Authors note: Making the Grade is my fourth, longest and final story in my Hot Tails in Oak Hills series. This story has been divided into five parts for easier reading. Welcome back and I hope all of you enjoy the final chapter. Thank you all for reading Jacob and Madison's tale. GEV
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They made the most of the time she had before moving away for college.
As promised, he took her to Seattle for a week where they explored the city, visited a few museums, the zoo and aquarium, went shopping and enjoyed the ferry ride to the surrounding communities. He set aside an entire day so they could drive to Mount Ranier National Park to hike the trails and take in the breathtaking views and become one with nature, breathing in the fresh mountain air as they made memories and promises to do more activities just like this every summer. He made their last night in the city one that she would never forget; front row seats to the ballet where she wore the new dress and shoes he bought her, indulged and savored a fancy dinner where she was on her best behavior, took a sunset stroll hand-in-hand along the waterfront and a trip to the top of the Space Needle to see the lights of the city from above before ending their night back in their hotel room where he slowly undressed her, not missing a single inch of her body with his lips and tongue.
On their way home, they stopped to see her maternal grandparents who accepted him, despite the age difference, with open arms and a firm handshake. Childhood stories about Madison's antics, from which he discovered just how much of a troublemaker she could be, had him loving her that much more, even while she sat there with an innocent look on her face that he knew was far from harmless, those baby blue eyes being the death of him. Their stop at his mom's house was just as welcoming, her initial shock over their age difference quickly disappearing when she saw how much in love they were, even though she started to question how they had met but never got around to actually asking.
Madison's astonishment to the size of the house he grew up in situated in the middle of the affluent suburb was far from fleeting, realizing that he had always been truthful to her from the very beginning. The stories his mother divulged to her about his childhood were far from boring and he left the room when the picture albums came out to prove just how rebellious he had been. She made him tell her more in great detail about just how much of a pain he was growing up on the drive home, where she only fell that much deeper in love with him.
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Madison went on her three-day coast trip with Dylan, where she paid for everything with the credit card Jacob had given her with her name on it, called him every morning and every night and sent him pictures like he wanted. Dylan teased her at first, but when he realized just how much in love she was and what type of relationship the two of them had, he quickly changed his mindset and accepted her new lifestyle and everything that came along with it, still trying to wrap his head around the whole idea that she was romantically involved with her former teacher.
They went to the beach, laughing as they waded in the surf, building sandcastles in the sand and making their own memories that just added to the ones that they had from their childhood. They ate at their favorite seafood places and shopped at the candy stores that they always went to every time they went to the coast, stocking up on sweet treats that would last them a few months, and buying matching T-shirts from a souvenir shop to remember what was possibly going to be their last trip together. They sat on the balcony of their hotel room, watching the sun set as they talked about their futures and how far apart they were actually going to be during college, making promises to keep in touch but still knowing that, going their separate ways, they were eventually going to grow further and further apart and make new friends, but their friendship would always endure the test of time.
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When she wasn't spending time with Jacob, she was at home with her parents, still calling him every night before bed and first thing in the morning when she got up, never staying away from him for more than four days at a time, except for when she went on one last vacation with her mom and dad to California to visit her aunt and uncle. She knew that once she was in college she was officially out from under their roof but still had a place to go if everything in her life went horribly wrong, not that it ever would. They never got around to having that family dinner, but Jacob was there with her when she went to her karate classes, working out with her on the heavy bag and with the pads, talking to her dad as they became the best of friends and sparring buddies. She watched after class as his combat skills had him taking her father down to the mat in the second round of testosterone infused physical maneuvers, her father having no choice but to tap out and gain even more respect for Jacob, her father promising to show him everything she needed to work on so he could help her with her karate while she was in college to get her closer to her next ranking.