Phoenix’s lips curled into a smile as he stepped out of the heavy double doors of the school for the last time.

It was so strange to think that it was finally over. Twelve long years had led him to this moment… But honestly, Phoenix felt like he’d learned more in the past few months than he had in the eleven years that came before.

He still found himself cringing as he thought back on some of what he’d gone through to learn those lessons though… How could he have been such an idiot?

At least the collateral damage had been minimal… And Phoenix was doing what he could to repair it.

He’d finally made amends with both Jasper and Tam. In fact, ever since the night Jasper had come out to his parents, he and his brother felt closer to each other than ever before.

I guess Tam was right… He really needed me. And Phoenix needed his little brother too.

And Jasper and Tam weren’t the only ones he’d tried to fix things with. Phoenix had reached out to Amna a few days ago to finally apologize for everything.

He was too afraid to meet her face-to-face again, so he’d ended up sending her a series of long and awkward text messages…. It was the coward’s way out, he knew. But hopefully it was better than nothing?

After what had happened at that party a few weeks ago, Phoenix knew he had to finally come clean about all the lies he’d told her — and about his real name too.

Her responses were short, and didn’t reveal much… Mostly that she’d had a feeling something was up when he’d never come back to the gym again. And that her fears had been confirmed the night of the party.

“I feel like such an idiot,” her final message had said. “I wish you’d just been honest with me from the start.”

“Me too.” He’d replied. “But you’re not the idiot — I am. And I’m really sorry, Amna.”

Phoenix still hadn’t received a response. He doubted he ever would. She probably hated him now… Part of him wondered whether he should have just left it alone. Maybe telling her the truth had done more harm than good?

But it just felt so wrong not to. She deserved to know how awful he’d been. She deserved the truth.

After all this time, he’d finally grown tired of pretending.

Phoenix was abruptly called back to the present by the sight of a familiar pink hat and head of blonde hair walking by him — Hallie. He’d been looking for her all day.

“Hey.” He called out to her. “Hallie, wait…”

Her expression was pained as she turned around to face him… But Phoenix was not surprised. Things would probably always be awkward between them now…. Not that he was likely to ever see her again. But that was why it was so important that he talked to her. Who knew when he’d ever have the chance again?

“Hi, Phoenix.” She said softly. “What’s up?”

“Nothing… I just wanted to say good luck when I had the chance. I can’t believe it’s all finally over. It feels really weird already.”

“Yeah, I can’t really believe it either.” Hallie seemed to be trying to smile. “Went by pretty fast. And yeah, it’ll be pretty weird not seeing everybody anymore.”

Phoenix nodded. “Especially with everybody kinda going in different directions… You applied to Falkenburg, right?” He asked kindly. “Do you know what you wanna study?”

She nodded. “Yeah… Communications.”

Phoenix almost laughed when he heard her reply. With all that time she spent on her phone, it was just too perfect. He knew she’d be great at it. Maybe she can even work for Instagram or something someday.

“Nice! That’s really awesome, Hallie.” He smiled for a moment. “Anyway, I just wanted to say good luck… and to thank you too.”

Hallie raised an eyebrow at him. “Thank me? For what? Definitely not for what happened at that stupid party… I still feel so shitty about that…”

“Yeah, definitely not that…” For a moment, he almost laughed. “Okay, this is gonna sound totally freaking crazy, but… for dumping me.”

“Seriously?”

“I know, I know… It’s a long story, but hearing you say I was boring and stuff kinda helped me figure some things out… Like, about myself. Do you know what I mean?” Great job, Phoenix. I probably sound like a freaking idiot! “Anyway… I know it’s really weird and stupid, but I just wanted to thank you for being honest with me. It really helped.” He finished awkwardly.

A small smile crept its way onto Hallie’s lips. “You are so fucking weird.” She replied at last. “And maybe still a little goofy and boring… But really sweet too. And that part counts just as much.” Her smile widened. “Good luck, Phoenix. See you around.”

Hallie hesitated for a moment, then pulled him in for a brief, awkward hug. And then she was gone.

Phoenix felt a wave of happiness wash over him as he watched her walk away. It was like some sort of weight he didn’t even realize he’d been carrying had suddenly vanished. Like his character’s carrying capacity had suddenly doubled or something… It was amazing.

He looked out at the small crowd of students who mingled together in front of the building. Phoenix’s eyes searched the familiar faces for a few moments. There was one more person he still needed to talk to. But where was she?

Phoenix found his smile widening as his gaze fell upon his friends. They were waiting for him down by one of the benches, but he knew they wouldn’t mind waiting for a few more minutes. After all, they were certainly more than capable of keeping each other occupied.

He still felt like a fifth wheel a lot of the time. Tam and Jasper were a lot better than Bryce and Meg at toning things down when they were all together. But they still slipped up sometimes.

Thankfully, Phoenix felt like he was finally getting used to it though. And Tam always made it a point to hang out with Phoenix at least one night a week — just the two of them. And that meant the world to him.

Still, it was so refreshing to see Tam and Jasper growing more and more open about their relationship. As weird as it was to admit, they really were perfect for each other. At first, Phoenix had wondered whether it was just some kind of fling or something, but it was so clear that the two of them were head-over-heels for each other.

How had he never seen it before?

Maybe because Jasper had been trying so hard to hide it, Phoenix wondered. He was so grateful that his little brother had finally stopped pretending. He hadn’t realized until recently just how much Jasper had been struggling for the past few months. But he’d finally learned that it was okay to just be who he is, and to embrace it.

And Jasper hadn’t been the only one to learn that lesson. After everything that had happened, Phoenix had reached a very important conclusion — He totally sucked at trying to be somebody else. All it did was make everything awkward and awful for everybody. So he’d decided to give up on trying to be a Barbarian or a Bard or anything else and just be… himself.

Phoenix had talked about it with Tam just a few days ago. “Dude, you did it!” His friend had cried. “This was all like one big crazy boss battle, and you won! You totally leveled up!”

He shook his head, smiling at the memory before being abruptly called back to the present once more.

“Phoenix?” A familiar voice called from over his shoulder. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you!”

His heart leapt at the sound as he turned around to face her. “I was looking for you too… Hey Gigi.”

They still hadn’t spoken much since the night of the party, and Phoenix knew that the stress of exams was only partially to blame. It had been difficult to overcome some of the awkwardness between them too… But Phoenix knew they had to. It was now or never.

“Can you believe it? We’re free!” She cried excitedly. It was so cute. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life.”

“Well, you kinda have? Or at least most of it, technically.” Phoenix smiled. “Will it still count as freedom when we’re at uni though?”

“Of course! I just wish I wasn’t living at home my first year though…” Her face fell slightly. “That part kinda blows.”

His eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Living at home? So… you’re going to Windenburg University?” Phoenix asked hopefully.

Gigi nodded. “Planning on it! They have a really great journalism program.”

“That’s awesome… I’m, uh… I’m actually applying there too.” Phoenix tried to tone down his excitement a bit. Play it cool.

“Oh my God, really?!” Gigi, of course, did nothing to tone down hers. Without the alcohol, she was back to her usual confident, bubbly self. But that didn’t matter to Phoenix — he liked this Gigi just as much as the other one. “I’m so happy you’re sticking around here too… What’s your major gonna be?”

He grinned as he replied. “Psychology.”

Gigi’s eyes lit up with interest. “Oh, cool!”

“Yeah, I’m pretty excited! I think I wanna get into family counseling? Or working with kids… Maybe both. We’ll see.”

He’d have plenty of time to decide on the details… The one thing he was sure of right now was that he wanted to help people like him — people who felt lost or confused or left out. The ones who needed a little help finding their way.

“That sounds perfect for you.” She replied seriously.

“Thanks!” Phoenix paused for a moment before continuing. “Look, Gigi… I won’t keep you or anything. I just wanted to apologize again for how weird things got at that party. And, uh, remember what you said to me? About how you didn’t really know the ‘real’ me? Well… you were right. I was –”

“Hold that thought.” Gigi interrupted him, smiling. “I’d been meaning to ask you… Are you going to the bonfire tonight? The one up at the Bluffs?”

He nodded, wondering why she’d cut him off. “Of course. Who isn’t?”

“Well… What if we go together? And then you can finish telling me all about how right I was.” She added with a wink.

“Together?! Like… Like a date?”

Gigi nodded. “Long as you promise it’ll be the real Phoenix who shows up.”

“He will.” He assured her. “Um, I mean, I will.”

“Good… I can’t wait to finally meet him.” She teased. “See you tonight.” Gigi skipped forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Phoenix watched her walk away, amazed. Did that really just happen?!

A girl had asked him out… And not just any girl — A smart, funny, and beautiful one.

And he didn’t have to lie or pretend for her to do it either. All he had to do was be himself.

Wow… Maybe Tam was right. Maybe I finally leveled up after all…

———————————–

And that’s a wrap on the teen arc! 😀

To celebrate the start of the YA arc, I will be temporarily changing my schedule to three chapters a week! The new (temporary) update schedule will be a little different than my old 3-a-week schedule… New update days will be Monday, Wednesday, Saturday. So expect the first YA chapter on Monday!



My goal is to keep this schedule up for the entire month of August (until the school year starts), but you guys know how real life can be… it’s entirely possible this will last like two weeks and then I have to give up LOL But hopefully you guys will enjoy it for however long it lasts! 😉 ❤

I also wanted to give a quick shoutout to the people whose casting call sims filled some important roles in this arc! (I only linked people whose WordPress or Tumblr URL I knew/could find. If I forgot to link you and you’d like me to, please let me know!)

Huge thank you to Wagonfruit for making the unforgettable Tam! We will be seeing him again in the YA arc! But I wanted to do my shoutout now 😛

Also thank you to AudreyFld for Bryce and Nika for Meg! They were a great couple who helped balance out the geekiness of the rest of this crew quite nicely! 😉

Elizabeth submitted Marco, who was perfect for the role of that gossipy jerk 😉

And of course, a big thank you for the ladies in Phee’s life 😉 Shoutout to Gina for submitting Hallie, Fierysimmer for Amna, and OJenn for Gigi (who we will probably be seeing more of too 😉 )

Also a huge thanks to everyone whose casting call submissions made some fabulous classmates/gym goers/partiers for Phoenix as well! ❤ And we will be seeing more casting call sims in the YA arc too 🙂

Thank you so much to everyone for reading and supporting my story… Let the YA arc begin! 😉