Silent Lies

epilogue

Four-ish months later

Today is my-our-high school graduation. Mine, Divine, Adrian, and Ashtin's graduation. Danny has another year and Noah has two, it's nice hearing the two complaining about being younger. We get to laugh about it.

We've sat through an hour of speeches from teachers, the principals of our class, the valedictorian, and it's starting to get annoying. All we want is to walk across that stage and grab the little piece of paper we've worked for twelve-thirteen if you wanna count kindergarten-years to get. My ass is numb in this metal chair.

We're seated alphabetically, so Ashton is a few people over from me, but Divine is nearly the first person and Adrian further behind us.

When it's time for our walks-finally-every single one of us sighs of relief, quite a few people mumbling how all those speeches were unnecessary. They all pretty much said the same things-congratulations, you made it-but had to extend it out.

"Divine Abara." Divine is the fifth person, one of the very first just like I thought, when they call up the first two rows. She walks across the stage confidently, fixing her cap when she collects her paper as her natural poofy hair looks gorgeous but makes it difficult.

Divine got into North Carolina state university, the best of us all, and will be going in for a teaching degree this fall. I got into a community college, and I'll transfer to another when I can. I didn't think I'd even make it to community college, so either way, I am very fucking proud of myself with how I worked my ass of those last four months after three and a half years of barely trying.

I'm going in with a psychology major, and hoping to become something along the lines of a therapist or social worker, I'm not sure which yet. I want to help kids who are going through the same thing I did, or similar situations, I just want to help kids no matter what. It may be pretty cliché for my case, an abused girl healing and becoming a therapist or social worker, stuff like that, but it's genuinely what I want to do, so I don't care.

Adrian and Ashton are both going to be working with Adrian's dad for a gap year. Or, at least Adrian's taking a gap year, Ashton hasn't said much about what he's going to do. Ashton's parents are in the crowd, shockingly, but they're just there. They're not making moves to cheer him on like other parents even when our principal said to save all the cheering and clapping for the end.

I lean forward, looking down our row to check on Ashton. He spots me, waving with a grin that says he's completely fine. He's still, if not more, practically an older brother to me.

While me and Ashton wait for a little while longer for our row to be called up, I think back to the last half of the school year, of our last school semester. It was fucking amazing.

Shockingly, I actually participated in the last senior year activities. Senior skip day, of course. Senior prank failed because the second teachers and principals found out we were talking about what to do, they threatened to take away prom and graduation, letting us have no fun, something about trauma from other senior pranks from years before us. Senior picnic was boring but nonetheless another memory.