Epilogue

Monday, February 17th 2020. Classes resumed, and in the morning before homeroom class, Rose sat alone in the principal's office. She sat at the desk that was once Ryan's but is now hers. A gentle knock hits the door as Refus slowly opens up the door. "I thought you might need someone to talk to..." Refus says calmly as he enters.

"Yeah..." Rose says. "I'm not ready to take his place...".

"That reminds me" Refus says. "For some reason, Ryan gave this to me. I didn't understand what he thought was going to happen at the time, but... well, I guess this is it". Refus takes the note that Ryan had given to Refus, addressed to Rose. "He wanted me to give this to you".

Rose opens up the envelope and reads the story Ryan had written down for her. The more she read, the more guilty she felt. After a while, she folded the note back up and a few tears slowly roll down her cheeks. "I didn't think... Sarah had to go through something like that".

"I'm sorry you had to find out... like this" Refus says. "Do you... need me to leave?". Rose lightly hugs Refus with only one arm. She becomes overwhelmed with guilt and uses Refus's shoulder to cry on. "Um... Rose?" Refus asks. "You're kinda freaking me out here. Are you sure this is fine?".

"You get a pass, just this once" Rose says.

Refus sighs as he thinks to himself "I guess she needs it. This must be the side of her that Ryan was telling me about...".

After the first few classes, during lunch period, most of the teachers gather in the teacher's lounge to talk about the current state of the school. When Refus enters the lounge with Rose, Quincy immediately stands up. "This wouldn't have happened if you weren't around!" Quincy says to Refus. "It's your fault Ryan's dead! It's your fault we lost that man!".

Rose looks up, her face tired from crying this morning, and an annoyed look in her eyes. "Quincy..." She says sternly, "you're fired".

"Y-you're kidding..." Quincy says, shocked.

"If it weren't for you causing a fuss" Rose says, "and for your deal you forced on Refus, this would've been easier to avoid. Other than that, you've continued to show close to no efficiency amidst all the issue we recently had to endure. Due to that, I want you out of my school immediately. Today will be your last day. Make sure you have everything ready to go before you leave".

"Whoa" Jeff says, sounding impressed.

"You feeling any better yet?" Refus asks Rose.

"I guess..." Rose says as she sits down. A lot of the other staff were still staring at Rose. "What?" She asks as she looks around. "Did you think I'd somehow turn into a pushover after being promoted? Or does anyone else have quarrel with Refus?". Rose looks around as many of the teachers shake their heads. "Good, because if anyone has any issues with the new Vice Principal, take it up with me first".

"Ha ha, back to the same old Rose" Refus says. After a few seconds, Refus then panics "Vice Principal!?".

The Rejects move onto the second year of college. After the previous year, all of the laibah students began to show up in their half forms. Allowing them to feel more comfortable with being laibah. This attracted new students, laibah students, to come to school. Although Sarah and Rose were worried at first about the school budget, the new rise of students kept the school running. The school never did have to shut down, as the laibah students alone could fund the school well enough to keep it running. The Rejects remain close friends, as Catherine and Kemal joined next year as well. Jackson and Aeris grew closer again, as the two of them began dating again the next year. Sarah and Rose repair their relationship as well, and the two finally felt like sisters once again. Together, Sarah and Rose, alongside Refus were able to create a program for the school to start licensing students to become teachers. Wyatt bought every text book he could from Emily's parents, Lyra and Jay, as he began to study all he could about laibah history. Emily began reading everything from her parents as well, but she left college after the third year to pursue her dreams of becoming a scholar like her parents. Before their third year ended, Emma's clothes that were being sold at Savvy Threads became a recognized brand. All over the city, people were looking to buy the things she makes.

After they all finished school, Emma opened up her own clothing store after Matilda retired. Emma was able to use Savvy Threads's old location as her own store. She named her store "Wear: No More" with the motto "Be who you are and nothing less!". At the store, she even had Tina and Tera working there. Tera said she grew tired of coming in and out of the city, so Emma offered her a job. Tera accepted, because the clothing Emma makes reminded her so much of Jasmine. Tina enjoyed the calm environment, and could use the store as a good location to continue painting when there was no business. Eventually, she was able to profit from her art, but she remained working alongside Emma.

Even after graduating, The Rejects remained close friends. Jessica eventually found someone and got married. Jackson and Aeris had one son, and Emily traveled a lot. Emily's parents became well renown as scholars, as Wyatt became the first teacher to teach laibah history using their work as reference. Not long after Emma and Wyatt graduated college, they themselves got engaged, and later married. Wyatt's parents accepted Emma with open arms, and the two of them had two children. One daughter and one son. Wyatt gets a job at Harrison just down the street from Emma's clothing store, where he now works side by side with his old homeroom teacher, Refus, as well as Rose. From that point on, everyone lived what only seemed like an unreachable dream at one point. They all secured the futures they wanted and never looked back.