For the first time in like, ever, I finally feel like I can breathe again. Because it’s all finally over.

And I don’t just mean all that stupid drama either. I mean everything that’s been going on the past few months. Neglecting my friends, hanging out with Serenity’s clique, messing around with Jace… All the stuff that got me into this mess in the first place. It’s all behind me now (Good riddance! Ugh).

It DID start with making sure there was no more drama though. That was the first thing I had to make sure I took care of. After I finally talked to Papa, I knew what I had to do to make things right again. Even though I also knew it was totally gonna suck (which it did).

I managed to corner Trent and Serenity after school, and tell them I was sorry for what I said. Of course, I also told them that I still hated them for what they did to me too (maybe not the best thing to say, but I had to be honest!), but that no matter how mad I was, what I did wasn’t right. I even apologized for the whole thing with Jace.

Then I took out my phone and deleted those pictures (risky, I know… But it just felt so wrong to keep them).

Then I asked for a truce. And not like the one we had before… A full-on, honest-to-God “let’s just put this behind us and pretend nothing ever happened” truce.

Yeah, bold move, right? And, big surprise (not), Serenity wasn’t having it. She went into this giant rant, and I kinda started to panic a little. What if she still had a copy of that picture and was gonna send it to everybody? What if I totally messed up and my apology wasn’t good enough?

But you’ll never guess what happened.

I can’t remember exactly what he said, but I guess that part doesn’t really matter now anyway… What matters is, Trent told her to stop. He didn’t yell at her or anything, he just looked her dead in the eye and told her to leave me alone. That’s the one part I do remember — “She said she was sorry, Ren. Let’s leave her alone.”

I bet if it was anybody else in the whole world saying that, she never would’ve listened. But she did. She backed down right away. Stopped threatening me. Stopped yelling. She just gave me this super-bitchy glare and walked away.

And Trent… He just kinda gave me this look. It was almost an “I’m sorry too” kinda look. And I was really, REALLY hoping he’d actually say it. But he didn’t. He just followed his sister and disappeared.

That was almost two weeks ago now. And neither of them have even looked at me since.

But honestly? It’s so much better this way. It’s like I’m ‘free’ now or something. I finally feel like I’m Ember again.

I still can’t believe I let things go this far. They were totally shitty to me, obviously. But still… that stupid ‘counter-blackmail’ revenge was just WAY over the top and so… not me. Especially making fun of them for going to therapy. Like, seriously? What was wrong with me?! I could’ve found another way to handle it. And that’s what I should’ve done. But I didn’t. I never even considered any other option but revenge.

It’s like I told Papa… I’ve been like, changing ever since last summer. And I dunno if it was the boobs or the sex or what, but I just started feeling so much more ‘confident’, or whatever. Strong? Or comfortable? Do those two things even go together?

Whatever. However you wanna explain it, I was essentially like a kid who suddenly developed these superpowers overnight with no clue how to control them or whether they should use them for good or evil. I let myself get WAY too carried away, and after months and months it all just kinda built up into… this.

I’m working on fixing it now though. Trying to get Cleo and Athena to talk to me again after I basically ditched them. Spending more time with Zelda. Even being nicer to Tristan (that part’s still a work in progress though).

Me and Jace are still friends now too… But all ‘benefits’ have officially been taken off the table (he’s not too happy about that part, but hey, he’ll learn to deal). It just didn’t feel right to keep it going. Not after all the trouble it caused. And I think he kinda gets that, much as he likes complaining about no more sex stuff (typical guy, right?).

He actually ended up being a great person to open up to about all that stupid drama. I know he felt really bad once he found out what the big ‘secret’ was all about and I told him everything that happened. He seriously had zero idea what those mysterious Thursday afternoon appointments were all about. Serenity never told him. He just tipped Tristan off hoping it would lead to something, but it didn’t end up leading to anything he’d been expecting it would.

Turns out Jace goes to therapy too, so… Yeah, it all felt pretty confusing and messy for him too.

But at least it’s behind us now. God, I couldn’t even imagine trying to make it through the rest of the school year wrapped up in ANY of that crap. No thank you.

For now, I guess it’s back to the same old Ember for me… Mostly.

I’m definitely sticking to my REAL friends from now on. The ones I can actually count on, not some popular jerks who pretend they like me. I need friends I can trust.

And I’m never gonna try and change myself for anyone ever again. That was probably like, the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life. From now on, I’m just gonna be me. And people can take it or leave it. Whatever.

And sending a naked picture of myself? No. Freaking. Way. Lesson learned, in the shittiest way imaginable. And I’m definitely not gonna let myself get fooled into believing in love or relationships or any of that garbage again. I should’ve followed my gut on that one… It’s just not worth it, and this whole mess totally proves it.

But it’s not like I’m never gonna talk to any guys ever again. There’s still plenty of cute ones at school, and if any of them ask me out, I’ll probably give them a chance. As long as I make sure they know I just wanna have fun, why not? I’ve just gotta make sure I don’t lead anybody on like Dominick (that’s another one that still stings. Ugh).

Plus, I still talk to GeekWithAGuitar almost every day. He still hasn’t even told me his real name yet, but I’m really starting to think of him as a friend (and I think he feels the same way about me… I hope).

Like I told Zelda ages ago, I totally think she’s onto something with this ‘stalking cute guys online’ thing. Guys cause WAY less trouble when they’re thousands of miles away, and thanks to webcams and stuff, you still don’t miss out on the eye candy part. Best of both worlds. Isn’t modern technology great?

And there’s always Mason. We still talk a lot too. And actually, he just told me the other day that he’s coming back to Germany with his Papa this summer. He’s gonna come with me and Zelda to GeekCon again, and hopefully we can both pick up where we left off last summer too… And since we’ve both had a little more practice since then, something tells me things are gonna be even better this time around.

I know this whole thing probably won’t be the last crazy mess I have to deal with in my life. I mean, I’m only sixteen. I still have decades and decades ahead of me for life to try and trip me up or screw me over again. It’s gonna happen. And when it does, it’s totally gonna suck, just like this time did.

But for right now, things finally feel okay again, and I’m gonna let myself enjoy that for a while. I’ve totally earned it after the huge mess I just had to deal with. Plus, what’s the point of worrying about the next shitty thing that’s headed my way? It’s not like I can stop it from coming.

It’s like Papa says — the only thing I can control is what I choose to do about it.

———————————————–



Goodbye teen years, next stop, YA! 😮 Time jump coming your way!

Some quick shoutouts to the creators of some of the casting call sims with bigger roles this arc!

Thank you to sherbimel for creating Mason and YJB19299 for Dominick!

Thank you so much to Damaro for giving us Jace!

And of course, a huge thank you to pammiechick for the Ziegler twins!

We’re gonna spring ahead now six years to 22-year-old Emberlynn (same age as Phee during his YA arc!). Can’t wait 😀

Also, as a special treat, we have a bonus chapter next week, in celebration of the YA arc beginning! Next chapter will be MONDAY, then we’ll have a second chapter Wednesday! See you then! Thanks for reading! ❤