The Castle of Gold [Bk 2]

ch.11 My turn

Cowell took the stage again and began calling names alphabetically.

Liam glanced over at me like he was waiting for my approval on his speech.

I smiled cautiously as a knot twisted in my stomach. For a second, I was paranoid that it was Harry's baby. Then I shook my head. It's only been an hour since that...

Liam looked slightly confused by my reaction. He looked almost as confused as I felt.

But I was sure there was a good, logical reason for him looking at me instead of Becky. Maybe he just couldn’t look at Becky because the speech was obviously about her and looking at her would have made him more nervous…

I just sat there a moment, creating reason and excuse after excuse until Cowell interrupted me and began calling out names alphabetically.

Everyone cheered for each other, no matter who was wearing black or gold. We all just clapped and whistled and laughed and smiled because although we were separated in half for the past 18 years, 50 years, and 150 years, we were united today. We were the graduating class of 2013 and it didn’t matter if Liam tattled on David Costner or if Becky stole my crayon. It just didn’t matter.

“Lawrence… Liu…London...” Cowell called. Then he shook hands and handed diplomas.

I held my breath as I stood at the top step, waiting for my turn.

I turned to look at the crowd again. Just one last try…

“Lorenzo” Cowell grinned.

I stopped my anxious searching and began walking toward Cowell. I felt like I was walking so slowly, like I wasn’t even walking, but floating. And maybe I had passed out after having tripped and fallen and now I was hovering over the ground because my wings were helping me fly.

But I wasn’t.

An explosion of applause and whistles sounded from one area in particular.

“YEAH ANGIE!” a group of deep voices cheered.

“Woot woot!” they roared in sync.

I turned my head to the direction of the noise and saw Niall, Zayn, and Tony whistling and shouting my name like wild animals. Danny was standing and clapping like a human. And he was grinning, grinning so proudly.

They were by far the loudest group of supporters in the entire Coliseum of a room. A few parents and grandparents dressed in tuxes and satin dresses glared at the boys momentarily. But the boys continued.

I found myself smiling at the ground.

I would have scolded them for embarrassing me at any other occasion, but not today. Today, I wanted them to shout my name and cheer and show me that I wasn’t the dead weight in the group. I wanted them to accept me as their own. And they did.

But my eyes were still searching. Searching.

Low and behold, my gaze fell upon twin dark forest-green eyes, hard and cold like marbles. Lips: scarlette like blood. Skin: ivory-white, like porcelain lightened by a golden sunray.

He was the last to stand and the last to sit. And when he stood, he got up slowly and kept his eyes on mine carefully. He watched me intently, longingly, making me feel as though I was the only person for miles.

The only person he wanted to see.

I swallowed hard as I recalled the words I had told Liam. The very words that had come back to bite me.

“Congratulations, Angie” Cowell grinned.

I blinked, not even having realized that I had made it to Cowell’s end of the stage.