The Girl with the Gryffindor Hoodie

Big Night

Ariel walked into the big stadium, fans roaring in the stands! She couldn't help but feel that they were all there for her. However, she knew better. As she saw all the parents screaming and yelling down on top of her and her classmates, she noticed several... no, every single person was looking down at them; scanning over them like a person scans a vending machine when looking for the Cheese-Its. Everyone was looking for their little grad in the sea of green and white.

Ariel had a few people in the stands for her, she knew that. As she shuffled forward to the purple carpeted floor ("Purple?"Ariel thought, "I guess it's great for Geeber University; but purple?!") and seated in a very expensive looking folding chair, she searched the crowd like a wolf hunting the weak deer of the heard. Finally she spotted them. The first family she saw was her grandpa, his grey hair and big belly making him look like a wart hog in her opinion; his huge glasses on his plump red nose replacing the tusks. Sitting next to him was Ariel's father, a man that could be an albino panther with a bit more chub than normal. Course, Ariel didn't think her father was too chubby. She figured it just happened with age; something that could be proven by her wart hog grandpa and waiting in her father's gene pool. Her father looked similar to her grandpa, but with very subtile differences inherited from Ariel's grandmother, the woman with greying brown hair, very "grandmother-ish" glasses perched on her small nose (a quality Ariel's father hadn't gotten), and wearing a flowery dress that was seated on the other side of her husband. Ariel's father waved, holding up a red Canon camera. Ariel smiled and waved back, her white sleeve flowing down her arm, making her feel a bit exposed. Her father snapped a pic.

Ariel didn't have to wait long for the ceremony to start. Since her last name was Wright, and the boys dressed in green robes had gone first into the graduation hall, there were only moments after she was seated that the ceremony started.

"Graduates!" was the only thing Ariel heard the announcer say before zoning out completely. Honestly, she wasn't sure how she had graduated with all her side conversations she had buzzing in her head. Though, at the same time, she knew how. She had had good grades, aside from a C- in physics, listened to the teachers, and did the homework. That's all one had to do to graduate from high school. Ariel thought about the future though. Was that all there was to life? Did one only need to get good grades, listen to teachers, and do homework in order to be successful? Somehow, she didn't think so. She thought about all her idols; Walt Disney, Lindsey Stirling, the guy who invented the cookie; somehow, she didn't think that they just continued on with the high school norm after they graduated.

But then... what did they do to be so successful? How could Ariel find out?

Ariel popped back into reality, applause and a different speaker saving her from her coma. The next speaker being her principal, Ms. Jenson. She had the last name of one of Ariel's favorite teachers, Mr. Jenson, but, upon asking, weren't related in any way. However, that was the only reason Ariel liked the principal. She had never met her, never listened to her corny-ness while she spoke in assemblies, and had never even imagined her once. Perhaps that's why Ariel was surprised to see that she had black spiky hair and tan skin, much like one of her friend's OC's (Own Characters- AKA a character that a person makes up for a story/fanfiction/or sketching purposes).

"This has been my favorite year!" Ms. Jenson cooed with all the fake emotion of a drama on TV. Ariel thought the principal could have been a really good actress in the 1960's.

"Favorite year?" Ariel thought, "Please. I bet you say that to every year that graduates from Fairfield High."

"You can ask {insert name of vice principal that Ariel didn't remember}, I don't say that to every class." Ms. Jenson gushed.

"That there just proves it." Ariel thought, crossing her arms and leaning back in the cushions of the folding chair. She didn't care to listen to the rest of the principal's emotion ridden speech. Instead, she looked to find her family again. This time she spotted her mother, her blackish-brown hair being up in a ponytail. Ariel smiled and tried to wave without trying to attract attention. Her mother smiled. Ariel thought her mother looked like a lovable panda bear. Yes, she was over weight, but again, Ariel assumed that was what happened when people got old. And her mother had more of an excuse to be plump than others did; considering she did bring five children into the world. Ariel could see them all sitting there, not really paying attention to the ceremony. There was Ariel's two younger brothers, Todd and Ben, arching over Ben's limited edition golden Legends of Zelda 3Ds; Elizabeth, or Liz as Ariel called her little sis, messing with her mini ipad, probably texting her friends; and Richard, Ariel's older brother, but only by age, looking off into space while listening to his mp3 player with his bright red earbuds.