OMG. Last chapter. I'm soooo sad. D:

Everyone knew that something was wrong the second I walked through the door. Ryan had walked me up to my room, and I just couldn't open my hand and loosen the clutch I had on his arm. I'm sure I'd bruised it somehow.

Mom was packing, and Dad was helping take out some of the clothes from the closet. Amore was just reading, but I knew my parents were thankful that he wasn't causing trouble or anything.

"Rose, come and help us," Mom called out. I had an urge to just walk straight to my room and pretend I was PMSing, but I decided to just let it go. Ryan was going to leave, and I'd never see him again, but that doesn't mean I'd stop living life.

So I agreed and went over to Mom and started folding clothes.

*the next morning*

"Rose, wake up," Amore was shaking me. "Rose, we have to keep packing...we're leaving today, right after lunch! Grandma's gotten a not-so-great injury, and Mom has to go back to take care of her!"

"What?" I froze in shock. "Grandma got hurt? What happened?" No. She was my favorite grandma.

"She...ah...sort of fell down the stairs, and her hip's broken. They're considering bringing her here, but Mom said that she knows how to take care of broken bones. She said she dealt with it a lot in the Hunger Games, and after that."

"She did?" I wondered out loud. "Well if it means taking care of Grandma, by all means I'll get up." So I jumped out of bed, and the second my feet touched the floorthere was a knock at our door.

Of course, he had to come the second I wasn't prepared for it. But what could I do? I went up to the door with my old cross country t-shirt and my gym shorts and tangled hair, popped a breath mint into my mouth, and opened the door.

As I'd guessed, it was Ryan, fully dressed and it looked like he was all ready to leave. He just looked at me a moment, and nothing registered on his face. He didn't care if I looked like I just came from a dump...he loved me just the way I was.

"I just wanted to come say bye," and he said it with such an amazing voice filled with melancholy...I almost fainted right there on the spot.

I felt my eyes fill up with tears, tears I managed to hold back. "I'll miss you too, you can't imagine how much I'm going to miss you," I tried to stay calm, but my voice cracked and I broke down and sobbed. Stupid emotions. He enveloped me in his warmth and I stayed there for a long time, forever, I think, until he let me go and looked at me with those beautiful eyes.

"Rose, I just wanted to let you know that I have some good news."

"What?" I sniffled, wiping my eyes on my sleeve, still pressed up close against him.

"You know how I play guitar?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I play for a band, and we were sort of famous in the first few district, like 1, 2, 3, and 4. And then the Capitol found out about us and they were very impressed, so they're letting us go free to District 12 to rehearse with your best singers, once a week. For the Capitol Olympics, I mean." That's right, the Capitol Olympics were supposed to take place next summer.

"So I'll see you once a week," he concluded. "I mean, District 7 is only a couple hundred miles away. It's half an hour by jet."

I was just overcome with happiness and glee and I hugged him again. "You should have told me about that before I made myself look like a fool in front of you," I smirked, but I laughed anyway. Everything was perfect. Well, almost.

"You'd never look like a fool in front of me," he said. Now that just made my day.

"But...what are you going to do after a year is over?" I asked him.

He just shrugged. "I'm applying for All District University," he told me. Of course...I forgot that being brilliant, he would apply for the best school in the country, All District, in District 11. Right next to District 12.

"Oh that's right," I rolled my eyes. "Smartass."

"Hey!" he said indignantly, and I smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm just kidding. You can't imagine how happy I am right now."

"I can imagine," he grinned, and looking at it lit up my world. So I did the only thing that would make me feel even better than I was feeling right now - I stood on tiptoe and pressed my lips against his, and he held me forever. We stood there longer than eternity, ignoring the slightly uncomfortable looks from my parents and very disgusted looks from Amore, and when I pulled back, I stared into his deep eyes.

They were

Timeless.

Okay, there's the last chappy! *sniffle* I just have to say, I had a LOT of fun writing this story, and I'm so glad that all of you liked it. :D I'm very, very, very, VERY thankful to those of you who commented, especially my most frequent commenter, junbug24! She commented on EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER and told me whether it was good/needed improvement/whatever else. I also have to add a side note and thank Lotsliveson4eva for the amazing huuuuuge paragraph suggesting how to write the G./K. chappy! so THANK YOU to EVERYONE ELSE who reviewed! AND THANK YOU to ALL the people who favorited me, my story, or alerted me and my story! I GREATLY appreciate it! :D

By the way, if you want to read more, I'm working on two other stories right now, one is a series of letters from Max to Fang in Unread Letters and the other one is an absolutely ridiculous yet hilarious (well, according to my friends) Harry Potter story, Voldemort's Birthday Bash. I just started writing Unread Letters, and Voldemort's Birthday Bash is about three-fourths of the way done. :D So if you like Maximum Ride and Harry Potter, plss consider reading and reviewing those! :D

Lots of love! And keep in touch! :D

Gale