Chapter Thirty-Two
They Were A Family

3rd Person POV

they heard a gunshot but thena didnt feel the gunshot or the bullet

"Thena!" rowan and elisia said as thena backed away from the gun and looked up seeing people from the zoo. expect she knew one of them, she knew that sweatshirt

"HEY!" they heard and more gunshots went off. thena grabbed elisias hand and watched as they pointed the gun at zoe

"drop it!" he said to her

"drop it, zoe!" trevor said and thena grabbed the gun from her and she held it as brandon took off his masks and everyone else did too

"it's over, zoe. the ideas dead" Brandon said and rowan's father came over

"on your knees! put your weapons on the ground! Put your weapon on the ground!" he said and thena dropped the gun as they looked at them

they grabbed zoe and started to walk to their cars

"thena" brandon said to her and she turned to looked at him

"brandon, how'd you know we were here?" Thena asked

" We figured out the VHS tape. It was a message about camp. I was worried that you might have come up here, so I didn't want to take any more chances. And, Jake, he called rowan's dad" Brandon explained

" What about the masks?" she asked

" When you had your face, no one knows what side you're on. Thena I know why they framed me and why they got me locked up and kicked out of school, I get it they were protecting you. You protect the ones you love thena. I do too. So I'm here T always" he said and thena wrapped her arms around him

"I'm still sorry Brandon" she whispered and he kissed her forehead

" i know but i forgive you thena. forgive yourself" he said and she smiled up at him

"i'm still your boyfriend by the way" he said and she smiled at him

"good never wanted anything different" She whispered and he leaned down as he kissed her softly , they heard wolf whistles and pulled away smiling

"i have to do something" he exclaimed and they pulled away from each other

"me too" she said and she walked over to elisia and rowan. they grabbed each other and held on. thena held onto them and let them cry. she cried softly with them and listening to them

she held on and smiled at brandon as they hung the masks up and he hugged sean and trevor. she smiled at the whole thing, they were a family no matter what

the next day , she went home and slept. she slept without texts from king cobra or from mr.empty or monkeyman. her mother walked in when she woke up and she hugged her

"mom?" she asked and her mom sighed

"just let me hold you for a little bit longer" her mother said and her dad walked in as they sat on her bed and hugged her

"why wouldn't you tell us?" he asked and she cried

"about what?" she cried

"the overdose love" her mom stated

" i couldn't , i was scared and alone and nobody would listen" thena cried

"we're here and we're listening thena ; whenever you're ready" her mother said and they hugged and let her cry. they let her cry for as long as she needed. she cried for a long time until they had to leave

she got a text and went to elisias. she sat down and looked at them

"t, you alright?" elisia asked

"for once in my life, i don't think so" thena said and rowan hugged her with elisia

" Are we interrupting?" sean asked them

" No no what's up?" thena said as she wiped her tears

" I wanted you guys to know that it was Sean the interrupted Nicki that night" Tessa said

" Yeah, she was writing the note when I walked in" Sean announced

" She told him that there was another video. One that could ruin her life. That's why she did it., Nikki's mom gave me her phone so I could look through her pictures. She would've wanted you guys to see this. It's a video that she made for Haley right after Haley overdose When she was in rehab" Tessa said and she sat down as she started the video

" hey, Haley, I don't even know what I'm doing this. You've been gone for, like, a week, but it feels like a year. I don't even know how I'm gonna send this to you, but I've been thinking a lot. It's been a strange couple of days, and I don't really feel like myself. You know, obviously I'm totally freaked out because of what happened at my party, but then also you took all those pills, and I just started wondering: What's the point of it? You know, I wanted to make a video reminding you and also me what's so great about the stupid life.
i Actually made a list. when I feel this epic loneliness, which is an awful feeling by the way, I can watch this and remind myself how to be happy.
First thing on my list is friendship. The key to happiness is finding your tribe. Cherish the real ones. The ones who never judge you. The ones who know the real you but still stick around. But don't forget that friends can't surprise you, because we didn't like each other at first. Yeah, you just you gotta be patient. Great things can happen.
The second item is family. Family is annoying, and theyre a lot. yeah and sometimes it's not the family that you were born with, but that's OK. You can find your family. At the end of the day, they are yours, and you were theirs. I remember that we're still so young, and it's it's totally okay to need your mom. I mean, family can save you when you're feeling down, but you have to make an effort. You have to" nicki said and thena thought of the moments with rowan, elisia; tessa, jai, ash, her mom, her dad, trevor; hailey, brandon. all of them because they were her friends and her family

" And then there's love. I've never experienced true love, but I want to. I think I think it's out there, I think if I'm patient and if I believe that I deserve it. Do you know what I think the most important thing is? Is to love yourself first and I don't think you can find true love until you fall truly, Deeply, madly for you" Nicki said

later that night thena stood with brandon and smiled at him

"I enrolled in  boarding school. I want to finish high school. I made a deal with my dad. Some beautiful girl wants reminded me that I had choices and I had people" and thena leaned in as she kissed him

" I don't know how to love myself right these days, and sometimes I I just feel like quitting, but I don't know. Life is so shitty, and it can feel pointless. It is so easy to hide behind the small things, our phones, our computers, all this bullshit. Happiness is people and honesty and kindness and laughter and late nights, even mistakes, and kisses and crying, and we have to try right? It's worth it. It won't always make sense, maybe it'll never make sense, but at the end of the day, we have to be gentle with ourselves and we have to take care of each other" she continued as thena wrote a lantern and watched it float in the sky as she was on brandon's back and smiling. rowan had a smile on her face as did trevor as they looked them

"This List is bullshit. I know it and you know it. Life is life. Nothing matters, but kind of also everything matters. All right. I love you girl" Nicki said and rhe video ended

"she had such a beautiful soul you know that?" thena said as she wiped her tears and tessa nodded as she leaned against thenas shoulder

thena was with her family and her friends all she needed was brandon. she had only ever needed brandon

he was hers and she was his. brandon and thena as it had always been. they were brandon and thena

thena loves brandon but only if she had known that from the beginning. thena and brandon were one and the same

some would even say thandon but they liked it that way.

she had only ever held nemesism for herself and him but that was different

she didn't hold aggression to herself or the world anymore. she would never hold aggression to the world again

NEMESISM WAS ONLY A BAD THING AND SHE HATED IT

-ABBYS NOTES-
AND THATS THE ENDING OF THIS BOOK. so i'm feeling sad about this though because i truly did love writing thena , her relationship with the other characters that amazing for me to write and feel. Thena is a character who even through her mistakes and life issues i would stand by and love. I hope you guys loved thena as much as i do because she's truly one of my favorite ocs i've ever written. There are zero to no books about t@gged or hell even Brandon darrow which i think is so totally wrong because it's such a good show and he's such a good character. Thank you guys for giving me an opportunity to write thena and to love her. I love you guys so much, you can come back to this book anytime for any reason. Thank you so much for reading and for the support, from the bottom of my heart, i love you so much and from thena she says

"I'm not leaving you and you need to know that"

she's so sweet. So with that bye thena we love you girl