on his lips. "Stop with those sexual innuendos, Jesus Christ."

I chuckled and clutched my tummy and it started hurting. Grabbing his soft, warm hands, I pulled him out from the crowd of rambunctious teenagers and towards the buffet table. There was only a selection of crisps and popcorn and a bunch of soft drinks, nothing to fill us up. I'm pretty glad I ate before I came.

Flynn was sat at the farthest end of the room, occupying an entire table to himself which I guess was because everyone else was up dancing, he was hunched over the table, playing with a cup and checking his phone every couple of moments or so as if he was expecting something.

"Zach, just go and talk to him." Jace huffed, "you know you want to."

I can't deny that I've contemplated it all through the night. Did I really want to leave school holding a grudge with him? "Okay." I mumbled quickly and walked across the perimeter of the dance floor to his table.

"Uh, hey." I greeted with an awkward wave.

He looked up at my standing form looking a little confused, but he quickly recovered. "Hi." He replied grudgingly, not even holding his eye contact.

"How's it going?" I straightened out my suit before pulling out a chair next to him and plopping down on it.

"Uh, right now or in general?" He cocked a brow, looking at me in slight amusement.

"Both." I shrugged as he took a deep breath and sat up before leaning back into his seat.

"Well, Kyle ditched me so he could dance with Ethan because I didn't want to dance which is totally fine, I swear. Uhm, Ben well, he's just been glaring at me all night and I'm not sure why, Marcia's finally decided she didn't want an open relationship so she dumped me—"

"That's terrible." I furrowed my eyebrows together. If I remember, next month would have been their one year anniversary.

"Well, she asked if we could be exclusive, but I said no so she told me she was going to take some time to herself before dating again."

I just nodded and finally spat out what had been on the tip of my tongue for the longest time. "I don't want to leave school on a bad note, so I'm hoping that we're okay."

He pursed his lips and swung on his chair, "I guess we can be."

"So what happened with the bonfire dare?" I asked curiously, facing my entire body to him and resting my forearm on the backrest of the chair.

He smiled and looked me dead in the eye before looking away again. "That's something nobody will ever know."

"You fucked him, didn't you?"

"My god, Zach, I'm not some whore." He rolled his eyes but I raised my eyebrows at him and smirked, he just shook his head because he knew that was a complete lie. "We didn't have sex, you saw how angry he got when I lied about it in the cafeteria. Jesus Christ, I'm never going to get him riled up again, he's a scary dude."

"What did you do? Come on, tell me!"

"We just talked loads."

"No you didn't."

He sighed in defeat, "okay, fine, we didn't, but I can't tell you."

Flynn and I had been so caught up in our conversation of constant teasing, I had only just realised Jace's band were preparing for their performance on stage.

"There's one other thing too, but you can't tell anyone." Flynn whispered ever so quietly.

"What is it?" My breathing was caught in my throat. Flynn seemed serious, and he was never a serious person.

"Well, uh.." He started, but Jace's voice boomed through the speakers.

"Hi everyone, we're New Level and this song goes out to all of you here today." He said and searched the crowd before meeting my eyes and smiling. His friend, who was also the lead vocalist in the group stepped up to his own mic and nodded at Ben, who was the drummer for this song.

The crowd danced as the music kicked in, and hollered and cheered whenever the chorus rang out. I was grinning up at my boyfriend in glee whenever we stole glances at each other and tapped my feet along with the beat.

"This next song is an acoustic, so we suggest grabbing a partner and getting on the dance floor. Jace is going to be taking over this one, so be prepared to be blown away!" The lead vocalist grinned and hopped off the stage, meeting his girlfriend on the dance floor. Ben swapped places with a friend and grabbed an acoustic guitar instead and I stayed sitting beside Flynn.

Jace nodded to the drummer and started plucking a few strings on his guitar, Ben sat still, waiting in anticipation for his part. I quickly recognised that the song was a huge hit by Ed Sheeran called Kiss Me. It was perfectly done; The strums weren't too harsh, the drums weren't loud, and the backing vocals and guitar were barely there, which is how it should be. Best thing was that it was specifically aimed at me.

Around us, couples were dancing with their hands all over the partners. I smiled to myself and drew myself in to Jace's playing as he plucked each string and spoke each word.

The song had ended, unfortunately, but the band got a huge round of applause by the crowd even as they stepped down from the stage and all followed Jace as he walked up to me.

"That was so fucking amazing!" I cried and pulled Jace into a tight bear hug. He muttered a thanks and pulled away before hurriedly racing to the DJ and whispering something in his ear.

He returned with a big grin plastered on his face and tugged on my hand to drag me to the middle of the dance floor.

"Alright, one more slow song as requested and then we're going to party!" The DJ boomed through the mic and fiddled with his laptop as a almost all too recognisable tune came on.

When the rain is blowing in your face,

Jace and I had our arms wrapped around each other, he was facing the entrance of the place while I faced the table I was just sat at and noticed an almost sad and bored looking brown haired boy.

And the whole world is on your case,

I could offer you a warm embrace,

I felt bad because Flynn didn't have anyone to dance with. This was his prom too, and he was missing a lot of it because he recently lost his girlfriend and his date had ditched him.

To make you feel my love.

Jace seemed to notice what was going through my head and twisted us around so he could catch Ben's eye, he gave a mischievous smirk to the blonde boy who sat alone on his own table and nodded his head to the brown haired boy at the farthest end of the room.

Ben was confused at first, but he caught on quickly and gave the most pained expression as he reluctantly got out of his seat and offered Flynn his hand, to which Flynn just looked at it in disgust and confusion. He contemplated on it, and finally decided to stand up and take Ben's hand.

I had to stifle a giggle. I knew Ben was a big softie and he would've been ruining his night too by missing out on the song that really ties up the evening.

When the evening shadows and the stars appear,

And there's no one there to dry your tears,

It was hilarious to see Flynn and Ben stumble all over the place as they completely failed at slow dancing. They treaded on each other's toes multiple times and had about a million whisper-shouting arguments in the short period of time.

"They're like an old married couple." Jace commented and looked me dead In the eye with so much love and affection.

I could hold you for a million years,

I shrugged and caught his eyes again, he smiled at me and nuzzled into my neck. "I love you, Zach." He whispered tentatively in my hair, his voice quivering slightly. That's how I knew it was genuine.

To make you feel my love.

I melted into his warm breath and smiled against his ear, "I love you too."

"No, I mean, I've never felt as whole as I do when I'm with you and.. I didn't realise such happiness could exist after all the difficulties with my dad and sister and then I realised that it did exist, and it sourced from you because you're incredible." He whispered in my ear, only allowing me to hear. The slow song became drowned out in the background and I could feel tears welling in my eyes, my heart hammered against my chest and my breathing became unsteady.

"Hey, don't cry."

"Oh my god, fucking hell Jace, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I have too many feels right now, is this what a girl on her period feels like? I mean, I'm so overwhelmed, what do I do—"

And then he kissed me, it wasn't a full on snog because I'm sure people around us wouldn't appreciate that, but it was tender, quick and meaningful and I could still feel it lingering long afterwards.

"Hey, do you remember that time at the shopping centre when I pounced on you a pinned you down on the floor?"

"Yes..." I trailed off warily.

"I felt your boner growing under me, but I waved it off." He laughed, I laughed along and felt my face get super hot. I placed my hands over my face, hiding my embarrassment.

He chuckled and pulled my hands away from my face, kissing both of them right where the knuckles are and letting them drop, I wrapped my hands around his waist again and nuzzled into his neck once more, still hiding my shame and humiliation.

He pulled me back, and met my eyes, his alluring blue ones were twinkling in the light through his glasses and drawled me in. For the longest time, we held each other's gazes, all throughout the song, it was when I heard the last sentence sound through the speakers, I pulled him close and kissed his temple.

To make you feel my love.

"I love you, to the moon and back." I mumbled against his ear and pulled back. Standing there, looking at that stupid smile of his, I knew I will never stop loving him. I knew there will never be a day when I will get over that fucking smile.

Because I'm the one that causes it. The genuine kind, not that fake one he used to have.

And if that isn't a reason to feel damn proud and whole, then I don't know what is.

He placed a chaste kiss on my lips, his soft, plump lips moulding with mine perfectly.

He was perfect.

And he was mine,

And I was his,

And we were one, just stuck in everlasting love, care and eternal bliss.

*+*+*+*

Cliche endings? f**k yeah!

Ending a book such as this one is a profound achievement, for me anyway. All the continuous love and support (and threats to update) all led up to this moment. The moment I'm writing this with the biggest, fattest grin on my mouth.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you so much! It's been a long winded journey for me and for you and I just want you all to know that I love you and there's a special place in my heart for all of you and your fangirl/boy loving craziness.

- Zara.

p.s. Watch out for the bonus chapters and the not so secret sequel.