“Seriously, Rika? You had us waiting all this time just because you wanted to flirt with Marcus?” Nora asked, arms crossed and pointer finger impatiently tapping against her bicep.
“What?” Rika’s face lit up like fireworks on the Fourth of July. “We aren’t like that! We were just coming up with plans for next year.”
Nora looked like she was about to implode. “Bitch, we’ve graduated. There is no more student council work for you to do. You are literally planning a date. Holy shit! Is anybody in this group not dense?”
I began to hold up my hand before withering under her glare and allowing it to drop to my side. Instead, I stepped closer to Ethan, hoping to get out of her range of sight.
“Don’t come over by me, dude. You reap what you sow.”
Her scowl deepened as she looked between Ethan and Amelia. Chloe and Rika at least had the foresight to clamber up the stairs behind my girlfriend. Out of sight, out of mind was probably the smartest play they could have made.
“Oh, I’m screwed,” Ethan quietly mumbled.
“Yeah, you must have been, considering how long it took you two to come back from the bathroom together. It doesn’t take no twenty minutes to wet a paper towel and take it to the auditorium. Why the teachers trusted you, I’ll never know.”
“Would you believe the sinks weren’t working…” he cut off, Nora’s scowl twisting into something that would scare the devil himself. If looks could kill, my best friend would be a dead man. Amelia could only fight back a blush, a difficult thing considering how pale her skin was.
Everybody looked to me as Nora began muttering about loose morals, idiots, and the downfall of society. I wasn’t sure how suddenly this became my problem, but I decided to try to calm her down. It wouldn’t be good for her to get an aneurysm on graduation, after all.
“Nora, sweetie…”
“Don’t you sweetie me. I’m just trying to get this goddamn picture that we all agreed on. One last beautiful photograph to commemorate our time in high school.”
She spread her arms wide to fully display the beauty of the stairwell. With the excitement from the upper floor fading over a year and a half, it had more or less returned to its original state. Cobwebs were rampant, dust bunnies were free to roam, and dirt and grime were more visible than anything else. And yet, we had never found another hangout spot. Somehow this had been it throughout our time at school, making it a fitting location for a final picture.
“Alright, everybody.” Rika rose to her feet, clapping her hands together. “As fun as it is to piss Nora off, let’s not waste any more time. We’ve got parties and everything else to get ready for tonight.”
Nora huffed but otherwise remained silent, agreeing to the truce. We all gathered close together in front of the first step, and Ethan pulled out his phone. He raised it high above his head after ensuring it was primed to take a selfie.
“Alright, everyone set?”
We all nodded.
“Smile!”
That was all the warning we got before the flash went off, and the photo was taken. He brought the phone back down, so we could examine it. It was a nice photo I had to admit. The girls all looked beautiful, and Ethan and me were alright too. And I couldn’t deny how happy I looked to be there, squished in the middle of everyone with my smile stretching from ear to ear.
Rika nudged me, bringing me out of my daze. “C’mon, we still got to pick up those wedding invitations from Mr. Morrison.”
That was right. He had invited me to his wedding after introducing me to his fiance after school one day; the same girl that had broken his heart years ago was now the reason he seemed more content than ever. Funny how things could work out that way. Of course, he extended the invitation to the rest of my friends too after we had exchanged those stories we promised, likely seeing a lot of similarities between us and himself from high school.
Rika grabbed onto my arm, yanking me toward the heavy door of the stairwell. I grabbed onto Nora, who in turn grabbed onto Amelia, who in turn grabbed onto Ethan, who in turn grabbed onto Chloe. With this crazy procession complete, we rushed down the hallway, laughing like a bunch of morons on our way to his room. None of the other teachers bothered to correct us, tired from the events of the day, so we continued on.
And as I ran through the halls I thought about how good it was to have control over my own destiny, how I no longer felt like some sort of sidekick. I was just me, and that’s all I ever needed to be.
Congrats to the MC from evolving to Protagonist's Sidekick into a Protagonist!
Not bad at all. Nicely done author.
Appreciate it!
I have no words,*SIGH*
Anyway, Thanks a lot for this story.
Again; This was a masterpiece.
Your thanks and taking the time to read HPS are more than enough. A masterpiece, though? You’re making me blush 😊 Thanks for taking this journey with me!
This is it. Here we stand at the end. o7.
Yep, here we are.
o7
Nicely done, nearly reaching that Masterpiece for my list of romance,contempo imo. That fame wasn't misplaced, really.
The only concern I had was, to be fair, just me feeling like it was... short. I've severely underestimated how much words I can read if left uninterrupted.
Appreciate it, that means a lot to me! And I'm glad it was a page-turner for you. Must have meant I did something right!
Damn. Im tearing. This is a nice read.
So many nostalgia im having today.
I'll see you on your other series!!
Appreciate it, man! I'm glad you enjoyed!
Thank you for the chapter and series! It was an amazing ride! And the only problem I have with this particular chapter is that it's WAAAYYYY too short! I hoped to at least see them in one last party.
Appreciate you coming along for the ride!
Everybody looked to me as Nora began muttering about loose morals, idiots, and the downfall of society. I wasn’t sure how suddenly this became my problem, but I decided to try to calm her down. It wouldn’t be good for her to get an aneurysm on graduation, after all.
AGAIN... HOW DO YOU WRITE SUCH HILARIOUS INNER MONOLOGUES?!
I am now really interesting in that afterword and process. I feel like the story changed a lot from what it was supposed to be - we got two drawings of Rika, nothing of Nora, there were tags that got me to find this story at the start that were later removed and I got the vibes that the story kinda changed from what it was supposed to be after the first 10 chapters or so.
Either way, the journey has been fun, the ending pretty much closed this chapter of life for the characters.
Congratulations on being one of the few authors who actually finished a work. See you on your next title :]
You're very perceptive, and I think you will enjoy the afterword because of it! One thing I don't touch on in the afterword is the removal of the harem tag. I originally had it in because of Ethan and kept it in as a love triangle developed between Nora and Rika; however, I had multiple people go off on me in the comments that I should not have had the tag if I did not plan on ending it in a harem. I very much disagree with this as even famous examples of anime have harems were the MC only ends up with one girl, but I took it down to appease those people.
I'm glad you've had as much fun as I have had writing HPS, and I'll take pride in being one of the few authors to finish a work. (I didn't realize dropping works was so rampant). See you on the next one!
So is this the last chapter of the whole series or of volume 2?
This is the last chapter of the whole series as it was only ever meant to be two volumes.
I'm imagining a volume 3 and 4 to be another story about Zach in another world and time having amnesia while being a harem protagonist sidekick again and at some point he remembers these first 2 volumes of the past with nothing else after (there is an after he just can never remember it again). The drama that would happen and despair he would feel would be so bittersweet. Taking a different turn from what is expected.
Just imagining lol~
I always find it interesting when the male lead doesn't wind up with the female lead in a romance story. Congrats for the author ,this was an entertaining and well written romance drama until the end. I'm a little sad that the Rika ship ended the way it did, but it felt like there was truly no other way. Also disappointing and unnecessary to add in her own romantic interest late. I get the author didn't want to end it with her alone and sad but... it was just unnecessary
I also feel like Ethan, while he was a good friend, was just as mysterious and secretive as Rika. He could have scored a lot of points by telling the mc the truth about Rika, or at least give him a hint in the beginning when he realized they were getting close. He's at fault too for this mess no doubt!
This novel had way more drama than I expected given how fluffy the title was. That "cute story" tag is a tad deceptive. "Yeah, that girl you fell in love with is actually the one that helped spread false rumors that ruined your life a year ago".
Still good read :)