Chapter Fifteen-Epilogue: That's Life

"X, you have to come back inside," Magnet said as he sat down on the front steps next to him. "X-Ray, you have to go back."

"I can't go back," X-Ray said in a hoarse voice as he shook his head. "I can't go in there, not when I have to see him after what has happened."

The two boys sat in silence as they watched cars pass by the church. The sun seemed to mock them as they shared the silence. A man walked out and told them to get inside. Magnet literally had to pull X-Ray to his feet and push him inside to make him go. X-Ray numbly walked to the front and sat down in a seat. Once he looked up he felt something hit him like a brick.

It was reality.

He looked down the row and looked at his friend's faces. They seemed to have the same looks on their faces so they must've gotten that feeling too. He shook his head and looked towards the front once more as the minister came to the podium.

X-Ray didn't listen to him talk, he didn't want to.

He kept his head bent the entire time with his eyes closed. He could tell that Magnet was looking at him in sympathy, along with some of the other men and women in the room. He bit his lip to keep from screaming out loud. He couldn't take the silence. He didn't like the silence. The silence gave reality the opportunity to smack him in the face a couple of times.

"Rex Jefferson?"

X-Ray kept his head down, although he heard his own name. He couldn't move, he was frozen to his seat. He felt Magnet nudging him, but he really couldn't move. 'Don't make me get up there. Please god, don't make me.' He felt strong arms pull him to his feet, and that was when X-Ray looked up. Magnet guided him to the podium until he was looking out at everyone.

"Do you want me to stay up here with you?" Magnet whispered.

"No…no, I'll be fine," X-Ray responded in a quiet voice. "Just get the guys ready."

Magnet nodded and gave his best friend a pat on the arm. He motioned to some of his friends who were sitting down. They stood, gave X-Ray the thumbs up sign, and left the room. X-Ray raised his head and looked at everyone who was staring back at him. He gulped and opened his mouth to begin.

"I…It's hard for me to believe this," he started in a shaky voice. His knees were knocking and his hands were sweaty. He felt like he was going to throw up and all he wanted to do was leave, go back home, sleep, and dreamed that this had never happened. "It's hard for me to believe that one of my best friends, someone I hold close to my heart, isn't here with us anymore." He stopped to look at his parent's and his sister's and brother's faces. The nodded at him encouraging him to continue.

"In a way we were only freshmen; we didn't know what we were getting into. My friends and I, we were real excited getting out of a some sort of jail and go to a real school. We finally had seniority over some students, and laptops alone made us happier." He paused and looked at his remaining friend's faces. "We knew that being in high school would be a challenge. There would be a lot more people around and peer pressure would shoot up like the temperature in the summer. We promised each other that we would never give into peer pressure and that we would stay friends forever."

X-Ray paused and looked out at everyone. His voice was stronger than before as he took steady breaths. 'I can do this. I can finish this.'

"We held get togethers every Friday and talked about what was going on in our lives, we never expected to change. Especially our outlook on school and life in general. I never understood how high school could have an affect on him, but it did, we just didn't show it. Armpit was suffering from depression. It was scary once I found out, but he wasn't happy because he didn't have anyone to turn to. I just wish he could've come to me. He claimed more than once that he was numb.

"We're only 'freshmen', but we're not too young to understand things that are happening to us now. We're changing, and so is everyone else in the world. I told you how Armpit liked to sing, well, rap. But the only time he did sing it was about a song that I now realize remindes me of us. Now, listening to the song, I understood what she meant."

X-Ray stepped away from the podium and took the microphone with him. His eyes went to the back of the church as many heads turned in the direction. Icy walked in, playing her guitar softly. Glare also walked in carrying a bass guitar. Shorty walked in pushing a drum set in front of her. They stopped by the front; Icy was still playing, as Zigzag took X-Ray's place at the podium and began to sing "We Were Merely Freshmen" by Verve Pipe softly.

When the song came to an end Zigzag, Glare, Icy, and Shorty bowed as people applauded. The funeral service went on for another hour before they got into their cars to go to the cemetery. Once they arrived they gathered around Armpit's tombstone and stared at the cold slab of stone. After the prayers were said and the coffin was lowered into the ground Glare grasped Shorty's hand and led them down the path.

"We know this isn't your real burial place, but we also know that you're with us wherever we go so it doesn't matter," Glare said as he stared at a tombstone.

"We really miss you, mom," Shorty said softly. "But we're getting by. Icy…I mean Mackenzie, got proposed to by her boyfriend, Alan. They're planning on waiting for college to get married because they're too young right now."

"After everything we've been through we learned that everything in our lives is happening for a reason. We don't know what the reason is right now, but we will find out later, we just know it. We're growing up mom, we're not little kids anymore, as you can see. We miss you a lot and we can't wait to see you again in our dreams."

"Alan, why do bad things happen to us?" Ally asked as he walked over, carrying her on his side.

He slipped his hand into Icy's before responding, "That's life, kid. But not all bad things happen, a lot of good things happen to us too." He smiled at Icy a little who gave his hand a squeeze. Glare smiled as SpitFire came up and hooked her arm with his. Shorty gave Leon a small hug once he appeared at her side and Zigzag gave Nikita's shoulder a squeeze as they appeared behind them.

"What's in store for our future, Alan?" Ally asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Whatever life deals us," Squid responded.

THE END!

A/N: There will be a sequel to this, don't worry. I just have to add a couple of chapters to other stories first.