Secrets And Lies

Graduation

Ryan POV

One day. One more day and we were free. Free of Wood Port High and all the bad and good memories that had taken place in these halls. I was choosing to leave the bad behind and only take the good with me.

To think that I dreaded coming back here. If I hadn't, I would have lost my best friend for good, never reconnected with my cousin, I never would have made a friend in Luke an Foster or met Axel. Axel never would have made amends with Quade and Sloane probably wouldn't have been able to get my best friend together with my brother.

I took pride in knowing that I had a little to do with it. Quade probably would have gone on thinking that Axel slept with Taylor if we hadn't got together.

This day couldn't pass fast enough. True to his word, The Warden made sure that Quade and I stuck to the rules of our grounding. We didn't go anywhere aside from school, the hotel, and home. Seeing Axel was limited to the first two places and we hardly had a chance to talk.

I ran down the stairs, excited that by tomorrow, all the restrictions would be lifted. As I turned the corner, I ran into Sloane. She backed away quickly and held a protective hand over her flat stomach.

"Sorry." I smiled at her.

She returned it, but I could tell that she has something on her mind. I knew it wasn't what had happened at the hotel. I had apologized profusely, and she had gotten over it quickly. She wasn't one to hold grudges.

"Hey! Can you believe that it's just one more day until we are done with this place?" Taylor asked, wrapping an arm around each of us.

"I don't know. I'm going to miss it." I laughed.

"Liar." Sloane shook her head.

"You're right. To Hell with this place." I kicked my locker and spun the dial.

None of us had classes, but the whole senior class had to come and empty out their lockers and attend the practice walk and get our caps and gowns.

The bell rang making Sloane jump.

"You okay?" I asked her, taking in the bags under her eyes. her flushed cheeks and the way her gaze shifted, taking in everyone in the hall.

"No. Waiting for something to happen has my mind going a million miles a minute."

"Does this have to do with the pranks someone is pulling this past week?" I asked.

We didn't know who it was, but someone had spent the week pranking anyone who has been unlucky enough to walk into their traps. Sloane has been caught up in almost every single one.

"I've been hit almost everyday this week!"

"A lot of people have," Taylor said.

"First the confetti cannon goes off when I walk into school on Monday, then I get glitter bombed when I open my locker..."

"Hey you aren't the only one who got glittery. Like twenty kids did. And it's not like anyone would know that you would be opening the door to the school at that exact moment," I said.

"I know and I thought it was funny even when I got confettied. Even the lecture I got  from my parents on Tuesday when all of my social media accounts had my location set at a strip club. I had to show them that it happened to half of our class. I thought it was an amazing idea at the time. But when I got glitter bombed yesterday... that was a mistake. I hate glitter! Look, three washes and it still won't come out!"  She growled.

Sloane pointed to her head.  It was true. She still had flecks of gold and blue glitter on her scalp.

"You're stressing out. Calm down" I suggested, worried about her blood pressure