"Take a piece of my heart
And make it all your own
So when we are apart
You'll never be alone
You'll never be alone."

~ Never be Alone by Shawn Mendes

"Adi? Adalynn darl. Are you okay?"

Adalynn suppressed a groan as she slowly, ever so slowly, opened her eyes. Images of warmth and figures of colour surrounded her, but her vision was so blurry she couldn't tell one from the other.

With a slight grimace, she sighed and closed her eyes again. Just then, she felt the tingling sensation of someone's hand enclosing her own.

Surprised, Adalynn opened her eyes again and blinked a couple of times, relieved to see that everything around her was slowly coming back into focus. "W-what happened?" she croaked out before succumbing to a fit of coughs.

"Oh my god. Jackie can you get her some water, please? And hurry."

Adalynn stared up into the worried face of her mother. "Mum? W-what are you doing here?"

"We - your father and I - thought we'd come to the Eagles' game to surprise you," Mrs Stanton began in a trembling voice. "We - we had no idea where you really were, though, sweetie. I-I'm so sorry."

Adalynn shook her head, memories from the past few hours hitting her like a flood. "No ... no ... it wasn't your fault. Don't be sorry."

Mrs Stanton bit her lip and looked away as the sound of a door opening and closing carried over the air. "Thanks, Jackie," she said as she took the glass of water offered her. Lifting Adalynn's head up, Mrs Stanton held the glass near Adalynn's chapped, dry lips. "Here drink."

Adalynn nodded and greedily gulped down as much water as Mrs Stanton allowed her to have. Pulling away the glass, Mrs Stanton placed it down on a nearby table and turned around to face her daughter. "I cannot believe you, Adalynn. This entire time ... you never told me what was really going on!"

"W-what? How did you ...?"

"Your friends filled me in."

Adalynn's eyes travelled across the room. Jackie, Hayley, Leo, Alex, Brooke, Daniel and Max were huddled up on a set of couches just across from her makeshift bed. The school's white-clad nurse hovered nearby and through a set of transparent windows, Adalynn could make out Louis and her father in deep conversation.

"Wait ... where's E-Ethan?"

A slight movement caught the corner of her eye and Adalynn turned her head and saw him.

Ethan smiled, that cute, dimpled smile of his, as he reached up and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "You okay?"

Adalynn nodded as tears began to pool in her eyes. "Oh my god ... I - I thought you were dead ..."

Ethan shook his head. "No. I'm not. I'm right here. You're gonna be okay."

"I - I heard the explosion though. I thought I - I was dead. I thought everyone was dead. How ...?"

"To cut to the chase," Jackie's brusque voice suddenly piped up, "Ethan did the smartest and bravest thing he could have done. He chucked that god-damn bomb over the cliffs and into the ocean. It exploded; it just didn't do any harm."

Adalynn's eyes widened in amazement. Slowly, her hand creeped up and captured Ethan's fingers that were still lingering on her face. "I - I can't believe you did that. I would've freakin flipped and run for it ... if I had the strength to do even that ..."

A ripple of relieved chuckles sounded throughout the room.

"Alright, everyone out!" the nurse waved them away. "Adalynn's gonna be okay. You can talk to her later, when she's feeling better ..."

"Can Ethan stay? Please?" Adalynn begged.

Mrs Stanton looked from Adalynn to Ethan and nodded. "W-why don't we give you two a minute?"

"Good idea," the nurse nodded in agreement.

A few seconds later, the room had emptied and Adalynn and Ethan were left alone.

At first, neither of them said anything. Then, Ethan spoke up, "I'm not going to jail."

"Oh, I'm so glad!" Adalynn breathed.

"Yeah. Me too. However, Louis is gonna make sure I clean the classrooms and the toilets everyday for the next few years."

Adalynn giggled. "That's better than you being locked up away from me."

Ethan gazed at her, his expression one of seriousness. "I know. It is. A-Adalynn ... I - I heard what you said before you - er - passed out ..."

"W-what? What did I say?" Adalynn's brow scrunched up in confusion. Suddenly, her eyes widened and her cheeks began to turn a bright pink colour. "Oh no ... You didn't ..."

Ethan shuffled around a little uncomfortably. "Adi. I - I just wanted to tell you that - that ..."

"What?"

"I care about you too. In a friendly way, yes, but also in the - um - other way ... I - I really like you. I always have. Even though I've been broody and snappy and even mean to you at times, you never gave up on me. You allowed me to see the bright side of every day. You brought happiness into my life when I - I was really hurting. My little sister was killed in a car accident a few years back and I've spent every day thinking it was MY fault. I couldn't let anyone know the truth; I've had too many people befriend me out of pity and I wanted a fresh start in a new place where nobody knew anything about me. I - I was wrong and I see that now. I - I just wanted to thank you ... for showing me this and also for being so nice to me. I don't deserve it. I - I don't deserve you ..."

"Shhh," Adalynn held a finger to Ethan's lips. "Stop talking."

"W-what's wrong? What did I ...?" Ethan stopped as Adalynn grasped the front of his shirt and pulled him forward.

Leaning up towards him, Adalynn pressed her lips to his.

For a brief moment, Ethan was so stunned, his entire body turned stiff. But then, after a few seconds had passed, he recovered and responded to Adalynn's gesture by kissing her back.

As the kiss began to deepen, Ethan's hand crept around Adalynn's waist, the other one behind her neck.

Adalynn, in turn, had dropped her hold on Ethan's shirt and allowed her hand to stray upwards towards his collarbone. Ethan's muscles tensed underneath her touch but she didn't stop. She moved both her hands so the lower half of them were brushing his neck and the upper half were holding his cheeks and jawline.

After a few moments, Ethan hesitantly broke the kiss by moving away. He lifted his head back and stared at Adalynn for a moment before whispering, "Where did you learn to kiss like that?"

Adalynn laughed, trying to cover for the flush that was spreading up her cheeks. "I - I don't know. I've never kissed anybody before."

"Damn. I wouldn't have known that," Ethan chuckled as his tongue ran over his lips. His eyes bored into hers and his grip around her waist tightened. "I - I could've lost you today."

"I - I know. But you didn't."

"I'm glad. Because if you had died and I had lived, I would've gone and killed myself, I swear."

"Don't talk like that," Adalynn faked a pout. "I - I wouldn't have wanted you to even consider that!"

Ethan shook his head. "I still would've ... unfortunately."

"But I'm here now and I'm alive and I'm with you," she pointed out in a soft, gentle tone. "Nothing's ever going to change that."

"Geez. I hope not," Ethan sighed. "Oh, hang on, I forgot to tell you: Louis has asked Emma to return to the Greenhouse. Max is stoked."

Adalynn chuckled lightly. "Aww. They're so cute together ... Wait ... Louis - he knows?"

Ethan's expression darkened and his voice hardened as he responded, "You bet you does. Judy and the others didn't have time to get away. They were caught by the FBI just outside of campus. Trust me, their trials aren't gonna be pretty. Like, how much press attention is that gonna get? Seriously."

Adalynn rolled her eyes and bit the inside of her mouth. "Is Mr Woods' okay? Hayley? Alex? How are they coping?"

"They're alright, I guess," Ethan shrugged. "As alright as they can be anyways. Poor Mr Woods though. He was beaten and tied up by Eric in his own home! They were originally planning to bomb the Woods' house as well. Fortunately, Mr Woods, being an FBI agent himself, had a secret surveillance system set up in his house that no one knew about. It's rigged straight up to the FBI office and when they saw what was going on, they went straight to his place, rescued him and disarmed the bomb. Than, when Mr Woods told them about what was about to happen at the Academy, they rushed to get here as fast as they could."

"Everyone would've died though if it weren't for you," Adalynn murmured, her eyes fixated on Ethan's slightly swollen lips.

"I - I guess. I wasn't about to lose you though so I did whatever it took."

"I - I'm just glad Judy and the others have been caught, I mean, it would've been a huge disaster if they'd actually managed to carry out what their client wanted ...." Adalynn's voice suddenly trailed off. "Oh my god! Their client!"

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked, alarmed at the horrified look on Adalynn's face. "We - we just saved the school, Ad. Shouldn't you be happy?"

"No," Adalynn's throat had gone dry. "We - we haven't saved the school ... not yet."

"W-what do you mean?"

"What I mean is how could we have all been this stupid?" Adalynn jerked away from him, tears stinging the back of her eyes. "R-Ryan ... she - she FaceTimed Hayley, Jackie, Max and I before the Athena launch. She told us to remember a code that we were to give to Mr Woods in case of her death ... It's been nearly a whole year and none of us have even remembered it!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down," Ethan placed his hands on her shoulders. "So ... what does this mean?"

"It means that this mystery still isn't over," Adalynn lifted her legs up and swung them over the side of her bed. "C'mon. We need to tell Mr Woods."

Ethan nodded understandingly as he helped Adalynn off of the bed. Together, they walked over towards the door and out into the passage.

As Adalynn's gaze wondered along the school hallway, one that held many a memory, she knew, deep-down, that the Greenhouse Academy would be the recipient of further adventures to come.

She glanced towards her group of friends that were hanging around in the lobby nearby. Jackie, Hayley, Leo, Daniel, Brooke, Alex, and Max.

A smile found it's way to Adalynn's mouth as her fingers entwined with Ethan's.

At least she wouldn't have to go through this alone.

TO BE CONTINUED

~~~~

Gif: The sweet moment between Ethan and Adalynn. :)

A/N: TTTAAADDDAAA!!!!! I'm sooooooo happy!!!! I have officially finished my second Wattpad book and it's all thanks to you beautiful readers! I couldn't have done this without you! THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! A big thanks to anyone who is reading this. Thank you so much for sticking at this and reading it the whole way through. I really appreciate it .... Okay, I'll save my speech for the author's note, but I just wanted to tell you: THANK YOU!! So, did you enjoy the kissing scene between Ethan and Adalynn? I know I definitely did, lol. What did Adalynn realise when she paired the client up with the code that Ryan had given her and the others? It took them long enough to remember it, lol. Any ideas or theories about it? Is anyone excited for the sequel? Please comment your opinions down below, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for reading! Have an awesome day! xx