59. I'll always love you

PLEASE READ MY FINAL AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM. I WILL BE PUTTING SOME INFORMATION OVER THERE ON WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NOW THAT THE BOOK IS OVER.

-There will be bonus chapters after this last chapter-

Chapter 59: I'll always love you

Kelsey's POV

*****

A permanent smile seemed to have been stuck to my face after my talk with Ethan. I was glad that I followed my heart and decided to let him explain. I would have never realised how much he truly still loved me if I hadn't, and I would have blamed him for something he wasn't even guilty of.

It didn't come as a surprise that somebody could try and sabotage my relationship with Ethan, especially not after Jenna and Zack had already attempted to do that. A lot of girls at our school were smitten by Ethan, and a lot of them wanted him to give them some form of attention. It was evident that somebody like Bella, who always got what she wanted, would try to do so even at the expense of somebody else's happiness.

Shaking that angering thought out of my head, I walked towards Meg and Jake, who seemed to be engaged in a heated argument.

"It's your fault!" Meg said, pointing an accusing finger at Jake.

"How is it my fault?" He asked, flailing his arms around.

"You're the one who-Kelsey, you're here!" Meg said as soon as I sat down next to them, both of their heads snapping towards me as they stopped arguing, their eyes widening as soon as they saw me there. "I was so worried about you. Where were you?" She asked me as she wrapped her arms around me tightly.

"I bumped into Ethan," I said with a shrug, making Meg and Jake's mouths widen in disbelief.

"And? Did he explain?" She asked as I nodded my head. "Good explanation or bad?"

I could tell that she was weary of what to say, careful as to not say the wrong things. Meg was owed a huge explanation from me, and I knew that she was probably confused at seeing me sitting there with a smile on my face after I had been bawling my eyes out only moments before.

"Good," I replied honestly, a wider grin forming on my face.

"See, I told you!" Jake said. "Ethan would never do anything like that, especially not when I had to constantly beg him to get out of the house," he continued, wanting to back up his point.

"Guys, stop arguing," I said, feeling bad that they were getting into an argument just because of me.

Jake was Ethan's best friend, and it was obvious that he would always stand up for him when he feels like his best friend deserves it, just like what Meg would do for me. I didn't want this entire misunderstanding with Ethan to cause a rift in their relationship. We were all friends, and it pained me to know that if Bella had ended up succeeding, she would not only have caused a quarrel between Ethan and I, but even possibly between Jake and Meg, who certainly did not deserve to be dragged into any of it.

"I'm sorry Kelsey, I should have let you see Ethan this morning," Jake guiltily said, his lips forming into a frown.

I smiled at him as I shook my head, not wanting him to feel bad because of it. He was trying to do something nice for his best friend, and it wasn't his fault if it was going to go wrong. It wasn't any of our faults.

"It's okay, honestly. Everything's okay now," I replied in all honesty, hoping to make him feel better.

He nodded and opened his mouth, about to say something, before he was interrupted by somebody squealing my name. My eyes filled with tears as I looked towards the direction of the voice, only to see Ethan's parents along with the kids. I could feel a lump forming in my throat as they all stood there, their eyes brimming with tears as they all ran up to hug me.

"What are you doing here? I thought you left us!" Lara said as they all took a seat next to me, a tear sliding down her face.

"Leaving you guys was too hard, I couldn't pull it off, so here I am," I said.

"I'm so damn happy you're back," Noah said from beside me before hugging me. I clutched him tightly, only realising how much I truly missed him right then and there.

Life in New York was not the same without having Noah's words of advice, nor his overly enthusiastic attitude. Noah alone was able to brighten up anybody's day, and my days certainly were a lot more gloomy without seeing him. I found myself missing the mini karaoke parties we would have in the living room, and all the nights he and I used to spend eating microwavable pizzas while Ethan was out and everybody else was asleep.

"I'm happy I'm back too," I told him, trying to keep myself from crying again. I had cried too much those past couple of days, and it was time for me to stop and try to restore my tears.

I smiled at their parents, who seemed happy at their kid's gleeful reaction to my return. Meg had told me that their parents came back a day before I did. The reason for that was that Ethan got mad at them after I left because they were never there, and how I had done a better job with the kids than they ever did. That seemed to have guilt tripped them into returning, promising them all that they weren't going to be leaving for a long while.

I felt happy at that news, because even if that meant that I could not stay and live with them again, they all had their parents back. They all missed them, and they all wished that they could stop working so much, and I was glad that they were a family again.

*****

We all jumped up from the benches in cheer as Ethan made another successful shot. I was so incredibly proud of him, and I was glad that he was finally playing well again. Basketball was important to him, and I knew that he would have been heart broken to be benched. Apart from that, I was also really glad that they were winning, mainly because I was curious to find out what Ethan had in store for me.

"Ethan's doing really great, he hasn't played like this in ages," Noah said with a proud smile on his face.

"Yeah, I've only ever seen him play back when Aaron was on the team, and he's certainly improved a lot more since then."

It was funny how much things changed. I refused to go to any of the team's basketball games after Aaron left, mainly because it reminded me of all of the times I would be sitting there cheering him on. Leah would always make her funny commentaries, mainly mocking the other team, or highlighting the moment when an attractive guy held the boy. I didn't remember myself ever laughing as much as I used to do in those moments.

Back then I didn't even notice Ethan that much, mainly because I was still upset at his attempt of making a fool out of me in front of everybody, or what I had thought to be an attempt of that at the time. Deep down, I always had thought that he was a great player, but I had always kept myself away from noticing him too much. In that moment, on the other hand, I couldn't keep my eyes off of him, and how concentrated he was on the game. My heart always leapt whenever he shot me a glance, a gorgeous smile on his face, reminding me just how in love with him I was.

"You do know why right?" Noah asked with a smirk on his face. "You're his good luck charm."

"I don't know," I shyly said.

"Oh please, yes you do," he grinned knowingly.

I smiled at him as my cheeks started heating up. Honestly, he was right, I did not know it, and I couldn't be happier to think that I was. As the game started again after half time, everybody started cheering. I could feel myself getting flustered as Ethan sent a wink and a wave my way, making Noah nudge me with his elbow as soon as he noticed, making me roll my eyes at him.

The game ended after a couple more scores from our team, making it official that we had won. I instantly stood up to cheer like everybody else, hugging Noah and Meg respectively. The overjoyed smile on Ethan's face as his teammates lifted him up made me happy, and I wished that I could be able to see that smile every single day till the last.

Everyone clapped in confusion as the coach of our team grabbed the microphone and started speaking in the middle of the court, something which he never did before. "I'm really proud of our team, they played like never before and I couldn't be happier. This is the last year for some of them, and they're giving it their all. I feel that a lot of them have a shot in continuing on the sport.

"Now, I'm going to be honest, there was a player that most troubled me in the last few practices. His coordination wasn't good and he just wasn't himself. Now, of course, he has this reasons, but I'm proud to say that he really showed everyone what he's made of today," he said as he sent a nod towards Ethan.

"This player that I'm talking about came up to talk to me before the game, and he asked me if I could allow him to say a couple of words if we won, and so as promised, Ethan, the floor is yours," coach said as he handed Ethan the mic.

My eyes widened as my lips parted slightly in surprise as Ethan got up from the bench, strapping his guitar to his back. Meg turned to look at me, her face probably mirroring mine as she blinked a couple of times.

"Do you think this is your surprise? He's going to sing you a song?" She whispered.

"I don't know," I said, my heart going into a frenzy. It certainly looked like he was, but I did not want to be getting my hopes up for nothing.

"Hello everyone," Ethan said as everybody went wild, especially the cheerleaders, being lead by Bella.

Since a lot of people who were supporting the other team had already left, Meg, Jake, the Walkers, and I had moved forward and sat on one of the first seats. We all wanted to be in the front row to hear Ethan's speech, and I found myself unable to take my eyes off of him and his beautiful features. It was crazy how that boy managed to look good even after playing a full game, nearly making him look more beautiful than ever.

"So, a few weeks ago, something horrible happened. No, it's not something that you guys should worry about, no one died, and no one got sick. To you guys. it would probably mean nothing, but to me, it meant everything. It upset me so much that I wasn't really concentrating on the game. You guys might say 'That's stupid,' and yes, maybe you're right, but if it ever happens to you, I'm sure you'd understand," he started off as my heart started beating so fast that I could actually feel it beating from my throat.

"Well, basically, I'm in love," he chuckled as he nervously scratched the back of his neck. My heart stopped beating momentarily as his eyes quickly met mine before he averted his gaze again. I had to truly restrain myself so as to not roll my eyes as soon as I heard many girls squealing at his words.

"See, I told you he was in love with me," I heard Bella say, making my fists clenched as I tried to fight the urge to snap at her.

"Yes, you heard me right. You don't have any trouble hearing. I, Ethan Walker am in love." He says again. "You might think that I can't be in love, but you're wrong. I've been in love for the longest time ever." He says glancing at me.

"Well, there's no use for me to tell you everything I feel, I mean that's so boring. Instead, I have the perfect song that I wrote. It's a song that none of you have heard," he said, emphasising on the word 'none' as he looked at me, hinting that it was a song which was not included in the CD that he gave me.

"So, I hope you guys like it," he said before he started strumming his guitar.

Meg grabbed my hand before dragging me up from our seats and down to stand on the gym floor, only a few metres away from Ethan, and right next to where the cheerleaders were standing. I didn't enjoy how all of them were looking at him as if their knees were about to give in, but instead of thinking about them, I turned my head towards the only person who mattered. The person who was making sure that the entire school knew we were together.

In the middle of the song Ethan started moving towards were Meg and I stood and I could hear Meg start squealing as she tightly clutched my hand, making me roll my eyes at her despite feeling as if I were going to pass out myself. I had to admit that what he was doing was really cheesy, but it was also really sweet, and very Ethan. No one had ever sung to me in public before, and it was probably one of the most adorable things which ever.

"Bella he's walking towards you," one of the cheerleaders squealed to Bella, who was standing close to me. I glanced towards them with a smile on my face as I saw their grins dropping as soon as Ethan stopped to stand right in front of me, his eyes locked with mine.

If my legs didn't feel like jelly, and my heart wasn't going to practically explode, I would have laughed at how hillarious Bella and her friends looked. I could see steam practically coming out of her ears as her eyes were glued on the two of us. Some of the other cheerleaders started snickering behind her, clearly amused at the fact that for once in her life, Bella was not getting what she wanted.

"Kelsey Wilkinson, I'm crazy about you. I love you more than Ellie loves cotton candy, and I'm pretty sure I love you more than Noah loves pizza," he chuckled.

"I do love my cotton candy!" Ellie yelled, making everyone laugh.

"I want everyone in the room to know what you mean to me. I want them all to know how happy you make me, and how you make me feel like as long as you're with me, nothing can break me. You make me stronger, you see the real me. You never gave up on me and I'm so in love with you for that. I feel like I can do anything as long as you're right there in front of me. You don't just like me because of my good looks, because let's face it, I'm hot," he winked, making me roll my eyes at him despite the wide grin on my face.

"I'm kidding," he chuckled as he took my hand into his. "But yeah, you love me for who I am, and I can't thank you enough for that. So basically, what I'm trying to say is," he started off before kneeling down on one knee, making everyone gasp as my eyes widened.

I silently begged that he was not going to propose to me. We were too young for that, and I did not want to have to tell him no in front of all of those people. "Kelsey Wilkinson, will you make me the happiest guy in our school and be my girlfriend again?" He said much to my relief as he took out a cherry flavoured ring pop from his pocket and opened it up, offering it to me.

I was sure that people were expecting my face to peel off at any minute because of how huge my grin was. Many sleepless nights were spent with me thinking what would happen if Ethan and I were to see each other again, and if we were to go back to being in a relationship. None of those thoughts could have prepared me to what he was doing in that moment, and my heart tightened at how amazing he was.

"I'd love to," I said before he placed the ring on my finger and took me in his arms, spinning me around as I laughed. "And good job on the flavour of this thing," I joked as I popped the ring in my mouth and allowed the sweet, cherry flavour to hit my mouth.

Ethan rolled his eyes at me before placing me down, his arms still placed around my waist as he looked at me deeply. "I'll always love you, princess."

"I'll always love you too," I said as his mouth met mine, making nearly everybody who was still watching start applauding. I rolled my eyes as I noticed Meg flipping Bella off, a smirk on her face as Bella stormed off in anger.

And like all fairy tales end, we all lived happily ever after.

Well, not really. There are always some ups and downs in the real life, but what I meant was, that Ethan and I made each other happy, we supported one another, and most of all, we loved each other-and that was all we could ever really need.

~The End (before bonus chapters)~

A/N: Jellybeans!! This is finally it. My very last chapter. It's sad I know, I kind of felt sad writing it.

I want to thank all of you guys for sticking till the end and for being supportive. Some of you guys even enjoyed my stupid updates, the one that weren't all that good but you were still kind and told me that it was still perfect and you have no idea how much that meant to me.

Now as promised, this is not the end, the end. I will be publishing bonus chapters so if there's anything you want like maybe the wedding or if there was a proposal, just comment it and I'll write it. The upcoming bonus chapters are all up to you. You guys choose what you want.

I will also be doing a Q and A soon so you guys can comment questions or just comment questions in the Q and A section I will be publishing soon.

Anyways guys, I love you so so much and thank you for always being supportive and not giving up on this book when it wasn't that good. Thank you to all of those who have been here from the beginning, meaning while I was still publishing the beginning of the book, but also thank you to those of you who have stumbled on my book a few days ago but stayed till the end.

A huge thanks to one of the most important people in my life who is always there for me to keep me sane and doesn't make me feel like a weirdo. I'm really glad Leah introduced us and thank you for keeping up with my craziness. I love you and this chapter is dedicated to you. (Username at the top)

Anyways yeah, I've been through a lot writing this but in the end it was all worth it. I have to admit it caused me a bit of problems, some made me want to stop writing, but hopefully all will go better.

Yeah so like always,

Stay perfect,

Love,

~M