Curvy Girls Can't Date Bad Boys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,86

call him that.”

He laughed as he pulled back and shrugged. “Papa Bhatta doesn't seem to mind.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Zara!” Ginger called. “We have to get a picture.” She waved me over to where the other girls were standing along the fringes of our graduating class.

I gave Ronan an apologetic look. “Be back soon.”

“That's okay,” he yelled at my back. “I'll go hang with the rest of the reject boyfriends.”

I laughed and shook my head as I joined the girls.

Callie smiled between me and the spot where Ronan had been. “I'm so happy Ronan made it.”

“Me too.” I couldn't help the cheesy smile that filled my face.

“Okay.” Ginger pointed her phone at me. “Tell us how you feel to be officially done with high school!”

My smile stayed just as wide. “It feels amazing.” But then my happiness wavered. “I'm going to miss you guys like crazy. What am I going to do without AV room lunches every day?”

Frowning, Ginger put her phone down. “We have the whole summer. Right?”

“Exactly,” Rory said.

“And we'll hang out every chance we get,” Jordan agreed.

“Except for when you guys are all hanging out with your boyfriends,” Callie said, giving us a teasing smile.

We all gave her a look.

“What?” she asked defensively.

The four of us looked at each other. “You’ve got it?” I asked.

“I'll tell her,” Jordan said, then put a hand on Callie’s shoulder. “You and Carson are clearly meant to be.”

“But I like Oliver,” she argued.

Ginger rolled her eyes and held up one hand. “Oliver, philosophy major who loves playing video games, or”—she held out her other hand—“Carson, hot football player going to college on a swim scholarship to study engineering. Kind of having trouble seeing the competition here.”

With a dismissive shake of her head, Callie said, “We’re just friends. Just like you girls and me.” She put her arms around Jordan and Ginger's shoulders and looked at Rory and me. “And I think it's time to celebrate the fact that we all made it through the Academy in one piece.”

Rory nodded. “That's true. I survived an entire cupcake avalanche, Ginger nearly died, Jordan almost killed Kai, Callie is in deep denial about her feelings, and Zara was practically a media sensation. It's been a rough year.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Ronan, where he stood with the guys, laughing. He didn't fit in, not with them in their graduation gowns, and not with all the rich siblings back from college to see their family members graduate. But somehow, he and I—we worked.

“It hasn't been too bad,” I said. “I think it's all been worth it.”

We smiled at each other, taking in this moment, taking in the end. Because we were moving on, or getting ready to at least. None of us knew what tomorrow or the next week or the start of college would bring, but I knew one thing: I was free to choose.

Epilogue

Callie

The hum of a tattoo gun sounded, and I turned away, trying hard to focus on the rest of Kai’s expansive basement instead of the sharp needle plunging into Zara’s skin and leaving a mark that would be there forever.

Her sharp gasp sent my stomach squirming.

I turned toward Carson and said, “Why is she doing this? Doesn’t she know it will be there forever?”

He smirked. “That’s kind of the point.” He took a sip from his cup and glanced over at the tattoo setup in Kai’s media room. “Don't look now, but I'm pretty sure they're drawing a penis on her arm.”

I slapped his shoulder, laughing. Carson always had a way of making the dumbest jokes that could turn a moment from terrible to funny in a fraction of a second.

“Still,” I said, “a tattoo? I know it's not something embarrassing, but it's just so…”

“Permanent,” he finished for me.

I nodded. “What if she doesn't like it in five years?”

He shrugged. “What if she does?”

“But what if she doesn’t?” I pressed.

“I think some things are meant to last.”

I looked up at him, at his sea-green eyes, which seemed to be so deep in thought. “What do you mean?”

He took another sip and swallowed, sending his Adam's apple bobbing. Then he met my gaze and held it. “I have a feeling that Zara and Ronan are more like an eternal flame than a quick strike of lightning.”

I tended to agree. The way that they looked at each other, all that they were willing to give up for each other, it was like nothing I had ever seen before. My parents had been