“Are you ready?” Mum screams from downstairs.
“Almost,” I scream back and clip my earrings.
I shudder in front of the mirror and force my breathing under control. My makeup is not as loud as that of prom but I look beautiful. I pat the graduation gown over my dress and tug the cap on my head.
Everything highschool comes to an end today.
Ben texts me. He’s already on his way to school with Josef, Asher and Maddie. My parents are driving me today, they insisted and I couldn’t say no. Ben will bring me back home so we can get my belongings. I am officially moving into our new house today.
The words roll off my tongue easily.
Our house. Benny and Gracie’s house. I will finally move in today. Today, the day of our graduation.
I shoot Ben a reply with a promise to see him soon and hurry downstairs to join my Mum. We will pick Daddy from work and continue to school. Mum’s gaze sweeps over me and she nods in approval. Pushing the tassel out of my face, I pose by the wall to take some pictures. Mum, the ever willing camera lady, wastes no time in capturing all my poses.
The ceremony starts by 10 am and it’s only a few minutes past nine. It’s about ten minutes to daddy’s current hospital but none of us are worried about being late. We don’t check the pictures as we head to Mum’s car. I pause to ransack my handbag to be sure everything, including the velvety box is intact.
A grin appears on Mum’s lips when her gaze lowers to my left hand. Wiggling her brows, she opens the door. I laugh and hide my hand behind me. She won’t stop teasing me about my ring. Sometimes, she’s such a kid. I play with the ring on my middle finger and a myriad of emotions explodes inside me.
Ben doesn’t need to do anything to make me happy but he always goes the extra mile. On some days, it feels like I don’t do enough for him. And I can only hope that the little things I do are enough for him. Ben says they are enough. My presence is enough.
“Are you ready?” Mum calls out from the front.
I am. I am ready to get over this day and be with Ben.
The car starts and I roll down the window. A gust of wind sweeps into the car and my arms wrap around my belly. Cars drive past us in a blur of colours, my head falls back and I close my eyes. The car stops moving. I open my eyes and it’s Daddy’s face I see.
I stick my head out of the window for him to place a kiss on my forehead. He bops my nose and we grin at each other. I am going to miss them. Daddy offers me a cup of melting ice-cream and Mum scowls.
“Congratulations, sweetheart.” Opening the door to hug me, Daddy whispers into my ear, “I am proud of you, Tessa.” His cologne tickles my nose. I inhale the comforting scent and run a hand over his black suit. Mum is wearing a gown. They are the proud parents of the latest graduate. “Your dress is pretty.”
“Thank you, Daddy. Your suit is pretty too.”
My parents laugh at me and I pout. Daddy buckles up and Mum resumes driving. From the distance, I see the structure of Crescent High. I love the school. I can’t say I hated Broadway Heights since it’s the reason I got to move here and meet better people.
The car rolls to a stop at the parking garage. Daddy throws me a kind look. “Are you ready?” Butterflies flutter in my belly. “Alright. Let’s take a selfie.”
9: 35 am.
That’s what the time on the dashboard says. I am all smiles in every picture we take. I lose count of the number of pictures but it doesn’t seem to satisfy them. My eyes dart everywhere in search of Ben. He texted me minutes ago to let me know he was in school.
“Can we go now?” I ask.
My parents share a glance and Mum holds up a finger. “Just one more.” I facepalm. She said the same thing five minutes ago. “Come on, you will be gone today and we won’t be able to take anymore of these pictures.”
At the reminder, tears well up in my eyes. Biting my lips to keep the tears from falling, my head bobs. She’s right. I won’t be around anymore, the least I can do is give them these few minutes. I adjust my cap with a camera worthy smile on my lips.
Someone knocks on the window. My head turns to the intruder and a soundless scream escapes me.
Hayden. My big brother.
He came.
I’m out of the car in a blink. My parents’ laughter echoes behind me but I don’t spare them a look. Hayden carries me and spins for a second. This silly annoying boy. I love him. He told me he couldn’t make it and went on to give me other foolish reasons he wouldn’t be here today. Hayden lowers me to my feet and I pinch his cheeks. He grins.
“You came,” I say. My eyes water. He catches the tears about to fall. I hit him. “You idiot, you came.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” he replies.
I take it back. Hayden is not the world’s worst big brother. He’s just annoying sometimes. I tousle his hair to annoy him. He’s about to retaliate when Mum smacks the back of his head. I am still the baby of the house in case he forgot. Sticking out my tongue, I poke his cheek and wiggle out of his embrace.
Hayden throws an arm around my shoulders to keep me from running. I raise the hand with my ring to my face and he snickers. Whatever. He has already seen it but the pictures are different from real life.
“It looks good,” he says.
I don’t have a reply to that so I lock my arm around his waist and pose for another picture with him and Mum. We move closer to the car. Mum collects the phone from Daddy so he can partake in the pictures. She gives us a thumbs up and the flash goes off.
“Let me see,” I hear myself say.
Pictures of me and Hayden and Daddy are splashed on the screen. I swipe right to see more pictures and my pulse jumps. There are five people in the frame.
Maria. Hayden. Me. Daddy. Ben. I step forward and see the two culprits grinning. My heart flips. I don’t know who moves first but I am in Maria’s arms, hugging her tight. The last time we saw each other was on my birthday. I do a funny dance before accepting the small box she stretches out to me.
“Congratulations,” she says.
“Thank you.” I shake the box but it’s hard to tell what’s inside it. I don’t trust her not to pull a funny stunt. Her brows wiggle, she hugs me again and I whisper into her ear, “It better not be condoms.”
We don’t have much use for those since I have gotten on the pills. Ben coughs. I wink at him. Thankfully, my parents and Hayden are far behind us talking. Maria shrugs. “Never say never.”
“Babe,” Ben whines. He juts out his lip like the cutie he is. I want to lick him. “I’m missing you.”
Maria rolls her eyes but pushes me towards my boyfriend. She goes to join my family and I kiss Ben. I trace the buttons of his jacket and spread my fingers on his chest. He didn’t button up his gown.
“Congratulations.”
“To us, babe. We did it.”
“We did it,” I reply. His forehead presses to mine. I want to say more. “We have to go inside, Benny.”
“Yeah.” But we stay that way, body swaying slightly as if dancing to inaudible music. “We should.”
My mum reminds us we will be late but I don’t let Ben go. I need to give it to him now.
Swallowing the nerves, I take out the box and pull out a ring closely resembling mine. Ben doesn’t get a chance to react. I push it into his middle finger and drag him inside. The plan was to give it to him when we were alone but I can’t survive the wait.
“Babe. Gracie.” I’m still walking ahead of him after my unromantic gesture. My parents should be right behind us. Guests are allocated different spots from students. “Gracie, wait up.” I pause. Ben stops in front of me. “You didn’t let me say anything.” Well, I am kind of nervous and he’s staring at me like I’m the only one who matters. I bite my lips. “I love it.”
My shoulders sag in relief. Thank God. He dabs the tears that fall to my cheek. “I love you.” Holding his hand with the ring to my chest, I mutter, “I promise to make you happy for the rest of our lives, Benny.”
We seal the promise with a kiss and Ben collects my handbag. Hand in hand, we step into the hall and join the row of students at the front. Mira waves.
There are two empty seats beside her. She looks normal and very pretty. Her hair is black for the first time and loosely curled at her shoulders. Leah is stunning as always. Calum winks at me and Ben scowls. I know better than to take Calum seriously but Ben doesn’t, so Calum continues to annoy him.
We settle into our seats and my head rests on Ben’s shoulder. The stage has been redecorated with blue and gold curtains. Crescent High logo drips in gold ink. I slip a hand around Ben’s arm, he looks down at me to confirm if I am okay. I am perfect but a little bit nostalgic. Ben came all this way for me.
“Say cheese,” Leah murmurs. I lift my head. Leah is by Mira’s right side and is holding her phone up for a selfie. Calum pries the phone from her and holds it up to catch all five of us perfectly. Leah sneers into the phone. “Not bad. Now, say cheese everyone.”
“Cheese,” we chorus.
Calum continues taking selfies till Mira protests and I mutter a silent gratitude. Only today, I have taken more than enough pictures to last me a lifetime.
The hall falls quiet as our principal walks up to the stage. He commends all of us. Talks some more about things that go into my right ear and come out of the left. Ben draws circles on my knee. Every time I glimpse the ring on his hand, a smile touches my lips. He catches me staring at it and rubs his ring against mine. God. We are perfect for each other.
My gaze flies to the stage when the principal calls our attention. It’s time for our diplomas. Ben’s name will be called before mine. Carter. The instructions are clear. We have to file out in the order we are called, accept the diploma with a handshake and pose for a picture. There’s a cameraman at the other end of the stage, ready to capture every moment.
Minutes later of name calling, cheers and pictures, we all have our diplomas. I spot Asher and wave him over. Maddie and Josef wave. Asher throws himself on me and I nearly stumble. Ben places a hand on my lower back to steady me, I slide my hand into Asher’s and join our set filing outside.
Everyone is holding their graduation caps above their heads, poised to throw them up. Asher pouts. I can’t give him my cap, so I relinquish my handbag. His chest puffs out like I gave him something of more importance. Ben ruffles his brother’s hair. Asher hugs him briefly, then runs off to join Josef and Maddie.
The whistle blows and on cue, everyone tosses their caps in the air. Gravity pulls the caps back to earth and Ben’s arms wrap around me. I feel safe with him.
Touching his forehead to mine, his lips spread in a grin. “We made it, baby.” We did. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
More than I ever thought I could love someone who wasn’t family or Maria. Love and admiration cloud Ben’s eyes, he puckers his lips and I press mine to his. We didn’t start right but we are ending right.
***THE END***
This felt like the perfect place to end it. Sooo... here we are. Bonus chapters will be coming right up.