The Not-So-Bad Boy Next Door

Chapter 62

Claire's POV

Ella and I walk up to the podium when our principal calls our names. We stop right in front and I turn to Ella and she nods. I turn and look out into the crowd, finding Aiden with a grin and Bailey with two thumbs up. I look forward and start my speech.
"Okay. So I was shocked when I was asked to do the valedictorian speech with Ella. We tried and tried to write something to say and have it done, but we kept on coming up blank," I said while smiling at Ella.
"So I'm going to start with I can't believe we have come this far. I mean I went to kindergarten with some of you." She beams at our class.
"Why thanks, Ella. I just feel the love being that I was only here from junior year."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She says while I start to tear up. I blink away the tears, "I am just kidding. I'm not offended. Okay well back to the main message. Well it will get there eventually."
Ella looked at the audience of parents and then the class of 2015. "We finally came to the conclusion that you can't guess what's going to happen and the unexpected will happen. You will never know what's going to happen."
I step aside from the podium and grab the other mic off of the stand, "We never know what's in our future. If anyone were to ask me where I would be graduating high school four years ago, I wouldn't even have said anything close to my life now."
Ella laughs and rests her forearm on my shoulder, "I would have never guessed that I would have fallen in love. Let alone get a boyfriend." I look over at Trevor in the crowd and totally notice his blush that he's trying to cover up with a smirk.
I hold the mic up to my mouth, "I never would of thought I would come back here. I left when I was a little older than eight and I never thought I would be back to the place I called home. The whole point of us telling you this is that we never know what life is going to throw at us. We can never expect anything that is coming our way, but we can live in the moment and cherish it."
"So maybe you're terrified of the future and what it holds, but just take it day by day. I don't even know what I want to do with my life yet. I think somewhere in the medical field, but I don't know. We never know, but there is a reason for everything. We may not know what the reason for us being here is, but we're going to figure it out." Ella says while grabbing onto my hand.
I smile and look towards Aiden, "We're all going to make mistakes, but we learn from them. We learn from everything. In high school, I learned that you shouldn't give up without a fight. A tough fight. If I gave up on my boyfriend when he messed up and make a huge mistake, I wouldn't have him today. I'm not going to say I love him because I was told that I could wait until we're 25 to say it."
"I thought it was 30?" Ella asks with a smirk. I smirk back, "Maybe it's 70. I don't know. I forgot." Ella and I smile and look at the flustered Aiden, who I can gladly say is embarrassed.
Ella puts the mic back on the podium and leans against it, "Hey maybe I should do that with my boyfriend." I laugh when Trevor starts frowning.
"Awe look you can see them turning red. It's so adorable," I point out while walking over to Ella. All of our classmates turn towards Aiden and Trevor and their faces burn a brighter shade of red.
I see Spencer shout from the middle of the crowd, "They're whipped." I shake my head and Ella retorts, "Oh so are you. Who are you waiting for again? Oh yeah Jules. So don't act like you're not as well cause we all know you're one gullible lost puppy."
He goes silent and I say, "Okay well that's enough embarrassment for our boyfriends and Mr. Spencer King." Ella laughs, "Yeah, well, we love you guys."
Ella starts the speech back up when everyone stops laughing. "So I know that this isn't a good thing to go by, but you should just wing it. I mean that's what we're doing right now, since we couldn't come up with anything that was making sense."
"Oh and just so you know, we had an amazing year with all of you and I can't believe that we're all going our separate ways. I don't think Ella or I got to be friends with every single one of you, but if you ever need someone we're here. It doesn't matter if we barely talked, we are here, because you may feel alone, but you never truly are."
"So with all of this being said, it was a wonderful high school experience with all of you and may we all find where we belong in the world. We'll all look back and laugh about all the embarrassing times," Ella says.
I look towards Emmett, "From spilling chocolate milk on yourself in front of the whole cafe, to asking out the girl you like and jumbling your words all together," I say looking towards Spencer.
I look towards Ella and she nods her head, "That's all we have to say. Congratulations class of 2015." We walk to the side and wait. Our principal walks onto the stage and starts calling out our classmates' names.
"Abigail Abernathy..."
"Jonah Adrian..."

"Claire Gilbert..." The principal turns and I walk over to him. I look into the crowd and see the boys cheering and Aiden yelling, "That's my girl." I blush while taking my diploma before walking back over to where Ella is.

"Trevor Greene..." He makes his way over to the side of the stage and then shakes our principal's hand before he walks to Ella and pecks her on the lips before turning to me and hugging me.

"Dylan Kelley..." I laugh when Emmett and Noah yell, "Yeah, Dylan." He walks up and grabs his diploma before making it to us and giving up bone crushing hugs.

"Sydney Maddox..." I grin and she makes her way up. She beams at us and pulls us in for a group hug.
"Aiden Mathews..." He gets up from his seat and walks over to side of the stage. He walks up the step with a huge grin on his face. He walks up to the principal and shakes his hand. Relief is evident on both of their faces. He turns to me and winks before he hugs Ella. He steps back and takes a step towards me before he grabs onto my hand and dips me, kissing me, getting gasps from the audience.
"I love you, sweetheart," he murmurs before pecking me on the lips. He pulls me back up and kisses me once more before walking off the side of the stage.

"Noah Richards..." The gang stands up and we all holler and cheer. They continue to stand while Ella's name is called, "Isabella Richards." Ella walks turns to the principal and grabs the diploma. Everyone sits down when the next name is called.

When all the names were called our principal said the traditional, "I now present to you the graduating class of 2015..." and so on. We all threw our hats into the air and then went to go and meet up with our loved ones.

I was just about to say goodbye to Bailey when two arms wrapped around my torso. Bailey smirked before she walked off and left me only with my indescribable boyfriend. I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Hi." I smile up at him.
"Don't I get a post-graduation kiss?" I laugh and shake my head at Aiden's ridiculousness. "You got one. On the stage. In front of everyone." I state while leaning in. "Now I didn't get one for mine." I smirk while Aiden raises his brow.
"Maybe we should do something about that," he suggests. I smile into the kiss and we pull away when we see a flash. I turn and see Emily and Madison standing there. Emily with a knowing look and Madison with her face puckered up in disgust. Madison walks over to me and pulls me away from Aiden. She crosses her arms and blocks me from Aiden, "Stop kissing my friend. She was my friend first."
"Yeah well she's my girlfriend. I win," he retorts while lightly pushing her aside and wrapping his arms around my waist. I shake my head and unwrap his arms from around my waist before squatting down. I cuff my hands by Madison's ear and whisper, "Don't worry. You're still my favorite."
"Ha! She said I'm her favorite," Madison gloats while sticking her tongue out at Aiden. He shakes his head and grabs onto my waist once I stand back up. He nuzzles his face in my neck and kisses it when his mom has her back to us.
"Are you sure she's your favorite? Is there nothing that could persuade you to another person?" He asks while kissing my cheek and resting his chin on my shoulder. I laugh slightly and pull away from him, "Yeah I'm set on her being my favorite." I look at his face and for a split second I see fear cross his eyes and a slight frown.
"Aiden? Are you okay?" I ask while wrapping my arms around his torso. He looks down at me and gives me a fake smile, "Yeah, I'm fine." I sigh and shake my head, "No you're not. What's wrong? Was it because of what I said?" His silence is enough of an answer. I place my cheek on his chest and he rests his head on the tip of mine.
"Aiden, what are you scared of? Please tell me?" I whisper while holding onto him tighter. He pulls away and looks down at me, "I'm scared of losing you. Someone better could come along and you'll leave me. Honestly I'm envying Madison a little right now. I know you won't leave her, and I know you keep telling me you won't just leave me out of the blue, but I can't help but fear it anyway. This is stupid. Forget it."
He tries to pull away, but I pull him back. "It isn't stupid and I'm not just going to forget it. Aiden we're moving to New York together. If that's not a guarantee that I'm not going anywhere, then I don't know what will be. You trust me, don't you?"
"Of course I trust you. I just don't trust all the guys in the world." He grumbles. I laugh and stand on my toes and kiss him.
"I can't believe I got this lucky," Aiden says while pulling away from the kiss.
"I can't believe I ended up with the not-so-bad boy next door." I say before kissing him again.

END of Book 1