❖Anna❖

I look at the building in front of me and feel the nerves waking up. Starting behind my bellybutton, they quickly spread out through my body.

Gabriel steps out of the car and comes to stand next to me. He has a dangerous look on bus face, scaring anyone who would even think of breathing in my direction away.
"Ready?" He asks me while he wraps his arm around me.
"As ready as I could be." I answer and together we walk towards the building.

I can see a lot of people staring at us. Some girls look at me with anger, some with surprise and some guys look slightly scared.
All those eyes make me feel a little uncomfortable. Gabriel notices this and pulls me closer into his side, shielding me from the looks we're getting.
"Don't worry about them. They are just jealous that I got the most beautiful girl all for myself."
I look up at him and can't help but laugh. "Sometimes you are so cheesy."
"Only for you mio picolo angelo." He answers with a wink.

Once we're inside, Gabriel gives me a soft kiss and wishes me good luck before I enter the room for the exam.
Kaylee is already waiting there for me with a curious twinkle in her eyes. "Do tell me, who is the dark handsome man waiting for you outside of this room?" She wiggles her eyebrows and I giggle.
"That, is Gabriel, the guy I'm dating."
"Well, you got yourself a good looking man! Hope he has more qualities."
Laughingly I admit that he does have more qualities and we switch the subject of our conversation to our exams.

"The last one Anna. I'm nervous and exited at the same time."
"Yeah, me too. If we pass this one then we're officially done and we'll enter the 'grown-up-world'."
"Not if you keep using words like 'grown-up-world." Kaylee answers with a laugh.

We talk about everything and nothing for a while, but we get silenced by the exam invigilator.
"I would like it if you could all stop talking and find your seats so we can start with the exam."
The invigilator is a short man with glasses that are too small for his face and a voice that sounds like someone is holding his nose closed.
The sight of him makes my nerves die down a little. But as soon as I sit down behind the desk, they come back at the speed of a racing car.
When I get the paper I've managed to push the nerves down again a little and I feel ready to start.
"You may all open your papers and start working. You have two and a half hours. Good luck."

I close my eyes, take a deep breath and open the paper.
Let's do this.

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

"I thought I would never finish it." Kaylee exclaims as we walk out of the room.
We both needed the fill two and a half hours to finish the exam, but mow it's finally done.
"I know!" I answer. "But now it's over and we can breath again. Or well, at least for now, since tomorrow we start the long wait for the most important phone call of our lives: Do we graduate or not..."
"Don't remind me of that torture. I want to enjoy this moment for a couple more hours. No more studying. No more learning! No More Exams!!" Kaylee throws a fist in the air and I giggle. "No more exams!" I copy and throw my fist up as well.

"Someone seems happy." A deep voice says behind me and I turn around with a smile on my face.
"That's cause I am!"
"Glad to hear that." Gabriel replays and wraps an arm around my shoulder before softly kissing my temple.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Kaylee practically melting.
"Gabriel, this is Kaylee. Kaylee, this is Gabriel." I introduce the two to each other.
"Nice to meet you Kaylee." Gabriel says as he shakes her hand.
Kaylee gets a small blush on her cheeks, clearly charmed by the way Gabriel acts.
"Uhm yes. You too." She answers, still under his spell.

"We should probably go home." Gabriel says as he turns back to me.
I nod and give Kaylee a quick hug. "I'll see you soon okay."
"Definitely. We're going to graduate!!"
We say our goodbyes and go our separate ways.

Gabriel wraps his am back around my shoulder as we make our way over to the car.
He nods at Hunter and Sam who are following us, signalling that they can leave now.

Once we get to the car, I see a small white note waiting for us under need the front wipers. I feel Gabriel tense up beside me, making the same connection as I did.
Reaching out, I grab the note and slowly open it, leaning into Gabriel for some support.

To my dearest Annastasia,

You are growing up so fast. I can't wait until you graduate and finaly are able to be with me again.
I will come for you soon my dear. And I won't be alone.

Your loving father

❖Gabriel❖

The drive home is silent. Anna is clearly lost in her thoughts, probably thinking about the letter.
My right hand is resting on her tight, trying to give her some form of comfort and support. I only move it when I have to switch gears, but then I make sure to be as quick as I can be.

When we pull into the driveway she still doesn't react and keeps staring our of the window.
'Angel, we're here."  I say softly, but she doesn't move at all.
"Anna." I move closer to her, trying not to scare her, "angel."

Anna blinks, waking up from her thoughts and I suppress a relieved sigh. "Sorry, what did you say?"
"We're home."
Anna looks through the front window up to the house. "Right, sorry... I was," "Lost in thoughts." I finish her sentence. "Yeah, I noticed. You where thinking about your father weren't you."

She looks at me with a spark of surprise in her eyes and nods. "I can't get the letter out of my head Gabriel. What did he mean, 'I won't be alone'? Is he talking about the other gang? I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me. If he is bringing that gang with him then," 
I stop her in the middle of her rambling by laying my hand under need her chin and turning her head so she's looking at me, capturing her eyes with my own.
"Anna, I won't let anyone hurt you. As long I'm around, no one will even get close enough to try. I don't care if he is alone or with an whole army. He won't take you away from me." I grab her and pull her close again my chest. My arms find their way around her chest and into her hair, with the need to feel her close.

"I have a meeting with everyone who works with me later today. We are going to find a way to bring him down. I promise mio angelo."
I feel Anna's arms wrap around my waist and I hold her even tighter. "You're going to be okay."

We stay like this for a while, holding each other close in the car, until we get interrupted by a knock on the window.
Aro and Joel are standing outside of the car with a mischiefing smile on their faces.
"We just wanted to check on you guys." Joel says once I've rolled the window down.
"You two have been sitting in the car for a long time." Aro continuous "And you didn't move at all."
"We couldn't even see if you where breathing!"
"So we decided that we should see if something was wrong."
"We thought you might have been frozen in time somehow."
The twins say, speaking one sentence at the time. Sometimes it's like their sharing the same brain.

I hear a soft, airy, laugh from the angel next to me and am glad the twins helped to change her mood a little.

"Ow!" Aro says. "Raphael told us to tell you that you have to be at the meeting in an hour."
"Of course he is the one who sent you two out here. Il cordardo wouldn't dare to do it himself."
Looking over at Anna and see a small smile on her lips.
"We'll be in, in a sec." I answer the twins, keeping my eyes locked with Anna's beautiful brown ones.
She gives me a small nod. Assuring me that she's okay, before we get out of the car to join the twins inside of the house.

"So, you have to leave soon. Otherwise you'll be late for the meeting." Anna says when we walk into the house.
"Yes, but the twins and Eliot will stay here, so you won't be alone."
She nods and gives me a sweet kiss. "Thank you for today."
I kiss her again, a little longer. "If I get a kiss as a thank you all the time I will be doing a lot more things for you." I answer with a wink, making her giggle.
"That, dear Gabriel, made you sound a little like Raphael." She winks back at me and walks away from me, into the living room.
"That is not a compliment!" I yell after her and I hear her laughing.

The little angel has me completely wrapped around her finger. And I will be damned if I let anything happen to her.