stars in your eyes

Incipit prologus

The sun was shining so bright on the day of Harry's graduation, it was almost blinding. Claire sat in the bleachers with her parents and Harry's family as they watched the Class of 2012 graduate. The senior class took up a good chunk of the football field as they all sat, waiting for their names to be called to receive their diplomas. Claire and Damien screamed as loud as they could when Harry's name was called over the loudspeaker. They were so incredibly proud of him. As she watched her boyfriend walk across the platform to receive his diploma, a happy memory came to mind.

...

"Look what finally came," Harry's mother Anne said, handing him a large, thick envelope from Penn State.

Harry's eyes lit up at what he saw. He'd been waiting so long for this. Jasper received his acceptance letter earlier in the week and Claire knew it bummed Harry out to deal with such anticipation and stress. And she was about to lose all faith in that college if Jasper got in and Harry didn't. Harry's grades were always slightly higher than jasper' all throughout high school. Penn State would be receiving a finely written letter of disapproval from Claire if they crushed Harry's dreams.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" His father Des chuckled.

With that, Harry ripped into the envelope. Claire watched his eyes as they moved back and forth reading the cover letter.

"I-I..." He said, looking up at all of their prying eyes. Claire was about to explode from the anticipation.

"I got in. I GOT IN!" He yelled excitedly.

They all screamed and thrust themselves at him in one large heap of a hug. Pride didn't even describe the feeling Claire was feeling.

...

Harry was graduating high school and he was going to fulfill his dream of going to school at Penn State with his best friend, jasper. Yes, Jasper was still Harry's best friend, even though there were still some underlying issues that hadn't been fully addressed or accepted by certain people.

...

"jasper..." Harry said as he walked into the living room where Jasper sat at the Scheben house.

"Yo. What are you doing here, man?" jasper smirked at Harry.

"Uh, we need to talk," Harry told him.

"About what?" He asked.

"Claire," Harry said evenly.

"No. I thought we were over this man,"Jasper said, shaking his head.

"I'll never be over it," Harry told him.

"What do you mean? What are you saying?" Jasper asked. Claire could register the anger in her brother's voice as he answered.

She peeked her head around the corner and saw that Jasper was now standing up in front of Harry. He didn't look very happy with Harry either.

"Listen, man. I-I tried. I tried to respect the fact that you were bothered that your best friend and your sister were... together. Okay? I tried. I stayed away from her for months, jasper. But I just can't do it anymore. She's all I want," Harry told jasper.

"No," Jasper said, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry. But I'm going to be with her," Harry told him.

"You can't be with my sister, Harry. No,"Jasper said again.

"I stayed away from her hoping you'd eventually come around to the idea of us together. But it's obvious that your opinion can't be swayed. So I guess I'm giving you an ultimatum this time. You can either accept us together or you can destroy our friendship. Because it's on you this time. I did what I could, but I'm not going to sacrifice my happiness for you when you can't even give me a valid reason for your disapproval of our relationship," Harry said, speaking calmly and evenly.