Late that evening, the gang including Bradley all went down towards the dean's office on campus with Kaylee. Although she didn't need them too, they decided anyway to all go together.
Kaylee continued to dwell on what she had learned on her laptop. Not realizing how much of a shit show this all really seemed to be.
She honestly no longer cared about going to graduation, as she simply wanted to see Ivaander once again. She had tons of questions for him that she wanted him and him alone to answer.
In the end, Kaylee and the group got off of their vehicles as Kay turned around to face them all.
"Look, it's fine guys— I'll take it from here." Kaylee told them.
"You sure?" Justin immediately asked, approaching her and holding one of her hands.
Kaylee immediately removed her hand from him with a gentleness, and nodded.
"Yeah—yeah I'm fine. Really." She remarked.
"Alright— we'll be here if you need us." Mark chimed in to state.
Kaylee nodded and turned around to walk away from them, heading into the dean's office. Walking down the hallways, as she approached his door and knocked.
"Enter." He exclaimed.
"Hello? Dean Mitchell, it's me— Kaylee Walker."
"Ah, Ms. Walker. Welcome— I'm so glad to see you are doing well." Mr. Mitchell spoke, as he quickly extended his hand towards her for her to shake.
"Please— have a seat. I won't take up much of your time, I know you are probably still resting and everything. How are you?" He asked.
"…. I'm well— I just— it's—- been a rough couple of days…." She stated.
"... I bet.. if you don't mind me asking, have you filed a police report on the matter? I know someone within the department that can help you with that paperwork."
"Uh— I— ha.. I'm sorry, Mr. Mitchell— I know you are trying your best to help me but I really… I don't wanna talk about it anymore, I just— I just wanna move on from it… if that's okay." Kaylee remarked feeling a little nervous and jumpy in the seat.
Mr. Mitchell could understand where she was coming from, as he was always an understanding man when it came to women on campus. The college in the past had a history of creepy, and displeasing dean's.
So it was always an eye opener and warming to know that Mr. Mitchell was never someone to think that way. He was respectable, dependable, and always held male's accountable for what they said and did.
"… I understand. I just— wanna make sure that you are doing okay, that's all I care about, Ms. Walker." He reiterated to say.
Kaylee nodded as she looked down at her own lap and hands.
Mr. Mitchell watched in silence for a second, before getting up from behind his desk and walking towards his cabinets.
"I know— this is stressful, and again— don't worry about anything you haven't turned in and what was due. I have excused you for all of it— and that you'll still be able to graduate on time on Saturday morning."
"…. Thank you, Dean Mitchell."
"I also want you to know—" He began to say as he handed over her cap and gown.
"They caught that bastard who did this to you— I heard that he had actually gotten attacked that same night. His remains were found in a horrible condition…" Mr. Mitchell explained.
Hearing this news, Kaylee immediately lifted her head up towards him, having a blank yet intriguing facial expression. She couldn't help but assume this had something to do with Ivaander's family.
"…And … where did you hear about this?" Kaylee said, looking at him.
"Like I said earlier, I know people within the department, they tell me all types of information sometimes even when we go golfing." He said with a bit of a grin.
Kaylee shifted her orbs a bit.
"But between you and me, that animal did everyone justice. That sick son of a bitch, won't be hurting you anymore…" Mr. Mitchell started leaning more into the conversation between them.
Kaylee, keeping her head down, as she continued to compare that to what she learned on the research she did. She eventually got up from the chair turning her back to him.
Eventually, she slowly turned around to look at him once again and ask her last question.
"I uh— I'm sorry, did they say anything about… I don't know… his... Uh… heart missing?" She would speak.
Mr. Mitchell, found that quite specific of her to question, as he clasped his hands together and shrugged.
"Not that I'm aware of… I mean my friend didn't mention anything about that… but I mean— if it is true it's not like that bastard had any need for it if you ask me." He would declare as he walked around back towards his desk.
Listening to the dean's words it didn't take long for Kaylee to sink that into her mind, before she looked at him. In silence, she nodded and spoke back in a soft tone.
"…Well, thank you again Dean Mitchell. I appreciate the help, I'll be fine— I promise." Kaylee remarked as Mr. Mitchell nodded to her.
"I'll see you at graduation." Mr. Mitchell said with a smile, as Kaylee listened and headed back out his office.
The group was lounging around, as they continued to wait around for Kaylee to come out. Although, Bradley and Tiffany left as Mark and Justin watched as Kaylee walked over.
"You alright?" Justin asked.
"Yeah…." Kaylee said, shifting her orbs to and from, as Mark pointed to where Bradley had parked.
"They had to go, Well— I should say Bradley didn't wanna stay, and Tiffany being the dog nibbler decided to leave with him, but she said she'd see you back at the apartment."
Kaylee somewhat chuckled at how typical Tiffany and Bradley really were. It wasn't anything shocking at this point, as she didn't seem to care anymore.
"Do you need a lift?" Mark stated before Justin looked over at him.
"Don't worry, I'll take her home." Justin said, as Mark gave Justin the look and walked over to Kaylee to hug her.
"Be safe." He told her.
"Yeah— you too." She said with a small smile, as she watched Mark leave as Justin and her headed back to his car and headed home.
Saturday morning arose, and it felt like time flew by, as the valedictorian gave the speech to all the senior college graduates. Cheers arose, along with tears, and long ever friendships.
Once the ceremony was over Kaylee and the gang headed down the walkway from campus. Tiffany and Bradley holding one another, while Justin walked with Kaylee, and Mark.
"Man can't believe we have graduated… I got so many things I wanted to say." Mark exclaimed looking at the bright sunlit sky.
"Yet nobody wanted to hear caramel head." Tiffany said towards Mark with her tongue stuck out.
The three of them continued to walk, as Kaylee started to slow down in her steps. Justin looked over at her, and stopped as well.
Quietly and carefully touching her elbow as Kaylee felt a startled sensation inside. Justin feeling and seeing her reaction looked with more concern.
"You okay?" He questioned.
"…Yeah.. I just— I can't believe it's finally over.." She replied, trying to form a smile but couldn't.
Justin nodded, and grinned a bit.
"Yeah… I mean— look on the bright side— we have our entire lives ahead of us now— there's so many things we can do."
"Oh yeah? Like what—" She questioned while starting to walk again slowly, as Justin followed.
"Well— we can travel— I mean for instance I plan to go out of the country next year."
"Wait? Really?" She said,
"Shit— yeah! I mean— I don't wanna stay around without seeing what the world has to offer… why only be alive if you're gonna sit and watch the same things, you know?"
Kaylee would finally be able to form a genuine smile for Justin as Justin stopped them, as he stood in front of her. Kaylee looked down briefly before back up at him.
"…..You were always the spontaneous one…"
"Yeah? So why not join me?" Justin said softly.
Kaylee would laugh briefly, before she saw Justin continuing to eye her, almost as if he was asking for an answer. Kaylee immediately stopped laughing as she looked with a bit of disbelief.
"Wait? Me? Really? Go with you?" She asked, as Justin took her hands and smiled.
"I mean yeah! Why not? You know we black. Shit— we start hanging around these mix and white people, one of us gonna eventually go bananas."
Kaylee would laugh at his joke, as the two of them shared the laughter together before Kaylee sighed and shook her head.
"I— I don't know.. I mean— out the country I mean— it sounds—"
"Exciting?"
".. I mean— maybe— but scary… Justin you are such a bright young black man— I'm sure you would want someone to go with you, who you can see yourself having a future with."
Justin, hearing her words, cut deep towards him, as he looked down for a moment. Kaylee continued to eye him, as she took notice of how he took her response.
"And you don't think that's you?" Justin questioned her, as Kaylee felt her heart sink deep, hearing him.
This was the first time she ever heard Justin say something like this towards her. However, now she had more questions than answers, but she knew one thing, it would seem Justin liked her.
Although, before she could respond towards his remark, she noticed a male from afar, leaning against a black sport-like motorcycle. Her eyes immediately started to widen seeing who it was.
Ivaander was staying from afar, wearing a crop-top leather black jacket, dangling diamond earrings, extra long slim black jean pants that were curly around the waistline.
Black Nike shoes, with a black tank top underneath his black leather jacket. Kaylee was stunned to see him, as she felt like her entire life came down against her.
Justin at the time didn't know what she was eyeing until she had turned around and spotted what she was staring at. To Justin, this was the worst timing, and also not understanding why he was wearing all of that hot weather attire.
The rest of the gang were in their cars chatting and talking, which was only a few distance away from where Ivaander parked. Ivaander eyed Kaylee from a distance, as Kaylee felt tears almost welling up inside her.
A fresh breath of air hit her lungs, along with the gentle breeze of the world around her. She left without a word and headed over to Ivaander. She didn't know why, she did— but she only knew she wanted to.
Once the two got closer towards one another Ivaander spoke before she did, knowing what she was already going to ask and say.
"Hi.. Kaylee."
Kaylee felt a sense of pain crushing her on the inside, as she fought back every anger, sorrow, and tear she could muster.
Although, Ivaander could sense that inside her, which only made the male start to feel a sense of dread in himself. Slowly he stopped leaning and came up on the curb of the sidewalk where she was.
"…..What… what are you doing here?" Kaylee asked as she finally caught her own thoughts and breath, watching as Ivaander made eye contact with her again.
Seeing deep within his pupils the same purple normal color, which only made her seem like he must've been content right now. She didn't know what the colors meant— only that she knew his eyes changed with moods.
".. Well— I did— go to school here did I not?" He would try and lighten the mood by saying.
However, Kaylee this time didn't smile or make a sound hearing his words. Watching this, Ivaander sighed a bit and slid his hands into his pockets.
"I…. Come check on you…. I wanted to make sure that… you did get back safely… and I had to come to graduation to get my diploma….and I knew you'd be here as well….. I just didn't know we'd run into one another like this.."
"Didn't you." She would quickly retaliate and state.
Ivaander remained silent.
"I'm starting to think you've been knowing a lot lately…." Kaylee added on to speak.
"Hey—hey, is everything alright?" Justin asked as he finally caught up with Kaylee and saw Ivaander.
Ivaander saw Justin come up, as the male broke eye contact with Kaylee, as Kaylee watched as Justin and him looked at one another and spoke.
"Aye man, wassup." Justin first said.
"…Hey.." Ivaander replied.
"We didn't see you at graduation, they called your name, although it was really weird because they didn't say a last name." Justin said with a bit of a chuckle.
"…Uh— yeah— I just been having some documentation issues, not really wanna get into that if it's okay.." Ivaander explained.
"Naw— naw yeah it's cool." Justin replied back as Kaylee shifted her gaze away for a moment or two.
After a few seconds of silence, Ivaander spoke.
"Well— I gotta be going… farewell, Kaylee.. Justin."
Kaylee looked at Ivaander as she once again was about to watch him leave. Never knowing when she'd see him again, but her words seem to choke against her throat.
However, that didn't stop Justin from asking.
"Will we be seeing you around?"
Ivaander got back on his bike and grabbed his helmet before leaning that on his seat and grabbing his black biker gloves. The male looked up at the sky as if he was thinking of an answer.
"Uhhh— that's hard to say."
"Because?" Justin questioned.
Ivaander looked at Justin as he replied, while shifting his orbs over towards Kaylee.
"I'm not sure if…. Kaylee, wants me around right now."
Kaylee looked at him, as Justin looked between both her and him and was confused. Kaylee feeling her emotions dwell inside— as Ivaander seemed to be getting a smug kick outta this.
"And why's that?" Justin said, puzzled.
"….It's nothing." Kaylee quickly chimed in to speak as the rest of the group came around.
"Hey! It's Ivaander! What up man!" Mark said cheerfully as he approached him and dabbed him up with his hand.
Bradley and Tiffany walked over as well, as Bradley looked a bit confused, but also feeling a sense of bitterness. Tiffany smiled and waved towards Ivaander who nodded to her greeting.
"Who's this?" Bradley questioned aloud.
"This is the homie, Ivaander." Justin stated.
"Ivan? What kinda fucking name is that? What you some kinda foreigner country man?" Bradley stated in a mocking cocky way.
Ivaander pierced his orbs at Bradley, like a demon staring into the soul of another. He never broke eye contact even when Tiffany tried to pull Bradley away and reprimand him.
Justin and Mark turned their orbs towards Bradley and Tiffany all while Kaylee kept her orbs on Ivaander. Watching as Ivaander burnt a hole through Bradley's chest simply with his orbs alone.
Which is when she saw his orbs begin to change color, into a mixture of bloody redness, only for him to look down and blink a few times. As if he was trying to shake it off and calm down.
Kaylee orbs widened in that moment, as she quickly thought to herself knowing that this wasn't a dream. It was indeed true what she had been through, had seen, and had witnessed.
Apart of her was hoping and wishing this was all some scary dream, but once Ivaander had done what he did once again. It all seemed to come into realization, as Kaylee heard the commotion.
"Like dude! You're such a dick! Bro." Justin remarked aloud towards Bradley.
"Ignore him Ivaander, man- he's an asshole sometimes." Mark explained looking back at Ivaander who's eyes went back to normal.
"Sometimes?!" Justin jumped in to speak.
"…. It's quite alright…. I don't easily get offended." Ivaander would reply.
"Hey, actually I'm glad I caught you, because I've been thinking about this for a while now and always wanted to give this to you, but could never catch you." Tiffany would speak up and say before walking towards him handing him a ticket.
"…What's this?" Ivaander questioned.
Kaylee orbs widened again.
"It's an invitation to come to this island trip with our gang! I had one extra ticket left over, and I don't want it to go to waste. And besides— you seem cool, so why not." Tiffany explained.
Ivaander however, quickly shifted the ticket back to Tiffany.
"No, thank you. I don't— I don't think that's a good idea.."
"Tiff! What the fuck!" Bradley shouted, throwing his hands in the air.
"Yeah man you should come! It'll be fun, right Kaylee?" Mark stated.
Kaylee fumbled over her words as she didn't know what to say.
"Man shut the fuck up you peanut football having ass nigga! You are coming! And your ugly ass wasn't even invited in the first place!" Justin shouted to Bradley.
"I'll kick your scrawny little ass…." Bradley remarked back towards Justin.
Justin opened his arms wide as in taunting Bradley to come at him.
" Aye! Aye! Chill!" Mark shouted as the three of them once again argued.
Tiffany continued to keep her eyes on Ivaander, as she took the ticket back and smacked her lips. Trying to convince Ivaander to come, although he wouldn't budge.
"Ugh! Kaylee! Help me out here, tell him to come, please. Tell him how much fun it'll be." Tiffany remarked as she went to grab Kaylee, as Kaylee tried to resist but couldn't.
"…. Tiff! Dude.. I don't think he wants to come and that's fine, he shouldn't come…. I'm sure he has … better things to do." Kaylee said eyeing him with a blank yet painfully hurt expression.
Ivaander read Kaylee, as the wind softly blew between them, which once again it seemed like the outside world was silent. It was only them, and them alone that made the tension rise.
"What could be more fun and more important than an island trip that is all paid—" Tiffany was about to speak before Ivaander cut her off.
"You know what— count me in." As he stared a hole inside Kaylee, which made her gasp on the inside.
"Wait? Really! Omgosh! That's so! Great!" Tiffany shouted excitedly.
"You still have my number in your phone right?" Tiffany asked him.
"Uhh—" Ivaander said, feeling a bit awkward now.
"Well, whatever here— I'll text you and let you know what to bring. We'll be on this trip for about a good week or so. So be sure to bring a lot of clothes, and anything important with you!" Tiffany proclaimed.
"Uhh.. yeah— sure, thanks for inviting me…" Ivaander remarked with a dead tone, before looking at Kaylee and giving a faint smug.
Kaylee felt an eye twitch.
After that the male placed his helmet on his head, and put down the visor on the helmet, as he revved up his engine. Ivaander would place his foot on the pedal and speed off on the bike.
Kaylee watched as the male zoomed away, as Tiffany turned to her and smiled.
"Great! Now the hottest male is coming to the island, this is about to be a time to remember, right Kaylee?" Tiffany cheerfully explained before walking past her, as Kaylee turned to look and back again.
"...….. Shit." She would finally mumble and say.